If you want to learn and understand an opening, what better way than studying the games of the player after whom they named it? That is the premise of this book, and it’s hard to argue with the logic. While Belgian master Edgard Colle’s game collection will primarily interest those who play or defend against the opening that bears his name, the many examples of attacking play will appeal to players who enjoy a good slugfest.

This isn’t the first time this method has been tried, but the author does a nice job of adding value to the approach. IM Nikolay Minev wrote a book covering 202 games by Miguel Najdorf on the black side of the King’s Indian Defense, but most of these included spare annotations. While Bronstein also covered his adventures as black in the King’s Indian, only 50 had notes and few games were discussed extensively.

The author has gathered 116 games where Colle played, attempted to play, or played against his opening system. Some of the games are rare and have not been widely disseminated. It is clear that the author has gone to great lengths to collect all possible examples of Colle’s play in his opening. This painstaking detail shows up throughout.

The book starts with a table of contents listing all 116 games. Since the focus isn’t so much on the specific games, I think this is wasted space. I would have much preferred a detailed move-by-move index, which would have greatly improved the book’s value as an opening resource.

The book’s introduction illustrates the dual purpose of the book. First, it details the tragically brief career of Edgard Colle, who, because of ill health, passed away at the age of 35. The author provides some biographical information, as well as a listing of his tournament achievements. This takes up about 10 of the 16 pages. The remaining content deals with the Colle system and includes several early examples without notes, where the Colle is handled on the white side by the likes of Lasker, Alekhine, and Capablanca. This is followed by later examples of modern players employing the system, including grandmasters Kovacevic and Chernikov. The introduction concludes with a one-page discussion of the ideas behind the Colle system.

The book’s first two chapters deal with the main line of the Colle – what most players think of when the system is discussed – after 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.c3. Here the chapters diverge, with the first dealing with 5…Nc6 and the second with 5…Nbd7. Without a doubt, these are the more important systems, and they make up nearly half the games and pages.

Of course, there are a variety of ways to try to play both sides of this set-up, given its slow build-up, and these are covered in the remaining portion of the book. Perhaps most important are lines where black eschews …d5 and adopts an Indian-like formation with a fianchettoed queen bishop. There are a variety of other tries as well, including lines where black plays an early …Bf5 or …Bg4, or adopts a kingside fianchetto.

This is more a games collection than an opening manual, but the author does quote from numerous modern sources to guide the reader to what are considered the critical theoretical lines. While many of the games contain extensive annotations and discussions, others are presented with no comment. It appears that the author has separated the games into those deserving comment and those that are not. Those that deserve annotation get plenty of coverage, and the rest are presented with no notes. This seems like a reasonable method for dealing with the subject matter.

Of course, the fact that the author covers every single game Colle played in the system can be both strength and a weakness. While it is nice to have all the material in one place, there are, inevitably, some games included that aren’t really worth the space. I think the author’s chosen method (just give the moves and move on) is the best method for minimizing the damage.

Without a doubt, this book includes some very interesting games. If Colle had enjoyed better health, he likely would have enjoyed great chess success. In his brief career, he had some impressive results, including first in Meran 1926 (ahead of Canal, Spielman, Yates, Grunfeld, and Tartakower), second at Hastings 1926-27 (after Tartakower and ahead of Yates and Reti), first at Scarborough 1927 (ahead of Yates, Thomas, and Bogoljubov), and first at Scarborough 1930 (ahead of Maroczy, Rubinstein, Sultan Khan and Grunfeld).

Of course, this compendium will give us both the good and the bad of the player and his system. This includes victories over the likes of Euwe, Rubinstein, Marshall, Tartakower, Bogoljubov, Spielman, and. Grunfeld. It also includes multiple losses to Euwe, Nimzovich, Bogoljubov, Kashdan and losses to Alekhine, Capablanca, Rubinstein, and Sultan Khan. For the player interested in learning a system, these are probably useful reality checks.

This is an interesting, enjoyable book. While I am not familiar with the author (and wish that some information about him had been included), there is strong attention to detail in the research and presentation of the games and notes. The book also includes a nice bibliography, chronological list of games and index of opponents.

Chess Enterprises is a publisher that has been around a long time and produces lots of small treasures. In that respect, it reminds me of independent film producers who operate with small budgets, under the radar of the big guys but still put out interesting product. While the price here is higher than normal for their books ($14.95 list), it is certainly reasonable considering that this page count often runs about $19.95 from other publishers. I would note that while the printing, diagrams, fonts, and layout is clear and very functional, I did find more typos on a first look than usual. However, none of these rose to the level of making a game or text unreadable or not understandable.

In conclusion, studying games by proponents can be an excellent way to learn or increase knowledge of a particular opening. For those wishing to advance their knowledge of the Colle system, the games by Colle himself bear study, and this book offers the most complete source for those games, all bound up in one book. Historians and those interested in attacking chess may also find this of value, but those wishing true opening book coverage or those wanting only a best of the best games collection should look elsewhere.

To see Jeremy Silman’s review of this book, click HERE.