Opening Repertoire: The Black Lion

En oppdatert, inspirerende bok om "Black Lion" som stadig blir mer populær. Svart spiller Phildors forsvar med den moderne trekkrekkefølgen: 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Sf6 3 Sc3 og nå enten 3...e5 eller først 3...Sbd7.

Denne åpningen har nå blitt såpass mye spilt at det er grunnlag for å gi stoffet en systematisk og tillitvekkende presentasjon.

Stormester Simon Williams har blitt kanskje vår tids friskeste sjakkforfatter og skriver om åpningsvarianter med ekstra praktisk trøkk med gode resultater som motspillerne neppe bør ignorere. Boka passer nok for spillere med ratingstyrke fra ca 1400 og langt opp.

Forlagets egen omtale:

The Black Lion is a thoroughly modern counterattacking system that is a nightmare to face. This wild and aggressive line attempts to take away White’s initiative from a very early stage and is guaranteed to throw your opponents off balance.

The Black Lion is essentially a contemporary and aggressive interpretation of the Philidor Defence (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6). The Black Lion starts with a slightly different move order, 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3, and now the lion family splits into two different animals: the risky lion (3...Nbd7) or the tame lion (3...e5). Both treatments are thoroughly investigated in this book.

Simon Williams (the Ginger GM) is the ideal guide to explain how to whip up an extremely dangerous attack using either treatment. Williams is well known for his swashbuckling, attacking play and the Black Lion suits his style perfectly. His commentary and annotations are always instructive and entertaining.

• The Black Lion is an unusual and dangerous system with little established theory.

• White cannot rely on simple, safe moves as such a strategy is liable to be overrun.

• The Black Lion is fun and exciting to play!

Fra forfatterens forord:

I first stumbled across the mythical ‘Black Lion’ around about 12 years ago. It all began when a follower of Ginger GM persistently messaged me, singing the praises of this aggres-sive opening. After ignoring many of his pleas to research the opening, I had a choice to make: block this Black Lion advocate, or spend five minutes taking a glance at the opening?

Luckily I made the correct decision and took some time to have a look at this opening, one that I had never encountered before. The first thing that struck me was how could I have not heard of this opening? Surely it must be rubbish if it is an opening that I have not encountered in my many years of being a professional chess player?

The more I looked, the more I fell down the Lion rabbit hole. What a way to start the game! Black avoids castling and aims to checkmate White on the kingside from the get-go, which is just my style. There was no going back from that point.

I then researched the opening and started to play it on a regular basis. My results were great and the most attractive thing about the opening is that it is so much fun to play. And surely that is why we play chess? To have fun, and to win!