Sjakk1 wrote on 04/11/18 at 07:18:32:


Despite my concerns around the layout of gambit books, i have several of yours because i find the explanations you give to be really easy to understand for a player of my limited ability.

For example I have considered playing the london as my regular opening several times over the last few years and I found your book really helpful in getting me confident enough to play it so quickly through those introductory games at the start of the book. I wish it was a structure more widely found across chess books.

I've ordered this one now and am really looking forward to it. Like many players i have an urge to return to play 1...e5 as i did when i first started playing the game (but never had a clue on openings back then) in order to improve ala Markovic's doctrine (and because Katar's enthusiasm can be somewhat infectious  ) but have never been confident enough to pull the trigger...

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If you go to the book's Amazon page and click on the book cover on the left hand side, you will find considerably more of the book content than what's in the publishers' pdf-sample. (I still cannot post links).

The Carlsplanet review says:

The author makes a fair point at the very beginning of the book. He is well aware that there have been many books written about 1.e4 e5 and questioned if there was anything new to add. Based on his 30 years of teaching student 1...e5 he felt that there was and I agree with him.

It is too bad the author's introduction is not part of the PDF sample.  I was wondering how the new Johnsen book distinguishes itself from other good books on the same subject by Bologan, Lokander, and Ntirlis.   I noted the book includes both illustrative games and a tree regarding precise move orders.  That is a great idea.

Congratulations on the book, Sverre!
The excerpt looks very promising

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Well, maybe not that peculiar, because against quite a few of White's major options I offer an additional surprise weapon for Black (e.g. 2...c6 against the King's Gambit). I don't do this against the Scotch - mainly because I instead cover the two big moves 4...Nf6 and 4...Bc5.

As a parenthesis I'd like to point out that if you look really closely, you will find a few references to the Steinitz line:
* On page 136 (on my surprise weapon 5...Nxe4 against the Scotch Four Knights), I write: "Compared to Steinitz's line 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4 Qh4?! 5 Nb5 Qxe4+ 6 Be2, Black's position is considerably eased by the exchange of knights.
* On page 203 (on 2 Nc3 Nf6 3 a3), I write "White is hoping for the reversed Scotch line 3...d5 4 exd5 Nxd5, when 5 Qh5 is probably very good for White with any ...Nb4 options ruled out."

What I found slightly disappointing is that he hadn't noticed that with Tari winning the Junior World Championship, Norway now has two World Champions! 

Hi Gilbo,

I'm glad to see you gave in to the temptation, and even more so that you had a positive first impression.

Today I noted a review of the book at Carl's Planet. This site was new to me, but is by the author of "Chess behind Bars" (Quality Chess 2017) and contains a lot of interesting chess stuff, including quite a number of chess book reviews.

The review is quite positive, and I'm especially pleased that Carl too finds that the presentation of the material is among the book's strong points.

I'd be happy to give some links, but it seems that as a newbie at the forum, I'm not allowed to do so.

Hi Micah,

Yes, I remember you. I tried to find our old email exchange to refresh my memory but it proved difficult.

Anyway, in my document archive I found your London analysis/suggestions. I don't remember how much of it was included in the revised edition - there were time and space issues - but the notes were excellent. Thanks!