An Oasis "The Kings' Gambit for the Creative Aggressor" by Thomas Johansson, 1998 Schachverlag Kania, distributed in the U.S. by Pickard and Son, Hardbound, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 173pp., $17.00 Reviewed by Glenn Budzinski Despite the plethora (perhaps "deluge" is a more appropriate term) of opening books that hit the retail shelves every year, the King's Gambit is one of those openings that could actually benefit from a book on current theory. With that in mind, we were heady with expectations when asked to review Thomas Johansson's "The King's Gambit for the Creative Aggressor", a book with English and German text. The work contains eleven chapters, plus an Introduction, indices of variations and players and a comprehensive bibliography. Surveying the chapters of material, one finds Chapter 1, which covers various second moves as Black in the King's Gambit Declined; counter-gambits such as the Falkbeer (1 e4 e5 2 f4 d5) are examined in Chapter 2; the Classical Defense of the King's Gambit Declined (1 e4 e5 2 f4 Bc5 3 Nf3 d6 4 Nc3) is Chapter 3; non-main lines of the King's Gambit Accepted are found in Chapter 4; next up is coverage of the Kieseritzky Gambit (1 e4 e5 2 f4 ef4 3 Nf3 g5 4 h4 g4 5 Ne5); the Becker Defense, 3...h6 4 b3, is examined in Chapter 6, while the Fischer Defense, 3...d6, is the subject of Chapter 7; 3...Nc6 is examined in Chapter 8; the Schallopp Defense (3 Nf3 Nf6 4 e5 Nh5 5 d4) follows; the final two chapters look at the Cunningham 3...Be7 and Modern (3...d5) Defenses. The introduction to a book should not be ignored because it is here where the writer should at least attempt to address why he wrote the book. In the case of this work, the author neatly lays out what he intends to do: "I think it's quite necessary to specialize in a few variations to avoid confusing them with similar variations. This approach one major variation against each defence plus some interesting off-beat alternatives has formed the book into a mixture of encyclopaedia, trends and repertoire book." He goes on to mention "Where possible the repertoire I'm recommending will consist of relatively new, less known variations which give both players, but especially White who usually will be the best informed part [sic] plenty of room to find new ideas." Without further ado, let's see if this writer's initial sense of euphoria was misplaced. Of course, all of the major opening reference sources discuss the King's Gambit. For example, "Encylcopedia of Chess Openings" (ECO) covers it in variations C30 C39; "Nunn's Chess Openings" (NCO) devotes four pages to theory and notes. Let's check for currency, completeness and accuracy by starting with a review of what Johansson says about the Cunningham Defense (or Cunningham Gambit, according to Korchnoi and Zak in their highly regarded, 1986 monograph "King's Gambit"), 1 e4 e5 2 f4 ef4 3 Nf3 Be7. An ECO main line under C35 runs 4 Bc4 Bh4 5 Kf1 d5 6 Bd5 Nf6 7 Nc3 Nd6 8 Nd5 f5 9 Nh4 Qh4 10 Nc7 Kd8 11 Na8 fe4 12 Qe1 Qh5, with an unclear position. NCO suggests 7 Bb3 Bg4 8 d3 0-0 9 Qd2 Nh5 10 Nc3 Nc6 11 Nxh4 Qxh4 12 Qf2 Qd8, also unclear, as played in Short-Kasparov, 1993 London theme rpd. The Cunningham is found in Johansson's Chapter 10. According to the author, the move 4 Bc4 is one of White's two options. (We will take a look at the other, 4 Be2, momentarily.) After 4 Bc4, Johansson follows everybody else with 4...Bh4 5 Kf1. Here, however, he deviates with 6 