Checkpoint

Reviewed this month:

The Petroff Defence by GM Artur Yusupov
The Two Knights Defence by GMs Alexander Beliavsky &
Mikhalchishin
Easy Guide to the Ruy Lopez by GM John Emms
Spanish C78 by GMs Alexander Beliavsky & Mikhalchishin

A few months ago I contacted Hanon Russell, suggesting a few
things I thought he should consider regarding the book review
section on The Chess Cafe. Little did I know that I would
eventually end up taking over Checkpoint. But when the
opportunity arose, I did not hesitate. So here we are.

Let me quickly introduce myself. I'm 28 years old, from Denmark
and a FIDE master since 1990. I have written two books, the first
The Sicilian Accelerated Dragon (co-authored with GM Peter
Heine Nielsen), which Batsford released in 1998, and last year
GAMBIT published my second effort Gambit Guide to the English
Opening: 1...e5. [Interested readers will find the review of
Carsten's book in The Chess Caf‚ Archives.] I'm presently writing
on other projects, but to keep everybody interested, I will not
reveal the details at this stage.

Currently I'm residing in Los Angeles, but in recent years, my
professional job in freight forwarding has taken me from my native
Denmark to Miami and London. I look forward to maintaining the
high standard set by my predecessor, GM Alexander Baburin.

And now the reviews...

The Petroff Defence by GM Artur Yusupov, 1999 Edition Olms,
Softcover, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 434pp., $30.00.

The Petroff Defence has always been considered a solid opening,
but since Karpov included the opening in his repertoire, its
following has slowly been  growing in strength, and recently even
World Championship contender Kramnik has switched from the
Sicilian to the Petroff. 

For a number of years, Yusupov has been one of the main
proponents of the Petroff Defence, which of course makes this
book particularly exciting; it is quite rare that we find a world class
player writing a book about an opening that can still be found in
his repertoire. 

However, this book is far from all fresh material. A couple of years
ago, Yusupov wrote two Informator monographs: C42 & C43,
which coincidentally is the Informator codes for the Petroff
Defence. C42 covers the lines without 3.d4, while C43 has the
lines with 3.d4.

In this volume, little has been done to disclose that the two
Informator monographs are the main ingredients here. In fact, each
subchapter from the Informator monographs has been copied move
for move and entered into this book. 

Fortunately, Yusopov's book is much more. Each chapter starts
with an introduction then presents the theory, some illustrative
games and then some exercises in reference to the chapter. 

In this review I will look at the following things separately: The
Theory, The Exercises, The Illustrative Games and The Afterword
  New Ideas in the Petroff Defence.

The Theory
As mentioned above, the theory in this book is exclusively based
on the material that was already presented in Yusupov's two
Informator monographs. The structure is basically the same, as are
the games and the evaluations. This of course does not make this
book less good, but people who just want to buy the book for the
theory chapters and who already have the Informator publications
will inevitably be disappointed.

Each chapter has an introduction, in which Yusupov explains
which lines are critical, which games to pay particular attention to,
which ideas to keep in mind, and even which exercises and
illustrative games to study before continuing with the study of
theory. This alone makes this book much better than Informator
monographs.

Whenever I buy a new opening book, I am always curious to find
out which lines the author thinks are the most critical for either
side, and since I have played the Petroff on occasion, so it was
with this book.

In the first part of the book (C42   lines without 3.d4), I was quite
surprised by some of the author's findings. Although 3.Nxe5
without a doubt is the most natural and popular move, White,
according to Yusupov, does not have particularly good prospects
of achieving an advantage in any of the main lines! This is perhaps
not so surprising when you consider the fact that Yusupov still
plays the opening regularly and does not intend to reveal exactly
which lines he fears the most. But I was a bit shocked, to say the
least, to find out that Yusupov actually thinks that White is
somewhat better in a line, that in almost any book on the Petroff, is
considered 100% harmless: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3
Nxe4 5.Qe2. In the chapter's introduction Yusupov writes: "This
line has a peaceful reputation. A serious problem when studying
this system results from its frequent use in 'composed games' (i.e.,
those games, in which a draw is agreed beforehand). Such games
misinform rather than clarify the subtleties of this system, which in
fact is very complicated and rich in content." Words of wisdom
and words of warning, even the simplest systems can offer good
results for those who bother to study them properly.

