I toyed with the idea of playing the Petroff after having bought the Yusupov book when it was published. I used it in quite many blitz games at the time. To be honest, I can't remember why I never took it up. I remember that losing to the Nxf7 line was quite unpleasant.

I had no reason to put Anon down. I was actually quite pleased to see that there's a new edition of Kaufman's repertoire book coming out. (That and Palliser's 1.d4 book + Kosten's 1.c4 book are my favourite repertoire books.) In the recent Chess Talk-show with John Watson on chess.fm, he revealed that he will still recommend the semi-slav vs 1.d4 but has changed to the Breyer vs 1.e4. There was no questions on the white repertoire. We'll see if he still recommend the c4 line vs the Petroff.

There is certainly a market for a Petroff book now. It's good to know that there are many recent top level games for the authors to choose from. Books on less respectable openings have to rely more on own analysis, I think.

There is no need for complete coverage. 2.Nc3, 2.f4 and 2.d4 can be covered "Yusupov" style using test positions containig a complete game with brief annotations. Of course i am not in the position to tell you the way you should do it, i just like th way Yusupov gives the not-2.Nf3 lines in his chapter (in the exercises section) about the Petroff. Less that 5 pages are needed for sure for this.

Also i beleive that by asking opinions about the book here will improve a lot the desire of many foroum members to buy the book and also the quality of the book itself because always someone here can spot a critical line or a nice interesting idea. Ankit, we are with you! Please keep up the good work.

Schaakhamster wrote on 10/05/10 at 06:43:08:


I think I have only 20 games in the database; I play a lot of openings. MegaDatabase is a very limited view of the openings I've played/play.

As for GM Har-Zvi, he hasn't played tournament chess in years, and therefore has had more time to study chess instead. For the most part, he's contributed to the online ICC opening video series. He has also worked with many students and also worked as the second for various GM's, which has allowed him to study various openings in incredible depth, the Petroff included.

Beyond that, we've both played almost every line at one point or another for White against the Petroff, which makes us more critical of choices for Black, and we will recommend lines that we honestly feel are strongest.

Since GM Har-Zvi no longer plays tournament chess, you can also rest assured that we will not hold back lines in such a book, unlike some other current authors might.

So, to answer your question, we do have a lot of familiarity and experience in the Petroff. We also feel that because we've played every line with the White side against the Petroff at one point or another, that we might have a unique perspective in regards to analysis that might provide the reader with a more comprehensive idea of what to avoid in certain positions and what to aim for, etc.

Ankit Gupta wrote on 10/04/10 at 16:38:21:


A quick and shallow search showed neither of you playing the Petroff. Whilst I don't mind that much certain people won't be so happy (although Petroff doesn't seem to have fanatics like the dragon, french or KI).

How did you tackle this? Did it feel like disadvantage or an advantage?

You aren't covering 2.Qh5? Terrible! How am I going to beat those GMs who play it in 3-minute? 

By the way, I'm looking forward to the book. Are you going to recommend two lines for Black in some variations or will you stick to one variation per White possibility?

He was being constructive; there's no reason to try to put him down for that.

Primarily, all the game examples we have chosen are from 2010. Only in very side lines that are not employed by White in recent years, do we choose examples from older years.

Beyond that, we feel there are serious holes and flaws in many earlier Petroff books, that we hope to avoid having in our book, so we don't reference other repertoire books for anything other than to simply know what previous authors have used. We feel it's important to start from the ground up in a new book.

Moves other than 2. Nf3 leave the scope of the Petroff. At most, we may suggest possible lines that Black should employ against other choices to keep in line with the style of the Petroff.

As for against 3. Nc3, the Four Knights leaves the scope of the Petroff and is entirely it's own opening. We have put a lot of work into reviewing 3...Bb4, and we believe White has no noticeable advantage in those resulting lines.

Anon, do you know that games are being played as well? All chess knowledge is not in repertoire books.

Ankit, I am glad to see your active on this forum and are consulting a lot of relevant sources. Too many authors of opening books don't consult many relevant sources and consequently there are almost always holes in these books.

For Petroff sources, I would recommend consulting:
Secrets of the Russian Defence volumes 1-3
The Petroff Defence by Raetsky and Chetverik
The Petroff by Janjgava
The Petroff Defence by Yusupov
A World Champion’s Guide to the Petroff (DVD)
New In Chess Yearbooks
Starting Out: Open Games
Encyclopeia of Chess Openings volume C 4th edition
Modern Chess Openings 15th Edition
Fundemental Chess Openings
Nunn's Chess Openings

For Anti-Petroff sources, I would recommend consulting:
Opening for White According to Anand volume 1 (Recommends 5 d4.)
Beating the Petroff (Recommends 5 d4.)
Play the Ponziani (Recommends 5 Nc3.)
Starting Out: 1 e4 (Recommends 5 Nc3.)
Chess Openings for White, Explained 2nd edition (Recommends 5 Nc3.)
An Attacking Repertoire for White (Recommends 5 Nc3.)
The Chess Advantage in Black and White (A 2nd edition is forthcoming. Recommends 5 c4.)
Survive and Beat Annoying Chess Openings (Recommends 5 c4 and 5 Bd3. Also has coverage from the Black perspective of 3 Bc4 and 4 Nxf7!?.)
Secrets of Opening Surprises volume 3 (Recommends 4 Nc4.)
The Alterman Gambit Guide: White Gambits (Recommends 3 Bc4 and 4 Nxf7!?.)
The Italian Gambit and A Guiding Repertoire for White (Recommends 4 Nxf7!?.)
A Startling Chess Opening Repertoire (Recommends 4 Nxf7!?.) 

I think it would be interesting to mention in the book that 5 Nc3 is the most common choice in White repertorie books and 4 Nxf7!? has alway been the choice in gambit style White repertoire books. 

Also, I'm assuming your not going to cover White's alternatives to 2 Nf3 but I think it would be a good idea to give Black some brief guidance here. I think you should mention that one should be prepared for 2 Nc3, 2 Bc4, 2 f4, and 2 d4. After 2 Bc4, you don't have to allow transposition to the main line of the Italian Game and can play 2...Nf6 3 d3 c6. After 2 d4 exd4 3 Nf3, you don't have to allow transposition to the Scotch Game with 3...Nc6 and can play 3...Bb4+! since 4 c3 dxc3 5 Nxc3 Nc6, transposing to the Goring Gambit, 5 bxc3 Bc5, and 4 Bd2 Bc5 are all slightly better for Black.    


Also, what are you going to recommend agaisnt 3 Nc3? Going into the four Knights with 3...Nf6 or some other option such as 3...Bb4?