ed5, commenting that after 6 Bd5 Nf6 7 Bb3 Bg4 8 d3 0-0 "it's White's bishop who's been wasting time" (page 140). Of the reference books we checked, only NCO mentions 6 ed5, giving it "!?" but without further analysis. For the record, after 6 ed5 Bg4, Johansson offers four White tries, each of which leads to a White advantage according to his proffered games and analyses. However, it would appear that Johansson's preference for White against the Cunningham is not 4 Bc4, but rather 4 Be2, a move attributed to Santasiere. According to Johansson, "compared to 4 Bc4, 4 Be2 has two things in favour of it, after the bishop check on h4 the bishop must retreat almost instantly since there's no pin with ...d5 and ...Bg4, the other is that 4...Nf6 can be met by 5 Nc3 since there's no fork trick with 5...N:e4" (page 136). Interestingly, Johansson reaches the same position as Korchnoi and Zak, after 4 Be2 Nf6 5 Nc3 d5 6 ed5 Nd5 7 Nd5 Qd5 8 d4. Johansson assesses it as slightly better for White, without offering any further commentary than that the position can also arise in the Modern Defense. K & Z believe that White is at least equal and probably somewhat better. No book on the King's Gambit would be complete without a discussion of the famous Fischer Defense, 1 e4 e5 2 f4 ef4 3 Nf3 d6. Although Johansson elects to identify 4 Bc4 as his choice for White in Chapter 7, he correctly notes that 4 d4 g5 5 h4 g4 6 Ng1 "is the most popular variation" (page 112). This statement is borne out by ECO C34, NCO and K & Z, all of which accord main line treatment to 4 d4. (But, to be fair, ECO and K & Z also offer equivalent status to 4 Bc4.) In any event, after 4 Bc4 h6, rather than the usual transposition to the Hanstein Gambit which occurs when White plays 5 d4, Johansson suggests either 5 b3 or 5 d3. (His reasoning is that 5 d4 g5 6 0-0 "is good for Black", page 112. Although Joe Gallagher, in writing the King's Gambit chapter for NCO, assesses Black as having compensation for his material deficit after 4 Bc4 Bg7 5 h4 h6 6 d4 d6 7 c3 Nc6 8 0-0 Bg4 9 Qb3 Na5 10 Qa4+ c6 11 Bd3 b5 12 Qc2 - can that be interpreted to mean that Black has more than equality?) ECO and NCO both cite 5 d3, with the latter covering it as the principal option (not surprisingly, since the move is attributed to Gallagher), while K & Z include 5 b3. Looking at the specifics of the 5 d3 line, NCO gives 5 d3 g5 6 g3 g4 7 Nd4 f3 8 c3 Nc6 9 Na3? Nxd4 10 cxd4 Bg7 11 Qb3 Qe7 with Black for choice in Gallagher-A.Kuzmin, 1995 Biel; the ninth move alternative, Qb3, is mentioned as leading to an unclear position. Johansson provides coverage through 8...Nc6 and suggests either 9 Qb3 Ne5 10 Bf4 Nxc4, unclear, or 9 Bf4, with the following two options: 9...Na5 10 Nd2 Nxc4 11 Qa4, or 9...Nxd4 10 cd4 Bg7 11 Qb3 Qe7 12 Nc3 c6 13 d5 b5 14 Bxb5, also evaluated as unclear (page 120). ECO, on the other hand, offers 6...Nc6 7 gf4 g4 Ng1 Qh4 9 Kf1 f5 10 Nc3 Nf6 11 Kg2 fe4 12 de4 Bd7 13 h3 Nh5 14 hg4 Qg3 15 Kf1 Nf4 16 Qf3 Qf3 17 Nf3 and now, instead of 17...Ng6 in Belotti-Beliavsky, 1995/6 Reggio Emilia, which led to a 54 move draw, ECO recommends Beliavsky's 17...Bg4! leading to an advantage for Black. While Johansson does include the complete score of the Belotti- Beliavsky game, he omits coverage of the Beliavsky improvement. Chapter 5 examines the Kieseritzky Gambit, 1 e4 e5 2 f4 ef4 3 Nf3 g5, considered by Johansson to be "probably Black's best defence, at least theoretically speaking." ECO C39 leads to