Cyrus Lakdawala cannot be stopped

Anyone notice that this author is cranking out the chess books these days at a frenetic rate? They are the Move-By_Move series, which seems popular, given how many are on the bookstore shelves.

Thoughts about this series, and of those by Lakdawala? I have his books on Capablanca and on the Caro-Kann. I like the Capa book...not too sure about the Caro one though. 

Usually if a chess book author is cranking lots of books out it is possibly a hack job. In the day ... Shiller, Keen & other english GM's were cranking out a lot of garbage IMO.

Eric Schiller is from the U.S. (it looks like if Schiller is in your group of english GMs).

I have the London Opening book by Lakdawala, I think that it´s useful to get the feeling of the opening, the ideas and some sample games. Even when it´s distributed like a repertoire book. 

But is difficult to take his position evaluations at face value, since he himself say that he is biased for white.

Sometimes it looks like he just want to put some anecdote in a game, even if it really doesn´t fit (he tell a story about when he interviewed Spassky and he said that one should be true to his own style, but it really didn´t belong to that game).

Yes... Schiller is a USA guy! I worded it wrong. To be fair they all have a few good books out but, not many IMO.

I don't think he's a hack. His prose is readable and he's well-reviewed. These aren't database dumps of yore. 

Ray Keene, bashed? Oh come now. The host of Duels of the Mind?

Capablanca Move by Move is quite good.

Would like to see more mainstream openings represented in the Move by move series - Najdorf, Rossolimo Sicilian, Grunfeld, etc.  I understand it won't be an easy task, but it would be a good introduction for intermediate players to some interesting and exciting openings.

I think he (and the series as a whole, to answer the OP) does a good job considering the intended audience.

Just know what to expect. If you want to familiarize yourself with a certain opening (or player) by going over 50 or so games with mostly verbal annotations then this is exactly what you'll get.

If you're looking for a very detailed coverage of an opening then there are better options.

PS I personally enjoy Lakdawala's anecdotes. 

Me too, but some people would think that he is just filling space.

They could be good enough for another book.

Like his fight with Gufeld.

I have the Capablanca book by lakdawala and for me its a good book,  i have schillers book on the caro-kann and id say its also a good book. Since i bought the book i readily adopted the caro-kann everytime as black, shcillers caro-kann book gives you options you need to study and see if your comfortable with certain schemes in the opening, like for example, i felt good both with the Botvinnik-larsen variation and the one by Kavalek so i adopted those lines and studied lines pertaining to them.

I have 5 of his move by move book series, and they are all great and entertaining! The Caro-kann move by move deals about ...Nd7 caro-kann, ...Bb4 reply (a la Nimzo Indian) to the Panov Botvinnik attack.

I am looking forward to buy his upcoming book Alekhine's Defence Move by move.

One caveat with his opening books...they deal only with his preferred lines, which are usually not the main ones. So...the Scandinavian book does not evaluate 3 ... Qa5 AT ALL. Nor does the Caro-Kann book address 4 ... Bf5.

So you are buying a variation book, not a full summary of the opening. For this reason they have limited value unless you want to learn that variation. 

The books are repertoire books, so it will normally deal with just one response. The books are not intended to cover the complete opening. 

Even if the books do not cover the variation you (want to) play, they offer great value for money. Cyrus Lakdawala is very good at improving your overall play, especially beyond the opening phase. I would recommend his opening books even if you do not play the opening itself, just because of the detailed and enlightening annotations of complete games. 

I own almost all of his books, with the exception of "a ferocious opening repertoire" and just going through all the annotated games has improved my game a lot.

>The books are repertoire books, so it will normally deal with just one response.<

None of which is made clear on any of the promotional materials or the jacket discussion itself. Caveat Emptor...not everyone who buys a book on the Caro-Kann does so wanting just one variation...especially if it's not main line. 

From the everyman website:

In this book, Cyrus Lakdawala examines the Caro-Kann, which enjoys a richly deserved reputation as one of Black’s most reliable defences. It provides an ideal blend of soundness and dynamism, which allows Black to create counterplay from a solid platform. Lakdawala shares his experience and knowledge of the Caro-Kann, presents a repertoire for Black and provides answers to all the key questions.

Yeah, that doesn't tell you WHICH line.  It's a useless blurb. You order this book online and you have no idea what you are getting. 

Just download the sample pages, containing the table of contents

Ok...but come on, one shouldn't have to do that. The promotional material and jacket blurb should make it clear that the main line is not addressed. This is a problem with both his Caro-Kann and Scandinavian books.

As far as the Scandinavian is concerned, 3. ...Qd6 is the most popular continuation nowadays and is considered the mainline.

For the Caro-Kann, the smyslov variation is less played than the classical 4. ...Bf5, but recently a lot of books were published with this variation, which perhaps would have made the move by move somewhat superfluous. 

Anyway, we are drifting away from your original question. I like Cyrus Lakdawala's books. They are always instructive, even if you do not play the opening itself. The move by move books on Capablanca, Kramnik and Botvinnik are excellent in my opinion.

> 3. ...Qd6 is the most popular continuation nowadays and is considered the mainline.<

That's debatable. 

>One shouldn't have to go through the arduous work of pushing a button and looking at a screen before shelling out his hard-earned twenty bucks.  <

If you are defending the publisher's decision to be vague on the jacket description and promotional materials, by merit of "some" venues offering the ability to browse a few pages...you are failing.

And PS...sarcasm almost always undermines the effectiveness of any argument, because a) it is rarely humorous  b) it doesn't often translate to non-native speakers who may be reading the forum and c) it suggests that the person making the argument  doesn't take their position very seriously, so why should we? 

Back to the monastery, monkish!

Totally agreed...