IMJohnCox wrote on 03/22/07 at 10:37:45:


Yes, that surprised me a bit too. I know some people think White has fair compensation after 5...Bxd4 6.Nxd4 Nxd4 7.Bg5 and 8.f4. Maybe Marin is one of them.

Does Marin also cover 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.cxd4 Nc6 6.Be3 ?
Has he noticed the transpositions 3...Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d4 (5.b4) exd4 6.c3 ?
Bücker has made a strong case for 6.e5 d5 7.exf6 dxc4 8.fxg7 Rg8 9.Re1+ Be6 10.Bg5. Has Marin something to say about this?
Wouldn't be so nice for his readers, if they were caught by surprise. These lines might not be exactly dangerous, but Black rather should know what he is doing.

Thanks for pointing out the typo. I have corrected it.
Answering the question: no, it is not in Danish Dynamite.

Justin, I think you're right. I have noticed it by some English author, certainly. But of course one wouldn't expect English GMs to write grammatically. One expects better things of foreigners.

Pig-ignorant question here: after 3...Bc5 4 00 Nf6 5 d4, why isn't that pawn en prise to 5...Bxd4? I always thought the Max Lange started after 3....Nf6 4 d4 exd4 5 00 Bc5. (feel free to refer me to past threads and/or Bilguer's Handbuch; I know nothing of this stuff).

IMJohnCox wrote on 03/12/07 at 14:06:31:


I have a feeling that Glenn Flear makes the same mistake in one of his Slav books.

I got the book yesterday. Its very nice. But it is not as easy to read as Play the open games by Emms.

The book has 288 pages.

Against the  

1.  Kings gambit :  Central variation   2...Bc5

2.    Vienna game :  1. e4 e5  2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 Bc5
                           1. e4 e5  2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 Bc5  

3. Center game :  1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3.c3 d5 !  
                          1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6    

4. Ponziani :          1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Nf6

5. The four knights : 1. e4 e5  2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bb4

                              1. e4 e5  2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. g3 Bc5

                             

            (It seems the book has no recommendation against the Belgrade gambit).



He recommends  3....Bc5 as main defence to 3. Bc4 .  Marin considers it safer than the two knights. But he also says :" If absolute truth is ever to be discovered ,I would not be surprised to found out that the more logical 3...Nf6 is better."

6. The italian game :

7.  Evans gambit :  1. e4 e5  2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4  Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7. 0-0 Nge7

8. Two knights : He has a brief chapter on this also.

9.  Max Lange attack : 1. e4 e5  2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. 0-0 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 d5   7. exf6 dxc4  8. Re1 Be6  9. Ng5 Qd5  10 .Nc3 Qf5  11. Nce4 0-0-0  12 .g4 Qe5  

10.  Italian Classical mainline : 1. e4 e5  2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. 4. c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+

                                      1. e4 e5  2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. Nbd2 Ba7

11. Scotch game :                   1. e4 e5  2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4  4. Nxd4 Nf6


12.  Scotch game : The Mieses variation : 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4  4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7

14.  He has another chapter on the Scotch named "Scotch openings-others".

15. In this chapter he has devoted 46 pages for a repertoire in the Ruy Lopez exchange variation :

He gives : 1. e4 e5  2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6  4. Bxc6 dxc6  5. 0-0 f6 6.d4  Bg4

16. In this last chapter which he has named " Two games" He anotates two of his own games.


Conclusion : This is a fantastic work /book of course. But I find it more difficult to follow than Emms book.  I like Emms book very much. But maybe it is nothing wrong with the book...there could be something wrong with me!!     This book will be very high rated I am sure about that. But I think I would chose Emms book  If I had a choice to keep only one of them. This is my first feeling. But it could change of course.

The book is a good mixture between texts and variations. Now I will look at an other book I also received at the same time :

The sharpest sicilian by Kiril Georgiev.

At a first glance it looks like a fantastic repertoire book. Maybe I could describe it more in the sicilian section later.

                           
   
                                     

Hello!

Beating the open games is now available!!   

Greetings!

Hello,

"Secrets of Attacking Chess" is also a excellent book, with early chapter about Geller games, where his approach worked and others where opponents like Keres and Tal exploited his desire to have 100% information. Chapter liked the best was on Tal's problems playing Korchnoi, although there was lots of instructive material all through book. Have not got the defence one yet.

Bye John S

I've read Learn from the Legends a bit but currently it is on my shelf and I am refusing to read it.

The reason is simple: it's an astoundingly good book and I'm keeping it relatively fresh because I'm shortly going travelling around europe for several weeks and I'm planning that the only chess book I take is that one.

I don't think that re-reading the book during the countless hours I spend on the train will make it too stale nor do my chess any harm!