CheckMate wrote on 05/03/08 at 15:26:04:

My view is that Morozevich is well worth getting because in effect you are being given a repertoire by a GM who happens to be the world's greatest living player of the Chigorin
Wisnewski is also worth it for his views. He is an IM who plays the Chigorin. He wrote his book before Morozevich's was published which has the BENEFIT that he couldn't rely on the GM for assessments, so it's interesting to contrast his views with Morozevich's.
Of course it all comes down to how much you can afford and are prepared to spend on chess books, but you certainly shouldn't ignore these books on the ground that they won't give you anything you can't find in Bronznik's (which, as numerous reviewers have said, is also very good - I have the English and first German editions!)

I had the Chigorin books from Morozevich and Bronznik.
The one from Bronznik was better, in my opinion.
but still the morozevich book has also some other interesting variations.

Regarding the 3.Nc3 line, I would prefer Morozevich/Barsky's recommendation of 3...dc4, where they show that Black has good chances of equalising in a complicated and double-edged game. 

In case you are wondering whether to buy Morozevich's or Wisnewski's book, then this is my opinion: Morozevich covers the Chigorin in more detail, with more illustrative games (this is because there are not only more pages on the Chigorin, but larger pages), but the advantage of Wisnewski's book is that he covers 1.e4 Nc6 very well, and also does a good job on meeting 1.c4 and 1.Nf3. Given that Christoph had less pages than Morozevich and was writing to a wider audience, I think he did a good job on his Chigorin lines as well. Also note that Morozevich's book is more expensive and on one opening than Wisnewski's on a complete repertoire.

Conclusion: If you are only interested in the Chigorin, buy Morozevich's book. If you are interested in learning both the Chigorin and 1.e4 Nc6, then you would be best advised to buy both books.

Flicking through Fritz's openings book, I found the following line of the Chigorin which features quite an amusing transposition:

1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nc6 3 Nf3 e5!? 4 exd5 Qxd5 5 Nc3 Bb4 6 e3 exd4 7 exd4 Bg4 8 Be2 Bxf3 9 Bxf3 Qc4!

Of course, 3 Nc3 is far more critical than 3 Nf3.  I think in the 5...e5 line mentioned above, a large part of Black's compensation lies in White's shattered pawn structure as well as the slightly better development, though Fritz 10 doesn't think much of Black's compensation either.

TimS, 

I trust Wisnewski over any computer program on this one.  While I agree that 4...Nxd5 followed by 5...e5 just does not inspire me, I would be more inclined to play it knowing that the computer doesn't understand it at all.

I play the position from the White side, and although I believe this variation doesn't stand up to scrutiny, I would not relish trying to prove it over the board against a well-prepared master.

Part of the beauty of the Chigorin Defense is that there are many ways for Black to complicate matters that defy received wisdom.  This is especially true of wisdom received from a computer program.

Excuse me, but I find the question in the header a bit ... ridiculous. If Moro can play it against his peers it takes a fairly academical definition of 'playable' to conclude it isn't.

I realise that replying to one's own post is probably bad netiquette but does anyone have any improvements for Black in this line, ie 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd Nxd5 5.Nf3 e5 6.dxe Bb4 7.Bd2 Nxc3 8.bxc Bc5, or am I just wrong in thinking Black's comp insufficient?