Checkpoint
by Alex Baburin

After some quiet time, opening books have begun to pile up in
my study and in this issue I will discuss two of them, along
with yet another chess CD...

A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire by GM Aaron
Summerscale, 1998 Everyman Chess, Softcover, Figurine
Algebraic Notation, 144pp., $19.95

The idea to produce an 'ultimate' repertoire book, which would
fit all club players, seems to be very appealing to chess
publishers and authors and many have tried to come up with
such a book. Here we have yet another attempt to tackle this
problem, as the author claims in the Introduction: "The aim of
this book is to provide a complete repertoire for the boy I used
to be. The variations chosen are a little offbeat, but they fit
together nicely... and once mastered will provide a complete
repertoire for White against most defences." Personally, I think
that for somebody, whose main goal is to avoid studying too
much theory, the best approach is to play systems with Nf3,
Bg2, 0-0 and to learn how to handle various Black's setups. 
Yet, if you want more choice, problems begin to emerge, as
you cannot really play the same setup against every Black
defense without giving your opponent an easy game. Thus, you
need to learn how counter different defenses and here
Summerscale's book can be handy. First of all, do not be scared
by its title - the book does not deal with 6 Bg5 in the Najdorf or
variations like this, which the name 'A Killer Repertoire' might
have suggested. This name is in fact a typical publishers' hype,
aiming to make the title sound 'cool', while actually the book
deals with rather quiet systems arising after 1 d4.
After 1...Nf6 2 Nf3 g6, which signals your opponent's
intentions to play either the King's Indian Defense or the
Gruenfeld Defense, Summerscale suggests the Barry Attack - 3
Nc3 d5 4 Bf4 Bg7 5 e3. Then White follow up with Be2, Ne5
and often with h2-h4-h5, trying to open the h-file. While
White's setup is solid (Capablanca played it, though with
different ideas), it has a dynamic potential and may catch your
opponent unprepared. Summerscale illustrates main ideas
behind this system with 11 annotated games, which have a very
good balance between explanations and concrete analysis. He
often suggests possible improvements, which shows that he
looked at the games critically. The position arising after 5...0-0
6 Be2 b6 7 Ne5 Bb7 8 h4 Nbd7 9 h5 
illustrates the dangers which await Black if he fails to address
White's attacking intentions on the kingside. Here White's play
on the h-file is almost automatic, while Black's defensive task
is difficult. Black should probably meet the Barry Attack with
5...0-0 6 Be2 c5, followed by Nc6. Summerscale does not claim
that White gets definite advantage in this system, but it
certainly leads to interesting play and has good practical value.
English GMs Mark Hebden and Julian Hodgson both have
scored well with it.

On move three Black does not have to play 3...d5 and may opt
for 3...d6 instead, which after 4 e4 Bg7 leads to the Pirc
Defense. Then the author recommends 5 Be3, followed by Qd2
and Bd3. After the possible 5...c6 6 Qd2

White is ready to play on either side of the board, depending on
Black's setup. If Black castles kingside early, then White might
exchange the dark-squared bishop after Bh6 and start an attack
there. If Black goes for an early ...b5, White might get targets
on the queenside. Nowadays this well-balanced system is
favored by many strong GMs and those 4 annotated games,
which are featured in this section, include games by Khalifman
and Leko. This section of the book may be also interesting to
e4 players, as it suggests a promising way of handling the Pirc.
However, I have a slight problem with the name of the system -
Summerscale calls it the '150 Attack', explaining that,
presumably, this name comes from the average British grade of
those club players, who play it. I fear that if this approach
toward naming chess variations succeeds, we will be
overwhelmed with names like '974 Variation' or '123 Defense',
etc.

The recipe is simple: get the number of players who favor a
particular line, multiply it by their average age and the divide it
by their average IQ - then you have a very instructive new
name! This is very easy, but some old-fashioned individuals
(like myself!) may still prefer to wait until the variation gets
named after we see which strong players do the most to
popularize it. Anyway, I find this part of the book very useful,
though it would be nice to have extra 2-3 annotated games
here.

