SMITH-MORRA GAMBIT: FINEGOLD DEFENSE
2000
Authors: Bob Ciaffone and Ben Finegold
140 pages
Publisher: Gameplayer

Reviewed by Randy Bauer

Randy's Rating: 8

At playing levels below master, the Smith-Morra Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3) is a frequent anti-Sicilian choice, and this book provides a nice guide to a reasonable way for black to play to win by accepting the offered pawn. The authors have staked out a relatively unexplored black system that leads to thematic Sicilian play for the second player while avoiding some of the problems that often face the second player after accepting the gambit.

The line the book advocates generally arises after 3...dxc3 4.Nxc3 d6 5.Nf3 e6 6.Bc4 Be7 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Qe2 a6 9.Rd1 b5 10.Bb3 Nbd7. From black’s perspective, the set-up will usually also include ...Qb6, ...Bb7, and ...0-0, but the order that these are played (and in some cases not played) is very important, and the authors do an excellent job of explaining how and why they should or should not be played based on white’s following play. For the black player, a key aspect of the system is the queen knight’s development at d7. Here the piece masks the d-file, which takes some of the sting out of an e4-e5 advance, and also keeps the h1-a8 diagonal clear for the queen bishop. The black queen generally takes up residence on b6, where it gets off the “hot” d- and c-files (which generally are the locations for the white rooks); it sometimes is forced to either a5 or b7, and these destinations create their own set of problems and circumstances for both players.

The authors make no bones about their belief in black’s position, but they provide plenty of analysis to back it up. Most of the work, analytic and writing, was done by Ciaffone, an experienced master who has been the Michigan state champion, has written a previous book, and carries a 2205 FIDE rating. IM Ben Finegold was brought into the project to provide analytic support and positional evaluations. The authors also enlisted the help of other strong players, including FM Fred Lindsay, IM Jack Peters, and GM Dmitry Gurevich. From my perusal of the lines advocated, they have done an excellent job of fashioning a playable system literally from scratch.

The fact that there is so little master level theory and practice on this line does give one pause, but perhaps it is not so hard to explain. For one thing, there are several playable black alternatives against the Smith-Morra Gambit; given the lack of higher level contests with the gambit it is possible that black players have not felt the need to explore new lines. Second, the few master level games played with the line have mostly been cases of black players stumbling into the positions without necessarily having appreciated the nature of proper play of the positions. Some ugly losses may have deterred black players from further exploring the possibilities of the set-up.

Lest the reader think that this line is largely untested, rest assured that in these “Internet chess” times, the primary author (Ciaffone) has played this line 160 times (mostly at fast time controls). These contests form a large part of the theoretical discussion. 

There is a lot to like about this book. The introduction is useful for understanding both white’s and black’s perspective in the gambit, there is a useful explanation about the origin of the Finegold Defense, a short but sweet chapter on tactical themes, and a valuable discussion about a key move order decision that faces black in this variation.  These introductory chapters are followed by the key analysis of the defense in six chapters. The book concludes with a discussion of various topics, including what to do when the white move order forces you away from the Finegold Defense, and what, perhaps, white should do when facing it.

There are a couple of downsides, although I don’t think they outweigh the pluses. First, the organization within the chapters themselves could have used some work. It is hard to bounce around within a chapter and keep a sense of where you are. Second, the authors have adopted what I’ll call the “Chess Digest” style of lay-out with one column per page and large diagrams. In general, I prefer two column lay-outs with smaller diagrams – I think you get more material per page and a better opportunity to keep more relevant material on one page. My final caveat has nothing to do with the book’s content or lay-out but with the actual chosen variation. As the authors note, if white wishes he may sidestep the variation to some extent by playing 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3. If black replies 2...Nc6, he can, after 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 no longer play the Finegold Defense. To the author’s credit, they note this and provide an alternate defense for black. However, if you’re a regular player of 2...Nc6 you may decide it’s not worth the trouble to learn two lines against the gambit.

For most black Sicilian players, this will be a very useful book. The analysis appears to be good, the writing is thorough, and the presentation suitably complete. This looks like another good addition to the black arsenal against the Smith Morra Gambit.