Customer Reviews

Beating the King's Indian and Benoni

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a labor of love; and it is an incredible well-presented openings work. There are diagrams at all the key, logical spots; preferred variations are marked with underline (this is very helpful); it is the best of both worlds with in depth variations throughout the opening, along with a complete game format. Another reviewer wrote a fine summary of the chapters but gave three stars because of a bias toward white. I think this is very unfair. It is true that white wins the games, but the author is constantly showing variations that were worse for white. His point is to guide you along the best paths to white, and those naturally will be those lines where white wins. Finally, I love the opening itself. I am one of those players who thinks people who play the king's indian and benoni deserve to be "punished." Giving them one of those long, slow positional games is just what they want. The four pawns is "in your face" and makes the game wild and agressive, right in the opening. White often sacs a pawn to enhance his initiative. In short, this is no-holds-barred ultra-exciting modern dynamic chess. This work by Vaisser is truly wonderful.

The writers of opening books tend not to divulge their secrets for obvious reasons. Vaisser, in this book of his, has revealed a great deal of home analysis. This feature alone makes this book exceptional. I have used this analysis and have reaped rich rewards.

The 4 pawns attack is an excellent and exciting line to play against the King's Indian Defense, and this book has every nut and bolt you need to win with it. Unlike most books, which leave out the obscure lines, this book covers it all (By the way, the obscure lines are in the notes to Game 16). 19 heavily annotated games will give you everything concept you need to win. For example, the 4 pawns attack is not for those who depend on material count, and must be willing to sacrificek, but often you never know when to do that. This book will tell you.

This seems like a prety good book, granted with some gaps... Still if you thought about using four pawns attack this is a good place to start... Granted the book has some gaps cuz you can't fit everything vs. just the KID even if the entire book was about beating just that... So your gonna have to learn and do certain things on your own... What is important is the author uses what he writes about... Not only that, but he scores rather well with it... Unlike some authors that write about openings they never used in their lives... Much less scored anything worth a mention with them...

Chapter 1 deals with the main line with 9...Re8 and gives two examples how to reach position... Taking one from KID and one from Modern Benoni... He gives 5 examples mostly from his games where he wins... I think 4 out of 5 are from his own games and 3 of them he wins... The games are annotated rather well and should provide help... Chapter 2 deals with main line with 9...Bg4 and has 4 games... Again mostly his games 3/4 and he improves upon the 1 loss in chapter... Chapter 3 consists of main line with 9...b5 and rare moves... Only two games in this chapter and white wins both... None of Vaisser's own games this time however... So chapters 1-3 deal with systems that are common in both KID and Modern Benoni...

Next part of the book part 2 deals with systems specific to KID... Chapter 4 black plays 6...Na6 and has two game examples... One from Vaisser and another from one of the Polgar sisters... This time white wins and draws but his game was the draw... He explains a few errors that he made in the game that cost him the victory... Chapter 5 deals with the Pseudo-Benko gambit 7...b5 with one example... White wins this one which is no real surprise... Chapter 6 deals with other systems for black and has 2 games... Yes white wins both of these games if you could not guess ;)...

Part 3 deals with systems specific with the Modern Benoni... Chapter 7 deals with the Taimanov system Bb5+ and has 2 game examples... White wins both games but neither game is one the author played... Chapter 8 deals with the Mikens attack 8 e5 with 1 example... Not one of the authors but this time black actually wins... Yet he gives the move that would of won the game for White... The final page has the index of variations... I would of liked to see some coverage directly of d4 c5 Benoni to be honest... The title of book says beating the King's Indian and Benoni... It does not say only Modern Benoni so I think that is a bit misleading perhaps... The book is a bit on the pricey side for only 144 pages...

I would of probably given this book 4 stars if it was not so White biased... Granted it says beating the systems but maybe it was a bit too white... Also even some limited coverage vs d4 c5 would of helped its rating... As in perhaps least a chapter would of been nice... Still if your intersted in playing the four pawns pick this book up... Im not sure how much it really will help you as black... I think this is a good average book...