Dealing with d4 Deviations: Fighting The Trompowsky, Torre, Blackmar-Diemer, Stonewall, Colle And Other Problem Openings (Everyman Chess)

When you answer 1.d4 with 1...d5 or with 1...Nf6, you are prepared for White's main lines, and for the Colle and BDG, and Reverse Stonewall, and whatever other lines your opponents have tried. But are there other surprises lurking out there, that will put you out of book on move three? Time on the clock can be a substitute for a small material advantage. You'll feel more comfortable after reading Cox' book, and verifying that you have at least some preparations for all of White's off-beat variations. Even if you choose your own lines (or maybe Kaufman's or Avrukh's), at least you know there won't be any surprises. A small warning. My computer found an opening that Cox didn't cover: 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bf4. It doesn't just lose.

For MANY years, I played (as Black) 1.d4 Nf6, and went confidently into the mass of theory that was the King's Indian Defense, fearlessly fianchettoing my KB and salivating at White's king, fantasizing about the upcoming regicide about to hit White. Even if I lost, I looked forward to a full-blooded battle. Then came a move other than 2.c4, and I started to roll my eyes. White played something I considered "lame" - for example, the Colle System. I ended up losing more games than I should have, and it took me way too long to realize that I could easily handle the full-blooded battles, but when White didn't want to give me what I wanted, I would lose my attention, fall asleep, and give the game to White.I finally decided that I needed to play something less committal (on my part), and after toying with the Budapest Defense (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5), the Benoni, and the Queen's Gambit, I came to the scheme of 1...e6, followed by the Nimzo-Indian, Bogo-Indian, or Queen's Indian. I played ...e6 first because I'm a die-hard French Defense addict, and I wanted to give White one last chance to right the wrong he committed by playing 1.d4.While these are less critical lines, and I haven't won as many games with them as I did with the King's Indian, I haven't lost as many either, and I find myself in the game for a much longer period of time than I did when I fianchettoed my KB. But there was an amazing dearth of good books on the annoying sidelines that John Cox covers in this book. Here, he gives coherent, understandable schemes to combat these "mosquito openings" as I call them, these openings that are more annoying than fear-inspiring. Cox writes very well, covering the major sidelines such as the London, the Torre, the Tromp (which was the reason I converted from the King's Indian to the ...e6 stuff), the Colle, and the Veresov (which I haven't ever faced). Cox covers these lines with a respectable system, the basics of which are easy to understand, but doesn't form one of those "systems against everything". His coverage, of, for example, the London System, is MUCH better than that of the "Winning With the London System" book I reviewed elsewhere. Basically, his system consists of ...e6, ...Nf6, and ...c5 or ...d5. He realistically approaches these lines for Black as not likely to put the White openings out of business, but at least allow Black to get through the opening and into the middlegame.I heartily recommend this book.

This book offers many lines on dealing with an opponents Queen pawn openings. Especially interesting to me is vs Blackmar-Diemer and the Trompowsky. As I said on an earlier review my opening repertoire has many holes in it (My peak USCF was 1800)and this book fills the holes in nicely. Even lines vs the what was called Old Catalan (1.d4 2.Nf3 3.g3)are given In the Colle he gives the QID which is what Rudel gives in his books as the best defense vs the Colle. Overall a great book for what to do vs Qp openings in one place.

good book, well packaged, shipped when indicated, good experience

This is a great book it just isn't for the faint at heart. I would recommend this book if you have a real rating of 1500 or higher or an online rating of 1800. I am rated 1700 on chessmaster and have drawn simulated grandmasters my online rating is 1500 but this book was definately beyond my scope.

Okay!

