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Chessville
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Johansson's follow-up, The Fascinating King's Gambit (Trafford, 2004), was again well received, catching IM John Watson's attention ("everything you need to know how to play 1.e4 e5 2.f4…"), tantalizing GM Jonathan Rowson ("it's clearly a labour of love, and that usually makes for pleasant reading and careful analysis") and causing GM Nigel Davies to muse about it: "Does fascinating help us win our games? …I think fascination helps with immersion but not mastery, and it's the mastery that helps us win." Mastery, as Davies would no doubt agree, comes from doing the necessary hard work with the right materials - and Johansson's dynamic duo of King's Gambit books fill the bill for those of us less-than-Masters. So now the Swedish swashbuckler shares with us another opening that he has fallen in love with, The Fascinating Réti Gambit. Perhaps to forestall puzzled looks – Richard Réti the Hypermodern, as a NeoRomantic Gambiteer!? – Johansson has subtitled his book 1.e4 e6 2.b3!? A Fun Anti-French! Listen to the book's siren call:
Even those club players who relish their own secret recipes against the "King Pawn one square" defense - say, the tasty Winkelmann-Reimer Gambit, 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 dxe4 6.f3 or the spicy Wing Gambit 1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e5 c5 4.b4 - may wish to try some of Johansson's home cooking.
Black can instead counterattack with 5…Bd6, which leads to a wild game, as analysis by Johansson, GM Gurevich and Fritz9 shows. Section 2 covers the more sedate alternative for attacking the advanced black e-pawn, 5.d3, a idea from Tartakower. Johansson adds his own recommendation, 5.Qe2. All three approaches for White give him compensation for his pawn, and chances for at least an edge – if not more than that. Sections 3 - 13 focus on play after Black decides to protect the advanced e-pawn with a Knight (instead of a pawn) - 1.e4 e6 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2 de 4.Nc3 Nf6 - to which White responds with Réti's 5.Qe2 (from Réti - Maroczy, Gothenburg 1920):
He also puts a lot of energy into 5…Bb4 6.0-0-0 and Black's various responses. The author consistently shows the relevant games (old as well as current, including his own), analyzes with the help of his silicon friend, is familiar with the relevant French Defense literature (including Harding, Keres, Minev, Psakhis, Schwarz, Suetin and Watson) and has suggestion for both sides. He notes:
White's main ideas revolve around if/when to capture the pawn at e4, which side to castle (usually Queenside), and how to use g2-g4 to undermine Black’s center and start an attack on his King. Here’s a taste of Johansson’s work:
After this excerpt, Chessville readers should be closer to being able to decide if The Fascinating Réti Gambit is for them or not. One group that should probably “pass” on the book is those who want to be told which one line to play in an opening, and not be distracted by other alternatives, however interesting! Sections 14 through 18 cover the Papa Gambit, 1.e4 e6 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2 d3 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.g4, named after Mike Papa, Jr., who wrote a booklet on the line in 1991.
But, let’s say the “frenchies” (as Johansson refers to those who answer 1.e4 with 1…e6) don’t really want the white e-pawn after all, and play something sly like 1.e4 e6 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2 Nf6. What is White to do then?
