Checkpoint
by Alex Baburin

King's Indian Defense. Yugoslav Variation 6...c5 by GM Andrew
Soltis. 1997 Chess Digest English Algebraic Notation, 144 pp;
$16.50

Books that are devoted to a particular line, rather than an entire
opening in general, are rarer exceptions in the market and when I
opened this book, I was interested to see what it had to offer. My
interest was also fueled by the fact that I always employ a king's
fianchetto against the King's Indian Defense. I hoped that a book
on just one system - 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nf3 Bg7 4 g3 0-0 5 Bg2 d6
6 0-0 c5 (See Diagram) 

would have a lot of useful material in it, but I was really
disappointed. First of all, the book is laid out extremely
generously; all its contents could easily have fit into 60 pages or so,
had the publisher used a more traditional layout. I suspect that this
was done deliberately - in order to make the book look 'solid' to a
potential buyer. But had I paid $16.50 for this 114- page book, I
would have been really annoyed by the fact that many of its pages
are half blank. On some pages diagrams are used mainly to take up
space. For example, on page 42, after 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nf3 Bg7
4 g3 0-0 5 Bg2 d6 6 0-0 c5 7 Nc3 Nc6 8 dxc5 GM Soltis gives a
diagram and then after 8...dxc5 he gives yet another! I guess that
this specialized book is not really for beginners, so why to show a
diagram on every move? I guess it's done to fill in the pages...

OK, leaving aside this dubious marketing 'strategy' and looking
into the chess content of the book, let's evaluate it as per the state
of theory of the Yugoslav Variation in 1997 (when the book came
out). After 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nf3 Bg7 4 g3 0-0 5 Bg2 d6 6 0-0
Black can choose between 6...Nbd7 (followed by ...e5), 6...c6
(followed by ...Qa5 or ...Bf5) and 6...c5, which leads to the
Yugoslav Variation. Those players who don't like symmetrical
lines arising after 7 dxc5 often reach the Yugoslav Variation via
different move order - 6...Nc6 7 d5 Na5 8 Nfd2 c5. Of course,
White does not have to play 7 d5 and if you definitely want to
reach this system, it is best to play 6...c5. The Yugoslav Variation
leads to very complex positions in most lines and it has been one of
Black's main weapons against the king's fianchetto. This means
that there is a potentially wide audience for this Soltis' work. 

The book has 4 chapters covering all the main possibilities in the
position after 6...c5. Chapter 1 deals with Benoni-like positions
arising after 7 d5. Chapter 2 is devoted to the line 7 Nc3 Nc6 8
dxc5, while the next two chapters cover 8 d5 Na5 9 Nd2 and then
9...e5 (Chapter 3) or 9...a6. Strangely enough, Soltis calls the move
9...e5 'White' main line', while the move 9...a6 is (according to
him) 'An alternative main line for Black'. Anyway, the book does a
good job in explaining the main ideas in this system and if you are
new to the Yugoslav Variation, you may well benefit from author's
explanations. 

But if you already play this variation, you won't get much from this
book - among its 10 illustrative games the most recent one is
Wojtkiewicz-Marin, Stara Zagora 1990. Surely there were some
worthy games played in the Yugoslav Variations between 1991 and
1996, but very few of them get mentioned in Soltis' notes. For
example, on page 44 in the position after 1 Nf3 Nf6 2 g3 d6 3 d4
g6 4 Bg2 Bg7 5 0-0 0-0 6 c4 c5 7 Nc3 Nc6 8 dxc5 dxc5 9 Be3 Be6
10 Qa4 Nd4 (See Diagram) 