In part two of the book, the lines with 3.d4 are covered. According
to this book, these lines are considerably more difficult for Black
to handle. In fact 3...exd4, which was Karpov's main choice in one
of his matches against Kasparov, is considered problematic for
Black. 

According to the theory chapter, the main lines after 3...Nxe4 are
also far from easy. The main line in this book, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6
3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5 Bd6 6.0-0 0-0 7.c4 Bxe5 8.dxe5 Nc6
9.cxd5 Qxd5 10.Qc2 Nb4 11.Bxe4 Nxc2 12.Bxd5 Bf5 13.g4 Bxg4
14.Be4 Nxa1 15.Bf4 f5 16.Bd5 Kh8 17.Re1 c6 18.Bg2 Rfd8
19.Nd2, which always has appeared dubious to me, now also look
slightly suspicious from a theoretical point of view.
While Yusupov in the Introduction to the book admits that
although it "...does not reveal all my knowledge of the Petroff
Defence (since I still employ the opening in practice!)...", it does
contain hundreds of new ideas, refinements and new pieces of
analysis. Yusupov continues, "The reader is encouraged not to
follow the author blindly, but rather approach the text critically",
which is in line with what Dvoretsky and Yusupov recommends in
their book Opening Preparation. In fact, in that book they write
that you should never start playing an opening unless you have
some ideas of your own, which is very true. This is an approach
that should be used by every serious chess player. 

The Exercises
In each chapter you will find a number of exercises, 244 in total,
covering various positions with the lines that have just been
presented in the theoretical part. Often you have to make a string
of important decisions before you reach your ultimate goal. Some
of the positions are typical, some of them much more unusual,
where creative thinking and inventiveness are very much the issue.
Let's have look at some of the positions and how Yusupov has
treated them. (See Diagram)
 
White: Kg1, Qd1, Re1, Rc1, Bg5, Bb3, Ne5, Nc3; pawns - a2, b2,
d4, f2, g2, h3 
Black: Kg8, Qd8, Re8, Ra8, Be6, Be7, Nf6, Nd5, a7, b7, c6, f7, g7,
h7

Black to move. We are not told anything about this position except
the move number (14), so we have nothing more to aid our
memory, just like when we encounter a position when playing a
regular tournament game. In the answer to the exercise, we find
out that the game is from Yusupov-Huebner, Belfort 1988.
Yusupov writes the following: "When playing against an isolated
pawn, one should, as a rule, strive for simplification. By
consistently carrying out this strategy, Black achieves the more
pleasant game: 14...Nc7! 15.Bc2 Nd7 16.Qh5 Nf8 17.Bxe7 Rxe7
18.Rcd1 f6 19 Nf3 Qd7 20.Qc5 Ree8 21.Re3 Nd5 =+". At this
point, we are referred back to the theory, which misleadingly
assesses the position as equal after 19...Qd7. But that is of less
importance as long as we understand the position better. Another
example is the following: (See Diagram)

White: Kg1, Qf3, Rf1, Rc1, Bd2, Bd3, Ne5; pawns - a2, c3, d4, f2,
g2, h2
Black: Kg8, Qd8, Rf8, Ra8, Be6, Bd6, Nd5; pawns - a7, b7, c6, f7,
g7, h7

Black to move. This position is from Huebner-Timman, Sarajevo
1991; Yusupov writes: "A queen sortie, typical of the Petroff
Defence, enables Black to defend to his kingside: 18...Qh4!
19.Rfe1 Nf6 20.a4 Ng4 21.Bf4 Nxe5 22.Bxe5 Bd5 23.Qf5 Bxe5
24.Rxe5 g6 25.Qd7 and now, according to Huebner, Black could
have continued 25...b6 with equality." The last example I will give
is the following: (See Diagram)

White :Kg1, Qd1, Rf1, Ra1, Be2, Be3, Nc3, Ne5; pawns - a2, b2,
c4, d4, f2, g2, h2
Black: Kg8, Qd8, Rf8, Ra8, Bf5, Bf6, Nb4, Ne4; pawns - a7, b7,
c7, d5, f7, g7, h7

White to move. This example is taken from Short-Anand,
Amsterdam 1993. Yusupov's comments are very insightful:
"White gains an advantage by the advance of his g-pawn, an idea
known from Karpov's games: 14.g4! By depriving Black of
counterplay using the c2-square, (which is the main tactical idea
behind losing a tempo after Be6-f5) White seizes complete control
over the center: 13...Be6 14.f4 Nxc3 15.bxc3 Nc6 16.Bf3 +/-."

