How to Beat 1 D4: A Sound and Ambitious Repertoire Based on the Queen's Gambit Accepted [Paperback]

James Rizzitano (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2005

Rizzitano, author of Understanding Your Chess, presents a full repertoire for Black against 1 d4, based on the Queen's Gambit Accepted (QGA). The QGA is an extremely popular opening amongst players of all levels, as it gives Black free development and counterpunching potential, especially if White takes up the challenge and tries to set up a broad pawn centre. The QGA's soundness is shown by the number of top-class grandmasters who have used it in critical games - it was a key factor in Short's victory over Karpov, and has even been used by Garry Kasparov at world-championship level. Rizzitano has chosen to recommend dependable main lines of the QGA, and throughout emphasizes how Black can create winning chances and White's typical ways to go wrong. The repertoire is completed by a set of weapons against White's alternatives to offering the Queen's Gambit, ranging from the stolid Colle to the weird Hodgson Attack and the reckless Blackmar-Diemer.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Gambit Publications specialises in chess and has an unrivalled reputation for originality and editorial excellence. The company is owned and staffed entirely by leading chess masters and grandmasters.

About the Author

James Rizzitano is a strong international master who dominated chess in the New England region during a 14-year period from 1976 to 1989 - he won 157 out of 336 events in which he competed. His career highlights include victories over Alburt, Benjamin, Benko, Christiansen, Dlugy, I.Gurevich and Wolff, and exciting draws with de Firmian, Larsen, Speelman, and the legendary former world champion Tal. Rizzitano has recently made a return to competitive chess.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Gambit Publications (August 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1904600336
• ISBN-13: 978-1904600336
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #719,821 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars World-Class Opening Repertoire Book!, November 10, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: How to Beat 1 D4: A Sound and Ambitious Repertoire Based on the Queen's Gambit Accepted (Paperback)

'How To Beat 1 d4' is a world-class opening repertoire book! The opening coverage is divided into two sections: Part 1 (roughly two-thirds of the book) features the Queen's Gambit Accepted and Part 2 (roughly one-third of the book) features Queen's Pawn Games (White plays without c4). These openings include the Hodgson Attack (1 d4 d5 2 Bg5), Veresov Opening (1 d5 d5 2 Nc3), London System (1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Bf4), King's Fianchetto (1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 g3), Torre Attack (1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Bg5), Colle System (1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 e3), Stonewall Attack (1 d4 d5 2 e3 Nf6 3 Bd3 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 f4), and the always-controversial Blackmar-Diemer Gambit (1 d4 d5 2 e4 dxe4 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 f3) - I should point out that this opening absorbs a tremendous beating from Rizzitano's analysis and will send its fans scurrying back to the drawing board.

'How to Beat 1 d4' offers the first comprehensive, authoritative coverage of several of these Queen's Pawn Games by a well-respected titled player - James Rizzitano earned the World Chess Federation International Master title back in the early 1980's. The idea is somewhat similar to an earlier Gambit offering for King's Pawn players - John Emms' excellent 'Play the Open Games as Black'. The difference is that here Rizzitano also covers the Queen's Gambit Accepted as Black versus 1 d4 - Emms' book was directed toward White's attempts to avoid the Ruy Lopez (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5). The layout of the book is excellent - Gambit has gone with the larger book format and included plentiful diagrams - I think this trend was begun with the earlier Gambit book 'The English Attack' by Tapani Sammalvuo.

Rizzitano is an excellent writer; his earlier Gambit book 'Understanding Your Chess' is very highly-regarded. After reading a few pages of this book it was apparent that this guy is all business - the bibliography is among the most comprehensive I have ever seen in an opening book, and there is also a complete Index of Variations at the end of the book to make it easy to locate a specific line. Rizzitano is not afraid to take on anybody and he backs up his evaluations with variations and good explanations. I also like the fact that he appears to go out of his way to give credit to earlier opening book authors for their ideas. Another nice feature is that there are a lot of correspondence games quoted in this book - this is a big weakness in many other opening books, so it is nice to see that Rizzitano used one of the major electronic correspondence chess databases as one of his game sources.

I think this is one of the best opening books of the young 21st century and I am looking forward to more books by this author. Congratulations to James Rizzitano and Gambit Publications on another excellent book!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Exemplar of Chess Opening Books, March 25, 2006

By 

T. Bronzin "Gentleman Tony" (Newark, DE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Beat 1 D4: A Sound and Ambitious Repertoire Based on the Queen's Gambit Accepted (Paperback)

Rizzitano's "How to Beat 1 d4" is an example of how opening repetoire books should be written. The reader can tell how meticulously the author approached this work- all the relevant analysis, along with many suggested improvements from the author himself. The book presents the Queen's Gambit Accepted as the centerpiece of the repetoire, and also offers lines against all of White's second-move alternatives. A welcome bonus is analysis of 3 e3 e5 in the QGA, which allows Black to play alternatives such as 4...Bg4 in the main line after 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 e3. A great work.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, May 10, 2007

By 

Alex Steger - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Beat 1 D4: A Sound and Ambitious Repertoire Based on the Queen's Gambit Accepted (Paperback)

This is an amazing book, extremely detailed and thorough. It is a totally complete repertoire against 1.d4. I don't know what the last reviewer is talking about. Contrarily, this one of the most complete and thorough opening repertoire books I've ever seen.

This is your road map when white plays 1.d4. Keep in mind that it's a repertoire book, not an instructional manual on how to play every single move in every single position. (But it comes close!) One thing the book lacks is an "Illustrative Games" section. If this is your only reference, then you will need to either find a supplemental book, well annotated QGA games, or a coach to help you work through the positions once the analysis stops.

The good news is that he basically quotes his sources on every book, game fragment, and annotator. If you want to see more, just pull the game up on your computer and have at it. This is a window into a titled player's opening preparation, so be prepared to do some work to digest the material.

I think this is good for players rated 1800+, because it can be an overwhelming amount of material at some points. It is definitely *not* the "Easy Guide" to the QGA.

I am looking forward to seeing more from the meticulously thorough Rizzitano.