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Some Reviews of Chess Books

On this page I have reviewed a number chess books: each gets a mark out of 10.


The Hedgehog
by Mihai Suba

This is a very unusual book. At first glance one might think that it is a repertoire book designed to explain how black should play the Hedgehog. However, on closer inspection one discovers that it is something slightly different. Essentially it is a collection of well-annotated games involving the Hedgehog. Chapter four ‘Fine Points in the Hedgehog’ and chapter eight ‘Trends’ do cover some of the more important move order issues and taken together, they are probably enough to help you avoid being tricked out of the lines you want to play. The material in the book is not arranged solely by variation. The first two chapters are really a historical introduction. Chapters four and eight, being primarily concerned with move orders, are full of all kinds of lines. Oddly enough, about half way through chapter four we are given ‘a break’ which includes some non-Hedgehog helpmate puzzles. Chapter six consists of games which have been important for the development of Hedgehog theory and so again, is filled with all kinds of different lines. The book is very entertaining and the material it contains is sound, but some might find the odd arrangement of the contents irritating.
8/10

This is a rare example of a really excellent repertoire book. It provides white with all the material necessary to play 1. d4 with confidence. The lines selected are safe, sound, and promise white at least an edge. Despite being safe they are, as Palliser says, by no means innocuous. In fact, Palliser has played many of the lines himself, which shows that he really believes in them. Occasional typing errors are slightly annoying (e.g. 7. Bf4 instead of 7. f4 at the beginning of the chapter on the Benoni [Palliser recommends the former, in this particular sentence he is referring to the latter]) but cannot spoil this superb book. The analysis is robust and comprehensive and the advice on plans and strategies is insightful and revealing. Far superior to Dunnington's "Attacking with 1. d4".
9.5/10

This is a poor book. It's coverage of the Slav is inadequate, too much space is devoted to the queen's gambit accepted relative to other openings, there are gaps in the repertoire it recommends, and some of the lines it recommends are very close to being dubious. On the back cover (of the edition in front of me) it says, "All possible defences to 1 d4 are covered". This is simply a lie, though, to be fair, the cover is rarely under the control of the author. The gaps are not that easy to spot because there is no index of variations. A couple of examples: In the chapter on the Nimzo Indian Dunnington recommends 4. f3 (1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nc3 Bb4, 4. f3). A line which has been recommended for black in one of the more popular Nimzo repertoire videos goes 4. ... c5, 5. d5 b5!?. The main line of this variation goes 6. e4 bc, 7. Bxc4 Nxd5!?, 8. Bxd5 ed, 9. Qxd5 Nc6. The position here is much easier to play for black, though white might be able to claim a slight edge with precise play, but of course, precise play requires preparation. I would suggest that people playing 4. f3 could expect to come across this line quite frequently given the recent coverage it has been given. Not only that, but I believe that this line is one of the best defences against 4. f3, and is likely to be especially effective against unprepared opponents. How much coverage does this line get in Dunnington's book? None. After 5. d5 there is no mention of 5. ... b5!? Another example of a serious gap in the repertoire is the Black Knight's Tango. This opening goes 1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 Nc6!?. A rather good book on this by Georgi Orlov came out in 1998, and another, arguably even better, by Richard Palliser was published in 2005. Again, white can expect to face this opening every so often, especially after a new book comes out on it. How much coverage does this get in Dunnington's book? None, so far as I can see. Now you might say that this is just a wacky system which doesn't need to be covered, but you would be wrong. It can easily transpose into respectable lines of the Nimzo Indian, Queen's Indian, King's Indian, and Chigorin defences. Moreover, those transpositions will sometimes be to lines of those other defences which Dunnington does not cover. Thus the Tango can be used as a move-order trick to get round some of Dunnington's recommendations. There are other gaps but there is no need to list them all here. You get the idea. Basically, not "all possible defences to 1 d4 are covered". On the back cover it also says that "Dunnington concentrates on constructing easy-to-learn systems" and that he "chooses lines which are easy to learn". I disagree. The systems Dunnington chooses are very hard to learn because they are very sharp and so require you to learn a lot of theory in order to avoid slipping up. A particular example of this is his recommendation against the Benoni. After 1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nc3 c5, 4. d5 ed, 5. cd d6, 6. e4 g6, 7. f4 Bg7, he recommends 8. Bb5+ which is the critical test of black's play. Someone who plays the benoni (as black) needs to know this line inside out. Equally, someone playing this line as white also needs to know it inside out, in order not to fall prey to black's preparation. Black's best line is 8. ... Nfd7!. Dunnington covers this move in just over a page and a half of fairly densely packed material. It's quite good material (though I think there ought to have been a little more of it), in fact I think that this chapter (on the King's Indian and Benoni) is the best in the book, but White really does need to know all of this material, and preferably a little more, very well to be able to play it successfully against reasonably strong opponents. And to know a sharp opening very well you have to learn lots of variations. Not an easy-to-learn system then. I would argue that the lines recommended in the chapters on the Grunfeld and the Nimzo Indian defences are equally difficult to learn. As a whole this book just isn't very good, and to make matters worse its contents do not match the blurb on the back.
4/10

