Checkpoint
by Carsten Hansen

Reviewed this month:
The Classical French by Gufeld & Stetsko
The Sveshnikov Sicilian by McDonald
The Benko Gambit by Jacobs & Kinsman
Small Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings by Matanovic et al.

This month I will review three recent opening monographs from
Batsford. All three books are on popular openings, so there should
be something of interest for a lot of people. One general comment,
the covers are absolutely awful. So if anybody at Batsford is
reading this, please discontinue the use of these covers, and make
more interesting and tasteful covers. The fourth book to be
reviewed this month is Sahovski Informator's answer to the NCO,
MCO, and for that matter also the old BCO.

Also, thanks for the nice compliments on last month's Checkpoint.
However, as a few readers have pointed out, there was an
analytical error, which I also discovered myself. In the review on
The Two Knight's Defense, I suggested 19.Qb3 as a possibly
improvement, however, in the critical line "C3", rather than
23...Rxc1, which leads to a messy game, Black can win on the spot
with 23...Rxf1+. Sorry, if I misled anybody, but then again I want
to encourage people not to trust anything that is written, but to
make up your own opinion before you try a move or line out. So
congratulations to anybody who found the hole in my line.

The Classical French by Eduard Gufeld and Oleg Stetsko, 1999
B.T.Batsford, Softcover, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 144 pages,
GBP 13.99.

The Classical French (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6) is not an
opening about which we find monographs every day, so for people
with interest in this opening it is of course exciting to see a new
book on the market.

But in this case I am not excited. On the contrary, I am very
disappointed. While I believe that all lines that starts with 1.e4 e6
2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 should be classified as Classical French, Gufeld
& Stetsko (G&S), however, only cover the lines after 4.Bg5 Be7
5.e5 Nfd7, so as far as I can see, we have here a clear-cut case of
mis-labeling. 

Problem#2: The material they have selected. I have only been able
to find but few examples from 1997-1999, which indicates that the
book was written sometime in 1997. So it is already outdated, a
sad thing for a book which is fresh from the printer's. That means
also that we are missing most of Morozevich's input, as well as all
the games by other top players who have been following his
footsteps as a result of his success in this line. 

Problem#3: We don't find any indexes of either variations or
complete games, so aside from the "Contents" page, we have little
idea about what's covered in the chapters.

Problem#4: An obvious lack of original ideas and analysis. But
this comes from the material not being worked through properly.
Often the evaluations are based on the final result of the game
rather than the actual position that is being evaluated; this is, by
the way, a problem, which is particular obvious in The Complete
Dragon (Batsford) by the same authors.

The last third of the book is a "Illustrative Games" section. While I
think this departfmentalizing is old-fashioned, the games in this
book are actually annotated reasonably well, and for people who
are new to this opening, the annotations will form a reasonable
platform of knowledge to build on. Therefore I have chosen to
show an example from this section, as I don't want to be
completely negative. The game, that I have chosen was played by
the authors against each other. The annotations are a good example
of the kind of annotations you will find in the "Illustrative Games"
section.

Gufeld-Stetsko, Moscow 1975
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.f4
0 0 8.Nf3 c5 9.Bd3 f6 10.dxc5 Nc6 (The alternative 10...fxe5
11.fxe5 Nc6 12.Qe2 is not good for Black.) 11.exf6 Qxf6 12.g3
Nxc5 13.Qd2 (See Diagram)

