11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent coverage for Black of all non e4 and d4 White openings, January 25, 2008
This review is from: Beating Unusual Chess Openings: Dealing With the English, Reti, King's Indian Attack and Other Annoying Systems (Everyman Chess) (Paperback)
As most people should be aware Richard Palliser writes excellent chess books and this book is no exception. He covers all possible Black defences to all non-e4 and non-d4 openings. Three openings are covered in particular detail, as you might expect the English, Reti and Kings Indian Attack. In general, as Palliser states he concentrates on fairly solid lines for Black e.g. Symmetrical English. In most lines he does also include a secondary option to try and get White away from the types of positions he would be familar with. Pallisers coverage is to the usual high standard. For example, as he is aware that many English players use Kosten's excellent "Dynamic English" book, the lines Kosten recommends are examined in great detail. Similarly for the recent book on the Reti by Davies. Also, part of the problem for Black with the English/Reti openings are the many transpositional possibilities that arise. Palliser does a great job dealing with this. With the Reti he gives coverage for the three major black replies 1...c5, 1...d5 and 1...Nf6 carefully noting transpositions between the three and the symmetrical English. There is a lot of detailed analysis in this book but I still think Palliser has enough explaination of the typical plans and ideas in each line.
Under the "annoying" systems Birds, Nimzo-Larsen, Sokolsky, Grob, 1g3 and 1Nc3 are all given substantial coverage with both a solid line and a more tricky variation. Each chapter is excellent, giving you a detailed understanding of the opening. The 1Nc3 chapter is particularly interesting considering how new this system is. Again, any recent books on these openings have been checked by Palliser. In conclusion I would recommend this book to club/tournment players (with rating 1600 - 2000) to fill an important gap in your Black repertoire.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Confidence against "unusual" openings., October 16, 2008
This review is from: Beating Unusual Chess Openings: Dealing With the English, Reti, King's Indian Attack and Other Annoying Systems (Everyman Chess) (Paperback)
First of all, Palliser is a good writer who clearly takes his job seriously. This book is well-researched and basically fantastic.
The lines he recommends tend to be logical and precise. He doesn't offer a lot of speculative or "double-edged" responses, but often goes with the theoretical main line. This means this book will also be of value to those people who play "unusual" openings as white, since few strong authors produce books on these openings.
It's also worth noting that these openings (such as the King's Indian Attack) are very unusual for professional players but are actually rather common for lower-level club players (i.e. most of us). These lines are not at all obscure for the average player and this book is an excellent resource to prepare you to face such things with confidence.
Most important, however, is his cover of the English Opening (1.c4) which takes up about half of the book. In brief, his recommended defense has now become my personal choice, thanks to his lucid explanations and convincing analysis. In fact, I often play 1.c4 myself as white and I'm very glad I got this book since it helps me prepare to face it from the other side of the board. I honestly think it would be worth the price of the book just for this coverage alone.
But Palliser also presents several different defensive setups against 1.Nf3; depending on what the rest of your repertoire looks like (i.e 1...c5 would allow 2.e4!? and a Sicilian Defense). This is particularly valuable since many strong white players (i.e. master and above) have started using 1.Nf3 more often thanks to Khalifman's series on Kramnik.
Finally, I also like having one source for the theory on openings like 1.g4, 1.b3 and 1.f4 since (as I said) few quality writers discuss such lines and yet you really NEED to be prepared to face such things. Often a writer will dismiss these lines are inferior and doesn't treat them objectively or thoroughly. This can lead to disaster since more white players use these systems quite a lot and often have a substantial "home field advantage" in these lines. Other writer try to sell such openings for white, in which case they tend to gloss over the most critical defenses and instead focus on brilliant wins for white against weaker opposition. You can't really blame them for publishing 'propaganda' for these openings since, hey...they got to sell the book somehow!
In a nutshell, this book is very impressive and is clearly one of the best opening books for black. I'd recommend John Cox's book on d4 Deviations to help you against 1.d4, I can recommend Marin's book on Beating the Open Game to help against 1.e5, and finally this book against basically everything else. I only hope my opponent's DON'T buy it.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Repertoire book for Black versus openings other than 1e4 and 1d4, October 16, 2011
This review is from: Beating Unusual Chess Openings: Dealing With the English, Reti, King's Indian Attack and Other Annoying Systems (Everyman Chess) (Paperback)
I believe this is a must have for players under 2000. It will get you started on developing a repertoire for these openings. My opening rep has numerous holes in it and this helped me clear up in my mind what to do after 1)Nf3. I was constantly getting snookered into a QGD (I am a Benko player) after 1)Nf3 Nf6 2)d4 d5 3)c4. After whites first two moves I believed they were going to play a Colle or Zukertort but lately I have been seeing a lot of c4. A great starter book for players around 1600 or more casual players for these openings.
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