I have at some point promised to put up monthly updates to our publishing schedule. Well, things never work out exactly as we intend, but I think I am in reasonable time with this one.
There are a few things to point out. First off, Moranda’s Race up the Rankings has been cancelled. We might use the title another time – as well as the cover – but the content will not be the same. This is bad news. Basically the author did not feel he was able to go through the rewriting process because of career responsibilities. Chess literature will be poorer for its absence.
We have four books coming out on the 4th of February: 1.e4 vs. the Sicilian I, Kotronias on the King’s Indian, Mar del Plata 1 & Mar del Plata 2 and Chess Structures – A Grandmaster Guide. We are very happy with these books and I hope you will be happy with them too.
Should you prefer your books on Forward Chess, you can buy now. In general we will release the books one week ahead of the paper books, if you buy them electronically. This might not be fair to those who prefer paper (as indeed John and I do), but Forward Chess is a new enterprise and we would like to see it do well, so those buying the books there will get this extra week’s access, when possible.
In that connection I can reveal that Kotronias on the King’s Indian – Fianchetto System will be available quite soon on Forward Chess at a reduced rate.
For those in the know, I can say that we are unable to control anything relating to the taxing of ebooks in France, Italy and Luxemburg. It will hit all of Europe soon enough and we are not able to control things, neither is Forward Chess. Apple and Google are not lightweight dance partners. They step on your toes and not only do they not say sorry, they see nothing wrong with it in the first place…
The following list is rather reliable.
The first two books are ready for typesetting, the third and fifth quite far in the editing process. Avrukh said he was four chapters away and wants to finish the book before his birthday. Lars just needs a few things here and there, and to check if things have changed since he started writing the book in the summer.
The only books we are a bit concerned about are: John’s 1.e4 books, Box and Mikhalevski’s book. All of them have been included on this list because they should be finished soon (dammit!) and to put pressure on the authors.
|
Who’s willing to bet that Negi will finish his 1.e4 series before John Shaw? Playing 1.e4 has been “a month or two from publication” for what feels like a year now.
Anyways, I’m looking forward to both Gelfand’s and Schandorff’s book.
Great line-up, as usual! As for John’s 1.e4-books: maybe it’s not realistic to combine managing a company with writing high-quality books for a demanding audience…
Is there going to be a 6B?
I’m looking forward to Negi’s next couple of books Jacob. Are you able to let us know what will be in Negi’s second Siciian book please?
@Ray
Completely Agree
Yes, a great schedule. But sad news about Molandas book.
@TheThird
I will take that bet!
Always excited when I see publishing schedule and choice.
I think John Shaw may be closer to completing than many think (I hope!). He did mentioned in recent post he was more like a month away from completing 1st bk with Caro K. Looking forward!
@ Jacob Aagaard
Will Lars in semi slav book look at exchange slav and slow slav if white avoids main lines?
I’m looking forward to Gelfand’s Positional Decision Making and I’m glad it will be out this spring. But what happened to Petrosian’s Python Strategy? In November you guys said it would be out in February. Now it’s pushed back to winter? What happened between November and now that changed the publication date? I get you guys are only at type setting but it takes nine months to type set, review galley”s and print?
Sorry if I’m getting on anyone. It’s just I love Petrosian. And I really want to know more about this book. Given how quickly we got a pdf sample of Chess Structures, which I will definitely be adding to my library at some point, I was hoping to get at least a pdf sample of Python Strategy so I could get more of an idea of the book. If it is a book by Petrosian talking about how he himself thinks about strategy, and maybe even details his own system, then that is a book I am really interested in.
How many more king indian books with kotronias are planned in the future
@Senchean
As the Winter hopefully ends around March, there’s not so much difference between February and Winter, isn’t it? Furthermore, Jacob said it’s ready for typesetting. So what’s the problem?
@Thomas
It seems Senchean was thinking about winter 2015 rather than winter 2014…
@Ray
Or are we talking about Scottish seasons?
Where everything above 10° Celsius is declared as “summer”?
@Thomas
🙂
@Ray @Thomas
You know I was thinking Winter 2015 as in sometime at the end of the year. I’m so used to spring being labelled as January to May like school semesters are in the U.S. Plus many companies here also label that as Spring. So if they mean actual winter being to March 21 then OK, that’s not bad at all.
@Ed
Lars stars with Black move 5 options. There is no reason for us to repeat what Avrukh did. I can see the advantage for the buyer, but we already have longer books than our competitors and our authors do not have unlimited time.
@Senchean
I am sure someone else has pointed this out to you. This IS winter :-).
@Thomas
It is not fully ready for typesetting. We need to do 2-3 days work to it still. However, we also have something else going on now, which is disrupting everything a bit. But I hope it is soon under control :-).
@franck steenbekkers
2-3
I bought Negis sicilian book on forward chess as I could not wait longer 🙂 I know I may be boring, but it is another fantastic book ! Congrats ! I showed it also to a friend of mine, life long najdorf player , GM with 2500 Elo and he was quite impressed too.
I will end up buying also the hardback edition ….
@Jacob Aagaard
Yeah, someone Pointed that out to me. 🙂 As I said, a lot of companies refer to this time as spring because of their fiscal year. But thank you for responding. That’s one thing I like about this site.
@Senchean
Thank you. We always try to respond, or there would be no point to having a blog. Questions without answers are a bit too existential for a chess publisher to do it ;-).
Your candid answers are always very much appreciated. There’s one question which has been on my mind for quite some time and I thought I would ask it here. It’s about the huge books published on the King’s Indian, written by Kotronias. I’m wondering who are your target group? I guess that professional players is a too limited group in numbers, moreover most top GM’s will have their own analysis on these critical variations. For club players, these books just contribute to the information overload caracteristic of our time. There are many other things a club player needs to sort out before reaching a level where he can really benefit from such deep opening analysis.
I am just wondering who buys this kind of books ? Just out of curiosity, it’s not meant as a critic or reproach…
@Jacob Aagaard
🙂 Great, then here’s another question: is there any chance that Tiger will write a book on his white reportoire with 1.Nf3 (Reti / KIA mix)? That would be great indeed 🙂
Good to hear by the way that there are another 2-3 books by Kotronias coming on the KID. This is well underway of becoming a truly momumental series! He’s being incredibly productive 🙂
@Jonathan
It is not great for a publisher to have a 680 page book. It is costly on all fronts (print, postage, editing and so on), but at times the subject matter must rule! We knew that this was a seriously uncommercial piece of work, but it is also great. And if you read the foreword, you will know that the information overload is only there if you actually believe that this is something to remember. It is a book to enjoy, it has a lot of positional analysis and a lot of illustrative lines. It is as much a book about learning to play the KID as a repertoire book.
@Jonathan
@Jacob Aagaard
I think there are some things that may help the publisher:
1. There are a lot of amateurs in love with the KID. My experience tells me they (maybe with the dragon aficionados too) are the more fervent adherents to their defense and they will not change it for anything. Hence, even if the book is obviously aimed at a much higher strength than theirs, they may as well buy it just because. I would if I were a KID player.
2. Having great books as a publisher is good, even if they are not a commercial success. It helps build up the brand. Maybe you are not interested in a KID defense book, but you will buy other opening books from that publisher just because it has great quality. This happens to me. I would not consider buying an opening book from Everyman, just because I think their quality is not that high. And maybe they have some opening book of very high quality, but it is in between those fast books that are easy to do but also not on par with QC books. On the other hand, I know that a QC GMRepertoire serie is great. Hence I bought 2 books I didn’t need (Slav and french) just because are worth having.
3. Some books are worth having just because. I don’t have (and don’t plan to have) the Kotronias book, but I actually bought ‘The complete Hedgehog’ by Shipov. I am not a hedgehog player. If anything, I’ll be defending the white side of the position. Nevertheless, it is a great book, it offers you a lot of insights on the opening while having great games with great commentaries. It is as if you were to buy a game collection book, but just with one opening. I would recommend it to anyone. If this happens with the Kotronias book, then it will be worth to buy it.
Now that I already wrote a wall of text, let me add some suggestions that may very well not be feasible. I’ve bought ‘Chess Structures’ and I’m actually very happy with it, but I do think that having 6 games as illustrative games for the Isolani is just not enough. I know the reason for it: It is a 400 pages book, and having more games means going to a 800 pages book. One way to improve it (I would have gone with making a 2 or 3 volumes work, but now it is too late) if there are more editions is to add at the end of each structure a set of say 10, 15 games on the same structure that Mauricio finds are worth it. It may not need the complete game, just names, place and date, so the interested student will look them up. If done correctly, you can offer this games in a pgn for download. That will improve the book without raising the costs, as I’m sure Mauricio already had to drop tons of examples. Nowadays everyone can fire their engine and understand a game. The problem is to find the interesting games.
But the main suggestion I wanted to make is: make some chapter about ‘chess structures’ in your opening books. So the Tarrasch book is all about isolanis or 9…c4, make like 20 pages on each showing the main ideas Mauricio’s style. It may be easier on the black side of things. As White there may be a lot more structures to take into account. But it would be feasible too, just let the author choose those structures that the player will encounter more times in practice, or those which he finds are more difficult.
That would add great value to the book, and it may require only to analyze 10 games (remember, Mauricio finishes the isolani in 6 games).
The idea would be not to add a win fest for our side (something all too common in opening books), but to actually show what plans are good for us (then we win) and what plans are dangerous for us (then we lose) and should be avoided.
I know this would imply to lose some analysis from the theoretical part of the book, but it would be such a great addition. Just by reading that first part of the book one would be able to play the defense knowing what he wants to do and what he wants to avoid…
Thanks for taking the time to answer Jacob! I’m happy that Quality Chess is around to publish high-quality works that are not always ‘commercial’!
@Ray
I hope it’s okay to mention a book by another publisher, since QC isn’t selling a Reti book at the moment. Have a look at The KIA Move by Move, by Lakdawala I think. AFAIR it also deals in detail with the KIA via Reti moveorder. Maybe check the excerpt first.
@Jacob and John:
Are there plans for GM Guide on the Reti? Not necessarily KIA, more flexible Reti stuff?
@Andre
No plans. Sorry, we cannot cover everything.
@Jacob Aagaard
Was there also not an okish recent book on the reti from Delchev?
@Rigau
I second your suggestions!
@Andre
I have it (it’s by McDonald). It’s not bad (I especially like the verbal explanations), but somehow I think Tiger would do a much better / thprough job. E.g. the recommendations of Jacob and Nikos in Playing the French against the KIA are not dealt with in McDonald’s book and it is rather shallow in general (which is only fair considering the format of the series). Delchev digs much deeper, but only covers 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4. I think white is having problems after 2…d4 (though Tiger recently won a quite nice game with 3.b4). Anyway, I understand QC cannot cover everything, so I’ll just do with the books I have in combination with chesspublishing.com and my engine 🙂
I do think choices is an important word here. And the authors’ personality and way of thinking is very important too. For example, if you ask Kotronias or Avrukh to do this “positional ideas” stuff, you might as well ask a donkey to fly. Play to people’s strengths ;-).
