When Mr. Harvey contacted me and inquired whether I’d like to review his book, I warned him that positive reviews are not guaranteed and that I’ve been known to trash a book or two in my time. Showing faith in his work and more than a dollop of courage, he sent me a copy anyway and said he liked the idea of honesty in reviews. With this in mind, let’s now take an up front look at COLLE PLAYS THE COLLE SYSTEM.

Of the three books I’ve already reviewed on the ever-popular Colle System (COLLE SYSTEM: KOLTANOWSKI VARIATION 5.c3 by Soltis [complete crap!], WINNING WITH THE COLLE SYSTEM by Smith/Hall/Myers/Harding/ Koltanowski [not bad], and THE ULTIMATE COLLE by Lane), the best to date was THE ULTIMATE COLLE. I wondered if Mr. Harvey was going to bring anything new to the table and, as it turned out, he did.

Instead of feeding us the usual “here are a few ideas and now here is tons of analysis,” he came up with a very logical scheme: he offers every game Colle ever played using the Colle (116 in all, and almost every one is annotated.)! I’ll analyze his book’s ultimate worth in a dueling “Bad News” and “Good News” sort of way.

BAD NEWS 1: Poor proofing has allowed quite a few errors into the book, from diagram mistakes to missing letters. Also the book’s design sometimes makes things somewhat difficult to follow.

GOOD NEWS 1: You’re getting 178 pages of fascinating stuff for only $14.95. Was the poor publisher supposed to pay top dollar for a team of world-class typesetters and proofreaders and then sell the thing for next to nothing? Yes, Everyman Chess titles (one of the top three chess publishing houses) look far better and are relatively error free (Some mistakes always find their way into a book, it’s unavoidable!), but you pay about seven bucks more for 50 pages less! Chess Enterprises titles are, by definition, fairly low budget affairs. You buy from this publisher expecting that, but hoping for a quality effort by the writer.

BAD NEWS 2: Occasionally Mr. Harvey makes a comment about a line or game that leads me to doubt his chess strength. Let’s take the following diagram (From Colle-Maroczy, San Remo 1930. A draw was agreed in this position.) as an example:

WHITE TO MOVE, DRAW AGREED

Things don’t get more boring than this, yet the author said, “With the queenside majority and a good square for his knight on d4, one might have expected Colle to continue.”

No, one wouldn’t expect such a thing at all. First, Maroczy was a far better endgame player than Colle ever was. Second, Black’s King is closer to the center than White’s. This means that, once Black’s King reaches e5 or d5, the queenside majority won’t be an advantage at all (The supposed plus of a queenside majority is based on both players being castled kingside. In this case, the Kings are far from the queenside and that makes the farthest majority valuable since the opposing King would have to make a mad dash to stop any passed pawn there.). In fact, if I had Black here against a weaker player I would most definitely play on, just to see if he goes berserk!

Another off the mark comment occurs after 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bf5, which is one of Black’s best reactions to the Colle. Harvey says, “However, one disadvantage with this move is that it weakens Black’s queenside, especially b7, and permits White to shift from the Colle proper into an advantageous Queen’s Gambit via 4.c4!. White can then attempt to exploit the premature development of Black’s queen’s bishop by following up with Qb3.”

Though it’s very important to discuss the plans associated with c4 and Qb3 (after Black’s light squared Bishop leaves c8), his comment about “an advantageous Queen’s Gambit via 4.c4” is simply untrue. The position after 4.c4 c6 (transposing into a Slav Defense) is known to offer White very little.

GOOD NEWS 2: In the author’s defense, the positions that White reaches after 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bf5 4.c4 c6 5.Qb3 tend to be safe for the first player and, if Black doesn’t know what he’s doing (and few would!), can offer practical chances of an edge. Mr. Harvey also isn’t afraid to take risks and say what’s on his mind, which beats a lot of writers who simply repeat what others said and keep their own ideas to themselves.

Mr. Harvey has made a concerted effort to find as many comments about the games and various lines as possible, quoting many sources. I like this, since it allows me to see cases where the so-called experts disagree. Once again, we are shown that one doesn’t have to be an IM or GM to write a good chess book!

SUMMING UP: Well, I was shocked to see how many games Edgard Colle lost with his opening, and I was also surprised to see how often he allowed his kingside pawn structure to be smashed (pawns on f3, f2, and h2). Since I’m bashing poor old Colle (who apparently lived his life in pain from chronic stomach problems), I also felt he put much too much emphasis on tactics and played quiet middlegames and most endgames fairly badly. Of course, this has nothing to do with the book, but the 16 page Colle biography and the historic interest of how Colle stayed true to his system and constantly sought improvements adds a lot to the book’s value.

So is it thumbs up or down? In my opinion, the best way to learn an opening is to play over as many games as possible where it was employed. The games in this book take you through Colle’s experiments (failed and successful), point out the best lines, but also demonstrate common tactical ideas and some typical endgames. Most importantly, Colle’s losses show you what you have to avoid! If I personally was going to include the Colle into my repertoire, I would use this book and make a detailed study of the games, and also try and refute everything the various annotators said. Why? Because the literature on this opening is full of misconceptions and badly analyzed lines. A smart and hardworking player can use this to his advantage.

Though COLLE PLAYS THE COLLE SYSTEM would be useful for very strong players, I think its core audience is far lower, perhaps 1200-1800 (that range often uses the Colle System). However, a study of these games would give anyone a deep understanding of the Colle System’s nuances without demanding boring study of opening lines and the kind of memorization that few can manage.

If you are intending to make the Colle your White system, the following two books are more than enough: Lane’s THE ULTIMATE COLLE and Harvey’s COLLE PLAYS THE COLLE SYSTEM. Players under 1600 can get everything they need from Mr. Harvey’s book, and they will learn a lot about chess in the process.

COLLE PLAYS THE COLLE SYSTEM is a worthwhile addition to chess literature. It has its flaws, but I for one am happy to have it in my library.