Opening

Nice intro to the English useful ideas. Interesting coverage of g3 double fianchetto line. As with all books in the "winning" series seeks to rapidly allow you to learn a new opening and competently understand ideas and main lines.Cannot be considered complete.You need to study many more games and specialise in sub varients. However book serves its purpose, Co author Kallai is now a GM and has 2 nice basic opening books

A good introduction to the English Opening (1.c4) with several systems covered. The most common reply i have run across is 1...e5 which gives White a Sicilian Reversed, so all you Sicilian fans out there might enjoy using the same ideas on the White side of the board. The book covers Irregular Variations, The Dragon, the Normal Sicilian, Three Knights Variation and the Closed Sicilian Reversed. There's also chapters on facing a Grunfeld Defence without the use of d4, avoiding the Nimzo-Indian Defence and Symmetrical English systems including the Hedgehog. I've never encountered 1.c4 c5 though. Seems like a boring choice for Black. Overall, plenty of information to introduce this line of play.

Marovic is an excellent writer, and this book contains many instructive annotated games in the opening systems he recommends for black: the Sicilian Scheveningen and the King's Indian. The problem is that this was a poorly made book, with the paper that is brittle and easily yellows, and a binding that will badly crease and break. I find that I do not use books much when they are poorly made.

Gary Lane advocates the use of the Advanced Variation (3 e5) of the French for White. Instead of providing a specific repertoire (as Soltis does in his book on the Advanced French), Lane gives the latest theory in all the Advance lines from the Milner-Barry gambit to Kupreichik's 5. Be3. Each line is illustrated by an annotated game by practitioners such as Sveshnikov, Nunn, Anand, Torre and others. It's hard to belive that this 1994 book is out of print already. Nothing earth-shattering has occurred in Advanced theory in the past few years, so this is still a very useful book. Recommended for anyone put off by the reams of theory one needs to play the Winawer or the boring positions that often result from the Tarrash or Burn variations of the French.

Published in 1992, former World Champion Anatoly Karpov offers 6 chapters on facing Black's Grunfeld defence. An uncompromising system. At the time of publication Karpov had scored 6 wins, 1 loss and 16 draws vs Garry Kasparov (1986-1990) using his anti-Grunfeld approach. Chapters 1 & 2 (1.d4 Nf6, 2.c4 g6, 3.Nc3 d5, 4.cxd5, Nxd5, 5.e4 Bg7). Chapter 3 (5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7). Chapter 4 (4.Nf3 Bg7). Chapter 5 (4.Bf4 Bg7) and Chapter 6 (3.Nf3 Bg7, 4.g3 c6, 5.Bg2 d5). Sorry for the technical jargon, but who wants to buy an opening book without at least knowing the types of positions that may arise after the first few moves? I have turned down several books due to the lack of opening description. I hope this helps.

Kress has written a thorough tome on the major sections of novels. Unlike a certain sci fi trilogy she wrote, this manual maintains consistent value to the end. It certainly shines above most of the other Writer's Digest Elements of Fiction series. In a nutshell, the majority of these Elements are poor excuses for writing instruction. But Kress has made her mark, and this one will live long after WD has realized the weak links in its Elements series must be replaced. So ignore the other WD shortcomings, and the implications of the Beggars falterings, and you will be pleased to have purchased an indispensable volume for your reference shelf.

I have never heard about the Blackmar-Diemer gambit until one day when browsing the chess books in a tournament I found this book. I have always liked attacking chess, so I was intrigued by the book's description: "...the Blackmar-Diemer gives White very dangerous attacking chances, and Black must know a precise defence to come out of the opening alive." I could not pass up this opportunity, so I decided to give it a try.

Gary Lane does a very good job in explaining the different main variations and in each you will get a clear idea of the strategy you have to use in your attack. The main variations covered after 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 are: the Euwe Defense (5...e6), the Bogoljubow Defense (5...g6), the Tartakower-Gunderam Defense (5...Bf5), the Teichman Defense (5...Bg4), the Ziegler Defense (5...c6). Other variations include the Ryder Gambit, in which white takes on f3 with the queen instead of the knight; black has to be well prepared for this gambit too, but I did not find a lot of analysis for the white side on this book. In the Vienna Defense instead of taking the pawn on f3 right away, black plays 4...Bf5. Besides these lines, the author presents lines in which black returns the pawn and another gambit line for white which does not really belong in the Blackmar-Diemer complex, the Hubsch Gambit (5.Bc4).

