Here is the publishers blurb from the rear cover :
Grandmaster Simon Williams was taught the English Opening at the age of six and 1 c4 was his weapon of choice until long after he became an International Master. For this new work, he teamed up with acclaimed theoretician International Master Richard Palliser to explore his old favourite. 1 c4 remains an excellent choice for the club and tournament player. This book focuses on the set-up popularised by the sixth world champion, Mikhail Botvinnik, the so-called Botvinnik formation with 2 Nc3, 3 g3, 4 Bg2, 5 e4 and 6 Nge2.
This system is compact but still aggressive and rewards an understanding of plans and strategies rather than rote memorisation of moves. In Opening Repertoire: The Iron English leading chess authors Simon Williams and Richard Palliser guide the reader through the complexities of this dynamic variation and carves out a repertoire for White.
They examine all aspects of this highly complex opening and provide the reader with well-researched, fresh, and innovative analysis. Each annotated game has valuable lessons on how to play the opening and contains instructive commentary on typical middlegame plans.
and. from the publisher, about the authors :
“Richard Palliser is an International Master and the editor of CHESS magazine. In 2006 he became joint British Rapidplay Champion and in 2019 finished 3rd in the British Championship. He has established a reputation as a skilled chess writer and written many works for Everyman, including the bestselling The Complete Chess Workout.”
“Simon Williams is a Grandmaster, a well-known presenter and a widely-followed streamer, as well as a popular writer whose previous books have received great praise. He is much admired for his dynamic and spontaneous attacking style.”
As with every recent Everyman Chess publication high quality paper is used and the printing is clear. Each diagram is clear as is the instructional text. Figurine algebraic notation is used throughout.
The diagrams do not have a “to move” indicator or any kind of caption so you will need to work out for yourself how they relate to the text that they are embedded in. However, this is fairly obvious.
The book consists of nine chapters :
- Key Ideas for White
- Kickstarter: An Outline of the Iron English Repertoire
- English Versus King’s Indian
- The Modern: 1.c4 g6 and 1…d6
- Other Fianchetto Defences
- The Reversed Sicilian
- The Symmetrical English
- The Mikenas Attack
- Other Lines (1…c6/1…e6)
Opening books are becoming thicker and more imposing year on year and at 464 pages this recent offering from Everyman Chess is no exception. Any book with the involvement of Richard Palliser deserves, without doubt, to be paid special attention to and complimenting him is the h (and now f) pawns favourite advocate Grandmaster, Simon Williams.
Having two authors with contrasting playing styles (we felt) would lead to interesting recommendations rather in the vein of “Good cop, bad cop”. We will leave you to decide which might be which!
In essence this book (and the strongly associated Chessable course) is a complete repertoire for White based around the English Opening.
In the BCN office one of our favourite English Opening books is the 1999 classic “The Dynamic English” by Tony Kosten
which is of a mere 144 pages and of even smaller physical dimensions. A timeless classic in our opinion.
The Iron English is the first (we think) book (in the English language) to provide a complete repertoire around the Botvinnik flavour of the English in which White clamps or strongpoints the d5 square with an early e4 thus:
[fen csl=Ge4]rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/2P1P3/2N3P1/PP1PNPBP/R1BQK2R b KQkq – 0 1[/fen]
or even more simply
[fen csl=Ge4]rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/2P1P3/8/PP1P1PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq – 0 1[/fen]
and this solid generic structure is advocated against almost all of Black’s reasonable and unreasonable defences.
Chapter One provides sample games (mainly from the authors) to give an idea of what White should be striving to achieve and Chapter Two outlines the repertoire.
In order to benefit from the chapters following these two should probably be read more than once. One of the reasons for this is the huge complexity of the transpositional possibilities and move orders. The end-of-book Index of Variations helps the reader to navigate their way through the mire of variations and following that is an Index of Games bringing up the rear.
The style of presentation is friendly and very, very chatty (Alan Carr is nowhere to be seen you’ll be pleased to learn) and presumably driven by the same material’s presentation as part of a Chessable course.
To get a feel of this style here are sample pages to whet your appetite and here is a example extracted game from Chapter One:
[pgn]
[Event “1: Cappelle-la-Grande”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1995.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Williams, S.”]
[Black “Locatelli, V.”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “A26”]
[Annotator “Simon Williams & Richard Palliser”]
[PlyCount “59”]
[EventDate “1995.??.??”]
