| The opening books just keep coming. The Everyman Chess line (distributed in the United States by Globe Pequot Press, 246 Goose Lane, P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT. 06437; 1-800-243-0495) has three new offerings. Neil McDonald�s French Winawer (2000, paperback, 144 pages, figurine algebraic, $19.95) covers a wide range of material including not only the main lines after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 but also 5�Ba5 and 4�Qd7. It even spends some time on White 4th move alternatives like 4.Ne2 and 4.a3. One hundred and forty four pages is not that much space for an opening as complex as the Winawer, so McDonald wisely focuses his attention on lines that are currently in vogue (7.Qg4 is almost half the book). The French Winawer is good for bringing things up to date and as an introduction to the opening, but hardcore French players will want to use it in conjunction with other works. English Grandmaster James Plaskett has a reputation as a slashing attacker and seems the right sort of player to write a book entitled Sicilian Grand Prix Attack (2000, paperback, 144 pages, figurine algebraic, $19.95). The sequence, where White counters the Sicilian with an early f4, received the name Grand Prix Attack when it was used with great success by players on the British weekend circuit in the 1970s. Though the line can be treated positionally in some variations with Bxc6 and play against Black�s weakened pawn structure, it is usually thought of as an attacking line with f4-f5 the characteristic thrust. Plaskett covers both 2.f4 and 2.Nc3 followed by 3.f4. The latter is featured in many of the examples, because top players typically only enter into the Grand Prix when Black has committed to �d6 as in 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6. This move is a necessity for Najdorf and Dragon players who dare not answer 2�Nc6 for fear of 3.Nge2 (or possibly 3.Nf3) angling for an open Sicilian! White gains a lot by getting Black to play an early �d6 as the classic counterthrust �d7-d5 must be played with loss of tempo. This leads us to the question what is White supposed to play after 1.e4 c5 2.f4 g6 (or 2.Nc3 Nc6) 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nc6 (only now when the White Knight is on c3) ? Plasskett does a convincing job of showing that the old main line with 5.Bc4 e6 6.f5 Nge7 is just good for Black. This means White must try 5.Bb5 Nd4 6.O-O, a favorite of one of the great Grand Prix experts, Mark Hebden. Sicilian Grand Prix Attack looks at 6�Nxb5 7.Nxb5 d5 and concludes that Black is doing fine after both 8.e5 and 8.exd5. This is correct, and it would be a bit odd if the Grand Prix gave White a slight edge against the Sicilian by force. Still, it would be encouraging if there were some suggestions for White as to where he might look for improvements. The Everyman format of arranging material around important games makes for increased readability, but sometimes at the cost of getting a feel for where the opening really stands theoretically. One book where the Everyman format does shine is Jon Speelman and Neil McDonald�s Modern Defense (2000, paperback, 160 pages, figurine algebraic, $19.95). Here, precisely because the opening is less investigated , the authors� emphasis on ideas works well. The Modern Defense (1�g6) is divided up into two parts with McDonald covering lines where White doesn�t play c4 and Speelman handling the rest. The first two chapters deal with systems where Black answers 1.e4 with a kingside fianchetto and �c6 followed typically by �d5. Named after the Georgian Grandmaster Gurgenidze, this structure makes a complete self-contained system. I�m not so sure about 1�g6, 2�Bg7 , 3�d6 as after 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Be2 (as Walter Browne has played for close to thirty years - White doesn�t bring his QN out prematurely and keeps open options of c3 or c4) I don�t see anything better for Black than heading into a Classical Pirc with 4�Nf6. Not that this is necessarily bad for Black, but it does avoid the Modern. Speelman�s part of the book starts with the Averbakh line 1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.c4 d6 4.Nc3 Nc6, which he spends several chapters on. He helpfully points out that White has a way to force a draw starting with 5.d5 Nd4 6.Be3 c5 7.Nge2 Qb6 8.Nxd4 cxd4 9.Na4 Qa5+ 10.b4 . The main lines with 5.Be3 are analyzed very well and the readers can appreciate that Speelman has a real interest and curiosity about the variation. He also covers related Averbakh lines like 4�e5 and 4�Nd7 before concluding with an interesting potpourri of odds and ends including the Dzindzhi-Indian (1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 f5) which Speelman plays but distrusts! Everyman doesn�t just publish opening books. As a bookend to Kramnik: My Life and Games, which appeared earlier this year, they have now put out Khalifman: life and games ( 2000, paperback, 208 pages, figurine algebraic, $24.95) by Gennady Nesis. This biography, by Khalifman�s longtime trainer, features 97 annotated games of the FIDE World Champion and traces his career from its beginning to his victory in Las Vegas. The biographical section, with its insights into the changing world of chess in the former USSR, makes for fascinating reading. |