We have another project (burning slowly) on a popular opening which is a bit more about explanations and ideas than theory. But let us see how it goes before we talk in more detail. I never ever enjoy cancelling books. I feel it is total misinformation :-(.
@Jacob Aagaard
Provided you chose something I am remotely interested in and it is aimed at your usual high level, you have a customer!
🙂
Marin has a short chapter on the 1.Nf3 2.g3 move order in his volume 2. It can mostly lead to his English positions from volumes 2 & 3, but you need something else against the Tarrasch and KID, where he refers the reader to Avrukh’s repertoire, and …, b6 stuff, namely 1.Nf3, Nf6 2.g3, b6 and 1…., c5 2.g3, b6. Maybe the KIA would be a good choice here, also against 1…, Nf6 2.g3, b5.
@rigao
Thank you, this is appreciated.
The cover for ‘Python Strategy’ looks good.
Agreed. It actually reminds me a lot of some of the most popular programming books, e.g.:
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Using-Pointers-Richard-Reese/dp/1449344186/ref=sr_1_23?ie=UTF8&qid=1423004201&sr=8-23&keywords=C+Programming
Which is funny in and of itself, since “Python” is a programming language!
The cover for “Python Strategy” looks really strange 🙂 People in the subway will look at me in a very puzzled way.
A bit too creative for my taste 😉
I smell personal bankot. Python strategy is must have for me. Karolys books on Karpov were the best thing I ever bought concidering chess. But Tigrans book on his games must be awesome. On my book shell there are 37 quality chess books. I must find a way to hide chess books from here or sent her to vacation to unangry her :D.
I bought chessbase Caro Kann Pannov attack in 60 minutes. Must say that the variations in this videos are exactly same as in GM 7 but with less quality because there isnt so mucha sidelines inside. Quality chess rules.
I work as a Python programmer, and it does look like a programming book. I wonder if I can get my employer to pay for it 🙂
@k.r.
I totally agree with you about the Karpov books. They are absolutely fantastic and have lifted my level quite a bit. The books handle so many topics in a very entertaining way. Just a few examples:
1. Elaborate explanations of many openings
2. Very detailed description of endgames including mating attacks
3. Showing how to improve the placement of pieces
4. Showing Karpov’s way to use profphylaxis
5. Play against isolanis
I wonder if Karolyi’s Tal books have the same magic?! Combining Karpov’s positional genius with Tal’s attacking genius should be a nasty cocktail for opponents 🙂
@Remco G
I like the Python cover (obviously). It seems we will gain some sales from computer programmers and lose some sales from those scared of snakes (ophidiophobiacs!?).
A PR scare-campaign is on in the US and the topic is wild snakes which are ‘running loose’ in neighborhoods, eating pets and growing bigger by the minuet…they could (strong suggestion here that they soon WILL) get big enough to eat everyone.
Computer programmers, like Pythons, squeeze out every last drop of life but it’s unlikely the the title will come back to byte you.
Good to see that GM6A “Beating the Anti-Sicilians” has come back into the schedule after an absence of over a year.
To use a Tour de France cycling simile; it’s now back in the peloton even if it’s just the “lanterne rouge” tail-ender.
Hi Jakob. I have enjoyed the books on the forward chess app its good stuff. Yesterday i went into the store built into the app but it was empty for some reason! It stayed empty so i tried deleting and reinstalling the app hoping it would work. Not only did it not work but the “restore purchases” button also didnt work so i just lost 6-8 books! I dont know what to do now
Hi Jakob, the forwardchess app is working properly now and i got my books back so forget about my last message. I just got worried since it was second day without my belowed books:)
The cover idea is great, allthough the pawns shape and the snake covering it dont fit together in my opinion.
But dont judge a book because of its cover, its a must have for me.
Python Strategy will be in hardcover version?
It is not a scare campaign in the Everglades. Boas, pythons etc… Still will get the Petrosian book.
I’ve bought Negi’s Sicilian 1 and Flores’ chess structures. Both are excellent! Great job!
Question: is Avrukh going to ‘rewrite’ his 1.d4 repertoire in the way Negi is writing his 1.e4?
Yes, both paperback and hardcover is the plan.
Do you mean in terms of writing style? If so, then the answer must be no. Avrukh will be Avrukh, which is great but very different to Negi.
@John Shaw
Thanks for the reply, John!
I’ve noticed the difference in writing style:-)
Avrukh already covered the Catalan in his GR 1… Negi is presenting his 1.e4 repertoire in different volumes. Is Avrukh going to rewrite GR 1 & 2 and going to present his 1.d4 repertoire in more volumes than the original two?
In regards to the Petrosian book, I’m a little confused. On page 54 of NIC 8/2014, Vaganian writes:
“The sad thing is that he didn’t manage to write a book. It would have been very interesting if Petrosian commented on his games – what his ideas were, what he was thinking. That’s the main thing we don’t have. We have almost no analyses by him, very few.”
Did Vaganian mispeak?
@Neil Sullivan
Petrosian started writing his book, but he died before he could finish it. So Russian editors finished the book.
To give numbers to this, Petrosian had finished roughly 3/4 of his book when he died, so it includes 77 games annotated by Petrosian, and just over 30 annotated by other players. So 77 games annotated by Petrosian is a lot in some ways, but maybe not so much for a career that lasted decades. All this is explained in the book in great detail – there are, I believe, 5 forewords before the chess starts.
It is curious that Vaganian does not seem aware of Petrosian’s book, while Aronian and Marin are mentioning it as one of their favourites.
@Adrian
Hi Adrian,
I am with you now. Yes, more than the original two, with four the best guess. The first one announced on the publishing schedule (in the post above) is all Catalan.
I agree with TheThird, but I say more: Negi will finish his series before John Shaw will publish
his first “Playing 1.e4” book. I pre-ordered both books (Playing 1.e4) on 29th August 2013.
“I’ve said it all before, I’ll say it all again”: I do not mind it take so long to finish his books, things well done need time, what I don’t like is that QC keeps giving dates that they know
they will not meet. I wish I may be wrong. Thanks.
@Armando Lobato
Both you and TheThird will be wrong.
And presumably you pre-ordered the Playing 1.e4 books somewhere else, as we do not have them for sale yet.
“I do not mind it take so long to finish his books, things well done need time, what I don’t like is that QC keeps giving dates that they know they will not meet.”
We don’t do that. The dates given in our publishing schedules are our best guess of when a book will be out. Often the guesses will be wrong. “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.”
What would be the point in giving dates we know we will not meet? All it does is annoy people like you. Recently we have switched to giving seasons instead of exact months to give more margin for error. And the reason we give a guess on a date rather than just say “Later” is to try to answer a question we are often asked in email and on the blog: “When will the book be out?”
I prefer the way QC are giving best guess schedules over not giving any information at all. Compared to the average IT project you’re not doing so bad at all planning wise 🙂
@John Shaw
As I said to you by gmail, I pre-ordered the books to another seller. Sorry to disturb you, I just wanted you to be more realistic about the publishing date. Thanks.
Quite strange that Vaganian does not mention “Chess lectures”, a collection of lectures and articles by Petrosian. I was happy to buy my Russian copy and even happier when I found a German translation later on. It has chapters such as “From the past”, “Openings to ones one taste or why I like the move Bg5″and “The positional exchange sacrifice”.
The German version even claims that it contains all learning material ever presented by Petrosian in lectures and articles. The Russian version has 3 forewords, 1x Kasparov, 1x Shekhtman, 1x without name (Petrosian himself?). There is also an English version (Petrosian’s Legacy).
You mean “Die Schachuniversität”? That’s just a small book with 120 or so pages. Bought it a few months ago for 3€.
Indeed, “Die Schachuniversität”. The Russian version has some extra chapters, in total it has about 175 pages. It surprises me (and apparingly not only me) that Vaganian from Armenia does not know the two books (I hope they are different…) by Armenian chess hero Petrosian.
@Armando Lobato
The publication dates on the blog has never been anything else than guesses nor pretended to be so.
I just ordered two books – Lars Playing d4 in your web shop. Lost aprox 2 hours to remember security questions for reseting password for pay pal :). Hope not to wait to long for them. Lars won my symphaty for his books after GM 7. Keep on good work.
Nice to know the third French instalment is nearing publication.
I really enjoyed the other works on the French (Playing the French & GM Rep 14 & 15).
Just praying for a NID book now 😉
What lines in the sicilian is negi covering in his sicilian2 book ?
How far has John got on his 1e4 book ?
Just a thought how about an updated Berlin book
Thanks in advance.
Is the Petrosian book an english version of the new book from Russian Chess House (“My best Games”), or is it a different book?
@Andrew Brett
Negi lines and my progress – sorry, both involve more detail than I want to give at the moment.
For a Berlin update: no plans. When this was suggested a few weeks ago my thought was that much of John Cox’s book would still be highly relevant, as it was largely about ideas and typical endings rather than the latest moves. I don’t know if John would have the time or interest in doing an update, but I can try to find out.
@Thomas
I think it is highly likely but I have not seen the book you mention so I cannot say 100%. “Our” Petrosian book was originally known in Russian as “The Strategy of Soundness” (or the “The Strategy of Safety” as some call it). Maybe Russian Chess House have also chosen a new title.
The Flores book ( at least the first few examples) seems like a really instructive book.
@John Johnson
Yes 🙂
Nice to see GM16 for Spring, I have a feeling that this book is well over 500 pages. The Tarrasch has a lot more theory now. As well as the Advance…
I received all four of my hardcovers in two parcels (I knew that I was receiving these great books in my postbox, as one parcel was marked for me “1 of 2”.
Also I like the last comment at the end of the last line, in Kotronias Volume 3 on p. 273. I would classify that statement as “funny but true”, especially in a line as insane as the Mar Del Plata.
Are there any plans on a “Play the Najdorf” book, similar to play the french.
There are plans for a GM6B
@Gilchrist is a Legend
We will hopefully send GM16 to the printer next week. Actually I cannot see why we would not (except that we will not include me: I will be in Greece…).
@Jacob Aagaard
financial negotiations with tsipras? 😉
@Phil Colllins
They are refusing to pay my royalties 😉
@Jacob Aagaard
Good news about Berg III !
@Thomas
But we already have the best possible reportoire from Nikos and Jacob, haven’t we?
I recieved Kotronias on the Kings Indian 1, Fianchetto lines last week.
Just an amazing book. One line he is recommending in the mainline is 9.h3, Qb6 10.Re1, exd4 11.Nxd4, Re8. I just wonder what the theorethical status of 11.-Ne8 is?
Could it be an alternative to 11.-Re8?
@Ray
Definitely a good book – but not so much to my taste.
I prefer the Winawer and Nf6 or Be7 in the Tarrasch.
@Ray
Variation is a good thing.
Berg 3, finally!
I’m not too happy with the selection of ‘minor’ French variations in “Playing the French” (decent, but just not hitting my style, I want a second opinion), so I’m looking forward to that book *a lot*!
