| Quality Chess (www.qualitychessbooks.com), founded by IMs Jacob Aagard, John Shaw and Ari Ziegler may have only been around for a few years but it is already making a name for itself. Recently it's Learns from the Legends by Mihai Marin won the Chesscafe Book of the Year prize. A few months ago it published two opening books that are quite different. The Sveshnikov Reloaded ( paperback, 341 pages, figurine algebraic, $25.95) by Dorian Rogozenko is everything you could want in a book on a heavily analysed opening: 1. the author knows his stuff and is ideally a strong player or a good player who works with a strong one and who has a great of practical experience with the opening - Rogozenko is a GM who advised Ponomariov for the aborted match with Kasparov 2. irrelevant lines have been removed 3. relevant and very current stuff is well organized 4. critical positions are pointed out 5. improvements are suggested 6. the author ancticipates future developments 7. clear explanatory prose is given where appropriate to explain positional ideas and tactical themes 8. the book is well layed and easy to use with a comprehensive index. If you play the Sveshnikov you must have this book. Highly Recommended Tiger's Modern ( paperback, 216 pages, figurine algebraic, $24.95) by Tiger Hillarp Persson is a completely different sort of book than Rogozenko's. This is a very personal work with tons of orginal analysis in which the Swedish Grandmaster advocates a special treatment of the Modern Defense with an early ...a6 (after 1...g6, 2...Bg7 and 3...d6) . For example after 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 the idea is 4...a6 with ...b5,...Bb7, ...Nd7 and ...c5 to follow. This general scheme works pretty well against 1.e4 and the only variations where it can be sidesteped are lines with an early Bc4, where White plays c3 instead of Nc3 and g3 systems. In all these Tiger suggests heading back into the Pirc (which he analyses) as Black has sidestepped White's sharpest tries. Lines against 1.e4 make up almost all the book but there is a section on the Averbakh at the back where Hillarp Persson advocates 4...e5 after 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.e4 and examines all the major White tries including 5.Nf3, 5.dxe5, 5.Be3, 5.Nge2 and 5.Be2 which the author judges the most annoying. One thing that isn't addressed specifically is the move order 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Nf3. I would assume that 4...e5 would again be the choice though it would have been good to have taken a look at 5.dxe5 (when d4 hasn't been weakened by playing e4) ...dxe5 6.Qxd8+ when White often has a small but persistent advantage. Other than this I think Tiger has covered all the bases. Highly Recommended |