This is an excellent book and fills a big gap in the market. There are plenty of books which tell you how to play (and how to win with, and how to understand etc.) the Sicilian defence, the French defence, the Caro Kann defence, Alekine's defence, and even the Scandinavian defence, but there are precious few which tell black how to meet 1. e4 with 1. ... e5. This book covers all the important systems after 1. e4 e5, except the ruy lopez, the omission of which is revealed on the front and back covers. The recommendations form a coherent repertoire and if you buy a good book on the Spanish to go with this effort you'll have a complete defence to 1. e4. Emms is an excellent author and has produced some excellent chess books. This one is no exception. No serious gaps, no mistakes (that I could find), nice layout, and a witty and engaging written style.
9/10

Despite all its failings I like this book. The book is billed (on the back cover of the edition in front of me) as explaining “the Catalan in a way accessible to club and tournament players”. Some would say that, being rather a positional opening the Catalan is not well suited to being part of a club player's repertoire. However, Dunnington focuses on aggressive systems for white in which the Catalan bishop is wielded like a blunt axe (i.e. to smash things). I suppose that this treatment does make this book suitable for club players. However, club players should bear in mind that some of the lines covered are simply never going to be played by black at club level. It is unfortunate that Dunnington does not offer much in the way of advice on which chapters are the most important to study. The material is reasonably well organised but the index of variations at the back is still indispensable and should be the reader’s first port of call, to familiarise himself with the ‘lay of the land’. The book is built around twenty five main games with reams of variations covered in the notes. I like this approach as it allows Dunnington to cram a great deal of material into a comparatively short book despite the fact that it does make the material a little less accessible. On the back cover it says that “[t]he Catalan is a favourite of many top grandmasters, with Kasparov, Karpov and Korchnoi using it to good effect in key matches”. However, scanning the contents pages one discovers that there is only one main game in which any of these three titans participated, and that in that game, the titan in question, Karpov, had the black pieces. This is a little disappointing. Given that they are named on the back cover I rather expected to be seeing how the Catalan is handled (as white) by Kasparov Karpov and Korchnoi rather than by Hovde, Monin, Permiakov, Umanskaya, and Orlov.
6/10

A very very good book. The lines he reccomends are on the whole both sound and interesting and his style of writing is wonderful. The book does not provide complete coverage of the opening but it does not attempt to. Very enjoyable to read and very informative. My only quibble is with his decision to recommend 4. ... b6 against the Rubinstein, but it's not a bad line, and he makes quite a good case for it.
9/10

This is a repertoire book for white in the English Opening. Kosten provides a very narrow set of systems which minimises the effort required on the part of the reader (as there is less to learn) but does mean that opponents will find it easier to prepare surprises for him. The chapters offer well organised coverage of the theory of the systems recommended and where appropriate the theory is introduced with an explanation of the main strategies white should employ. It is in these explanations that Kosten really shines; the strategic introduction to the Botvinnik system for example being really rather brilliant. Kosten does a good job of providing enough theory and explanation for white to play the English opening and resulting early middle games effectively.
8/10

Published in 1993 this openings book is now getting on a bit so it is not by any means a primer on contemporary King’s Indian theory. The book is not by Kasparov in the sense that Kasparov’s contributions were not written especially for this book. Rather the book is a collection of Kasparov’s games and analysis from a number of different sources. In fact the book is supposed to contain “all Kasparov’s games and analysis on the King’s Indian to date” (back cover of the edition in front of me) where ‘to date’ means up until 1993. I’ve done a quick search and as far as I can see the collection is complete up to and including 1993. Most of the games are unannotated. Of the games which are annotated, seventeen games have full notes by Kasparov, thirty six have notes by Kasparov in the form of symbols, and three have notes by Keene. Kasparov’s analysis is, of course of a very high standard, as is his play in most cases. Naturally, the book is not a repertoire book in that if Kasparov has never faced a certain line then the line is not covered. Most of the games see Kasparov with the black pieces but there are a few in which he has the white pieces and is playing against the King’s Indian. Despite the ‘thrown together’ feel of this book the content is both interesting and instructive and despite the fact that the theory it presents is out of date Kasparov's notes offer a fascinating insight into his aggressive handling of this complex and combative opening.
7/10

