Play the Grunfeld: Detailed coverage of this Kasparov favourite [Paperback]

Yelena Dembo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2007

The Grünfeld is an exciting and dynamic answer to 1 d4, and has become very popular at all levels of chess. A major reason for this is that it has been a long-time favourite of the World’s strongest-ever chess player, Garry Kasparov, who used it many times in his numerous World Championship battles. In Play the Grünfeld, Yelena Dembo produces a comprehensive and yet workable repertoire for Black, offering a solution against each of White’s tries

Yelena Dembo is a renowned chess coach, who has taught students from over 30 countries.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Grünfeld is an exciting and dynamic answer to 1 d4, and has become very popular at all levels of chess. A major reason for this is that it has been a long-time favourite of the World’s strongest-ever chess player, Garry Kasparov, who used it many times in his numerous World Championship battles. The Grünfeld very much relies on the principles of the hypermodern school of chess: Black allows White to erect an impressive-looking centre on the assumption that in the long run it could prove to be more of a liability than an asset. Play often becomes very complex and tactical, one of the reasons the Grünfeld appeals to ambitious players.
Despite its attractions, some prospective Grünfeld players are discouraged by the necessity of needing to learn numerous different variations in such a complex opening. In Play the Grünfeld, however, opening expert Yelena Dembo circumvents this problem by producing a comprehensive and yet workable repertoire for Black, offering a solution against each of White’s tries, whether it’s a critical main line or a tricky sideline. After reading this book, you will have the required knowledge and confidence to begin playing the Grünfeld in your own games.

*Written by a renowned Grünfeld expert
*Covers all of White’s main tries
*Reveals the tactical and positional ideas for both sides

Yelena Dembo is a young International Master from Greece with numerous tournament successes to her name, including the bronze medal at the 2005 European Women’s Championship and one Grandmaster norm. She’s a renowned chess coach, who has taught students from over 30 countries. She’s also an experienced chess writer and a regular contributor to the quality publication Chess Informant. This is her first book for Everyman Chess.

About the Author

Yelena Dembo is a renowned chess coach, who has taught many students from over 30 countries. She’s also an experienced chess writer and a regular contributor to the quality publication Chess Informant.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Everyman Chess; 1st edition (June 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 185744521X
• ISBN-13: 978-1857445213
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite a good Grünfeld-repertoire, June 28, 2007

By 

Christian Hoethe (Braunschweig, Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Play the Grunfeld: Detailed coverage of this Kasparov favourite (Paperback)

With "Play the Grünfeld", Yelena Dembo has made her debut for Everyman.
At first, admittedly, I was a bit disappointed when holding the book in
my hands for the first time, because of those rather slim 192 pages. In the last months, Everyman has published "Play the Ruy Lopez" by Greet and
"The Pirc in Black and White" by Vigus both of which had much more than
300 pages for the same price. But okay, you cannot expect to have everything, though a 300 pages-book on the Grünfeld alone would have been rather cool...

Dembo writes the introduction rather enthusiastic and calls the Grünfeld
rather a counterattack than a defence, just as Adorjan did ages ago.
This makes the reader feel inspired at the very beginning already.

Then we have the variations. When I say variations, I mean it. Dembo has
avoided the usual sample games-format, but opted for the rather uncommon
tree-format. I have to admit that I was delighted by this choice as you
can find the critical variations much faster this way.

Against the modern mainline with 7. Nf3 and 8. Rb1 Dembo advocates Svidler's favourite move 9. ...b6 which is quite a good choice for a repertoire book. Its much easier to play than taking this hot pawn a2 and black has fair chances to play for a win.

Then we have 7. Nf3 followed by 8. Be3 where Dembo makes her case for
8. ...Qa5, 9. Qd2 and now 9. ...O-O. She says 9. ...Nc6 is an equal alternative that has led to equal play or perhaps even more, but does not analyze this move any further. Being played by grandmasters such as Kasparov, Svidler, Navara, Krasenkow and Sutovsky, 9. ...Nc6 seems to be the favourite choice among grandmasters. And the database-statistics seems to prove that the knightmove to c6 is the better choice indeed, regardless whether white continues with 10. Rb1 (according to Dembo the critical choice, but theoretically perfectly okay for black) or 10. Rc1. Perhaps, its even easier to play?!

Now we come to the old mainline with 4. cxd5 followed by e4, Bc4, Ne2 and Be3. Dembo counters this line giving two mainlines, the first being 10. ...Na5, the second one 10. ...Bd7, both of which seem to be very much okay for black. It is a pity that she seems to underestimate 10. h4!? giving the old and famous game Naranja-Portisch 1970 as a refutation as so many other authors did before her. This game was won rather prettily by black. But the game Li Shilong-van der Weide 2006 shows how White can improve dramatically upon the Portisch-game and pose some novel problems for black's whole concept. Of course, it must be said that there is a
solution for 10. h4 out there...

