Customer Reviews

The King's Gambit as White

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

From a lifelong Kings Gambiteer, I'd have to say I was a bit let down on this book, but it's worth a gander nonetheless.

In my humble opinion, you just have to question a book whose authors have scant expreience in playing the opening which they are writing about...do a database search for Raingruber and the other one and you won't find many results where a King's Gambit is concerned.

They break everything down fine and cover each major line decently, but where a bright spot is found is the fact that they try to explain the ideas behind the varied lines so you get an idea just what is going on...if it weren't for this effort, I'd have given two stars.

What I disagree with is their conclusions and recommendations for many of the given lines...they just don't hit each line fully, leaving out chunks of theory that can be very important...I was especially let down with their treatment of the Kieseritsky.

If you want better, look to the two volume set by Soltis or better yet hunt down an old copy of 'Winning with the Kings Gambit' by Joe Gallagher...it is well worth the hunt!

In de Firmian's Modern Chess Openings, the Grandmaster writes that "the King's Gambit is part of the mythology of chess," a reminder of the romantic 19th century era of attacking chess. Often regarded as unsound at the grandmaster level, the King's Gambit is still a powerful attacking weapon for the other 99.9% of us. The authors have updated their earlier work with new analysis, sample games and tutorial questions. The text covers (in clear prose,well organized variations,readable fonts) all major lines including the Kieseritzky, Philidor, Hanstein, and Muzio lines. Although it is often said that said that the age of swashbuckling chess is over (its hard to swash when they won't buckle), and maybe it is at the higher levels, the rest of us still can learn the art of attack.