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Title: Pirc Alert!: A Complete Defense Against 1. e4 by Lev Alburt, Alex Chernin ISBN: 1-889323-07-1 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: April, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.41 (22 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: One of the best opening books I have read...
Comment: This is one of the finest opening books I have read. First a warning. The Pirc defence is not for the novice. The defence is complex, subtle, fluid and requires a high degree of positional understanding and defensive skill. It is one of the most complex responses to 1. e4 that Black can play. From this perspective it is amazing that the authors have written such a lucid book. Lev Alburt's didactic approach is enhanced by Alex Chernin's specialist knowledge. The end product is a superb book. I have read hundreds of opening books, but this ranks as one of the best, if not THE best. You will understand the Pirc defence after reading this book. While not every variation is covered, most are covered more than enough for the average club hacker. If you are below FIDE 2200 you will benefit from this book. However, having said that, I am not convinced that the class C to low B player should adopt this opening. But, if you like complex positions with plenty of room for originality and fluctuating pawn structures... go for it. You wont get a better guide than this book.
Rating: 4
Summary: The bishop belongs on e7
Comment: I agree with one of the reviewers that says "To fianchetto the bishop against 1 e4 is inferior at club level play" (I'm paraphrasing). I used to play the King's Indian against both 1 d4 and 1 e4 and I know exactly what he means. Although the fianchetto setup is very solid defensively in the opening, the bishop lacks offensive punch, especially if c3 is played after d4. In fact, I'm currently studying ways to defeat the bishop fianchetto setup using the Fritz 8 database (although I'm a d4 player, the fianchetto setup is also fallable, but much tougher than, say the Queen's Indian). If white doesnt move his c- and d-pawns after d4 and c3, what does the black king's bishop have to strike? Granite? Meanwhile, since the center is usually still at least semi-closed white can trade off his Bishop, keep his queen at h6, and then pawn storm and minor piece black into oblivion.
The modified pirc I'm playing to correct this problem involves something like this: 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Bd3 h6?! (I do not want Bg5) 4 Nf3 Bg4 5 h3 Bh5 6 0-0 a6?! (again, no Bb5 to harass my precious knights, which are about to help close the center) 7 Nc3 Nc6 8 Bf4 Nd7!? (often chased to this square by the bishop or e-pawn, but this time it's on offensive repositioning) 9 Re1 e5
Usually d5 will follow, but dxe5 is easily met by a multiple minor piece exchange, that favors the side with less space (black).
Now, with 10 d5, black will play ...Nb8 ...Be7, ...0-0, and have a nice game after ...f5. Remember that in a closed center, moves like h6 and a6 do not lose important tempos as they would in an open system. And unlike, Bg7, the Be7 is poised to be traded off to facilitate a kingside attack by black, not white!
Rating: 3
Summary: useful but . . .
Comment: This is a reasonable though flawed introduction to the Pirc. It provides a useful introduction to the main ideas involved in the most important lines and also includes a moderate amount of detailed analysis. The flaws are of three types:
1. Annoying omissions. For example, there is no mention of White alternatives other than 2.d4. This would be acceptable in a book on topical variations or a review for players of 2000+ strength. But some discussion should really be included in a guide for club players, since (for example), 2.d3 and 2.f4 easily lead to lines with independent significance. A brief chapter addressing unorthodox White second moves doesn't seem too much to ask. Some of the subsections similarly omit White choices as early as move four or five that the Pirc player will see frequently.
2. The authors are far too glib in claiming that this opening can be essayed successfully with only a modest amount of theoretical knowledge. If you are looking for a response to 1.e4 that is playable without much study the Petroff, Scandinavian or forcing lines of the Ruy Lopez (e.g., Schliemann variation) would be a better choice. The strategic ideas in the Pirc are, in general, much clearer for White than for Black (especially the thematic h-pawn assault and associated king-side attack); the latter player therefore needs more theoretical preparation.
3. Discussion of middle game ideas are sometimes deficient. There are a lot of comments at the end of analyses such as: "and black gets good play." But there is often no discussion of the middle game themes and the typical club player will not find obvious the source of that play. The judicious addition of complete games with analysis would have beeen a good idea. But even the addition of more complete games without analysis would have helped to flesh out salient middle game and end game ideas without producing an unwieldy tome.
Despite its shortcomings, Pirc Alert is a useful introduction to the Pirc for the club player. But the tournament player will need supplemental sources to have hopes of real mastery.
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Title: Modern Defence (Everyman Chess) by Jon Speelman, Neil McDonald ISBN: 1857442814 Publisher: Everyman Chess Pub. Date: 01 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Starting Out: The Pirc/Modern (Starting Out) by Joe Gallagher ISBN: 1857443365 Publisher: Everyman Chess Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: My System: 21st Century Edition by Aron Nimzowitsch, Lou Hays ISBN: 1880673851 Publisher: Hays Publishing Pub. Date: 01 March, 1992 List Price(USD): $17.50 |
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Title: Bronstein On the King's Indian by David Bronstein ISBN: 1857442652 Publisher: Everyman Chess Pub. Date: 01 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Pawn Structure Chess (McKay Chess Library) by Andrew Soltis ISBN: 0812925297 Publisher: Random House Puzzles & Games Pub. Date: 01 November, 1995 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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