16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good chess repertoire book, October 7, 2005
This review is from: The Essential Center Counter: A Practical Guide for Black (Paperback)
The Center Counter (although I call it the Scandinavian) is one of my two defences to 1 e4 (my other is the Berlin Defence to the Ruy Lopez). And so I am glad to have a copy of Andrew Martin's recommendation for how to play this defence with Black. I like Martin's writing style, and I very much enjoyed an earlier book of his, Secret Weapons, which I read fourteen years ago. In that book, Martin taught me plenty about the Icelandic Gambit, which is reached after 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Nf6 3 c4 e6. After 4 dxe6 Bxe6 5 d4? (5 Nf3 is correct, after which Martin, quite reasonably in my opinion, advised 5...c5) 5...Bb4+, Black was already better.
In this book, Martin recommends 2...Qxd5 rather than 2...Nf6, and I think this is reasonable. There are no flaky sidelines here. After 3 Nc3, we do not see 3...Qd8 or 3...Qd6. Instead, he recommends the main line: 3...Qa5 4 d4 c6 5 Nf3 Nf6 6 Bc4 Bf5. He spends four chapters on this, and I agree that Black looks okay here.
In another chapter (I'm working backwards through his book), Martin tells us about alternate sixth moves for White, such as 6 Ne5, 6 Bd2, and 6 Bd3. I think some care is needed in answering 6 Bd2, which is recommended by John Emms. Martin wants us to try 6...Qb6 7 Bc4 Bf5 here, but Emms plays 8 Qe2, and that leaves us readers with some work to do.
In the previous chapter, we see White play Bc4 earlier. The author warns us that 4 Bc4 Nf6 5 d3 c6 6 Bd2 is one of the most dangerous lines for White. He says that 6...Qc7 is wisest here (that's probably true). And he gives some good analysis. But as Jovanka Houska has shown in a couple of recent games, White can try 7 Qe2 Bf5 (if 7...g6 8 Nf3) 8 h6 (threatening a King-side pawn storm). Once again, we readers are left with some work to do. And that's fair. There are plenty of ideas against the Center Counter, and it is up to us to be prepared for the most recent ones (especially ideas like these, which got tried after this book came out).
We also see some other fourth moves by White, including 4 Nf3, 4 g3, and the infamous Mieses Gambit, 4 b4. Martin explains that after 4 b4 Qxb4 5 Rb1 Qd6 6 Nf3 Nf6 7 d4, Black ought not play a passive move like 7...c6, but either 7...e6 or 7...a6 (with the idea of choosing between ...e6 and ...g6 next). And he gives an Awful example of what can happen to Black if he stays too passive.
The author warns us that White can try 3 Nf3, which is somewhat tricky as well. He advises us to play 3...Nf6 4 d4 Bg4 5 Be2 e6. But I do not like this for Black. In fact, we've transposed into a Portuguese Variation here, which generally arises from the 2...Nf6 Center Counter (1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Nf6 3 d4 Bg4 4 Nf3 Qxd5 5 Be2 e6). I think that once again, we readers have some work to do after 6 h3.
The part of the book that I like best is the opening section, where we see how to defend against four unusual second moves for White, 2 Nf3, 2 e5, 2 Nc3, and 2 d4.
2 Nf3 is the Tennison Gambit, and is something like a reversed Budapest Defence. White has to struggle to equalize (but that's okay in some club level games). After 2...dxe4 3 Ng5 (even 3 Ne5 may be playable here) 3...Bf5 4 Nc3 Nf6, White can play 5 Qe2 Nc6 (after which White can try 6 Qb5 or 6 Ngxe4). But that makes no sense to me. The whole idea for White is to continue in what Martin calls "rubbishy" style with 5 Bc4 e6 6 f3. I'd be leery of playing 6...exf3 here, and so is Martin, who recommends 6...Bc5 and shows how this gets White in trouble. If I were White, I would continue with 7 Ngxe4 Nxe4 8 Bb5+ c6 9 fxe4, but obviously Black stands better.
2 Nc3 is the Dunst Opening, and that's certainly playable for White. Martin gives us 2...dxe4 3 Nxe4 Bf5 (this sure looks good to me). At this point, White can play 4...Ng3, but Martin explains that this isn't really a Caro-Kann. Black may wind up saving a tempo by playing c5 directly at some point. So White tends to try 4 Qf3 Bg6, and Martin shows some analysis of this, including the interesting 5 h4.
2 d4 is the infamous and dubious Blackmar Gambit. After 2...dxe4 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 f3 exf3, White can play 5 Nxf3 c6 6 Bc4 Bg4 7 0-0 e6, after which Black is clearly better. Or White can try giving away a second pawn with 5 Qxf3 Qxd4 6 Be3 (hoping for something like 6...Qb4 7 0-0-0 Bg4? 8 Nb5 with a big advantage) 6...Qg4! 7 Qf2 e5.
The Scandinavian is indeed playable. By the way, it has been a favorite of some very strong Women chess players. And I recommend this book.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Simple, instructive and practical, September 20, 2005
This review is from: The Essential Center Counter: A Practical Guide for Black (Paperback)
Simple, instructive and practical. That is the best description for this book. Andrew Martin has written a good introduction to the Center Counter (Scandinavian). The book gives you a good perspective on how to play the opening (the main line with Qa5 and early deviations).
I have only found a few invaluable faults. As example in the intruduction it is said that the move orden would always be c6, Bf5, e6, Nd7, Bb4 and Ngf6, but in almost 95% games in the book, the move order estar with Ngf6. Anyway I understant the author message.
Highly recommended if you play or want to learn the Center Counter.
Best Regards
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Bad and an expensive repertoire book on the Scandinavian, with a lot of writing errors., May 7, 2007
This review is from: The Essential Center Counter: A Practical Guide for Black (Paperback)
There are few opening books about the Scandinavian, this is one of them. The best part of this book is the section where Martin presents off-beat moves from the main line 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5. 4.d4. Martin analyzes are sometimes confusing. Sometimes he includes a lot of detailed variants with explanations, but he also introduces variants with minimal explanations. I agree with Chesscafe and Silman's site, when reviewing this book, that this book is most suitable for players rated less than 2000.
The layout of this book is also rather caotic. Sometimes there is a diagram in front of a chapter showing the variant discussed, but sometimes not. Some chapters are ended with a summary, some not. Some chapters include some strategically ideas, some not, etc.
This book is full of errors.
Many diagrams are not correct at all. Some examples: In one diagram a pawn has the symbol of a bishop, so black has exactly three bishops on the board. In another diagram one of blacks knight has mysteriously changed to a pawn, so black has 9 pawns on the board (after seven moves). In a third diagram blacks bishop stands on f5, but the square colour is black, etc, etc.
One of the most horrible things about this book are all the typewriting errors. If you look at the index part in Amazon's "Search inside" of this book, you will se "Qxc5" instead of "Qxd5. And there are numerous of errors like this in this book. It is obvious that this is a rush job from Martin, perhaps with only one purpose - to earn money.
This is also a rather expensive book, compared with similar repertoire books from Gambitbooks, Batsford and Everyman. The book is small with large font; we should then expect high quality, so it's definitely not worth the price.
It is written few books about this opening, and I think Martin should be very happy for that. With other and more alternatives on this opening, I think this book soon will be forgotten.
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