SECRETS OF PRACTICAL CHESS [Expanded Edition]
Author: John Nunn
Gambit (2007) www.gambitbooks.com
255 pages
$23.95

Reviewed by John Donaldson
 
This is an enlarged edition of a work first published in 1998. The present edition has grown from 176 pages to 255. The first four chapters have stayed essentially the same and for this part I offer the original review I did almost ten years ago.

GM John Nunn is well known for his books on the opening and ending aimed at the master-strength player so his most recent offering, SECRETS OF PRACTICAL CHESS, may come as a bit of a surprise. Geared toward the 1800-2200 crowd, SECRETS is worlds away from, say, THE COMPLETE NAJDORF: 6.Bg5.

This book is structured around five chapters: "At the Board," The Opening," "The Middlegame," The Endgame" and "Using a Computer." The first takes a serious look at the art of analysis. Nunn critically examines Kotov's "Tree of Analysis," with its emphasis on candidate moves and computer-like calculation. While Nunn pays due respect to this method, he points out that it can be very inefficient and proceeds to use some very pertinent examples to show why. One of his key tenets is the slogan "Don't Analyze Unnecessary Tactics [DAUT]."
 
As Nunn says:


The chapter on the opening is must reading for class players who love to play speculative gambits. The good doctor very patiently takes apart the Latvian Gambit as a case study that shows why irregular openings are irregular! He then shows the defects of "Winning with " books that choose offbeat and unpopular lines. To illustrate his point, he takes a look at GM Andy Soltis's book WINNING WITH THE GIUCO PIANO AND MAX LANGE. Soltis advocates the Moller Attack 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Nxe4 8.0-0 Bxc3 9.d5, a line that theory frowns upon. Soltis has several good new ideas, but ultimately Black emerges with the better of it after 9. Bf6 10.Re1 Ne7 11.Rxe4 d6 12.Bg5 Bxg5 13.Nxg5 0-0 14.Nxh7 and now 14 Bf5 (following DAUT) and not the complicated 14 Kxh7. The ensuring analysis is fascinating and answers the obvious question -- if the Moller truly gives White the better game, why don't more GMs play it?

The last two chapters of SECRETS deal with the endgame and computers. Dr. Nunn has authored several encyclopedic works on the ending for the specialist, but this chapter is designed for the amateur tournament player. The 52 pages cover the essentials in workmanlike fashion.

The section on using a computer can profitably be read by amateur and professional alike, because Nunn has no peer when it comes to divining chess through the silicon oracle. He offers an interesting discussion on game databases and the various pitfalls that can befall the user. Be warned: he has very strong opinions on the subject.

The main features which I regard as essential for a database program are:

It should handle databases of up to a million games (remember this was written in 1998 -- try 3 million in 2007! -- JD) without struggling. Of course, you will need a powerful computer to handle such large databases, but even so, operations on very large databases can be rather slow.

It should have facilities for entering both variation and text annotations, and manipulating these.

It should run under the current version of Windows. DOS is dead; forget anything running under DOS. Mac users will have to make do with what is available.

It should support opening keys of unlimited depth, and should have facilities for users to modify and expand these.

The ability to merge several games into one game with variations is critical. Once you have this feature, you will not want to do without it.

There should be an interface to a playing program, so that you just have to hit a key to see the analysis of the current position. A method of passing this analysis into the game is highly desirable.

Having dealt with the program, Nunn proceeds to the subject of the actual data. His advice is, pay a little more and get a professional product and not the "kitchen sink job where various databases are lumped together with all sorts of errors."
 
The new material first surfaces in the chapter "Using a Computer." When Nunn wrote the first edition, computers were not in standard use the way they are today and it's not surprising that the chapter is greatly enlarged. Nunn offers a primer on how to use databases, showing how to do basic searches, and prepare for an opponent. He then shows how to use a computer to analyze positions, pointing out its strengths and limitations. To illustrate his instruction, he gives two case studies, the first on the Najdorf Poison Pawn and the second on the Rossolimo Attack with 3 g6.
 
The final chapter is on chess literature. Nunn offers advice on how to choose a book and points out the need for due diligence when examining books that offer analysis that has not been checked by a computer for tactics. He also does two book reviews.  I found his assessments of RAPID CHESS IMPROVEMENT by Michael de la Maza to be right on the money. For those of you who are not familiar with de la Maza's book, it's an account of how he advanced from 1300 to 2000 by focusing solely on tactics and playing -- a sort of raw meat diet with no grains, fruits or vegetables. Nunn correctly calls into question many assumptions made by de la Maza's extreme training methods which leave no time for developing one's positional understanding and endgame skills.
 
Once again, SECRETS OF PRACTICAL CHESS offers first-rate instruction for the amateur player. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

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