This book is a Black repertoire against the Ruy López. We will be focusing on the Arkhangelsk (Möller) Defence.
In the modern world where computers keep getting stronger and stronger, openings need to be updated on a daily basis. After the emergence of NNUE engines, the style of play has changed drastically. Players started to sacrifice material for long term compensation/initiative trying to pose as many practical problems as possible so that it becomes difficult for opponents to solve all the problems over-the-board in the given time control.
So let me explain what I have done in the book you are holding in your hands, dear readers. Please, do not get carried away with the computer’s assessment all the time! We should not forget that we are not playing correspondence chess where the opponent has lots of time to ponder and refute our lines! In a tournament game, it is a different scenario! I believe it is important to choose the openings/positions where we feel comfortable. It is equally important to choose and study some model games in the openings we play.
I would like to quote one of my favourite sayings that had been on my mind ever since I have signed this project. One individual may die for an idea, but that idea will, after his death, incarnate itself in a thousand lives - Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The same way, ideas suggested in this book may die at some point or the other. However, I hope that the approach behind the moves may not die! Dear readers, I hope you will enjoy my work and if you like you can also adapt the modern-day approach of working on openings. Good luck on your chess journey!
All through his career Jan Timman has been captivated by the mystery and splendour of endgame studies. Even during his most successful and busy years as a world-class player, Timman continued to compose studies and admire those of others. For him, there has never been any doubt that his journeys in this magical world helped him to grow as a player.
In this fascinating book, first published in 2011, Timman has collected studies by other composers and explains in his lucid style how they inspired him to create dozens of brand-new studies.
Timman has revised the book for this new edition. With the help of engines, Timman discovered that a few studies needed to be corrected or had alternative solutions. He removed six studies and replaced another six with better versions. And fourteen new studies have been added, two of which are published here for the first time.
Jan Timman is a former world championship candidate who rose to number two on the FIDE world rankings. He is the author of several highly acclaimed bestsellers, such as Timman’s Titans and Max Euwe’s Best Games. He was awarded the title of FIDE Master of Composition in 2022.
The Tarrasch Defence is one of the most ambitious ways to play against 1.d4. Black immediately fights for the centre, gets a lot of space and develops his pieces without many problems. Former Russian Champion Alexey Bezgodov has more than 30 years of experience with the Tarrasch and is one of the world’s greatest experts. The Art of the Tarrasch Defence is a deeply researched journey into the positional structures, the key moments in the fight for the initiative, the players and the variations.
The Basman-Williams Attack arises after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.h4, which was first played by the inventive and creative English International Master Michael Basman in the 1970s and later adopted & developed by English Grandmaster Simon Williams. Nowadays, it has become a weapon used by several top grandmasters and it was even adopted for use in the recent Candidates tournament by Chinese top grandmaster and former world number 2, Ding Liren. It is a fun way to avoid Black's intentions of playing the main line theory of the King's Indian and Grunfeld Indian defenses.
In this book’s pages you will find tons of novelties not seen in practice, and in many of the lines I offer strong improvements. Many sources were reviewed, where the authors defended certain options from White’s point of view, while I defended Black’s side. In addition, this book has absorbed my attitude and approach to various positions, and I have been analyzing the Benko Gambit for more than 10 years! I wanted to approach each position from the point of view of a human, as close as possible to a practical game. In addition, even if this book becomes outdated at some point, I am sure that it will always be possible to improve the variations – but the backbone of studying this opening can be taken from this book; this is normal work on chess.
I am glad to welcome you to the second volume dedicated to the Benko Gambit. This volume examines the most basic lines. It is these lines that can be found most often at the board. We’ll take a look at the rare and tricky lines and move on to the more popular and classic lines.
In the first volume, in the Introduction, we touched on my personal attitude to this opening, which has been constantly changing over the course of the last 10 years. We touched upon the history of how the opening developed, noted who needed to play this opening and what to expect from it.
What do I want to highlight in this Introduction? This is what the reader will notice in this volume – that the lines have become more specific, sometimes requiring very accurate knowledge. The load on memory increases, but it will be rewarded a hundredfold, since the positions that arise are interesting and full of dynamic factors. In this volume, we look at positions that start after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6. We’ll start with the rarer continuations and end with the most popular and relevant ones.
Igor Lysyi: “I worked hard at mastering 1…е7-е5 for Black….
International Master Luis Bernal has unraveled the Berlin and made it accessible for amateur players. His practical guide is fully up to date, explains typical formations and strategies, and presents new ideas and resources in the old Berlin Wall structures.
Relive the magic of Capablanca, Alekhine, Botvinnik, Tal, Karpov, Kasparov, Bobby Fischer and the others. All great champions, but so different in character and playing style. Schulz’s chronicle is an absorbing evocation of the battles they fought. He has also selected one defining game from each championship, and he explains the moves of the Champions, and the ideas behind the moves, in a way that is easily accessible for amateur players and highly instructive for beginners as well. This is a book that no true chess lover wants to miss.