Let's not go too far off topic here.

Keano wrote on 09/16/13 at 08:56:42:

The book which I edited, contained material about this structure - after c7-c5/d4-d5. It implied that Black had no problems if he gets it without any concession. Since it was a repertoire book, I decided to throw out these pages. I left only the most principled approach: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 and now: if 3...c5 4.d5 (Black gets the structure, but White's queen's knight is still on b1 so White plays Ng1-e2-c3 and Bg5! which is strong here); if 3...Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nc3 0-0 6.Be3 c5 7.Nge2 Nc6 8.d5 - here the black knight lands prematurely on e5. There is a more tricky move order - 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Ne2!?  which keeps the option of Bg5 open while delaying Nbc3. It is covered separately. All this belongs to the Daring Defences furum, but apparently there are no new questions about ForwardChess so I'm filling in the gap.

6.Nge2 is a very interesting idea as well, postponing the development of the Bishop for another move to see what Black does.  I agree that there are times after I put the Bishop on g5 that I wish the Bishop were on e3 (in Panno-like lines, mostly).  But then, there are many times after I put the Bishop on e3 that I wish it were on g5!

I probably don't have a strong enough grasp of the theory to really debate with Semkov.  Suffice it to say that this whole line (6.Be3 c5! and 6.Bg5 c5) is considered more-or-less fine for Black.  In theory, of course; practice is a different matter. 

With 6.Bg5, White can play in Averbakh-style at times, and he avoids some of Black's options (6...e5, for instance).  The move is interesting and poses Black unique problems when compared to 6.Be3.  Often times positions are reached that look very similar to "regular" (6.Be3) lines, but there are subtle nuances in White's favor; if Black plays in standard fashion, he gets in trouble.  There are a lot of interesting ideas in here, and some players did incredibly well with 6.Bg5--Sadler, Dreev, Lautier, Yusupov...

In the end it's a game of chess, and at the very worst for White, it's equal.  But I think Black still has problems to solve, and it's not quite as simple as just playing ...h7-h6 and ...h6-h5-h4 quickly.  It all depends on move orders, but sometimes the Knight goes to f4, sometimes to c1, etc.  I agree that if it goes to g3 too early in some lines Black gets excellent play. 

So...I dunno.  I think that it's an excellent practical weapon that hasn't been covered well in the literature.  Following Bologan's recommendation, for instance, will get Black in a lot of trouble (in my opinion). 

It's as good an option as anything else (I don't find 6.Be3 Nc6 7.Nge2 very inspiring for White, though I'd still prefer taking the White side here), poses unique problems, is not well-covered in the literature from either side; it sounds like a great practical weapon to me.  I think the main reason that many top-level players have moved on is not that it's inferior to other lines, but rather that most of the most interesting ideas were explored back in the 90s.  I suspect some time in the future (10 years?), some top-level players will pick it up again, with some new ideas for White.  That's the way chess goes...

ErictheRed wrote on 09/12/13 at 17:31:21:

This short treatment is for a reason - after 6.Bg5 c5 7.d5, Black plays ...e6, exd5,h6-h5-h4 with excellent play. That's why all the top players prefer 6.Be3 c5 7.Nge2! to provoke 7...Nc6 - covered in The Ultimate Anti-Grunfeld. I do not see any advantage of 6.Bg5 over 6.Be3 in most major systems against the Samisch.

Well I have a lot of work to do to get .pgn files in order, etc., but maybe I'll check back in a month or so.  It shouldn't take me too long to get a first draft done; maybe 40 hours?  I'm not sure, but I'll start making a stab at it and see how it comes along. 

My personal life is somewhat up in the air at the moment--I'm travelling, helping take care of my injured sister, need to start looking for a new job, etc--so I don't know how much time I'll have to devote to it.  I'm not making any promises, but we'll see what happens.

GabrielGale wrote on 09/13/13 at 02:30:12:

It's easy enough to setup an online shop these days, but whether there would be much point for just one item ... of course, this might start a trend from Forum members and there might soon be lots of eBooks for sale.
Otherwise, you could always collect the money directly using PayPal, say, and send a download link.

ErictheRed wrote on 09/12/13 at 17:31:21:


I would pay $1.99 for that.   

I guess easiest would be to do it in ChessBase, so it could be offered for sale as either a PGN or ChessBase e-book.

Semkov wrote on 09/11/13 at 10:25:23:


The problem is that new formats to make reading more comfortable for the reader also makes filesharing easier. And when filesharing increases authors will spend less and less time writing something worthwhile which in turn may increase the filesharing from disappointed readers...


Actually, I have an idea that would probably work but it would require some major resources investment-wise...