Chess Openings for Black, Explained: A Complete Repertoire

by Lev Alburt, Roman Dzindzhichhashvili, Eugene Perelshteyn

This series shows you how to start your chess games as dynamically and accurately as the greatest grandmasters in the world. Three-time US Champion Champion Lev Alburt, famous for his ability to turn aspiring players into masters, teams up with two-time U.S. Champion Roman Dzindzichashvili and young international star Eugene Perelshteyn to give you a complete repertoire of opening play-as well as a review of all openings and an explanation of the principles of playing this crucial stage of the game. And although these books concentrate on the first 20 moves or so of a chess game, they never leave you hanging without a plan. The authors make sure you know the themes and ideas so that you can follow up your great opening play with winning strategies. Chess Openings for Black, Explained covers the game from the black side. The authors thoroughly ground you in the grandmaster-openings of modern chess, teaching you the opening that scores highest against 1. e4 on a master level. Fully illustrated with two-color chess diagrams throughout.

Genres: Chess, Games, Nonfiction

552 pages, Paperback

First published June 13, 2005

Reviews

[Will Once · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those books that looks initially to be quite impressive, but then seems to grow smaller as you read it. I wouldn't say that it's entirely a case of "style over substance", but the emphasis is certainly more on presentation.

First, the good news. The book is quite well laid out and easy to read. It has frequent summaries, quizzes and memory markers. I enjoyed reading it.

The book is also a complete repertoire for Black. Unlike some repertoire books, the authors take the time to cover the awkward and offbeat openings that White can try.

Another plus point is that the repertoire is basically sound. The authors don't try to advocate a relatively simple universal opening which may be easy to learn but can often lead to poor position. Instead we are given a repertoire based on mainstream openings - the accelerate dragon and the nimzo/bogo indian.

So far, so good, and I guess some of you will be reaching for your credit card around now. Unfortunately, there's some bad news. This book is a mile wide but only a few inches deep. Because it tries to cover such a large amount of ground, I constantly found myself wanting more analysis and more discussion of positional themes.

One example ... A common move against the nimzo is 4. f3, which can transpose into the Saemisch (4. a3). This book covers it by discussing the first 18 moves of one game. That's it. There is some discussion of alternatives around move 9, but that's all we get. A major response to our repertoire is covered by one game.

I know, I know, you're going to say that they had a lot of ground to cover in one book. That's true, but then the book seems to have rather more padding than I was expecting. Lots of adverts for other books by the same authors. Discussions of openings that aren't in the repertoire. Analysis late in a game when this is supposed to be an openings book.

It's 3 stars. At times it works well, at times it doesn't.

[Serge Pierro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seeing as how I play the Accelerated Dragon and Nimzo/Bogo-Indian defenses, I found this book to be of interest. Not only are the aforementioned openings covered, but there is also an overview of other openings to show the differences amongst them. It also covers lines against the English and other non d4 or e4 openings.

[Todd Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent recommendations for club players who don't want to spend a ton of time on openings. Easy to read.

[Edvinas Volkovas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite being a Benoni player against d4 and a Sicilian Kan connoisseur against e4, this repertoire book and its structure are magnificent. Until the ELO range of around 2100 I rarely have any issues with the openings as black. What lies ahead, time will tell. For now - no complains or regrets regarding this book.

[Curtis Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and logically laid out. Book structure is the best I've read in a chess book.

[Eric Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't read if you dislike sicillian. Half of the books (or more?) is about different variations of sicilian defence.

[JoeJJS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good repertoire trainer