Ukrainian GM Viktor Moskalenko has earned a reputation as an excellent and engaging author with his books THE FLEXIBLE FRENCH and THE FABULOUS BUDAPEST GAMBIT. His latest effort, REVOLUTIONIZE YOUR CHESS, is likely to produce a more mixed reaction.
The first page sets the tone for an ambitious project: “Thanks to decades of research and the development of computer programs, chess theory is quite well developed as far as the opening and the endgame are concerned. Still, once they have reached a certain level most players fail to make real progress. They focus their study on openings, a limited amount of strategic themes and classical tactics in the middlegame, and a collection of standard endgame themes. Which means that they do not understand much of what they are doing when they are sitting behind the board themselves, facing real chess problems.
How can this be? The answer is quite simple: the general rules of the game have not been discovered yet. Famous chess researchers have developed various systems which have been universally accepted in the chess world. But these systems are highly theoretical and often not very realistic. We need a modern, dynamic system. And I intend to offer you one in the present book.”
The author then lists “Moskalenko’s Five Touchstones” of dynamic chess:
T1 Material
T2 Development
T3 Placement of Pieces and Pawns
T4 King Position
T5 Time
This reminds the reviewer of THE METHOD OF CHESS by Josif Dorfman, a book not mentioned by Moskalenko, where his key tenets are:
1) King position
2) Material
3) Endgame with queens off the board
4) Pawn structure
These two books and similar works like MY SYSTEM by Nimzovich all have the same problem – one is left with the impression that the model games were played first and the “System” was developed to fit the facts. Fortunately, while the explanation of the “System” takes up the first part of the book the later chapters, which make up the bulk of the work, are really good.
Foreword: From Static to Dynamic Chess . . . 7
Chapter 1 – The Moskalenko Test of a Chess Player’s Skills . . . 13
Chapter 2 – Moskalenko’s Five Touchstones . . . 21
The End game … 47
Chapter 3 – Proper ties of Pieces, Pawns and Squares (PPPS) … 49
Part 1. King and Pawns … 56
Part 2. The Knight … 66
Part 3. Bishop versus Bishop: Two Colors … 70
Part 4. Bishops versus Knights … 81
Part 5. The Rook … 87
Part 6. The Queen … 101
The Middlegame … 105
Dynamics in the Middlegame … 107
Chapter 4 – Dynamics of the Isolated Pawn … 112
Chapter 5 – Botvinnik System: Chaos Rules … 153
Chapter 6 – An Early Middlegame: The Bishop Sortie Bg5/Bf4 … 183
Part 1. The Trompowsky Attack … 183
Part 2. A Dynamic Set-up vs. the London and Torre … 194
Chapter 7 – Time and the Art of Attack … 204
The Opening … 225
Chapter 8 – Nimzo-Indian, Sämisch Variation … 227
Part 1. The Sämisch – A Repertoire for White … 228
Part 2. A Trojan Horse in the Nimzo War … 263
Part 3. A Pawn Sacrifice and a Captive Knight … 272
Chapter 9 – The Dutch Defense Part 1. An Introduction to the Stonewall … 281
Part 2. Rolling Stones: A Repertoire for Black and for White … 305
Chapter 10 – Strategies and Tactics in the King’s Indian Four Pawns Attack … 321
My way of writing this book – an Epilogue … 349
Bibliography … 350
Anyone who wants to take up active systems with 1.d4 (the Sämisch and closely related 4.f3 versus the Nimzo-Indian and 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3 c5 7.d5 e6 8.dxe6 versus the Kings Indian) is in for a real treat. Moskalenko is a great expert in these lines and understands their subtleties well. Ditto for those who wish to master the Stonewall Dutch. Just how deep his understanding goes can be seen in his advocacy of 6...dxc4 after 1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 d5 5.0-0 c6 6.d3. This “English/Reti meets Dutch” line is recommended by Kosten, Davies, and Dunnington but none consider 6...dxc4 which is possibly the reason that Kasparov (vs. Short, Paris 1990) and Psakhis (vs. Vaiser, Tel Aviv 1992) chose 6.cxd5 (with the plan b3, Bb2, Nc3, Qc2, d3, e3 and a later a3-b4 minority attack) instead of the main line planning e2-e4. Against a double fianchetto with 6.b3 he advocates another one of his pet systems, an interesting setup with ...Bd6, ...Qe7, ...0-0 and his trademark ...Ng4.
REVOLUTIONIZE YOUR CHESS is not only an excellent guide to systems against the Nimzo-Indian and King’s Indian and the black side of the Stonewall Dutch, with fine chapters on isolated queen pawn structures and the Botvinnik System (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 dxc4), it also doubles up as a nice games collection of Moskalenko’s best efforts against strong opposition.
Recommended with the reservation to enjoy the examples presented in the first few chapters but not to take the discussion of the “System” too seriously.
