Caissa Chess Books, paperback, Englisch, ISBN: 978-963-87928-2-2, 240 Seiten,
2010.
The Semi-Tarrasch Defence, Volume 1
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5
5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 & 6.g3
International Grandmaster József Pintér is now the leading theoretician in
Hungary. He was Hungarian Champion in 1978 and 1979. He played three times in
the Interzonal Final.
In a game of his against Kasparov, even the then active world champion had to
struggle hard to achieve a draw. He is the captain of the Hungarian Olympic
Chess Team. The leading teacher of the Maróczy Chess School, he has educated a
large number of young talents.
In this book, he deals with one of the most popular openings of today, The
Semi-Tarrasch Defence. Within the framework of 64 games, he surveys the whole
opening, examining some deviations very profoundly, spicing them with not only
variations but also with textual explanations.
He is dealing at great length with the subject of isolated pawn, which
plays an important part in this opening, quoting Dr Siegbert Tarrasch words:
"Whoever is afraid of playing with an isolated pawn should give up chess."
This is an essential handbook for all those who want to gain insight into the
mysteries of this very interesting opening.
Foreword:
This book attempts to give a survey of the Improved Tarrasch Defence,
not restricting the analysis to the initial stage of the game, but allowing
insight into the mysteries of the middle and endgame, too.
The Improved Tarrasch Defence has been, and still is, one of my favourite
openings. In the 70s, under the influence of Robert Fischer, we had closely
studied the then very fashionable defence.
Our joint analyses with grandmasters Ivan Farago and Peter Lukacs hold good
even nowadays, though some of them have become outdated by now. In the book
I used all literature I could find, as well as works published on the internet,
naturally supplementing them with my own analyses.
Within the framework of 64 games I survey the whole opening, examining some
deviations very profoundly, spicing them with not only variations but also with
textual explanations.
As for the less important ones, I deal with them only briefly, with few
annotations. I sketch out the middle and end games arising after the opening in
full games.
With the subject of 'isolated pawn', which is one of the most difficult
problems of the strategy and tactics of chess, I am dealing at great length.
Dr Siegbert Tarrasch once said: "Whoever is afraid of playing with an
isolated queen pawn should give up chess." Savielly Tartakower was of the
opinion: "An isolated pawn spreads gloom across the whole board." Which of the
two was correct?
Both, in my opinion! In many positions the IQP contributes to its possessor's
launching a furious attack, in others it is the main cause of defeat. The fact
is that in almost all World Championship matches, positions with isolated pawns
have played an important role.
Studying positions with isolated pawns intensively is not only great fun, but
it also improves one's strategical understanding as well as one's ability to
spot tactics. In short, it raises one's playing strength!
I examine the opening I'm dealing with from the point of view of both White
and Black. This book therefore does not offer a panacea, a wonder
variation, it does not promise a forced getting from the opening move to
checkmate; no, instead it wishes to illustrate subtly and in a complex manner
the plans, efforts and typical motifs of both White and Black.
Examining the transitions is also important, since the Improved Tarrasch
Defence can also arise by transpositions from many other openings, such as
Caro-Kann Defence, Nimzo-Indian Defence, Queen's Gambit Accepted, English
Opening, Sicilian Defence, and some deviations of the Queen's Indian
Defence.
From this it follows that you can, at the same time, gain a better survey of
various systems.
József Pintér
International Grandmaster
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