Opening Repertoire for the Positional Player

Rating:
Summary: Full of practical wisdom
Review: Although this book might best be seen as a companion volume to An Opening Repertoire for the Attacking Player, I think it has great merits on its own. If you already favor 1.e4 and have devleoped a good tactical game this book will enhance your game by helping to add positional elements to your play. If you do not open with 1.e4 the book still has value because it includes solid responses for black to both 1.e4 and 1.d4. As a club player I have found the sections on The Kings Indian and The Sicilian worth the price of the book.

Rating:
Summary: great practical advice from a master
Review: Although this book might best be seen as a companion volume to An Opening Repertoire for the Attacking Player, I think it has great merits on its own. If you already favor 1.e4 and have devleoped a good tactical game this book will enhance your game by helping to add positional elements to your play. If you do not open with 1.e4 the book still has value because it includes solid responses for black to both 1.e4 and 1.d4. As a club player I have found the sections on The Kings Indian and The Sicilian worth the price of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Very helpful
Review: I am a rank amateur, trying to develop an opening repertoire to help me become a decent tournament player. Flipping through this book, I realized that several of the openings(Sicilian, King's Indian, Scotch) were ones I liked, so I decided to buy it. I really like the approach taken in this book. There's no way to get around presenting this material as variations to be memorized, but the authors do a good job of making it accessible and of explaining the reasoning behind the moves. Don't be fooled by the title- these are very dynamic systems leading to exciting middlegames. The only problem I have is that I've had the book for a week and the binding is already coming apart.

Rating:
Summary: Not a good book
Review: I bought this book along with the companion "An opening repertoire for the attacking player" and I have to say that I was thoroughly disappointed. The lines given are not particularly popular. Not only that, I crossed referenced some of the lines with other books and a database, and the results were depressing: hardly ever did white get and advantage and black's choices were rather limited. There are very few explanations. If you are searching for a complete repertoire, this is not it. You will not understand why you are playing certain moves.

Rating:
Summary: Not a good book
Review: I bought this book along with the companion "An opening repertoire for the attacking player" and I have to say that I was thoroughly disappointed. The lines given are not particularly popular. Not only that, I crossed referenced some of the lines with other books and a database, and the results were depressing: hardly ever did white get and advantage and black's choices were rather limited. There are very few explanations. If you are searching for a complete repertoire, this is not it. You will not understand why you are playing certain moves.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent value!
Review: This book is great! With white the authors suggest e4 and against the Sicilian, the Alapin (I love this opening because it's simple to play and tends to really annoy Sicilian players); against e5, the four knights Scotch game; against the French, the Tarrasch variation (Nd2); against the Caro Cann, the Short variation; against the modern/pirc, the Pirc-Ufimtsev defence; against the Alekhine, a system with Nf3. All these openings are relatively slow and positional in nature but ultra solid and with dynamic potential. What's more, they are played regularly by the leading GMs of today. For black against e5 they suggest a classical sicilian with Qb6 in the Sozin variation and the interesting Bd7 in the Rauzer variation. The main ommission is that they don't deal with the closed sicilian with Bg2 nor the grand prix attack but instead refer you to another book that they wrote. Against d4, they recommend the King's Indian Defense and the chapters on this opening alone are worth the price of the book. GM Gufeld, the co-author of the book, is one of the leading experts on the King's Indian. There are also chapters on how to deal with the annoying Trompowsky and Torre attacks. Lastly, the authors suggest ideas on how to react against 1. c4 and 1. f4. Overall the book is well-written and well presented. Any player who likes positional play and is not not a strong master or above will greatly benefit from this book. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Con Book of the Year
Review: This book would surely get first prize for the con book of the year. I'm sure the publishers and authors are sharing a big laugh at the readers' expense. Imagine an opening repertoire for the positional player that suggests 1.e4! Virtually all the defenses selected(like the Scotch Game, Sicilian, King's Indian, etc) would make a tactician's delight. And the authors' claim that they could be played in a quieter fashion doesn't obtain, for in most of the lines suggested your opponent could steer the game to fierce tactical battles! To boot, the book is also dishonest : in the chapter on the Sicilian for black, after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 the authors say, "well, white can play other lines than 2.Nf3, but to learn those you will have to buy our other book." In a nutshell, this book should be entitled "An Incomplete Repertoire for the Positional Player Who Does Not Want to Play Positionally!"ÿ

Rating:
Summary: Full of practical wisdom
Review: This is an excellent book by a voice of experience. Some will argue with the idea of a book of "positional" openings all beginning with 1. e4, but really, there is no reason why you cannot play in a more positional manner with e4, and with a more attacking manner with d4. I think Gufeld's idea is that you are going to be able to control your repertoire better with e4. 1. d4 has so many things to be prepared against, but with e4 you are much more likely to know what you will face. To wit, you will generally face 1...e5 and 1...c5. The Scotch Four Knights is a fine opening, and if you study it, you will know it better than black. Frequently it will reduce to a scenario where you have the two bishops and doubled isolated c-pawns. The resultant scenario is rich with "positional" ideas, but in an open setting. Against the Sicilian, 2. c3 may or may not appeal to you, but clearly, it is a good move, and one that does allow you to determine the contours of the game. Personally, I prefer the Closed Sicilian, and Emms' Attacking with 1. e4 has an excellent chapter on the Closed Sicilian. The Gufeld book is very well put together, withe variations clearly distinguished with well-placed boldfaced fonts. Also, with each new line, all the moves to that point are re-written, which is very helpful. Finally, each chapter has a couple of illustrated games. I think this is an outstanding book. I could go on about his recommendations as black too, with the Classical Sicilian and King's Indian being great suggestions. Excellent book!

Rating:
Summary: Full of practical wisdom
Review: This is an excellent book by a voice of experience. Some will argue with the idea of a book of "positional" openings all beginning with 1. e4, but really, there is no reason why you cannot play in a more positional manner with e4, and with a more attacking manner with d4. I think Gufeld's idea is that you are going to be able to control your repertoire better with e4. 1. d4 has so many things to be prepared against, but with e4 you are much more likely to know what you will face. To wit, you will generally face 1...e5 and 1...c5. The Scotch Four Knights is a fine opening, and if you study it, you will know it better than black. Frequently it will reduce to a scenario where you have the two bishops and doubled isolated c-pawns. The resultant scenario is rich with "positional" ideas, but in an open setting. Against the Sicilian, 2. c3 may or may not appeal to you, but clearly, it is a good move, and one that does allow you to determine the contours of the game. Personally, I prefer the Closed Sicilian, and Emms' Attacking with 1. e4 has an excellent chapter on the Closed Sicilian. The Gufeld book is very well put together, withe variations clearly distinguished with well-placed boldfaced fonts. Also, with each new line, all the moves to that point are re-written, which is very helpful. Finally, each chapter has a couple of illustrated games. I think this is an outstanding book. I could go on about his recommendations as black too, with the Classical Sicilian and King's Indian being great suggestions. Excellent book!