13...Nxd3+ (A timely exchange, since White achieves nothing
with 14.cxd3 [which is usually good after castling] on account of
14...e5! 15.0 0 [on 15.Nxd5 Black plays 15...Qd6 or 15...Qf7]
15...Bh3 16.Rfe1 Rae8 with an excellent game for Black.)
14.Qxd3 Bd7 15.0 0 0 Be8 16.Rhe1 Bh5 17.Rd2 Rac8? (A
strategic error. Black's difficulties largely stem from White's
blockading possibilities on e5. Hence, it was essential to limit
White's scope by exchanging with 17...Bxf3.)  18.Ne5 Nxe5
19.Rxe5 Bg4 20.Qe3 a6 21.Ne2 g6 (Here, by contrast, the
exchange 21...Bxe2? loses a pawn to the zwischenzug 22.Rxe6 - so
Black prepares to bring his bishop to e4, where it will in some
measure counterbalance the white knight.) 22.Nd4 Rfe8 23.Rd3
(White could have increased his positional advantage by
transferring his queen to b6, after which the maneuver Rd2-d3-e3
would have gained in strength.) 23...Qf7 24.Qd2 Bf5 25.Nxf5
(25.Rde3 can be met by 25...Be4) 25...gxf5 26.Rde3 Rc4 (See
Diagram)

27.Qxd5?! (Pretty, but inadequate to preserve White's advantage.
A more logical line was 27.Qa5 Re4 28.Qb6 Rxe5 29.Rxe5,
followed by c2-c4.) 27...Rxc2+ 28.Kxc2 Rc8+ 29.Qc5 Rxc5+
30.Rxc5 Qd7 31.b3 Qd4 (Having brought the queen into action,
Black has nothing to fear.) 32.Rcc3 (A seemingly more active try
is 32.Rec3 Kf7 (32...Qf2+ 33.Kb1 Qxh2 would be risky: after
34.Rc7 the king is in danger) 33.Rc7+ Kg6 34.Re7, but after
34...Qe4+ 35.Kb2 b5 36.Rcc7 Qd4+ White cannot escape
perpetual check.) 32...Kf7 33.Red3 Qe4 34.Rc4 Qh1 35.Rc7+
Kg6 36.Rd2 Qa1 37.Rxb7 Qxa2+ 38.Kc3 Qa5+ 39.Kc2 Qa2+
40.Kd3 1/2-1/2

I find it disappointing that publishers still release books, that
basically do not contain any new ideas nor contribute with any
new insights or angles to the subject. This book falls into this
category, I can only encourage people not to buy this book! Then
at least one publisher has been taught the lesson: Don't publish
recycled or outdated material! The chess-book-buying public does
not need this endless flow of books, where neither author nor
publisher have put much (if any) thought into the process of
making the book. Therefore...

My assessment of this book: *  

The Benko Gambit by Byron Jacobs and Andrew Kinsman, 1999
B.T. Batsford, Softcover, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 160 pages,
GBP 14.99.

The Benko Gambit (or Volga Gambit as it is known in German-
speaking countries) is a relatively new opening, which has only
been around for 30-35 years, and  has only been debated in games
by top players in the last two decades. The last few years have seen
a lot of new books coming out on this opening. Fedorowicz set the
pace with his The Complete Benko Gambit in 1995, and more
recently Steffen Pedersen had his effort published by Gambit. That
book, The Gambit Guide to the Benko, contained less original
ideas compared to the Fedorowicz book, but it was far better
organized, the ideas behind the opening were better explained and
in general it is a far better read. 

Now the "new" Batsford has published another book on the Benko.
Together with the King's Indian Defense and the Sicilian Dragon, I
believe that the Benko Gambit is the opening about which Batsford
has released the most monographs. The bibliography mentions
four other Batsford monographs, but I can think of a couple more.
I find this quite astonishing when you think of how few books are
published on the Nimzo-indian or Queen's Indian Defenses despite
their popularity. Looking at the bibliography, I find it rather
remarkable that certain books were not used as background
material by the authors, I particularly think of Karpov's Informator
Monographs A57 and A58-59 as well as the above-mentioned book
by Steffen Pedersen, in my opinion essential books on the Benko.

