All opening books are a rip off.

Not a fan of 4.h3 tried it a few times - not me at all.

In this game White appears to do nothing wrong and is
suddenly diffy his e-pawn.

First reacation as White here was to sac on g5.
This position is very close to resignable. Simply doing nothing is pointless.



17.Nxg5?! (the '!' is for despair).

White is doomed already so it's just a case of how you want to lose.
I prefer going down with all guns blazing and hope for a lucky shot.
Sitting back in these postions is hopeless.
The game is playing itself you have to get their tight ass wriggling about
in the seat.

After the sac Ne2-f4-h5 and sac again on e6.
He should see that and give him something to worry about.
In easy won postions like this players hate wrigglers.
(I've wriggled out of a few positions like this in my time OTB.)

But even after 17.Nxg5 hxg5 18.Qxg5 there is not even a tempo gain
on the loose e7 Knight as it's being held by tactics.



if QxN then Bf6 wins the Queen. Misery. Nothing will work here.
Would most likely sac the Knight OTB though. After 23...Qb7 it's
far too late to cloudy the waters.

Good Game.

I like it when white plays 4. h3. If one is going to fiddle about with the h-pawn play 4. h4 and give the Modern player something to worry about!

Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromfics
I just got that book in last month. The size vs price was a little upsetting. It is by far the shabbiest quality chess book that I have come across. Play a6 every chance you get! I get it already. 🙂
In all fairness, I did like his commentary of the games I played through. I don't think he proves that the Modern is sound (an impossible task), but he does give some good examples of how black can really make a fight of it.

When you say "by far the shabbiest quality chess book", in what sense do you mean it? I'm asking in terms of content or production or binding.

I loved the content, but the physical quality of my copy is poor, so much so that I intend to buy a second copy when it inevitably becomes theoretically dated and makes it to the "el cheapo" bin.

In terms of content, I really liked how he shared his experiences and mistakes, and how he thinks about positions and what he generally aims for. The book doesn't pretend to be completely objective- it's more of a "this is how I like to play it, and why", and I find that very refreshing.

Originally posted by Paul Leggett
When you say "by far the shabbiest quality chess book", in what sense do you mean it? I'm asking in terms of content or production or binding.

I loved the content, but the physical quality of my copy is poor, so much so that I intend to buy a second copy when it inevitably becomes theoretically dated and makes it to the "el cheapo" bin.

In terms ...[text shortened]... 's more of a "this is how I like to play it, and why", and I find that very refreshing.

I was referring to the size of the book again. Beating the Open Games is a nice thick book full of variations. A Spanish Repertoire For Black, come to think of it, is kind of thin too, but it's understandable. It is a companion volume to Beating The Open Games, after all. The Berlin Wall is another great Quality Chess book that is very nice and thick. It covers over a hundred pages on endgame theory before even getting into the variations. Tiger's Modern just struck me as too thin, compared to those other books. It seems like more of a pamplet than a book. I guess they set the standard too high on those others, and I was expecting too much. The Modern really can't have as much theory as 1.e4 e5, and it has even less theory when you only look at one way to play it (a6). What I looked at was admittedly well done though.

I have Quality Chess's Chess TIPS for the Improving Player by Amatzia
Avni.

(it was actually given to me personally by GM''s Aagaard & Shaw for all work I did) 😏

Good book and guess what?

It's full of Tips for the Improving Player!

Has a section called 'Beware of Marketing Bait' it's about our dear old friend
the Opening Book. In this case The Everyman series.
"The books are brightly presented" but then Amatzia demonstrates the flaw.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
I have Quality Chess's [b] Chess TIPS for the Improving Player by Amatzia
Avni.

(it was actually given to me personally by GM''s Aagaard & Shaw for all work I did) 😏

Good book and guess what?

It's full of Tips for the Improving Player!

Has a section called 'Beware of Marketing Bait' it's about our dear old friend
the Opening ...[text shortened]... n series.
"The books are brightly presented" but then Amatzia demonstrates the flaw.[/b]

To be fair, Amatzia demonstrates a single flaw in a single line in one book. True, most opening books are utter nonsense but they are often a valuable source of games resulting from a particular opening to study. Never mind the opening drivel err theory, feel the games!