Customer Reviews

The Dynamic English : The aggresive player's guide to a traditional chess opening

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am not a master (and probably never will be), nor do I teach students. I am merely an improving amateur player, who plays mostly Internet chess, and my goal is the giddy heights of expert level. I am also a hopelessly addicted purchaser of chess books. I own and have read the books I review and hope that my 'amateur's perspective' of a given title will prove useful to others. On with the review!

This is an opening repertoire book for the player of the white pieces, based around the English Opening (1.c4!). The author is Tony Kosten, a grandmaster with an Elo rating of 2522 at time of writing this review. According to the back-cover blurb, he comes from England but is now based in France where he is a trainer for the national chess team. My copy was published in 2001 and is 144 pages long.

The opening is presented through a 'variation tree' method, which I prefer to a 'game based' method, as I find this makes a repertoire clearer and easier to absorb. Nevertheless many games and game fragments are interspersed throughout the text. There is an index of variations at the back of the book.

In the introduction, Kosten states that the English is good for lazy players, as it is possible to adopt a piece set-up and subsequent plan sometimes regardless of black's moves. (Actually, upon seeing those words I felt uneasy - not another lame 'no-think' opening system! Fortunately, as I read further I realised that my fears were unfounded). The author goes on to say that certain key positions in the opening can occur through many dissimilar move orders, which renders rote learning of variations futile anyway. For Kosten, white's basic idea in the English is control of the d5 square and that to this end "... I recommend the following approach: that White play 1.c4, 2.g3, 3.Bg2 and 4.Nc3, in this order, and then decide on his subsequent moves depending on Black's reply, and on the best piece formation he needs to adopt to counter Black's chosen set-up".

Kosten almost invariably gives 2.g3 as the second move for white, instead of the more usual 2.Nc3. His idea in doing so is to avoid certain heavily theoretical lines of the English, such as the Hedgehog. There is nothing 'gimmicky' about this repertoire - 2.g3 is a solid choice that is used by many English specialists. The author notes that although 2.g3 is a committal move, in the sense that white is now obligated to fianchetto the king's bishop, the benefits (avoidance of some strong lines for black) outweigh any drawbacks incurred.

One feature of this book I really like is the clear and logical organization of the material, which is split into 3 broad sections. Part 1 deals with 1 ... e5; Part 2 with 1 ... c5; Part 3 with all other replies to 1.c4. Each section has a short introductory chapter discussing move orders, followed by individual chapters dedicated to each black set-up and how to respond to it. The great thing here is that at the start of each chapter Kosten takes some time to explain, with the aid of diagrams, some key features of the set-up. As an amateur player I jump for joy at this sort of thing - an explanation of typical middlegame structures arising from the opening, and guidance on how to play them! It is amazing that so few repertoire books do this. However, as helpful as this is, it is a little uneven in the Dynamic English. Some chapters have more of this strategic explanation than others, but even then it doesn't extend beyond a few pages and I'm always left wanting more. I would love to see a revised second edition containing much more of Kosten's advice about pawn structures etc.

To give you a feel for the book, lets look briefly at Section 1. Firstly, 2 pages deal with general move order issues arising from 1.c4 e5, and then it's onto chapter 1 'The Botvinnik System'. This is a set-up for white when black plays the moves 2...Nc6 and 3...g6. Here Kosten spends around 6 pages discussing strategic ideas using diagrams and game fragments. As I noted earlier, this is great stuff. This is followed by around 14 pages of opening theory, mixed with a little bit of extra strategical advice. This is one of the longer chapters in the book, justified I think by the fact a Botvinnik System setup is used in other areas of the repertoire as well, such as when playing against the Dutch Defense.
The remaining chapters in the first section are;
2.Grand Prix Attack Reversed (white tries to reach a Botvinnik system, 5 pages of theory);
3.Three Knights System with ...Bc5 (2 pages of strategy, 4 pages of theory);
4.Three Knights System with 4...Bb4 (similar to previous system, 3 pages of theory);
5.Dragon Reversed (1 page of strategy, 6 pages of theory with a lot of strategy mixed in);
6.Keres System (1 page of strategy, 6 pages of theory);
7.Other Second Moves For Black (9 pages of theory).

