Customer Reviews

Chess Openings for Black, Explained (A Complete Repertoire)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Personally, I take most chess books that offer a suggested opening system with a grain of salt. They tend to be biased in favor of what they suggest. But this book is one of the best I have seen that doesn't become overly biased to to point of recommending moves that are less than sound.

I really like the idea of using the NimzoIndian Defense agaist 1.d4 with 1..Nf6 2.c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4. It is an active way of playing against d pawn openings. The lines suggested against 1.e4 using the Sicilian with 1..c5 is not to my taste. So you as well as I may pick and choose what we like. To go along with this book I suggest getting "Understanding the chess openings" by Collins for a good general servay and a good book on chess traps (to learn not only traps in the openings but the tactics that go along with type of opening you choose).

This along with this author's same book on playing White are well done.

I write this from the perspective of a patzer (I've been playing a little over a year with a rating of 1100). Hence, I am not skilled to evaluate how the book stands up to the minutiae of GM-level opening theory scrutiny, so will focus on other matters.

This is an amazing book. For one, it has one of the best layouts of any chess opening book I own. The publisher was uncharacteristically generous with the figures: there are lots of clear board pictures so you can be lazy and simply read the book without having a board there with you. Also, it isn't one of those new-breed of run-of-the-mill lazily-written opening books which is merely a bunch of annotated games. Rather, the authors systematically present an explain a full opening system. The bulk of the book guides you through the main lines of the opening, explaining all the major strategic themes involved and pitfalls to avoid (they spend three chapters covering how to handle a single weakness of their response to e5!). Also, at the end of the book, they provide a bunch of annotated games to illustrate the principles in the first 3/4 of the book, so you get the best of both worlds. In other words, the authors have clearly put a great deal of work into the book, more time, I'd guess, than any other opening book I own.

Unfortunately, as a beginner there are a couple of things I don't like about the book (note these are problems which players over a rating of 1500 will probably not have). First, I find the games that the openings lead to to be boring and overly-positional. The responses to 1. e4 (the accelerated sicilian dragon) and 1. d4 (the Nimzo-Indian) both involve cautious development with a kingside fianchettoed bishop, giving up space in the center hoping for a flank attack or a perfectly-timed center counterattack. Frankly, I simply don't have enough general chess expertise to navigate these unforgiving, sharp, and often cramped opening lines. I prefer a more tactical, open game with the potential for lots of traps and fireworks.

Because of such concerns, I have shelved this excellent book for a time when I have more experience, and am presently playing the traditional responses to e4 and d4 (1...e5 and 1...d5). I am much more comfortable with the traditional responses, and since most beginner books recommend them, I am no longer missing out on the rich and more explanation-heavy literature on openings for beginners that is out there. My favorite in my unjustifiably large library of opening books is Chess Openings by Basman: it is out of print but if you can get it it is well-worth the effort. I now use Chess Openings for Black, Explained as a reference to find out how a great player would defend against my white repertoire.

In sum, a superlative piece of work, in all aspects. In a few years, when I am good enough, I will use it as the basis for my black repertoire.

This is an excellent reference book to build up your black repertoire. It does sidestep the overly analyzed Ruy Lopez and other double king pawn openings, as well as the very tactical openings like the Najdorf Sicilian. It is very easy to follow with numerous diagrams. One does not need a chess board and set to understand the material being presented. There is a summary of the opening lines at the end of each chapter and a complete summary at the end of the book.

From a practical standpoint, you can increase your ability to respond to the conventional openings that white will want to play. It recommends the Accelerated Dragon as your main line against 1.e4, the Nimzo-Indian and Bogo-Indian as your main lines against 1.d4. It tries to be complete by including all of the Anti-Sicilians when white avoids playing a regular Sicilian. These include the Wing Gambit with 2.b3, the 2.c3 Sicilian, the Closed Sicilian with 2.Nc3, the Grand Prix Attack with 2.f4, the Smith-Morra Gambit with 2.d4, the Wing Gambit with 2.b3, the Alapin Sicilian with 2.c3 and 3.d4.

I did find a line that I disagreed with in the Smith-Morra Gambit. This is the following opening line on page 223:

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 g6 4.cxd4 d5 5.exd5 Nf6 6.Bb5+ Nbd7 7.Nc3 Bg7 8.d6 exd6 9.Qe2+ Kf8.

