Everyman has two new books on the Queen's Gambit Declined (QGD), by Matthew Sadler and Bogdan Lalic, the last dealing only with Bg5 lines. This is a very good choice of subject by Everyman, as this has probably been the most neglected of the major openings (at least in English) throughout the past decade or more. I will review these books together, concentrating on their drawbacks first, and then turning to their positive features.

To really be prepared to play this opening, alas, it is advisable to get both books (I can hear the sighs of dismay). Why is this? Because once again, the "Complete Games" format, so easy for authors and editors, has led both of these authors to neglect important variations which fall within the alleged scope of their subjects. Sadler has already committed this error in his Semi-Slav book, and now he continues the pattern with the QGD. He covers many of the main lines like the Lasker Defense, the Orthodox Defense, the Exchange Variation (including 3...Be7 4,cxd5 exd5), and 5.Bf4. But readers will search in vain for critical systems which one is certainly likely to encounter as White or wish to play as Black, e.g., the Cambridge Springs (20 pages in Lalic), the Ragozin Defense, and the Vienna (another 22 pages in Lalic), a variation both popular and deeply investigated at the top levels. Some of the lesser lines which Lalic covers (e.g., the Peruvian Gambit) are also not to be found in Sadler.

Lalic and Sadler often overlap, but Lalic's "Complete Games" format allows him, incredibly, to avoid analysis of the Orthodox Variation with ...Nbd7, ...Be7, ...c6 answering Rc1 and Bd3 by ...dxc4 and ...Nd5. This was once considered the main line of the entire QGD, and is still playable and important (Sadler devotes two chapters to the Orthodox Variation). Including one almost unannotated historical game in the Introduction, Lalic takes care of the problem by "recommending" one of the 7.Rc1 dxc4 8.Bxc4 b5. Since when is this a repertoire book? And anyway, that is almost certainly a poor line for Black, which Lalic does little to rehabilitate. Then, while Lalic has two chapters on the Exchange Variation, he neglects the hugely popular line with Nge2, Bd3, f3, and 0-0 or 0-0-0, intending to expand in the center. Finally, Lalic has 11 pages on 3...Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4, which isn't a Bg5 system at all. I guess the moral of all this is that I would like authors of books on broad subjects like this to return to the "variation tree" format. Under that system, you can quickly find what you want, and the authors are very unlikely to skip whole variations that are not to their taste.

Now for the good news. The Lalic and Sadler books are almost perfect complements to each other. While a good deal of the material is duplicated, the two books together cover the entire opening. More importantly, their styles are complementary. These are two very strong and creative players who have chosen entirely different paths, both legitimate. Sadler uses a detailed question-and-answer format to explain nearly every noteworthy position of all variations, and the same Socratic method for many individual games. In the first games of the book, this explanation applies to even the very early moves of the opening. Sadler's is arguably the most user-friendly book on a complex opening ever written by a strong player. And his clear, never-condescending style perfectly fits the bill. Thus, this is pretty much the ultimate book for those who want a moderate dose of theory mixed with lots and lots of explanation and guidance.

Lalic, by contrast, covers individual lines in more detail, and applies his considerable knowledge to organize a larger mass of material than Sadler deals with. He probes more deeply, but still manages to find space for a reasonable amount of written explanation. Of the two, I would rather have the extra material that Lalic provides. I didn't find any original analysis in either book, by the way, although a small amount may exist.

At any rate, combining the two books would offer a healthy mix of theory and instruction. If that option is too expensive, mid-level club and tournament players (perhaps in a 1200-1800 range) might prefer Sadler, whereas higher-rated tournament players (perhaps 1700-2300) might like Lalic. But those are arbitrary guesses, and any player might benefit from either book according to his or her tastes.

Again, we need to ask why, despite unending complaints about their dryness and complexity, people continue to buy opening books and to prefer them to databases. Painting with a broad brush, a high quality "explanatory" book like Sadler's gives the reader both general and specific guidance on why the moves are played. A "serious" book like Lalic's gives the reader specific variations which the reader can directly compare to his and other games. Both authors are depended upon to organize material for the reader and, hopefully, to give clear and frequent assessments of which lines are better. Finally, the reader wants to see new ideas, suggestions, and analysis that can only be found in that book.

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