[SourceTitle “OR: The Iron English”]
[Source “Everyman Chess”]
[SourceDate “2021.02.01”]
{[%evp 0,59,23,4,13,-32,23,1,14,19,11,-22,-10,8,-13,-16,-5,-26,-6,-77,25,52,65,
65,90,88,106,103,88,61,116,75,85,95,104,73,95,87,109,100,131,137,175,157,155,
153,160,113,160,180,466,473,751,753,844,943,965,969,1237,1238,1267,1300]
Cramping the King’s Indian:} 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 g6 {Black decides to go
for a King’s Indian set-up after all.} ({Instead,} 3… e5 4. Bg2 Nbd7 5. d3
Be7 {would resemble the Old Indian. After} 6. e4 {Black looks a little cramped
and our favourite f4 advance might well occur.}) 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. e4 {There are
several different ways of handling the English, but naturally we advocate
setting up that Botvinnik formation.} e5 6. Nge2 Nc6 7. O-O O-O 8. f4 $5 (8. d3
{is our recommended move order, but the young Simon liked the immediate, bold
advance of Freddie.}) 8… Be6 {Routine development, just as you might expect
at club level.} (8… exf4 $1 9. gxf4 Nh5 {is somewhat more challenging. Black
prepares to gain space of his own with …f5 and} 10. f5 $2 Qh4 {would leave
White looking rather overextended.}) 9. Nd5 $6 ({White should still go} 9. d3 {
, when Black might well elect to prevent f5 with} Qd7 {. but we also can’t
resist pointing out that} 10. f5 $5 ({Now} 10. Nd5 {looks sensible;}) 10… gxf5 11. Bg5 {is a very interesting pawn sacrifice. If Black takes
on e4, White wins material, so} Ne8 {seems necessary, when} (11… h6 $2 12.
Bxf6 Bxf6 13. exf5 Bxf5 14. g4 $1 {wins a piece – a tactical motif worth
remembering}) 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Nd5 {leaves White with a certain grip and
compensation for the pawn; Qd2 will follow and quite possibly Ne2-c3-e4.}) 9…
Ne8 $2 {[#] Far too meek. King’s Indian players always want to free their
f-pawn to go …f5, but Black won’t be able to because of our set-up.} ({
Much better was} 9… Bg4 {, making good use of Black’s grip on the d4-square,
which is the one downside to the Botvinnik formation.}) 10. f5 $1 {Put that in
your pipe and smoke it!} Bd7 (10… Bxd5 11. cxd5 {is almost never a trade to
worry about. After} Nd4 ({or} 11… Ne7 12. d3 {, when} c6 {is a break for
freedom, but after} 13. dxc6 bxc6 14. g4 $1 {White is much better; Ng3 follows
and Black is in grave danger of being squashed to death on the kingside}) 12.
Nxd4 exd4 13. d3 {White has a pleasant advantage. Black’s pawn on d4 is
something of a dead point, merely blunting his own bishop, in contrast to
which White has control, a space advantage, the two bishops and, yes, g4-g5
may follow.}) 11. d3 {Having made such a gain of space, it’s high time to
develop the remaining pieces.} f6 {This is ugly;} ({but so is the best the
engines can suggest,} 11… h6 12. Be3 g5 {. Just look at that bishop on g7!
Indeed, with Black devoid of counterplay and so cramped it might make sense
for White to switch operations and expand with} 13. b4 {. Note that while our
Botvinnik set-up does leave the f-pawn free to advance, we are by no means
committed to kingside play, but can also advance on the queenside and
sometimes even in the centre.}) 12. Be3 Ne7 13. Nxe7+ ({Simon remembers also
being tempted by} 13. g4 {;}) ({and} 13. d4 $5 {looks very nice too for White
with Qb3 next up.}) 13… Qxe7 14. Qd2 g5 $2 {Black wrongly thinks that Bh6 is
a threat. That is often a plan to swap off one of Black’s best pieces, but
here the entombed bishop on g7 cannot be seen as one.} (14… c6 {was a try
for some counterplay, but after} 15. g4 Nc7 16. Ng3 {White retains control and
might even ready Harry,}) ({while} 14… c5 15. g4 ({a good case can even be
made for} 15. b4 $5) 15… a6 16. h4 $1 b5 17. Ng3 Rb8 18. g5 {is a very
instructive line. Naturally Black doesn’t want to take on f5 or g5, but he is
just in huge trouble in any case, as shown by} Nc7 19. Rf2 Rb7 20. Raf1 {
. The pressure grows against f6 and} Ne8 21. fxg6 $1 {(only now, with all
White’s pieces perfectly aligned)} hxg6 22. h5 {decisively rips open lines:
for example,} fxg5 ({or} 22… gxh5 23. g6 {followed by Nxh5 or even Nf5 and
Qe2}) 23. Rxf8+ Bxf8 24. hxg6 Qg7 25. Qf2 Be7 26. Nf5 Bxf5 27. Qxf5 {and Black
collapses on the light squares.}) 15. g4 $1 {Preventing any notion of …h5
while freeing g3 for the knight.} Rf7 16. h4 $1 ({It was again possible to
switch focus with} 16. b4 {, but with Black so tied up, Simon couldn’t resist
involving Harry.}) 16… h6 (16… gxh4 $2 17. Rf3 {will regain the pawn with
a mighty attack after Rh3.}) 17. hxg5 hxg5 {[#]} (17… fxg5 {might have been
more obstinate, but still looks great for White after} 18. Bf3 Nf6 19. Ng3 {
. Bolder readers will no doubt be looking at ideas of Kg2, Rh1 and a sacrifice
on g5 here; calmer ones will notice how tied up Black is, so why not open a
second front on the queenside as White?}) 18. Kf2 $1 {Centralising the king,
not for the endgame, but to allow the rooks access to the h-file.} c6 19. Rh1
Nc7 20. Rh3 Rff8 21. Rah1 Kf7 22. Ng3 {This is a dream Botvinnik position.