he mentions 11 Rac1, saying that "some testing is needed ... for
11...Nd7...". Why not at least discuss the game L. Spassov - Rieda,
1993, which went 11 Rac1 Nd7 12 b3 Nb6 13 Qa5 with some
advantage for White? This game (or some other) should not be too
hard to find. On the next page Soltis analyses one of the critical
positions in the 8 dxc5 system: 11 Rad1 Bd7 12 Qa3 Nc2 13 Qxc5
b6 14 Qg5 h6. Then he advocates 15 Qf4, saying that after 15 Qh4
Nxe3 16 fxe3 Ng4 17 Nd5 g5 18 Qh5 e6 19 Qxg4 exd5 20 Qh5
Qc8! "Black is better". Maybe so, but I'd like to get some proof
here, particularly when in the game Malysev-Bogachkov,
Novosibirsk 1996, White scored a very convincing victory after 21
h3 Qe8 22 Rxd5 Qxe3+ 23 Kh2 Be6 24 Rxg5! hxg5 25 Nxg5 Rfe8
26 Be4!. If the book brings you as far as move 20 in a sharp line, it
should provide some additional analysis, otherwise some readers
will be in for unpleasant surprises. The book is obviously written
for those who want to play the Yugoslav Variation as Black and I
get the feeling that Soltis tries to please the second player by
picking lines and games which look just fine for Black. For
example, the following position is very important for the theory of
the Yugoslav Variation: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nf3 Bg7 4 g3 0-0 5
Bg2 d6 6 0-0 Nc6 7 Nc3 a6 8 d5 Na5 9 Nd2 c5 10 Qc2 Rb8 11 b3
b5 12 Bb2 Bh6 13 f4 bxc4 14 bxc4 e5 15 dxe6 Bxe6 16 Nd5 Rxb2
17 Qxb2 Bg7 (See Diagram). 

Then White has a choice between three lines. Soltis wrote about
one of them - 18 Qc1 - the following: "Recently revived by Artur
Yusupov..." I am not sure that 5 years ago is exactly 'recently', but
then why not show the game Yusupov-Kindermann, Baden-Baden
1992? In fact, Soltis does not mention that game at all, citing some
old examples instead. Covering another critical line - 18 Qa3 -
Soltis claims that after18...Nxc4 19 Nxc4 Nxd5 20 Rac1 Nb4 21
Rfd1 d5 22 Kh1 the sacrifice with 22...dxc4 "has been neutralized
by more recent analysis". Here he obviously means the game
Baburin-Polzin, Germany 1992, mentioned in the book, after
which Black stopped playing 22...dxc4. Yet, I remember that not
everything was that clear to me in the game. Personally, I would be
very careful before giving such categorical verdicts in a sharp line
without backing it with at least some original analysis. To conclude
this review, I can say that this book might be useful for the
newcomer's to the Yugoslav Variation, providing them with some
basic introduction to this complicated line. But then one must keep
in mind its price ($16.50), which is very high for a book which
could be perhaps 60 pages with a less generous layout.
Experienced practitioners of the system will be disappointed, as
most games cited in the book are old and the author has not
analyzed them critically.

It seems the chess public continues to crave for opening books.
Fortunately for chess authors, the availability of desktop publishing
and huge databases make it much easier to write opening
monographs nowadays. I don't see any reason why the quality of
opening books should go down rather than up in this situation - the
only requirements are an author's efforts to write an original work
and his willingness to spend sufficient time on research. I feel that
this is what is unfortunately missing here. My assessment of this
book: **. 

'Winning with the Catalan' by IM Angus Dunnington. 1997
Batsford, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 158pp; $19.50

Batsford is dead (it went into receivership this summer), but its
products continue to emerge into the market. This book covers the
opening arising after 1 d4 d4 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 g3. The Catalan
was very popular in the 80s, but it is somewhat less common today.
This probably has more to do with fashion than with the objective
value of the opening, which has been employed by all 'big Ks' -
Korchnoi, Karpov, Kasparov, Kamsky and Kramnik. To this
exclusive group we can now add the name of Alexander Khalifman
and it's interesting that he also likes playing the Catalan once in a
while. So, if you start playing this opening, you'll surely be in good
company! 

The Catalan is a complex opening, which offers both sharp play
(particularly when Black takes on c4 and White does not try to
regain the pawn immediately) and relatively quiet positional
maneuvering. Dunnington's book can be a first step in leaning this
opening, as his book offers a lot of useful material.

