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Very Hot Topic (More than 25 Replies) Craig Pritchett's upcoming English Opening book (Read 23116 times)
FM Dikkie
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Re: Craig Pritchett's upcoming English Opening book
Reply #30 - 03/03/08 at 14:19:28
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I bought the book and it's interesting but sometimes very strange mistakes.
On page 75 for example he talks about Minasian-Aronian instead of Moskalenko-Drozdovsky, the game he mentions further on. The other 
game is Minasian-Aronian instead of Moskalenko-Drozdovsky.
Ok, forgive him for this one, this can happen.
But at the end of Moskalenko-Drozdovsky (the one he calls Minasian-Aronian, can you still follow me?!  Smiley ) he says after 23.e4 1-0: this was the crushing course. After e4 there is nothing crushing, by playing Rh7 and then again Rg7 it's a clear draw, above all the 1-0 surely happened on time because it was a blitz game black lost. In fact black could play on this position with ..Bd7.
So he, Pritchett, clearly didn't analyse the final position at all.
  
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Re: Craig Pritchett's upcoming English Opening book
Reply #29 - 02/29/08 at 10:23:17
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Comparing with "A Strategic Opening Repertoire for White, 2nd edition", it looks like Donaldson's and Hansen's work was clearer, more suited to their target market and actually does a better job of improving the reader's understanding. Admittedly their coverage in some lines was very scanty, but at least they made the effort to include it, so that the diligent reader could do their own work on these lines.
  
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Re: Craig Pritchett's upcoming English Opening book
Reply #28 - 02/28/08 at 09:15:18
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Justinhorton> So what does he favour in the Classical mainline? (4...Bb4 5.Bg2, 7.Ng5, 9...e3, you know the one.)

He discusses d3, dxe3, and another line avoiding the e-pawn sac altogether. It's up to the player to choose which of the three lines leads to the style of play that they prefer. Although most of his lines expect you to play an early Nf3, which makes it less useful if you prefer an early Nc3.
  
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Re: Craig Pritchett's upcoming English Opening book
Reply #27 - 02/27/08 at 11:40:39
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So what does he favour in the Classical mainline? (4...Bb4 5.Bg2, 7.Ng5, 9...e3, you know the one.)
  
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Re: Craig Pritchett's upcoming English Opening boo
Reply #26 - 02/09/08 at 21:15:19
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Alias wrote on 01/01/08 at 16:14:34:


antillan: To me it looks that alumbrado doesn't want to play QGD with an early Nf3!

Also, QGD is not the only transposition/move order concern. With 1.c4 one can stay away from the slav and play non-Nf3 lines vs KID.


Alias, 

I think you missed my point. My post was not directed at Alumbrado. See my post immediately preceding here.
  
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Re: Craig Pritchett's upcoming English Opening boo
Reply #25 - 02/09/08 at 21:12:24
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Antillian wrote on 12/30/07 at 19:01:57:
There is something that has me curious about this book. 

First, according to IMRichardPalliser:

IMRichardPalliser wrote on 12/01/07 at 17:55:37:
Craig doesn't cover the Botvinnik, but rather those lines which he plays and is interested in. In general that's systems with Nf3. Thus he advocates 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 d4 against the Symmetrical, taking on the Hedgehog, and 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 g3 in the Reversed Sicilian. The coverage of the main lines does look pretty good: Craig clearly understands the key ideas, as well as many small nuances, pretty well.
Hope this helps a little!


Further, according to Alumbrado:

alumbrado wrote on 12/20/07 at 11:30:18:
I have pre-ordered this book from Amazon and my order history states quite clearly that when I did so, the provisional title for this book was 'A Complete Chess Opening Repertoire for White'.

I see that this has now changed to 'An Active Opening Repertoire for White'.  I didn't think anything of this particularly until I happened to be walking past the BCM shop yesterday and decided to look in.  The book is now out and was on display so I had a thumb through, and I will confess that my first impressions were not good.

But a major flaw is that the repertoire seems to me to depend on a willingness to play the Queen's Gambit with an early Nf3, as the repertoire given includes 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3.  Pritchett does not cover 3...d5 as far as I could see, so you need to be aware that this is NOT a complete repertoire (as Kosten's is).

As far as I can see Pritchett does not even mention that 3...d5 is a possibility - not even to say that the game transposes into a Queen's Gambit and that this is beyond the book's scope.

Frankly, the rest of the book didn't look all that great to me either and I may save myself a few quid and cancel it.


So my question is you intend to play the English with an early Nf3 and you intend to transpose to the QG when Black plays an early ...e6, why open with 1. c4 at all? Why not open with 1. Nf3  and reduce Black's options? Am i missing something really obvious? 