How long will it take a) from the printer to my bookshelf, and b) from the printer to “Forward Chess”, and, of course, c) to the excerpt on the website, which is highly anticipated ?
In Thailand the books went up by the equivalent of more than 2 Euros in the new year but strangely (and luckily) by the time that Chess Structures was released the prices had gone down again. Has anyone else noticed that this has happened in their country?
I bought it and it’s a very interesting book, learning a lot from it. It’s also the kind of book that could be a lot bigger. Presumably the author would have looked at many other games that were good examples of the plans he outlines but didn’t make the final cut. I was thinking that as the books are now published in an electronic format there would be some possibility of including extra material without the extra cost of publishing thicker books. This could take the form of extra games either without annotations or very lightly annotated. This would be similar to the way that Fritztrainer DVDs from Chessbase now come with a database of relevant extra games. People buying the print copy of the book wouldn’t even lose out if the extra material could be appended to the sample of the book which is available to download for free from forward chess or put out as a pgn file on your website.
Anyway, No criticism here… Your books are great. Just thinking of ways the new technology could be exploited more.
@Thomas
I was being sarcastic 🙂
@Ray
Up yours too ;-).
@Tobias
I guess it will go to the printer on the 20th latest. It will be in the warehouse on the 4th. If you have ordered 3 books with UPS inside the EU, it will go out from there that day. If you have ordered less than 3 books or are outside the EU, the book will be shipped from Glasgow on the 9th most like. All shops will have the book on the 11th of March.
Finally, the books will in the future be on Forward Chess one week before publication. In this case the 4th March, unless there are conversion surprises.
All of this is of course dependent that nothing goes wrong (it does happen, especially with the printer), which would move the books completion a week and thus all the dates mentioned with it.
@Jacob Aagaard
There will be 3 releases in this batch (Marin, Berg and Petrosian)?
@Paul
No. Marin and Petrosian will be typeset when I return from Greece. They will be 3-4 weeks later I presume. Maybe with another hot new book!
@Jacob Aagaard
Thanks! I noticed it was Boris’ (Avrukh) birthday yesterday (at least according to Wikipedia). Have a good time in Greece!
@Jacob Aagaard
🙂
@Jacob Aagaard
Interesting – is it a hot new book which has not been announced before?
@Paul
I was. Did I tell you guys the implications of that? If not, my lips are sealed ;-).
@Ray
No
@Jacob Aagaard
“Avrukh said he was four chapters away and wants to finish the book before his birthday.”
Great!!
Hmmm…could “that other publishing company” that starts with “E” possibly have one-upped Negi? Basing on the Table of Contents, looks like the “Poisoned Pawn” is covered, but not the “Deferred Poisoned Pawn”, which I just used last night to smack my opponent silly (7…h6 8.Bh4 and only now 8…Qb6, where 9.Nb3 is no longer an option whereas now the only way to “hold” the pawn is to play 9.a3, or else go into Poisoned Pawn territory with 9.Qd2 or 9.Qd3). I don’t own Negi’s book “yet”, so I can’t say for sure, but unless it’s concealed within a chapter and simply not indicated in the contents, looks like the throwing in of 7…h6 in the Poisoned Pawn may have been an omission.
@Patrick
This will simply just be a transposition to one of the 10…h6 lines in the main line poisoned pawn, no?
@Paul
Eh, not exactly. Couple of differences.
First off, after 7…h6 8.Bh4 Qb6, the Nb3 lines no longer work. If White wants to hold on to the pawn, he must do it with 9.a3 as 9.Nb3 drops the f-pawn to 9…Qe3+
Secondly, after 7…h6 8.Bh4 Qb6 9.Qd2 Qxb2 10.Rb1 Qa3 11.e5 dxe5 12.fxe5, the move 12…Nfd7 would indeed transpose to the 12…h6 line of the Poisoned Pawn, but Black is not forced to do this, and has a second option in the delayed line, namely 12…Nd5, which has been a hot topic of late! Here, after 13.Nxd5 exd5 14.e6 Bxe6 15.Nxe6 fxe6, White has the choice of the more passive 16.Be2, or what is probably his best move, 16.Bd3.
In the standard poisoned pawn, after 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.e5 dxe5 11.fxe5, here 11…Nd5 is no good as White is in total control after 12.Nxd5 exd5 13.Rb3! Qxa2 14.Qc3 Nd7 15.e6! +-
Difference, I think, is that if 14.Rb3 in the delayed line, the White Bishop on h4 is in the line of fire after 14…Qa4 (instead of 14…Qxa2), whereas with it on g5, it’s not, and Black can’t get in h6 before moving the Knight to d5, which is bad, or d7, which is the main line Poisoned Pawn.
@Patrick
Yes, Negi analyses all this – I leave you to buy the book to see whether he focuses on 16 Be2 or Bd3.
Since there are no circumstances where he recommends wimping out and holding on to the pawn, the lack of a transposition to Nb3 you mention is not relevant to the book.
Hopefully this helps. Book is very good I think – if you get you will see you are all covered!
@Patrick
all covered almost as deep as move 40 I should add!
@Patrick
It is under control, as Paul said. We spend extra attention making sure variations are not missed – though we do not always succeed of course…
How is black doing in the Gallagher variation of the fianchetto Kingsindian?
I used to play it frequently with good results but gave it up when the theorethecal verdict
shifted in Whites favour. Yesterday I looked at the variations recommended by Avrukh in GM2. Has black found any improvements on this?
Which in this case is not so good for Patrick, I guess 🙂
What does Negi recommend after 6.Bg5, e6 7.f4, Be7 8.Qf3, Qc7 9.0-0-0, Nbd7 10.g4, b5?
@Jacob “Lars stars with Black move 5 options” you mean white move 5 options?
And how many books will be Negi repertoire? (already bought first 2 volumes)
It’s been so warmly reviewed that I thought this could be the time that I switch to 1. e4 for good!
Oh, I see most probably 5 books in total for Negi’s repertoire.
@Capodoglio
You read everything correctly.
Just received my copies of the new Negi and Kotronias books. Way above my level, of course, but it’s nice to see what a truly GM rep is like on openings that I actually like to play. The books seem nice physically, as usual. I haven’t had time to look into them yet, and my opinion on their content wouldn’t be worth much anyway.
I do have one question, though. Why so thin, compared to earlier volumes of the same series? Purely economic reasons? Technical problems with binding thick books? I don’t regret buying them, but I would regret it even less if the two Mar Del Plata books were combined into one, and cost the same as the Fianchetto volume.
@Jacob Aagaard
I’m wondering though how if you take one volume solely on the najdorf, if it is possible to cover dragon, sveshnikov, kalashnikov, paulsen etc also in one volume….
But however many it takes I will be a buyer.
@The Lurker
The Mar del Plata books are the average size of our books. The ideal size of a chess book is 304 pages in my opinion. For many reasons, some of them economical, but mainly about avoiding unnecessary density and so on. But could you imagine the Fianchetto in two volumes? To start of the series. We would have sold 5 copies! So that is the oddity. Not that we are trying to make things work financially by having the following volumes in two.
Add to this that they were planned in advance and just turned out a bit shorter than expected :-).
@Paul
Me too, but it is the goal.
304 pages? That is a rather specific number! 🙂
@Seth
That is quite a number of years experience for you ;-). It is what works best for us anyway.
The funny thing is that there are other publishers where they have thicker books with far fewer pages. I am sure it affects sales positively, but I just cannot get myself to do books on worse paper that deceives the reader with gimmicks. It has to be fun to go to work as well. And nothing is more rewarding than people telling us that they really like what we do. This is my motivation in the work I do.
@Jacob Aagaard
Great to know that there are still companies out there that put quality on the first place. Indeed some other publishers (whose names shall not be mentioned here) print their books on toilet paper.
What is the best line against the Grunfeld if White wants to castle queenside? I dont have Schandorfs book on the Indian Defences. I know he recommendes the Russian system. Does it contain many variations where White Castles queenside?
Maybe 4.cxd5,Nxd5 5.Bd2 is another candidate?
Whats your thoughts?
Is it realistic to strive for queenside castling against the Grunfeld?
Actually I´m quite happy that the Mar del Plata is split into two volumes. I find thinner books easier to work with. And I wouldn´t be surprised if Sicilian II by Negi would have to be continued in Sicilian III, given the amount of detail.
Just keep up the good work – I´m already beginning to free some space on my bookshelf for future releases 😉
Why is the amazon.com publishing date of Negis and Kotronias book April 7? I preordered the book on german amazon a while ago, they first said it would be here last week, now they say they dont know when they will send it. Wonder if I should skip the order and try to buy it elsewhere? I dont want to wait two more months.
@Ray
Recently I bought a book about a popular opening from another publisher. It looked like as if the next page was shining through and I was afraid to turn a page to not rip the paper.
@Bebbe
In my opinion 3.f3 (Anto-Grunfeld), but then you must also ve willing to play the Samisch against the KID.
@Thomas
Was that the new opening bible?
@Seth
304 is evenly divisible by 8, whereas 300 is not. If the book is an “octavo” format, having the number of pages be divisible by 8 would make sense.
@Ray
No, a smaller one. And the kings pawn doesn’t move that far.
@Bebbe
3.f3
What wil Kotronias recommend versus the 2 c3 Silian in the 6B book? will he used the same variations he now recommend in the chessinformant?
when is the next king indian book of Kotronias planned.
is the secret book the hardback version of Marin s legend book?
Dear Quality Team,
Since Kotronias’ work on KID exceeds needs of average player, could you please publish something like PLAYING THE KING’S INDIAN 🙂
Why not, since you did the same with the French!
@LE BRUIT QUI COURT
I agree I really like the GM Guides like Playing the French.
I’d love some more Black books in this format at the moment there has only been 2 (Playing the French and the Modern Tiger).
I’d like to see a ‘Playing the NID/QID’ as I think a hell of a lot of people would. A good Playing the NID would be a BIG best seller.
@The Doctor
I agree with that analysis 😉
When I was young I was attracted very much by the Nimzo Indian. So were some other players in our team. Together we lamented nobody gave us the chance to play this beautiful opening; all those 3.Nf3 players forced us into a Queens Indian. Far less fun.
So I’d second the motion for a “Playing the NID & QID” and promise to buy it if it includes the QID 🙂
It should be “Playing the NID, QID & Catalan”, isn’t it? Otherwise 3. g3 kills the repertoire.
I promise to buy it too 🙂 I’ve been longing for a good book on the NID.
I would imagine it would be split into 2 volumes
One on the NID, the other on the QID/Catalan.
Even more reason for QC to be publish such works 😉
Actually, I’m afraid that there’s none who can surpass Bojkov’s “Modernized: The King’s Indian”.
Jacob, is this book that puts you off writing a GM Guide KID?
Agreed, I would certainly be interested in 2 volumes ie 1 NID and 1 QID/Catalan too. Dearing’s book is still good, but an update would be very useful indeed.
