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There was a change in tone with the ascension of 'positional' chess and the Queens Gambit taking center stage. That term "Queen Pawn Game" still carried a stigma, as a player would dare not fail to push the queen bishop pawn up to c4 next to its brother. Even with such ideas dominating the chess world, there was a type of player who found work for the "Queen Pawn Game." Players of ingenuity and pragmatism like Colle, Torre, Veresov and Trompovsky did work that led others down the trail of the "QPG." The Zukertort opening was left in the box, most likely because it was the forerunner of the type. The Zukertort has again found a place in the arsenals of many players at higher levels, possibly the reason that it has seen more literary notice in recent times. Zuke 'Em is the most recent volume to appear on this subject. The basic sequence for the Zukertort is 1.d4 2.Nf3, 3.e3, 4.b3, creating the impression of a smart compact formation. It would seem that such a simple approach would hardly need many pages to describe, but players of this opening know it isn't nearly that simple. Author David Rudel takes his turn at tackling the problems that occur in playing this opening for White. The first three chapters of Zuke 'Em are introductory comments, basic breakdown of material and a chapter on the basic significance of certain pieces and pawns in the Zukertort formation. There are two chapters on the basic opening (1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.b3). Six chapters dealing with Black deviations follow and finally some exercises to train the readers memory. The two chapters on the basic structure are interesting as the author centers his work around specific move order ideas, mostly for Black, and describes how he suggests White should view these sequences.
The chapter I found most interesting is Chapter 7 on Slav defence formations. A necessity for any player of White in this opening is to have some idea of how to handle Black defenses based on moving the Bc8 early; this is the main thrust of Chapter 7. Standard practice for past authors is to work out sequences where Qb3 is central to White's approach, but Mr. Rudel takes a different tack, working instead on lines that transpose into the Slav Queens Gambit with White seeking an edge based on space and the 2-bishops. This is the type of stuff that transcends one opening and will prove worthwhile to a number of players. Chapter 9 is "The Sneaky Grunfeld," 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 g6. The solution given in the book is not really new, yet it still works well. One other area of concern to White is playing 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 c5. This comes up in Chapter 10 where the author goes a step outside the norm to find a way for White to profitably transpose to another line in the Queens Gambit. There is much to find in these chapters. Even so, I had three problems with Zuke 'Em. First, it isn't a repertoire book as there isn't any coverage of the KID/Modern or the Dutch. [Editor: For more on the basics of the Colle-Zukertort, and the underlying theory, see the two articles mentioned at the end of this review.] Second, there are some technical problems. On page 209 looking at the "ERROT" the move order 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 c5 4.c4 Bg4 is offered, but Black's third move is 3...c6. A simple typo, of course. Continuing on in the line (with 3...c6 instead of c5) 5.h3 Bxf3 6.Qxf3 e6 7.Nc3 Nbd7 8.Bd2 Bb4 9.Bd3 0-0 10.a3 Ba5 11.cxd5 exd5 12.b4 Bc7 13.0-0 Re8 14.Rfc1 Bd6; at this point a diagram is given with Black having a pawn on e6 and not c6! Mr. Rudel suggests a plan for White with 15.g4 e5, but that pawn isn't there! This is very confusing and makes the book difficult to follow. Another example is at page 48 where the plan of Bd6/Qe7/Ba3 is being described. Moves up to 10...Ba3 are in bold type with comments following. There is an immediate comment that the modern method is to exchange bishops to pull the queen offside and then stop Nb4 with c3. The moves 11.Bxa3 Qxa3 12.c3 are in regular type, all of this half way down the left hand column. Five lines down the right hand column is a comment that Black can capture on e5 before White plays f4 making K-side play unlikely, with the moves 12...Nxe4 13.dxe5 Nd7 14.Nf3 in regular type. Of course we can see here that the line of bold text and two lines of plain text work together, but because of spacing it makes following the analysis burdensome. Third, the author offers analysis that is a bit one-sided. Back to the "ERROT" on page 211, Mr. Rudel offers this line: 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 c6 4.c4 Bg4 5.h3 Bxf3 6.Qxf3 e6 7.Nc3 Nbd7 8.Bd2 Bb4 9.Bd3 0-0 10.a3 Ba5 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.b4 Bc7 13.0-0 Re8 14.Rfc1 Bd6. At this point Mr. Rudel uses his own analysis: 15.g4! e5 16.Qg2 e4 17.Be2 h6 18.h4 Nb6 19.b4!! Bxb4 20.g5 hxg5 21.hxg5 Nfd7 22.Nxe4 dxe4 23.Bxb4 with advantage. It seems to me that Black can organize a defense around 17...g5 that wasn't given any consideration. I understand that not every possibility can be analyzed, but this one seemed too obvious to me, as the Nd7 will go to f8/g6 and then h4.
I appreciate
Mr. Rudel's work on this book. Parts of the book must have taken a lot of
effort, especially the mainline and Slav work -- hard for someone who
doesn't list chess as an interest in the bio blurb. This book is not going
to work well for anyone new to the opening or trying to pick it up for the
first time. Players who are familiar with queen pawn openings will find a
lot of useful stuff, but also some fluff. My feeling is that at the high
list price, only players who are hard core QP players should consider
getting it.
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