Checkpoint
by Carsten Hansen

Reviewed This Month:
Alekhine Defence by Krizsany/Videki
The Alekhine Defense Playbook by Sawyer
Informator 77 EE by Matanovic et al.
C78 EE by Beliavsky/Mikhalchishin

This month we are featuring two new books on the Alekhine
Defense. Although it is not a very popular opening at grandmaster
level, it is still an interesting opening, but not very easy to handle
for either side. As we shall see, the books have very different
approaches
.
Next we have two Electronic Editions (EE) from Sahovski
Informator. First I will take a look at the brand new Informator 77
and then I will see what C78 looks like in EE. Frequent readers of
Checkpoint will probably remember that I covered C78 in the
March Checkpoint, but I will here look at how they are different,
and I will also draw some comparisons. I will also look at the
merits of Sahovski Informator's Chess Informant Reader 1.6,
which is the tool to use for these EE versions of their books.

Alekhine Defence by L…szlo Krizs…ny & S…ndor VidŠki, 2000
Caissa Chess Books, Softcover, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 278
pages, $24.95

This book is the first of two new books on the Alekhine Defense.
The two authors are fairly unknown to most people, and, as far as I
know, this is their first book. The publisher is not well known yet,
but they are releasing a lot of new titles, so I imagine it will not
take long before they become better known.

When reading this book, there immediately were two things that
struck me as problematic. The first problem is the English. The
book is translated from Hungarian into English, but the translation
leaves a lot to be desired. The problem is that the editor (Istvan
Pongo, who, by the way has authored two magnificent books about
combinations, also available from Caissa Chess Books), should
have picked up the broken language doubles as the translator.
Sometimes I was left wondering what they were trying to tell me.
Let me give an example from the foreword: "...But we do not offer
you the four pawns system that needs working much and it does
not give you any advantages" (sic!). You may think from the above
that the Four Pawns Attack (or System, if you like) isn't covered,
but, surprise, surprise, it is!

The second major problem is the way the line are separated in the
text. It sometimes looks a bit like this:
main line
side line
     sub-side line
       sub-sub-side line
         sub-sub-sub-side line
       sub-sub-side line
     sub-side-line
side line
     sub-side line
       sub-sub-side line
     sub-side line
side line
main line

If it looks a bit confusing, that's because it is. Following the lines is
difficult, because there is too much information crammed into one
line. It would have been far better to simplify things, e.g., (a21);
(a22); then (b) etc. Dear Editor at Caissa Chess Books: Please pay
attention to this next time!

Another problem, although not as great, is the game references.
Often the place and year are omitted. Other times the place has
been abbreviated, e.g., BL is Bundesliga and WAZ is Wijk aan
Zee. This may be obvious to the authors, but what about the rest of
us? 

But in going through the different variations, the authors have
done an excellent job. Many of the lines have explanations of the
typical plans and understanding, which is very good, that is,
provided you understand what they are trying to tell you.

The authors have not refrained from giving their own opinions and
examples of their own analysis. I thoroughly enjoy this, but at the
same time, I wish there was more of it. 

In the topical line: 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 Nf3 dxe5 5 Nxe5
Nd7 (See Diagram)

they give preference to 6 Nf3 rather than 6 Nxf7, which used to be
the refutation, but as they phrase it "After the move 6 Nxf7 White
is endangered more than Black, while in the line with 6 Nf3 White
usually has a slight but lasting advantage." They give the following
line as proof: 6 Nf3 e6 7 g3 b6 8 c4 N5f6 9 Bg2 Bb7 10 0 0 Be7
11 Nc3 0 0 12 Bf4 Bd6 13 Ne5. But does this constitute the best
play for Black? I think Black can obtain a reasonable game with
7...c5 8 Bg2 cxd4 9 Nxd4 Qa5+ followed by ...Be7. 

According to Burgess, 5...g6 is another interesting option, but
Burgess gives 6 c4 Nb6 7 Nc3 Bg7 8 Be3 c5 9 dxc5 Qxd1+ 10
Rxd1 Bxe5 11 cxb6 Bxc3+ 12 bxc3 axb6 13 Rd2 Nd7 14 Be2 Nc5
15 0-0 += (See Diagram). 

