Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Repetoire Book for the Agressive Club Player, February 11, 2003
This book has a few weak spots, but is still a fine opening repetoire as white for an attacking player. Mr Baker makes many fine suggestions for generating attacking play and dynamic positions that are in most cases reasonably sound, and that often take your opponent "out of book" and throw them onto their own resources. This is especially helpful when playing a complex opening like the sicilian defense against a "booked up" opponent (someone who has memorized reams of opening theory). The book shows the majority of reasonable responses from your opponent, as well as responses likely to be seen by non masters / grandmasters (that would be the rest of us). Where the book falls a little short is in it's ability to give a player the "bigger picture". To play an opening well you need to understand the ideas behind it, and not just memorize lines of play. Mr. Baker provides little to none of this, nor does he consistently elaborate on a position once it has been reached. He may say "and white stands better" but it is up to the reader to discern the how and why they stand better... which is necessary to derive an advantage from the position. With this in mind, having a reasonable knowledge of positional play and tactics will allow the reader to get more enjoyment from this book. As a last thought, while I am not thrilled with every line the author presents, and explanations and ideas could be fleshed out a little more, I still recomend this book as a good read for the 1400-2100 crowd. A book must be judged on it's own terms. Mr. Baker has provided a reasonably complete repetoire for white that often generates attacking chances and gets black out of his prepared opening variations quickly. To have produced this book with all that, along with comprehensive positional analysis of all possible lines, and comprehensive strategic goal analysis of all the various opening systems at black's disposal would create a book that was both unweildy in size and price. There are a ton of books available that read like encyclopedias, or that talk forever about the goals of an opening without actually providing reasonable coverage of potential lines of play. So when all is said and done, even good books rarely have the chance to be all things to all readers. But if you have some positional knowledge, and want to have some fun dynamic chances as white then this is a fine book for your repetoire.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Useful, Well-Designed, And Above-Average, December 1, 1999
By A Customer
The author's repertoire is designed for the white player who desires to play 1.e4 and wants "startling" opening responses to all black replies. "Startling" basically defined by the author as unusual but sound, non-main line responses. The book has 13 chapters covering the Max Lange attack, Petroff Defense (where he recommends the Cochrane gambit 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nxf7), Philidor Defense, Latvian Gambit, French, Sicilian (30% of the book, where he advocates 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5), Caro-Kann, Modern, Pirc, Alekhine, Scandinavian, Nimzovitsch Defense, and an "odds-and-ends" chapter covering relatively uncommon moves. The author does not just give theoretically sound book moves but also club player moves that all of those white players not facing Kasparov are likely to see. Non-masters appear to be the target market for this book (USCF 1400-2100) since this book cannot cover every opening in depth. I think players who want a sound repertoire from which to develop from would do very well with this book. I'm 2001 USCF and I enjoyed, use, and will build upon this foundation.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A word of warning..., June 20, 2001
I have been worshipping at the Chess altar of Chris Baker for some time (close to six months) and I have to admit that he has written a book designed, indeed, to be startling but here's the kicker: to both you and your opponent! There are many lines given (all supposedly pro-White, by the way, and based on Black's replies to 1.e4) that haven't been analysed in-depth or played much at major tournaments and the reason for this is quite simple, really: these lines are quite horrid in the hands of lower-level players and will quickly get you into trouble if you don't understand what's happening 'behind the barn' as it were. Baker, an International Master, has made little effort to explain why moves are made or the general trend/idea of the game, leaving things up to the reader to do so. I would not recommend this book to players with USCF ratings of 1500 or below and even then, not without a lot of personal and computer-aided analysis of the lines. However, in the right hands, it's great to trot out these lines as White from time-to-time, if only to get Black thinking for long enough for White to get a cup of coffee!
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