Actually, my second impressions are maybe a bit less positive. I have three main concerns:

1. There are more gaps than I first thought in the minor lines. For example, after 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.Bc4 Nb6 4.Bb3 c5 he gives only 5.d3  but in fact the most important move here is 5.c3 because this can - and more often does - arise from a c3 Sicilian. The most important white setup in the Chase (Nc3+Bc4) is not covered. There are many more such omissions.

2. The book is quite disorganized, with some lines dealt with in multiple chapters. This is probably a consequence of the switch in approach from repertoire to full coverage. Also, Chapter 8 on 4...dxe5 has a strange internal structure (correspondence and over the board) that doesn't appear elsewhere in the book. There is no overall variation index so finding your lines is not easy.

3. I have noticed a few typos and layout issues.

So, lots of food for thought in the main lines but probably not going to work as your only book on the Alekhine. By the way, when I say 'main lines', I mean as Bauer perceives them in 2021 which in some cases are quite different from what were traditionally the main lines of the Alekhine.

So, this arrived this morning and here are some first impressions...

It is a hefty book both physically (over 500 pages) and figuratively.

It is a 'complete coverage' work but there are clear signs that it started life as a repertoire. Chapter 10 'Bonus Lines' includes things that you could avoid as part of a repertoire but that would have to be included in a comprehensive book - the main line of the Voronezh, the main line of the 4 pawns (which he admits is just a summary of Kornev's work). Clearly, these were bolted on late in the process.

There are also some obvious omissions. 4.Bc4 is covered via the move order 3.Bc4 Nb6 4.d4 d6 but 4.f4 and 4.Be2 don't seem to be included anywhere. As I guessed, the Chase is covered in 'Chapter 2 - Alternatives on move 3' but he only deals with 5.Nc3 and coverage is brief.

On the other hand, in some lines the treatment is deep and thorough. Notably 4.Nf3 where all of the major alternatives are closely examined in separate dedicated chapters (which would be weird for a repertoire book). Similarly, he devotes whole chapters to both 5...exd6 and 5...cxd6 in the Exchange. Chesspub favorite 9...d5 in the Voronezh even gets a mention

It feels very up to date - lots of recent references including from online and postal games. He even includes his recent game against Topalov!

Most importantly, Bauer is quite an opinionated writer (in a good way) and there is a lot of useful verbal commentary here. He is generous about crediting the work of others but is not afraid to disagree with their evaluations if he feels it warranted. You do feel he has actually thought about these positions rather than just copying existing evaluations. This carries through to one of the most interesting features of the book, which is alluded to in the introduction  - he directly addresses the lines suggested by other authors like Shaw and Negi. This is immensely useful in the case of a minority interest opening like the Alekhine where most players of white will not be doing much work themselves but will be relying on these 'pre-packaged' lines.

So, in summary, a slightly idiosyncratic but intriguing work. Obviously, I need to dig into the analysis but my initial feeling is that this is the best addition to the Alekhine bibliography since Cox's classic introduction.

Now available from Thinkers' website. I ordered it last night.

Very interested to see how complete the coverage really is.

A few weeks ago Bauer draw with the Alekhine against Topalov
He played 5...g6 against the 4PA
Apparently, he did not choose the recommended engine/correspondence lines which is to delay castling
thus, i am curious to see his analysis
According to the brief description that I was able to see in Nieggemann he was hesititating between a repertoire book and a complete coverage. He chose the last one. More or less what Tracke says.
A complete coverage updating the book by Chetverik might be worth having
Let us wait and see 
 

Now announced for early September (according to Niggemann).

004 Key to Symbols
007 Preface
009 Chapter 1 - Alternatives on move 2
035 Chapter 2 - Alternatives on move 3
089 Chapter 3 - Four Pawns Attack
129 Chapter 4 - Exchange Variation with 5...exd6
167 Chapter 5 - Exchange Variation with 5...cxd6
235 Chapter 6 - Modern Variation with 4...--
267 Chapter 7 - Modern Variation with 4...g6
323 Chapter 8 - Modern Variation with 4...dxe5
407 Chapter 9 - Modern Variation with 4...Bg4
467 Chapter 10 - Bonus Lines
523 Chapter 11 - Exercises

No narrow repertoire choices, it‘s more a complete coverage, offering different possibilities (at least for Black)!?
According to the preface the bonus lines chapter covers the Four Pawn Attack Classical. My interpretation of this is that Chapter 3 mainly deals with …g6 set-ups against the 4PA but Chapter 10 with the classical & best …e6/…Be7, probably after reading the analysis by Tan and Jones?!

€38 is no bargain, nevertheless it‘s certainly a must-buy for Alekhine players. 

tracke 

lg wrote on 06/23/20 at 18:56:59:


Dont know. I think as a publishing house Thinkers Publishing have provided a real mixed bag in terms of quality although i think they deserve credit for some of their choices. 

Some very well recieved titles, and a few disappointing ones judging by comments on this forum. I like a lot of verbal explanations in the books i buy and i think that is missing in a lot of their books - especially those by Pavlovic. His Benoni book is probably the only one from the last 30 years available in english i havent bought other than Schneider's ( because i never saw a copy of his) because i hated the layout and lack of explanation.

Criticism by others tends to be around missing lines (The Benko and Dutch stonewall are ones i'm thinking of there) while the books on the French, Dutch (Demuth) and Caro Kann (Fernandez & the one by Rambaud) appear to have gone down well

Baur has a good reputation for several of his previous works. I think it has potential to be a very good book.

Thinkers Publishing are advertising a “Modernized Alekhine” by Christian Bauer (which has written recently, but not still out as far as I know, a “Modernized” 1.e4 Nc6!).
This looks interesting – Any forecasts?
Any comments known from other books on the 
series "Modernized opening/defense" ??