With the recent attention to the Colle-Zukertort Opening^* it was interesting to open International Master Richard Palliser’s Starting Out: d-pawn Attacks and see that about 70% of his book was devoted to the same opening.

^{( *} see, e.g.

• Zuke 'Em - the Colle-Zukertort Revolutionized by David Rudel

• Rudel’s new The Moment of Zuke

• as well as the author’s “Four Keys to the Colle-Zukertort - A Car for the Future” and

• “Reviving the Colle-Zukertort Main Line” here at Chessville;

• plus Susan Polgar’s DVD Learn the Opening the Easy Way: The Colle-Zukertort System

• and The Colle System DVD by Nigel Davies.)

Palliser has already written Starting Out: The Colle for Everyman.

The difference between the two Colles?

With the Colle-Zukertort, Palliser notes:

White’s development scheme is very straightforward and easy to employ, but is also most certainly not without bite, as we will see.

This aggression is not gained by playing in a risky and unreliable manner, by the way, but with positional soundness.  Riley Sheffield, author of Tension in the Chess Position, once bemoaned that playing Black against the Colle was like “punching a turtle”.  A snapping turtle, I’d imagine.

Starting Out: d-pawn Attacks has four Colle chapters:

• The Colle-Zukertort against …Be7 set-ups;

• The Colle-Zukertort against …Bd6 set-ups;

• Other Defences to the Colle-Zukertort;

• and The Colle Queen’s Indian

...and they all have the kind of serious attention that Palliser has shown in past efforts (Tango!  A Dynamic Answer to 1.d4 comes to mind).  He makes good use of Everyman’s “Starting Out” format, providing plenty of “tips,” “notes” and “warnings,” as well as “Points to Remember” and “Theoretical Conclusions.”

Against defenses that feature Black fianchettoing his king’s bishop, Palliser recommends, instead of the Colle-Zukertort...

His coverage – 57 and  21 pages, respectively – is deep enough to give the reader confidence in playing these lines as well.

The Illustrative Games are well chosen and, as ever, the lay-out of Starting Out: d-pawn Attacks is a good blend of diagrams (two per page), white space and text; along with font size, bolding and italics.  This effort by Everyman Chess is important, because there is a lot in there, (as the old commercial used to emphasize).

I like the fact that there is a Bibliography included, and the Index of Variations and Index of Complete Games are very helpful.

Two caveats, neither of which dampens my enthusiasm for this book at all, come to mind.

First off, Palliser is clear that while the openings presented cover a lot of chess opening territory, they don’t quite add up to a complete opening repertoire.  For example, a few of the early Black I-don’t-want-to-play-the-Colle lines are better covered in Starting Out: The Colle.

Secondly, the title “Starting Out” refers best to “starting out with the d-pawn attacks” (rather than “starting out in chess”) and assumes a certain level of opening understanding.  A beginner who is just beginning to juggle center control, piece development and king safety might do best to start with GM Polgar’s introductory DVD (above) on the opening.

A player who has played enough chess to want to try out learning a particular opening might want to start with Rudel’s Zuke’Em book – it is truly a hard-working, passionate  billet doux of  a book.

Either of the above players, with time and experience, will eventually want Starting Out: d-pawn Attacks.  Those who are already devoted to the Zukertort-Colle will want the book right away – if they don’t already have it.
 

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