notebooks
Think of Kortchnoi! How many openings did he analyse in his life, how many ideas must be in his analyses that will never see the light of day! Recently, while researching some articles about 9-times British Champion H.E. Atkins, I read in the collection of his Best Games that the author (R.N. Coles) had ‘been fortu- nate in having placed at my disposal all his old chess notebooks’ and that got me dreaming again of making a great historical discovery. Probably a project for my retirement!
One of the big disappoint- ments from that point of view was Botvinnik. I have a memory – though my memory is probably as vague and unreliable as Edward Lasker’s – of talking to Kasparov at the French Team Championships at Auxerre in 1992 and him mentioning that before one of his matches (I think against Beliavsky), Botvinnik had confided his secret opening notebooks to him. Kasparov and his team opened them with trepidation, wondering what
The subtitle to My Secrets in the
Ruy Lopez is ‘unpublished ideas and
analysis from decades of elite-level chess’, which is quite a write-up.
It’s probably useful to start by describing the scope of the book. Portisch starts – just as the title says –
after .e e . f c . and
two thirds of the book is devoted to lines arising or derived from his favourite Steinitz / Keres Ruy Lopez lines ... f or ...a followed y ...d . he last third of the ook deals with the path to the Breyer Variation ...a . a f . e . e
. d .c .h ), which
Portisch also played throughout his career (there are games of his against
ischer in , assky in and
Timman in 1988 in this chapter!). Note that the lines covered in the book are also restricted to the ones that Portisch played during his career. or e a le, after ...a . a d
5.c3, you will only find coverage of
... d .d e which feat res
twice in two good games against Sax and Short) and not for example of the Siesta Variation (5...f5).
I’m glad this book has been written, but nonetheless I felt rather dissat- isfied after reading it. That may be related to my hopes and expectations when the book dropped through my letterbox. I had hoped that Portisch would present a book of his Best Games in the Ruy Lopez, possibly supplemented with classic or contem- porary games that had influenced him during his career. I was looking forward to insights about typical middlegame or endgame positions that arise from these systems in which Portisch has built up a great deal of knowledge throughout his career. In general, that experience is the unique factor you would love to learn some-
thing about from this great player and it’s not so interesting what the computer thinks about it all.
That does partially happen. Portisch includes a substantial number of his own games (by my count, 32 of the 80 games in the book) and a number of instructive classic older games (around 15, such as Lasker- Capablanca, Havana 1921, 14th match game, or Schlechter-Steinitz, Vienna 1898), but the rest (just under half) is comprised of fairly modern games. It left me a little confused as to the
purpose of the book. It’s not a biog- raphy – despite the claims of the blurb that ‘anecdotes a o nd, as do re ec- tions on his key rivals’, these passages are not too frequent or revealing. It’s also not a theoretical manual, or in any case it’s not easy to use as such. Concrete lines and recommenda- tions don’t exactly spring out at you from the page as they do in a standard structured opening book. Certainly in the ld teinit ... f . e ) and eres lines ...a . a d ) it felt like very hard work to under- stand what Portisch was recom- mending, what the current state of theory is and whether or not a recom- mended improvement was relevant to modern theory. I also can’t say that the book abounds with middlegame or endgame insights as the majority of commentary is focused on the opening phase.
I’m sure that if I was looking to play the Steinitz or Keres systems against the Ruy Lopez, then I would defi- nitely want to consult this book. With prior knowledge of the opening, and some thoughts of my own, I think that some of the ideas in this book would add that extra touch of quality to my repertoire. However, without this desire I just felt a little frustrated with this book: it felt like somewhat of a missed chance. Ideally I would give this book something between 2 and 3 stars, but with a well-earned eating holiday in France in my sights, I’ll give it a generous 3!
The Ukrainian Grandmaster Mikhail Golubev is a lifelong Sicilian advocate with both colours (he’s played 1.e4
in of his White a es in the
database and 1...c5 in 201 out of 207 Black games against 1.e4). In Under-
standing the Sicilian Golubev presents
120 of his own Sicilian games (by y co nt with Black and with White), covering the entire span of Sicilian lines he has faced in his career. That doesn’t cover the whole Sicilian complex, but it doesn’t do a bad job either. Most of the Black games occur in the Sicilian sidelines and in the section on the Dragon (in which Golubev is an expert and in which he has played 108 of his 111 Open Sicil- ians with Black!) while his White games cover the whole scala of Open Sicilians (thank goodness – this book would have been a lot less exciting if he’d een a . advocate!). artic - larly noteworthy are his examination of two of his long-time favourites: the o in . c ) a ainst the a dorf and
‘In idle moments, I fantasised about
discovering Rubinstein’s notebook and
using all those ideas!’
My Secrets in the Ruy Lopez by Lajos Portisch Gambit, 2017 Understanding the Sicilian by Mikhail Golubev Gambit, 2017
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I lost only one of my many long time- control games in this line, and worked on it from time to time, quite often my preparation (and understanding) turns out to have been superficial, and this resulted in some opening problems. Maybe my experience will be helpful to other players at least.