K/V continue with 15...Bf5 16 Bf3, Ernst-Bagirov, Helsinki 1992,
and here they give some analysis of their own: 16...0-0 17 Rb2 Ra6
18 Bxc5 bxc5 19 Rxb7 e6, and "a draw is almost unavoidable
(19...Bd3=)". But again White seems to be able to improve: 17 Re1
is probably better than 17 Rb2. White is threatening 18 Bxc5 bxc5
19 Rxe7. Please note that 17 Bxc5 bxc5 18 Re1 isn't as
problematic for Black who can play 18...Ra3!. If Black plays
17...Ra3 (after 17 Re1) White has 18 Bh6! with a good game; the
point is that Black has to keep a Rook on the back rank to avoid
being mated.

Perhaps I am being a little unfair, but writing opening books is not
supposed to be easy (although some authors take it very lightly).
You have to be critical and question practically everything and,
most of all, you have to be consistent.

Despite the problems mentioned above, and my disagreements
regarding the evaluations in some of the lines, I think the authors
have put a lot of effort into this book. For this they definitely
deserve praise. Had the language and had the material organization
been better, then I would have had a higher opinion of the book.
As it is...

My assessment of this book: *** 

The Alekhine Defense Playbook by Rev. Tim Sawyer, 2000
Pickard & Son, Softcover, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 160 pages,
$21.95

Reverend Sawyer is completely unknown to me as a chess player.
But I know that he previously has written about the Blackmar-
Diemer Gambit "Blackmar-Diemer Gambit - Keybook II" (I
assume that there must have been an earlier edition, which was
keybook I). In the back of the book it is mentioned that he is the
pastor of the Oak Grove Allliance Church in Williamsport,
Pennsylvania. Also mentioned is that he played board 4 of the
USA Team in the ICCF Correspondence Olympiade, as well as
some other achievements in Postal Chess. According to the book,
he is also the only player in his county who is rated over 2000, but
he only rarely plays in US Chess Federation events. Most days he
spends an hour playing on the Internet Chess Club, where he has a
master rating in both Blitz and Standard play. All in all, he should
be a capable player.

To me the Alekhine Defense has always been an interesting
opening, but always leaving White with the slightly better chances.
This of course is where Rev. Sawyer intends to prove me and
everybody else wrong. Does he succeed? I will return to that later.

The book is built around ten stem games. I don't think this was
enough. But that is the author and editor's decision. More stem
games  mean more pages, more pages mean an increase in the
price and an increase in the price means less sales. It's a difficult
choice.

According to the back cover blurb, this book introduces Sawyer's
precision game plan... and a compact repertoire of pre-packaged
Black mischief and mayhem. It continues, "From the very first
move there's no getting away from the Playbook, as White faces a
clear-cut program of counterplay no matter what he does. Loaded
with original analysis and plenty of common sense advice, the
Playbook is your complete guide to the hypermodern Alekhine
Defense."

Let's have a look at which lines Sawyer recommends for Black in
the stem games.

Game 1: Marangunic-G.Flear, Bern 1991: 1 e4 Nf6 2 d3 (and other
2nd moves that don't lead to anything special for White) 2...d5 3
Nd2 Nc6 4 Ngf3 e5 5 c3 Be7. This is obviously a Philidor Defense
with an extra tempo for White where Black has played the
somewhat passive ...Be7 instead of the more active ...Bc5.
According to Sawyer, the Bishop would on c5 become a target for
White's queenside pawns and Knight. That makes some sense.
This coverage fills up 10 pages (!). 

Game 2: P.Rasmussen-Brameld, Copenhagen 1999: 1 e4 Nf6 2
Nc3 d5 3 exd5 Nxd5 4 Bc4 (I remember I played like this the first
time I played against the Alekhine Defense, but it isn't particularly
good.) 4...Nb6 (for some reason there isn't a single word about
4...Nxc3 ) and Black later equalized. (15 pages).