Exercises and examples like the above can only enhance ones
understanding of the opening, and whether you choose to analyze
them by yourself, play the positions out against a friend or a
computer, or simply study Yusupov's comments, they will
inevitably lead to a visible improvement in your playing skills.

The Illustrative Games
In some opening books the illustrative games are in a section by
themselves, without any proper reference to the theoretical
chapters. Not here; in the majority of the chapters there are one or
two games, which are annotated and analyzed in-depth. One
example is from chapter 9 in part one, where the game Wahls-
Yusupov, from the German Bundesliga 1992 (a 34-move draw) is
given over 3 pages. However, with only a total of 12 illustrative
games, you could ask for more, but since the exercises contain
several complete games, this is acceptable.
  
The Afterword   New Ideas in the Petroff Defence
Since the Informator monographs of C42 and C43 only contain
material up to and including Informator 64, it was necessary to
include some new material in order for the book not to be outdated
before it was published. For that reason, Yusupov included a
chapter with some games annotated  in language-less Informator
style. Personally, I would have preferred that the chapter on theory
be updated, but that was unfortunately not the case, and while the
games are well-annotated with plenty of references, it leaves us
with the impression of the author having taken a short-cut. On the
positive side, Yusupov has given some general considerations in
regards to which lines are presently critical, which is very useful
for players on both sides of the board.

While I'm not a great fan of the language-less style which
characterizes the Informator monographs, a great effort has been
put into the production of this book, and it is almost everything
you can ask for in an opening book, and therefore I can highly
recommend it not only to people who play this opening, but
anyone who wants to learn more about chess and in particular the
open game.

My assessment of the book: **** 


The Two Knights Defence by GMs Alexander Beliavsky and
Adrian Mikhalchishin, 1999 Batsford, Softcover, Figurine
Algebraic Notation, 112pp., GBP 12.99.

Over the last couple of years we have seen several excellent results
of the collaboration between these two grandmasters, most notably
their four Informator monographs (their 5th C78 is reviewed
below), but also their books on the Fianchetto Gruenfeld
(Cadogan) and Winning Endgame Technique (Batsford).
Therefore, it was with great expectations that I opened this new
Batsford book. However, this book is unfortunately a
disappointment from cover to cover. First of all, the cover is
anything but pretty, but the black and white design seems to have
become the standard for chess books after the Chrysalis take-over
of Batsford. Furthermore, Beliavsky is spelled "Beliavksky" on the
cover. 
The book is split into two parts, part one containing typical Two
Knights Defence games and part two, the theoretical survey. This
bifurcation is terribly old-fashioned; a more contemporary
approach is to incorporate the typical (or thematic) games into the
theory part, which makes the book much more balanced and knits
a closer net of games that are more relevant to study with reference
to the theory. It also does not make sense to have the typical games
as part one; they should be found after the theoretical survey,
where they can feed the theoretically well-fed mind with some
practical examples of how to apply theory in praxis.

Part one consists of 18 annotated games, but the annotations are
neither particularly good nor consistent with the theoretical survey
in part two of the book. One example is game 6: 

Sergeev-Kiselev, 3rd Match Game, Kiev 1994       
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6
7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Bd3!? (See Diagram)

Here the authors write: "This rarely met move is clearly better than
its reputation. Its idea is to secure the e4 square for the knight, to
deprive Black of activity by ...e5-e4 and, when the opportunity
presents itself, to exchange a pair of knights. Of course there is
also a drawback - a backward d2 pawn and the difficulty in
developing the bishop on c1." All true and insightful, and
something from which a lot of weaker players will benefit.
However, this is the only major comment to this game. Let's
proceed with the game. 8...Bd6 Next comment from the duo comes
here, but since it is merely referring to the theoretical status of the
alternatives, it makes sense to compare it with the theoretical
survey. In the annotations to the game, they give the following:
"(a) 8...h6?! 9 Ne4 Nd5 10 Nbc3 Nf4 11 Bf1 Be7 12 g3 Ng6 13
Qh5 0-0 14 Bg2 with advantage - analysis; (b) 8...Be7 9 0-0 0-0 10
Ne4 Nxe4 11 Bxe4 f5 12 Bf3 e4 13 Be2 c5 14 d3 Rf6 15 Bf4 with
advantage, Raissa-Boutteville, Tel Aviv 1964; (c) 8...Nd5 9 Ne4 f5
10 Ng3 (an interesting recommendation by V. Sergeev is 10 Nec3
Nf4 11 Bf1 Bc5 12 g3) 10...Nf4 11 Bf1 Bc5 12 c3 Bb6 13 d4 Ng6
14 Bd3 0-0 15 b4 Nb7  with a good game for Black,  Castaldi-
Keres, Stockholm 1937; (d) 8...Ng4 9.Ne4 f5 10.Be2! Qd4! 11
Nbc3 h5 12 Bxg4 hxg4 13 Ng3 g6 14 Qe2 Kf7 with complicated
play, needing practical tests." 