Instead, black can get a much better game by castling first before capturing the d6 pawn. Black can then turn the tables and takes the pawn with check! Here is my recommendation for an improvement on this line:

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 g6 4.cxd4 d5 5.exd5 Nf6 6.Bb5+ Nbd7 7.Nc3 Bg7 8.d6 0-0 9.dxe7 Qxe7+

Black's castles cleanly. White has the isolated d pawn, which may become weak in the endgame. I believe nearly everyone would agree that black's position is objectively better. Using the 2004 Megabase from Chessbase, black scores 47% with this improved line as compared to 40% with Lev Alburt's line. Also, Shredder 8 likes this line much better and gives it a substantially better evaluation for black. This is the only recommendation in the book that I would suggest changing in a later edition.

I am still reviewing the queen pawn opening lines. These include playing the Nimzo-Indian and Bogo-Indian against 1.d4. The anti-Indian openings are included for completeness. These are

the Torre Attack, the London System, the Colle System, the Veresov Opening, the Trompowsky. GM Alburt recommends avoiding the mainline Blackmar-Diemer Gambit variations by playing the Hubsch Gambit.

Lev recommends the Symmetrical English against 1.c4. There are also lines for the Bird's Open with 1.f4 and the Sokolsky with 1.b4. Also, it recommends 1. ..c5 against the 1.Nf3 opening. There are even lines for the rarer fianchietto openings with 1.g3 and 1.b3. As you can see, this tries to be a complete opening

system for black.

I highly recommend this book for the player in the range of 1200 to 2000. After building up your black repertoire with lines from this book, you should gain 200 rating points.

To say that this book is unique in its presentation of material may be an overstatement. However, few opening books I have read have put forth such an effort to convey an understanding of ideas over concrete variations. The authors' reasoning behind this approach being that with a knowledge of the plans for each side in a given position the correct moves will flow naturally, eliminating the need for rote memorization. This is truly a solid way of learning how to play the opening - for it is only once the ideas are understood that the "book moves" make sense.

The book is broken into parts based on white's major opening options: 1. e4, 1. d4, and 1. c4. Less common openings are captured in a final chapter. Each chapter begins with a summary of important points. The end of the chapter has a few diagrammed quizzes to help keep the reader involved. The book concludes with 13 annotated games implementing various lines in the repertoire.

The authors chose the Accelerated Dragon and the Nimzo-Indian as the main replies to white's 1. e4 and 1. d4 respectively. However, white has a variety of less trodden paths from which to choose early on in the opening - for instance play could progress 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3. This system by white could be played to avoid the Nimzo-Indian. In this case the authors recommend the Bogo-Indian as a similarly themed (i.e. control of e4) opening companion to the Nimzo-Indian. Also, some of the recommendations for battling 1. c4 lead back into Maroczy Bind type-positions which are thoroughly analyzed in the coverage of the Accelerated Dragon. This reduces ones study time and makes for a nicely interwoven repertoire.

The book has no shortage of diagrams, sometimes up to six or seven per page. These include both the main line under discussion and also important side variations.

Those familiar with Roman Dzindzichhashvili's "Roman's Forum" series of instructional videos will find that the opening repertoire presented in this book is similar to that on some of his videos. These videos make a nice supplement to the book material.

Even if you choose not to adopt the repertoire contained within the book, the cover price is well justified just to see how an opening book should be constructed and to learn the critical ideas behind two popular openings in chess today.

I bought both this and the repertoire for white book, which I reviewed with 4 stars. This one I feel a bit sceptical about. Basically I have found i don't really like playing the Bogo or Nimzo Indian, which is a big chunk of the book, since it is the response to all d4 openings. The positions resulting from these openings are completely foreign to me and seem like they are taking too long to adjust to. Other opening reccomendations seem good though! The accelerated dragon is generally reccomended all around, and it is covered quite thoroughly here. But you can take what you want and ignore the rest.

This book an an excellent opening manual for beginner and intermediate chess players. I agree with most all the praise AND the criticisms of previous reviewers. The book has plusses and minuses, but given it's purpose and it's intended audience, the plusses outweigh the minuses, in my opionion.

PLUS: The book is a *complete* repertoire for black. It covers responses to almost all of Whites possible opening moves (including anti-Sicilians, Cole, London, Torre, Trompowsky, Sokolsky, Bird, English, 1.Nf3, 1.g3, etc.)