Game 3: Dragoljovic-Ubezio, Porto San Giorgio 1999: 1 e4 Nf6 2
Nc3 d5 3 e5 Ne4 4 Nce2 (many less interesting and very harmless
lines are also covered here) 4...d4 5 c3 dxc3!? (other moves are
again ignored) 6 Qa4+ Nd7. I will stop here, but for you people out
there, that are unaware of the subtleties of this line, 7 Qxe4 is
highly risky because of 7...Nc5, e.g. 8 Qf3 Nd3+ 9 Kd1 c2+ 10
Kxc2 Ne1+, forking the white King and Queen. This little stunt
almost makes it worth trying this opening in blitz games. (15 
pages)

Game 4: Lepre-Bertola, corr 1988: 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 (finally!) 2...Nd5
3 c4 (and other 3rd move tries, except 3 d4) 3...Nb6 4 c5 Nd5 5
Bc4 e6, etc. (29  pages!)

Game 5: Bex-T.Karolyi,  Geneva 1989: 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6
4 Bc4 (and other moves except 4 d4 and 4 Nf3). (13 pages) 

Game 6: M.Schmidt-Dippel, Schopfenheim 1997: 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5
Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 c4 Nb6 5 exd6 exd6. (10 pages) 

Game 7: alejo2-insight, Internet Chess Club 1999: 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5
Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 c4 Nb6 5 f4 dxe5 6 fxe5 Nc6 (no alternatives are
offered to this line against the Four Pawns Attack, maybe rightly
so) 7 Be3 Bf5 8 Nc3 e6 9 Nf3 Be7 10 Be2. (13 pages)

Game 8: van Willigen-Blijlevens, corr. 1982: 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
Be7 10 d5. (8 pages)

Game 9: Tonteri-Mertanen, Lahti 1997: 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6
4 Nf3 Bg4 (other moves are not given any consideration!) 5 Be2
(and others) 5...c6 6 Ng5. (13 pages)

Game 10: B.Martin-Burgess, Birmingham 1995: 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5
Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 Nf3 Bg4 5 Be2 c6 6 0-0 Bxf3 etc. (13 pages)

I don't know about you, but aside from Flear, Burgess and Karolyi,
I have no clue who the players are. Maybe the lack of top level
games in these lines dictate the decision to use games by lesser
known players, but this seems a bit much. 

But what annoys me the most is the choice of inclusion of a very
high number of games played on the Internet Chess Club (ICC).
Admittedly a lot of strong players play every day on the ICC, but
we are never being told under what circumstances they are being
played, the time limit, and most importantly, what their real names
are. Take a look at the following list of 'handles' by players in this
book: Pigzilla, Mr-Matt, KingsCrusher, gregada, Champion,
Polychronopolis, Canadiens, SuperChicken, Nicelove, LittleBen,
AlBundy, Suicidal-dream2, inmortal, carbide, TDChess, Captjack 
and the list goes on. You have no idea whether the players are
rated 1000 or 2800, which makes it very difficult to rely on the
information being presented, and makes it necessary to be
extremely critical when going through the material in this book. I
know that some players have mini-biographies on the ICC, so you
can get some sort of picture of whom you're playing. Members of
the ICC can attempt to find out how strong these players are, the
rest of us can only guess. Anybody who wants to use material from
the ICC for books such as this, should make a small index, where
people can look up the ratings of these players. And please let us
know if it's blitz, bullet, g/15, g/30 or what time limit these games
are played with. Enough about that.

Another somewhat dubious (in my opinion) decision by the author
is the choice of not giving any major alternatives for Black. Most
black moves are annotated with text comments, but only rarely is
any analysis given. This makes the repertoire somewhat vulnerable
to major busts and easy for white players to prepare against. Rev.
Sawyer has done his part to avoid problems in both departments.
In the coverage of the alternatives for White, he covers almost all
conceivable (some even ridiculous) moves. Furthermore, the lines
covered in the playbook are, at best, not played at GM level, which
reduces the theoretical activity remarkably.

It's time to look at some of the chess in the book. I will look at
some of those lines where Sawyer's evaluations contradicts those
of (again in my opinion) the world's leading authority on the
Alekhine Defense, Graham Burgess. Burgess has authored two
books on the Alekhine, as well as the Alekhine section in the
NCO. I can easily say that he knows what he is talking about. 

