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Poll closed Question: What was the Best Opening Book of the Year for 2014?
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*** This poll has now closed ***


Avrukh: GM Rep: Slav    
  12 (7.4%)
Bologan: Bologan's Weapons    
  33 (20.4%)
Goh: Sicilian Najdorf Bg5.    
  7 (4.3%)
Kotronias: GM Rep: Sveshnikov    
  15 (9.3%)
Malaniuk & Marusenko: Leningrad Dutch    
  11 (6.8%)
Negi: GM Rep: 1.e4 vs French...    
  51 (31.5%)
Rotella: The Killer Sicilian    
  33 (20.4%)




Total votes: 162
« Last Modified by: Smyslov_Fan on: 02/11/15 at 18:39:24 »
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Very Hot Topic (More than 25 Replies) Parimarjan Negi wins Book of the Year 2014! (Read 75858 times)
MartinC
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Re: Opening Book of the Year 2014!
Reply #24 - 12/31/14 at 18:15:28
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Ah, sorry for any confusion - it was Negi's massive tome Smiley
  
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Smyslov_Fan
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Re: Opening Book of the Year 2014!
Reply #23 - 12/31/14 at 16:10:21
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MartinC wrote on 12/31/14 at 12:27:17:
Actually, judged purely as a repitoire book I don't think its at all obvious who its good for.  For most people its a long way past too detailed.

For those people who it isn't that advanced for, there's the inherent problem that serious black players will quite quickly end up preparing specifically vs the lines in the book.

It won't be easy to neutralise the lines of course, as he's (by all reports) done such a good job. No doubt very possible though, especially for the main lines. Might of course take a while for it to filter down to club players so maybe objectively most useful for strong players (FM ish?) who play them a lot.

Of course it probably has an awful lot of value as opening/middle game study material!


Martin, I don't know which book this refers to. The post immediately above yours was about The Killer Sicilian.
  
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Smyslov_Fan
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Re: Opening Book of the Year 2014!
Reply #22 - 12/31/14 at 16:07:59
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Eric, Slates' comment about Tony Ro's book is the main reason we wait until the end of January to close nominations. Books published late in the year should have a chance to be read, reviewed, and considered too.

Perhaps a month is a bit long for the voting process though. We could be done by Valentine's Day I suppose. We've traditionally had the vote finish on March 1st, but we can see about speeding up the voting process.
  
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ErictheRed
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Re: Opening Book of the Year 2014!
Reply #21 - 12/31/14 at 14:48:11
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Smyslov_Fan wrote on 12/25/14 at 04:12:34:
There are two deadlines:

The deadline for nominations is January 31st. This allows for books published in December to be read, reviewed, and nominated.

The voting deadline will be February 28th.


Do we really need more than a month for nominations?  It seems like we could start voting soon and have this all wrapped up by the end of January.
  
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MartinC
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Re: Opening Book of the Year 2014!
Reply #20 - 12/31/14 at 12:27:17
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Actually, judged purely as a repitoire book I don't think its at all obvious who its good for.  For most people its a long way past too detailed.

For those people who it isn't that advanced for, there's the inherent problem that serious black players will quite quickly end up preparing specifically vs the lines in the book.

It won't be easy to neutralise the lines of course, as he's (by all reports) done such a good job. No doubt very possible though, especially for the main lines. Might of course take a while for it to filter down to club players so maybe objectively most useful for strong players (FM ish?) who play them a lot.

Of course it probably has an awful lot of value as opening/middle game study material!
  
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slates
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Re: Opening Book of the Year 2014!
Reply #19 - 12/31/14 at 11:06:06
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Smyslov_Fan wrote on 12/31/14 at 02:53:31:
*Bump*

Any more nominations? Are there any books that have been published in the last few months that should be read by everyone?


Well, my copy of The Killer Sicilian has been despatched apparently but has not yet arrived with me.....a shame, because judging from the excerpt it looks excellent and may well have been my choice (over Bologan) had you asked the question a week or two from now....
The lengthy delays with publication on this book have meant that unfortunately most people won't see it until 2015 but nonetheless it could well stand as a contender for book of the year, especially amongst lower rated players such as myself, for whom something like Negi is probably too advanced (I haven't read it to be fair, but I own about a dozen other QC titles and more than a few GM rep books due to my shameless chess book addiction).
  
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Re: Opening Book of the Year 2014!
Reply #18 - 12/31/14 at 08:34:27
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I would like to nominate The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella, published by Everyman.

