Best book on Four Knights

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Avatar of FrogCDE

I am starting to play the Four Knights Opening, and am thinking of getting a book on it. My main interest is the Glek Variation (4.g3), though I have also tried the Scotch Four Knights, and would be interested in looking at the Spanish, too. I am hesitating between the books by Pinski and Lakdawala (the one by Obodchuk apparently concentrates on the Spanish). Any recommendations, please?

Avatar of bufferunderrun

I have Pinski's book, but not the ones by Obodchuk or Lakdawala, so it's hard to compare them.

From the sample pages [1][2] it looks like Obodchuk doesn't cover Glek at all and Lakdawala has about 30 pages on Glek. Given that Lakdawala's book is not a repertoire book, but a move-by-move, he probably goes deeper into describing individual moves. With 5-6 pages a game he likely covers about 5-6 games in total.

Pinski has about 50 pages on Glek, deals with 4...Bc5 (10 games), 4...d5 (13 games) and some sidelines (7 games; Be7, g6, Bb4 and Nd4. Note: doesn't deal with 4...Nxe4).

If you're looking for a repertoire book, I would go with Pinski.

[1] Obodchuk: https://www.newinchess.com/Shop/Images/Pdfs/959.pdf
[2] Lakdawala: http://www.everymanchess.com/extract/Four%20Knights%20MBM%20extracts.pdf

Avatar of FrogCDE

Thanks, cavelorum. Looks like the Pinski is preferable. I'm playing in a tournament this weekend and will look out for it on the bookstall.

Avatar of bufferunderrun

Good luck with the tournament. Smile

Avatar of Chicken_Monster

@Frog: What else do you like to play from the White side and also from the Black side with 1.e4 e5?

Avatar of Chicken_Monster

@cavelorum and you other folks - same questions:

What else do you like to play from the White side and also from the Black side with 1.e4 e5?

Avatar of bufferunderrun

Obviously depends on what your opponent plays, but in general:

With White: Spanish/Ruy Lopez, Italian and Four Knights (Glek).

With Black: Spanish/Ruy Lopez (Chigorin, Steinitz, Berlin), Russian/Petroff, Two Knights.