Alekhine Alert!: A Repertoire for Black Against 1 E4 [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

If you are a strong expert or better who already plays the Alekhine, this is not for you. The author makes no attempt to improve critical theory. Nothing to see here - move along.

For the rest of us this is an extraordinarily good book. I have Cox, Davies, and Bogdanov, and I would trade them all for this one, as good as they are. This is, in Taylor's words, "... a sound, but not too theoretical repertoire against everything White can throw at this defense...". What makes it so good?

1. It is practical. Taylor has chosen lines that are playable without resort to massive memorization. He accepts a couple forced draws by White, but prefers to play Chess rather than regurgitate it. It is not loose though. On the few occasions where explicit move order is necessary he is very explicit. Taylor is an IM. If the lines are good enough to challenge his opponents then they are good enough to challenge mine (and me). As he is too polite to suggest directly, I am not likely to play Anand any time soon.

2. It is personal. Taylor tells you how he feels about the opening - both lines he likes and lines he rejects - and he plays the lines he recommends. This gives the reader an opportunity to see the color of the opening - even if biased towards the author's viewpoint - and to judge the repertoire choices on a qualitative basis. It also means that you get a coherent aggregation of lines that are stylistically consistent and economical.

3. It is educational. The author instructs very well, and he does this through tightly selected illustrative games, an approach that I ordinarily think is much overrated, but here he succeeds through strict focus. I found it to be very well written.

4. It is thorough. The book includes substantial advice and preparation for non-critical lines. You know, the ones we face all the time. And the author makes a conscientious effort to consider almost all likely viable deviations.

5. It is focussed. This is a tight repertoire. Taylor only strays to compare his choices against alternatives where valuable. There is no iffing or butting. This is his repertoire and he hopes you like it.

6. It is flexible. Taylor isn't dogmatic about staying in pure Alekhine lines. There are occasional transpositions into favorable versions of the French, and he recommends the Vienna/Four Knights complex after 2.Nc3 (so does everybody else, but they don't offer any analysis).

7. It is human. The author writes in a personable style and makes you feel as if you are receiving personal instruction. There is occasional, but not distracting wit, and the odd anecdote.

The one criticism I have is that his coverage of the Vienna/Four Knights straddles the useful. It is better than nothing, but it is not enough. I think it would have been better to have invested the space in suggesting a thorough and coherent repertoire in those lines without analysis and referring the reader to other works, rather than the too few illustrative games we have. But that is being churlish.

This is a fine opening work, and the best repertoire book for the masses that I have ever seen. It isn't Shipov's Complete Hedgehog, but it doesn't try to be. The quality of opening books is increasing by the day - we are in a blessed time - and this entry belongs in the race.

Sometimes you get the impression that Chess authors write for themselves and their peers and not for their audience. Not Taylor. Congratulations, Sir.

Alekhine Alert! Obviously if you're going to steal the title off a highly praised opening book (Pirc Alert!by GM Lev Alburt) then it better be good. While the previous review by Goosemeyer was excellent in terms of the writing style, prose, and exactly what this book has to offer, it didn't give specifics. Let me give them to you now.
-Against the Modern Varitaion 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 Taylor gives us a choice between the Kengis System 6...g6 or a line championed by Magnus Carlsen 6...c6
-exd6! in the exchange variation (not cxd6?!)
-5...g6 in the Four Pawns Attack ( after 1.e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. f4)
-active play in the center with e6 in the Chase Variation
- and finally after 1.e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 Taylor advocates 2...e5!

Taylor has a great reputation as a chess author, continuing to churn highly original and instructive works. Just look at The Bird's Opening, and if that's not original enough take The Budapest Gambit, where he sets out to prove the opening is sound at the highest levels while constructing a complete repertoire along the way.
This book is no exception. It's an extremely honest, highly researched, and very detailed work in which Taylor advocates what he believes the best moves are for black. Of corse this is done through careful research and tournament testing, he doesn't just pull these lines out of thin air. Also it's ironic that the best moves for black are also the least theoretical. This adds incredible practical value to taking up this opening. I also learned that the ONLY dangerous try for white is the Modern Variation. Anything else allows equality in the next few moves, and then black sets out to play for a win. What opening can boast that?

The next thing I would like the discuss is the structure of the book which is quite different and certainly better than other rep. books. Before each chapter, Taylor gives concrete analysis as to why the other alternatives aren't as good as his advocation, even critical main lines of the Alekhine. He also points out (and steers clear) of variations that are undergoing constant analysis by computers.

All in all, like I said, the best book on the Alekhine so far, and after this impressive work, I will no doubt be giving the Alekhine a try. Nigel Davies work cannot even compare while Play the Alekhine is OK, but not as original, and not as well researched as this.

As always you can download a pdf sample from [...].

Please rate if this review was helpful, Thanks guys.

I returned to chess recently after a 10-year hiatus. I played the Alekhine when I was younger and used Graham Burgess' The Complete Alekhine for study. Taylor's book is comprehensive enough that I've had no need to go back to TCA, and the lines Taylor recommends tend to be vast improvements. In my first tournament game back with the black pieces, I had a won position after 15 moves against a Four Pawns Attack using Taylor's recommended line 5...g6 instead of the old main line 5...dxe5. To illustrate that variation, Taylor shows a game where Bobby Fischer dismantles a Four Pawns Attack in the King's Indian Defense, as the ideas are the same as in the Alekhine. Another angle I appreciated was Taylor's recommendation to just play 2...e5 against 2.Nc3. The 2. Nc3 d5 lines aren't that appealing, and forcing white into a Vienna or Four Knights Game is a more effective way to get equality.