I have always been of the opinion that 4 Nf3 is White's best option
against the Alekhine, so let's look at that: 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4
d6 4 Nf3 Bg4. This is the first critical point. According to Burgess,
Black has to play 4...dxe5 to equalize. But in order to win with
Black, 4...Bg4 is probably a good option (Burgess plays it, so it
makes sense to recommend it). 5 Be2 c6 (See Diagram) 

and now according to Burgess, White can obtain an edge with
three different moves: (a) 6 0-0; (b) 6 Ng5; and (according to
Burgess) the best (c) 6 c4.

(a) 6 0-0 Here the main line in NCO continues: 6...Bxf3 7 Bxf3
dxe5 8 dxe5 e6 9 Re1 Nd7 10 Qe2 Qc7 11 Nd2 Bc5 (11...Nf4 12
Qe4 Ng6 13 Nc4 +=) 12 Nb3 Bb6 13 Bg5 h6 14 Bd2 a5 15 a4 +=.
Sawyer doesn't mention 11...Bc5, but instead gives the interesting
11...0-0-0, quoting qaw-Szmetan, ICC 1998: 12 c4 Ne7 13 b3 Ng6
14 Bb2 (here he writes: "The flaw in White's set-up is that after
some exchanges on e5, White would then lose his d2-knight.")
14...Ndxe5 15 Bh5 Nd3 16 Bxg6 hxg6, 0-1. There is no doubt that
11...0-0-0 is a worthy try, but the above hardly represents White's
best play. A better try is 12 Nc4, it may not promise White any
substantial advantage, but it's without a doubt better than what
White tried in the game.

(b) 6 Ng5 Bf5 7 e6!? fxe6 8 g4 Bg6 9 Bd3 (According to Sawyer,
White does better to take the e6-pawn immediately. Burgess in
NCO ignores this, so do Krizsany/Videki in the book reviewed
above) 9...Bxd3 10 Qxd3 Nf6 11 Nxe6 Qd7 12 Qe2 Kf7 13 Ng5+
Kg8 14 Rg1 Na6 15 Nc3 Re8 16 Bf4 Nc7 17 0-0-0 Ncd5 18 Nxd5
Nxd5 19 Bg3 +=. Sawyer varies with 13...Ke8, and gives another
ICC game: 14 Nc3 Na6 15 Ne6 Kf7 16 Ng5+ Ke8 17 h3 Nc7 18
Bf4 h6 19 Ne6? Qxe6 20 Qxe6 Nxe6, 0-1, Tyrisha-Szmetan, ICC
1998. It's not clear to me why 13...Ke8 is any better than 13...Kg8;
possibly it's even a bit worse. The game above also clearly showed
that Black didn't mind a draw, answering a White's Ne6 with
...Kf7 inviting a repetition of moves. 14 Rg1, 14 f3 and 14 h3
should all promise White the somewhat better chances.

(c) 6 c4 Nb6 7 Nbd2 (or 7 Ng5!? Bxe2 8 Qxe2 h6 9 Nf3 dxe5 10
dxe5 e6 11 0-0 N8d7 12 Bf4+=) 7...N8d7 8 0-0 Bxf3 9 Nxf3 dxe5
10 dxe5 e6 11 Bd2 Qc7 12 Bc3 0-0-0 12 Qc2 h6 14 a4+=.
Apparently Sawyer doesn't think too much of 6 c4, because it's
tucked away in a side line, not a stem game. Against 7 Ng5, he
gives 7...Bf5 8 Nc3 dxe5 9 dxe5 Qxd1 10 Nd1 e6 11 Ne3 Bg6 12
Nf3 N8d7 13 Bd2 Nc5 14 0-0 Nd3 15 b3 0-0-0 =+, Zippy-Absurd,
ICC 1999. It surprises me that Sawyer gives this line without
mentioning Krizsany/Videki's recommendation of 8 e6 fxe6 9 g4
+/-, particularly taking into consideration that he had access to
their book.