In the theoretical survey, they, for some reason are not consistent.
In line (a) the line ends after 11 Bf1, remarking "intending g3 with
clear advantage for White", in line (b) they don't mention the game
Raissa-Boutteville, and instead of 10 Ne4, they give 10 Nc3 +=,
quoting Voronov-Nikitin, USSR 1973. In line (c) they mention
Sergeev's recommendation, but do not mention Sergeev, nor do
they mention 10 Ng3, but they have two 9th move alternatives
9...Be7 and 9...Nf4. The same picture can be found in line (d): here
they follow it to the end, but add 15 d3 Rb8 16 Qe3! with a small
plus for White, but on the way they suggest the improvement
10...fxe4 11 Bxg4 Qg5 12 Bh3! Bxh3 13 gxh3 with an unclear
game.

I will not continue with the rest of the game, but the next comment
is just as inconsistent, and, in any event, I think I have made my
point. This inconsistency is embarrassing, and to me it can only
stem from one thing: one person has annotated the games and the
other has done the theoretical survey, without either comparing
their work with the other. Furthermore, quoting other games as
they have done above, does not belong in the "typical games"
section. The annotator could have written something like "Black
has a number of alternatives to the text move: 8...h6, 8...Be7,
8...Nd5 and 8...Ng4, which all are covered in the theoretical survey
in chapter 4." An observant editor would have caught problems
like the ones seen above, but since no editor is mentioned in the
credits, I guess we have to assume that none was available.

The games in part one are balanced as follows:
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 
4 Ng5 d5 5 exd5 Na5 - 9 games (5...b5 - 1 game)
4 d3 Be7 or 4...h6 - 3 games
4 Ng5 Bc5 - 1 game
4 d4 exd4 5 Ng5 - 1 game
4 d4 exd4 5 0-0 - 2 games
4 d4 exd4 5 e5 - 2 games

You could easily argue for a different mix of games, but I will not
do that. I prefer to point out something far more serious. Why is
that neither 4 d3 (the Giuoco Piano) nor 4 d4 exd4 5 0-0 nor 5 e5
are covered in the theoretical survey, when they are covered in this
part? The theoretical coverage in the "typical games" section is far
from adequate, and these are all important alternatives that must be
should be discussed thoroughly in a book about the Two Knights
Defence, but apparently not this one. Before I continue with part
two of the book, I will just mention that an index of games would
also have been a nice feature.

As mentioned earlier, part two of the book consist of the
theoretical survey, which aside from the obvious lack of coverage
of several of the most important lines (the ones mentioned above
and the Max Lange Attack), also is language-less. This, of course,
is anything but interesting, but unfortunately far from uncommon
in opening books.

And the lines that are covered? Well, all the principal alternatives
that can be found in ECO C, are also to be found here, and
admittedly a lot of new ideas are suggested and a lot of interesting
analysis is given, but, in many cases, no reference is given, so the
reader is left to guess whether it is a game, analysis by other chess
players or original analysis by the authors that is being presented.
In this respect it somewhat resembles the approach of the team
behind NCO. However they did it to save space; that is hardly the
issue with this book.  
          
Another thing that springs to mind is the obvious lack of recent
examples from contemporary grandmaster practice. You will find
very few games from the last 2-3 years, which makes it difficult
for the book to live up to the promise on the back cover of "up to
date coverage". 

