kylemeister wrote on 02/06/19 at 06:41:32:



That's what engines reckon. In practice 4. Nf3 scores something like 70%. I could agree that in many recorded games in this defence, Black didn't really have a concrete defensive plan, but if you were able to confidently defend the Kings Gambit Declined, you might play 1. .. e5 anyway.

@mn - In the Antoshin with 6.g3 they recommend the restrained 6...O-O 7.Bg2 Re8 8.O-O Nf8 following up with ...c7-c6 and ...Nb8-d7. That's showing a lot of faith in the inner meaning of the blockade, as Nimzowitsch wrote.

@FizzySoda - Briefly, they really do recommend 1...d6 (or 1...e5 and 2...d6 which amounts to the same thing) against literally everything. Having played a bunch of 1...d6 move orders myself, I was curious to see their recommendations in some "Anti" systems.

• 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.f3
  They "allow" the transposition to the "Saemisch" variation of the Old Indian: 3...e5 4.Ne2 Be7 5.Be3 O-O 6.c4 c6 7.Nbc3 Nbd7 8.d5 and here they analyze 8...h5! (their exclam). I hadn't seen this before, so I was pleased to learn something.
• 1.e4 d6 2.f4
  I was surprised by this once long ago and was so unhappy I replied 2...d5!?. They give 2...Nf6 3.Nc3, see the next one.
• 1.e4 d6 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4
  A canny move order by white. They give two answers, first 3...d5 4.e5 d4, and second the shocking 3...e5!?. This has to be bad, right? Well, as they show, it's not so bad. Checking Ovetchkin and Soloviov (2015) The Modern Vienna Game, there is no disaster facing black. It's just a chess game, and in fact I have started playing this way myself in casual games, via 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d6!?.

Although I know some things about these 1...d6 systems that I did not find in the book, I also did find quite a few variations and examples that added to my knowledge. So I say it is a decent book. In the intro they say it is for 1400-2200 players. I quibble with that range, and think it is more for 1600 to aspiring 2200. The average 2000 I face these days seems to have less opening knowledge than is contained in this book. Provided the choice of opening is congenial, they would do well to study something like this.

It's out on forward chess. In the preview they have some (very superficial) overviews of the recommended lines.

Not sure how much theoretical detail there'll be; the focus does seem to be on understanding the plans in a certain range of structures.

fjd wrote on 09/20/17 at 20:51:14:


Had 2 emails from NIC of this book, but with the wrong link and couldnt find the book on their site, so thanks for sharing. Other than their anti - english line (which i sort of play now) i hadnt given much consideration to the lines but have noted interest in them of several members here in the relevant threads. I'll probably pick up the book