White has a handy space advantage and just look at Black’s lack of
coordination and counterplay. Simon recalls he was very happy here, and no
wonder.} Rh8 23. Nh5 $1 {Keeping pieces on and Black bottled up.} Bh6 24. d4 {
Levering open the second front;} ({but we’re not sure now how Simon resisted}
24. Nxf6 $1 {, and if} Qxf6 25. Rxh6 Rxh6 26. Bxg5 {and it’s all over.}) 24…
c5 $2 {Desperation.} (24… exd4 25. Bxd4 Ne8 26. Nf4 $1 {is one neat way to
invade;}) ({and} 24… Bg7 {actually fails to prevent} 25. Nxf6 $1 {and –
boom! After} Bxf6 (25… Qxf6 26. Bxg5 {traps the black queen}) 26. Rh7+ Bg7
27. Bxg5 Qe8 28. f6 {White wins material while decisively opening lines.}) 25.
dxc5 dxc5 26. Nxf6 $1 {Simon was never going to miss this for long.} Bxf5 27.
exf5 Rad8 28. Nd5 e4 29. Nxe7 Rxd2+ 30. Bxd2 1-0
[/pgn]
which provides for engaging instruction (if you like that sort of thing!).
Quite correctly, the content is dominated by the King’s Indian (73 pages), Reversed Sicilian (102 pages) and 100 pages on 1. c4 g6 and 1.c4 d6 lines. Clearly a wealth of material and probably most suited to someone who already plays the English but not the Botvinnik System. Taking up the English for the first time via this book (and/or the course) could well be somewhat daunting and not for the faint hearted.
Each of chapters Three – Nine adopts the now familiar Everyman format of example games delivering the theoretical discussion. Thirty-three games are dissected in detail including six of SKWs.
In the BCN office we always like to see how we would fair defending “against the book” and since we play the slightly offbeat 1.c4 c6 we turned to page 440 for Theory 9A (!).
[fen]rnbqkbnr/pp1ppppp/2p5/8/2P5/8/PP1PPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq – 0 1[/fen]
where we won our internal wager that White would be advised to play 2.e4 and transpose into a Pseudo-Panov (called the Steiner Variation in Win with the Caro-Kann) rather than to a Slav. So, how did the “game” go?
1.c4 c6; 2. e4 d5; 3.cd: cd:; 4. ed: Nf6; 5.Nc3 Nxd5; 6.Bc4!?
[fen csl=Gc4]rnbqkb1r/pp2pppp/8/3n4/2B5/2N5/PP1P1PPP/R1BQK1NR b KQkq – 0 1[/fen]
which is a little off the beaten track (but easily met) with 6…Nb6; 7.Bb3 Nc6; 8.Nf3 Bf5; 9. d4 e6; 10 0-0, Be7; 11.a4 Na5 12. Ba2 0-0; 13.Qe2 and instead of the move suggested (13…Rc8) we played 13…Nc6! with a totally playable position.
[fen csl=Gc6]r2q1rk1/pp2bppp/1nn1p3/5b2/P2P4/2N2N2/BP2QPPP/R1B2RK1 w KQkq – 0 1[/fen]
The text suggests that someone who plays 1…c6 could be unfamiliar with a transposition to the Caro-Kann. Yes, they may well be but more likely this is a forlorn hope.
Anyway, this recreational digression is not really germane to the main thrust of the book…
In summary, this book is a major piece of work by Richard Palliser and Simon Williams that adds considerable material to the increasingly popular Botvinnik English.
In a sense the Botvinnik English is a kind of very grown-up London System and Colle Opening approach to playing with the White pieces (i.e. a system approach) and a welcome addition to White’s armoury. Anyone wishing to take it up will find this book to be a reliable and friendly companion.
John Upham, Cove, Hampshire, 29th April, 2021
Book Details :
- Paperback : 464 pages
- Publisher: Everyman Chess (1 Oct. 2020)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1781945802
- ISBN-13: 978-1781945803
- Product Dimensions: 17.3 x 1.7 x 23.8 cm
Official web site of Everyman Chess
As is fairly common these days, the book has been migrated to the Chessable platform. Here are reviews of that course.
