"New Ideas in the Alekhine Defence"
by Graham Burgess
Reviewed by Glenn Budzinksi

"New Ideas in the Alekhine Defence" by Graham Burgess, 1996 Henry Holt and Company, Inc.,
Figurine Algebraic Notation, Softcover, 128 pp., $19.00

The aim of "New Ideas in the Alekhine Defence," according to the book's
author, Graham Burgess, in the Introduction "is to present the most
important of the new material that has accumulated since my previous book
on the subject, 'The Complete Alekhine'...was published." He adds that
"My policy has been to focus on 1) Lines that are worth playing...2) Lines
to which I can add something original...3) Lines in which a lack of
detailed knowledge is disastrous...4) Lines for which systematic coverage
is possible." Let's take a look at what all of this means.

The contents of the book consists of a total of 23 complete games
divided by variation into 13 chapters, plus fragments of other games
found in analysis throughout. As expected, most games are from the 1990s,
with a concentration on the years 1993 through 1995, subsequent to the
publishing of Burgess' "The Complete Alekhine" in 1992.  Apparently the
single game from 1996 that this writer was able to find is sufficient to
permit Burgess to make the claim in the Introduction that material is "up
to date to the start of February 1996." There is no bibliography other
than a brief mention of some of the works consulted, no index of games or
players and only an abbreviated "Index of Variations."

Using Eales and Williams' aging "Alekhine's Defence" and "Encyclopedia of
Chess Openings, Volume B" as references, "New Ideas" appears to contain at
least some coverage of all major lines in the Alekhine, including the
Exchange Variation: 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 c4 Nb6 5 exd6 exd6; the
line 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 c4 Nb6 4 c5 Nd5; the Four Pawns Attack 1 e4 Nf6
2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 c4 Nb6 5 f4; the Alburt, or Modern, Variation: 1 e4 Nf6
2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 Nf6 g6; and Main Line or Kengis Variation, which arises
after 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 Nf6 dxe5 5 Nxe5 g6.

Ideas are offered from both sides of the board. For instance, Game #5
(page 34) is Korchnoy-Miles from Biel 1992, where White introduces the
move 7 Qf3 in the Exchange Variation, instead of the three common
alternatives, 7 Be3, Be2 and h3. (1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 c4 Nb6
5 exd6 exd6 6 Nc3 Be7 7 Qf3.) Although Korchnoy won the game, it is
difficult to judge the merits of 7 Qf3, since Miles played a dubious move
shortly thereafter.

Also of interest from the White side is Game #11 (page 64), Anand-Timman
from Linares 1992. After the moves 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 Nf3 g6
5 Bc4 Nb6 6 Bb3 Bg7, Anand tried 7 exd6 and obtained a minimal, but long-
lasting, advantage. More than twenty years ago, Eales and Williams
examined no less than five alternatives: 7 Ng5, a4, 0-0, Nbd2 Qe2 -
without mention of exd6.

While White novelties seem to have occurred in the early stages of the
opening, apparently it takes a little longer for Black alternatives to
unfold.  Typical is the following example in the Four Pawns Attack after
1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 c4 Nb6 5 f4 dxe5 6 fxe5 Nc6 7 Be3 Bf5 8 Nc3 e6
9 Nf3 Qd7 10 d5 exd5 11 cxd5 Nb4 12 Nb4 N6xd5 13 Nxd5 Nxd5 14 Nxf5 0-0-0
15 Qd3 g6 17 Nh4 Nxe3 18 Qxe3 Bb4+ and now, GM Chandler's suggested 18 Ke2
may be refuted by 18...g5!, a move that Burgess attributes to Fritz
software (Game #8, pp. 46-50). This find may spell the end for 10 d5.

To assess the author's selection of material, a review was performed using
all issues of "Inside Chess" magazine for the years 1994 and 1995.
"Inside Chess" was selected as a benchmark since it is known for timely and
relatively complete coverage of major international tournaments. In short,
one can reasonably assume that if an Alekhine's Defense of significant
theoretical interest was played during those years, the game would
probably have appeared in "Inside Chess."

The results of this comparative review can be summarized in three
categories: 1) Alekhine's Defense is not a popular choice at the grandmaster and International
Master levels of play. Thus, there were not
a lot of games from which to choose during the years examined.  2) Certain
games were omitted. 3) Inconsistencies or inaccuracies exist between the
book and the same games found in "Inside Chess." Although the first two
findings are hardly surprising, the third, however, is a different story.

In the omissions category, this writer was unable to locate coverage of
Tiviakov-Yermolinsky from the 1994 PCA Qualifier. This particular game may
be of some theoretical interest in the 4...Bg4 "Old Main Line" variation,
in that Yermolinsky avoided playing ...Nc6 altogether, normally a common
motif as Black.

More annoying are the inconsistencies. Again in the Old Main Line, Burgess
cites the game Siero-Gonzalez - Nogueiras from 1994 Villa Clara in the
notes (page 80). The position is assessed as unclear by Burgess (assuming
such is the correct definition of the symbol, which is not included in the
index at the beginning of the book). More of the game is provided by GM
Vera in 1994 issue #16 of "Inside Chess," however, who assesses the ending
as advantageous for Black after move 22.

Curiously, in Game #2, the second game of a 1994 match between Michael
Adams and Simen Agdestein, Burgess gives the moves as 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5
3 Nc3 Nxc3 4 dxc3 d5 5 Qf3 c6, quite different (but leading to the
identical position) from the move order offered by Yasser Seirawan in
"Inside Chess" 1994 issue #8: 1 e4 Nf6 2 Nc3 d5 3 e5 Ne4 4 Qf3 Nxc3
5 dxc3 c6. Of course, it is equally plausible that Burgess is blameless
and Seirawan picked up the wrong move order.

In summary, there is good news and bad news about "New Ideas in the Alekhine Defence" The
good news is that the book does, in fact, provide a number of new ideas in
Alekhine's Defense, exactly as the title implies. Such, however, is also
the bad news: do not expect much more than a collection of recent material.