Let's have a look at one of the lines covered: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Kf1 Qe7 7.Nxh8 d5 8.exd5
Nd4 9.d6! This move was given a question mark in the German
postal magazine Fernschach, but Beliavsky/Mikhalchishin (B/M)
are evidently of a different opinion. 9...cxd6 Here I prefer to have
a look at a side line, as it is far more interesting than the main line,
which leads to a draw after 9...Qxd6 10.Nf7 (or 10.c3 Bg4
11.Qa4+ Nd7 12.Kxf2 Qf6+ 13.Kg1 Be2! 14.h3 Qf1+ with a draw
according to Radchenko) 10...Qc5 11.d3 e4 12.c3 Bh4! 13.Be3
Bg4 14.Qa4+ Ld7 15.Qd1 Bg4. The reason why I picked this line
is that NCO has this line as won for Black, whereas B/M think that
Black only can obtain equal chances! 10.c3 According to B/M,
White should consider 10 Kxf2. 10...Bg4 11.Qa4+ Kf8! This
move is NCO's preferred choice, whereas B/M's main line is
analysis by Gligoric, which starts with 11...Nd7 12.Nf7 Qf6
13.Nxd6+, and ends with equality much later. 12.cxd4 exd4
13.Kxf2 Ne4+ 14.Kg1 Qh4 Here ends B/M's coverage of
11...Kf8!. Their evaluation is equality, probably based on the
perpetual check that Black can take after 15 h3. 15.h3 Here 15.g3?
Does not work due to 15...Qf6!. 15...Qf2+ 16.Kh2 Qg3+ This is
line I presume that B/M had in mind, when they evaluated the
position as equal after 14...Qh4. 17.Kg1 Bf3 18.Bf1 Ng5 (See
Diagram)

"!! -+" in NCO, citing the 1984 postal game Engelhardt-Eckmann.
The threat is of course 19...Bxg2 20.Bxg2 Nf3+ 21.Kf1 Qe1#.
However, since I couldn't see an immediate win after 19.Qb3!?, I
decided to look up the game on the very recommendable CD with
postal games Mega-corr from ChessMail. Not surprisingly I found
the game, which concluded (some of the annotations are taken
from the same CD) as follows: 19.Qd7 19.Qxd4? Bxg2 20.Qf2+
Nf3 and Black wins. 19...Bxg2 20.Qf5+ Kg8! This is much better
than 20...Ke7, which according to Estrin leads to equal chances
after 21.Bxg2 Rf8 22.Qxf8+ Kxf8 23.Kf1. 21.Bxg2 Re8! and here
White resigned because of 22.Qf1 Re1 23.Qxe1 (23.Rh2 Nf3+)
23...Nf3+ 24.Kf1 Qxe1# 0-1, Engelhardt-Eckmann, corr, 1984. 

Still there was no mentioning of my 19.Qb3, so I had to due a bit
of analysis myself. This is what I came up with: 19.Qb3 Re8
20.Qd3 (20.h4 Re1 21.Rh2 Nh3+ 22.Rxh3 Qxg2#) 20...Re1
21.Qf5+ (a) 21...Kg8?? 22.Qc8+ Re8 23.Qxe8#; (b) 21...Ke8
22.Qc8+ Ke7 23.Qc7+ Kf8! (both 23...Ke6 and 23...Kf6 allow a
lot of checks, which may or may not lead to a draw) 24.Qc8+ Re8
25.Qc4 Bxg2 26.Bxg2 Nf3+ 27.Kf1 Re1#; (c) 21...Ke7 22.Qxg5+
(22.Rh2 Be2 intending 23...Nf3+ ) 22...Qxg5 (c1) 23.Rh2 Be2-+;
(c2) 23.Kh2 Qe5+ 24.Kg1 (24.g3 Re2+-+) 24...Qg3 25.Rh2 Be2-
+; (c3) 23.Kf2 23...Rxc1 24.gxf3 Qh4+ 25.Kg2 (25.Ke2 Qe1+
26.Kd3 Rxb1 27.Rxb1 Qxb1+ 28.Kxd4 Qxb2+ 29.Kd3 g6-+)
25...Qe1 (25...Qg5+ 26.Kf2 Qh4+=) 26.b3 Rxb1 27.Rxb1 Qxb1
28.Bc4 Qxa2 29.Re1+ Kf6, and it is still not 100% clear what is
going on. 

