Customer Reviews

A Complete Defense For Black

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Be aware this book claims to offer a universal response to any move made by white. The move it advocates is 1...Nc6. While Nc6 has some credibility in response to white's opening move of 1 e4 it is suspect for many players in response to 1 d4. The first part of the book promises to provide a guide to playing against white's first move of 1.d4 and offers grandmaster games to illustrate, HOWEVER, it takes you until page 14 of the book to realize you are a victim of a ruse! On page 14 the authors state " Readers should note that in all games, we have standardised the opening sequence as 1 d4 Nc6 2 Nf3 d5, even though several may have reached the critical positions by transposition via 1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nc6" this little revelation comes in Game 3 of the book: Teichmann-Chigorin Cambridge Springs 1904. I checked the database at Chessgames.com, Chigorin used the Chigorin defense, he played 1...d5 for this game. That changes everything! It hit me as soon as I saw them using Chigorin's name. Chigorin didn't meet 1.d4 with Nc6. He used 1...d5, that is the whole point. For the authors to try to represent this as a "transpostion" borders on deciet. Shameful!

I bought this book in a used book store out of curiosity. The idea of playing 1...Nc6 was contrary to all the dogma I learned as an aspiring chess player. As I played through the games, however, my eyes were opened to the fact that there was a lot about chess that I didn't understand. It was a case of giving up my prejudices when confronted with the facts. 1...Nc6 can make for a very playable game against just about any White opening move except 1 b4.

Here's the repetoire in a nutshell:
1 e4 Nc6 2 d4 e5 and now 3 d5 Nce7, or 3 Nf3 exd4 (Scotch Game)
1 e4 Nc6 2 Nf3 d6 (a variation of the Nimzovich Defense)
1 d4 Nc6 2 c4 e5 (I don't know if this variation has a name)
1 d4 Nc6 2 Nf3 d5 (Chigorin Defense)
1 d4 Nc6 2 d5 Ne5 (the authors call this the Bogoljubov Defense)
1 c4 Nc6 2 Nc3 e5 (English Opening)

Since the authors have doubts about the Nimzovich Defense variation 1 e4 Nc6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3, they recommend 2...e5, which allows White to opt for the Scotch Game after 3 Nf3. This is not a problem since the Scotch is very playable for Black, but it may disappoint players who thought by playing 1...Nc6 they were avoiding a 1 e4 e5 opening. After 1 e4 Nc6 2 d4 e5 3 d5 Nce7 the Black knight redploys to g6, and Black can play Bc5 or Bb4.

Since the authors think White has too many chances in the Chigorin Defense after 1 d4 Nc6 2 c4 d5 3 Nc3, they only recommend the Chigorin after 1 d4 Nc6 2 Nf3, and now 2...d5.

I was impressed that Tony Miles played some of these variations with success. The book includes some of Nimzovich's games in the pure Nimzovich Defense 1 e4 Nc6 2 d4 d5. There is a great Bogoljubov game in the Bogoljubov Defense. Author Raymond Keene included some of his own games in the Nimzovich Defense. This book fascinated me so much that I started playing 1 Nc3 sometimes with White.

(P.S. if you want to play the pure Nimzovich 1 e4 Nc6 2 d4 d5, then try Christoph Wisniewski's book Play 1...Nc6. You may also want to buy the CD from Convekta on 1...Nc6. Modern Chess Openings 15th Ed. gives Nimzovich variations 2...d5, 2...d6 and 2...e5.)