STARTING OUT: 1.e4!
Author: Neil McDonald
Everyman Chess (2006)
200 pages
$23.95

Review by Jeremy Silman

It was only a short time ago that I raved about Neil McDonald's THE ART OF PLANNING IN CHESS. Now I have to perform the unsavory job of burying the man I just lifted to the throne.

The very premise of STARTING OUT: 1.e4! paints poor McDonald into a corner. Can an honest and versatile White repertoire really fit in the confines of 200 pages?

The back cover had this to say: "...by providing the reader with a strong and trustworthy repertoire with the white pieces based on the popular opening move 1.e4. The recommended lines given here have stood the test of time and are regularly employed by grandmasters."

In the introduction we get this: "There are no variations in this book that are based on crude tricks or primitive attacks that would only work against weak opponents."

Okay, so we are told that the recommendations in this book will be solid, sound, and have impact on players of a fairly high level. This might be doable (barely) if the author makes use of popular sidelines like 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 vs. the Sicilian. Instead, he goes a bit berserk and leads us into paths that are sometimes strange, sometimes fabricated, sometimes over zealous, and sometimes well traveled.

When writing a repertoire book with such a limited amount of space, the author has no choice but to walk a fine line between bold assertions, a tad of misdirection, serious theory, and well thought out patch jobs. It's almost impossible to make it work, and McDonald has regrettably joined the ranks of other authors who also failed dismally in this endeavor.

His handling of some lesser lines are acceptable. But when we enter more rarified places, things begin to creak a bit. For example, in the Philidor (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nbd7) he gives the Shirov specialty 5.g4!? This is certainly interesting, but not everyone is willing to toss a pawn in this manner and go for the throat. Didn't he promise us lines that have stood the test of time? Well, this is quite new and Black might well find a safe and promising way to handle this bout of aggression.

I m also troubled by the lack of stylistic consistency. After giving us the "Die! Die! Die" move 5.g4, he takes us into the Scotch and gives 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nxc6 Qf6 6.Qf3!? as the way of handling Black's well thought of opening choice. The idea is to play the ending after 6...Qxf3 7.gxf3 bxc6 8.Be3, which, he claims, is slightly better for White. Whether that assessment is true isn't for me to say, but taking the faithful reader into a minefield one second and an instant endgame (that would require serious skills in such a quiet position) the next seems a bit Jekyll and Hyde to me.

So far I admit to splitting hairs. If that's the worst he has to offer, then the book would probably be a thumbs up. However, once we enter the realm of gorilla theory, things begin to do more than creak.

His handling of the Sicilian is the best example. Here McDonald makes the highly questionable decision of giving main line theory. This means that the reader has to know answers to every Black Sicilian system, all of which are hyper-sharp and, more often than not, ultra-theoretical. This kind of material demands pages to fill, and since he doesn't have the allotted space to do so, the scissors come out and the cutting begins.

For example, the Modern Scheveningen: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be3 Be7 7.f4 Nc6 8.Be2 Bd7 9.0-0 and now the author only looks at 9...Nxd4 10.Qxd4 which, of course, led to the usual ubiquitous White victory (such books always give crushing victories so that readers will ecstatically think that he will be doing the same in their games). This is quite strange, since most Scheveningen players who bring the Bishop to d7 castle on move eight and only play ...Bd7 on move nine. However, this won't matter in McDonald's move order if Black castled on move nine instead of playing 9...Nxd4.

McDonald does mention 8...0-0 but says it transposes into the Najdorf after 9.0-0 a6. So what we have here is a serious misdirection. White, after studying McDonald's book, will confidently play all the moves up to 9.0-0 and then be stumped by 9...0-0, Black's most natural move! In that VERY POPULAR and theoretical position, White won't know that his two moves are 10.Nb3 (stopping ...Nxd4 and taking us to a very different kind of position) or 10.Qe1, when Black can trade Knights -- this means that White's Bishop, not his Queen, will end up on d4. Most likely Black will be well versed in the position after 9...0-0, while White won't have a clue about what's going on.

How about 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6!? Somehow McDonald completely ignores the existence of this move. Okay, let's forgive him for this (perhaps it's there and I can't find it -- which would also be another bad sign), after all, he does mention the Accelerated Dragon (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6). Shockingly, a mention is all we get, his analysis only filling up one paragraph! Though his recommendation of the Maroczy Bind (5.c4) is a good one, we find two strange omissions in that one paragraph: 5...Bg7 is the only thing he gives, but the Gurgenidze Defense with 5...Nf6 6.Nc3 d6 7.Be2 Nxd4 is a tried and trusted main line! Poor White would have no idea how to play this position, and he might even fall victim to the trap 5...Nf6 6.Nc3 d6 7.Be3 Ng4!

To make matters worse, after 5...Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 (the book has a typo here, giving the impossible 6...Ng4. No big deal, he cut off the move pair 6...Nf6 7.Nc3 -- happens to everyone) 7.Nc3 Ng4 8.Qxg4 Nxd4 9.Qd1 e5 10.Nb5 we get the note: "known to be good for White." Sadly, 10.Nb5 most likely gives White nothing (or very little), while 10.Bd3! is the move that Black players fear when entering the 9...e5 line.

Tricky and rare Sicilian lines like the old Nimzovich Variation and the Pin Variations must also be addressed. Let's start with the Nimzovich: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nc3 e6, which (after 5.Nxd5 exd5 6.d4) is incredibly complicated (though quite good for White). If White is unprepared, he might die a quick and painful death. McDonald avoids the discussion by recommending 5.b3!? and following up with the accommodating 5...Nc6 6.Bb2 Nxc3 7.Bxc3 d5 8.exd6 Qxd6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0 "and White's pressure on g7 is awkward for Black." Where did he come up with this move? And can 5.b3 really be the cure for Black's aggressive system? Personally, I don't believe this move can give White anything at all. On the other hand, it's a reasonable way to avoid complications and just get a safe position. But if White goes into main line Sicilians, and dares to face the Najdorf and Dragon and Sveshnikov, is it really correct to run screaming in terror with 5.b3 when faced with a line that's known to be inferior for Black?

Black's other answer to 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nc3 is 4...Nxc3 when McDonald tells us, "5.dxc3 gives white attacking chances with Bc4 etc." That's it! No analysis, no proof, no direction. But is this really so? Aagaard, in the excellent EXPERTS vs. THE SICILIAN, had this to say about the position after 5.dxc3 Nc6: "This position has not given White a particularly good score. I generally do not like the position for White; I would much rather play the Black side..."

As for the Pin Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4) McDonald gives 6.e5 Nd5 7.Bd2 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Be7 9.Qg4 g6 and shows the second player getting eviscerated. Unfortunately, all sorts of things are going on before and after 9.Qg4. For example, 8...Ba5!? is far more interesting than McDonald leads us to believe, while 9...Kf8!? (ignored by McDonald) might be Black's best choice.

Let's put it this way: If you face a reasonably good player and he tosses the Pin Variation at you, he's going to give 8...Ba5 or 9...Kf8 a go (and he would most likely be very well prepared). Following McDonald's book, though, White would be unaware of everything, and his false confidence would quickly turn to confusion as Black refuses to roll over in the way that McDonald says he must.

Why go on? Though Everyman's STARTING OUT series is an excellent one, this particular title can't be trusted.

Click to buy (or get more information about) STARTING OUT: 1.e4!

Click to buy (or get more information about) EXPERTS vs. the SICILIAN by Peter Heine-Nielsen, Peter Wells, Thomas Luther and Jacob Aagaard. Price: $23.99