"The Ultimate Pirc" by John Nunn and Colin McNab, 1998
Batsford Books, Figurine Algebraic Notation, Softcover, 320pp.,
$29.95

Over the past few years, British Grandmaster John Nunn has
produced some truly remarkable chess books. "The Complete
Najdorf: 6 Bg5" is a massive work on one of the most complicated
opening systems extant. His "Secrets of Grandmaster Chess" has
taken its place among the great game collections, while his
updating of classics and converting them to algebraic notation is
also well known. And, in what may well be his opus magnus,
"Nunn's Chess Openings" has just been released (and will soon be
reviewed at The Chess Cafe). It is a massive general work in the
style and format of MCO .

Another book by Nunn (co-authored with Colin McNab), "The
Ultimate Pirc", has also just appeared. Batsford released "The
Complete Pirc" by Nunn in 1989. "The Ultimate Pirc" may be
regarded as an update of this earlier effort. The author
acknowledges as much in the Preface, and goes on to say that
"...enough information is given on less fashionable lines to enable
the reader to get by."

The first six chapters of the book are devoted to various lines of the
Austrian Attack, which arises after 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 g6 4 f4
Bg7 and the next six to the Classical System, 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3
Nc3 g6 4 Nf3 Bg7. Various key moves by White (Be3, Bc4, Bg5,
Bg3, c3, c4) shape the material in the next eight chapters. The
penultimate chapter discusses what has become known as the
Gurgenidze System (characterized by c6 and d5 by Black) and the
book ends with miscellaneous choices by both sides. The so-called
"Czech Defense" (1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nf3 c6 without Black's
fianchetto of the King's Bishop) is not included in this book.

Since the appearance of Nunn's "The Complete Pirc" in 1989,
there have been three other major English-language works on the
Pirc/Modern complex: "Winning with the Modern" by David
Norwood (1994); "The Pirc Defense" by Alexander Chernin and
Jan Cartier (1997); and "Black to Play and Win with 1...g6" by
Andrew Soltis. One would expect a book entitled "The Ultimate
Pirc" to pull together all the major lines in all these books. Let's
take a look...

A check of the game references in "The Ultimate Pirc" indicates
that Nunn and McNab have included games into 1998. The
Introduction is dated July 1998, so one assumes that there are no
1998 games after that.

So, is this large work really the "ultimate"? We decided to look at
the authors' coverage of one of the less popular lines, the
Gurgenidze System, characterized by Black's challenging the
center with c6 and d5. The starting position arises after 1 e4 g6 2
d4 Bg7 3 Nc3 c6.

This may be regarded as the basic position in the Gurgenidze. The
authors present five possible moves by White at this point: 4 Bc4,
4 Nf3, 4 f4, 4 Be3 and 4 Bf4, although the latter two are regarded
as subvariations. Not discussed are 4 h4 and 4 g3. While the
former is certainly rare (but could be dangerous for an unprepared
player of the Black pieces) the latter has been seen and should have
been covered. Norwood also did not cover these possibilities (he
does mention 4 g3 in passing, but nothing more); Chernin &
Cartier do not cover the Gurgenidze complex at all; Soltis does
cover these possibilities.

Moving ahead a move by each side and examining the Gurgenidze
version of the Classical System, 4 Nf3 d5, the authors discuss 5 h3,
5 Bf4 and 5 Be2. In fact, there are three additional continuations
that are also seen: 5 e5, 5 exd5 and 5 Bd3. While neither of the last
two amounts to a critical challenge Black's opening system, they
do lead to play that is different from the first three continuations.

Anyone who plays this system as Black already knows that 5 e5 is
a move that will be encountered time and again in club play. While
the failure to include 4 h4 and 4 g3 (see previous paragraph) or 5
exd5 and 5 Bd3 can be argued to fall within the "enough
information to get by" statement contained in the Preface, we do
not agree that the same can be said about 5 e5. This is a natural
pawn push and should have been discussed. Interestingly enough,
only Soltis has any material at all about this line.

Similar omissions are noted in other lines. One of the attractions of
the Pirc/Modern complex is that it is used against every opening
sequence essayed by White. In this regard, only 1 e4 and 1 d4 are
considered as opening moves. While it is readily conceded that 1
Nf3 and 1 c4 may well transpose into lines considered, it cannot be
overlooked that there are lines that have independent significance.
No mention of either move is made by the authors.

In fact, Black's response to 1 d4 is really only considered in the
position reached after 1 e4 g6 2 d4 Bg7 3 c4 d6.
This in itself omits several important possibilities by White. For
example, Black will certainly face the position that arises after 1 d4
g6 2 c4 Bg7 3 Nc3. Although transpositions to lines that are
covered in the book will abound, other important variations are not
covered. So, for example, after 3...d6 4 Nf3 there are several ways
Black may proceed, such as 4...Bg4, 4...c6 and 4...Nc6. And White
may react conservatively with 5 e3 to any of these moves. The
book is silent about all of these possibilities. Soltis and Norwood
both cover these variations in detail.

It is not necessary to cite further examples. In fact, the amount of
material presented is massive. This is actually both a strength and
weakness of the book. While each chapter has a brief introduction
about the respective subject matter, much of the analysis resembles
a "data dump" with no meaningful direction or explanation
provided by the authors. A brief conclusion is also typically
provided at the end of each chapter, but this hardly makes up for
the overall lack of direction contained within the text.

There is no doubt that this book will appeal to many players,
particularly those who play the Pirc/Modern as Black. It contains
an enormous amount of material packed into the 320 pages. And
yes, even the lines that are not thoroughly covered probably do
contain enough material to, as previously noted, "to get by."
However, this is not what we have come to expect "ultimately"
from Nunn The bottom line is that this book will become a
necessary addition to the chess library of anyone who may
encounter the lines covered. But do not be misled that it is
"complete" or "ultimate". It is neither.