Arrived and quite impressed, lots of variety but could have been slightly more detailed study in some lines.

Indeed, I think Black has theoretical equality after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3 d5 5.exd5 Qxd5 6.cxd4 Bg4 7.Nc3 Bb4 8.Be2 Nf6-0 9.0-0 Qa5 10.Be3 and now either 10...0-0 or 10...0-0-0.  Incidentally White could side-step Capablanca's line anyway with 8.Be3, which often leads to the same position, although Black has the tricky earlier deviation 7...Bxf3.  The main snag is that White's IQP position is the easier to play- in the Chesslive.de database White is typically scoring around 60%.  The approaches with ...0-0-0 were mainly what I was thinking of when mentioning Black's aggressive ideas, but White's half-open c-file is a problem (I remember coming unstuck as Black in these lines a couple of time via transposition from the 3...d5 Ponziani).

But Bologan does have 4...Nf6 in the Göring. via the Ponziani.

The book does look very interesting (the excerpt is here if you had as much trouble finding it as I did), and I like that Bologan and the editors decided to be creative with the format. Chess books could use a little experimentation.

I, for one, wonder if one of these publishers could take a break from repertoire books and publish a large, high quality general coverage book on the Italian game (Evans' Gambit, Giuoco Piano/Pianissimo, and Two Knights Defense) comparable to Dembo/Palliser's effort on the Scotch. Do we need another book telling us to decline the Danish by heading for the Capablanca ending etc.? Some of this stuff gets quite redundant and a big, comprehensive overview of the Italian would be really cool. Of course, such a book is probably both much more work to write and less likely to sell many copies. A shame really.

Let's get a discussion going.

I know this won't influence the choices but it would be interesting to know what people would like to see in this upcoming book.

I'll start us off, I think that "Open Games for Black' by Chess Stars is really good, but I think the lines suggested in this book is quite a solid repertoire as it is played with the idea of partnering it will the Berlin Wall in the Ruy Lopez.

I would like to see a more aggressive repertoire one which would suite a Schliemann or Marshall Gambit player.

King's Gambit
I would quite like to see Main Line 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 
g5 or d6.

The Modern 2...d5 3.exd5 exf4 was seen in 'Open Games for Black' & 2...Bc5 was seen in 'A Vigorous Opening Repertoire for Black'. Falkbeer in 'Alterman's Black Gambits 2'.

Scotch Game
I would like to see 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 rather than 4...Nf6 as 4...Nf6 was seen in 'Open Games for Black'. Would like to see what his 'ambitious' option is here?

Italian Game
Would like to see 3...Nf6 rather than 3...Bc5. Again this was suggested in Open Games for Black'.
If he does go 3...Nf6 will be keen to see what he recommends against 4.Ng5. I like the Traxler but it was seen in 'Alterman's Black Gambits 2'. I think he will go for 4...d5, but what next, Fritz, Main Line?

In the 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.0-0 line will he go Max Lange and 5...Bc5 or go a bit more solid with 5...Nxe4 (then will he play Qh5 or Qa5). I like the Qa5 lines.

These are by far the most common in my games the rest I won't lose sleep over.

najdorfslayer wrote on 05/05/14 at 07:29:07:


Available 10th October 2014, so presumably he's still writing it. 

It will be interesting to see what he recommends against slow Italian setups, such as 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 or 1.e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3. At least one approach is to transpose to a similar line in the Spanish. That has the advantage for defenders of main line Spanish positions of reaching familiar territory. With the popularity of h3 followed by d3 as an anti-Marshall, these slow positions are very much mainstream.

Traditional writing on theory does tend to ignore transpositions. For example in the sequence 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4, it is usually assumed White's next is 6. cxd4. However in the sequence 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. c3 Nf6, the replies 6 e5 and  6. O-O would be discussed.