@Ray
Thanks for your suggestion of 3.f3. I already have the Sämisch against the KID in my repertoire so this is spot on. What book is best Kaufmans or the other (I dont remember the authors name)?
Sokolov’s pawn structure book will grant you more nimzo wins then whatever future Nimzo book.
Don’t see the need for another book on the Nimzo.
@J.
If you use that argument then you don’t need a chess book on any other opening as for example ‘Mastering the King’s Indian’ would of the same as would for the KID.
I completely disagree with your comment as I think many others would.
I have the one by Chess Stars (I also forgot the author’s name). It’s quite good i.m.o. I heard Kaufmann is also okay, but in a review I read he’s taking his relience on computer evaluations a bit too far (‘white is 0.14 of a pawn better’).
@The Doctor
You forgot Playing the Trompovksy.
@Oscar
If you don’t like the QID, why are you hoping for a book on it? I would prefer a combination of NID, QGD (Ragozin or Tartakower) and Catalan, but admittedly it’s a matter of taste.
@Ray
I was talking specifically about defences for Black 🙂
The Shess Stars book is the Ultimate anti-Grunfeld Dmitriy Svetushkin. It is a very good book.
@Ray, I like the NID far more than I like the QID, but that does not imply I do not like the QID. It is a nice opening, so I welcome a good book on it.
@Ray
Thanks for the review. I might buy it.
@John Johnson
Thanks! 2/2 I will buy it!
And what about queenside castling against the Nimzo and the slav?
For Nimzo I guess 4.Qc2 is the best choice.
What about Slav?
@Bebbe
In most Slav lines, I would suggest not castling queenside with White (or Black). With a pawn on c4 and ready-made counterplay with …dxc4 and …b7-b5 coming, the white king will not be secure. But if castling queenside is essential (why?) then the 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 line might be the one that gives the best chance of castling long without disaster.
Will GM Rep 16 be available in hardback?
Cheers
@John Shaw
The exception is the main line with 11…g5, there are some lines with 0-0-0 in that variation (recommended by Kaufmann in his reportoire book).
@The Doctor
Yes
Nobody from management wants to comment 🙂 I do know what this means…. 🙂
@LE BRUIT QUI COURT
I have not read Bojkov’s book (yet), so I doubt it has influenced my thinking. We do have Kotronias’s KID series, which is at Volume 3 with more to come. So having published two books on the KID within the last couple of weeks, creating a GM Guide KID book is not a priority for the management.
How close is GM 16 to been sent to he printer then 🙂
I’m sure Jacob said it would be this week .
@The Doctor
I don’t normally give a moment-by-moment countdown, but the answer is ‘very close’. Tomorrow would be a sound bet.
/ yaaay ! GM Rep 16.. I’ve been waiting sooo long for this moment 🙂
Winaver = no problem, having read/studied vol. 1&2
Tarrash = big problem, not having Berg’s recommendations from vol. 3 (yet)
MuAHAHAHA.. I WILL devour it !
will there soon a excerpt of the new Berg book?
There are a lot of books scheduled for publishing this spring, which is great.
Here is a possible and very hypothetical schedule of publishing for Spring:
March: Marin, Petrosian, Berg, Avrukh
April: Gelfand, Schandorff, Shaw
May: Karoyli, Mikhalevski, Negi
Is the timetable above close with a non committal yes?
Just trying to budget for some of the books and easier for me if I see timeline in months.
@Ed
Not sure about the Mikhalevski. He keeps on playing all these tournaments!
Shaw is April 2016 right 😉
@The Doctor
No promises!
Jacob,
Avrukh’s Volume 1A “covers the position after the opening moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3, concentrating on the Catalan which arises after 3…d5, while also dealing with the Bogo-Indian with 3…Bb4†, and Benoni systems after 3…c5.”
What will then be 1B: Queen’s Gambit Declined, Slav & Semi-Slav, and other Queens Gambit lines? But what then with other 2 vols?
I can hardly wait for the book 🙂
Welp, I can retire now, I’ve made it into a Grandmaster Repertoire book. Kotronias on the MDP, Volume II, page 37. I can ascend no higher. Picked up both volumes, like them very much. Congrats on more fine work gents. 😉
I bought both MDP volumes plus TonyRo’s book the previous weekend 🙂 Furthermore, I met Jacob in Athens. A small world isn’t it? Nice work Tony by the way and of course the MDP books are awesome!
For the club player: “Fighting the System:London, Colle, KIA.” Not an exhaustive repertoire but perhaps the most promising lines—in the Quality chess vein, tried and true mainlines. It would also be useful to know a promising avenue for the main defenses to the first moves (I know problematic with KIA which can begin man ways 1.Nf3 or à la Dvoretsky 1.e4). In concreto we do not know (unless you have some inside info on your opponent) that we will face, e.g., the London and we have already played 1….e6, etc.. Since these opening are so popular at the less vaunted levels I would think such a book might sell well. (Sorry, unsolicited idea).
The London and Colle is covered by Avrukh in D4 sidelines.
The KIA response can be varied depending on what you normally like to play as black and whether white begins 1.e4 or 1.Nf3.
Well, TY for pointing me towards the Avrukh sidelines book. Probably the KIA is simply too broad in scope. I threw it into the mix since it is a common low-theory system type opening commonly encountered at more recreational levels of chess. I did not mean to imply that the topic had never been touched upon in a book. I was thinking along the lines of a book aimed at a lower level than the exhaustive of detail found in the “Grandmaster Repertoire” series.
@LE BRUIT QUI COURT
One volume at a time. But yes, Boris is working on the second book already. I hope he will finish them quickly…
@Mark Moorman
As pointed out, this is indeed GM11, which is both an excellent book and selling quite decently. This year we will publish the twin-volume (by Mikhalevski) on non-1.e4/d4 moves from Black’s perspective.
One question – Will Negi tackle all the sicilians head on in his next volume, or is he allowed to/going to recommend the Rossolimo against 2..Nc6?
@Matt
Head on. Hopefully it will be one volume, but we have a clear pain threshold at 600 pages.
GM Rep 19 – Beating Minor Openings is going to be 2 volumes?
You must be analyzing 1. h3…
@Capodoglio: presumably the coverage includes 1.c4 and 1.Nf3, minor moves that nevertheless have already acquired some theory 🙂
That’s confirmed indeed, and I’d expect most of the analysis on those two moves, especially considering other repertoire transposition considerations (covering multiple options like Avrukh 1.d4 deviations).
Still I thought that one volume would cover it all.
No, Beating Minor Openings is planned as one book. When Jacob said “twin-volume” I am sure he meant GM 19 is a twin to GM 11 in the sense that they both deal with deviations from the absolute main lines (although, yes I agree, 1.Nf3 and 1.c4 are big moves, and Mikhalevski will cover them).
Oh, but of course, my bad.
Monday is quite hard for my reading comprehension!!!
On a side note I found GM11 very deep on those underestimated lines in BDG, 2. Bg5 and Veresov, quite a piece of researching and analysis.
Well, I guess that’s nothing new with Avrukh. 😀
GM19 certainly looks interesting. I certainly find difficult to play against these openings when White intends to bypass main-lines. White usually knows his scheme very well and I have to plan it over the board. As an example against 1. b3 the main recommendation I know transposes to a queens indian, which I don’t play with black, hence breaking my repertoire (1. b3 d5 2. Bb2 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 b6, and White will end up playing d4 and Black c5, hence the QID), which is Tarrasch or Slav.
My guess is that against 1. c4 the plan is to show various suitable schemes starting from 1…Nf6, 1…c6 (big problem for someone not having the Caro against 1.e4) and 1…e6, otherwise we could end up transposing to an unwanted scheme. If it goes like GM11, we will have a lot of choices for Black allowing for various repertoires. It is a good thing -the same book helps a lot of people- but you will end up with a book where 2/3 of it you don’t really care (except if you are Ivanchuk and can play everything). For me for example 1…Nf6 is no good, as I cannot transpose to the Tarrasch, but 1…e6 should be fine, and is what I’ve been playing lately.
Another possible answer to 1.c4 is 1…c5 or 1…e5. With the first I can still go for the Tarrasch, but otherwise advising 1…c5 or 1…e5 will certainly kill the repertoire against some other move-orders (for example 1…c5 will break the dream of a Gruenfeld aficionado).
My feeling is that if the above is true (neither 1…c5 or 1…e5 are recommended), 1.Nf3 should not be that different (I have been playing 1.Nf3 for many years according to Khalifman-Kramnik). It is aimed to avoid 1…e5 in the english and is less flexible otherwise (there is no opening where I don’t plan to go c4, but I can go Ne2 in some lines of the Nimzo -which I bypass, by the way- or QGD). So if we don’t plan to answer 1.c4 with e5, the only big difference would be when White goes for GM11 w/o c4 or when White goes for the KIA, which is harmless (no, not like the rest of the tries, 1. c4 is a legitimate try for an advantage).
I plan to buy the book anyway 🙂
Dear QC-Team ! I may sound boring,but I received 5(!) new books last week and I am very,very satisfied (as usual). The Negi and Kotronias-Books are simply superb, also the chess structure -Book looks very interesting from first read and GM-friend and of mined who coaches a lot liked it as well.
Keep up the great work 🙂
@boki
Not bored!!
@Jacob Aagaard
On the contrary I would have thought the Kotronias KID Series to be a huge commercial success precisely because of the depth. As a I life long KID devotee I am loving the series so far, true its a lot of material, and some of the repertoire recommendations I would only use as the occasional surprise weapon.
@Jonathan
The KID books are for anyone interested in the intracacies and spirit of the KID. Despite the denseness of the analysis, the tactical ideas often overlap and only the fine details need to be absorbed, which is a lot easier once you are aware of certain attacking patterns peculiar to the KID. The book has so many illustrative beautiful and cohesive attacking themes, that it helps hone your intuition as to when to look for tactical shots, and whether they are likely to work or not.
In short these KID Books are not only Rep Books, but instructional books on how to conduct the resulting Middlegame positions that arise, as well as guiding your thought process on how to navigate the turbulent KID waters in general.
Should the series continue like this they are destined to become Classics in my humble opinion, as they have built and expanded on existing theory quite nicely thus far.
Regards,
Toppy
The KID books are great although even in Corr I play only some of the MDP I recommendations and nothing from the other two books so far. I fully agree with Toppy
While there is well deserved praise for the KID books, Kotronias’ work on the Sveshnikov nearly goes unnoticed.
It’s everything and more any player of that opening might expect.
Deep analysis and good explanations.
Absolutely superb!
Are there any plans to write a bokk on the English from Whites perspective based on Sharp lines? With sharp lines I mean things like:
1.c4, c5 2. Nf3, Nf6 3.Nc3, d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4, Nb4 6.Bc4
1.c4, c5 2. Nf3, Nf6 3.Nc3, Nc6 4.d4, cxd4 5. Nxd4, e6 6.g3, Qb6 7.Ndb5, Ne5 8. Bf4, Nfg4 9.Qa4
1. c4, e5 2.Nc3, Nf6 3.Nf3, Nc6 4.g3, Bb4 5.Bg2, 0-0 6.0-0, e4 7.Ng5, Bxc3 8.bxc3 Re8 9.f3
@Thomas
Thank you. I will tell him you said so ;-).
