CHESS EXPLAINED: THE MAIN-LINE SLAV (David Vigorito)
112 pages (248 mm by 172 mm).
£12.99/$24.95/€17,55
Chess Explained books provide an understanding of an
opening and the middlegames to which it leads, enabling you to find the right
moves and plans in your own games. It is as if you were sitting at the board
with a chess coach answering your questions about the plans for both sides, the
ideas behind particular moves, and what specific knowledge you need to
have.
The Main-Line Slav is one of the key battlegrounds of modern
chess, with adherents among all levels of chess-players. It is notoriously
difficult for White to prove any advantage against Black's solid set-up, while
the lack of symmetry in the position provides scope for creative players to
obtain winning chances with either colour. This book discusses all major lines
following the moves 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 dxc4. There are many
strategic directions the play can take: sometimes the centre is blasted open
and piece-play dominates, while in other cases the centre becomes fixed, or
remains dynamic well into the middlegame. Vigorito dissects the most important
themes and nuances, placing them firmly in the context of the practical
struggle, making sure that readers will be familiar with the resources at their
disposal, and understand when to employ them.
David Vigorito is an International Master from the
United States. He plays regularly in high-level competitions, including the US
Championship. He has written extensively for a variety of publications and is a
chess teacher. This is his first book for Gambit. See also Understanding the Marshall Attack.
Download a pdf file with a
sample from the book.
"It is important to remember that the point of the book (of
the 'Chess Explained' series as a whole actually) is to provide the reader with
a fundamental overview of the opening, to set in place the ideas, principles,
and foundations for further learning. Where this is concerned, IM Vigorito does
extremely well. He writes more than competently, and with authority on his
subject. In the games I examined, I found a nice balance between verbal
commentary and variation analysis. Though experienced with the Slav, I found
his conclusions and advice objective and with a wish to respect individual
choice and tastes. I myself find this very important in a chess book,
especially when it concerns an opening." - John Lee Shaw,
johnleeshawonline.blogspot.com
"Vigorito, now established as a first-class writer, has an
amazing ability to include what seems like every important variation and all
the key subvariations into one of Gambit's Chess Explained series (112
pages), and include a lot of valuable original analysis. On top of that,
Vigorito has the knowledge and experience to locate the truly important lines
and games in a variation and weed out the ones that have lost their
significance (or have never had any)." - IM John Watson,
The Week in Chess
"…explains the dynamics of a very tricky opening and
the middlegame to which it leads." - Carl Portman, Defence Focus
"For players who want to get to know this opening this book
is a good choice." - Frank Große, www.schachlinks.com
"...the Main Line Slav has been played by an impressive list
of World Champions as well as most of today's top grandmasters, which makes the
theory of this opening an area of constant motion and developments. It is also
an opening where a solid understanding of the pawn structures and piece-play
will be the main factor in the success of any player who takes on this opening.
... As an introductory work to the Main Line Slav, this book is an excellent
place to start" - Carsten Hansen, www.chesscafe.com
"...comprehensive overview of recent developments in the
main variation of the Slav" - E Carl, Rochade Europa
"I recommend the book personally because of the abundance of
analysis and suggestions, nearly indispensable as a first step for setting up a
super-solid opening repertoire." - Martin Rieger,
www.freechess.info
"This handy book contains from my point of view everything
that one must know to play the Slav, especially the main lines" - Uwe
Bekemann, BdF (www.bdf-fernschachbund.de)
"Something I like about Vigorito is that he's top notch at
pointing the reader to positions he thinks will be important for future games.
He always gives clear explanations and evaluations making it easy for the
reader to get to grips with the material. Reading this book will prove very
rewarding for players wanting to get to grips with mainline Slav positions for
either White or Black!" - GM-elect Stephen Gordon,
3Cs Chess
"Vigorito does a good job of weighting what is important and
topical. This explains why the 5…Bf5 Slav gets over two thirds of the book
devoted to it with particular attention given to the most challenging variation
- 6.Ne5. ... [The book] explains this rock-solid and highly popular defense
with a wide brush and rarely gets involved in long variations, but that doesn't
stop Vigorito from throwing out nuggets." - IM John Donaldson, Chess
Today
"I like his writing style and genuinely felt I understood
The Slav better after studying this book. In my opinion this is one of the best
of the 'Chess Explained' range and one which club players should find very
useful and instructive." - Sean Marsh,
marshtowers.blogspot.com
"This book is certainly worth every penny you pay for it!" -
John Elburg, chessbooks.nl
"I found the introductory comments to each chapter ...
readily comprehensible and provided enough initial information to get an
immediate idea of what both Black and White are trying to achieve. Then in
playing through the games I was struck by the high proportion of explanatory
text ... [the author has] tried to stick to the ethos of the series in not
giving too many side-lines and variations, though of course it is impossible to
annotate games without looking at alternative variations at some point. ...
high marks for sticking to the task in hand. ... highly readable and
informative ... an ideal starting point for anyone seeking a new defence to 1
d4." - Alan Sutton, En Passant
"...a broad overview of a very complex system and fulfils
its function very well" - John Saunders, BCM |
