"C.O.O.L. Chess" by GM Paul Motwani, 1997 American Batsford, Softcover, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 192pp., $22.50 About six months ago, we reviewed Scottish Grandmaster Paul Motwani's book "H.O.T. Chess" and remarked that once you were able to get by the peculiar title, there was a pretty good book. Well, after a few months' break, Paul has written another acronym-titled book - "C.O.O.L. Chess" - wherein he tries to show how Creative Original Opening Lines can bring the attentive student success. This time, once you get beyond the peculiar title, you will not find a good book. You will find a terrific book. Twenty-three heavily annotated games (with no less than another 80 complete games in the notes!) are spread over six chapters. The emphasis is on original thinking, from opening through the middlegame and into the endgame. The text is peppered with trivia questions, test positions, puzzles, all of which leave a very pleasant impression on the reader. Amusing anecdotes, some having nothing to do with chess (!) and the occasional philosophical digression combine with some original opening analysis and in depth look at games to produce quite a gem. From the chapter "f for forward!" ... Besides myself, one of Batsford's other new authors in 1996 was IM Ali Mortazavi, whose excellent book Winning With the Kan was of great interest to me. Naturally most of the work concentrates on lines after 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 a6, but Ali gives 3 b3!? a special mention as it is one of White's ways of side-stepping the Kan, and so Black must be prepared to face it if necessary. 3...b6 4 Bb2 Bb7 5 Nc3 a6 is one of several lines recommended for Black, but 6 Qe2!? is a cool novelty which we are about to see in a game between two Romanian IMs at the 1996 Coca Cola Pokal Open. Game 20 A.Negulescu - D.Moldovan Romania 1996 Sicilian Defence 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 b3 In my opinion this move is more logical here than it would be after 2...Nc6 or 2...d6, since in those cases Black is better placed to play ...e5 to reduce the scope of the white bishop that is about to be fianchettoed on b2. The surprise factor associated with 3 b3 is underlined by the fact that, in my own games as Black, I have only faced that rare move twice, whereas 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 a6 netted numerous important wins for me en route to gaining the grandmaster title. Besides 'the Kan', this system with 4...a6 is often called 'the Paulsen', named after Louis Paulsen. It is extremely flexible, since Black has not yet declared where any of his pieces will go, and so far White's only information relates to Black's pawn configuration. You may be interested to know that the name Louis means 'glorious warrior' in old German, and that the great musical composer Ludwig van Beethoven wrote the following: 'In his amazing fantasy, Louis can build castles of dreams. He is creative and achieves much in life. He is a winner!'. 3...b6 A.Ivanov-Khmelnitsky, USA Ch (Parsippany) 1996 took a different path: 3...Nc6 4 Bb2 d5 (4...Nf6 runs into 5 e5) 5 Bb5! (a novelty, I think) 5...dxe4 (See Diagram) 6 Ne5 Qg5? (6...Bd7 is more prudent, but 7 Bxc6 Bxc6 8 Nxc6 bxc6 9 Nc3 gives White a nice lead in development after 9...Nf6 10 Qe2 or 9...f5 10 f3!, and Black's pawn structure is very weak) 7 0-0 Bd7 8 Nxd7 Kxd7 9 d3 (instead of trying to win the e4-pawn, White is more than happy to exchange it for opening up the d-file in order to expose Black's king) 9...exd3 10 Qxd3+ Kc7 11 Bxc6 Kxc6 (11...bxc6 12 Rdl Rd8 loses to 13 Be5+! Kc8 14 Qa6#) 12 Rdl Qd5 13 Qe2 Qf5 14 Na3 a6 15 g4! Qf4 (after 15...Qg6 16 Qf3+ Kb6 17 Rd7 Rb8 18 Nc4+ Ka7 19 Be5, I would not bet on Black!) 16 Be5 Qb4 17 Nc4 (threatening 18 Qf3+ Kb5 19 Qxb7#) 17...Nf6 18 c3 Qb5 19 a4 1-0, in view of 19...Qxb3 20 Na5+. The player of the black pieces is an IM who was rated 2485 at the time of the game! 4 Bb2 Bb7 5 Nc3 a6 (See Diagram) 5...d6 6 d4 cxd4 occurred in Collinson-Mortazavi, Guildford 1992, but then, instead of 7 Nxd4, Ali Mortazavi pointed out the really strong possibility 7 Bb5+! Nd7 8 Qxd4 with a huge lead in development for White. 