More of the Same by Taylor Kingston The Power Chess Program: Book 2, by Nigel Davies, 1999 B. T. Batsford, London, 256 pp., figurine algebraic, $18.95. This is the second installment of Scottish GM Nigel Davies' instructional program for club-level players. Our review of Book 1 appeared here in April 1999, and can still be found in the Chess Cafe archives. Much of what we said then applies now: TPCPB2 continues in an exactly similar format, but, as would be expected, deals with somewhat more sophisticated subjects. As in Book 1, Davies uses 12 chapters to discuss 12 aspects of practical chess play, most but not all of them middlegame themes. In Book 2 these are: The Art of Attack, The Initiative, The Art of Defence, Winning 'Won Positions', Endgame Themes, Endgame Battles, Masters of Attack, The Strategists, The Technicians, The Tacticians, The Opening, and The Elements of Mastery. Each chapter is about 16 pages long, and is divided into four sub-chapters. For example "The Art of Defence" consists of "Arms Reduction", "Prophylaxis", "Blockade", and "Counter-Attack", or "Masters of Attack" discusses Spielmann, Stein, Tal, and Kasparov. Each sub-chapter consists of a brief discussion of its main idea, followed by two lightly annotated illustrative games, and a set of six quiz positions. The quiz positions are of two types: "key move" positions, with a more or less forced tactical resolution, such as (See Diagram) Black's 1...Nc3! here, and "analysis positions," where a forced win may or may not be possible, and one is asked to give an overall assessment of the position, devise a reasonable plan, name some candidate moves, and analyze likely best play. Davies' schedule has the student taking about 3-5 hours per week on each sub-chapter, thus covering about one chapter per month and the entire two-book course in two years. We endorsed Book 1, though not avidly. Book 2 gets a similar assessment. We feel it is a passable instructive program, but not the best for its intended readership. Its main virtue is the ready-made structure and order its study plan provides. Keeping to its schedule will impose some worthwhile discipline on players with poor study habits. Davies is an experienced chess teacher, and there is much worthwhile in the lessons. They are not deep, but there is broad variety. They address many issues club players will face repeatedly and must understand to attain mastery: how and when to attack or defend, to simplify or seek complications, to play positionally or tactically. The games and exercises are for the most part well-chosen exemplars of their themes, as with this "key move" quiz position (See Diagram), Maroczy-Rubinstein, Prague 1908, from the "Arms Reduction" sub- chapter of "The Art of Defence". White, threatened with 1...Qg2+, found a line that illustrates well the theme of intelligent simplification: 1 g5+! fxg5 2 Qxh7+! Kxh7 3 Nxg5+ etc., with an easily won endgame. Unfortunately, not everything in TPCPB2 is similarly apt and worthwhile. The main faults are superficiality and lack of clarity, in both the explanatory narratives and the game annotations. As an example of lack of clarity, consider this "analysis position" from page 26 (See Diagram). Davies' solution reads: "White's position looks slightly preferable because of the poorly placed knight on b6, the vulnerable pawns on e5 and a7 and the slight weakness of Black's kingside. White's plan: I would like to create pressure on the dark squares where Black has some weaknesses. Black's plan: I would like to simplify the position. Candidate moves: 21 Rfd1; 21 Qe3; 21 Qd2. Analysis: 21 Qd2! Be6? (Black's best defense was 21...Na4 according to Emanuel Lasker; 21...Bc6 favours White after 22 Nh4! Bxe4 23 Qe3!, 22...Bd7 23 Qa5 or 22...Nxe4 23 Nhf5+ gxf5 24 Nxf5+ Kf6 25 Qxh6+ Kxf5 26 g4#) 22 Bxe6 Qxe6 23 Qa5 Nc4 24 Qxa7 Nxb2 25 Rxc8 Rxc8 26 Qxb7 winning a pawn and later the game. Assessment: 21 Qd2 gives White a strong initiative." A good exposition, but in the brief discussion preceding it, Davies gives the student little basis for making such a sophisticated evaluation (and this is actually one of the book's shorter analysis solutions). No explanation for the candidate moves 21 Rfd1 and 21 Qe3, or their rejection, is given, nor how White should reply to 21...Na4. Unless he is enough of a chess history buff to recognize the position (Alekhine- Capablanca, world championship