In case you don’t know, the English Defence is characterised by the moves 1. c4 b6!? It is not an opening you see very often, and some would say that there is a good reason for this, namely, that it’s not that good! It is the sort of opening which, when used, is used only as a surprise weapon. However, as a surprise weapon it does its job remarkably well. This is because you don’t need to know much about the English Defence to stand a good chance of knowing more about it than your opponent, and because standard looking moves by white can often lead him into trouble. On the other hand, against a very well prepared opponent you are likely to find it more difficult to equalise than if you play more standard openings with black. Bearing all this in mind, how does the book shape up? Well, it is not a repertoire book for black and instead tries to be comprehensive. It is in fact full of interesting ideas which are ‘worth a go’ and there are plenty of lines that very few players will have seen before. As a source of surprise weapons this book is excellent. However, the English Defence is not well suited to being a major part of your openings repertoire. Against best play it fares rather poorly and despite King’s sometimes ingenious analysis he cannot hide the fact that this opening is a theoretical backwater and deserves to be so. I once read a review of Tony Kosten’s ‘The Latvian Lives’ which said that the book gave the reviewer the sense of “a brilliant lawyer arguing for an obviously guilty client”. To a lesser extent, King’s book gives me the same feeling. However, it does provide the best coverage there is on this opening.
8/10

At first it is not entirely clear what Buckley was hoping to achieve with this book. One might think that the book is intended to provide black with a repertoire in the Queen’s Gambit Accepted. However, this assumption seems to be contradicted by the presence of chapter nine which examines all of black’s most important options after 1. d4 d5, 2. c4 dc, 3. Nf3. If the book was really a repertoire book for black then none of this would be relevant as Buckley has already recommended the main line in chapter six. Also, in his introduction, Buckley states his intention to explain in words what is going on in the positions examined for the benefit of both players. This suggests that the book is aimed at people facing the QGA as white as well as those playing it as black, but the book would not be of much use to players with the white pieces facing the QGA if it only provided a repertoire for black. However, the book is by no means comprehensive. For example, when examining the central variation (1. d4 d5, 2. c4 dc, 3. e4) in chapter two Buckley only considers 3. … e5, and 3. … Nc6, ignoring the important 3. … c5, 3. … Nf6, and the not uncommon 3. … b5?!. I can only assume that the last chapter was added to offer black some surprise weapons so that his repertoire is not too predictable. This is quite a good idea really, but it would have been better if Buckley had made the point of the last chapter clearer. I think that Buckley’s explanations of what is going on for the benefit of both players are really aimed only at the player with the black pieces. The material in the book is sometimes arranged in a very strange way. For example in the section on “The Theory of IQP” Buckley examines A: 6…a6 7 Bd3 B: 6…a6 Bb3 C: 6…cxd4 D: 6…a6 7 a4, in that order. Surely it would have made more sense to put all the variations with 6. … a6 next to each other? Another example of the odd arrangement of the material is the location of the chapter on Queenless Middlegames. This chapter is really only about themes and contains no theory section. However, the chapters before and after it do contain theory sections. I cannot help but feel that the material in this chapter would have been better placed in (or directly after) chapter one with all the other explanations of themes and strategies. This book is a good introduction to the Queen’s Gambit Accepted but it is only really useful to players with the black pieces, and is emphatically a repertoire based introduction, not a reference work.
7/10

Ward's original approach to chess problems has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are that it tests the reader’s ability to choose the right plans in everyday kinds of positions, that it mirrors the kinds of thought processes which people really go through over the board, and that it makes for an entertaining read. The disadvantages are that it encourages stereotyped thinking, that it limits the extent to which the reader needs to come up with his own solutions, and that it tempts the reader to spend more time trying to ‘see through’ the author’s way of putting things to determine which is the right answer (an approach which doesn't work!) than actually calculating. On the whole, I think the approach is fairly successful, but I would still have preferred the material to be presented in a more academic style. Multiple choice is really not my thing. If it's your thing, then perhaps this book is for you.
7/10