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Last update: Friday June 3, 2005 9:44
Joe Gallagher
Everyman, £12.99
Review by Gary Lane
The King’s Indian Defence is a favourite of club players who like tactical
skirmishes straight from the opening. Joe Gallagher has the difficult task of
trying to explain the labyrinth of main lines in an easy to read format. He
uses his experience to explain general plans and sprinkles his games throughout
to illustrate ideas.
Apparently the book is aimed at people wanting to play the defence for the first
time, which makes it intriguing that a couple of games are devoted to move 15
in the Classical Main Line. I suspect it is a little heavy for someone who just
wants to know the basics. Other lines are better explained, with the reader
pointed in the right direction to make progress.
The latest trend is to add a paragraph on every main line about the statistics
generated by Chessbase, and Gallagher is a dedicated follower of fashion. These
are conjured up by pressing a button on the computer, but without explaining
the ratings of the group of players or what year the games were played the argument
is that it must be fairly irrelevant. On the other hand if you see a line scoring
90% it sounds like pretty good news. That aside, there are some useful tips
for King’s Indian players.