@Thomas
His Sveshnikov book is currently a candidate on the short list for chess publishing’s book of the year along with Negi’s.
And Avrukh’s Slav.
@cyberhound
I can never find that award (too little investment I think). Always waiting for someone to give me a link…
@Jacob Aagaard
Here is a link to the poll :
http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1419437204
The link is as follows:
http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1419437204
QC has three of the final seven books; voting ends in 4 1/2 days.
GM16 still has no purchase button, will this be added soon?
Other lines on the wishlist could be different Hedgehog structures for White like those in the English Hedgehog with 7.Re1 or 1.c4, c5 2. Nf3, Nf6 3.Nc3, b6 4.d4, cxd4 5.Nxd4, Bb7 6.f3, e6 7.e4.
The Mikenas 1.c4, Nf6 2.Nc3, e6 3.e4 or the weird 1.c4, Nf6 2.Nc3, e6 3.Nf3, Bb4 4.g4!? also leads to enterprising chess.
Also stuff with early h4 is fun like 1.c4, c5 2. Nf3, Nf6 3.Nc3, d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.h4!?
Soory I meant 1.c4, g6 2. Nf3, Nf6 3.Nc3, d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.h4!?.
@Bebbe
If you want to understand 1. c4 with White, buy Marin’s three volume masterpiece GM Rep. 3+4+5. Seriously – I read them, devoured them infact, and have a hard time believing I will ever read such an instructional set of books ever again.
I <3 Marin as an author.
Is there any chance that Marin’s three volumes on 1. c4 will be updated? I only have volume 2 but would for sure buy them all three, if the books are updated!
@Alexander
I have GM Rep. 3+4+5 and I agree with your verdict. They are superb books.
This is the reason I got interested in the English.The thing is that I dont want to play 1.c4 2.g3 against everything. I want to have a flexible repertoire with some sharper options as the one I have mentioned. Combining solidity with sharpness is what I am after. I know there are many sharp lines i Marins books, but many lines are more “safe”. The lines are very sound but not for “hooligans”. It is not good to be too predictible. Against certain solid opponents razorsharpness is required to be successful.
IMHO Marin’s books are great, but they lack the quality of other GM Repertoires. The explanations are spot on, clear an instructive, but in some lines the main line is just dubious for Black. I remember on Chapter 19 of vol3 (reversed Benoni) there is a line where Black is dropping a pawn. I saw it with the computer. It happened that shortly after studying the chapter I got that position in a real game. I forgot about the hanging pawn and just went on with Marin’s recommendation.
Yes, certainly I did remember the main ideas and that is why on the board I was able to follow the main line, which btw gave me a more than fine position (I clearly outplayed my opponent in the opening and middlegame, only to lose in time-trouble). That is thanks to the explanations. But the line recommended was just bad, and White could have won a pawn and didn’t.
So I have a mixed fillings. I like the books a lot from the strategy point of view, but when I’m studying a line seriously, I always have a voice on the back on my mind telling me that maybe the line is not that sound, and maybe Black has better chances. If you just use stockfish in a random line you will see it. Black often plays bad moves (in the main line), and often it is not indicated that the moves are just bad.
My final conclusion is that is a great book for players until IM (a random guess, I am not that st rong), but GM will be left hanging. Hence now I consider this book more like a ‘Chess Structures in the English’ than a theory book, and since then I am a lot happier with it.
GM 16 is now available for purchase (due to popular demand). But please note, I think it will be at least a month before anyone has a copy in their hands – printing and shipping takes time.
GM 16 appears on our home page and our hardcover pages, but not on our ‘Opening’ page, for some reason. Normally Colin fixes this sort of error with a couple of clicks of a button, but he has disappeared on holiday to play in the World Senior Team Championship. http://www.schachfestival.de/world-senior-team-championship-2015.html
@pabstars
I am more interested in a new book on the English covering some of the lines mentioned above. I Think Marins book are still excellent. It is not like in the Najdorf or Dragon where you can be busted if you forget the theory. It is ideas-based theory to give you a feel for playing the positions. The latest theory can be checked by consulting a database.
@John Shaw
I usually pre-order because I am afraid sometimes that the amount of places for pre-order runs out…
Is the book on Forward Chess before the physical print still?
@Gilchrist is a Legend
There is no upper maximum for the amount of books we would sell. When GM2 was released we were three guys packing envelopes a full day after the delivery making sure everyone got their copy!
Since receiving my copy of Kotronias’ Mar del Plata 1 I have been pouring over it every evening after work and at lunch time too. The execllent analysis, prose and layout of the book make a very enjoyable read indeed. Below, I would like to bring to the attention of this forum a recent game featuring the mainline recommended by Kotronias, however it contains a potent idea by White not considered in the book.
Kjartansson,G (2451) – Becerra Rivero,J (2546) [E99]
26th Carlos Torre Mem Merida MEX (4.7), 19.12.2014
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0–0 6.Be2 e5 7.0–0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Be3 f5 11.f3 f4 12.Bf2 g5 13.Rc1 Rf6 14.Nd3 Rh6 15.c5 a6 16.Re1!?
[This rare but quite challenging move is not mentioned by Kotronias. The idea is to build a Kingside defensive fortress with Bf1 and h3, which effectively neutralises any sacrificial attempts on the h3 square by Black]
16…Qe8 17.h3 Qh5
[This move was criticised by David Vigorito in his annotations for ChessPublishing.Com, but I could not find a better alternative, other moves just seem too slow. Besides, if you go for this setup, you are pretty much committed to this course of action.]
18.Bf1 Nf6 19.cxd6 cxd6 20.Na4 g4
[With sacrifices on h3 off the menu, this is the other typical breakthrough to aim for, but]………..
21.Rxc8+!
[Forced but a strong exchange sac. Indeed, this resource is constantly available to White in this 16.Re1!? line, it just needs to be timed optimally]
21…Rxc8 22.fxg4
[And that’s that, Black is nominally material ahead, but his Kingside initiative has been extinguished, always a bad sign for Black in the Mar del Plata, and what’s left are weak light squares and a bereft Queenside that’s about to be infiltrated]
22…Qg5 23.Nb6 Rc7 24.Re2 Bf8
[A better version of the game continuation may have been 24…Rg6 25.Ne1 h5 26.Nf3 Qh6 27.g5 Rxg5 The position remains murky, but still its White that’s pressing]
25.Ne1! Qg6 26.Rc2 Rxc2 27.Qxc2. 27…Qg7 28.Bd3 Rg6 29.Nf3 h5 30.g5 Rxg5 31.Nxg5 Qxg5 32.Be2 Ng6 . 33.Bf3 Ng4 34.Qc8! 1–0
A game that provides plenty food for thought, and introduces a concept not touched upon in Mar del Plata 1, hopefully the Quality Chess Team could bring this line to Kotronias’ and Simeonidis’ attention so that they may have the opportunity to address it in a future Newsletter or Update.
Regards,
Toppy
@TopNotch
I have forwarded your stuff to Kotronias.
If I ever get through the Yusupov series I’ll look forward to buying the updated ‘learn from the legends’ book. Chess structures and pump up your rating look nice too but with 2 more Yusupov books to go it’s going to take a while yet! :-/
Carlsen certainly deserves a chapter in learn from the legends IMO … currently world champion and world nr.1 in classical, rapid and blitz. Is that the new ‘triple double’?
@JB
Not no 1 in blitz I think, but World Champion in it ;-). 2700chess.com has the details. I cannot be bothered to look it up…
He’s number 1 elo in everything now, a while back he wasn’t in rapid I think (number 2 for some points).
In blitz he’s like 2950 elo…
@Bebbe
What is stated in post 199 is spot on, and is why I have started to shy away from Repertoire books.
Actually, my 2015 New Year’s Resolution was to stop trying to play to a book’s repertoire, and start researching variations independently, and play what I want to play.
So I’ve started to steer more towards “objective” works, and I do still heavily use the Cutting Edge book in the Najdorf with 6.Be3.
If Quality Chess’s goal is to gear towards the more experienced player as opposed to some series by other publishers, like “Starting Out” or “Move by Move”, maybe Grandmaster Repertoire isn’t the answer, and more objective works, such as doing a whole series of “The Cutting Edge” on various openings, or certain variations of various openings for those that are dense, like the Najdorf, King’s Indian, Ruy Lopez etc, is the route to take.
As mentioned in message 199, you get the feeling like you are pigeon-holing yourself to one line.
A “Cutting Edge” series, to complete with another publisher’s “Chess Developments” series, may just be what Quality Chess needs right now. Some of us don’t need 4 different narrow snake-path options (i.e. Batsford’s “Beating The”, Quality’s “Experts vs”, New in Chess’s “Dismantling”, and Everyman’s “Slaying”) of one opening, but rather something more comprehensive on a narrow subject (i.e. Najdorf 6.Bg5) where the information is given and we do the picking.
In case you can’t tell, right now, against the Sicilian, I am cherrypicking between being an Expert versus (most the e6 lines), Cutting some Edges (Classical Scheveningen), Dismantling (Modern Scheveningen, Dragon, Classical, and most Nc6-Sicilians), and researching some Chess Developments (Najdorf – Both White with 6.Bg5 and Black vs 6.Bg5), to patch together the perfect way to blow Black’s 1…c5 off the board!
Same thing goes with Black with the Najdorf. A mix of Developments (Bg5), Cutting Edge (Be3), and Mastering (Others), rather than pigeon-holing down the narrow path of a repertoire book!
@Patrick
FYI: Jacob has mentioned several times that the Cutting Edge books didn’t sell.
In my opinion in this age theory on some openings has so much expanded that it’s not realistic anymore to strive for completeness. The only complete books nowadays are on openings such as the Albin’s Countergambit or the Budapest Gambit. In the 80ies there were a whole series by Batsford called ‘X for the Tournament Player’. For example John Nunn wrote a 1 volume book on the Najdorf, containing all variations. Nowadays for a reportoire book on a single line of the Najdorf Negi needs a 300-page book! The same goes for the KID: Nunn covered all lines of the KID in two volumes, which is unimaginable today. I think there is not enough demand for complete tomes anymore, since the ordinary chess player will drown in the information. Besides, there are nowadays very good opening books on your chess computer programme which give you completeness. I use that a lot myself to add to the lines from reportoire books. I think many chess players (including myself) like to be guided with a reportoire book. It gives you a solid, coherent and complete basis from which you can then deviate and to which you can add other lines. I do however like the idea of giving both a solid line and a sharper line, but there are many reportoire books that do this. For example Playing the French gives many options for black, and The Modern Tiger as well (GM Rep Benoni also comes to mind – Petrov often gives even 3 options for black). Marin’s reportoire is indeed narrower, but the explanations are simply superb, and I prefer the choice made to use more pace for explanations than for alternative lines. If I don’t like a certain line proposed by Marin I can always add my own choices from other books, such as Play the English by Pritchet (giving sharper lines against 1…e5 and 1…c5) or Dangerous Weapons Flank Openings (giving e.g. the Mikenas Attack against 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6). I think it’s impossible to satisfy everybody with one book, but I don’t mind – in fact, if I’m a fan of a certain opening I tend to buy almost all books on this opening 🙂
@Patrick
Thanks for sharing some of my opinions. In fact I like the GM repertoire books very much.