In the main line, Sawyer gives 7...dxe5 8 Nxe5 Bf5 9 Nb3 e6 10 0-
0 Be7 11 a4 N6d7 12 f4 Nxe5 13 fxe5 Bg6=, Popovych-Szmetan,
World Open 1999, but fails to mention NCO's 9 Qb3 (+= Burgess),
although Black seems to be able to snatch the pawn with 9...Qxd4.
Krizsany/Videki don't mention 7 Nbd2, but they give 7 exd6 as
their main line. Here Sawyer gives 7...Bxf3 8 Bxf3 Nxc4 9 dxe7
Bxe7 10 0-0 0-0 11 Nc3 Bf6 =, but K/V continues one more move
with 12 d5! +=. Who's right? I tend to favour the opinion that
White is somewhat better as his pieces are better coordinated, but
Black's position is playable,
     
Overall, I think that Rev. Sawyer has made a very good effort
presenting a repertoire in Alekhine Defense. A lot of new ideas
have seen the light of day in this book. There are things, as
mentioned above, that I don't like about this book, but it will make
a good addition to the library of any Alekhine Defense addict. For
others who want to widen their opening repertoire, this book may
just be the right for them, although they need to examine
everything carefully (as always), before they venture out with their
new favorite defense. 

My assessment of the book: ***

With two books about the Alekhine Defense, it makes sense to
draw some parallels and do a bit of comparison. The former of the
above titles is probably the best choice if you already know
something about the Alekhine Defense. Newcomers to the opening
may find it a little bit overwhelming and confusing; for them the
latter book is definitely the right choice. If you are a club player
and want to learn a new opening without putting too much thought
into locating the right lines to play against each White option,
Sawyer makes it easy for you to believe (contrary to popular
belief) that this opening is great choice and that White does not
have any line that leads to an edge. K/V are more realistic and tell
things the way they are, even though it shines through that their
sympathy is with Black. Both books have their problems, but
overall both books are good and may actually complement each
other quite well. After reading both books it is difficult not to feel
some sympathy for the black cause, and I'm sure other people will
share this experience if they give it a try. When all is said and
done, the Alekhine Defense is probably not worse than most other
Black defenses after 1 e4. Chances are that White players know
much less about the Alekhine Defense than any line Black can
come up with in the Sicilian. 

Now we continue with two Electronic Editions from Sahovski
Informator. They are based on the Chess Informant Reader (CIR),
which can be downloaded for free on Chess Informant's web page
(the link is available from our link page at The Chess Cafe). Even
if you decide against buying any of the Electronic Editions (EE), it
makes an excellent tool when preparing for an opening. With the
CIR you receive all the main lines including evaluations as they
are presented in the ECOs, the SECO and the monographs.
Obviously, they don't give you all the side lines for free - for them
you will have to buy the EE. But if you need a brief overview of
the status of a particular line, it is easily accessible. For the little
space it takes up on your computer, it's definitely worth it. 

Another thing you can get for free are the Informator games, split
up by issue. The games are without annotations, but so are the
majority of the games you will find on any database you can buy.
Again they are free, so why not download them? 

What is better on the CIR compared to the traditional databases?
Well, not much yet. The CIR is, in my opinion, not a finished
product, and I have the idea that the people in Belgrade know that
too, and their latest update of the CIR shows that they want to
improve. One thing I find that is a major problem is that you
cannot enter your own analysis and improvements into the games
that you load into the CIR. Next problem is that the database is not
compatible with other databases, nor can you use any of the
commercially available analysis engines together with the CIR.
Therefore you will need another database program to store the
results of your own work. I can't think of any other database
program where this is necessary. Sahovski Informator still has
some unique products; making them available on electronic media
is definitely a step forward. But if they want to survive in this
increasingly competitive market, our friends in Belgrade definitely
need to be more flexible and make their products more compatible
with other products.    

Informator 77 by Aleksandar Matanovic et al., 2000 Sahovski
Informator, Electronic Edition, Figurine Algebraic Notation,
$36.00

The Informator is probably the best chess yearbook in the world.
The printed series started almost 35 years ago back in 1966. Many
changes have taken place over the years, and changes continue to
be made to increase the quality of this already high quality
product. How is it with Electronic Editions? Like the CIR, I still
feel they need some work and more material need to be included.
Compared to the printed editions, a number of things are lacking:
The most important novelties of the previous issue, best games of
the previous issue, the combinations section, the endgame section,
the alphabetical indexes of players and the annotators and the
tournament results. 