So what is the conclusion? Well, it's quite obvious that B/M ended
their analysis far to early, when the complications were just about
to begin, NCO probably based its conclusion on the game, but did
not bother to look for any improvements for White (nobody is
perfect after all). This is just one example of the authors shirking
their responsibilities, without checking other sources other than the
hallowed ECO. And often you're left with the impression that the
authors could not be bothered to look for the truth and were
content with simply quoting existing sources.

Overall, this is a sloppy, uninspired and incomplete work by two,
otherwise, excellent authors and chess players. The back cover of
the book claims that it is "essential reading for anyone who plays
open games", but in fact this couldn't be further from the truth.
People who happily engage themselves in the complicated lines
after 4.Ng5 may find some interesting analysis, but will otherwise
find a very unorganized book, which should never have been
published in its present form. A keen editor could have done
wonders with this book, but as it is, I will only recommend this
book to addicts.
          My assessment of this book: **  


Easy Guide to the Ruy Lopez by GM John Emms, 1999 Everyman
Chess, Softcover, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 144 pp., $18.95.

The Ruy Lopez has been a longtime favourite amongst world
champions. This strategically difficult opening has featured
prominently in the repertoires of Kasparov, Karpov, Fischer and
Spassky. The list, of course, does not end with Spassky; the fact
that the Ruy Lopez probably is the positional method for white to
combat 1...e5 in reply to 1.e4, has made the opening an essential
tool for 1.e4 players of all levels, even if the strategic problems of
the main lines in the Closed Lopez can be very difficult, if not
almost impossible, to understand for weaker players.
In this book, English grandmaster John Emms has taken on the
unenviable task of presenting a concise theoretical overview of the
main lines of the Ruy Lopez "with a repertoire slant for white" in a
mere 144 pages.

Does he succeed? Well, if the purpose is to cover all the main
lines, then no. For example the Marshall Attack (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3
Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5!?)
is only covered as far as the anti-Marshall 8.a4 is concerned, and
nothing is mentioned of the Marshall Attack itself, even if it
probably constitutes Black's most aggressive approach in the main
line Ruy Lopez.

Other main lines are similarly sparsely covered. But if the aim is to
present an opening repertoire for White in the Ruy Lopez, then the
book is on the right path. This of course makes the book more
appealing for White, while Black may find the book of lesser
interest, as its preferences may be covered in insufficient detail to
benefit from the material in the book.

Some lines are treated in more detail than others, which makes
sense as not all lines are equally popular. But let's have a look at
some of Emms' suggestions. While most of the lesser lines are
given with sensible lines, leading to pleasant positions for White,
Emms suggests an interesting and almost untried idea in the
Schlieman (Jaenisch) Variation: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.Nc3
fxe4 5.Nxe4 Nf6 6.Nxf6+ Qxf6 7.Qe2 Be7 8.Bxc6 dxc6 9.Nxe5
Bf5 10.0-0!? (See Diagram)

As Emms points out, 10.d4 is met with 10...0-0-0 and 10.d3 with
10...0-0, in both cases with reasonable compensation for the pawn.
10.0-0!? is an attempt to solve the Gordian Knot with one swipe;
now 10...0-0-0 is met with 11.d3! and 10...0-0 with 11.d4!?, both
of which are favourable for White according to Emms. The
question is of course whether Black can accept White's pawn
sacrifice with 10...Bxc2? Emms offers following: 11...0-0-0?
12.Re1 Bd6 13.Qg4+ Kb8 14.Bg5, 1-0, Zude-Brehm, Hessen
1988. But he gives 11...Ba4 as a tougher defence, e.g. 12.b3
12.Ng4 Qf5 13.b3 Bb5 14.Ba3   0-0!. 12...Bb5 13.Bb2 Qe6
Obviously both 13...0-0-0? 14.Qg4+ and 13... 0-0 14.Nd7 are good
for White. 14.Rfe1, and "there are still problems to solve"
according to Emms.

