Yes, 5.Ngf3 Nf6 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7. Bxd7+ Nbxd7 8.0-0 Be7 9.dxc5 Nxc5. But also 5.Ngf3 a6 as an alternative.

5.Bb5+ Bd7 6.Qe2+ Be7 7.dxc5 Nf6 8.Nb3 0-0 9.Be3 Re8 10.Nf3 a6 11.Bd3 Ba4. (This line only gets about a page. Avrukh it isn't.)

The book reminds me a bit of Yrjola and Tella's "Explosive Repertoire for Black", though I'm sure that's partly just the Gambit style (which I like). Similar idea, in a way: buy greater flexibility by letting White put two pawns in the centre.

I bought it today. I hadn't meant to, but it looked so interesting I couldn't help myself. 

I was particularly taken with his recommendation of 3...c5 4.exd5 exd5 against the Tarrasch, though he only devotes 8 pages to it. Although this used to be regarded as the Right Answer to the Tarrasch, I don't recall a repertoire book recommending it since Marovic and Parma in 1978. He does discuss 4...Qxd5 too, but even more briefly.

And his Sicilian line is ... the Four Knights! This is what really interested me, as I have usually done OK with that line: it's the anti-Sicilians that I don't care for. (After 1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 I have been known to play 2...c5.) I like Raetsky's book based on it, too.

His answer to the question "should Black play 1...e6 against flank openings?" is basically "not if the rest of your repertoire is what's in this book". Instead he proposes 1.Nf3 d5 and 1.c4 c5.

I haven't had time to look at it properly, but if anyone has questions I'll try to oblige.

The Kan is probably the least theoretical Sicilian, so I suppose it makes sense.

That would be an interesting topic, since learning both the French and Kan/Taimanov is slightly more demanding than learning just the French, especially Taimanov. Since the book is based on an unorthodox move-order (1. d4 e6), then I suppose it is possible that the Sicilian line is not a main line.

But that would not be a Sicilian I think. I am not sure what the chapter title "Transposition to the Sicilian" means exactly, if it means Kan or Taimanov, or some other structure.

I have Hellsten's book on the Kan and Delchev's book on the Taimanov. Both are over 200 pages, so I wonder how dense it will be. The Kan is much less theoretical, so perhaps this could be a possibility.

The Transposition to the Sicilian chapter seems to be pp. 133-144, so I wonder how that is covered if it is a Kan or Taimanov. But it seems quite tedious to learn both the French and Sicilian in a book that covers a repertoire for both 1. e4 and 1. d4.

fling wrote on 02/24/12 at 21:06:10:


I am not sure if the page count is such a worry, since Gambit books, like Chess Stars books, are very dense with a lot of material on just one page.

But I am still trying to figure out what the chapter on 1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 c5 is about.