I have nothing but admiration for the books by Avrukh, Bologan and Negi nominated so far, and if the Book of the Year is to recognise the highest quality of analytical work and depth of research, then Negi probably deserves it. However his repertoire is just not practical for an amateur like me (I'm usually 2000-2100 over the board). By contrast, Tony covers a previously neglected open Sicilian variation, offers a full anti-Sicilian repertoire, and provides just about the ideal level of detail for the enthusiastic amateur. And of course, the book attracted 15 pages of comments on this forum before it was even published!
  
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Re: Opening Book of the Year 2014!
Reply #17 - 12/31/14 at 02:53:31
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*Bump*

Any more nominations? Are there any books that have been published in the last few months that should be read by everyone?
  
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Re: Opening Book of the Year 2014!
Reply #16 - 12/26/14 at 23:13:22
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TonyRo wrote on 12/25/14 at 23:10:09:
Wasn't Avrukh's Slav repertoire this year as well? Worth considering at the very least, even if Negi and Bologan are front-runners...


Agreed, I thought that was a great book. If the above didn't count then I'd like to nominate 'The Classical Slav' by Boris Avrukh (published by Quality Chess).

I also liked Malaniuk and Marusenko's effort on the Leningrad Dutch, but I don't think it would stand much chance against Negi/Bologan/Avrukh
  

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Re: Opening Book of the Year 2014!
Reply #15 - 12/26/14 at 10:14:18
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I'm afraid i dont, i only have a hard copy of the magazine.
  

"As Mikhail Tal would say ' Let's have a bit of hooliganism! '"

Victor Bologan.
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Re: Opening Book of the Year 2014!
Reply #14 - 12/26/14 at 10:01:22
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There won't be if its in a new New in Chess - would have to buy the magazine Smiley

Have to say I do think that any repitoire book this thick/dense, no matter how well written/constructed it is, has some substantial intrinsic issues.
  
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Re: Opening Book of the Year 2014!
Reply #13 - 12/26/14 at 03:01:01
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Do you have a link to Sadler's review?
  
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Re: Opening Book of the Year 2014!
Reply #12 - 12/26/14 at 00:14:40
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barnaby wrote on 12/25/14 at 22:44:57:
I own both as well. 

Bologan goes in a new direction than other opening books.  Its an original and unique take on the style and structure of chess opening books. 

I think the breadth and absolute inclusivity of Negi's book is what many people may be so enamored with as otherwise it is really more of the same as far as the style and vast amount of move order information being ladled out as other QC books in this series.  A theoretical beast and a most unpragmatic, offering really.  At this rate of data delivery we might expect the Sicilian efforts to be heavier than the Earth itself.

As great as it is I don't see it as some new direction in how books can be be written and really is simply just more dense than previous efforts.



Interesting. Sadler in the latest NIC magazine reviews Negi's book and gave it a glowing review (Aagard said on the QC blog that it might be the best one they have ever had!), comparing it with Berg's book on the french to demonstrate how it differs to most books on the market including its fellow GM books.

(Sadler basically says that most opening books on the market fall into one of two categories...first is where machines analyse lines and the author writes this up, the second where the author recommends a certain course of action and tests this with computers and says that Negi's book belongs in a 3rd category).

However, I havent read much of either book, but based on what i have read as a weaker player i would probably prefer Bologan's book to Negi's
  

"As Mikhail Tal would say ' Let's have a bit of hooliganism! '"

Victor Bologan.
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TonyRo
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Re: Opening Book of the Year 2014!
Reply #11 - 12/25/14 at 23:10:09
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Wasn't Avrukh's Slav repertoire this year as well? Worth considering at the very least, even if Negi and Bologan are front-runners...
  
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Re: Opening Book of the Year 2014!
Reply #10 - 12/25/14 at 22:44:57
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I own both as well. 

Bologan goes in a new direction than other opening books.  Its an original and unique take on the style and structure of chess opening books. 

I think the breadth and absolute inclusivity of Negi's book is what many people may be so enamored with as otherwise it is really more of the same as far as the style and vast amount of move order information being ladled out as other QC books in this series.  A theoretical beast and a most unpragmatic, offering really.  At this rate of data delivery we might expect the Sicilian efforts to be heavier than the Earth itself.

As great as it is I don't see it as some new direction in how books can be be written and really is simply just more dense than previous efforts.

Also, I agree that comparing books and trying to make a statement which one is 'best' is sort of a silly thing to do, along the lines of deciding which actor is the best in a specific role in which only they got to play.

Its a popularity contest, and little else, isn't it?

Smiley

Lots of good books this year that have made my quest to stop buying books a difficult one to achieve.

Cheesy
  
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