With the constant expansion of modern opening theory, books that seek to cover a whole defensive system are laudable, and while this book has more than its share of warts, it should prove useful for serious Pirc players looking to update previous works on this defense. Unfortunately, a variety of problems, including poor use of the English language, lay-out, and a tendency to use game fragments rather than discussion keep the book from being more useful for the average player.

Without a doubt, there is a lot of theory in this volume, and if having a lot of variations (mostly without much comment) to pore through is your cup of tea, you’ll enjoy this effort. From my rough calculation, there are about 1,400 game fragments in the book. The latest game cites appear to be from 2001 (about 60), with another 200 from the year 2000, and another 160 from 1999. Given that the last complete coverage was Nunn and McNabb’s THE ULTIMATE PIRC (click HERE to see Watson’s review of this book) from 1998, the book certainly fills a need in this respect. It is interesting that the book's bibliography does not mention Alburt and Chernin’s book from 2001, PIRC ALERT! (click HERE to see Watson’s review of this book). This is a bit unfortunate, because the author of this book has not considered some lines they analyzed. I believe that it is the responsibility of an author of a general work on an opening to consider previous theoretical works and build upon them. However, in the author’s defense, Alburt and Chernin took the easy way out by writing a repertoire book that leaves out many important lines. It’s notable that there are many places where Videki quotes analysis from the older book by Nunn and McNabb.

One of the first things a reader will encounter is some odd use of the English language. Videcki is a Hungarian IM (although nowhere in the book will you learn this; I had to go to the FIDE website and look up his rating to ascertain his title), and the translation (by Zoltan Molnar) leaves a lot to be desired. In the forward, for example, you will come across the following sentence: “Black undertakes these ‘disadvantages’ not for good, and also not without an equivalent.” If that one leaves you wondering a bit, there are also lots of places where the meaning is fairly clear with some thought, such as “this opening is also many times employed when there is a great difference in knowledge in favor of black, and it is obvious that this fact deforms statistics a bit to the benefit of black.” Finally, the translator seems enamored with the word “matterful.” I still haven’t exactly figured out what that means.

Another difficulty I encountered was wending my way through transpositions. This book is not nearly as user friendly as, for example, books by Gambit Publications, in finding places where plausible lines are covered elsewhere. Given that the Pirc has lots of move order issues, this can be a problem. In fact, lay-out issues were abundant in the book. For example, a common lay-out method is to reach a demarcation point, and then list the various moves that will be analyzed from that point. A nice touch is to include the page number where the analysis of the line in question can be found. Unfortunately, this book adopts a much less user friendly method. At the demarcation point, the book simply adds a decimal point to the tree and starts in with the next move. Then, when that analysis is done, it moves on to the next branch until they are all complete. This makes it difficult to ascertain just what are the candidate moves in a given position.

By way of example, after 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bg5 is listed as option (3) for white in the chapter. It immediately commences with analysis of (3.1) 4…c6. After this is analyzed to a conclusion, we abruptly move to analysis of (3.2.1) 4…Bg7 5.f4. After a couple more pages we lurch into (3.2.2) 5.Qd2, which is followed by (3.2.2.1) 5…c6 and (3.2.2.2) 5…h6. This is far from the extreme example either – in the chapter on the Austrian Attack with black’s early …c5, we will run across my all time favorite variation (2.3.2.222). It gave me a headache to follow through this method, and I feel like I know this material pretty well.

In general, the theoretical coverage is fair and reasonable. I was struck by just how little has changed in some of the key battlegrounds, such as the early …c5 Austrian when white plunges into the complications after 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 c5 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.e5 Ng4. These lines are looking more and more like a draw. Likewise, there is little new in the main lines of the Austrian after 5…0-0 6.Bd3 Nc6, but black can play for more with a reasonable game after 6…Na6, and white can still play for an advantage with 6.Be3. The classical with 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 0-0 6.0-0 Bg4 is stable but offers white in particular the opportunity to take all the fun out of the game – one of the problems I noted with making it the repertoire choice (same for the early …c5 variations of the Austrian Attack) in PIRC ALERT!

The areas where theory is still developing, such as the 4.Be3 lines, the Classical where black plays ...c6, and Classical lines where white plays Be3 and Qd2 (sometimes with h3 as well), and 4.Bg5 get a lot of coverage. This is where the recent nature of the game cites and discussion will prove useful. While it is good to have this later theory, I often get the feeling that the author hasn’t made a full attempt to assimilate it into a cogent set of observations – just put out the variations and let the reader sort through them.

There are some nice touches that are not found in other Pirc books, particularly in terms of coverage. For example, after 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 0-0 6.0-0 c5 7.d5 is generally not covered in Pirc books, since it is classified as a Benoni by ECO. However, this is a perfectly reasonable move order, and the author spends over 16 pages on it. If this is a line that interests you, consider this bonus coverage. I also appreciated the author’s mention of the source of evaluations (such as “20.Qxd6 Rae8! There is not enough countervalue for the exchange. Fedorowicz-Gulko Chicago 1997 Gulko tells us that this evaluation comes from Gulko.”). All too often one is left to wonder whether the author has reached a conclusion or whether he has lifted it from another source. Here that is clearer than in other books.

My final practical concern with the book relates to issues of move order. While the author has admirably not fallen into the trap of only analyzing a stable set of repertoire variations, he has missed out on the opportunity to blend coverage of the Pirc and Modern (1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7). This move order allows black to sidestep or somewhat negate several of the more troublesome Pirc lines. For example, after 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Be3, many of white’s plans, such as Qd2 followed by Bh6 exchanging the bishops, lose their bite with the knight still sitting on g8. The same can be said for the 4.Bg5 lines. Black also maintains more options in the Classical lines for accelerated play on the queenside. While I understand that page counts have to be respected in opening works, this lack of coverage reduces its value for many players who start with the Modern move order but often transpose to the Pirc when the situation suits them.

In conclusion, the author has provided a useful update to Pirc theory. Given that theory continues to expand in key lines, the book will be of value for serious players of the Pirc as black and 1.e4 as white. Unfortunately, its poor layout and language issues will make it less useful for the more casual reader and player.