They were given to me by a Dutch player in the seniors who bought them with the thought of changing his opening repertoire.
I will not give away his full identity as he might not like his dissatisfaction with his present repertoire to be broadcast to the (chess) world, so for the sake of this post I will simply call him 'Stef'.
Anyway, Stef changed his mind about switching openings, and since he had no further use for the books, gave them to me (I say 'gave', but, to be fair, I paid for the coffees we were drinking).
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| Nice pair |
The French book is, perhaps coincidentally, based around the Tarrasch Variation, ie 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2.
I have never played that, but I occasionally play the French Defence, so at the very least it will be useful to see what opponents may play against me.
It also has thought-provoking advice on how to study openings in general, and the French Tarrasch in particular.
I have also rarely played the Tarrasch Defence to the Queen's Gambit, but I do play various similar lines with an early ...c5, so studying the book should be beneficial, and it contains Kotronias's recommendations against the London, Colle, Veresov, etc.
All in all, pleasing additions to my chess library.
Maybe I bring another book during the Bad soden tournament as I do a lot for a nice cup of coffee.
ReplyDeleteIts a thin handy book for pick up some ideas in an very common opening. Published in 2000 by an English grandmaster.But who is the question?
If it's Tony Kosten's Dynamic English, I already have it ... and very much enjoy it!
DeleteNo its not.His name is Glenn Flear.
ReplyDeleteAah - Open Ruy Lopez?
ReplyDeleteThe title is Offbeat spanish
ReplyDeleteLooks like an interesting book - perhaps more useful for whites than blacks
DeleteYes I think so.but black can also use it for maybe an surprise.
ReplyDeleteIts all about not playing ...a6 on move 3. after 3.Bb5.
Looks handy to have it with you during tournaments.
Good result Wolves by the way!
Yes, I have an earlier book on the same theme, Mikhail Yudovich's Spanish Without ...a6 (Batsford, 1986). I still refer to it from time to time.
DeleteAnd, even more of a Yes, it was a good result for Wolves, and quite a good performance - we could easily have been 3-0 up at halftime.