I see that James Vigus is just as puzzled as I am. He raises the same point that I raised in here in his Feb review on BCM : "It’s puzzling that well over half the book is dedicated to the reversed Sicilian, 1 c4 e5, since the reader could play 1 Nf3, 2 c4, and still remain within the rest of Pritchett’s repertoire."
  
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Re: Craig Pritchett's upcoming English Opening book
Reply #24 - 01/07/08 at 19:32:08
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GMTonyKosten wrote on 01/07/08 at 19:22:55:
kylemeister wrote on 01/07/08 at 18:35:03:
rather annoying 4...Bc5  

It's funny, I just love playing against this line! Smiley


Not that I've played the English that much with White but it's always seemed to me that the ...Bc5 lines are rather too uncompromising in their devotion to classical development and give White a rather useful target for a subsequent b4, d4 or even Na4.  Still, Karpov, for one, has played them with some success so perhaps I shouldn't be too sniffy!  Undecided
  
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Re: Craig Pritchett's upcoming English Opening book
Reply #23 - 01/07/08 at 19:22:55
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kylemeister wrote on 01/07/08 at 18:35:03:
rather annoying 4...Bc5 

It's funny, I just love playing against this line! Smiley
  
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Re: Craig Pritchett's upcoming English Opening book
Reply #22 - 01/07/08 at 18:35:03
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One bit I was wondering about is whether he might recommend 5. Nxe5 against the rather annoying 4...Bc5 after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3.  It's considered slightly better for White by ECO and by Carsten Hansen (in a recent Flank Openings update), but seems much less common than 5. Bg2 followed by d3 etc. (generally considered to lead to equality).      
  
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Re: Craig Pritchett's upcoming English Opening book
Reply #21 - 01/07/08 at 18:05:07
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I have just got hold of my copy of this book, and I'm a little disappointed. Firstly, I was hoping for repertoire choices against the King's Indian, Dutch, 1...e6 and 1...c6, among others. Needless to say, these lines are not included. Not to worry, I thought, some new English opening ideas are always welcome as Pritchett covers the English-Indian setups, such as the Anti-Nimzo and Anti-Grunfeld. 

Concerning the Anti-Grunfeld - this is a line I have been scoring well with for some times now, so I immedaitely turned to this page to see what was recommended. I was pleased to see that he covers (via 1 illustrative game) 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Qa4+ Bd7 6.Qh4 but fails to include anything on 6...Nf6 or 6...Bc6, instead covering only 6...Nxc3. Needless to say, the Khalifman Kramnik Rep book covers 6...Bd7, 6...Nf6, 6...Nxc3 and briefly mentions weaker moves such as 6...e6 and 6...Nb6. I found this quite poor.

The Hedgehog with Bg5 is also covered as an alternative to the modern (and very difficult to play) 7.Re1 line. Kasparov-Adams is the featured game in the Bg5 line, which covers an early ...Be7 from Black. This is a little compliant as Black's optimum move order is to keep the bishop on f8 for a few moves and instead play ...e6 and ...a6

I'm still working through it and the chapters on 1.c4 e5 look ok.

Any opinions?
  
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Re: Craig Pritchett's upcoming English Opening boo
Reply #20 - 01/01/08 at 16:14:34
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Antillian wrote on 12/30/07 at 19:01:57:
There is something that has me curious about this book. 

First, according to IMRichardPalliser:

IMRichardPalliser wrote on 12/01/07 at 17:55:37:
Craig doesn't cover the Botvinnik, but rather those lines which he plays and is interested in. In general that's systems with Nf3. Thus he advocates 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 d4 against the Symmetrical, taking on the Hedgehog, and 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 g3 in the Reversed Sicilian. The coverage of the main lines does look pretty good: Craig clearly understands the key ideas, as well as many small nuances, pretty well.
Hope this helps a little!


Further, according to Alumbrado:

alumbrado wrote on 12/20/07 at 11:30:18:
I have pre-ordered this book from Amazon and my order history states quite clearly that when I did so, the provisional title for this book was 'A Complete Chess Opening Repertoire for White'.

I see that this has now changed to 'An Active Opening Repertoire for White'.  I didn't think anything of this particularly until I happened to be walking past the BCM shop yesterday and decided to look in.  The book is now out and was on display so I had a thumb through, and I will confess that my first impressions were not good.

But a major flaw is that the repertoire seems to me to depend on a willingness to play the Queen's Gambit with an early Nf3, as the repertoire given includes 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3.  Pritchett does not cover 3...d5 as far as I could see, so you need to be aware that this is NOT a complete repertoire (as Kosten's is).

