Book Notice: Sergey Kasparov's *Doubled Pawns: A Practical Guide*

Sergey Kasparov's Doubled Pawns: A Practical Guide isn't the sort of book most of us would sit down with and go through page by page, but it can be useful as a reference work. Think of it as a sort of encyclopedia rather than a novel, and you'll have the right idea.

You might wonder why anyone would write a book about doubled pawns, and here I'll refer you to the last paragraph. There isn't some essence of doubled pawn positions that covers them all, some key, principle, or secret such that if you possess it, you'll understand how to play any and all positions with doubled pawns. That model won't work, and doesn't exist.

What Kasparov does instead is to look at this sort of doubled pawn position and that, doubled pawns in opening x and opening y. In that context, the book makes sense, and becomes useful to those who play on either side of the opening in question.

The book comprises 148 games distributed through 10 chapters, some devoted to specific openings and some not, though many of the non-specific chapters still cluster around a limited number of openings.

Chapter 1 covers doubled pawns arising after ...g7xf6, which arises, for example, in the Bronstein-Larsen Variation of the Caro-Kann and in various Sicilians (e.g. the Richter-Rauzer line of the Classical).

Chapter 2 covers structures resulting after hxg and axb, which often arises in the Caro-Kann and the Slav.

Chapter 3 is on doubled pawns in the middle of the board. The first examples come from the line 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 6.Bc4 Be6 7.Bxe6 fxe6, and diversifies into other openings, such as Italian-like Ruys where Black plays ...Be6, White takes with the bishop and Black recaptures with the f-pawn.

Chapter 4 is on isolated doubled pawns (which could have included the doubled pawns in the Pirc-Philidor line mentioned in the previous paragraph). Several variations are covered, and the focus at the end is on the Short Variation in the QGD that came on hard times with the Carlsen-Kramnik game from the 2016 Norway Chess tournament (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Bf5 7.Qf3 Bg6 8.Bxf6 Qxf6 9.Qxf6 gxf6 etc.).

Chapter 5, "Spanish" Formations, would have been better entitled "Doubled Pawns in the Exchange Ruy", as all the examples come from that variation. He looks at a variety of Black's conceptual options, so if you play either side of the variation you're likely to find this chapter especially valuable.

Chapter 6 looks at a grab bag of captures away from the center - often exf3 or ...exf6 as in the 4...Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6 line of the Classical Caro-Kann.

Chapter 7 concerns itself with doubled pawns on the c-file - think of Nimzo-Indian lines with ...Bxc3(+) bxc3 as your template.

Chapter 8 is a long one on Rossolimo structures, with long sections on both ...dxc6 lines and those with ...bxc6. (There are further distinctions as well, but the big divide is between ...bxc6 and ...dxc6 structures.

Chapter 9 looks at the doubled pawn structure arising in the current main line of the Petroff: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3.

Chapter 10 rounds off the book, and is a grab bag of other ideas that don't fit in other chapters and are too short for their own chapters. There are sections on doubled f6/f7 pawns in Sicilian/Sicilian-like endings, doubled pawns in the Benoni, tripled pawns, doubled pawns in the Berlin, doubled pawns on the e-file (not like the ones in chapter 3), French structures, doubled pawns with opposite-colored bishops, and to close things a miscellany within the potpourri of the chapter.

The book is most attractive as a reference book, and trainers especially might pick it up for that reason.

Book Notice: Sergey Kasparov's *The Exchange Sacrifice: A Practical Guide*

Sergey Kasparov, The Exchange Sacrifice: A Practical Guide. (Russell Enterprises, 2016.) 256 pp., $24.95.

Belarusian grandmaster Sergey Kasparov (no known relation to the 13th World Champion) is a prolific author of opening books, but as far as I'm aware this is his first book on a different chess subject. The book covers the theme of sacrificing a rook for a bishop or knight - the "exchange sacrifice" of the title - more specifically, the positional exchange sacrifice (often but not always with the materially weaker side gaining a pawn as further compensation). In other words, Kasparov examines cases where the sac doesn't result in material gain or a forced mate, but only in enduring compensation of one kind or another.

What that kind amounts to is the basis for chapters 3-12 of the book. The first two chapters are a little odd, or at least the second one is. Chapter 1 is "The Exchange Sacrifice in the Games of Tigran Petrosian", and chapter 2 replaces the last two words with "Anatoly Karpov". These titles are written with lawyerly precision: technically true but somewhat misleading. Most chess fans, especially those acquainted with Petrosian, would think that these chapters look at successful exchange sacrifices by those players. In Petrosian's case, they'd be mostly right. Most of the exchange sacs in that chapter are by Petrosian, and in almost every one of those cases he wins or draws. In the Karpov chapter, by contrast, he is often on the receiving end of an exchange sac, and his overall results in the chapter are relatively poor. (Maybe S. Kasparov has inherited some of G. Kasparov's antipathy towards the 12th World Champion?) There's also a noteworthy omission from the chapter. One of Karpov's best games, from what was unquestionably the best tournament of his career, was his victory over Veselin Topalov from Linares 1994. This game featured not one but two exchange sacrifices, and even if the author felt that the second one was more of a sham sac leading to clear gains, the first exchange sac merited inclusion in the volume.

