Markovich wrote on 05/22/13 at 00:46:05:

I agree, I went back and modified the original post from 2004 to get rid of the CAPS, hopefully this will help.

MNb wrote on 05/20/13 at 12:17:38:


Well he did write this, "He has also provided a useful selection of sample games (which make up almost half of the book) so that you can get a feel for common middlegame positions."

I'm guessing you're joking MNb but if not then I'm going t let others decide as I doubt we want this thread turned into a debate about the better review.   

Glenn Snow wrote on 05/20/13 at 00:43:11:

I totally disagree. Goeller writes nothing, zero, nada about the game section, which takes about half of the book. At the other hand Hansen agrees that the theoretical section is very good. So Hansen provides more relevant information.

Glenn Snow wrote on 05/19/13 at 16:15:50:


I have to agree that this is a very good book, as I discuss in my own review:
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-dark-knight-system-review.html

Hansen's review is overly harsh, especially since his main complaint is the number of sample games.

Benoniac wrote on 04/04/13 at 21:46:24:



I don't think white has made any mistakes either, and it looks like you're right about 13.e5!, when black is under a bit of pressure.  McGuire's tepid 11...Bd7 (?!) must be the culprit.  11...Qe7!? 12.Re1 d5 13.exd5 Qc5+ 14.Be3 Qxd5 15.c4 is slightly better for white according to Houdini.  I would not worry about playing this position.  Something to add to the 2nd edition.

I have this book now, and I like what I see so far, which admittedly is only the intro (I like the style of writing already), and flicking through what lines were recommended.

Since the author does so in his intro, I'll mention briefly my history behind this defence. Cast your minds back many moons ago, decades of them, to the early eighties. A mere teen then, I was a sap for any way to avoid playing theoretical openings. So I got many a book recommending "off beat" lines. 

Out came the Bastford book Nimzowitsch Defence by Tim Harding. Ahah, this is for me. Spent some fun time exploring some of the lines there. I liked the 1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 d5 way of playing it. There was a guy at my club who went 1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 e5, but I didn't like this because back then I was mowing people down with the Scotch was White.  But eventually my Nc6 desire faded as I was giving my repertoire some pruning, and 1. e4 Nc6 got the cut. 

Fastforward many years to this millenium, and I'm now playing Pirc/KID and have joined this forum. A combination of the Pirc and Nc6 was discussed a bit in these threads

Modern Defence, 3 Nc3 d6 4 f4 Nc6!? 

http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1144708543

Nimzowitsch Defence - Mestrovic System 

http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1146489832

This appealed to me, but I didn't take it any further.

Fastforward again to last year. I decide to expand my repertoire and add in 1. e4 e5 (not fearing the Scotch )

And then to now. Suddenly this Dark Knight system (or whatever we call it) seems to fit me perfectly.

Transpositions to Pirc                           - Check!
Transpositions to Scotch                - Check! (I like the Bc5 suggestion)
Little explored systems elsewhere  - Check!

I think combining the Dark Knight system, 1. ...e5 and the Pirc will make it more of a challenge to prep against me as I twist and turn like a twisty turny thing with my move orders. 

As for 1. d4 Nc6, hmm, well thats undiscovered country for me, but I think I might give that a punt too.

So thanks to the author for rekindling my interest in this defence.

Hi Michael,

Of all the pleasant surprises I had when writing and researching the book, the discovery of Yates, his play, and his treatment of the critical d5 Nb8 variations is at the top of the list.  In the century since, no one else seemed to understand the resulting positions, and I was unable to find good solutions until I came across his games.

As for the kevitz/dark knight vs. the pirc/modern, there are advantages to each.  The two main (technical) advantages to 1...Nc6 are that black can often play 2...e5 and then ...Bc5 or ...Bb4, which is obviously not possible in the Modern.  Also, when the game transposes to a Pirc/modern, white has blocked his f-pawn.  Given the choice, white keeps his f-pawn free about 70% of the time.  I would not want to try to prove it analytically, but according to statistics, variations with an early Nf3 offer white very diminished prospects.

I am happy to get your feedback on the book.  We've never met, even over the internet, but I know you by the kenilworthian, and when I decided to write the book, your 1...Nc6 bibliography was one of the first places I looked to get outside information.  I checked all those sources that I could find that seemed like they could possibly be useful.

-james

I just received the "Dark Knight" book from England.  A very solid and logical "dark square" repertoire, though I have to wonder why one should play 1...Nc6 to reach the Modern and not just play the Modern.  (Schuyler does discuss this in one chapter, where he says you can essentially turn the repertoire into a Modern repertoire if you want to avoid a lot of study).  That said, I have definitely gotten some good ideas from the book for my own 1...Nc6 repertoire and it has made me take some time to examine some lines I have not looked at in a while (especially 1.d4 Nc6 2.d5 Ne5 where I still have some slightly different opinions from Schuyler.)  I should have a review up at my Kenilworthian blog in a week or so.   

Schuyler's chief repertoire innovation is to meet 1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 with 4...g6! (transposing to the Modern) rather than the mistaken 4...Bg4 which just leads to trouble if White knows what he is doing.  I have tried playing a Modern approach here but only AFTER 4...Bg4, which is obviously a mistake.  Best to go 4...g6 immediately and meet d5 with Nb8. He offers some similar set-ups against other lines. I am especially interested in looking at Yates's games in this line (transposing from a King's Indian), and it is interesting to see that he met a d5 advance with a Nb8 retreat in the 1920s in quite "hypermodern" style.  Yates's games are very under-appreciated -- including by me!  But you should play over Alekhine - Yates, Karlsbad 1923 for starters:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1012179

Besides my stuff on The Panther (see a post from 7 years ago below!) I have written on a few related lines -- especially in the following two articles:
http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/games/java/2008/benjamin-plays-nimzovich.htm
http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/games/java/2007/sidney-bernstein.htm
I think Schuyler's book follows in the venerable "New York" approach to 1...Nc6 which I lay out in those articles and he does a good job of firming up the repertoire to make it completely viable for any level of player.