MINUS: Being only one not-so-dense-volume (with a lot of space devoted to overviews of opening theory, diagrams, photos, biographical snippets etc.) it cannot possibly cover every line in depth, cannot give alternative lines, cannot analysis and explain everything etc. etc. It's a bare-bones repertoire-- a good starting point. I'd prefer that it had been produced as three separate volumes (1.e4, 1.d4, flank openings) with three times the content, but that would have defeated the purpose of the book: a more concise repertoire that can be digested (and memorized) without years of study.

PLUS: The repertoire choices seem very good to me. I took the time to check most (not all) of the lines with a computer and large database and they held up in all regards. The various black lines fit together excellently to reduce the amount of study needed-- and without compromising too much on their objective quality. The treatment of the double-barrelled Nimzo-Bogo-Indian anti- 1.d4 weapon is excellent. I love those choices. Top notch stuff.

MINUS: I'm not completely sold on the hyper-accelerated Dragon with it's inescapable Maroczy bind, which is used not only vs. 1.e4, but also against 1.c4 (with White's initiative, of course)-- but on the other hand, I really can't come up with much better that meets the simultaneous demands of being 1)unquestionably sound 2)reasonably dynamic 3)reasonably easy to understand, assimilate, memorize-- ie. suitable for beginner-intermediate players or those who don't have the time or inclination to master a more complex, theory-laden repertoire. Personally, I prefer the Classical Sicilian or the Kan, but either of those would present more anti-Sicilian problems, would be inconsistent with the anti-English lines, and would substantially complicate and enlarge the repertoire.

PLUS: The book gives fairly lengthy, but superficial, overiews of the various alternative black systems-- their historical development, the type of positions they lead to, etc. etc. This is good stuff for beginning students of the game.

MINUS: This takes up a lot of space which would perhaps be better devoted to more details on the actual repertoire. A book like Seirawan's Chess Openings does a much better job of introducing the openings for beginners, IMHO-- but it's an entire book, of course.

PLUS: The book has MANY diagrams which make it easy for beginning-intermediate players to visualize and assimilate the various lines given. The "memory markers" have been noted by previous reviewers-- I think they work: your mileage may vary.

MINUS: While the various lines are clearly laid out there is a definite need for more explanation of each opening's general positional characteristics, typical macro and micro strategies and tactics and endgame themes. I believe Alburt and Chernin's "Pirc Defense" does a much better job in that regard. Then again, that is a whole book devoted to one defense only-- not a complete repertoire-- therefore it has the space to go into much more detail. Too much of "Chess Openings for Black" is a recitation of lines without sufficient explanation, and without longer and more deeply annotated exemplary games.

To sum up, the book aims to introduce opening theory in general and provide a complete and succinct opening Black repertoire for beginning-intermediate players --and the fact that it succeeds at that aim is both the source of it's strengths and the cause of it's weaknesses. There is simply no way an opening repertoire book can be complete AND succinct AND and the same time be completely detailed and thoroughly satisfying explanation-wise. Can't be done.

Personally, I needed to get my anti- 1.d4 act together, so I'm utilizing the book primarily for the Nimzo and Bogo-Indian and anti- Cole, Tromp, Torre etc. stuff and sticking with my Sicilian Kan which I have spent more time with developing. Also, I've settled on playing 1...e5 vs. 1.c4, which doesn't make for as tight and streamlined a repertoire as the one in this book, of course. I just can't resist striking out in the center and avoiding "the bind"!!

"Openings for black explained" is a repertoire-book for the second player concentrating on the Accelerated Dragon against 1. e4, the Nimzo- and Bogo-Indian against 1. d4 and the symmetrical English against 1. c4/1. Nf3. There are also interesting suggestions against others lines as the Torre,

the Colle, the Tromp, Veresov, all the Anti-sicilians etc.

With more than 500 pages of content, we could imagine this book was filled with material - and indeed it is. A little problem is that some of the material could have been much shorter, for example the history on possible defences against 1. d4. Who really cares for an overview about the other openings in a

repertoire-book?

As for the repertoire, I think it is quite good chosen for the average player, while even players with a rating around Elo 2100 and up may find interesting new ideas and lots of novelties. Those alone are well worth the money for the

book in my eyes. I think the treatment of the Nimzo- and Bogo-Indian is especially well chosen with the 4. ...Nc6 against the Classical in the Nimzo-Indian becoming more and more popular as it can also be reached from the Black Knights Tango.

I am unsure if the choice of the Accelerated Dragon will suit everybody. It surely is not to my liking but, of course, it is hard to whet the appetite for everyone. I think it is because I find it too hard to play for a win with it against lower-rated opponents. In the Maroczy-bind, there are just too many

ways for white to aim for an ending with opposite-color bishops.