I Think they are way better than the cutting edge series. What I am hoping for is a new GM repertoire book on the English with only sharp lines. Then I can pick the lines myself to form an excellent repertoire with solidity and sharpness that can be used against anybody.
@Ray
Yes I can use Pritchets book or dangerous weapons.
The problem is that the books are rather old now which
is not good when covering sharper lines.
By the way I prefer a QC book with if there is one on the
line I am interested in.
Do Pritchett cover the any of these lines?
1.c4, c5 2. Nf3, Nf6 3.Nc3, d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4, Nb4 6.Bc4
1.c4, c5 2. Nf3, Nf6 3.Nc3, Nc6 4.d4, cxd4 5. Nxd4, e6 6.g3, Qb6 7.Ndb5, Ne5 8. Bf4, Nfg4 9.Qa4
1. c4, e5 2.Nc3, Nf6 3.Nf3, Nc6 4.g3, Bb4 5.Bg2, 0-0 6.0-0, e4 7.Ng5, Bxc3 8.bxc3 Re8 9.f3
1.c4, c5 2. Nf3, Nf6 3.Nc3, b6 4.d4, cxd4 5.Nxd4, Bb7 6.f3, e6 7.e4.
1.c4, Nf6 2.Nc3, e6 3.Nf3, Bb4 4.g4!?
@Bebbe
In my view, combining solidity and sharpness is a bit of a self-contradictory course. I’m not saying that both themes can be present in the same game, but maybe not really at the same time. There must naturally (in my opinion of course), be a shift or transition between these two situations.
In a way, you could say that the English keeps things rather positional (at least for a majority of the systems, and especially the way they are described by Marin) up until a certain point. Of course, as in many other games – you’ll have to crawl out of your snail-house and lash at the opponent, but the English system(s) often lets you wait for an ideal moment to do so.
Now, if your opponent happened to also read Marin’s (fantastic) books, you will of course end up in some of the diagrams where he gives an evaluation of something like +/= (small advantage or slightly better), but remember that your opponent litterally has to play as precise as you to get there !
Of course, if you always play to win, and get fed up with the “better safe than sorry”-attitude, then yes.. you will have to take the risk of discovering that the game didn’t give you the scenario which brings you inside your own comfort zone entirely (or whichever way you want to describe your ideal situation during a game).
Sure you can change and play a different version of the English rather than 1. c4 followed by 2. g3 (for instance 2. Nf3), but why would you then want to even play the English at all in the first place ? 😛
One last point about Marin and his style/books. I REALLY REALLY REALLY like how he is able to explain on a fairly basic level (to everyone), what the overall plan from the resulting evaluated position is, instead of (like numerous books in the old days) just giving a slightly better or worse without explaining why.
Returning to the starting point of this post – It’s definitely a good ability to be able to change between being positional (or strategic if you will) and tactical during a game. Infact both things are required in order to become strong and succesful on the board 😀 I’ve seen too many players being either or.. the purely tactical ones lose when a majority of the pieces are exchanged off the board, and the purely positional ones lose when their opponent makes a sudden surprice sacrificial attack (based on tactics alone).
Again – solidity and sharpness can be combined yes.. but not at the same stage in the game, at least not in my view on the game.
@ Bebbe
Correction to above post:
” I’m not saying that both themes can be present in the same game,”
should of course be
” I’m not saying that both themes CAN’T be present in the same game,”
I want to play the English because of the flexibility it provides. Besides even in the sharpest lines there is less theory to learn than for instance in the Dragon, Najdorf, Sveshnikov, Ruy Lopez, Grunfeld, Slav and Semislav. I also Think that many amateur players are not as well versed in the English as they are in their defences against 1.d4 and 1.e4.
My aim is not to have solidity and sharpness at the same time. The goal is to be able to switch style within the framework of the starting move 1.c4.
This is of course my own subjective feelings. Everybody has his/her own opinion.
Thats what makes the game so fascinating.
@Bebbe
I don’t know if all these lines are covered (I guess not). I think the books I mentioned are about 6 years old, not much older than Marin’s books on the English which are form 2010. Of course you would have to check if all lines are still valid, but I’m pretty sure the basis should still be sound – it’s not like theory of the English is progressing at light speed, not even in the Mikenas :-). By the way, in my opinion another way to spice things up is to not dogmatically refrain from moving your d- or e-pwn 2 steps. For example, after 1.c4 c6, 2.e4 (switching to the Panov) is imo quite a good way to get black out of his Slav comfort zone. And also, as Marin writes himself, in a number of variations it’s simply best for white to switch to a 1.d4 opening.
@Ray
Will take look at an excerpt from Pritchetts book.
I will transpose to some d4 openings for instance:
1.c4, g6 2.d4, Nf6 3.f3
1. c4, Nf6 2.Nc3, g6 3.e4, d6 4.d4, Bg7 5.f3
1.c4, g6 2.d4, Bg7 3.e4
1.c4, e6 2.Nc3, d5 3.d4
Against 1.c4, c6 I will play 2.Nf3, d5 and now 3.e3 or 3.g3.
With these move orders I will avoid Slav, Nimzo Grunfeld, Benko, Benoni, Chigorin and Budapest. The hardest openings to meet for a d4-player is Slav, Nimzo, Grunfeld and Benko in my opinion.
@Bebbe
I agree. And you also avoid the QGA by the way. Against 1…Ne6 2.Nc3 e6 I like the Mikenas. I also transpose to the QGD after 1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4. You have to beware though that black can also transpose to a Tarrasch Defence after 1…c5. Coincidentally I just looked at 1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 from black’s perspective, and I wonder what white has after 3…Nf6 4.Nc3 Bf5 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Bb3 Bc8. I admit it looks weird, but actually black is rock-solid and with Stockfish I haven’t been able to find a significant advantage for white.
Yes the QGA is als a bit of a headache. The Tarrasch is not a problem for me. Most positions seems a tiny bit better for white even if you forget some theory.
After1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3, Nf6 4.Nc3 Bf5 I suggest the move 5.Qb3 and on 5.-Bc8 6.d4.
In this way you dont give black access to c6 for his Queen knight.
“English with only sharp lines..”. I still don’t understand this term. Hence my former post, I don’t believe that this opening will lead to “sharp lines” in more than a handful of those many systems unfolding after 1. c4.. It’s a very positional opening, and unless both sides are up for a fight, you aren’t guaranteed a sharp line to happen at all.
Can you maybe define “sharp” for me, as I tend to think we may have very different opinions on what a “sharp line” is covering. To me it’s something very tactical and where one misstep, costing a tempo may lead to a (perhaps even rather quick) defeat for either of the sides in the fight. This is not often something that happens in the English openings I play myself, but enlighten me please ! 🙂
@Bebbe
I think after 5…Qb6 instead of 5…Bc8 it’s hard to win for white. It’s kind of boring, but solid for black. But I could be wrong of course 🙂
@Ray
I agree on that the position is solid. If you meet a solid opponent your winning chances with black are very small.
One of the variations I like after 3.e3 is 3.-Nf6 4.Nc3, e6 5.b3, Nbd7 6.Bb2, Bd6 7.Qc2, 0-0 8.Be2, Qe7 9.0-0-0 with a real fight.
@Bebbe
Yes, that’s a nice variation for white. Delchev also has covered this in his book on the Reti (1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 etc.)
Ray – A lot of what you are saying just confirms what I’m saying.
Why write a 300-page repertoire book on the Sicilian Najdorf, taking players down narrow paths?
You mention Nunn covering the KID in 2 320-page books, which was 20 years ago.
This is why I say that objective books on SPECIFIC VARIATIONS is the way to go for advanced players.
Instead of giving a bunch of narrow paths for one side (i.e. Black) after 5…a6 in the Najdorf, you do a complete, unbiased work on the position after 6.Bg5, another unbiased book on the position after 6.Bc4, a third on 6.Be2, and a fourth on 6.Be3. The minor lines like 6.f4 or 6.g3 can be studied via a database. Yes, this means the serious Najdorf player needs to buy 4 books instead of 1, but hey, when one line dies 5 years from now, you have a bunch of other options still available!
Also, such a book would also help those that play White in those positions. Obviously the White player would only need to get 1 of the 4 books, whichever one it is that is the line they play against the Najdorf.
You’d do the same with other openings. It’s not about the “complete” King’s Indian, Nimzo-Indian, or Queen’s Gambit any more. It’s about the “complete” Classical King’s Indian with 9.Ne1, or the “complete” Classical Nimzo-Indian with 4…O-O, or the “complete” Lasker QGD, etc.
Maybe “objective books” are the way to go for many advanced players, but how would the economic side work? A specialized book is probably as expensive to produce as a repertoire book, but the specialisation makes the target audience much smaller. Who would buy a book about the Lasker QGD? Only people who play this with black and white players who are not satisfied with a quick fix against it as explained in some repertoire books.
A repertoire book on the other hand is attractive to a much broader audience.
How many chess players are really buying opening books? In my club (ca. 80 players) I would guess the number is 10% – and that’s optimistic. Especially younger players often don’t read chess books at all. They use other means of training.
@Andre
I agree. It sounds nice in principle, but I think there is no business case. Another important aspect is that it will go out of date very quickly. That also holds for reportoire books of course, but there the writer can spend more space on verbal explanations, which will remain valid even if some specific lines are refuted. Take for example Marin’s books: yes, some antidotes may have been found for black in some lines, but the strategy remains the same, and thus Marin’s fabulous explanations will also stand the test of time. Completeness still has its place I think, but in my opinion this aspect has been taken over by computer books. E.g. the book on my HIARCS chess programme has millions of lines and if I enter the content of a GM Rep book in a database, it always strikes me how much is already in my computer book. Combined with a good engine, what’s left to wish for i.m.i. is good verbal explanations and coherency. Given the lack of commercial success of the Cutting Edge series I really think there’s just no business case for separate complete books on e.g. every subline of the Najdorf. Many people will prefer to be guided through the jungle by a knowledgable guide. Judging from the complaints by a number of people even on this blog about the overwhelming amount of material in e.g. Kotronias on the KID or Negi’s books and the demands by some persons for more concise books, I think the trend will certainly not be towards even more detailed books. Is there anyone out there who has read the complete Openings According to Anand books? Try multiplying that series by 5 to 10 and you get an idea of how many books you would have to publish to be ‘complete’ 🙂
By the way, I do think being unbiased can go hand in hand with offering a narrow reportoire. For example, Negi is his chapter on the Caro-Kann (the line played in Carlsen-Anand) admits that this line is very tough nut to crack for white and gives three alternatives to choose from. But even so, whit does not obtain any real advantage, and Negi doesn’t hide it from the reader. Tiger is also being honest in pointing out weak spots in the reportoire and is also offering more than one route for black against the crititcal white lines. He ends with +/= on more than one occasion. So, I’m not sure why being unbiased should be linked to being complete. Of course there are many reportoire books out there that are biased, but most of the time those are not by QC.