While the first two chapters (which make up about one third of
the book) teach you how to handle the KID and the Gruenfeld,
the next section deals with 1 d4 d5. Here Summerscale
recommends the Colle-Zukertort system, arising after 2 Nf3
Nf6 3 e3 e6 4 Bd3 c5 5 b3 

Then White usually plays 0-0, Bb2, Nbd2 and chooses between
c2-c4, aiming for positions with Hanging Pawns, and Ne5, with
a kingside attack in mind. This section is illustrated with 5
games. Although this chapter is not bad, I feel that some games
are too heavily annotated for this type of book. For example,
the game Summerscale-Sadler takes almost nine pages, which
is too much. I suspect that some readers will be confused (I
was!), trying to follow all the sub-lines, given here. After that
game Summerscale writes: "A very satisfying win against one
of Britain's best players." Very nice, but I wonder whether 17-
year old Sadler was one of Britain's best players in 1991, when
his rating was about 2450? I guess that the author just flatters
himself here. 

Another problem with this chapter (apart from heavy notes) is
its name. The Colle System arises after 1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 e3
e6 4 Bd3 c5 5 c3 and it has very little in common with the
Zukertort System (5 b3). In fact, the Colle System is the semi-
Slav with colors reversed, while the Zukertort System is the
Queen's Indian Defense with colors reversed. Both are sound,
but nobody combines the semi-Slav and the Queen's Indian in
one book! So, if you play the Colle already, don't be misled by
this chapter - this book does not cover your pet line at all! One
of the main problems with the Colle and the Zukertort is that
Black is free to bring his light-squared bishop either to g4 or f5
early in the game. He can also develop his other bishop to g7,
once his White's counterpart cannot go to f4. Summerscale
deals with such ideas in the useful chapter, called 'Beating the
anti-Colle Systems'. After 3...Bg4 and 3...Bf5 he recommends 4
c4, transposing to the Slav, while after 3...c5 he advocates 4
dxc5, getting a QGA with an extra tempo. Yet, White cannot
hope to get much here - the price he must pay for avoiding the
mainstream theory.

Against the Queen's Indian Defense the author recommends to
drop the Zukertort approach (he features one game, explaining
why it does not give White much in this case) and adopt a more
aggressive set up with Bd3, c4 and Nc3. An important position
arises after 1...Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 e3 b6 4 Bd3 Bb7 5 0-0 c5 6 c4
Be7 7 Nc3. 

Black must then decide whether he wants to allow d4-d5 or
should play for ...d5 himself. In the latter case White often ends
up with an isolated d-pawn. After 1...Nf6 2 Nf3 c5
Summerscale suggests 3 d5, which avoids both the Benko
Gambit (White meets 3...b5  with 4 Bg5!) and the Benoni
Defense (after 3...e6 White plays 4 Nc3). These lines are well
covered in the book. The author suggests meeting 1...f5 with 2
Bg5, while those who want to reach the Stonewall formation
via 1...e6 will face 2 Nf3 f5 3 d5!?. In general, this is a well-
balanced book, which offers just about right amount of material
for those who want to have a complete repertoire with 1 d4 but
are not yet keen on studying too much theory. The lines,
recommended by Summerscale, lead to different pawn
formations and complex play. This requires some independent
work from the reader, if she or he wants to master these lines.
My assessment of this book: ****

The Unconventional King's Indian Defense by IM John L.
Watson 1997 Hypermodern Press, Figurine Algebraic Notation,
212pp., $17.95

Though this book is not exactly new, it's still worth reviewing
as it deals with some off beat lines where the theory does not
change too quickly. Personally, after recently getting Watson's
excellent book Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy, I was
interested to see his other works.  This book covers lines of the
KID, other than the Orthodox (also known as Classical - 5 Nf3
0-0 6 Be2), the Averbakh (5 Be2 0-0 6 Bg5), the Saemisch (5
f3), the Four Pawn Attack (5 f4) and the main lines arising in
the systems with g2-g3. According to Watson, about 33% of all
games played by KID, fall into this category of unconventional
lines, which is quite a lot. Thus, the book may appeal to those
who play this opening with Black, as well as for players
looking for off-beat lines with White. The latter is possible
because Watson stays quite objective and does not pretend that
Black is better in every line of the KID - although the book is
aimed at Black, there is a lot of useful material for White in it
too.

The author starts with the system arising after 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6
3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Bd3 (See Diagram) which has been a pet
line of GM Seirawan for years. Watson covers this line in
depth, usually going 15 or 20 moves deep and giving at least 2
different suggestions at critical moments. This is very useful, as
when you don't like one recommendation, you can always try
the other. The material in the book is not built around key
games - instead the author follows the most popular lines,
covering side variations as he goes along. I feel that this is a
drawback, as it's easier to study complete games.