I am quite sure, Jonathan Rowson could have held the draw rather easily in his game against Malakhov, Selfloss 2004. But instead of simplifying into an early

opposite-color bishop middle-/endgame, he tried too hard to make his bishop-pair work and lost in the end due to Malakhov's good technique. To put it in a nutshell: I do not have this "natural feeling" for the Accelerated Dragon, but play the Nimzo-Indian from time to time and have found several good ideas

I had not seen before. And I like the way those ideas and novelties are presented and explained.

While most of the repertoire is rather solid, this attitude changes when it comes to face the Tromp. Here, the authors suggest 1. d4 Nf6, Bg5 c5 which after 3. Bxf6 leads to a pawn-structure that can be difficult to handle for beginners. In my eyes, 2. ...e6 would have been a better choice fitting

perfectly to the chosen solid repertoire.

It is quite interesting to notice that the authors suggest a more classical white-square set-up with Nf6, e6, Bb4 against 1. d4-systems and black-square set-ups with g6, Bg7 and c5

against most of the other systems. One might speculate if this is a matter of taste or if it is a contradiction in itself? Perhaps, it would be more "logical" (whatever this means) to suggest a repertoire based on the French and Nimzo-Indian a la Kortchnoi or the Sicilian Dragon and the Kings Indian a la Golubow as they lead to similar pawn-structures. But in practice, it seems more to be a matter of taste. It is funny that my experience shows that most d4-players have difficulties against dynamic defences and e4-players do not cope that well

with more static/strategical defences. Obviously, the authors see matters differently and that is great! Likings, tastes and styles are so different - also in chess! - as life is rich!

All in all, here you will find high-quality material that will keep you going for long. If you play only one opening from those presented, you should strongly consider to buy this 550 pages-volume because of the many new ideas and lots of novelties. If you want to add some more solid lines to your

repertoire - which can be especially useful when facing stronger opposition - this book is a must buy! Four stars instead of five, because some of the Accelerated Dragon-lines might give you difficulties playing for a full point against lower-rated opponents. Perhaps, giving sharper alternatives would have been possible as John Watson does in his "Play the French", but this might have led to additional 500 pages...?! Nevertheless: a very fine effort!

PS: In the Nimzo-Indian they miss out 1. d4 Nf6, c4 e6, Nc3 Bb4, Nf3 followed by either Bg5 or g3 or Qb3. Those are independent lines and mostly do not transpose to the other chapters. Chris Ward's "Nimzo-Indian Kasparov Variation" might be of help. And I could not find a single recommendation for Black against the Catalan which does not necessarily transpose to the Bogo-Indian. A hint for the next edition?!

PS: e4-players will be looking forward for "Chess Openings for White explained" written by the same authors! This will be issued in October this year. A question for the authors: what about d4-players? ;-)

This is a big book, but there is a lot less text than you'd expect in 552 pages. Three, four or even five diagrams appear on most pages, and while diagrams are helpful to those who want to study without a board, most players use Fritz or another program/coach when studying. There are also lots of large blue boxes which usually just repeat a line from the text in bold print. One blue box is filled with the astounding news that: "The Nimzo is characterized by 3 - Bb4." There are many photos: Ken Smith in his top hat is the prize-winner. Additionally, there are several pages that promote Lev Alburt's other books.

The subtitle on the front cover is "A Complete Repertoire". The main defenses recommended are the Nimzo-Indian and Bogo-Indian and the Accelerated Dragon Sicilian. The Accelerated Dragon set-up with c5 and g6 is recommended against 1.c4, 1. Nf3 and 1. g3, too. The Bird (1. f4) and the Sokolsky (1. b4) get their own brief chapters as the authors' recommendations for those openings don't fit into either the Accelerated Dragon or Nimzo-Bogo systems.

The first three chapters are an extended Introduction. Chapter 4 is a short "history" of 1. e4 and, while mildly interesting, seems out of place in a repertoire book. (Chapter 20 does the same thing, in an even less engaging manner, for the closed openings.) By the time you get to the Accelerated Dragon, you're on page 57. On page 62, an error in analysis already appears.

The line goes: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cd 4. Nd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 00 8. f3 Qb6. The authors claim that White has no adequate defense to the loss of a pawn (and repeat the claim on page 92 in a position reached by transposition). However: 9. Bb3 Ne4 10. Nd5 Qa5+ 11. c3 Nc5 12. Nc6 dc 13. Ne7+ Kh8 14. Nc8 is equal.