After those chapters the material is organized by objective subject matter. Chapter 3, "Domination", covers exchange sacs where a "player tries to compensate for his material losses by optimizing the positions of his pieces which in turn become considerably more active than their counterparts"; in these situations "the sacrifice does not lead...to anything specific."

The subject matter of Chapters 4-5, "Fighting for the Initiative", "Trying to 'Muddy the Waters'", and "Utilizing an Advantage" are what one would expect from the chapter titles. But what of Chapter 7, "Simply the Best"? There is no thematic unity here, nor any guideposts that would help players generalize from the examples. The only common thread is that in each case the exchange sacrifice was the best move--but isn't that what we're normally aiming for in any case? (Not always, but usually.)

After this the chapter headings return to comprehensibility: Chapter 8 is "Launching an Attack Against the King", and Chapter 9 covers the flip side: "Reducing Your Opponent's Offensive Potential". If the ...Rxc3 sac in the Dragon and other Open Sicilians leaps to mind when you think of exchange sacrifices, you'll feel a sense of resolution and relief in Chapter 10, "Destroying a Pawn Chain" - though the title is a misnomer. (Pawns on [for example] a2, b2, and c2 may constitute a pawn island, but they are not a pawn chain - that occurs when pawns are connected by bonds of protection [e.g. pawns on c3, d4 and e5 constitute a chain].) Chapter 11, "Building a Fortress", is the longest chapter in the book, and it is followed by the finale, Chapter 12, "Activating Your Bishop".

The book concludes with 16 exercises. In each case the task is to evaluate an exchange sac, and this brings up an important point about the book. Kasparov is not giving a primer that could be titled, "Winning With the Exchange Sacrifice"; he is exploring the topic and examining the sacrifice in its many manifestations. There are no promises that it will or even should succeed. This is a strength of the book, not least because we will all sometimes be on the receiving end of the "gift".

The book uses a complete game format, and in all there are 197 games in the book. That's a lot of games, and I don't know how many amateurs will find the topic so riveting that they'll want to read through the book from cover to cover. It is a useful book, as there are few if any books dedicated solely to the subject, and Kasparov's upbeat writing style helps as well. If you find the topic interesting, get it; if not, don't. And if you're not sure, or if you're simply curious about the book, have a look at this excerpt. (Or at least try to. It's messed up at the moment, but I've contacted the publisher and a proper file will hopefully be uploaded very soon at the same URL.)

A Short Review of Sergey Kasparov's A Cunning Chess Opening for Black

Sergey Kasparov, A Cunning Chess Opening for Black. New in Chess, 2015. 334 pp., $26.95/€24.95.

Technically, it's not the Philidor that Belarusian GM Sergey Kasparov* is promoting in this book, but the Pirc line 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 which only transposes to a Philidor in case of 4.Nf3 exd4 or 4...Nbd7 (he gives both moves). Before that, White can vary with 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+, 4.Nge2 or the rare 4.f3, each of which is examined in some detail.

This is not an especially popular opening, to be sure, but it's not a bad one. Black's overall score with this isn't terrible, and just to single out 2014 and 2015 it has been used by many 2700+ GMs including Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Vasil Ivanchuk, Dmitry Andreikin, Baadur Jobava, Richard Rapport, and Alexander Moiseenko.

On the other hand, Black's score lately in high-level games hasn't been great, especially in the main line 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.a4. Initially I was going to check Kasparov's recommendations with what has been happening in top games, but a strength of the book is that there really isn't any such thing as Kasparov's recommendation, singular. He looks at lines with 7...c6, with and without captures on d4 and with and without ...a5. He also takes a (short) look at 7...b6, not to mention sidestepping all of this with early captures on d4 (on move 4, on move 5, etc.). Sometimes after the swap the Black knight goes from d7 to b6, and sometimes not.

Thus this isn't really a repertoire book, but a wide-ranging investigation of a system - or a swamp, as Kasparov jokingly labels it in the introduction and in the book's subtitle. Kasparov is a good guide, too, having played both sides of this opening for well over a decade. He writes with infectious enthusiasm as well, so if you need encouragement from your writers Kasparov is your man. Another attractive feature of the book is a set of 35 multiple-choice exercises. It would be better to have the multiple choice options on a separate page for hints, but even so the exercises are useful for the reader trying to consolidate the material. (And on current pedagogical theory, it's smart to try to solve them first.)

I'll stop short of recommending the opening, and because I'm not entirely sure about recommending the opening it would be strange to recommend the book. What I can say is that if you are interested in the opening, or have had a difficult time understanding it when you've faced it with the white pieces, this is certainly a book you'll want to purchase.

* Despite the last name, his grandmaster title and the fact that he was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, he is of no direct relation to Garry Kasparov.