Dunnington starts with 'Introduction', where he shows some
benefits of the Catalan, illustrating them with 4 games. There he
also deals with the line 4...Bb4+ 5 Bd2 Be7. In my opinion, the
introduction is too lengthy (11 pages) and is not very clear -
Dunnington gives the themes 'White space advantage', 'Open files',
'White's d-pawn' and 'Typical ending' without properly explaining
why they are so important to the Catalan. Perhaps it would be
better to start by showing an example, featuring the mighty Catalan
bishop in positions where Black takes on c4. Then it would be
appropriate to show what White can also achieve in positions
where Black rejects ...dxc4 and develops with ...c6 and ...b6
instead.

After the 'Introduction' the author deals with various lines of the
Catalan. The Open Catalan (when Black plays 4...dxc4) gets the
most coverage (68 pages) and this is probably right, as after
4...dxc4 5 Bg2 (Dunnington believes that the super-solid 5 Qa4
does not yield White anything) Black has a very wide choice. At
that stage Black has nine choices: 5...c5, 5...a6, 5...b5, 5...c6,
5...Nc6, 5...Nbd7, 5...Bd7, 5...Bb4+ and 5...Be7. Most of those
moves get a chapter in the book, where after some preliminaries he
a few illustrative games are given. The games are well chosen and
there is a lot of material incorporated into the notes. This, along
with explanations about both White's and Black's plans and ideas,
will certainly help the reader to understand the Catalan better. 

For example: after 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 g3 dxc4 5 Bg2 c5 6
0-0 Nc6 7 Qa4 cxd4 8 Nxd4 Qxd4 9 Bxc6+ Bd7 10 Rd1 Qxd1+ 11
Qxd1 Bxc6 (See Diagram) 

the author explains in two pages of details what plans are available
for both sides and why Black now avoids this line. This depth is
typical for the book and the lines, which are covered in it, are
covered well. But the problem (at least for some readers!) is that
some lines are not covered in the book at all. For example, after
4...dxc4 5 Bg2 Dunnington does not show how to deal with
5...Bb4+. Also after 5...Be7 6 0-0 0-0 he deals only with 7 Qc2,
leaving out the very popular moves 7 Na3 and 7 Ne5. In the line 7
Qc2 a6 8 a4 Bd7 he does not discuss 9 Rd1, while after 8 Qxc4 b5
9 Qc2 Bb7 he leaves out 10 Bd2, a move that was hugely popular
in the 80s. This makes this book somewhat incomplete.

Here I would like to pause and talk about opening books in general.
At the present time most of these books fall into one of the
following categories: 1) 'Easy Guide to...' - pretty light reading with
some useful hints; 2) 'The Complete...' - books with heavy analysis,
which try to be comprehensive opening monographs; and 3)
'Repertoire for...' - only one line usually suggested against every
possible system that your opponent might choose. Such books
often deal with more than one opening. 'Winning with the Catalan'
does not quite fit into any of these three categories, which isn't a
good thing. The book is too heavy for an 'Easy Guide' type and it's
not comprehensive enough to be a 'The Complete Catalan'. It's
more or less of a repertoire book, but as such it has serious
drawbacks. For example: why should it offer two equally complex
lines (7 Ne5 and 7 Qa4) after 4...dxc4 5 Bg2 c5 6 0-0 Nc6, when it
leaves some Black options (like the above-mentioned 5...Bb4+) not
addressed at all?

There are some other holes in the book as well, though some of
them are hard to spot. But here is one of them: after 4...dxc4 5 Bg2
Nbd7 Dunnington recommends 6 Qa4 (See Diagram), which by
transposition leads to the line 5 Qa4+ Nbd7 6 Bg2. However,
earlier in the book he advises against 5 Qa4+. OK, he rejects 5
Qa4+, because he believes that 5...Bd7 equalizes, but in practice
Black usefully prefers 5...Nbd7. So, if after 5 Bg2 Nbd7 the move
6 Qa4 is so good, why not to study 5 Qa4 and thus avoid all those
complex lines, to which 5 Bg2 leads? Surely, White can then come
up with a few ideas in the less common line 5...Bd7. But of course,
5 Bg2 is a more promising move - after 5...Nbd7 White just should
not bother with the dull 6 Qa4, as after more appropriate 6 0-0 he
stands better. To me it seems a bit illogical first to show lines
where White bravely sacrifices the c4-pawn after 4...dxc4 5 Bg2 b5
or 5...a6 and then to recommend extreme caution (6 Qa4) in the
less sharp line starting with 5...Nbd7.

