New in Chess Yearbook 92

248 Pages, Softback Edition

New In Chess.2009

Years ago I was playing in a chess tournament in Sangli, India.It was the Informant era. Almost every player sought the latest issue of the Informant. So it was with some surprise that I noticed a seasoned player quietly perusing the pages of a different work. It turned out to be the New in Chess Yearbook. Of course he was not going to part with his prize possession. Few copies of the yearbook were available and so it was held in awe like a book of secrets.

Today the picture has changed. Players all over the world read the yearbook published four times a year. Each issue offers more than 30 surveys on every opening under the sun with lucid introduction and selected games with brief notes.

There are also popular columns like the Forum, Sosonko’s corner and book reviews by Glenn Flear.

 Of late I have come to like Flear’s writing. He offers a balanced perspective on opening theory, and his criticism is laced with wonderful humour and insight. If you would like to have a proper assessment of opening books without marketing hype there is nothing like reading Flear’s reviews. There are fewer variations in his writing, but they are worthy of attention. Here is an example from his review of Kill K.I.D by Semko Semkov. It appears that White occupies more space and his knights aggressively placed. In contrast Black's pieces on the queenside are not even developed and his King's Indian bishop hemmed in by rival knights. So what can Black do?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The surprise of this issue is 15-year-old Anish Giri.

 Earlier when Jan Timman had praised his talent on the pages of New in Chess  magazine I was a little sceptical. Had not the grandmaster gone overboard in praising a kid so young?

 

But I had to suspend my disbelief after seeing the following game with Giri's own annotations.

A stylish game marked by elegance and grace.

As for the opening, there is an object lesson for Black players against the English Attack: Do not place your queen on c7 so early in this line.That move makes sense in other lines where White has played f4 and is pushing for e5 break. But not here, especially, when the queen can be aggressively placed on a5 once White castles on the queen's side.

 The opening surveys form the core of the book. Here we shall take a brief look at one of them.The Queen's Gambit Declined along with the Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings in chess.It has proved its viability in both tournaments and  matches from the days of Capablanca to Kasparov.It is only the arsenal that has gone a radical hange. In the old days it was the Bg5 variation that was very popular. Today it's the Bf4 variation that is in vogue. Indeed, Magnus Carlsen lost a critical game against  to Vladimir Kramnik against this line in Dortmund 2009.

The following analysis indicates the current problems faced by Black:

In the final position White has more space and his pieces posed for attack. Black is still behind in development and at the moment his two bishops do not count for much. I still believe he is not without resources.This variation needs further tests over the board.

The other surveys in the yearbook are as worthy of atttention and would reward hours of study.

Highly Recommended

From the publisher's site:

http://www.newinchess.com/Yearbook_92-p-170.html

Link to previous reviews:

http://www.chess.com/article/view/new-in-chess-yearbook-91review