True Lies In Chess

True Lies In Chess tries to find a middle ground between the generalist (non concrete) approach of the past and the super calculating all analytical efforts of today where the tendency is to over rely on Fritz and Rybka.

A lover of truth in chess who values the creative approach, Comas Fabrego centers his findings under five chapter headings:

1. Do not trust the classics.
2. Middlegame motifs
3. Final Conclusions?
4. How are opening novelties born?
5. The Opening According to me – or why I like 6…Na6 in the King’s Indian.
6. Others

While the entire book makes for interesting reading, I think many readers will find chapters 4 and 5 the most interesting. Using the Semi-Tarrasch (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ 10.Qxd2 0-0) Comas Fabrego shows how he has injected new life into Black’s setup both concretely and conceptually. White has won a ton of games with Bc4, 0-0, Rad1, Rac1 followed by d4-d5 against Black’s setup with …Nc6 so Comas Fabrego advocates putting the Knight on d7 to meet d5 with …Nc5. White has done well against …Nd7, …b7-b6 and …Bb7 with a2-a4-a5 but the author advocates the odd-looking …a7-a5 as the way to meet a2-a4 and gives much supporting analysis.

One novelty that will definitely generate attention occurs after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 Qc7 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Be3 Be7 9.f4 d6 10.Qe1 0-0 11.Qg3 Nxd4 12.Nxd4 b5 13.a3 Bb7 14.Rae1 Rae8 15.Kh1. Now Black would like to play …Bc6 and …Qb7-b4 but doesn’t have time. For example 15…Bc6 16.Bf3 or 15…Bd8 16.e5! So what to do for Black?

Here Comas Fabrego comes up with the interesting novelty 15…Ba8!?. The idea is Black is set up to meet 16.e5 and on 16.Bd3 he has …e5!, and against 16.Bf3? then 16…Qc4!

There are several other useful novelties, each worth the cost of the book. To give just one more without spilling all the beans: Black defenders of the 8…Bb7 Meran better be ready as Comas Fabrego has revived the piece sac line 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.e4 b4 10.Na4 c5 11.e5 Nd5 12.0-0 cxd4 13.Re1 g6 14.Bg5 Qa5 15.Nd2 Ba6 16.Nc4 Bxc4 17.Bxc4 Bg7 18.Qxd4 in impressive fashion.

Comas Fabrego is a big lover of the …Na6 KID and it shows in chapter 5 where 22 oversize pages are dedicated to his pet system and many model games from his practice light the path. If you have any interest on either side of this line you will want to have this book.

Highly Recommended