There is sufficient information on each line for white to be prepared better than black in most cases, but if you find a player that has defended against the gambit many times and has a favorite pet line well studied you may run into problems. Since I adopted this opening as my main attacking weapon with white, I had to get a more book that went into more depth in each of the variations mentioned above. That is why I got "The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit: Keybook II" by Tim Sawyer, which has lot more analysis but does not explain the ideas as clearly as Lane's book. Therefore, the two books together make the perfect combination.

I would recommend this book if you are in one of the following situations: a) you are looking for a new opening with white and would like to give the Blackmar-Diemer a try. If you decide you like it, you can go forward with the Sawyer book to have a more complete reference. b) you are a player that opens with 1.e4 and has trouble facing the Scandinavian Defense (1...d5); this book may help you surprise your opponents without spending a lot of time studying the variations for an opening you will play from time to time. Actually, at the moment I am in the process of switching to 1.e4 but I will continue to play the Blackmar-Diemer against the Scandinavian.

Athough Budge's translation has been proved to be in error, it is still worth reading. Since the writing of this book, there has been further study in both Heirogliphics and Ancient Kemetic religion which has brought the level of knowledge a step higher than that of Budge. Of course, if it weren't for Budge's initial translations, then where would we be now, except at the beginning?

Ca'lean

I recommend that anyone looking to have some mischievous fun at chess should take up the the Budapest as an occasional surprise weapon. I found this book at a used book store for $5 a few years back and my investment has been paid back a 100-fold. The Budapest is great for quick kills versus weaker or similar strength players. A gross example: White N.N. (1600) - Me (2000), 1998; 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. d5 Bc5 4. Bg5?? Ne4! and white resigned after a few more moves and I was soon relaxing at Hardees while my competition was grinding out four-hour games. Of course 5. Bxd8 loses instantly to ...Bxf2#. Boryk's book is much more easily absorbed than Tseitlin & Glaskov's, Budapest for the Tournament Player, with its head-spinning variations and transpositions. Instead, Boryk offers numerous games with ideas and strategies for Black. Nevermind that this opening is not popular with the GM set where they have everything memorized out to 20-25 moves. This is a great opening for chess improvisors and tacticians out here in sub-master land that like to mix it up. If you can get this book at a bargain price -- pick it up!

This is a tree of analysis presentation. A classic text published in the U.S. by Macmillan in 1991.

It sounds almost silly to be reviewing a book that is nearly 20 years old! (Have I lost my mind?) Most opening books that are over 5 years old are considered dated - any book this old is genearlly considered a DINOSAUR!!

So why am I doing it? Just in the hopes you might buy and appreciate this book! (If it were current, I would eaily give it five stars.)

I purchased this book shortly after it first came out. (1989) I had a "real/regular" job back then, so it took me at least six months to work my way all the way through this book. I went through EVERY chapter. Some of the chapters, I literally played over every line, note, (etc.) that was given in this wonderful volume. I also studied several of the games in detail, writing out my thoughts in a spiral-bound notebook.

I was annotating a game today, (on the Pirc); that I played in one of the ICC/Dos Hermanos, {big} Internet tournaments. (I was trying to remember one line in particular. Because I had difficulty in recalling all the analysis, I had to dig this book out.) This gave me a chance to re-read a couple of chapters and go through a few of the variations. And I thought to myself, "What a great book this effort really is!"

And while this book may NOT represent the cutting edge of opening theory on the Pirc, it has many other redeeming features. The lines are laid out in a very logical manner, the author starts with the most popular lines, (The Austrian Attack); and goes from there. There is a TON of analysis, Nunn did not hold much back here. If he got to a point where he thought he saw a better move, he told you. (This book was written BEFORE chess programs got real strong, so check EVERYTHING you intend to play {in tournaments} with a good analysis engine ... or your favorite chess program!!)

The 'blurb' on the cover says "Intermediate," but I am sure that even a near beginner could follow most of what goes on here, there are PLENTY of very good and frank discussions. The author really went out of the way here to do a really bang-up job. The most common-place ideas and plans are covered in here.

Last year I played in a "quick" (money) tournament in Alabama, (Game in 25 minutes); and I defeated a player (who used this opening) whose rating was nearly 2600 USCF. He paid me a very nice complement after the game. He told me that I had played very well and I had not used much time on the clock. I am sure that MUCH of my understanding of this whole opening was gained during the time I spent with Nunn - - - in this book! {Does this make me a Nunn student? I guess in a way, it does.}

I recommend this book VERY highly!!! (But buy a new book to get a feel for the latest opening lines.) I have literally hundreds of books on the opening - I have many on the Pirc as well. But I personally guarantee that if you spend some time studying inside these pages, you will learn more from this book than 50 other opening books; where all they do is pump out the latest games - with no explanation, whatsover! Get it! And learn!