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Last update: Friday June 3, 2005 9:44
Krzysztof Panczyk with John Emms
Everyman; 160
Pages; £12.99
Many developments
have taken place in the Archangel variation of the Ruy Lopez (which arises after
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 b5 6 Bb3 Bb7) in the past decade
and so it was really time for a new work on the opening. Panczyk deals with
the Archangel, whilst Emms has been drafted in to cover the popular New Archangel
(in which Black plays 6...Bc5, delaying moving the c8-Bishop until its best
square is apparent) and the Moller Defence (5...Bc5 instead of 5...b5), which
has also recently received a new lease of life.
This work is neither in the 'Easy Guide' format nor has the theory produced around complete games, but instead is a fairly heavy theoretical work, packed full of variations in the style of, for example, line 'C321'. Despite this, by playing through the main lines and studying the analysis of the more critical footnotes Black players will quickly pick up on some common themes. All the three lines (the New Archangel does often transpose into the Archangel) are, however, fairly tactical and include several long fairly forcing lines which must be learnt before one can play the defence. Both authors write clearly and suggest many improvements, whilst there can be no complaint about the quality of their coverage as it contains many recent (1999 and 2000) games played by the likes of Shirov and Anand. For those who play the Ruy Lopez as White and who do not want to lose to these fairly 'new' lines then this work is probably worth purchasing whilst it is a must buy for existing Archangel players.
For those looking for a new tactical and until now, poorly documented defence to 1 e4 then one of these three lines could well suit you.