As far as I can see Pritchett does not even mention that 3...d5 is a possibility - not even to say that the game transposes into a Queen's Gambit and that this is beyond the book's scope.

Frankly, the rest of the book didn't look all that great to me either and I may save myself a few quid and cancel it.


So my question is you intend to play the English with an early Nf3 and you intend to transpose to the QG when Black plays an early ...e6, why open with 1. c4 at all? Why not open with 1. Nf3  and reduce Black's options? Am i missing something really obvious? 



antillan: To me it looks that alumbrado doesn't want to play QGD with an early Nf3!

Also, QGD is not the only transposition/move order concern. With 1.c4 one can stay away from the slav and play non-Nf3 lines vs KID.
  
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Re: Craig Pritchett's upcoming English Opening boo
Reply #19 - 12/30/07 at 19:01:57
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There is something that has me curious about this book. 

First, according to IMRichardPalliser:

IMRichardPalliser wrote on 12/01/07 at 17:55:37:
Craig doesn't cover the Botvinnik, but rather those lines which he plays and is interested in. In general that's systems with Nf3. Thus he advocates 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 d4 against the Symmetrical, taking on the Hedgehog, and 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 g3 in the Reversed Sicilian. The coverage of the main lines does look pretty good: Craig clearly understands the key ideas, as well as many small nuances, pretty well.
Hope this helps a little!


Further, according to Alumbrado:

alumbrado wrote on 12/20/07 at 11:30:18:
I have pre-ordered this book from Amazon and my order history states quite clearly that when I did so, the provisional title for this book was 'A Complete Chess Opening Repertoire for White'.

I see that this has now changed to 'An Active Opening Repertoire for White'.  I didn't think anything of this particularly until I happened to be walking past the BCM shop yesterday and decided to look in.  The book is now out and was on display so I had a thumb through, and I will confess that my first impressions were not good.

But a major flaw is that the repertoire seems to me to depend on a willingness to play the Queen's Gambit with an early Nf3, as the repertoire given includes 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3.  Pritchett does not cover 3...d5 as far as I could see, so you need to be aware that this is NOT a complete repertoire (as Kosten's is).

As far as I can see Pritchett does not even mention that 3...d5 is a possibility - not even to say that the game transposes into a Queen's Gambit and that this is beyond the book's scope.

Frankly, the rest of the book didn't look all that great to me either and I may save myself a few quid and cancel it.


So my question is you intend to play the English with an early Nf3 and you intend to transpose to the QG when Black plays an early ...e6, why open with 1. c4 at all? Why not open with 1. Nf3  and reduce Black's options? Am i missing something really obvious? 

  
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Re: Craig Pritchett's upcoming English Opening book
Reply #18 - 12/22/07 at 23:16:22
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Yes, I can understand your concern if indeed the author neglected to even mention the possibility of the transposition since this would only take a paragraph or two.  Transposition issues are critical in building a repertoire.  I would be simply astounded if there is really no mention at all of this.   But, I will await further word on this from someone who buys the book.
  
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Re: Craig Pritchett's upcoming English Opening book
Reply #17 - 12/22/07 at 21:56:57
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I agree. Some will find it very hard to believe, but a long time ago Eric Schiller wrote a nice book on the Catalan. He also has explored all the transpositions (in 25 years I could not find any missing) to the Tarrasch and the Bogo-Indian, thus enabling the reader to develop a repertoire.
It is not that an author should spend even a whole page. Just pointing out the transposition and ways to avoid it should do the job.
  
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Re: Craig Pritchett's upcoming English Opening book
Reply #16 - 12/22/07 at 15:21:08
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I don't have a problem with what you suggest but I do think that the author should make some sort of passing reference to the possibility.  At least Donaldson and Kosten (and Davies and Dunnington in their Réti books for that matter) try to present an alternative to transposing to the QGD.  As I say, I didn't scour the book exhaustively in the shop, but as far as I could tell, Pritchett does not even mention the possibility of 3...d5 - and with the White knights already on c3 and f3 (the move order I am discussing is 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 as given by Pritchett and then 3...d5), White has pretty much ruled out a Catalan and has eschewed the Exchange Variation of the QGD.

The point is that if you are preparing an English repertoire, even if you are willing to play the Catalan or certain QG lines, you have to be careful with your move order.  If the book isn't going to present a repertoire against 3...d5 it should at the very least alert its readers to the move order issues - as far as I could see Pritchett does not do that.

[Of course, I am confidently expecting a large amount of egg on my face when someone here buys the book and points to a large chunk of text on a page I didn't look at which goes precisely into this area!]
  
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