5...a6 is a prophylactic measure, which prevents ideas such as Bb5+. Mortazavi gives it a '!'. However, there is one clear drawback to Black's move: it does not contribute much to his development, a fact that the opponent should try to exploit in an energetic way. 6 Qe2!? ... This novelty from IM Adrian Negulescu carries some sting, whereas 6 d4 cxd4 7 Nxd4 Qc7 8 Bd3 Bb4 9 Ne2 Nf6 10 0-0 Ng4! gave Black a great position in Velicka-Fogarasi, Budapest 1993. 6...d6 7 d4 exd4 8 Nxd4 Nf6 The move ...Nb4, which was a troublesome pin by Tibor Fogarasi in his aforementioned game, is not legal here - bishops are too heavy to jump over pawns, but knights keep fit with such exercises! 9 0-0-0 Qc7 If 9...Be7?, then 10 e5! pries open the position so that White's rook on dl can get a look at Black's queen, and the phrase 'if looks could kill' applies after 10...dxe5 11 Nxe6. 10 g4! In Game 19, the gravity of Black's position's became clear soon after being hit by the G-force of 10 g4, and here the same thrust is about to kick back the knight from f6. 10...Be7 10...h6? 11 h4 Be7 12 Bg2 threatens 13 g5 hxg5 14 hxg5 Rxh1 15 Rxh1 Nfd7 16 g6 fxg6 17 Nxe6 or 17 Qg4, with Rh8+ ready and eager to be played whenever it will have most impact. That variation is clearly terrible for Black, but it illustrates forcefully some key points: (a) If your opponent is trying to attack you in a certain part of the board, then, in general, one should keep that part as closed as possible. The move 10...h6? in the hypothetical variation gave White a target to aim at and made it easy for him to open up lines on the kingside. (b) The move ...h6 also relinquished some control of the g6 square, and that allowed White to later play g6 himself with catastrophic effect for Black's frail f7-e6 pawn chain. 11 g5 Nfd7 12 Rgl 0-0 You might say that Black is castling into a direct attack by White. That is true, but his king is not safe on e8 either, with the queen on e2 facing it. For example, 12...Nc6 13 Nf5!? exf5 14 Nd5 Qd8 15 exf5 0-0 16 f6, and, as usual, 'f for forward' does a lot of damage! 13 Qh5 ... (See Diagram) What this move lacks in subtlety it makes up for in effectiveness! The manoeuvre Rd3-h3 is just one of several attractive follow-ups available to White. 13...Rc8 13...g6 14 Qh6 threatens 15 Nd5! exd5 16 Nf5, and Qg7# will follow shortly. That line demonstrates a typical clearance sacrifice (15 Nd5!) to open up the al-h8 diagonal so that the bishop on b2 can 'see' the sensitive g7-square. Black could try 14...Rc8, but 15 Bc4 Bf8 16 Nxe6! leads to: (a) 16...Bxh6 17 Nxc7 Bxg5+ 18 Rxg5 Rxc7 19 Rxd6, with an extra pawn and an overwhelming position for White. (b) 16...Qxc4 17 Nxf8, winning quickly for White. c) 16...fxe6 17 Bxe6+ Kh8 18 Nd5+ Ne5 19 Nxc7 Bxh6 20 Bxc8, and not only is Black down on material, but most of his remaining pieces are en prise! 14 Bc4! ... This cool move acts as a shield in front of the sensitive pawn on c2 and also exerts pressure towards Black's monarch. 14...Nf8 14...b5 15 Nxe6! fxe6 16 Bxe6+ Kh8 17 Bf5 Nf8 18 Bxh7! Bxg5+ (18...Nxh7? 19 g6) 19 Rxg5 Nxh7 20 Rdg1 (threatening 21 Rxg7 Qxg7 22 Rxg7 Kxg7 23 Nd5+ Kg8 24 Qg6+ Kf8 25 Bg7+ Kg8 26 Ne7#) 20...Rg8 21 Qxh7+! Kxh7 22 Rh5# is a pretty mate. Alternatively, 14...Ne5 15 Nxe6! fxe6 16 Bxe6+ Kh8 17 g6 h6 18 f4 (the motto strikes again!) 18...Ned7 19 Qxh6+! gxh6 20 g7+ Kh7 21 g8Q+ Rxg8 22 Bxg8+ Kh8 23 Nd5+ wins Black's queen, although White's position is so good he can afford not to take it! Finally, notice that 14...g6 15 Qh6 Bf8 16 Nxe6! transposes to a line given already in the notes to Black's 13th move. 15 Nf5! ... In the Sicilian, the move Nf5 crops up frequently as a sacrifice, but here the knight cannot even be touched in view of 15...exf5 16 Qxf7+ Kh8 17 Qg8#. 15...Nc6 15...b5 16 Nxb5! axb5 17 Qh6!! gxh6 18 Nxh6# shows the bishop on b2 playing a star role again, even though it looks to be far away from Black's king. 16 Nb5!! ... (See Diagram) As in the previous note, 16...axb5 is met by the stunning queen sacrifice 17 Qh6!!. So...1-0 This book was quite a pleasant surprise. A few more works of this quality from the pen of Motwani will surely establish him among the best of contemporary chess authors. Cool.