"An Opening Repertoire for the Attacking Player" by Eduard
Gufeld, 1996 Cadogan, Figurine Algebraic Notation, Paperback,
160pp., $17.95

Repertoire books feature complete systems of play, regardless of
the response chosen by the opponent. Such is the case for Gufeld's
"An Opening Repertoire for the Attacking Player", which provides
a selection of opening variations that promise to bring sharp,
aggressive play to anyone's game.

The book is comprised of twenty chapters but only 160 pages,
including an Introduction, Index of Variations and a listing of the
14 complete games. One chapter is devoted to each covered
variation. Gufeld recommends that 1 e4 should be White's first
move, and offers lines against most Black responses, such as the
French Defense, Alekhine's, Caro-Kann, Nimzovich, Modern, Pirc,
Center-Counter, and even 1...b6 and 1...a6. He suggests playing the
Vienna (1 e4 e5 2 Nc3) versus 1...e5 and the variation 2 f4, if
confronted with a Sicilian (1 e4 c5). Consistent with his theme of
attacking chess, he advocates the Sicilian Dragon against 1 e4
(1...c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6) and the
Leningrad Dutch against 1 d4 (1...f5 2 c4 Nf6 3 g3 g6 4 Bg2 Bg7).
Chapters can also be found that address early deviations by White
to both 1 e4 and 1 d4, as well as suggested lines of play against the
English, Bird's Opening, 1 b3 and 1 Nf3.

Given such a broad scope of material, coverage obviously must be
limited to only the most critical lines within each opening. This
approach is a double-edged sword, however: analysis must be even
more exacting than usual, when there are fewer lines of play from
which to choose. It is towards this point that Gufeld claims in the
Introduction that "this book includes the most up-to-date chess
material...which often clarifies or refutes existing evaluations."

Gufeld does offer some new ideas in old, familiar positions. One
such suggestion occurs in the Vienna Game/King's Gambit
Declined after 1 e4 e5 2 Nc3 Nf6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 d3 d6 5 f4 Nc6 6
Nf3 Bg4 7 h3 Bxf3 8 Qxf3 exf4 9 Bxf4 Nd4 10 Qd1 c6, when he
recommends 11 Na4 instead of the usual 11 Qd2 found in
"Encyclopedia of Chess Openings" (ECO) Volume C, as well as
other sources (p. 24). Although Black might do better with an
immediate 11...b5 rather than his proffered continuation of
11...Qa5+ 12 c3 b5 13 Nxc5 bxc5 14 b4, it's still kudos to Gufeld
for highlighting 11 Na4, a move which may turn the 6...Bg4 line
into a White "plus".

One of the most theoretically-critical lines covered by Gufeld is the
ultra-sharp, Yugoslav Variation of the Sicilian Dragon. In a line
such as this, where both sides go King hunting, accuracy of
analysis and inclusion of current theory are paramount. At least
when compared to the material contained in the 1997 version of
ECO Volume B, Gufeld seems to hold his own on both accounts.
Thus, after 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6 6 Be3
Bg7 7 f3 0-0 8 Qd2 Nc6 9 Bc4 Bd7 10 0-0-0 Rc8 11 Bb3 Ne5 12
h4, he recommends that Black enter the variation 12...Nc4 rather
than 12...h5. After 12...Nc4 13 Bxc4 Rxc4 14 h5 Nxh5 15 g4 Nf6
16 Bh6 Nxe4 17 Qe3 Rxc3 18 bxc3 Nf6 19 Bxg7 Kxg7, he
considers 5 White options: 20 Rh4, Rh6, Rh2, Qh6+ and Ne2,
none of which purportedly lead to any real difficulties for Black. (It
hardly came as a surprise that Gufeld agreed with himself in his
350-page treatise "The Complete Dragon", recently published by
ICE, a book that he co-authored with Stetsko. Both works cite the
same five alternatives on move 20 and contain similar assessments,
although "The Complete Dragon" offers more detail - as expected.)

The 1997 version of ECO Volume B, on the other hand, gives 20
Rh2 as the main line, and only discusses 20 Rh4 and Qh6+ in a
note, while omitting 20 Ne2 and Rh6 in their entirety. ECO,
however, follows the same game and arrives at the same
conclusion as Gufeld after 20 Rh2, citing Morgado-Nesis, a 1991
correspondence game which ended in a draw after 20...Rh8 21 Nb3
h5 22 g5 Nh7 23 f4 Bg4 24 Re1. The position is given as equal in
ECO; Gufeld states that "Black is not worse."

The downside to repertoire books is that their inability to provide
complete coverage often leads to the omission of certain key lines
of play. "An Opening Repertoire for the Attacking Player" is no
different in this regard. Looking at the Dragon again, after 12...Nc4
in the aforementioned position, Gufeld remarks that "12...h5 leads
to very sharp situations, but White retains some initiative." (Page
115) There is no analysis offered to buttress this view. Nor is there
any mention of the Lanc - Joa. Diaz game from 1988 which
explored the popular move 13 Bh6 and resulted in an unclear
position after 13...Bh6 14 Qh6 Rc3 15 bc3 Qa5 16 Kb1 b5, as cited
in ECO and Gufeld's own "The Complete Dragon".