The final position does seem to promise Black a somewhat
problematic future: the king seems far from safe and it seems like
both 14...0-0-0 and 14...0-0 will be answered with 15.Nxc6. But I
don't think White has particularly good winning chances. My
analysis runs as follows:

a) 14...0-0-0?! 15.Nxc6 Qxc6 15...Qxe2? 16.Nxe7+ Qxe7
17.Rxe7, with a clear edge for White. 16.Qxe7 Rde8 17.Qg5!
Obviously not 17.Qxg7? because of 17...Reg8, and after 17.Qh4
Black also seems to be doing okay: 17...Qg6 (not 17...Bxd3?
18.Qh3+ Qd7 19.Qxd7+ Kxd7 20.Red1 +-) 18.d4 Bc6 19.Qg3
Qxg3 20.hxg3 Rxe1+ 21.Rxe1 Re8 with a likely draw, or 19.Qh3+
Kb8 with reasonable compensation for the pawn, or 18.Qh3+ Bd7
(18...Kb8 19.Be5 is better for White) 19.Qg3 Qxg3 20.hxg3 Rhg8
and it is very difficult for White to win. 17...Bxd3 18.Rec1! Qd7
19.Be5 c6 20.Qxg7, with a clear advantage for White.

b) 14...0-0!? seems to give White more troubles: 15.Nxc6 Qxc6!?
Even after 15...Qxe2 16.Nxe7+ Qxe7 17.Rxe7 Rf7, White will
experience considerable difficulties converting his extra pawn.
16.Qxe7 Rf7 17.Qe3 Qd5 18.Rad1 Bc6 19.Qg3 Rd8 intending
...Rd6-g6 or 18...Re8 19.Qd2 Rxe1+ 20.Qxe1 Bc6, in both cases
with sufficient play for the pawn.

15.Nxc6 may not be forced, but Black is threatening 15...Bc5, after
which White will have to defend. 

It's a bit daring to give an almost untried move as a main line in a
repertoire book like this, but it can also be a plus, as it is unknown
or little known, but well-analyzed continuations are more likely to
cause problems for Black, even if the player behind the black
pieces is very well-prepared. Another example is to be found in a
less frequently seen line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6
5.c3 Nxe4!? 6.Qe2!? In NCO, Nunn only gives "6.d4+=".
6...Bxf2+ 7.Kh1! d5 8.c4!? (See Diagram)

White is two pawns down, but the black center is loose and the
minor pieces on e4 and f2 are by no means safe. Emms' main line
continues: 8...0-0 The alternatives 8...Bd4, 8...Bg4, 8...Bb6 and
8...f5 are also analyzed, but they are all bad for Black. 9.cxd5 Nd4 
9...Qxd5 loses a piece to 10.Bc4. 10.Qxe4 Bf5 11.Qxe5 f6 12.Qf4
g5 13.Nxd4 gxf4 14.Nxf5 Bb6 15.d4, and White's three pieces
outweigh the black queen according to Emms.

Unlike most repertoire books, the author of this book remains
objective, and therefore admits that in several of the main lines of
the Closed Ruy it is not possible to demonstrate a clear road to an
edge for White. But even if White doesn't gain an edge in some
lines, Emms does give the reader plenty of good material to work
with and anyone playing White will feel well-armed with the
opening repertoire suggested by Emms.

However, one point of criticism has to be mentioned: I feel there is
a distinct lack of explanations of strategy and planning. Aside from
two inspired pieces (the introduction to the Berlin defence and
chapter 9 "Ideas in the Closed Lopez"), the book is without proper
explanations. This could have made the book more accessible for
new explorers in Ruy Lopez country.

You can always come down for or against the choices that Emms
have made in order to put together a repertoire for White, but
altogether I think that he has done an excellent job with this
monograph, and therefore I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

My assessment of this book: ****     

Spanish C78 by GMs Alexander Beliavsky and Adrian
Mikhalchishin, 1999 Sahovski Informator, Figurine Algebraic
Notation, 136 pp., $19.95

This is the Beliavsky/Mikhalchishin's (B/M) fifth Informator
monograph (the previous are: A34, B86-87, B88 and D44), and
this time the book covers  opening lines which are featured in both
authors repertoires, namely the Moeller & Arkhangelsk Variations
of the Ruy Lopez. These lines are highly topical, and have been so
for a quite a while, so it's about time somebody has sit down to
write a proper work on these two important lines. Both lines are
very active, seeking immediate counterplay for black, sometimes
at the expense of some positional concessions. This has appealed
players like Shirov, Malaniuk, Beliavsky and others, but more
recently even Karpov has taken up one of these lines (we saw him
playing it in his 1998 match against Anand in Lucerne).

