Bøger i Modernized serien

This book is a complete Black repertoire starting 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6, the exchange variation being the first chapter. It provides you with a lot of insights into this remarkable variation, the Ark, and entertains the reader with spectacular, resourceful lines to illustrate the ideas.  This book should also be interesting for those who just enjoy chess in general, not just for the fans of this line seeking new ideas! You don’t need to memorize everything to be able to play the variation successfully. Longer lines merely tend to be examples of how the game might develop, which help to enhance your understanding.

The Tarrasch variation of the French Defense is reached after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2. This is one of the most positional treatments White has available. Using his typical funny and dynamic writing style, David shows that it is possible to play solidly but also remain with the dynamic elements Black has available. He recommends several creative lines, even a bit off the beaten track, but which he has very carefully worked out over the several years of his own practice. Again, Miedema and his love for the French Defense shines through his second volume, the third and final being available at the end of this year.

This book is about the Marshall Attack and the lines which can be grouped together under the banner of the so-called Anti-Marshall. The theory has developed so much in the last decade that there is more than enough material to be going on with just in those areas, but I also decided to include a detailed look at an important line in the Exchange Variation. Black¿s key concept in the Marshall is giving up a central pawn in return for activity, and I have tried to give as many lines as possible which adhere closely to this principle. Why is this so significant? Well, for starters, usually in the Ruy Lopez Black is looking for long, slow games in solid, closed positions. The Marshall flips this on its head and Black tries to accelerate the play and radically change the character of the game at an early stage. Let¿s briefly discuss the material of the book itself and the lines that I have decided to give. First of all, I started off with the standard Marshall Attack, after the initial moves: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5. I have given direct analysis wherever possible and I have tried to cover all the essential lines. Of course, with the passing of the years and the continual development of theory we can see how the popularity of some positions has shifted and, in some cases, how certain lines have simply been rendered obsolete. I also discovered, to my surprise, that there are still new, unexplored, and interesting paths for further analysis.

The Benko Gambit is the ideal way to fight and seize the initiative for Black. Grandmaster Perunovic revisited all the modern lines and provided unbiased coverage of the more recent ideas, the most important being the delay of the recapture on a6. He found and tested in practical play, many new but still typical Benko manoeuvres. If you wanna surprise the 1.d4 player, this book and opening is the perfect tool!

The Caro-Kann Defence, long renowned for being a solid and reliable defence against 1.e4, is undergoing a renaissance at the moment. In addition to being a mainstay in the repertoires of a recent World Champion (Viswanathan Anand) and a 2018 World Championship candidate (Ding Liren), it is being flooded with new and creative ideas from a range of other top players, notably Anand's Indian Olympiad teammates Vidit and Adhiban. The pawn structures in this opening leave considerable room for individual interpretation.This book is written for the Black side, though new ideas for White are suggested and old ones occasionally improved. It contains not only the author's personal take on how to deal with all major White tries after 1.e4 c6, but also a range of alternatives for Black- to cater for different types of Caro-Kann player. This repertoire builds on the existing state of theory, taking it in novel, exciting and decidedly modern directions, while not forgetting about the opening's sound strategic underpinnings.

The Italian Game is the front-line of modern chess. After a hundred years of oblivion, in the 21st century, it edged out many other renowned openings, and is employed today by all the world’s top players. Its modern interpretation is full of new ideas, and its theory has grown thanks to the research of modern grandmasters. This book is an attempt to comprehend the current state of this opening.The book, however, is not just a collection of lines of this fashionable opening. Its main idea is to demonstrate the key ideas and typical techniques in various opening positions, with every key idea being highlighted in the text. The manual can thus be used as a strategy textbook in Italian-type positions; it even includes a special section called ‘The Italian Endgame’.A separate chapter is devoted to one the most important problems of modern chess, that is, getting similar positions of the Italian type from other openings.The book should be of interest to players of various strengths.

When you are building your repertoire youhave many choices available against 1.e4. Everyone knows the Sicilian is themost dangerous reply but there are so many choices! Most of them are highlytheoretical such as the Najdorf or the Dragon. Some are very difficult tounderstand from a positional and dynamical point of view. The Kalashnikov andthe Sveshnikov are two good examples, without even mentioning the amount oftheory.I have always been interested by lesstheoretical Sicilians. I have been playing the Classical Sicilian for a longtime and right before the covid period, I decided to find a new one. TheSicilian Kan came to me as a very serious option, and I decided to work on it.In the meantime, my friend and editor Daniël Vanheirzeele offered me the chanceto author a book about it. This came to me as a complete surprise, as I had noexperience with it. In comparison with my work on the Reti and the Dutch (mytwo previous books), I am a newbie on the subject. But I decided to accept thechallenge. I found it extremely interesting, as this gave me a fresh look atthe positions. I think I managed to ask myself the questions everyone wouldhave asked. I also work as a second for others and am accustomed to working onopenings I do not necessarily play as well as finding the key ideas very quickly.So, after a deep initial work to understand the variations, I was ready tostart writing8In opposition to my prior efforts, Idecided to start with the mainlines. I did it both during my work and then inthe structure of the book. It seemed better to address the most difficult linesfirst to prove that Black gets playable positions, and then take care of the lesschallenging lines. This approach allows you to have an idea of the typicalpositions and then compare it with the less usual lines so you may understandwhy the sidelines are not as good. I take this as an opportunity to sharemy knowledge of openings and how I analyze them. I started this book with theidea that I wanted it to be useful for all levels of playing strength,from amateurs to even top grandmasters. I really consider the best books to bethose where everyone can understand the basics of the variations while alsobeing of use to anyone that aims at going deeper into the theory. I based many of the lines andconclusions in this book not only on computer evaluation, but also from apractical point of view. While I did a deep dive using strong engines whenanalyzing the lines I cannot say that they are perfect. The most importantthing is that all of the evaluations are based upon my own understanding and knowledge ofchess. Adrien Demuth November 2021

In his next book for Thinkers Publishing, Milos Pavlovic, took a fresh look at the relatively unexplored but most dangerous Colle-Zukertort attack. Drawing upon his considerable opening experience and using plenty of illustrative games, he reveals the secrets how to pose Black serious problems using different subtle move orders. Milos created a comprehensive repertoire for White and highlighting the many tactical and positional themes this dynamic opening contains. The author is keen to show how easily White can obtain a strong attack against a classical sub-optimal black development. Pavlovic preferred along the way to delve quite deeply in to the theory and possible important transpositions to other openings.