18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good overview of the Albin, Baltic, and Chigorin defences, August 9, 2005
This review is from: Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined (Everyman Chess) (Paperback)
If you open a chess game with 1 d4 and answer 1...d5 with 2 c4 then you need to be prepared for three "unusual" Black replies, namely 2...e5 (the Albin), 2...Bf5 (the Baltic), and 2...Nc6 (the Chigorin). Perhaps you'll even want to try one of these defences yourself. This well written book can help you do both.
The Chigorin is the soundest of these three choices. White can try 3 cxd5, 3 Nc3, or 3 Nf3. I think the line that gives Black the most trouble is 3 cxd5 Qxd5 4 e3 e5 5 Nc3 Bb4 6 Bd2 Bxc3 7 Bxc3 exd4 8 Ne2 Nf6 9 Nxd4 0-0 10 Nb5 Qg5 11 Nxc7. This book tells about it and gives some suggestions. But, sure, I'd rather have White here.
The Baltic isn't a good choice for Black. 3 cxd5 Bxb1 4 Qa4+ c6 5 Rxb1 is good for White. And even 3 cxd5 Bxb1 4 Rxb1 favors White. Black has to hope for 3 Qb3 e5 or 3 Nc3 e6, which, as this book shows, are not nearly as good choices for White.
Still, there is a line in the Baltic that is worth knowing if one plays the Slav, namely 3 Nf3. The reason is that White may try 1 d4 d5 2 Nf3. Now what? What happened to that Slav you were going to play? And is this your chance to get that Queen Bishop outside your pawn chain?
Yes. It is. You can play 2...Bf5 and if 3 c4 e6 4 Nc3 c6, with a favorable version of a Slav. Ward gives a couple of games to show how this can go, but one can see more in books on the Slav.
In the Albin, my suggestion for White, which the book does not entirely agree with, is 3 dxe5 d4 4 Nf3 Nc6 5 Nbd2 (the book recommends 5 g3) Bg4 6 a3. Here, Ward recommends 6...Nge7 for Black, but I still prefer White and so does he.
The Albin seems to me to be a bunch of traps. The most ridiculous is the following suicidal play by White: 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 e3? Bb4+ 5 Bd2 dxe3 6 Bxb4 exf2+ 7 Ke2 fxg1=N 8 Rxg1 Bg4+ 9 White resigns. But the author shows us some quick wins for Black in saner lines. One is 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 e4 Nc6 5 f4 f6 6 exf6 Nxf6 7 Bd3 Bb4+ 8 Bd2 Ng4 9 Nf3 Ne3 10 Qe2 0-0 11 g3 Bg4 12 a3 Ne5 13 Bxb4 Nxf3+ 14 Kf2 Rxf4 15 gxf4 Qh4 mate.
You may protest that White ought to play an early a3 to avoid all this. But Ward also shows us the following: 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 Nf3 Nc6 5 a3 f6 6 exf6 Nxf6 7 g3 Bg4 8 Nbd2 a5 9 b3 Bc5 10 Bb2 0-0 11 Bg2 Qd7 12 0-0 Rae8 13 Re1 Bh3 14 b4 axb4 15 Nb3 b6 16 Nxc5 bxc5 17 axb4 Nxb4 18 Ra5 Bxg2 19 Kxg2 20 Ba3 Qh3+! (winning for Black).
Even in Ward's recommended line for White, namely 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 Nf3 Nc6 5 g3, we see a couple of games where Black wins fast by pushing her h-pawn and getting her Queen Bishop to h3 (generally via e6 or f5).
I wouldn't want to play the Albin with Black, in spite of all these possibilities, but some of you might want to try it, or the Baltic or the Chigorin, for Black. And I do recommend this book to learn all these openings for White.
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13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not too much, but highly enough., June 20, 2002
This review is from: Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined (Everyman Chess) (Paperback)
Being a 1-d4 player, I have to be acquainted with unusual replies by Black. This book gave me enough theory and explanations to feel more confidence if confronted by these monsters! The frame of Everyman's Chess Publications (Cadogan) is efficient. A limited amount of selected games by the best players possible with a lot of explanations.
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