Whereas all of the books mentioned above mainly focused on the
theoretical side of the opening, this book has 72 well-annotated
games. The annotations are quite instructive and explain the ideas
behind the opening very well, both from White and Black's point
of view. I think that this in itself should make this book the choice
of preference for newcomers to this opening. No other book on this
opening has done this aspect of the work as well as Jacobs  &
Kinsman in this book.                        
                         
Regarding the opening theory it is, however, a somewhat different
story. While all lines are basically covered, there are lines that are
covered inadequately, as well as things that are not mentioned at
all. One example is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6,
after which the only move mentioned is 5...g6, whereas there is not
a single word about the obvious 5...Bxa6. Veterans in the Benko
Gambit know that White is allowed some extra options involving
an early b3 followed by Bb2 to counter Black's powerhouse bishop
on g7. Black should of course avoid this line, and this is why the
immediate 5...g6 is so good, but it certainly makes sense to
mention why.

The next problem is found in the 5.e3 line (after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5
3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6). While 5...g6 and 5...axb5 is covered, the
reasonable 5...Bb7 is not mentioned at all. Often this line merely
transposes to 5...axb5, but there are some independent lines, which
are useful to know when playing the Benko. Let's have a closer
look at their coverage of 5.e3, which in my opinion is one of the
more difficult lines for Black to handle.
After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.e3, we will treat
5...axb5 as line A and 5...g6 as line B. 
A) 5...axb5 6.Bxb5 Qa5+ 7.Nc3 Bb7 8.Nge2 Nxd5 9.0 0 (See
Diagram)

A1) 9...Nxc3 is covered in game 35 (Berg-Mowzisian, Hamburg
1997), and the coverage is fairly similar to Pedersen's book; the
line continues 10.Nxc3 e6 11.e4 Bxe4 12.Bxd7+ Nxd7 13.Nxe4
Qa4! Here J&K continue with 14.Qe2, while Pedersen chose
14.Nd6+, but both reach the conclusion that Black should be okay.
A2) After 9...Nc7, things are a bit different; J&K only mention
10.Bc4 Nc6, while Pedersen (& Karpov) have given preference to
the stronger 10...Ba6.
A3) Finally 9...Nf6 is only covered as a sideline by Pedersen,
while J&K actually endorse the move. They use Adla-
Komljenovic, Coria 1995 as their main game, while continued
10.f3 Nc611.e4 Qb6 12.Kh1 e6 13.Bf4 Be7 14.a4 0-0 15.Bd6
Bxd6 16.Qxd6 Rfd8, with a good game for Black.
B) 5...g6 is the more traditional Benko move, and I imagine also
what White is hoping for. However, I am of the opinion that Black
is better here compared to 5...axb5, where he often is way behind
in development and has to play very accurately in order to avoid an
immediate disaster. 
The main line continues 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.a4 0 0 (See Diagram)

and here 8.Bc4 brings memories back to me of the summer of
1991, when Novikov did very bad things to me in this line; best is 
8...d6 9.Nge2 Nbd7 10.Ra3 Nb6 11.Ba2 axb5 12.Nxb5 (Pedersen
only mentions the weaker 12.axb5?!, which is just plain good for
Black as in Lukacs-Hertneck, Kecskemet 1988) 12...Bd7 13.Nbc3,
and here J&K continue in the path of  Pinter-Binham, Helsinki
1983, where White obtained a better game after 13...e6 14.dxe6
Bxe6 15.Nf4. But Fedorowicz's improvement 13...Ra5!?
(intending ...Qa8 with a good game for Black) has been completely
ignored. However, the main move is 8.Nf3. After 8...Bb7 (against
8...d6 J&K give an example, in which Gulko smashes Vaganian
after lame play by the latter, but that doesn't alter the fact that
Black is doing very fine in this line too!) 9.Ra3 (this position
equally often arises after 8.Ra3 Bb7 9.Nf3). J&K pretty much
dance together with Pedersen towards the conclusion that White is
better after 9...e6 (9...axb5 is arguably better, which is also the
conclusion our authors reached, but why isn't it the main line
then?) 10.dxe6 fxe6 11.Qd6 Qc8 12.Be2, and now J&K's main line
is 12...axb5, while Pedersen has given preference to 12...Ne8,
which is inadequately covered by J&K.

The main problem with this book is not the authors ability to write,
the selection of the games, or the annotations, but rather the
distinct lack of original, new ideas for both sides. Furthermore,
many lines could have been covered better, but of course space
limitations may have dictated something in this regard, but they
could have left out half a dozen of games in favor of more
comprehensive coverage of some lines.