5...g6! If Black permits d4, and fi-
anchettoes his bishop, this is perhaps the most precise move order because in some lines Black does not need an early ...♘f6 or an early ...♘c6.
6.♘c3 After 6.0-0 ♗g7 7.d4 cxd4
8.♘xd4 ♘c6 the best White can do is 9.♗e3 ♘f6 10.f3 0-0 11.♘c3, which leads to the standard lines dis- cussed below in the note to White’s 11th move. Instead 9.♘e2 is met by 9...♘e5, when White cannot defend the c4-pawn comfortably.
6...♗g7 7.d4 cxd4 8.♘xd4 ♘f6
Ts._M_.t
Ts._M_.t
jJ_DjJlJ
jJ_DjJlJ
._.j.sJ_
._.j.sJ_
_._._._.
_._._._.
._InI_._
._InI_._
_.n._._.
_.n._._.
Ii._.iIi
Ii._.iIi
r.bQk._R
r.bQk._R
9.f3 Before my game against
Sandipan I had doubts about what to do after 9.h3 and decided that Black can try 9...♕c7 (avoiding 9...0-0 10.♗e3 ♘c6 11.0-0, Adams-Chep- arinov, Baku 2008, with a position I did not like much for Black). I men- tioned this idea in Chess Today after the game; let’s say it was my contribu- tion to the Moscow Variation. Later 6.♗e3 against the popular Taimanov
Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.♘xd4 ♘c6 5.♘c3 ♕c7).
Comparing it to the Smirin book, it scores lower on the inspiration scale, simply because Golubev – despite being a strong Grandmaster – is not as strong a player as Smirin and cannot produce the same astonishing quality of play. However, it scores very highly as a wide-ranging theoretical intro- duction to the Sicilian, particularly from the White side. What shines through Golubev’s annotations are the struggles and considerations of a practical player. The whole prac- tical cycle of playing a line, having a problem, analysing at home, trying again, winning a few good games, but then finding out that it isn’t good after all... and having to start all over again, comes across beautifully in this book. Golubev’s annotations are open and honest – he describes easily which systems he has struggled with, which positions he has scored well with but isn’t quite sure why! – and are sprin- kled with a nice little dose of self- deprecating humour, which made the book easy and pleasant to read despite the large number of variations. I’ll give some excerpts from Golubev’s annotations to his game as Black against Sandipan at Leiden 2008 as an example. It’s a relatively unremark- able game (a tough, nervy last-round draw in 52 moves) but Golubev’s annotations contain a wealth of little details and insights into the problems Black faces in the 3.♗b5+ Sicilian.
Sandipan Chanda Mikhail Golubev
Leiden 2008
Sicilian, Moscow Variation
1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 d6 3.♗b5+ ♗d7 4.♗xd7+ ♕xd7 5.c4
This plan, based on playing d4 and achieving a Maroczy Bind structure, is the most topical at the professional level nowadays. It leads to strategi- cally tricky play, the complexity of which is easy to underestimate. While
the same year, the first game in this line, Hracek-Agdestein, Dresden Olympiad 2008, was played: 9...♕c7 10.b3 ♕a5 11.♗d2 ♘xe4 12.♘xe4 ♕e5 13.♕b1 f5 14.♗c3 ♕xe4+ 15.♕xe4 fxe4 16.♘b5 ♗xc3+ 17.♘xc3 with only a marginal plus for White in the endgame. It was re- peated in many games afterwards.
9...0-0! 10.♗e3 After 10.0-0 the very
important equalising idea 10...♖c8 11.b3 d5 12.exd5 ♘xd5 13.♘xd5 e6 was intro- duced in Delchev-Ivanchuk, European Championship, Istanbul 2003.
10...♘c6
After Ivanchuk’s important revelation in the game against Delchev, it became clear that the lines with ♘de2 for White can be prevented by Black, so the old standard set-up with ♗e3 became normal again. It’s not as easy for Black to equalize by preparing ...d5 as was thought decades ago. So, some discussion is going on here – and can be expected to continue.
11.♖c1 ♖ac8 12.b3 a6 13.♘xc6!? bxc6 14.0-0
._T_.tM_
._T_.tM_
_._DjJlJ
_._DjJlJ
J_Jj.sJ_
J_Jj.sJ_
_._._._.
_._._._.
._I_I_._
._I_I_._
_In.bI_.
_In.bI_.
I_._._Ii
I_._._Ii
_.rQ_Rk.
_.rQ_Rk.
Nothing dramatic has happened, but White has a slight advantage. ...a6 is not particularly useful in the structure that has arisen.
14...♕c7 15.♕e2 Two more direct
attempts deserve mentioning:
– 15.c5 d5 16.exd5 ♖fd8 17.d6 exd6, where Black may hope to neutralize White’s slight initiative and maybe more dangerous.
– 15.♘a4, when 15...c5 16.e5 ♘d7 17.exd6 allows White to increase the pressure.
