Nothing but Praise from Watson

I was very pleased to see Watson's recent reviews at The Week in Chess. Not only does he give 'Win with the Stonewall Dutch' unconditional praise, but he adds weight to his evaluation by stating that 'The Dutch has been a part of my recent writing (Mastering the Chess Openings again), and I got a chance to look at this book closely.'

As a special bonus Watson on the subject of the Ruy Lopez returns to my previous book with Leif Johannessen, 'The Ruy Lopez: a Guide for Black'. I take the liberty to lift the relevant text from his lengthy review:

In an earlier column I reviewed Sverre Johnsen's & Leif Johannessen's The Ruy Lopez: A Guide For Black, which promotes the Zaitsev Variation: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Bb7 10.d4 Re8. That book is a complete repertoire after the move 3...a6, that is, it includes solutions to the Exchange Variation and White's alternatives from moves 4-10. I consider it the best 'Ruy Lopez for Black' book in general, because in addition to great theoretical detail and a good choice of variations (see below), it has a huge amount of material on ideas and themes, strategy in the Ruy, and how to prepare and practice openings.

I have nothing to add!

Watson on the Ruy Lopez Guide for Black

I am embarassed that I have not been able to keep up my updates for some time. I have simply been too busy on too many fronts. But now it's starting to clear up, so maybe I will be able to fill an almost normal quota for April anyway.

I was pleased to see a review by Watson at the Week in Chess news site. It was fairly short (JW: "Unfortunately, this is one of the titles that I'm going to simply recommend without giving it the close consideration it deserves") but in general very positive. Watson, like Silman, draws attention to the alternatives we offer to the Zaitsev main line and warns amateur players against the dangers and efforts associated with the Zaitsev. It's becoming obvious that I will have to comment upon this in an entry quite soon.

I was more surprised to note that not even Watson manages to get the comparision with the Greet book on the Worrall quite right, as he too seems to miss that our lines merge quite quickly after the first departure. This actually is a quite straightforward subject, and another good theme for a blog entry.