larsens opening

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jake1frog

are there any books on larsens opening that are good

DarthMusashi

I saw a chess book on Amazon with this opening that had a very good
review. See link below

http://www.amazon.com/Nimzo-Larsen-Attack-Everyman-Chess-Jonathan/product-reviews/1857442865/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

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This review is from: Nimzo-Larsen Attack (Everyman Chess) (Paperback)

This book, "Nimzo-Larsen Attack" by Byron Jacobs and Jonathan Tait, is, in a nutshell, one of the most beautiful chess books I have ever seen (I don't say this lightly, as I have 450+ books). There are a handful of books that sort of "stun" me with how brilliant they are. "Pawn Power in Chess" and "The Amateur's Mind" come to mind. Although this Nimzo-Larsen book is not an instructive manual like those classics, it is equally classic and equally stunning. If you see it on the shelf at a bookstore, it just looks like another Everyman opening book. But when you pull it off the shelf, the first thing you notice is its weight. It is 193 pages long, not 144 or 160 pages like nearly all other Eveyrman books. With its double-column format and dense print, it seems like about 500 pages worth of material. But of course length does not equal quality. What distinguishes this work is the incredible depth of its research and information, and its passion. These authors wrote as if they were being paid great sums of money for this work. In a note, they will compare a line to another game. But instead of just saying, "white/black was better," they say, "the remaining moves of the game were..." and give all the remaining moves, with important annotations. This is incredibly helpful, because in the Nimzo-Larsen you will frequently arrive at an equal middlegame with perhaps a slight plus for white, and your endgame skills will decide the day. So, it is essential that the authors did this. Consequently, you have hundreds and hundreds of complete games in the notes. You absorb and learn the opening. But do not get the impression that this is a data-dump. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a labor of love, that has to be seen to be believed. The annotations are insightful and meaningful, with constant note of transpositions (also huge in the N-L), and constant verbal evaluations of moves and positions and references to other sources (the bibliography is the largest I have ever seen). These games were put under a microscope, and we get to savor the results. I flipped forward to the end of the book, thinking, it can't be this good for 200 pages! Yet the quality and depth never lags, through all 69 main annotated games and all the others in the notes. I somehow feel that I cannot do justice to this book. It is so important to the aspiring chess player. It is so packed that I will never exhaust its tresures. The Nimzo-Larsen (1. b3 or 1. Nf3, 2. b3) is a great versatile opening to study. One reason for this is that it offers innumerable opportunities for transposition, such as to the English, the Reti, and the Queen's Gambit. It thus has flexibility, which is a key to success in modern chess. But, opening aside, this is a uniquely wonderful opening work. These authors treat every game like it is their one and only chance to teach, enlighten, and to bring out all they can about the game in question. The annotations are as good a blend of text and variations as I have ever seen. Spend some time with this book, and its qualities grow larger and larger, to the point that I am practically in disbelief to how amazing it is!

mnag

Nice review, the only problem is that the book was published in 2001, which means the analysis in over a decade old and the theory of the Nimzo-Larsen has changed quite a bit.

KhaoSan
mnag wrote:

Nice review, the only problem is that the book was published in 2001, which means the analysis in over a decade old and the theory of the Nimzo-Larsen has changed quite a bit.

That would be a deal breaker for any Super GM's relying on the book.  Of course, there aren't any, since none of them play 1.b3.  For the rest of us, Tait and Jacobs are still fine.

ThrillerFan

The only book more recent than the 2001 book mentioned is one from 5 years ago in 2008:

http://shop.chesscafe.com/Play-1b3-NIC1398.htm?categoryId=-1

jake1frog

thanks everyone and i will look into these books

ergonjon
Hello! I wrote a blog post on some interesting amateur statistics for 1.b3 in 'over the board' chess https://thechessjournalblog.wordpress.com/2017/03/11/how-amateur-chess-players-respond-to-1-b3-larsens-attack/

Also this book is very good!

https://www.amazon.com/Play-1-b3-Nimzo-Larsen-Attack-Friend/dp/9056912569