A nice book to approach the d4 openings

If you play chess, you'll have to face 1 d4 fairly often. And if you answer 1...Nf6, you may be walking right into a possible Trompowsky (2 Bg5), a Torre (2 Nf3 and 3 Bg5), a London (2 Nf3 and 3 Bf5), a Colle (2 Nf3 and 3 e3), a Veresov (2 Nc3 d5 3 Bg5), or even a Blackmar-Diemer Gambit (2 Nc3 d5 3 e4). Even if you play 1...d5, there are versions of all these systems that are still on. I guess one could play 1...f5 (the Dutch), but even then White can play 2 Bg5 or 2 Nf3 and 3 Bg5, or even 2 e4 or 2 g3 for that matter. At least, if you play 1...f5, you'll be able to answer 2 Nc3 with 2 ...Nf6, which might confuse a Veresov player, since 1 d4 d5 2 Nc3 f5 3 Bf4 is ghastly for Black.Still, most of us will need to find a way to defend against unusual lines after 1 d4 Nf6 or 1 d4 d5. And that is where this book comes in handy. Cox explains how to get back to the lines you wanted or to get a good game against these "problem openings."After 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5, White is clearly hoping to take your Knight and double your pawns. Or, after 2...Ne4 3 Bf4 d5 4 f3 Nf6 5 e4 get a Blackmar-Diemer gambit with an extra tempo. So Cox recommends 2...e6 here, and he gives us some good lines for Black. White can also play 1 d4 d5 2 Bg5, but that's not really the Tromp, and the author shows how Black can do well after 2...h6 3 Bh4 c6.In the Torre attack, after 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3, Cox does show how to play 2...e6 for Black. But he strongly recommends 2...d5 3 Bg5 Ne4, and I certainly agree. Of course, you will have to be able to defend a Queen's Gambit after 3 c4. The same is true for the London and the Colle. After 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3, Cox explains how to play 2...e6, but recommends 2...d5 3 Bf4 c5 and 2...d5 3 e3 Bf5.The Veresov goes 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nc3 d5 3 Bg5, and Cox recommends the exciting 3...c5, which means letting White play a Chigorin with a move in hand. I like this line for Black and I think it is worth learning.Many folks accept the Blackmar-Diemer gambit. But Cox gives us an Awful Warning about what can happen. A Master with Black tried 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nc3 d5 3 e4 dxe4 4 f3 exf3 5 Nxf3 e6 6 Bg5 Be7 7 Bd3 Nbd7 8 0-0 0-0 9 Qe1 c5 10 Qh4 g6 (Black is already totally ripped) 11 Ne5 Re8 12 Nxf7 Qc7 13 Bxg6 hxg6 14 Qh8+ Kxf7 15 Qh7+ Kf8 16 Bh6 mate. So Cox very reasonably recommends 3...Nxe4 here (the Hubsch Defence), in order to answer 4 Nxe4 dxe4 5 f3? with 5...e5. And after 1 d4 d5 2 e4 dxe4 3 Nc3, he wants 3...e5.The next unusual lines we see are 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 c5 without 4 d5. Cox shows how Black can still play some form of a Benoni or Nimzo-Indian against 4 g3 or 4 Nc3 here. But that leaves 4 e3 as a problem. Black can play a Caro-Kann and defend against a Panov-Botvinnik attack with 4...cxd4. But Black may not want to be on what I would consider the wrong side of an isolated Queen pawn attack, so Cox recommends 4...a6 and 5...d5 (threatening dxc4).The book concludes with some rare lines. 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Bg5 tries to avoid the Nimzo, but Cox explains that 3...c5 works well for Black here, as do 3...d5 and even the move that White was trying to avoid, 3...Bb4+ (although White will indeed play 4 Nd2 rather than 4 Nc3). 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 g3 aims at a Catalan after 3...d5, but Cox shows that Black can avoid this with 3...b5. 1 d4 Nf6 2 e3 is met by 2...c5. And finally, 1 d4 Nf6 2 g3 d5 leads to a very good version of the Slav for Black.This is a useful and well-written book, and I recommend it.

A useful book , now I know what to do when those tricky replies happen. A lot of the openings in here are based around d4 - d5 I usually do a KID which aviods most of these lines but theTrompowsky and Veresov was excellent and some of the Torre was very useful as the KIA can transpose from it, I did not see any mistakes that the 2star reviewer talked about ?? and I think playing these lines against a human being would be fine [ I have never known anyone to play exactaly the same to the end as a book rept/ so I dont see the point to include the last half ] I thought this book was well written, clear and easy to follow. recomended

Il punto è rispondere nel modo più tossico possibile alle divagazioni del bianco dalla classica 1.d4. Le varianti sono state scelte in modo tale da risultare le più noiose e fastidiose possibile per il Bianco

EXCELENTE Y RAPIDO EN LA ENTREGA. GRACIAS.

Dieses Buch bietet keine Lösungen an, es bietet Werkzeuge an, womit man selber Lösungen finden kann. Daher empfehle ich dieses Buch für alle, die mit Rechnern (chessbase, Shredder, Houdini, etc.) arbeiten und die sich gerne mit den d4-Abweichungen auseinandersetzen möchten.

Leider gab mir das Buch keinerlei Hilfestellung, da einige der Varianten lediglich nur kurz angeschnitten werden. Veresov wird z.b. auf nur 10 Seiten behandelt, das BGD auf sage und schreibe 7 Seiten abgefertigt. Insgesamt ist die bereits 7 Jahre alte Broschüre nur 144 stark und bietet nicht viel, was für den hohen Preis eigentlich als angemessen gelten dürfte.