The russian system with 4. Nf3 and 5. Qb3 is the next one to talk about.
Dembo follows in the footsteps of GM and philosopher Jonathan Rowson by
recommending 7. ...Nc6 which is quite a good choice for a repertoire book
as well. It cuts down the sharp theory resulting from either 7. ...Na6 and
7. ...a6 and gives black a free game with piece play as Grünfeldeers are
used to. She gives similar good advice on how to counter most of the other
choices, but she fails to mention the line 4. Bg5 Ne4, 5. h4!? as
recommended in one of the recent SOS-books.

I got a little disappointed by her choice of the line 4. Bf4 Bg7, 5. e3 O-O (?!). Dembo argues that Black does not need to fear the pawn-grab
6. cxd5 Nxd5, 7. Nxd5 Qxd5, 8. Bxc7 because of 8. ...Na6, 9. Bxa6 Qxg2.
What is true in the line with 4. Nf3 and 5. Bf4, may not be true in this case. Following 10. Qf3 Qxf3, 11. Nxf3 bxa6 black seems to be alright because of the bishop-pair. But practice has shown that Black often has to go a long way just to reach a draw because of his structural weaknesses and the fact that it is hard to open up the position for the bishops by f6 and e7-e5. A look into the databases and recent GM-games (e.g. Radjabov-Ivanchuk) confirms just that. For those content with a draw, perhaps even against a lesser opponent, this might be alright, otherwise you will have to investigate further on your own.

Apart from this, Dembo has written quite a good book on the Grünfeld: she
has analyzed old lines in a new and fresh way and has come to different
conclusions. This alone is worth the prize for the book and deserves praise. If she is on the right track with the lines I mentioned above, only time will tell. Perhaps the readers of her book will show in their own games that Black is in good shape in all those lines?! Dembo is to the point and explains what to look out for and when to avoid drifting into passivity. Unfortunately, sometimes you feel as if she has just mixed up Adorjan, Rowson, Davies & Co. to a kind of "Best of" without always hitting the most reliable lines for Black.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Repertoire Book, August 29, 2007

By 

Mark F. Morss "Markovich" (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Play the Grunfeld: Detailed coverage of this Kasparov favourite (Paperback)

This is an excellent repertoire book for those interested in taking up the highly pricipled and dynamic Gruenfeld Defense. The book is very well organized, and the writing is both engaging and lucid. The specific recommendations, which another review has already explained in some detail, are highly topical and intelligently chosen. Dembo's writing is pointed, fresh and friendly.

Given the comprehensiveness of its coverage and its fairly frequent suggestion of alternative tries for Black, the relatively short length of this book should certainly not be considered a fault. It's not the purpose of a work such as this, after all, to be an encyclopedia. Indeed its conciseness makes it even more useful as a playbook, suitable for being carried to tournaments and being reviewed before critical rounds, or for taking to work and studying at lunch hour.

The tree of variations presented here, and such ideas as are presented verbally, will be quite useful to any moderately strong club player on up through IM or GM. It is not true that this is a work only for IMs, but it certainly is not intended to be a first Gruenfeld book for the weaker class of club player.

The book's admirable brevity has been achieved by omitting much of the verbal explanation that might well have included in a more elementary work. For example, the author will say of some rather complicated terminal position, "Black is equal" or "Black is better," but she will rarely indicate the relative strengths and weaknesses, or point to the respective plans of the two sides. For another example, the introduction is devoted not to the basic ideas of the Gruenfeld, or even why anyone might want to play it, but to a quick survey of the opening's historical development. How many amateur players, one wonders, need to know that three great regional "schools," the Hungarian, the Czech and the Israeli, have contributed to the Gruenfeld's theoretical development?

Dembo is probably right when she claims that anyone who knows and understands the lines she presents here will be as well prepared to play the Gruenfeld as any IM. But for many less expert players, this work alone will be insuffient for them to achieve quite that much understanding. But even so, it will be useful.

In balance, Dembo is to be thanked for doing putting together, and presenting clearly and concisely, a comprehensive tree of variations sufficient to anyone's taking up the strong and exciting Gruenfeld Defense, even at a high level.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Play the Grunfeld!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, April 3, 2009

By 

Mike W. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Play the Grunfeld: Detailed coverage of this Kasparov favourite (Paperback)

This is a great book, It covers everything that you need to know to play
the Grunfeld with confidence. I did not like to playing against Queen
pawn openings until I found the Grunfeld. It leads to very sharp aggressive play, I really liked the tree format for the variations instead of complete games, was much easier to memorize and understand.

I almost didn't buy this book because I saw a review that said it is to advance for the intermediate player, but I had no problems and my rating is about 1450. Great book highly recommended along with "Understanding the Grunfeld" by Rowson. These two books are a great place to start, And still advanced enough for the more seasoned player.