If Jacobs & Kinsman had taken the time and put in the effort to
come up with some analysis and new ideas of their own instead
parroting existing sources, they could have made a classic on this
opening. The book we have before us is a book which in some
aspects is excellent, but in others below average. For weaker
players this book is very good, but stronger players should opt for
Steffen Pedersen's book, which contains much more material and
many more new ideas.

My assessment of the book: *** 

The Sveshnikov Sicilian by Neil McDonald, 1999 B.T.Batsford,
Softcover, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 144 pages, GBP 14.99.

Neil McDonald is a good example of a strong IM who made the
extra effort to become grandmaster, only to drop his ambition level
as a chess player after having achieved his goal. However, this fact
can only benefit the rest of us, because since becoming a
grandmaster, he has successfully coached some of the most
talented British youngsters and written a number of excellent
books on all aspects of the game. For those wishing to improve
their game, I can heartily recommend the study McDonald's books;
they will increase your understanding and make you a better
overall chess player.

His latest effort is this book about the Sveshnikov Sicilian, which
has been topical since Sveshnikov himself and a number of other
young players from Chelyabinsk (Russia) in the mid-seventies
introduced an abundance of new ideas in what was then known as
the Lasker-Pelikan Variation. It is a highly complicated opening
with many unusual pawn structures, and accuracy in move order is
usually critical, as one wrong move can easily lead to an
unpleasant position for either side. 

This book is written in the same style as the book on the Benko by
Jacobs and Kinsman, reviewed above. The book contains 43 very
well annotated games, distributed appropriately into 8 chapters.
The primary focus is on the main lines which arises after 1.e4 c5
2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6
8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 (See Diagram)

Game 1 in the book is a good example of McDonald's way of
presenting annotated game. I shall omit the comments the first 16
moves, as they mainly concern the theory to this line.
Brodsky-Kramnik, Kherson 1991
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6
7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 f5 11.Bd3 Be6 12.Qh5
Rg8 13.0 0 0? Rxg2 14.f4 Nd4 15.Ne3 Rf2 16.exf5 Bxa2 (At
first glance it looks strange to capture the a-pawn when there is a
huge battle taking place in the centre. However, by depriving the
white king of the escape square on b1 Black adds enormous venom
to a potential check by the black queen or bishop along the
weakened c1-h6 diagonal. This move also introduces ideas of a
smothered mate. For example, the black rook cannot be expelled
from the second rank with 17.Ng4 because of 17...Rc8! threatening
18...Nb3 mate. The two ideas behind 16...Bxa2 will be combined
in an astonishing form in the present game.) 17.fxe5 dxe5 18.Nxb5
(White finds a way to bring his passive knight into the fray. Now
18...axb5 19.Bxb5+ Nxb5 20.Rxd8+ Rxd8 21.f6! is given as
unclear by Kramnik. At the end of this variation Black has a
material advantage but his king has become a target. Instead,
Kramnik finds a powerful move which proves that it is the white
monarch which is in serious trouble.) 18...Bh6!! (See Diagram) 

19.Rhe1 (It turns out there is a well-disguised mate in two in the
position after 19.Qxh6 Rxc2+ 20.Bxc2 Nb3 mate or 20.Nxc2 Ne2
mate. Therefore Black is able to bring his bishop onto the lethal
diagonal with a game-winning pin on e3.) 19...axb5 20.Bxb5+
(The e2-square is now covered, so that 20.Qxh6 doesn't allow
mate. However, Black could respond 20...Bc4, threatening mate on
a1, when he has a decisive attack.) 20...Ke7 21.Qh4+ f6 22.Qxf2
Bf7 (See Diagram) 

(White has eliminated the invader on the second rank and enjoys a
material advantage, but meanwhile the situation on the queenside
has become desperate. The nicely centralised white pieces are in
fact totally passive and unable to offer the king any protection
whatever.) 23.Bd3 Qb6 24.Be4 Ra2 25.c4 Bxc4 26.Kb1 Qb5
27.Nd5+ Bxd5 28.Qxd4 Ra1+ 29.Kc2 Rxd1 30.Qxd1 Qa4+
31.Kc3 0-1. White resigned before 31...Qc4 mate. A very
impressive display by Kramnik, after which it is unlikely that
anyone else will dare to speculate with 13.0-0-0.

