Gambit Busters

Med undertittelen "take it, keep it ... and win!" en leseverdig bok mye om møtet mellom klassiske gambiter og en moderne sjakkvirkelighet i analysemotorenes tid. Forfatteren IM Sam Collins starter med "I've never liked playing against Gambits".

Forordet hans starter slik:

"I’ve never liked playing against gambits. The problem is that in every opening gambit lines are available. And sometimes you just have to take these pawns, since otherwise your opponent gets a great position “for free”. Even with good preparation, facing a gambit can be nerve-wracking. As an example, I’ve been playing 1 e4 e5 regularly for a number of years, and still feel a twinge of relief when my opponent doesn’t test me with 2 f4 followed by some sideline. It doesn’t matter that this move is condemned by theory and laughed at by Rybka, it still puts me in a position where I have to find accurate defensive moves rather than reel off the first 15 moves of a Ruy Lopez while my coffee kicks in. Similarly, simply leaving that pawn on f4 (for instance, with 2...Íc5) has to be characterized as a concession – I get off the hook for the next few moves, but I’ll need to deal with White’s kingside space advantage and half-open f-file during the middlegame. Considering the above, writing a book like this might seem a masochistic exercise. However, our chess training tends to be the most beneficial when it’s uncomfortable, because it targets skills which most players ignore. So let’s get straight into a couple of examples I wish hadn’t happened."

Vi vurderer at dette er en bok mest for et høyere mellomsjikt. Den krever i praksis en viss basiskunnskap fra leseren om de sentrale gambitene, samtidig som dette ikke er et vitenskapelig verk som konkret viser "gjendrivelser" av gambitene på rekke og rad til bruk for mester- og elitespillere. Boka er på mange måter en rekke interessante foredrag og bidrag om og med ulike gambitåpninger og derunder "skjebnen" deres i dag.

INNHOLDSFORTEGNELSEN gir ikke kontroll over hva den boka rommer, men et lite inntrykk:

• Bibliography 5
• Introduction 7
• 1 The Fear 18
• 2 Historical Development 25
• 3 The Blueprint 38
• 4 Harsh Treatment of Romantic Lines 46
• 5 Escaping the Defensive Mindset 58
• 6 Breaking Down Gambits 63
• 7 “Something to Suffer for” 80
• 8 Korchnoi and Karpov 84
• 9 Profile of a Pawn Grabber 99
• 10 Counterattack! 111
• 11 Further Themes 121
• 12 Gambit Openings 144
• 13 Irrational Positions 175
• 14 Modern Gambit Examples 187
• Index of Variations 204
• Index of Games 205