DANGEROUS WEAPONS: FLANK OPENINGS
Authors: Tony Kosten, Richard Palliser, and James Vigus
www.everymanchess.com (2008)
254 Pages
$22.95

Reviewed by Ben Havey

Tony Kosten has been a flank openings advocate for many years, and his new work DANGEROUS WEAPONS: FLANK OPENINGS adds to his list of accomplishments. The Dangerous Weapons series takes sharp, trappy, or underplayed lines, and has a group of GMs/IMs/FMs and add their own original analysis to these “Dangerous” lines. The chapters are well laid out and well written and analyzed. The contents are as follows:

Weapons for White:
The Four Knights: 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e4!?
The Mikenas Attack: 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3. e4!? (2 Chapters)
The Gurevich Slav: 1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.b3 Bd6 6.Bb2 Nbd7 7.Qc2 0-0
Kramer’s Gambit: 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4!?
Reversed Benoni: 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.b3 Nf6 4.Bb2 Be7 5.g3 o-o 6.Bg2 c5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.e3 d4
From’s Gambit: 1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Nc3
Bird's Opening: 1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2

Weapons for Black:
1.c4 e5:
1.c4 e5 2.g3 c6 3.d4 e4
1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c6 4.d4 exd4 5.Qxd4 Na6
1.c4 c5:
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 a6!?
Kasparov's Gambit: 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d5!

Many of these “weapons” are hardly unknown. Kasparov played his own gambit obviously, and he dabbled with the Mikenas Attack too. I play the Mikenas Attack myself, and I learned many new things even though I thought that I knew the theory well. This book is filled with gems that English players of any level can enjoy. If you enjoy the Dangerous Weapons series, like the look on your opponents face when you play Rg1 instead of d4 in the Slav or the Mikenas Attack, or to save yourself from these sharp lines, then this book is highly recommended.

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