Customer Reviews

The Complete Alekhine (Batsford Chess Library)

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

 

 

Graham Burgess writes a fine book, which both presents the virtues of Alekhine's Defense, while pointing out the white lines that make it a challenge to play. He does not try to make up frothy generalities about the theory, recognizing that the different variations can lead to very different treatments subject to case-by-case analysis. I am a B player, who found this book both easy to use and substantive. The Alekhine is a fun, quirky and very complex opening. I added it back to my blitz arsenal after reading this book.

The Complete Akekhine contains over 240 pages of well documented material on the virtues of this system for Black (1.e4 Nf6). It's not an easy defence to master however. Invariably, the Knight on f6 is forced to several different squares by pawn thrusts on White's part on many occasions. This is a double edged sword. White either ends up getting his advanced pawns picked off or develops a strong enough initiative that suffocates Black. I've had varied success with it, but seem to do better in Blitz games where my opponent has less time to come up with more solid moves. I can definately see the potential though and i recommend this book to anyone looking to avoid the Ruy Lopez, Giuoco Piano, King's Gambit or if you're tired of using or unfamiliar with the French, Caro-Kann, Sicilian, Pirc or the Modern defences. It's certainly challenging and fun.

I loved this book. The thing is, it's rather old and might be out of date (I'm sure it is). Burgess is a very thorough writer on the openings.

You can consider this book as a must-buy for players who use the Alekhine against 1.e4.