In
this day of endless theory, top players need to
be up on all important games if they are to have
any hope of success. In the long distant past,
books on the whole Sicilian or King's Indian were
adequate. Ten years ago books on specific main
lines became necessary (on the g3-King's Indian
or the whole Najdorf Sicilian). Unfortunately,
due to the huge amount of published games and
million game databases, even more specific work
is needed in this modern age of professionalism.
The Soltis Variation of the
Yugoslav Attack (in the Dragon Sicilian) is one
of these modern day studies of one "tiny"
line. This whole 333 page book (well, everything
after page 68) is devoted to an examination of
the position that occurs after 1.e4
c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3
Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8
11.Bb3 Ne5 12.h4 h5.
Naturally, amateurs can and should
avoid this book. However, strong players who run
across either side of the Dragon will be well
advised to pick up a copy of this excellent production.
Some of the things that make this
work memorable are:
- A fine typesetting job that
makes all the variations easy to read.
- The author, a national master,
spares us his own games and instead concentrates
only on theoretically important examples. The
author also shows that he is aware of his own
weaknesses; he doesn't try to give any new analysis,
instead staying in the safe haven of grandmaster
opinion. By avoiding egotistical folly, Mr.
Mayer has created something pure and worthwhile.
- The foreword by English GM Jonathan
Mestel gives the book legitimacy.
- A nice bibliography lets us
know what he has and has not looked at.
- An excellent index of players
is very useful if you are looking for examples
of any specific piece-moving icon.
- An exceptionally clear index
of variations makes it easy to track down any
line that's on your mind.
- The tasteful use of prose keeps
us from drowning in the pages and pages of games.
Steve Mayer has given us a nice
addition to a large body of Dragon books. He deserves
lots of credit for keeping this voluminous task
within readable proportions. A great buy if you
play either side of this line!
YOU
CAN FIND THIS BOOK AT
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