Theoretically this book is completely up-to-date and even offers
several new ideas and original analysis, as well as many insights to
the ideas behind the opening. This not only gives stronger players
a valuable theoretical tool, but also presents the student with a lot
of explanations that may lead to a better understanding of not only
this particular opening, but also chess in general.

If the Jacobs & Kinsman's book had several shortcomings, this
book does everything that can be done. It is a wonderful book,
which is required reading for everybody who plays this opening or
anyone who is thinking about taking it up. But in general, I would
recommend this book to anyone who is interested in buying a good
chess book. For a lot people, I think, this book will be the book of
the year. Way to go Neil!

My assessment of the book:***** 


Small Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings by Aleksandar
Matanovic, 1999 Sahovski Informator, Hardcover, Figurine
Algebraic Notation, 608 pages, $

For years the ECOs (volume A-E) were considered to contain the
absolute truth about chess openings. The chapters in the volumes
were written by many of the strongest players, often with the
players covering their pet lines. While this has its advantages, it
certainly also has its disadvantages, e.g., important ideas or critical
moves were left out, simply because the player did not want give
away his good ideas. That was then. Nowadays ECO's chapters are
written by virtually unknown players. However, the demands on
them are not as great as in the good ol' days. Today the ECOs are
pretty much a summary of what has been published in Informator
since the release of the previous ECO. However, since not all
theoretically important games are to be found in the Informators,
this is, in my opinion, not a very adequate way of covering an
opening.

With the recent publications of Nunn's Chess Openings (NCO) and
Modern Chess Openings (MCO), the 14th edition, our friends at
Sahovski Informator in Belgrade found it necessary to make their
own single volume encyclopaedia of chess openings. 

I will in the following have a look at the coverage of some lines in
their own right as well as compare it to the leading competitor,
NCO. Most of us are familiar with the opening codes A00-E99,
which were invented, developed and refined by Matanovic and his
team in Belgrade. However, a lot of things have happened since
they were last revised, and as we all know theory never stands still.
A natural consequence is, therefore, that a line that was very
popular in the seventies, when the codes were last adjusted, may
have now disappeared, while others have blossomed tremendously.
Two examples are E12 (Queen's Indian with 4.a3 and 4.Nc3) and
E32 (Nimzo-Indian with 4.Qc2 0-0), both of which have had a
huge following the last two decades. Consequently the theory to be
covered in these chapters is quite massive compared to for
example C23 (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 - lines without 2...Nf6 from Black) or
C57-59 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5) or C30-39 (King's
Gambit). One could argue for a revision of the codes, but with the
development in opening theory, this means that a revision would
have to take place every 5-10 years, something which is not
practical. Not only that, but imagine the confusion it would create,
when an opening switches from one opening code to another.
Everybody would be confused, and it would be impossible to work
with in the long run. So we have to live with the codes as they are,
since they are, in my humble opinion, the lesser evil.

Since the authors of Small Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings
(SECO) obviously had to cover all codes separately, they were
forced waste a lot of space on useless variation tables. This is
particularly evident in, for example, chapter C20, where a variation
table has been spent on 1.e4 e5 2.Ne2, which NCO covered in a
footnote. Many other such examples can be found throughout the
book.

Like the traditional ECOs, this book is mainly based on games
which have been published in Informator. This leads to the
obvious problems I pointed out above, but on the other hand, it is
also certain that the games are of some quality, as they otherwise
wouldn't have made it to Informator in the first place. NCO's
approach is dramatically different and often we are not aware who
have played a particular line or made an analysis, a result of the
authors' effort to cut space on such "useless" information in order
to make room for more chess moves. Again, you can argue for or
against both approaches, and whether you prefer one to the other is
very much a matter of taste. My personal opinion is that the
approach used by the NCO team is the best one, as I, as noted
above, believe that you should always form your own opinion on a
line before trying it out. One's own analysis is the key to enhanced
understanding and improvement in chess. 