In the book you see branches on move 6, 7, 8, etc and after a
while you get quite fed up with it, even though Watson gives
useful hints and recommendations. This problem is particularly
noticeable in the first chapter, where some pages don't feature a
single diagram and therefore look a bit depressing. I wish
Watson would show fewer games and game fragments and
discuss the basic ideas behind them in more detail. I feel that
opening reference books have become less appealing now,
when most players have access to huge databases and can
gather a wealth of information in virtually no time. What they
may not be able to acquire that quickly is expertise and general
understanding of the opening and here Watson could have done
more than he did. There are also some problems with names in
the book (e.g., Watson gives Dubinen instead of Dubinin). Also
one line, which Watson covers in the book, should not be there
at all - I am referring to the variation 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 f3 d5 4
cxd5 Nxd5 5 e4 Nb6. The move 3 f3 is a well-known anti-
Gruenfeld weapon and not an anti-KID line. Thus, I don't
understand why those who play 3...Bg7 after 3 Nc3, would
suddenly play 3...d5 after 3 f3. If you play the KID, you cannot
avoid the Saemisch anyway, so why study a different opening?

In general, I like this book for its very good coverage of the 5
Bd3 Variation, the Kramer System (5 Nge2) and the system
with 5 h3. The book also deals with the Torre Attack (2 Nf3 g6
3 Bg5) and the London system (3 Bf4), though rather briefly. It
is interesting that in the Barry Attack (see the review above)
Watson does mention the plan with Be2, Ne5 and h2-h4-h5, but
gives very little attention to it. Variations with g2-g3 are
covered quite adequately. As I said before, I feel that Watson
could have done a better job by cutting some material and
building the book around some key games, which would make
it easier to read. In its present form the book is a solid, but a bit
dry reference opening manual.
My assessment of this book: ***

Chess Base Training. Ftachnik: Winning in 20 moves! from
ChessBase. System requirements: Pentium, Windows 95, CD-
ROM drive, Soundcard.

Experienced ChessBase users are probably familiar with
ChessBase Magazine and annotated games, which come with
it. Many would know that ChessBase has some great features,
which are ideal for training, such as text and training questions.
To work with this CD you will need ChessBase 6/7 or CB
Light. The latter is available for free at
http://www.chessbase.com/. This CD by GM Lubomir Ftacnik
is designed to take advantage of this technology. 

The CD offers 333 games where one side was either
checkmated in less than 20 moves or could not avoid the
inevitable checkmate. The main audience for this CD are those
who enjoy spectacular miniatures and want to sharpen their
tactical vision. It's also ideal for beginners and particularly for
kids, who would love most of the games featured there. When
you access the CD, you will see the following picture on your
screen:

It shows what is on the CD. You begin with 17 text files, where
Ftacnik outlines various tactical ideas featured in the games on
the CD and also explains how to work with it and how to get
the most from your work. While in the text, you can choose
between English and German. Let's have a look at one text file:

Here Ftacnik describes the advantages of opening the h-file for
the attacker. You can also see the keys. By clicking on one of
them, you can list games with a particular motif. Clicking on
the picture of Ftacnik will initiate a small video clip (about 40
seconds). It's interesting that clicking on this photo in the
German version of the text makes Ftacnik speak in German!

After the texts, 333 short games come, all of which have at
least one training question inside. You can choose to take the
challenge or to skip it. Most of the challenges are not
particularly difficult. When you approach the training question,
you see something like this on your screen:

You have 5 minutes to come up with the right move. The
program counts your points, so you can see how well you solve
tactical positions. In my experience, solving such tactical
examples can be fun, though I would do it only once in a while.
Yet, this is a useful way of training your tactical skills. I guess
that chess coaches would also find this CD appealing, as they
can quickly prepare a few mini-lessons for their students.

To sum up, I can say that I like this product, which is done very
professionally. Yet, I feel that Ftacnik could have done even a
better job, if he had made it clearer when and where the losing
side made a gross mistake. He actually says that to lose in 20
moves you must make a serious error, but does not mark such
critical moments clearly. Here is one example:

H. Matijevic - R. Clay,
WchJM-U16 Mamaia, 1991
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 d5 3 Nc3 e6 4 cxd5 exd5 5 Bg5 Nbd7 6 e3 Be7 7
Qc2 0-0 8 Bd3 c6 9 Nf3 h6 10 h4

Here Black rather naively took the offered piece and duly lost
after 10...hxg5?? 11 hxg5 Ne4 12 Bxe4 dxe4 13 Qxe4 g6 14
Qh4!. It would have been useful for some players, if the author
had explained why taking the bishop was wrong and what
Black should have tried instead.

My assessment of this CD: ****