BLACK IS OK FOREVER!
Author: Andras Adorjan
192 pages
Price: $22.95
BT Batsford Ltd (2005)

Reviewed by Randy Bauer

Randy’s Rating: 6.0

Both movies and books sometimes generate sequels, but here the follow-up isn’t as good as the original and takes far too long to reach the final credits. BLACK IS OK FOREVER is the third in a series where the author, a former world championship contender, espouses the virtues of the second player. While the first volume, BLACK IS OK! was lively and fresh, the material now has a sort of ‘seen it before’ feel.

From the beginning, the book might be mistaken for an early draft. The first sentence starts off “This is my 13-1=twelfth book…” and I have no idea why there was a need for the math exercise.  There also is excessive use of the exclamation point and words with all capitals. As with spices, if used sparingly, they are effective, but when overused they spoil the dish. Coupled with obtuse discussions of his own demons and a higher power, the book’s acknowledgements and introduction do not get it off to a good start.

The following chapters contain some interesting material but often lack focus. Adorjan was, after all, an exceptionally talented player and a renowned expert on his black systems (the fighting Grunfeld and Sicilian defenses in particular), but in many chapters the book is little more than a dense listing of moves and alternate variations. The average player will find little that helps he or she understand just why black is ok forever. Contrast this with, for example, Suba’s thought-provoking Chess Strategy, where the author presents similar thoughts about black’s prospects but develops a theoretical framework for his views and does so in a light, lively (as opposed to plodding) writing style.

Other chapters include the discussion of statistics from Adorjan’s games, some detailed analysis of some specific novelties (such as the line 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 e5, which, while interesting, might not be of great value to most players), and a discussion of statistics for chessplaying programs playing against each other. Again, some of this is interesting, but nothing really ties the material together.

In conclusion, BLACK IS OK FOREVER continues the author’s espousal of the chances for the black player, but it is a haphazard and sometimes tedious discussion. The player wanting to explore this topic would do better with Adorjan’s BLACK IS OK! or Suba’s CHESS STRATEGY.

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