15...♘d7 16.♘a4 c5 Now Black
does not have any particular problems.
17.♕d2 ♘e5 18.♘c3 e6 19.♗h6 ♗xh6 20.♕xh6 Playing the Ragozin by Richard Pert Quality Chess, 2016
he even examines two possibilities in some detail: the standard 6...c5, in which he has prepared a number of new ideas, and the rarely-played 6...b5. In the good old pre-computer days, this would be a repertory that could easily have kept you going for 10 years! It’s quite amazing – and a testament to the quality of the chess book market at the moment – to see this sort of analytical work published like this while the lines are still fresh. A really good opening book – 4 stars!
Finally, there is Alexander Kalin- in’s Chess Training for Candidate
Masters (New In Chess). The author
was completely unknown to me but he is a Russian Grandmaster living in the United States who has trained the American GM Daniel Naroditsky (who wrote the foreword to the book). Essentially, the book is an exposition of Kalinin’s approach to training young chess players summarised in what Kalinin calls ‘Four directions of independent work’:
1. Forming a relationship with chess as an art
2. Perfecting analytical mastery, which allows one to study critically your own play and the games of others
3. Study of the classical heritage 4. Drawing the lessons from interac- tion with one’s competitors and with more experienced players.
As Kalinin writes, ‘the attempt to reveal the above areas is the main aim of the present book’. To do this, Kalinin makes extensive use of episodes from his own career, in which progress did not always come
easily: ‘By delving into this book, the reader will be able to see the mistakes I made on my way and, I hope, will be able to draw useful lessons for them- selves’.
The first time I read through the book, I was a little blasé about the content. Perhaps it came from the fact that the main ideas – the four directions of independent work – match well with the way I have always worked at chess, so it’s easy to think that nothing new is being said. ‘Why do I need to read a whole chapter to tell me what I know already?’ was the feeling! However, reading the book a second time, I paid a little less attention to the things I felt I knew already and focused more on the chess content... and this is actually extremely interesting! As the blurb promises, the bulk of this training material has never been published before and there is some fascinating analysis on all areas of the game.
I also greatly liked the little titbits of advice that are to be found throughout the book. For example, in a correspondence game, Kalinin was considering sacrificing an extra exchange to reach a dangerous attacking position a rook down: ‘In an over-the-board game, I would have headed for this position without any qualms, but given the possi- bility of computer defence, I needed additional comfort. What was that? The fact that I myself also used the computer to help did not solve the problem as the net of variations was too wide. But here I recalled a device which Mark Dvoretsky pointed out was used by Mikhail Tal. In deciding on an irrational sacrifice, the magician from Riga would convince himself by calculating a few spectacular varia- tions (not necessarily always correct) where the attacking side triumphs and which would give him the confi- dence that the sacrifice would succeed in practice.’ A wonderful piece of advice! I’d probably like to give this a high 3 stars, but I’m going on holiday now so let’s finish on a high: 4 stars
Chess Training for Candidate Masters by Alexander Kalinin New In Chess, 2017
20...♕e7?! This inaccuracy went
unpunished. 20...f5 is also insu cient, because of 21.exf5 ♖xf5 22.♕e3, but 20...♘c6 is correct, intending 21.f4 f5.
21.♕d2?! 21.f4 is best, with a serious
initiative after 21...♘g4 22.♕h3 and if 22...f5 23.♖fe1.
21...♘c6 22.f4 f5 and the game was
eventually drawn on move 52.
The book didn’t extract the Ooohs! and Aaaahs! from me that Smirin’s book did, but it did produce lots of little nods of the head and ‘Right... OK, so that’s how this fits together’. The comments to the Sandipan game (of which this is just a small extract) could only come from a practical player who has struggled at various times over a period of many years to find the most precise counter to a very irritating line. The nice thing about Golubev is that he’s willing to share all this sweat with you for nothing (or nearly nothing!). All-in-all a very good book, 4 well- deserved stars!
Playing the Ragozin by the English IM
and chess trainer Richard Pert (Quality Chess) is a more standard opening book and reaches the customary high standard of Quality Chess opening manuals, which probably says enough already In 440 pages, the book o ers a complete repertoire against 1.d4 d5 2.c4, recommending the Ragozin against ♘f3 systems (2...e6 3.♘f3 ♘f6 4.♘c3 ♗b4) and the unusual 2...e6 3.♘c3 ♗b4 – with which ou ifan has experimented – if White tries to avoid ♘f3. ert also covers move order deviations such as 3.♘f3 ♘f6 4.g3 (the Catalan), 4.♗g5 or 4.e3. The previous work on the Ragozin I’d seen was a ChessBase DVD by Alejandro Ramirez, which though excellent did rather tend to stress the drawing tendencies of the opening. Pert does his utmost to draw up a repertoire that is more than an equalising tool. One of his interesting recommendations is to meet the solid 5.♗g5 with 5...dxc4, transposing back to a ienna. After the normal 6.e4,
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