Incidentally don't let the slimness of this volume fool you - having spent many hours entering these moves into Bookup, I can assure you that there is ample coverage here. Section 2, dealing with 1.c4 c5, is particularly dense with variations.

I have found the Botvinnik System to be a great weapon, especially against Kings Indian Defense players, who often stubbornly stick to standard KID moves and tactics, failing to take into account the subtleties of White's setup. However as Black I have come across some White players who attempt to play the Botvinnik against everything - not a good idea! It seems to work best for me when black has fianchettoed the king's bishop and adopted a d6, e5 pawn structure.

An interesting part of the repertoire is that dealing with 1...e6 and 1...c6, where black is attempting to play a non-English opening such as the Queens Gambit Declined or the Slav. Although technically the opening will not be an English Opening after either of these moves Kosten mentions in the introduction to the book that he is loath to simply state that these moves are outside the scope of the work, so he provides some lines to deal with this eventuality - some of which involve gambiting a pawn. I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with this treatment, but I like the way that it keeps the game on white's 'terms' rather than permitting transposition to a totally different opening, such as the Slav.

Overall I found this book to be extremely well written and instructive. The English Opening is a major opening, and that means that as your chess develops it can grow with you. Where Kosten really succeeds with his book is in providing a 'theory-lite' key to the English by use of the early bishop fianchetto, enabling avoidance of several heavily analyzed lines.

Earlier I favorably reviewed another white repertoire book, Summerscale's 'Killer Chess Repertoire For White'. I think in comparison with that book the Dynamic English is better organized and more complete in its coverage, but the variations themselves are more complex and place greater demands on one's positional skills.

GM Tony Kosten has made a brilliant little book about English Opening. It's nice to see that the author actually plays the stuff he's teaching and that he wants to share the knowledge he's been gathering through the years.

Ok, it might not be the most complete English Opening book and the author admits it. But, it's a repertoire book, and basically white's formation is based on 1. c4 2. g3 3. Bg2 4. Nc3, so maybe not the most mainstream English.

This book is divided into three parts:

I Reversed Sicilian 1...e5

1 The Botvinnik System: 2..Nc6 and 3...g6
2 Grand Prix Attack Reversed: 2...Nc6 and 3...f5
3 The Three Knights System: 4... Bc5
4 The Three Knights System: 4...Bb4
5 Dragon Reversed: 2...Nf6 and 3...d5
6 The Keres System: 2...Nf6 and 3...c6
7 Other Second Moves for Black

II Symmetry 1...c5

8 The Symmetrical Variation: ...g6 and ...Nc6
9 The Rubinstein Variation: 2...Nf6 and 3...d5
10 The Keres-Parma Variation: ...e6 and ...d5

III Other first moves for black

11 The Pseudo-Grünfeld System: 1...Nf6 and 2...d5
12 The Dutch: 1...f5
13 1...g6
14 1...c6
15 1...e6
16 The English Defence: 1...b6

An index of variations is also included.

I strongly recommend this book for everyone willing to learn the English Opening.

I have been playing the English regularly for several years, but never played the 2. g3 lines until I read this book. Now I play 2. g3 regularly and thereby avoid many of the heavily analysed variations. As far as I can see, this is the way I should have been playing the English all along. If you want to know everything about the English, this book isn't for you; but if you want a good, aggressive, relatively simple way to play this opening, this book will point you in the right direction.

Anyone starting on the English Opening, or even considering it, should get this book immediately! Rather than simply list dry lines and variations, Kosten goes into detail about the broad, long-term goals of both Black and White in the major systems of the Carls` Bremen System that he seems to prefer. He rarely deviates from 1.c4 2.g3 3.Bg2, but as this is a very good set of starting moves for White most of the time (which he has played at Grandmaster level himself for years), there isn`t really much trouble. He talks about certain desirable formations and plans that are not dependant on memorising move orders or dependant on your opponent playing exactly the moves you have memorised. The book is fast-paced, as it is short, and doesn`t dally around much. Without a doubt, this is the best book I have ever seen on a chess opening!