match, 1927, 34th and final game), the average club player will probably feel rather at sea here. Davies either consorts with a much better "average" player than we do, or his expectation is that the student will learn from trying to analyze positions for which he is not prepared. We fear that as much frustration as education may occur. As mentioned, the games are lightly annotated, in our opinion sometimes too lightly. Having discussed a certain concept, say, "positional insight," Davies' notes do not always succeed in pointing out where or how that concept is applied. For example in the chapter "The Strategists" he says "In the following games Steinitz uses reason and good planning to triumph over two of the greatest masters of combination, Anderssen and Zukertort." A promising introduction, yet the actual annotations disappoint. Here, for example, (See Diagram) after Anderssen played 14 Rb4-a4, Davies comments "White continues 'attacking' by taking aim at Black's a-pawn ... there is no justification for this and the rook is simply misplaced ... Meanwhile Steinitz continues his plan of a kingside pawn advance supported by his bishop pair." Whoa, time out! What factors in the position make a kingside pawn advance a good idea? (As IM Jeremy Silman would say, "What are the imbalances?".) Why support the pawns with bishops rather than other pieces? Why is White's attack unjustified? These kinds of things are by no means obvious to club-level players, yet in TPCPB2 they are too often glossed over or assumed to be self-evident. It's kind of like Monty Python's instructions on how to play the flute: "Blow in one end, and move your fingers up and down the outside." The light notes are also sometimes inaccurate. For example under "Endgame Battles" we find this position (See Diagram) from Westerinen-Ernst, Gausdal 1991. Of White's 54 Rf7, Davies says "Falling at the last hurdle. White could have held by cold-bloodedly creating a passed pawn with 53 b3!. After 53...f3 54 a4 bxa4 55 bxa4 h2+ 56 Kh1 f2 57 Rf7 Ke2 58 Re7+ Kd2 59 Rf7 we would see a draw by repetition." (See Diagram.) While we hesitate to disagree with a GM, it appears there is no draw after Black plays 59...d4!, cold-bloodedly using another of his passed pawns. After, say, 60 a5 d3 61 a6 Black wins moving his King to either side of the pawn, e.g. 61...Kc2 62 a7 (62 Rc7+ Kb2 63 Rb7+ Ka2 etc.) 62...d2 63 Rc7+ Kd3 etc., or 61...Ke3 62 a7 (62 Re7+ Kd4 63 Rf7 d2 etc.) 62...d2 63 Rf3+ Kd4! 64 Rf4+ Ke5 65 Re4+ Kf5, mate coming in a few moves in either case. TPCPB2 also suffers from some poor proofreading, especially with diagrams. For example one might wonder why this position (See Diagram) from Taimanov-Botvinnik, Moscow 1967, is described as an endgame requiring "great subtlety and finesse," until one realizes there actually was a white pawn on a4. Numerous other diagrams are a half-move off, i.e. they purport to show the position after, say, Black's 20th move, but they show it after White's 21st. A minor but annoying point. More annoying is the cluttered look of most pages. Maybe it's just that our middle-aged sight is not as sharp as it once was, but if one is expected to spend a year with a book it would help if it was a bit easier on the eyes. In terms of sheer optical effort this book is the hardest to read we have seen since Graham Burgess' Quickest Chess Victories of All Time, which crammed about ten games on to every page. Davies' introduction says "I will not try to kid you that this course is an easy option ... Several of my students have fallen by the wayside ... What I can say is everyone who has persevered and worked systematically through it has experienced an upswing in their results, sometimes a quite dramatic improvement." We hesitate to doubt Davies, but we cannot help but think that fewer students would "fall by the wayside" and more would persevere if the course showed more depth and clarity in explaining fundamentals, as did IM Jeremy Silman's The Amateur's Mind, reviewed here a few months ago. We feel The Power Chess Program: Book 2 is a worthwhile study program, but it will do the most good for a certain type of student: one with a lot of perseverance, and equally important, the skepticism not to take it all at face value, and the initiative and opportunity to consult other sources that will fill in the holes left by its occasionally vague, incomplete, or inaccurate commentary.