That only leaves the games. The annotations are the same as in the
printed version, although the game excerpts are separated from the
main games unlike the printed version. This is positive, but only
partly so. There should be references to the other games with the
same variation in the same volume, preferably also to games with
the same variation in previous volumes. The electronic media
shouldn't have the same tight space limitations as in regular books
and references to other games can only make the product stronger.
It would also make more sense to have references to previous
games whenever a new move is being played. The novelties are
highlighted, but often there is no mention of the alternatives and
previously played moves. Here the EE could have scored a point
compared to the printed version by giving evaluations of the
alternatives. This way the reader has an idea about the true value
of the novelty and can decide if the novelty actually constitutes an
improvement or if it is just another possibility that is neither better
nor worse than the alternatives.

I don't understand why the ratings of the players have been
removed. The ratings of the players may help you evaluate the
extent to which you can trust the quality of the moves and the
analysis. This may seem a very small matter, but it can easily be
included and definitely should be. Even the ICCF ratings should,
in my opinion, be included for postal games. Many
correspondence chess players have fairly moderate ELO ratings
compared to their ICCF ratings. For example: Timmermann, van
Oosterom, Bang, Umansky, Sloth, Oim. Many more could be
named, but no one will doubt any of the above players' abilities in
postal chess and their ICCF ratings better indicate their strength in
this discipline than an often outdated ELO rating. 

Why have the sections on combinations and endgames been
excluded? I'm not sure, and I don't understand why. They would be
easy to include and for me they represent good exercises. The
endgame section, in particular, should be studied by everybody
who seeks to improve their game. Study of the endgame will
improve your overall understanding of chess and help you to score
many extra points. But for these endgames, we still have to turn to
the printed edition.

The omission of best game from the previous volume as well as
the most important novelty is another thing that strikes me as odd;
this would not take up a lot of space; for me they form an integral
part of the Informator

An electronic version of Informator is a good idea, but it is still
leaves a number of things to be desired. Many items can be
improved and I sincerely hope that they will be. For now the
printed edition is the better choice.

My assessment of the EE: **        

C78 by Alexander Beliavsky & Adrian Mikhalchishin, 1999
Sahovski Informator, Electronic Edition, Figurine Algebraic
Notation, $11.00

As mentioned in the introduction, I reviewed the printed edition of
this monograph a couple of months ago, so it does not make any
sense to comment on the content again. [Interested readers may
find Carsten's review of the printed version of this monograph in
The Chess Caf‚ Archives for February, 2000.] But what I will do
is to compare the printed version with the EE.

The CIR already has the main lines with their evaluations included
in the standard download. Even the places where a sideline is to be
found, the main line move is underlined to make you aware of the
alternative(s).

The EE does not include the one hundred selected games that
normally can be found at the end of each monograph. It is not clear
why. In fact, it would make sense to attach all the games that have
been published in Informator in that particular variation or opening
line. It would complement the theory side perfectly and help the
student/reader to gain a better understanding of the opening. As
mentioned above, it doesn't take up a lot of space and it makes the
EE more attractive.

While I think that the Informator EE is inferior to the printed
version, I think the monographs come closer to the standard of the
printed versions. But there is no reason why the EE should be
worse than the printed version. For chess professionals, there is a
limit to how many books you can carry with you (I know, because
I have tried!), so keeping as much as possible in a laptop computer
definitely makes sense and by making the EEs as good or better
than their hard-copy counterparts, it would be a great benefit to
most chessplayers.

The most positive thing about the EE is that you don't have to flick
back and forth between the page with variation table and the page
with the side line. Here everything is opened or closed with a click.
When working on openings I'm sure that everybody who is
familiar with ECOs and the Informator monographs will feel
happily relieved that there is an easy solution to ease their
suffering. Not only can they skip the flicking back and forth, they
can be 100% sure that they have the correct position on the chess
board, because it shows on the screen.

My assessment of the EE: ***