To sum up, I can say that for those who are considering playing the
Catalan, this book offers some high quality games and annotations,
along with good explanations. But beware that the book does not
cover all Black's options in some lines, while in others it gives
excessive amount of material for the first player, making it harder
for lower rated players to learn the opening. Deep annotations and
heavy analysis may certainly please those, who already play the
Catalan, but such readers should make sure that their favorite line
is actually considered in the book before they buy it.

My assessment of this book: ***. 

Easy guide to the Bb5 Sicilian by IM Steffen Pedersen, 1999
Everyman Chess, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 128 pp., $18.95

Young Danish International Master S. Pedersen is establishing
himself as one of the best authors nowadays. In July I reviewed his
book on the Bogo-Indian Defense and praised its clarity. Now I can
repeat the same about Pedersen's new work - it's a very clear
account of the modern state of this fashionable opening system.
Those who are following the Kasparov vs. ROW challenge, will
certainly remember that Kasparov chose 3 Bb5+ after 1 e4 c5 2
Nf3 d6 and this is symptomatic - modern players often get tired of
the over-analyzed Open Sicilian and try to steer the game into more
positional and lesser known lines. The Bb5 Sicilian is a good
example of such an approach - it offers White solid play with many
yet unexplored possibilities. Of course, this system is not universal
(and Pedersen says so) - White can use it only after 2...Nc6 and
2...d6 and therefore needs to have something else against Black's
alternative second moves. However, many games start with either
2...Nc6 or 2...d6 and thus 3 Bb5 is very important.

The book gegins with some basic introduction, where Pedersen
explains the pawn structures, that are most common for this system
and also features four very interesting games played with 3 Bb5.
Then he proceeds to examine 2...Nc6 3 Bb5 g6, 3...e6 and other
Black's options on move 3. Each chapter starts with an introduction
that is very clear. One example: after 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 e6 4
Bxc6 bxc6 5 d3 Ne7 6 Ng5 h6 7 Nh3 d5 the game I.Rogers-
V.Milov, Baden 1998, reached the following position (See
Diagram):

Here Pedersen writes: "Black ... should have chosen 7...g6 or
7...e5. The d-pawn's advance leaves Black with a weak pawn on
c5. There is actually a close resemblance to the Nimzo- Indian,
although White is probably better here than Black usually is in the
Nimzo-Indian." Then he brings the game to move 30, explaining
what was happening there. In my opinion this is a very good way of
explaining basic ideas, typical for the opening. Then the author
shows the current theory of each line, using very recent examples -
you will see many 1998 and even some 1999 games in the book. In
each 'Theory of...' section there is a little index, which is very
useful too. In some diagrams Pedersen cleverly uses arrows to
explain the main ideas of the position. It's nice to see that Pedersen
stays realistic while talking about his subject and does not claim
that White gets a definite advantage in every single line. In fact, in
many cases he recommends good systems for Black too, which
makes this book of interest for the second player as well.

Not every line is covered in the book making it more of a repertoire
book. For example, after 2...d6 3 Bb5+ Bd7 4 Bxd7 Qxd7 Pedersen
advocates 5 c4 and does not discuss the plan with c2-c3, which he
believes is inferior. This is probably OK, when you are learning the
opening from scratch, but this may be upsetting for someone, who
already plays 3 Bb5 and actually favors the plan with c2-c3 and
d2-d4 in this line. But 'Easy Guide...' books never claim to be
comprehensive and it's only reasonable to cut some material,
giving the modest size of this book. All in all, 'Easy guide to the
Bb5 Sicilian' is an excellent opening book - informative, objective
and well-written. After the Kasparov-ROW game this book may as
well find a fast- growing market! My assessment of this book:
*****.