OPENING FOR WHITE ACCORDING TO KRAMNIK: 1.Nf3, Volume 1.b.
Author: Alexander Khalifman
$27.95
288 pages
Chess Stars (2006)

Reviewed by John Donaldson
 
Around 2000 a series of books, five in all, came out under the heading OPENING FOR WHITE ACCORDING TO KRAMNIK: 1.Nf3. Published by Chess Stars (http://www.chess-stars.com) this series examined under the microscope the repertoire of Vladimir Kramnik. A team, headed by former FIDE Champ Alexander Khalifman, wrote the books as if preparing a very strong player from the ground up. One might have thought that the approximately 1500 pages in the series would have entitled the authors to a long vacation, but the recent appearance of OPENING FOR WHITE ACCORDING TO KRAMNIK: 1.Nf3, Volume 1.b. is evidence that these guys are real Stakhanovites!
 
Let's compare the first edition with the second. The first, which dealt with all lines in the King's Indian, Anti-Grunfeld and Old Indian, was 239 pages. This time around the volume deals only with 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.d4 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0, and Black plays 7...exd4, 7...Na6, or 7...Nc6. Even in 288 pages the authors were not able to squeeze in lines in the KID with ...Nbd7! Clearly the authors have not contented themselves with some changes. Once again the heart of the repertoire is Kramnik's favorite 9.b4 Nh5 10.Re1, which merits almost 50 pages alone.
 
The first few volumes in the original series (and the companion volumes on 1.e4 based on Anand's repertoire) suffered from some funky English, but that has been considerably improved in the present book and, while not offering perfect English, more than gets the job done. Likewise the opening index is quite serviceable although the book is well enough organized that you should rarely have to consult it. With the huge amount of theory to work through, and there is a lot, the conclusions at the end of each chapter are very helpful in clarifying where things stand.
 
This is not a book for those who have neither the time nor the inclination to study. There is lots of prose to orient the reader but that does not get around the fact that there is a lot of material to absorb. This is not like the Everyman Starting Out series. If you are over 2000 (maybe even 2200) and want to significantly improve your openings, and if you play 1.Nf3 and also enjoy a fair number of 1.d4 openings then this is the book for you. It can be useful for IMs and GMs.

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