The Diamond Dutch By GM Viktor Moskalenko 272 pages New in Chess |
I agree with the author's rallying cry:
''The Dutch Defence has become a new gorgeous diamond in the treasure box of modern chess openings - full of resources and surprising ideas.''
This is not a repertoire book; rather, it is a book full of ideas for both White and Black. The material is split naturally into three chapters:
The Anti-Dutch
The Stonewall Dutch and the Classical Dutch
The Leningrad Dutch
Seven symbols crop up throughout the book at important moments, highlighting when the reader is encountering a ''trick'', ''puzzle'', ''weapon'', ''plan'', ''statistic'', ''workshop'' and things to ''keep in mind.'' It all aids the learning process, as does the book's beautiful layout (enhanced by lots of diagrams, a page count allowing the material to breathe, photos of many of the featured players).
Anyone replying to 1 d4 with 1 ...f5 absolutely must study anti-Dutch systems to avoid being simply wiped out. The point is that Black's king is already feeling a little exposed after the f-pawn's lunge and he would like a few moves of stable development before the action starts. White can try a large number of moves designed to immediately rattle the gates of the enemy king: 2 Nf3, 2 Nc3, 2 Bg5, 2 e4, 2 d3, 2 Bf4, 2 h3, 2 Nh3, 2 g4 and even 2 Qd3 all requiring careful attention. Some of them look ridiculous but they can all bite the unwary. Moskalenko provides plenty of ideas in this chapter, even looking into the rarer options, such as 1 d4 f5 2 Bg5 h6 3 Bh4 g5 4 e4 Rh7, which led to a famous defeat in Gormally vs. Williams, but is by no means theoretically exhausted. 5 Qh5+ Rf7 6 Bxg5!? hxg5 7 Nf3 is one suggested ''weapon'' which may appeal to players with the white pieces. The dual threats of 7 Nxg5 and 7 Ne5 are difficult to meet.
. |
As Black, he nails his colours to the mast. ''The Stonewall is my favourite defence against 1. d4.'' (He prefers to start with 1 ...e6, which of course suits an expert on the French Defence and skips a lot of the annoying anti-Dutch options). The author runs through a suggested repertoire and presents his best Stonewall games, which are full of instructive and memorable moments.
A. Petrosian vs. V. Moskalenko |
Indeed, anyone put off the Stonewall by the prospect of suffering a completely inactive bishop should find plenty of food for thought in this book.
|
With a plethora of new ideas, sparkling games and delivered in very enthusiastic style, The Diamond Dutch is a significant addition to the literature on 1 d4 f5. It is entirely accessible to players from ''improving club player'' standard upwards.
Viktor Moskalenko is one of my favourite authors and I can happily recommend his latest book, which keeps up the very high standards of his previous volumes.
No comments:
Post a Comment