The Kibitzer

Tim Harding
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Time to Change Your Opening Repertoire?
I said I would write about books this month, and so I shall, but so many have
arrived that it is not possible to examine them all. Since the summer is the
time for preparing new openings for next season, I shall deal with openings
books this month and leave the others for another column later in the year. If
you were thinking of changing your opening repertoire, using new books that
your opponents probably have not seen, there has never been such a wide
choice.
Part of the fun of chess for many amateurs is playing gambits, but the new
book by Irish IM Sam Collins is designed to wean you off them – or help you
to refute them if you are the defender. In Gambit Busters (Everyman Chess,
US $26.95, Chesscafe Price: $19.95) he begins by admitting he never liked
facing gambits, which are available in almost every opening, but he has
learned to face his fear and conquer it. After showing a couple of horrible
losses early on, he does show some wins later in the book.
One disappointment was that the book contains no examples of either the
Najdorf Sicilian Poisoned Pawn, or the From Gambit against Bird's Opening,
1 f4 e5!?. To compensate, he gives six examples of the Evans Gambit, to
which I have devoted far too many hours of my life. Here is Sam playing
against it.
Chris Baker – Sam Collins
England (Four Nations Chess League), 2009
Evans Gambit [C52]
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 b4 Bxb4
As Collins writes, "4...Bb6 is quite playable," to which I add: rather drawish.
5 c3