Publisher: Chess Stars, 2012, Pages: 244, Paperback
"A complete black repertoire with 1.e4 e5 against everything except the Ruy Lopez"
PREFACE
My main opening weapon throughout my chess career, from 1998 to 2010, was the French Defence. However, in the last five years of this period I played a large number of games in the strongest tournaments in Russia, mostly against players rated over 2600, and I suffered many humiliating but well-deserved defeats.
These losses made me reconsider the situation and I came to the conclusion that the cramped positions in the French Defence are strategically risky and do not quite suit my playing style. At the beginning of 2010 I qualified for the World Cup and I had to make up my mind how I was going to try to neutralize effectively Ostap Bender’s favourite move (1.e4).
The overwhelming majority of the world’s theoretical experts consider that in reply to 1.е2-е4 there are really only two good moves.
Since the sharp Sicilian positions might turn my hair prematurely grey, I decided to study the calmer move 1...e5.
I managed to study the new positions quickly and easily and I felt quite comfortable with them in practice. By the summer of 2011 I was already playing nothing but 1...e5 and had no opening problems with Black, either in the Finals of the Championship of Russia or in the World Cup.
In this book I have presented all my analyses and my discoveries
during the World Cup. I believe that it will be useful for chess players at all levels to study them, together with the excellent annotations and explanations of Roman Ovetchkin.
The reader might justifiably pose the following question: “How to cope with the Ruy Lopez if you are Black?”. In fact, almost every variation of this opening deserves to be analyzed in a separate volume, so we shall reveal to you the tremendously complicated and fashionable Berlin Defence in our next book.
Finally, I and my co-author R.Ovetchkin should like to express
our immense gratitude to our friends, Grandmasters I.Kurnosov, P.Ponkratov and A.Riazantsev, as well as to my long-time coach N.Ogloblin, for their generous contributions and invaluable help during the writing of this book.
Igor Lysyj
Ekaterinburg, February 2012
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Part 1. All White Lines w/o 2.Nf3
1.e4 e5
1 Rarely-Played Moves. Centre Game 2.d4 exd4 . . . . . . . . .9
2 King’s Gambit 2.f4 d5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3 Vienna Game 2.Nc3 Nf6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4 Bishop’s Opening 2.Bc4 Nf6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 51
Part 2. All White Lines w/o 3.Bb5
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
5 Rarely-Played Moves. Ponziani Opening 3.c3 d5 . . . . . . 66
6 Belgrade Gambit 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 ed 5.Nd5 Be7 . . . . . . . 77
7 Glek Variation 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g3 d5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
8 Four Knights Game 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bb4 . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Scotch Game 3.d4 exd4
9 Göring & Scotch Gambits 4.c3 d5; 4.Bc4 Bc5 . . . . . . . . 105
10 4.Nxd4 Nf6 w/o 5.Nxc6; 5.Nxc6 bc w/o 6.e5 . . . . . . . . . 119
11 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bc 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 w/o 8.c4 . 138
12 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bc 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Ba6. 144
Giuoco Piano 3.Bc4 Bc5
13 Evans Gambit 4.b4 Bxb4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 158
14 4.d3 Nf6 various; 5.Bb3 0-0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
15 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.d3 h6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 178
16 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d4 Bxd4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 183
17 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
18 4.с3 Nf6 various; 5.d4 exd4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
19 4.с3 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 w/o 6.0-0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 216
20 4.с3 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 d5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 223
Index of Variations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