an equal game after 4 h4 g4 5 Ne5 Nf6 6 d4 Bg7 7 Bc4 d5 8 ed5 Nh5 9 0-0 Qh4 10 Qe1 Qe1 11 Re1 0-0 12 Nc3 Nd7 13 Nb5 c5 14 c3 cd4, while NCO's 6...d6 7 Nd3 Nxe4 8 Bxf4 Qe7 9 Be2 Nc6 10 c3 Bf5 11 d5 Nb8 12 Na3 Bg7 results in the usual unclear position. (ECO also includes a similar line.) After the obligatory 4 h4 g4 5 Ne5, Johansson mirrors K & Z by providing coverage of a whopping eight (!) choices for Black on move 5. After 5...Bg7 6 d4 Nf6, the Paulsen Defense is reached, found in ECO under variation C39. Johansson now recommends that White opt for 7 Nc3 rather than ECO's 7 Bc4, because after 7 Nc3 d6 8 Nd3, he indicates that White can obtain an advantage, regardless of how Black proceeds at this point, 8...f3, ...Nh5 or ...0-0. K and Z appear to agree, offering virtually identical analysis of 8...0-0. The NCO line beginning 5...Nf6 6 d4 d6 is covered by the eighth and final Black option on move 5. Johansson, however, apparently misses Gallagher's potential improvement which occurs after 7 Nd3 Ne4 8 Bf4 Qe7 9 Be2 Nc6 10 c3 Bf5 11 d5 Nb8 12 Na3, the move...Bg7, resulting in an unclear assessment for the variation. Instead, Johansson continues with 12...Nd7 (given an "?!" by NCO), following the game Wortel-Jenni, 1996 Rimavsk, won by White in 36 moves. A position about which there is a certain theoretical controversy occurs in the King's Gambit Declined, Johansson's Chapter 3. After 1 e4 e5 2 f4 Bc5 3 Nf3 d6 4 Nc3 Nf6 5 Bc4 Nc6 6 d3 Bg4, a position is arrived at that can be reached through many move orders. ECO C30 (1997 edition) recommends 7 h3 Bf3 8 Qf3 ef4 9 Bf4 Ne5 10 Be5 de5 with equality. Coverage is no longer provided of the move 7 Na4, a main line in the previous, 1981 edition. Although this latter variation certainly left something to be desired from White's point of view, after 7 Na4 Bb6 8 Nb6 ab6 9 c3 0-0 10 h3 Bf3 11 Qf3 Na5 12 f5 d5 13 Bd5 c6 14 b4 cd5 with a small Black "plus", one still can't help but wonder why it was omitted entirely from the 1997 version. In fact, lo and behold, NCO's main line virtually mirrors the old ECO 7Na4 analysis, with one difference: NCO suggests 9 0-0 (in lieu of 9 c3/h3) 9...0-0 10 c3 ef4 11 Bf4 Nh5 12 Qd2, leading to a small advantage for White. Similarly, Johansson weighs-in with 7...Bb6 8 Nb6 ab6 9 c3 ef4 10 Bf4 0-0 11 0-0 d5 12 ed5 Nd5 13 Qd2 Bf3 14 Rf3 (notice that White has castled here, so that he is not forced to recapture Qf3, as in the old ECO variation) 14...Na5 15 Bd5 Qd5 16 Raf1 c5 17 a3 Rae8 18 b4, with a small advantage for White in Kujif-Mikhalevski, 1995 Leeuwarden. So, it would seem that a theoretical mystery may have been solved. Re-examining the book in light of Johansson's goals as stated in the Introduction, in our opinion, he accomplished what he set out to do. That is, he includes "relatively new, less known variations which give both players, but especially White ...plenty of room to find new ideas." While the book is objective in its assessments, the reader should understand that it is written to focus on certain lines recommended for White. Thus, the Muzio Gambit isn't included, for instance, because the author did not consider it to be appropriate for the book. There is not much for which Johansson can be criticized. He has written a comprehensive repertoire book (not a comprehensive book on the King's Gambit) that can benefit most any level of player wishing to learn this opening from the White side. It is a welcome addition to King's Gambit literature.