While most books look at either 4.exd5 exd5 5.Nf3 (or 5.Qe2) and 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3, both lines go nowhere in Johansson’s opinion, and he offers Papa’s less-explored 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Qg4 c5 6.f4 Nc6 7.Nf3 as a place to look:
Play is much more strategic compared to that after 3…de, akin to the lines of an unusual Advance French (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5) and the author takes the time to point out the important questions for White, e.g. where do the pieces go, and where does the King go when he castles? As always, he is frank about what is happening:
Section 26 covers the alternate retreat 4…Ng8, which is not promising for Black. Tactical maniacs will be able to use this portion of The Fascinating Réti Gambit to learn about “the structural and developmental prerequisites for an attack” (ok, I made that phrase up myself) – kind of like eating your veggies along with the meat and potatoes. If they feel at all unhappy about this, they should blame it on the frenchies, not the Swede! In each and every line the author strives to deliver at least a “+/=”. (By the way, Johansson mentions an alternative gambit, 1.e4 e6 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2 Nf6 4.d3!? de 5.Nd2 exd3 6.Bxd3 but he makes no promises.) The second player can also take the game into Sicilian waters with 1.e4 e6 2.b3 c5 or 1.e4 e6 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2 c5:
Coverage is not as deep as in the main lines of the Réti Gambit (the book has only 228 pages!), but it will give players enough moves, structures and plans to get started and find their way through most of what they will meet over-the-board. After all, most players answer 1.e4 with 1…e6 intending to play the French Defense, not the Sicilian. (Note to self: if 1.e4 e6 2.b3 c5 is uncomfortable, find something other than 2.b3 to play against 1.e5 c5) What’s left? How about 1.e4 e6 2.b3 d5 3.Bg2 d4 or 3…Nc6, 3…a6 3…Nd7. While rare, none of them are unpalatable for Black, so Johansson gives ways to meet each in section 31. In the last section, he addresses 1.e4 e6 2.b3 Be7, 2…Qf6, 2…e5, and 2…Nf6. What should Black do when faced with the Réti Gambit? What’s the “best” response of all those available to him? (He should get The Fascinating Réti Gambit. And study it, of course!) French Defender IM John Watson recommends that Black meet 1.e4 e6 2.b3 with 2…b6, Owen’s Defence, (possibly transposing later, with …c7-c5, to a sideline of the Sicilian, or with …d7-d5 to the French again). Johansson is impressed – “I advise you to study this section carefully, to avoid some quick and painful losses.” The author squeezes the regular Réti setup of pieces and pawns for whatever he can get out of it (not a whole lot) and then opines that 3.d4 may be “the Achilles heel of the 2…b6 move order.” There is plenty of room for experimentation, and this section of the book is tantalizingly short, but the general idea is to seek out positions where b2-b3 is more advantageous (or less disadvantageous) for White than b7-b6 is for Black. Chances are that if you take up the Réti Gambit, many of your opponents (if you are below master level) will be totally unfamiliar with it, much to your advantage. A while back Tim McGrew, in his “Gambit Cartel” column for Chess Café, wrote an article on the opening entitled Terra Incognita, that is, “unknown territory.” He tried an “experiment” – without studying or even playing over any complete games, he tried 1.e4 e6 2.b3 to “see whether just by disorienting my opponents I could achieve interesting and playable positions.” He was quite happy with his results. Imagine how well he would have done had he known the details of the opening… At the same site at a different time, Nigel Davies presented an annotated Réti Gambit game, noting at one point “This is all very exciting but it’s not very impressive if Black plays sensibly.” A fair warning – but one that is applicable to every opening (including my beloved Jerome Gambit). White’s edge comes from surprise & novelty – as well as a better understanding of what should be played where and when in a dynamic opening setup. Until all that wisdom can be bottled as a skin lotion, and simply rubbed onto the forehead before a game, even fascinating chess openings will require some of that infamous 4-letter word: work. The Fascinating Réti Gambit is published by Lulu, a print-on-demand publisher, which means that the author did all of the manuscript preparation, layout, editing, etc. himself. That is a lot of long, hard and tedious work. (Anyone who doubts this has never done it.) Yet the layout and use of white space, diagrams, fonts, bolding, and the occasional underlining make the book very readable – and I recall finding only one typo, which is rather amazing. The Index, as noted, is very helpful, and the list of Sources (i.e. Bibliography – yay!), inclusive. For the adventurous soul (club player to master) who is a bit tired of the “same old, same old” lines played against the French Defense, I can recommend Thomas Johansson’s book wholeheartedly. Oh, and The Fascinating Réti Gambit ends with a request by Johansson:
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