In Chapter 3, Gufeld suggests that the reader try 3 e5 (the Advance
Variation) when confronted with the French Defense. A question
arises that, after 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Qb6 6 Be2
cxd4 7 cxd4 Nh6 8 b3 Nf5 9 Bb2, why should Black play 9...Bb4+,
which may give White chances, when he can try the stronger
9...Be7, perhaps leading to a Black advantage, as given in ECO
Volume B and McDonald and Harley's "Mastering the French"
(previously reviewed at The Chess Cafe) ? For instance, McDonald
and Harley continue with 9...Be7 10 0-0 Bd7 11 g4 Nh4 12 Nxh4
Bxh4 13 Na3 0-0 14 f4 f6 15 Kg2 fxe5 16 dxe5 Rf7 17 Qd2 Raf8
18 Nc2 g5 and Black had a "decisive advantage" in Kupreichik-
Hertneck, 1992 Debrecen Echt. The move 9...Be7 is not addressed
by Gufeld.

Against Alekhine's Defense, 1 e4 Nf6, Gufeld advocates invoking
the ultra-sharp Four Pawns Attack which, he writes in
Chapter 7, "will lead to a rather more pleasant ending for White"
after 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 Qd7 10 Be2 0-0-0 11 0-0 Bg4 12 c5 Nd5
13 Nxd5 Qxd5 14 Ng5 Bxe2 15 Qxe2 Nxd4 16 Bxd4 Qxd4+ 17
Kh1 Qd2 18 Qxd2 Rxd2 19 Rxf7 Bxc5 20 Nxe6, Gipslis-Kenghis,
1983 Jurmala. However, according to Graham Burgess in his "New
Ideas in the Alekhine Defense" (also reviewed here at The Chess
Cafe), the position after 20...Bb6 21 Nxg7 Bd4 "has generally been
regarded as equal" and, this writer hastens to add, should've led to
a draw by repetition in the 1995 computer game Dark-Thought-
Cheiron. Additionally, ECO cites the same line and assesses it as
equal after 17...Qd2.

Consistent in his recommendation of aggressive play, Gufeld
suggests meeting Bird's Opening (1 f4) with From's Gambit (1...e5)
in Chapter 19. Predictably, he goes in for the sharp line 1 f4 e5 2
fxe5 d6 3 exd6 Bxd6 4 Nf3 g5, leading to 5 g3 g4 6 Nh4 Ne7 7 d4
Ng6 8 Nxg6 hxg6 9 Qd3 Nc6 10 c3 Bf5 11 e4 Qe7 12 Bg2 0-0-0,
whereupon he offers two alternatives, 13 0-0 and Bf4, and believes
that White is in trouble. Looking at a second source, Andy Soltis'
"Bird-Larsen Attack, Revised 2nd Edition" from 1996, one finds an
inevitable conflict. Rather than Gufeld's 13 0-0 Ne5 14 Qd1 as in
Antoshin - Panchenko, 1983, Soltis recommends following the
correspondence game Poel - Van Oirschot from 1986, which went
14 Qe3 Bd7 15 Nd2 f5 16 Rf2 Rdf8 17 Nf1 "and White is
consolidating his pieces and extra pawn," writes Soltis. In fact, it is
variations such as the previous one which apparently lead Soltis to
recommend that Black play a different variation altogether, namely
4...Nf6 instead of 4...g5.

Given the theme of this book and Gufeld's selection of so many
other sharp, risky lines, this writer found the author's choice of 1 e4
c5 2 f4 against the Sicilian, to be puzzling. One of his main lines,
given in Chapter 1 for White and again in Chapter 12 as a
recommendation with Black, is 1 e4 c5 2 f4 d5 3 exd5 Nf6 4 Bb5+
Nbd7 5 c4 a6 6 Bxd7+ Bxd7 7 Nf3 e6 8 dxe6 Bxe6 9 d3 Be7 10 0-
0 0-0 11 Nc3 Bf5 12 Ne5 Bd6 13 Kh1 Qc7 14 Qf3 Rfe8 with the
comment that "Black's initiative fully compensates for the
sacrificed pawn" (pp. 14 and 89). ECO Volume B from 1997
seems to concur after 6...Bd7 7 Nc3 e6 8 Qe2 Be7 9 de6 Be6 10
Nf3, Lazzeri-Yermolinsky, where Black also had compensation for
the missing Pawn. While Gufeld might be applauded for his
objectivity on one hand, his judgement might be called into
question on the other hand. If 2 f4 is the best, sharp variation that
White has at his disposal against the Sicilian, then it appears to this
writer, at least, that players who open 1 e4 are in trouble right at
the start.

While repertoire books are no panacea, they do have their place in
the grand scheme of opening book literature. In its most generic
sense, a repertoire book is useful in helping the student of the game
realize that there are numerous responses to an opening for which
home preparation should take into account. Certainly, they can be
considered as good places to start. Gufeld's "An Opening
Repertoire for the Attacking Player" is typical of most repertoire
books. It is strong on theme and structure (i.e., sharp openings), but
weaker when it comes to identification of specific variations.
Nonetheless, this book is a good choice for the average player who
wishes to get more serious about competitive, tournament chess, or
the casual player who wants to learn some opening theory without
spending the rest of his life staring at an openings' manual. Be
forewarned, however, about this particular book: one must like to
play complicated, tactical, often very double-edged positions,
otherwise this is NOT the selection for you. As long as the
prospective buyer keeps these tips in mind, Gufeld's work should
prove to be a useful choice.