Imo the new (2023) London book by Sedlak is a good or very good white repertoire book with 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4.
All games (but the last) were played since Sedlak’s first London book (2016) and range up to September 2022.
There is a general introduction and one for each chapter. The games are commented very well and instructive and every game has an own conclusion. While there are also some interesting endgames, Sedlak generally prefers to attack and plays ultra-aggressively, sacrificing pawns and knights and often even more. Even if you do not play the London you might use large parts of this book as attacking manual: how to attack the enemy king! The book rounds up with 74 exercises (of tactical nature) and finally with a list of 45 novelties (which were mostly/all? already used before in the chapters and the exercises; I don‘t understand the real use for most readers).
The editor
Chess Fortress is a little new company from eastern europe and so is the language! Obviously the translator had a terrible dislike for english articles
a, an & the, you could add twenty on every page! Many games transpose to the
Karo-Cann and there is a general interchangeability of
though, thought & thorough. But it doesn’t hinder the understanding, only the fluent reading. [Not that my English is very good, but this book is really back to the 1990s]
As fun fact there is (for absolutely no reason!!!) a diagram (p.127) with a famous King‘s Gambit position!?!? The diagram shows a variant (no game position) from Spassky-Bronstein, Moscow 1960 (or
Kronsteen-MacAdams, Venice 1963, if you like me prefer old unwoke movies). I can only guess that someone in the Chess Fortress team worked on two projects simultaneously and so the KG image somehow found its way into this London book?!?
A much more critical point is the repertoire with 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4. While Sedlak‘s older book had a strong argument for 2.Bf4 now in 2023 it‘s only about 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4. And there is no explanation, not even the slightest hint. From reading this book or from following Sedlak‘s games (since 2016) in a database, you‘ll just get no idea what he proposes against 2…e6, 2…Lf5, 2…Nc6, 2…c5 and so on. There are some games with 2.Bf4 but either the move order was changed (without comment) or the analysis only starts at a point that could also be reached via 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4.
This is a really good book about 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 and probably a must-buy for London players 1800-2400 ?! But it doesn’t help you outside that tabiya.
tracke
PS: Coincidentally I just got the even newer books (4 days vs. 4 weeks) from Kotronias (Black against London) and Yap (QGA and QPG with Black); both are very good in their way and for their audience. Interestingly none of the three authors knew the work of both others. Both Kotronias & Yap have excellent coverage of 1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 c5! (though Kotronias overlooks the Morris Gambit 3.e4?! and also 3.Nc3!?, which might be inferior to 3.e3, 3.c3 & 3.dxc5 but practically important). Both Kotronias & Yap also deal with 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 (and Kotronias with much more!) and suggests improvements you will not find in Sedlak’s book. But these are (probably) only changes from very small White advantage to complete equality.
One hint: look at Carlsen-Aronian, London (2.4) 2019. White won, but losing against Magnus is no contra-indication to complete equality in the opening. Kotronias has some suggestions around move 9-13…
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New London book by Sedlak! (Read 2183 times)
