14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very good chess repertoire book for Black, December 18, 2005
This review is from: Ideas Behind Modern Chess Openings: Black (Batsford Chess Book) (Paperback)
I like this chess repertoire book. The lines are relatively easy to learn and for the most part, they're reasonably safe. The book is quite readable, and the games are generally recent. And the author appears to have useful advice on how to handle almost all of the popular lines that are being played against the moves he recommends.
Against 1 e4, Lane recommends the Center Counter. And he recommends the variation 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Qxd5 3 Nc3 Qd6. I think this is playable, and I think the lines Lane recommends after 4 d4 Nf6 are okay (I do wish Lane had said something about 2 d4, 2 e5, and 2 Nf3, though). Lane also gives us the option of trying the Kurajica variation, where Black answers 4 d4 with 4...g6, but I do not recommend this. I recently tried a skittles game in this line (I had White), which went: 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Qxd5 3 Nc3 Qd6 4 d4 g6 5 Nf3 Bg7 6 Nb5 Qd8 7 Bf4 Na6 8 Nc3 (Lane does not discuss this move for White). And now Black had a problem. If 8...Nb4 9 a3 Nd5 (9...Nc6 10 Nb5, or 9...Na6 10 Bxa6) 10 Nxd5 Qxd5 11 Bxc7. If 8...Nb8, White could repeat moves with 9 Nb5 or just try 9 Bc4 with an advantage. If 8...Nf6 9 Bxa6. So the game continued 8...b6 9 Bb5+ Kf8 10 Ne5 Nf6 11 Bc4 e6 12 Qf3 Rb8 13 Nc6 Bb7 14 Bxa6 after which White won easily. I'm glad I did not have Black in all this!
The author also gives us several chapters on the Chigorin. This is a solid defence, and Lane recommends it not only with 1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nc6, but with 1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nc6. And he wants us to threaten to transpose into a Chigorin against the English as well, with 1 c4 Nc6. If White plays 1 c4 Nc6 2 g3, we're advised to try 2...e5 3 Bg2 g6 4 Nc3 Bg7. Lane now gives his recommendations against 5 e3, 5 e4, 5 d3, and 5 Rb1. If I had White, I'd play 5 Nf3 here, but this ought to transpose into the line Lane gives for 5 Rb1.
Versus 1 b3, I've always played 1...d5. But Lane recommends a line which I now prefer, namely 1 b3 e5 2 Bb2 Nc6 3 e3 d6 4 Bb5 Bd7 5 Ne2 a6 6 Bxc6 Bxc6 7 0-0 Qg5. Given this, I hoped to see Lane recommend 1...e5 versus the Orangutan, 1 b4. Instead, he gives 1 b4 d5 2 Bb2 Qd6. While this seems okay, I think I'll stick with 1 b4 e5 2 Bb2 Bxb4 3 Bxe5 Nf6 here.
One opening most repertoire books don't mention is 1 g4, The Spike. And there's a good reason for it; it's inane. Still, Lane does give us a good defence against it, starting with 1 g4 d5 2 Bg2 c6. Actually, I think it is safe to play 1 g4 d5 2 Bg2 Bxg4. You merely have to make sure not to blunder by playing ...e6 at a point where Qa4+ will win your Bishop.
1 f4 is the Bird. It's often played as a Dutch with a move in hand. But that extra move rarely does White much good, and Black often takes advantage of White's early and overly committal pawn moves. Lane has a good (if unusual) line against it, starting with 1 f4 d5 2 Nf3 Nc6. But I do think that the more normal 2...Nf6 is even better. When I had to face the Bird in a tournament game, I tried 1...e5 and was lucky to win. Lane refuses to recommend this on the grounds that White can transpose into a King's Gambit. While I feel that Black is fine in the King's Gambit, I'll agree with Lane here, as I think that Black is better off avoiding 1 f4 e5 in any case.
The author recommends some solid lines against 1 Nf3 and 1 g3 (based on 1...d5 versus both). But I am a little puzzled at his recommendation against 1 Nc3. He gives us a line starting with 1 Nc3 d5 2 e4 d4. This is probably okay, but I think it is unnecessarily tame. Worse, if we play his lines, we'll see this position not only after 1 Nc3 but after 1 e4 d5 2 Nc3. So I would prefer to see a line in which we take that pawn (maybe starting with 1 Nc3 d5 2 e4 dxe4 3 Nxe4 Bf5). In addition, White does not have to play 2 e4 after 1 Nc3 d5. With White, I'd play 2 d4 here. That does give Black a choice of getting into a French defence with 2...e6, a Caro-Kann with 2...c6, a Dutch with 2...f5, a Nimzovich after 2...Nc6, or a Veresov after 2...Nf6. This position can also arise after 1 d4 d5 2 Nc3, of course. I think Lane ought to have recommended something for Black here.
In spite of a few minor omissions that I've noted, I think this is an excellent book, and I strongly recommend it.
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