My last point before comparing lines is that the book before us
does not contain any original material, new analysis or
improvements over lines that have been published in other
publications by Sahovski Informator.

I have chosen a few lines in which I have particular interest, and
therefore I can more easily provide some useful input of my own.

The first example is from the Sicilian Accelerated Dragon:
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Bg7 - B37 (See
Diagram)

and now 6.Nc2. The SECO here 6...d6 7.Be2 f5 8.exf5 Bxf5 9.0 0
Nh6 10.Nc3 0 0 11.Ne3 Nd4 12.Bd3 Bxd3 13.Qxd3 e6 14.Nc2
Nxc2 15.Qxc2 Nf5 with equality, Averbakh-Adorjan, Budapest
1970. NCO also mentions this line, but only in a footnote. Its main
line is 6...d6 7.Be2 Nf6 8.Nc3 Nd7 9.Bd2 0 0 10.0 0 Nc5 11.b4
Ne6 12.Rb1 a5 13.b5 Ncd4 14.Nxd4 Nxd4 15.b6, with an unclear
position, Salov-Adams, Dos Hermanas 1995. SECO also mentions
this game, but uses Adams' evaluation from Informator 63, which
is quite odd, as he did win the game but did not suggest any
improvements for White on the way. 

The next example is from the English Opening: 
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4, a line which has been quite popular the last
decade, but before that was virtually unknown. The main move is
now 3.Nd5, after which Black best answers 3...Be7, although
neither SECO  nor NCO mention Black's most interesting line:
4.d4 d6 5.e4 Nc6!? 6.Nxe7 Ngxe7 7.d5 Nd4! as played in a couple
of games by Hodgson. But since both books have B.Lalic-Shirov,
Moscow OL 1994 as their main line, I have chosen to have a look
at the more unusual 3...Ba5. After 4.b4 c6 5.bxa5 cxd5 6.cxd5
Qxa5 7.e4, the main line is  7...Nf6. White is clearly better after 
8.Bd3 Na6 (8...d6 isn't much better, e.g. 9.Ne2 0 0 10.0 0 Nh5
11.Bc2 f5 12.d4 f4 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.Nd4 Nf6 15.Nb3 Qa6 16.Bd3
Qa4 17.Bb2 with a clear plus for White, I.Ivanov-Rohde, New
York 1990) 9.f3 d6 10.Bb2 Nc5 11.Bc2 Bd7 12.a4 0 0 13.Ne2
Rac8 14.Bc3 Qa6 15.d4 exd4 16.Bxd4, Lautier-Kotronias,
Khalkidiki 1992. The NCO follows this game until move 12 and
evaluate the position as somewhat better for White. SECO does not
mention 7...Nf6 at all, but instead mentions 7...d6 8.Qb3 (8.Ne2!
with a small edge for White according to Kortchnoi is mentioned
as an improvement.) 8...Nd7 9.Ba3 Ngf6 10.f3 Nc5 11.Bb5+ Bd7
12.Bxc5 dxc5 13.Bxd7+ Nxd7 14.Qxb7 Rb8, and Black has
compensation for the pawn, Kortchnoi-Torre, Bad Homburg 1998.
This is again a result of relying on Informator  for all your
material.

Before I give my assessment of the book, I would like to thank
Sahovski Informator for releasing the book in hardcover; it makes
the book easier to use; it lies open on a table, holding the selected
page. 

The book is good as a travel companion, and it makes a good
summary of the current theoretical status of most lines. It is not as
flexible in its choice of material and the authors have not bothered
to correct errors in the analysis of other Informator annotators or
any other of their own publications. That aside, it is a very good
book which many people can rely upon. But people who already
own NCO will not need to buy this book.

My assessment of the book: ***