I think many of those complaints are from people who typically buy “Winning with the Grob”, just to see that it’s not that easy as expected. They want a 100 page booklet on the KID, easy to learn over the weekend, and winning in all lines. That’s what many opening books from other publishers seem to promise. And that was for years the main market for opening books. After seeing that “Winning with the Grob” didn’t work, the player used to switch to “Winning with the Sokolsky” four weeks later, buying the next book.
I have some friends who acted that way.
I’m very glad that QC got away from that market, focussing on the quality of the content.
There cannot be a repertoire book for each line the public might wish for. But those that exist continue to be the main references, even if one or another faulty line is found. People still use Avrukhs books when many of the others are long forgotten.
@Thomas
Hear hear 🙂
I agree.
If you want a very basic outline or understanding of an opening, especially if you have never played the opening before then there are other publishers which adequately cater for these buyers seeking those sort of books.
However if you want analysis of openings that are quite deep in analysis, then Quality Chess caters for buyers with these sort of books. You may not like some of the lines/variations provided in he analysis, but then work with a database and find something you like. Whether it is better than that provided in the book may or not be always so, after all it is analysis performed by a grandmaster in most cases. Look for a line/variation that may suit your style or taste better and don’t expect not to do a bit of work yourself.
I am not against introduction books or 128 page repertoires at all. It has just not been playing to our strength to work on such projects. I cannot know what people are thinking, but often I feel that requests for us to do books in a way that Everyman would do them, are misplaced. I have nothing against Everyman, some of their books are quite nice, though some of them are obviously just a part of the sausage factory. Rotella’s book is an example of a great book from them.
But Everyman cannot produce the type of books we do. Neither can New in Chess or any of the other publishers for that matter. As there is a finite limit to how many books we can put out, I cannot see why we should meddle wildly in books the other specialise in, when we have a corner of the market for ourselves. Not the least because it is the most interesting part of the market!!
Regarding bias. Our policy is for the authors to be honest in all situations. Don’t lie to the reader. Even if you get away with it with a lot of them, you will develop an antipathy with enough to undermine your business. I see other guys who are doing this and are still in business. It seems like they do not care at all about the way they are laughed at behind their backs. I mean, I really believe they do not care.
Well, John and I care. Honesty and openness is our way to show this. I know it sounds pompous, but you cannot say something positive without inviting sarcasm. We know that when someone chooses to part with €25 for a book, this is not a small amount. We want to do our part for this being a transaction where everyone wins: the shop, the publisher, the distribution, the printer and most of all – the reader. We do not always achieve this, I fear, but we achieve it often enough to keep on going…
@Jacob Aagaard
Great, I hope to enjoy QC books in this style for years to come!
Are there any plans of a new Grunfeld book by Avrukh or someone else? The previous books by Avrukh were published in 2011 and since it’s a very popular and theoretical opening, I think a new book woud be nice 🙂
It is certainly wise (if the sales results verify this) for Quality Chess to carve out a market niche that is different from Everyman which certainly is trying to dominate the low rated player (like me) market. I do find some of your books quite useful at my level—like the Yusopov books, or “Chess Tactics from Scratch,” and even some of the classic texts like Nimzowitsch’s or the Soviet books. Even the shorter repertoire books can be used on an ad hoc basis (Scandi, and Caro-Kann) to get help in lines encountered for the first time over the board. I have spoken with titled players who say they like the kind of books I do—that is, ones that stay at a certain level of generality and strategic principles rather than massive, exhaustive details. Probably these few are rare birds. I suppose there is an art to synthesizing the history or the opening, the strategic themes, the key lines, the challenging lines, etc. and doing so in a succinct fashion such that a reader isn’t swamped. I think Aagaard’s “Dutch Stonewall,” and LS’s “Caro-Kann” in the GM repertoire achieve these ends perfectly. I did think “Fighting the System” was a good title—perhaps the reactionaries here would balk at such a book. The cover could have had the “Anonymous” mask on a guy playing chess.
Maybe it ist interesting to setup an opening book like the Yusupov series, i.e. in a number of volumes/chapters of ascending complexity. The information is available in Databases. To evaluate, judge and recommend that is what I expect from a good opening book.
What I always like is if the author explains things which are very hard to derive from looking at variations alone (strong and weak pieces/squares, when to place a piece where and why, pwan structure transpositions, endgame themes).
E.g. I liked Mihai Subas explanations on the Sicilian in his “dynamic chess strategy”. Of course it is me, but the only book where I managed to understand the selection of subvariatons and their meaning properly was the 4 part tome on the french by Lev Psakhis.
When will Baburin write his book on the Alekhine for QC? 😉
Congratulations to QC & Negi for winning the 2014 Opening book of the year chesspub.com prize. Wonderful work. You deserve it.
@Gramsci
!! We rock!! I feel a bit sorry for Tony, who deserved it and would have won in most other years for what is really a wonderful book.
@Mark Moorman
I am not sure if we are clever and have good sales, or if we do extra work for the same money. I guess the latter to be honest. But going to work is still great fun and we can pay the bills. And when I look back at my work in this business for now 17 years, I am markedly more happy with the last 11 than with the first 6, even though I wrote more books in the first 6!
My idea was never to do exclusively high level books and we have not done this. It was the strategy when we started, as everyone were “starting out”. I always wanted to do a “move by move” series (I told Burgess about this back in 1999, which he never thanked me for, but fuck it, he gave the idea to John Nunn and he wrote an award winner with it. But then, I got the idea from a Danish friend anyway ;-)), but Everyman beat us to it.
To me Quality Chess has always been about the attitude of going beyond the “this will do/sell” approach that I feel other publishers have. When there is a chess mistake in our books, we care. We do not just reprint without corrections because the book is selling fine as it is. I am by no means saying that we do not have deadlines or that we do not make howlers. We are a business, if we were not, we would not be here. But we try not to take short cuts.
Example, in GM16 that we just finished, we did cut the book and have Emanuel cut stuff. It is 472 pages. I wanted a max. 400 page book. It is more commercial and this, I guess, is because the readers like it better. And I want the readers to be happy. But at 472 pages, there really was nothing superfluous left, or it would be a different type of book. And I really really wanted to have two volumes to start with.
Another example: Avrukh on the Grunfeld. Two volumes. We could have done a 680 page book and it would have sold well. The two volumes sold better, combined. It was better business. We had to split in order to justify the time spent on it, to get those total 1000 extra sales or so. No one ever complained. You could of course mention the same story with Kotronias’ new KID books, though there it was our plan from day 1 that this would be two volumes.
Am I being too honest here? Honesty is sort of our business strategy, so I hope not…
Jacob I like a lot your business strategy.
The quality of the work has to come first, and then the sells will back it up (hopefully), at least in the long run. When you produce fast books, the quality is lower. The same author cannot make 6 books in a year and hope the quality will be the same as if it was only one book. I’m not going to point to anybody, but other publishers do that. They lost me as a customer for exactly that reason.
If there is something I cannot stand is the outrageous lies in many opening books for beginners. If some line is more difficult for your repertoire, just admit it. Obviously if you are recommending the London, many lines will end up in an easy =, or maybe some in a =/+ just because you want to get an interesting position. If you recommend the Alekhine, then a +/= should be a fine evaluation for the most challenging line, isn’t it? But in those books it seems you will always win with white, and you will have always a better game with black. That just puts me off big time.
If QC were to make a opening book for beginners I’m sure it would stand out head and shoulders over other publishers’ book. I may not buy it, but I’m sure there is a market out there of beginners feeling cheated by their books.
@Jacob Aagaard
I’d like to add my two cents. QC is the best chess publisher by far, and when I say by far I really mean it. I can find a hole in repertoire books published by others in a few hours while I’ve to work for weeks before finding something that resembles a hole in QC books. QC books are the only books that I buy even when a friend shares them with me and this speaks for itself. I blame QC only for one thing, the ambiguity in assessing some main lines. I feel a little disappointed when the same author publishes a 1 d4 repertoire, then two books on defenses against d4 (grunfeld and slav), then again ad updated d4 repertoire. At least the books should be written by different authors with different point of views or opinions! Of course this impacts only few players, the top ones and the perfectionists as myself!
Thanks for what you are doing guys!
Jacob, would you still like feedback for the scores in the Calculation book? A couple of years ago, I did the tests and sent the results to you. Since then I have started to play in a club and done a lot of chess training so I expect to improve my test results. Therefore, I will re-read it when I have finished the Quality Chess Puzzle Book which will probably take quite some time as I have only just started it (seems really good).
@rigao
This was always my thinking as well.
@garryk
We have discussed this a lot of times here on the blog. Our view has always been (and has not been challenged in a way that has made us change it) that you have to play with both colours in chess and that you can be hit with the moves you recommended for White, when you are Black. I cannot see why this should make it impossible for Boris to write books for Black against 1.d4 when he has written a 1.d4 repertoire.
@pabstars
You were the only one to do this as far as I recall, so the idea of doing more with it died. So, no thank you, I will use my energy on the Gelfand book and on Thinking Inside the Box ;-).
@Jacob Aagaard
Of course I don’t expect a winning repertoire for white and an impenetrable repertoire for black but I expect one player to be fond of his opening. I don’t think Svidler will ever write a book “how to win against the grunfeld” because he loves the grunfeld and defends black side in every situation. So when a player writes for and against the same opening I feel a little disappointed. Having read all Avrukh’s book I feel he gives his best when he tries to find an edge while he’s less convincing on the black side. Other authors are instead better on the black side (for example Tiger and his modern defense).
Finally the order of the books is important. For example Kaufmann wrote first a repertoire book with the grunfeld as main weapon for black and then a book how to get an edge against the grunfeld. That’s better in my opinion than the opposite, first a repertoire for white and then an equalizing line for black. In the first way you can still play the line for black (white can get a plus but that’s all), in the second way you neutralize your own repertoire and are left with nothing in your hands.
Let’s be clear, it’s a minor-minor-minor weakness in the fantastic production of Quality Chess…but as nobody is perfect I like to suggest an improvement.
IMHO I think a NID/QID is needed well before we get ANOTHEr Grunfeld book
@The Doctor
I would agree with you.
Having an author work on both sides of the river simultaneously seems a daunting challenge and would seem to also work to keep the objectivity factor maximized for those seeking to do it. It does seem to most accurately represent what active players must also face, the strong possibility of having ones own methods turned against one.
One more vote for a NID/QID tome.
The last two books I received from you fine folks (Rios Structures & Kotronias KID 2 MDP 1) were perhaps the best chess books ever but one can only say this so many times before sounding like a pretentious shill.
