| Everyman Chess (PO Box 480, 246 Goose Lane, Guilford, CT, 06437, www.globe-pequot.com) is one of the most active chess publishers in the world. Among its most recent offerings are the following books on the openings: Attacking with 1.e4 by John Emms (160 pages) Attacking with 1.d4 by Angus Dunnington (160 pages) Symmetrical English by David Cummings (160 pages) All books use figurine algebraic, are paperback and sell for $19.95. The proliferation of opening theory has created a need for books that help the amateur player get a handle on things. That is books that select variations for the player and focus on just what is essential. There has been no shortage of such �repertoire books� the past decade, but the quality of offerings has been all over the place. Two new releases by Everyman address the needs of players from 1800-2300 in different fashions. Attacking with 1.e4 by GM John Emms is structured like a typical opening book, while IM Angus Dunnington�s Attacking with 1.d4 is built around model games. Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages. Emms advocates a repertoire built upon the Closed Sicilian with Be3, the Bishop�s Opening, King�s Indian Attack (2.d3) versus the French, 2.c4 against the Caro Kann, the 150 Attack (Be3 and Qd2) when faced with the Pirc or Modern and the Exchange Variation versus the Alekhine. He offers the reader a clear explanation of the main ideas in each variation, while still offering the reader some meat (detailed analysis) to sink his teeth into. If I have one reservation with Emms� book it�s that some of the opening variation suggested don�t naturally mesh well with each other. What I mean by this is that you might expect a book that advocates the Closed Sicilian and Closed French to suggest 2.d3 against the Caro-Kann and 3.g3 (1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3) in the Vienna. Emms could have done this and mentions so in the introduction, but the fact is that his suggestions, 2.c4 and 2.Bc4 respectfully, are more promising tries for an advantage. The flip side is that with his proposed repertoire 1.e4 players need to learn how to play not only open games from 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4, but also d4 openings like the Old Indian (1.e4 c6 2.c4. e5 3.Nf3 d6 4.d4 Nd7), as well as closed maneuvering in King�s Indian Attack structures. Either way you go it�s a tradeoff. Recommended IM Angus Dunnington has written books on flank openings (Reti and Catalan), but this time around he wants readers to grab the center immediately. Hence his proposals to play the Four Pawns Attack against the King�s Indian and Benoni, 3.e4 versus the QGA and 4.f3 to answer the Nimzo-Indian. These suggestions, as well as 4.Bf4 versus the Grunfeld, are all common, but this is not true of all of his repertoire. One area where Dunnington varies markedly from Emms, is in his advocacy of oddball lines like 4.Bg5 versus the Slav (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5). This line undoubtedly has surprise value, but after 4...dxc4 5.a4 Qa5 6.Bd2 e5 I don�t see a promising way for White to fight for an advantage. That said maybe no one in the world has an easy answer as to how to get a clear advantage by force against this resilient opening! It would certainly be sweet if 4.Bg5 worked because then White would have a way to sidestep the Botvinnik or Meran variations via 4.Bg5 and the sequences 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 and 3...c6 4.e4. Dunnington likes systems based on f3. Besides the aforementioned 4.f3 in the Nimzo there is also 4.f3 versus the Benko Gambit and f3 lines versus the Dutch. All these lines look intriguing, but remember most of them don�t have a well-established pedigree. There is a distinct chance that one or more systems advocated here could end up on the chunk heap. In summary I think that Dunnington has done a very good job stitching together an assortment of variations that handle transpositions well as providing similar middlegame ideas. On the downside I�m a little suspicious of some of his offbeat lines. The Symmetrical English by IM David Cummings follows in the path of John Watson�s books from the 1970s and 80s and last year�s effort by Carsten Hansen. The subject covered is 1.c4 c5, but where Watson and Hansen used the standard opening book setup, here Cummings groups here material around 63 illustrative games. Roughly thirty years ago the Russian theoretician Shatskes covered the entire English Opening in one volume, now 160 pages could and has been spent on just one line of the Symmetrical (the Hedgehog). Consequently IM Cummings has had to be selective in what he has included. Here, for example, there was only room for 21 pages on the Hedgehog proper (...e6). One thing I learned from this book is that after 1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nf3 e5 6.0-0 d6 7.a3 Nge7 8.Rb1 a5 9.d3 0-0 10.Ne1 Be6 11.Bg5 f6 12.Be3 Black may well be able to play 12...d5. Conventional wisdom has held that 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.Qb3 is supposed to give White a big advantage, but in fact after 14...Qb6 15.Qc2 (15.Qxb6 Nxb6 with ...c4 to follow � Cummings) 15...Nde7 16.Na4 Qb5 Black is doing fine. One section that I was particularly interested in was the Hedgehog. Anyone who has ever faced 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 b6 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.0-0 and now either 6...e6, 6...d6, 6...a6 or 6...Nc6, knows it is a tough nut to crack. Each of these move orders has particular tradeoffs, but Cummings� book, not being a specialist treatise, doesn�t explain all the ramifications of one move over another. In particular the reader doesn�t get a clear message that against 6...d6 or 6...a6, systems based on e4 (7.Re1, 8.e4 and 9.d4) are essential to fight for an advantage, and that an early d4 followed by attempts to attack d6 by Ng5, b3 or Bg5 don�t pay dividends against accurate play. The Symmetrical English is a workmanlike effort that will be useful reading for players who are already regular practitioners of this opening. Those who are less experienced would probably benefit better from a more focused book, like the section on the symmetrical in Tony Kosten�s monograph on the English. |