Excellent book for anyone rated U2000 and below. Stress is on understanding the resulting middlegame positions that occur after 2.g3 instead of rote learning of lines. There are also some gems that help you understand key issues concerning the f4/f5 squares and d4/d5 squares, knowing when to make exchanges on these squares is fundamental in understanding how to play the English. The investment made in studying this book will reap big rating points.

This book provides a really pratical approach to play the english opening at the amateur level. Using lines in the book i was able to get always good positions out of the opening since this lines are not well known and understood at the amateur level. Another plus is that many of the proposed positions share common themes and tatics so they form a coherent whole. Anyway this book is a little bit thin for its price and while this can be a base for a GM reportoire ( i have seen Seirawan and Kosten himself playing this stuff ) some serious work is needed to do so especially in the 1...C5 lines and in the 1...e5 lines where white gambits his b4 pawn. The repertoire against 1..c6 and 1...e6 could have been better. This could have been the perfect work on the English if Kosten had put more efforts on it. Anyway this book is useful and is written from one that plays and understands the opening and probably is the best single book repertoire work on the english as well.

I play the lines in this book in blitz and correspondence - no OTB tests yet, but they will be coming up next year - and the results are quite encouraging. The only rub I've discovered are in a few of the Symmetrical English lines... he just missed some move orders and gave one line that can only be played OTB, not in correspondence. Highly recommended.

This is fine repertoire book for white (i.e. for most black tries is given only one possible answer for white, the author's choice). For most important variations Kosten gives also a very brief introduction in the strategy of the typical positions which will appear later in the game. I gave only 4 stars because: there are no full games in the book, illustrating the variations; typical positions are explained very brief and not all of them are explained; some variations proposed by Kosten are not on my taste (I don't like positions with a pawn down). Overall, is a good book for starting with English.

The Dynamic English is the best repertoire book for White that I have seen. Of course, it cannot cover every variation in great depth due to space considerations, but it's clear, easy to remember, not likely to be "refuted" ever since it does not depend on one sharp tactical turn.
The English is also a good choice since most players don't prepare as much to face that with Black as they do to get ready for 1. e4 or 1. d4.
So the battle takes place on our turf and terms.
If you want a deeper analyses of the English, I can recommend the books by John Watson and Carsten Hansen. Keep in mind, though that some of Kosten's variations avoid the main lines, and so they are not covered as well elsewhere. And some variations in Kosten are considered to be Reti variations, so you'll need a book on that as well. But the Keres-Parma, the Pure Symmetrical with 5.a3, the Rubinstein, the Botwinnik setup -- you can find them in all the books.

This is a very good book for those that are thinking of taking up the English Opening. The author's foundation is the Botvinnik System (featuring the pawn triangle c4-d3-e4, Nc3, Ne2, g3/Bg2).

The idea is to lock down d5 and to slowly go for an attack on the kingside or queenside, depending on how Black plays. One thing to keep in mind is that you must be PATIENT to play these setups! Playing too "aggressively" will surely backfire.

About move orders: Kosten will ask you to begin with 1.c4 and in most cases 2.g3. If you are intent on beginning with 1.Nf3, you'll want to check out Donaldson's A STRATEGIC OPENING REPERTOIRE.

This book also features schematic diagrams in the style originated by MASTERING THE FRENCH WITH THE READ AND PLAY METHOD and commonly employed in the "Easy Guide" opening books. There should be more of these, however.

To get the most out of this book, you'll want to get something that shows illustrative (annotated!) games relating to these systems. I am not sure what to recommend on that front, however, as I no longer play these systems and played them badly when I did play them. But that is not the book's fault: one must be prepared to supplement their opening learning and at that time I wasn't.

Recommended IF you supplement it with other materials.