@Jacob Aagaard
Being honest definitely works on me. We’re building a house right now, and had to find a company to do it for us. In the end, we chose the company where we had the feeling that they were honest (well, others felt very dishonest…). I think it’s a bit more expensive than others would have been, but looking at how they’re building it, it’s worth it.
@Jacob Aagaard
I had Tony’s book in my hands the other day. A couple of things would have made me buy it instantly: 1) QC as publisher; 2) Proper review somewhere on the internet; 3) More information about the author.
1+2 I almost ignored, but a 28 year old author without an ELO rating and hardly any games in my database really, and then a two sentence presentation in the book itself, just looks suspicious. I understand now why you put your name next to Niko’s on “Playing the French” (though I would have bought that book anyway).
Anyhow, now you’ve praised “Killer Sicilian” twice on this blog, so now I’ll buy it. And don’t worry, it won’t affect any buying decisions on QC books 😉
@garryk
If an author were to claim that his white rep gives a sure edge, and then trot out a black rep for which he claims the same thing, I would agree that this is dodgy. But if the author is honest, and only claims that both reps give “dynamic chances” or some such, I don’t see a problem with this. In fact, I think it might keep an author honest.
The title has been in use even longer: http://www.amazon.com/Schach-f%C3%BCr-jedermann-I-Zug/dp/3806806489 – though it’s not an opening book at all, but the name of the former, official beginners series of the German Chess Federation. There was (is!?) even a TV show about it!
I don’t think most of Avrukh’s Grünfeld books need a general update (Grünfeld requires constant work more than other openings anyway, to look at the latest games is mandatory even at “medium” level, say from 2000-2100+ on). However, IMHO the Russian system proposed in the books needs a complete overhaul. For me, the proposed system feels quite shaky. How about a one-chapter pamphlet, to be sold e.g. on Forward Chess for, say, 2-3£ ? I’d of course take it for free in a Newsletter as well 🙂
Then, of course, there’s no need to stick to a repertoire book here, as there are no transpositions and one can easily pick other responses (from other books or just games). But I would like to hear Boris’ opinion on the latest development in the Russian.
At my low level I must say that when it gets to multiple volumes such a purchase would be an act of delusion—like a 20 handicap ordering a 1 iron. If I want to play c4, g3, Bg2 Kosten will suit my needs fine. I must say I have some sympathy for some comments in this thread about not always opening with those same three moves in the English. I, too, like to shoot for the Mikenas with 2.Nc3 sometimes, BUT I have found other lines that preclude this fun to play too. Such as, 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g4! And against Slav-like play—1.c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 Nf6 4. Qc2 e6 5. b3 Be7 6.Bb2 0-0 7. Rg1! I am sure these may be suicide at high levels, but I am playing mostly opponents under 1700 so the “surprise factor” has usually been fun.
@Tobias
This is not my blog, nor even my publisher’s blog, so I don’t want to take up any more space than necessary, but if you’d like to talk about “The Killer Sicilian” or my qualifications, shoot me a message over @ ChessPub and we can exchange an e-mail or two. If you do end up picking up my book, I’d love to hear what you think. 😉
GM16 showing 25.03.2015 now. But I have a feeling that websales are posted on 20.03.2015 (or 23.03.2015 if not so). Very exciting, it is the final volume of all of the QC French books. It is good that he offers 11…Qc7 in the 3…Nf6 Tarrasch, because to me it seems more dynamic than 11…0-0. I wonder what he offers for the Exchange, but I suppose soon we shall know.
@Gilchrist is a Legend
The publication date we give is the day we expect the books to arrive in chess shops in Europe. So for GM 16 that is, as you say, March 25th. For websales we post as soon as we can, so a few people may get their websale book before the publication date.
Re the Exchange French – a lot of fun stuff with Black castling long. In fact, we considered using part of the Exchange section as the excerpt.
Please translate the new book about Petrosjan in german language.There it gives a chance?
@Shurlock Ventriloquist
‘Both sides of the river’?
Denis Law?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQwLdLC39fc
(2:25)
We have almost discontinued publishing books in German. So, no chance of that happening.
Am I correct to interpret Schandorff’s coming volume described above as “GM Rep 20 – Semi-Slav” as a repertoire for black? Or, a continuation of his 1.d4 series showing how to tackle the Semi-Slav?? I liked his Caro-Kann book so much I might just get it and see if my 1…e6 reply to 1.d4 might expand to head to the Semi and not just the Dutch. (I may be missing a key point but the pawns on d5, e6, c6 looked awfully similar to my Stonewall.) GM Shaw mentioned PDF extracts—I like it when they at least include the introduction wherein the author explains the general thrust of the book, and answers the question, “why play this?” I suppose many already know why—but I like seeing the intro.
@Mark Moorman
Thanks for your comments. The book will start with White’s options on move 5. There are numerous move orders to get there, so Lars felt this was most prudent.
GM Aagaard:
Forgive me if you have answered this question in another thread, but have you offered any more insight into the proposed From Scratch series of books?
Thanks
@Jeffrey “notyetagm” Hall
No
I have noticed that the Grunfeld with 8.Rb1 has been recently employed by Aronian and Mamedyarov. They have entered the following variation:
8.Rb1, 0-0 9.Be2, cxd4 10.cxd4, Qa5+ 11.Bd2, Qxa2 12.0-0, Bg4 13.Rxb7
This variation was previously considered harmless (See Challenging the Grunfeld and the Avrukh Grunfeld book). If two World elite players plays the move at least a tiny advantage for white must have been found.
The main remedy against this is supposed to be 13.-Bxf3 14.Bxf3, Bxd4. For some reason Jon Ludvig Hammer played 14.-Nc6 15. d5, Nd4 but lost quickly against Aronian in Norway Chess.
“If two World elite players plays the move at least a tiny advantage for white must have been found.” Or, they know how black equalizes, but think their opponent may not. Or, they noticed that their opponent does not handle this line well. Or, they think no move leads to an advantage, but still have to play something. Or, they have been looking at the line recently, and just decided to give it a try.
@An Ordinary Chessplayer
Your comments are applicable for grandmasters at a lower level.
I dont think this is the case here. Besides the position gets
rather simplified with clear a drawing tendency.
I dont think Aronian is happy with a draw as White against Hammer.
To QC: Will there be an update to challenging the Grunfeld?
@Bebbe
No
Bebbe – Best place to get info on the Grunfeld today, IMHO, is through a book written by an author with the initials “DV”. I won’t mention the full name or title as it’s by a competitor.
Still no recent books on the classical Sicilian or the scheweningen. Kotronias comes to mind for the classical and Suba for the Scheweningen. How is Kozuls book on his variation?
@QC team
Yesterday I purchased Kotronias’s book on the Sveshnikov. After having a quick glance, I was immediately sold and decided to focus my repertoire around the Sveshnikov coming from the classical sicilian. The prose are great and I believe that by studying this book I will also improve my dynamic and evaluation skills.
It’s just a waste that life is to short to also work on the KID at the same time. (maybe for a different time)
@Bebbe
Kozuls book is great on analysis and the prose are enough to give you a feel for the plans.
Very difficult and complicated chess, for which you need to be sharp, resourceful and have balls. But in the end, the OTB games I had in this variation are so tense and dynamic that which reminds me of why I play chess.
Just note that the editing is horrible wich makes it difficult to work with. But if you work with chessbase and make your own files, it shouldn’t be to bad.
Chess Structure by Flores Rios is a great achievement. This is the book that was missing in chess litterature about strategy (how to find the plan ? “-just look at the structure!” says Flores Rios -and he explains most of them). This is the way Carlsen plays, I believe -no openings, pawn structures. I recommand it strongly around me, tx for this book !
Sorry for the OT but I’d like to point out that, after careful study, I find the Negi’s book against the Sicilian absolutely stunning. I consider myself a reasonably good expert on the Bg5 sicilian and couldn’t imagine that so much could still be discovered in that variation. It’s an incredible book, probably the best repertoire book I’ve ever read. Just a minor objection, 17 Qe1 is probably drawn as Negi says but a brief status of the actual theory could be appreciated. Thanks for what you are doing QC, chess world wouldn’t be the same without you.
Totally agree with Mr. Neiman – Chess Structure by Flores Rios is a beautyfull bucket of golden wisdom.
Yes, I buy both Chess Structures (M. Flores Rios) & Positional Chess Sacrifice ‘Suba) and , as usual, both are impressive especially Chess Strucutres. Strongly recommended !!
@Jacob Aagaard
Any plans of updating/reprinting Marin’s “Beating the Open Games” book ?
@aspiJ
Something similar – and quite soon actually. Sooner than we had anticipated!
@Jacob Aagaard
Great news!
@Jacob Aagaard
Are you alluding to John Shaw’s book ?
Any possibility to elaborate a bit more ?
Really looking forward to two or three books that are coming but I am developing a backlog. Part of the point of buying books is to read them! On the subject of what we want from opening books. I guess I would ideally like my opening books to be what a top trainer might teach me in say two weeks in order to be able to play and understand the opening. We don’t see a lot of those books, you have to take your own lessons from the material. I guess an ideal superGM book would be to my eyes what would a top expert teach the world champion in order to be able to play a new opening to his best level.
No, definitely not me. My books are 1.e4 for White. An 1.e4 e5 book for Black would be a different project entirely. But “not me” is as much as I will say now. We will give more details when we can, but we want the details to be accurate, not guesses by me saying too much too soon.
Feel free to answer or not but are there any plans on any of the following books this year?
1. Nimzo-Indian & Queen’s Indian
2. Queen’s Gambit Declined
3. Ruy Lopez/Open Games (as Black)
@The Doctor
Yes, there are plans. Plans are not promises, but we are optimistic.
Thank you Jacob,
I know you have heard it many times but I only ask because your publishing house are so much better than the others. This was confirmed after receiving a recently published opening book and after reading it I simply just realised that it just doesn’t meet your guys amazingly high standards 🙂
@Jacob Aagaard
Victor Beating Minor Openings ?
@Michel Barbaut
No
Do we have a rough idea e.g. 2015 or 2016 as to when the rest of the KID volumes will be published?
@Daniel
No, sorry. It is up to Kotronias and his tournament schedule.
Any idea on when we can get a PDF preview of Python Strategy?
@Michael Bartlett
Maybe at the end of next week. There are a few things to fix still, but the book is quite close to going to the printer. Part of the problem is that I am trying to finish the Gelfand book at the same time and really take that much more seriously than anything else.
Any idea about Schandorff’s semislav book’s release date,roughly at least?
Removing the snake? It would look really clean and nice without it, in my humble opinion.
@Mehmet
Not really, but he has finished 90% of the book. So editing starts next week.
@jackson
That would make it identical to all the other books in that series 😉
Has Kotronias ever responded to my query?
@Topnotch
I cannot force him to do so. Author’s prerogative. Sorry.
That’s rather disappointing, but thanks for bringing the information to his attention.
Regards,
Toppy