It is puzzling yes Not quite as puzzling as some of the things happening to junior grades as a result of the update mind!

Even more amusing perhaps that we still have multiple alternative (but mostly BCF like) grading systems in different regions of the country. I've got three different internal grades I think.

Its really not very sensible. Oh well. We've still not really properly got rid of imperial measurements here either really.

The new author of A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire has several encroaching boundaries to contend with as I see it:

1. What will he offer on the 150 Attack that is not done by James Vigus in The Pirc in Black and White?

2. What can he add after Palliser's work on the Colle Zukertorte, Barry Attack, and 150 Attack?

I hope its not an attempt to duplicate or add on to these other works.

As a person who read Summerscales work from cover to cover and has been using the repertoire for several years, I would be appreciative of a book that works on making the collection of openings to be used work better as a team.

A pdf-sample is now available at Gambit's infopage: http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/183Samp.pdf

Quote:


Well, that will be what Johnsen/Rybka have in mind. Summerscale didn't mention 4...Rh7 in his original edition and he hasn't been involved in the update. Not quite as authoritative but the position is relatively tactical so Rybka is quite useful, and with William’s analysis as a background you may find something of interest.

There's now a review up at ChessCafe, but it misses the point of the book and contains some strange criticisms. 

One of the main criticisms is that the book recommends that 1.d4 d6 be met with 2.e4.  Hanson writes, "There are even some bizarre recommendations towards the end of the book, such as how White is to meet 1 d4 d6, where the book recommends 2 e4, which allows Black to take the game to a Pirc or Modern Defense or even the Philidor after 2..Nf6 3 Nc3 e5 4 Nf3. I can't see too many club players, who employ the Colle as white, also going for 2 e4, which changes the entire nature of the game." 

I wouldn't call 2.e4 "bizzarre," even in the sense that Hansen means it, as it is, in fact, exactly the recommendation one would expect in a repertoire book that features the Barry and 150 Attacks as two of its main lines.  Indeed, they are the first two chapters in the book.  So the fact that 2.e4 "allows Black to take the game to a Pirc or Modern" is not a negative, it's exactly what the reader wants.