Highly tactical lines like the Arkhangelsk will produce very sharp
play and throughout the eighties we saw almost every issue of
Informator producing examples of games in which one side dealt
devastating blows to the other with stunning novelties. This is not
the case at present, mainly because the sharpest lines are not as
popular now as they were at the time. However, as soon as opening
preferences change and these lines once again become popular, we
will see this situation again. So if you are up for it and you are
ready to invest a few hundred hours analyzing these line
complexes, there will be plenty of points to be collected at your
convenience.

In general, all the lines are very well covered, with an abundance
of new material supplied by B/M. They have literally crammed in
hundreds of novelties, in many cases accompanied with supporting
analysis, overthrowing the evaluations in a lot of the existing
material there was to be found on this opening. In some cases,
though, it seems that they have been a little too optimistic when
evaluating Black's chances, something which often happens when
an author plays the particular opening himself. Here are a few
examples from the book; many others could have been chosen,
because there is a lot to choose from.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Bc5 6.c3 b5 7.Bc2
d6 8.d4 Bb6 9.h3 0-0 10.Be3 Bb7 11.Nbd2 Re8 12.Re1 exd4
13.cxd4 Nb4 14.Bg5 Nxc2 15.Qxc2 h6 16 Bh4 g5 17.Bg3 (See
Diagram)

This position is from the game Jansa-Martinovsky, Wrexham
1998, which continued with: 17...Nh5 18.Bh2 Nf4 19.Bxf4 gxf4
20.e5 dxe5 21.dxe5. In this position B/M evaluate the position as
slightly better for white, whereas John Emms in his book on the
Ruy Lopez (reviewed above) thinks that Black has serious
problems, which seems correct due to Black's very unsafe king
and weak pawns. However, B/M do come up with some
suggestions for Black: (a) 17...Re6!? intending ...Qe7, is given
without evaluation, but since ...Qe7 is not really an option, because
of d5, and the rook is trapped, this idea doesn't make very much
sense, in fact even 18.d5!? maybe better for white; (b) 17...d5!?
18.e5 Ne4, with an unclear position according to B/M. But this
looks a bit dubious, after 19.Rxe4! dxe4 20.Nxe4 Bxe4 21.Qxe4,
White should be clearly better, Black doesn't have much
counterplay, and the weak squares around black's king constitute
an excellent target for white.

Here is another example: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6
5.0 0 b5 6.Bb3 Bb7 7.Re1 Bc5 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.Bg5 h6
11.Bh4 0 0 12.Qd3 Na5 13.Bc2 c5 14.d5 c4 15.Qe2 Qe7
16.Nbd2 Rfb8 17.Nf1 Bc8 18.Ne3 g6 19.Nd2 Nb7, and here B/M
quote the 1988 correspondence game Kizov-Kapic: 20.Kh1 Nc5
21.f3 Kg7 22.Ng4 g5 23.Bf2, and a draw was agreed. But even if
white's play from move 20 did not make a very good impression,
B/M has not offered anything better for White, although 20.b3!? is
interesting, e.g. 20...cxb3 21.axb3, and much of Black's potential
on the queenside has been taken out of the position, and White
should hold a small, but clear advantage.
  
Unlike the unfortunate development we have seen in the
Encyclopaedias from Sahovski Informator, where the only new
material presented is the games that have already been published in
Informator, we find in the monographs a lot of new material that
has not been published before. This of course gives us a much
better idea of what's really going on, because unfortunately (or
fortunately, if you like) not all (theoretically) important games
make it into Informator. Limiting our scope to those games that
have already been published excludes a lot of important material,
since the games may not have been publishable because of one or
more blunders later on.

In all of the Informator monographs, there is a chapter with 100
games with the opening in question. Although these games may
have some importance  or be of specific interest, it is never
explained why the author(s) think(s) these games deserve special
interest, and they are never annotated, even lightly. Therefore I
think the inclusion of these games are a waste of space. The only
way that I can see the inclusion of these games having some sort of
justification is if the author gives some annotations to the game. It
doesn't have to be a whole lot (there are plenty of examples of that
in Informator), and for the games that have already been published
in Informator, the author can pick out the most important bits and
include them. In my opinion, this is the only way to put some
sense into this "lost" chapter.

I think that this Informator monograph is one of the best
monographs I have seen to date from Sahovski Informator, and it
is definitely a must for everybody who plays the Ruy Lopez or
employs either or both lines in their opening repertoire. So
although I usually feel that what you can gain from a languageless
monograph is very limited, this is an excellent effort. 

My assessment of this book: ****