In sum: The Fianchetto Solution is no solution!

Bibs wrote on 09/27/16 at 12:00:25:


I picked it up, along with Ray Keene's Flank openings from the book stall at a recent tournament in Torquay. 

JEH wrote on 09/27/16 at 10:46:41:


That’s a bit of a shame. It seems to me that the book’s problem is that while its strengths may take some time to come to light, its weaknesses are immediately apparent. More on that later when I have more time.

JonathanB wrote on 09/27/16 at 05:53:06:


They've mentioned The Modern Tiger and Neil McDonald's KIA Move By Move, both great books which I've not worked out if they've added much too apart from spotting covering 1. Nf3 Nc6 so far.

A mystery maybe where the Gurg and Nc6 Modern stuff came from, maybe from general sources and databases.

I gave these up a while back (around the time I got According to Anand Book 4  ) but might be worth a revisit so see what has moved on.

JonathanB, I'd like to thank you for these informative posts, even though their cumulative effect on me is something akin to how a balloon must feel as it deflates.

You'd think I would have learnt by now, right? 
After the 'complete, sound and user friendly' Kaufman Repertoire. 
After the Sveshnikov Chess Opening Repertoire for Blitz and Rapid. 
But no. Apparently I still believe that the cover blurb on the outside of a NIC book is indicative of the content inside the book.

Perhaps this title will finally teach me the lesson I require to stop wasting my money.

Having said all that, I haven't seen a copy for myself yet so - deep breath - maybe it's not as bad as I think.

JEH wrote on 09/27/16 at 05:48:29:


I would take issue with "complete", "solid" and "repertoire" in that sentence. It is definitely about chess though.

Complete:
I fear not.  I’m no expert on the Modern but I did take quite a close look at the ... Nc6 anti-Austrian variation a few years back.

5 Bb5 is surprisingly annoying. Surprising to me, at least, but probably it shouldn’t have been. White is just trying to do to Black - exchange light-squared bishop for a knight to aid control of d4 - what Black is trying to do to White a lot of the time.

5 Bb5 is not mentioned at all in TFS.


Possibly I’m missing it - see earlier comments - but I"m not sure 1 e4 g6, 2 d4 Bg7, 3 c4 d6, 4 Nf3 is covered either.

Those two examples, and the fact that the entire Pirc Austrian Attack is covered in 2.5 pages, lead me to suspect the coverage is not at all "complete".

It does have lines for both Black and White, mind.


Solid
I’m not sure that you can fairly accuse the Modern of being a solid opening. The ... Nc6 lines especially so. I don’t see this as a drawback, necessarily.


Flexible
Yes - lots of lines presented and often various choices (ironically this is often because one of the authors doesn’t think the main suggestion is at all solid).


Repertoire
I remember reading people describing The Flexible French as a repertoire book despite the fact that it clearly wasn’t by any traditional or meaningful definition of the term. But it said so on the back cover so that’s what they said.

TFS is not a repertoire book in the sense that it says, "in this position play this line, in that position play that line ....". Often a number of choices are presented as noted above, but that does have a knock-on impact on how extensive the coverage can be.

Also, the thing that appealed most to me - the reason why I bought the book - is that it’s not just about variations. There’s the attempt to look at common themes in the "Strategic Motif" sections and the exercises at the end of each chapter/sub-section.

TFS is not a repertoire book. Again, i don’t see that as a drawback.

heavypieces wrote on 09/27/16 at 00:40:45:


I agree Norwood’s thoughts would be most interesting. Also Ray Keene’s who (co)wrote books on the Pirc/Modern/Flank Openings in the early 70s and practiced what he preached. He even did a short tape in Mike Basman’s Audio Chess series on playing the King’s Fianchetto with both Black and White. I fear we are unlikely to get anything approaching a rigorous review from RDK, however.

I’m afraid to say that the Bibliography for TFS is abysmal. It mentions none of Keene’s nor Norwood's books. These would have been quite helpful, I think, because in the midst of the Austrian attack chapter they suddenly devote a page to the Gurgenidize system. They could have pointed out that the coverage in Keene/Botterill’s book from 1972 and Norwood’s is considerably more extensive and worth checking out if the reader is interested in learning more.