Nacht1648 wrote on 02/16/14 at 04:15:01:
Can anyone who owns Igor's book give it a review?
From the sample I saw at qualitychess.co.uk Cox's has lots of explanations which is exactly how I enjoy my opening books.
I understand Igor's is more recent and should be more up-to-date on theory though. How heavy is it in the explanation?
I own both books. For me, they are complementary.
Regarding the main line (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.e5 Nf5 8.Qxd8 Kxd8 9.Nc3), I think Cox's book is almost perfect. He discusses the typical endgames and middlegames plans for both sides in as much as 120 pages, very valuable even in case of theory updates! Then, he goes to variations starting from move 9, covering 9...Ne7, 9...Bd7 and 9...Be7 in details, and discussing other moves (Ke8 and Be6 if I'm correct). In contrast, Lysyj / Ovetchkin (L&O) only focuse on one variation, 9...Ke8 and after the main move 10.h3 h5, a move which was not topical a few years ago and thus not really discussed by Cox. They also provide explanations, but much less than Cox.
I knew that when purchasing the L&O book, and I wasn't interested by this part, but by the other 2/3 parts of the book, meaning by the deviation from this main line. Cox's book is rather short on it, espescially on 4.d3 Bc5 (less than 15 pages of a total of over 300 pages), while L&O devote 80 pages form a total of 280 to this variation. I liked their coverage of alternatives (also 4.d4 and 5.Re1 for instance) to the main line better than Cox's one.
To sum up, purchase both if you can afford it and are sure about your choice to play this opening. If not, I'd buy the Cox book first (it should also improve your understanding of endings and of some queenless middlegames), and if you feel the Berlin Wall is the opening you're looking for against the Spanish, consider buying the L&O later.