An annoying feature of the book is the "Memory Markers" section at the end of each chapter of analysis. These are generally snippets of analysis and perhaps a tactic (with the usual profusion of diagrams) which have been artificially relocated rather than appearing in the main body of the text where they ought to be.

More troubling, especially for a repertoire book, are the many instances of analysis that end with: "Play is about equal." or " Black is fine." or " The players agreed to a draw." Most students want and need more than that. Why is Black fine? What are the plans now? What if your opponent doesn't agree to a draw? What happened to "Explained" in the title?

Lack of explanation (and, frankly, work on the part of the authors) shows up again in the too brief coverage of Larsen's opening (1. b3). Larsen's is sound and is seen quite often. One line they recommend: 1. Nf3 c5 2. b3 d6 3. Bb2 e5 is sharp and complex. Unfortunately, the analysis ends after those three moves with the comment: "If you begin to worry about such minor openings, your overall opening preparation must already be very good!" This is not the treatment I expect from a repertoire book.

On the positive side, the book is not riddled with errors in analysis, and the systems the authors promote generally hang together. Chapter 29 covers 4. Bd2 in the Nimzo-Indian. I've seen books on the Nimzo that don't even mention that move, so the authors should get a point for completeness. And the coverage of openings where White does not allow the Nimzo-Indian or Bogo-Indian, such as the Trompowsky and Torre, seems adequate.

But, overall, the book has too much padding and not enough meat. There are only thirteen illustrative games despite the wide range of openings presented. Too much analysis ends too soon. Dzindzichashvili has done sloppy work before (check out his videos). But Alburt, in particular, has done better work; this book just takes him down the path of trading on his illustrious career. The authors hint already at a second edition; if you're interested in this material, I'd recommend waiting for it.

This is a repetoire book, not a games collection, not a treatise. From a repetoire book I want to know what to play in each situation and what kind themes arize when I do. And this one does just that: it is an excellent repetoire book. Mine is already tattered. I use this book a LOT. I buy other books to complement this one.

What makes it good is the presentation: lots of diagrams, good summaries, good "quick review" pages. Each chapter has its own outline of variation with page numbers to lines. These are slightly abbreviated and are awesome for quick reference and self-testing.

When you evaluate the choice of lines, you'll always find a few places you disagree. Since this is somewhat inevitable, I don't think it's fair. A repetoire author MUST advocate something and making choices means some people feel their pet line is excluded. You buy this kind of book because you WANT this. These authors deliver.

And mostly, they have a consistent criteria for why they chose the lines they did. They want to prepare you comprehensively, so you have a something to play against anything that's thrown at you. This means covering the anti-sicilians and all the d4 deviations. They do. They also insist that the lines be technically sound. Mostly they succeed, but I'm a little suspect on their response to the Alapin. They also, generally, want lines that lead to middlegames with clear themes, and best of all, these themes are often similar across divergent openings. There's lots of cross polination here. Finally, the usually want openings with compact theory, which is good for club players.

There are a few flaws relative to the above criteria, but in a work this ambitious, it's inevitable. I thought the Nimzo as the main defense to d4 is reasonable, but it's breaks their "compact" rule since there are nine (!) different plans for white on move four. And as I said, the way they respond to the Alapin, delayed Alapin, or Smith-Morra leaves me a little uneasy. There also some dumb chapters on the history of e4 and the history of closed openings. Useless filler. The chapter on illustrative games has 13 games. Why bother? It's clear you need to supplement this book with games based opening books, so don't give me a token gesture, admit it and recommend some books.

Overall, quite an impressive undertaking. This is surely the benchmark to compare repetoire books against. I'd be very happy to see copy-cats adopting the basic format and presentation, but putting their own spin on what they advocate.

This is a nice book with a good solid repertoire for black. It isn't too flashy and isn't likely to score any miniatures, but you will never have to give this up. I get a book like this for completeness. If someone lashes out a line like the London for instance, it's nice to have a nice easy system to learn for black. I also like to learn these solid systems and have them as a fall back for when my risky lines take beating after beating. I can always go back to these openings without fear of refutations. Another good thing about these particular variations (Sicilian Accelerated Dragon/Nimzo Indian) is that these defenses are assymetrical. There are no exchange variations or positions in general that lead to pawn structures that grind down to a dull draw. These can be played all the way out without fear of a forced draw by the unambitous white player. Don't get me wrong white can get equality, but equality and a drawn position aren't the same thing. Just A Few Of My Thoughts ... Thanks