An Opening Repertoire for the Attacking Player - Levy & Keene

Also titled “An Opening Repertoire for the Attacking Club Player”, this complements Cafferty’s Chess Openings for You by providing the club player with more directly aggressive systems contrary to Cafferty’s sound positional fundamentals. Both books chose lines suitable for the club player by avoiding theoretical lines in favour of a restricted opening where the repertoire player gets the kind of game he’s looking for.

In the collaboration of authors, Keene wrote the chapters covering the Pirc (Chapters 10 and 11) and flank openings (Chapters 16, 17 and 18), and Levy wrote the rest. The quality of the material is unbalanced. It’s clear when the discussion is about one of Levy’s pet systems, the quality is good and the coverage excellent. However, at the edges or in lesser-seen variations Levy is disparaging as if there’s something else he’d rather be doing than covering this opening system.

Repertoire as White

Play 1. e4 as White. The first chapter covers the backbone of the repertoire which is avoiding the Ruy Lopez, the Giuoco Piano and the Two Knights Defence by aiming for the Max Lange Attack via a Scotch Gambit move order (1. e4 d5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4). The purpose is to aim for positions rich in tactical possibilities. Levy covers three main variations. The first deals with the Giouco response 4… Bc5 where he offers an improvement of 7. b4 to deny the Black knight access to the a5 square and encourages the reader to devote time studying the position after White’s 11th move. The other two lines cover the Two Knight’s Defence into the heart of the Max Lange attack itself. The analysis is detailed, with notes on possible improvements and areas to explore.

Against the “dull, solid and marginally inferior for Black” Petroff Defence, Levy spends Chapter 2 covering 3. d4, forcing Black to decide between an open or closed game. The open approach is met with rapid piece development. The closed approach leads to a mainline Petroff where White has gained a tempo.

Chapter 3 is a three-pager on playing the Open system against the Hanham system of the Philidor Defence. White’s system is to exchange off the queens on g5 and play a semi-endgame. Chapter 4 is a four-pager on the Latvian Gambit, and promises “the start of a long, forcing sequence in … which White sacrifices most of his pieces”, promising the player that should he learn this chapter thoroughly, he’ll be “absolutely certain of winning against it, almost by force”. Rajabov beware!

Chapter 5 calls the Queen’s Pawn Countergambit a joke. The opening analysis fails to reach one page of notes and positions. Kinda looks like a Scotch Mieses reversed.

Finally, something more mainstream, as Chapter 6 covers the Sicilian Defence, where it’s essential to avoid reams of cutting edge theory. Interestingly, Levy recommends the Alapin c3-Sicilian transposing to the Smith-Morra Gambit Declined. The repertoire covers Black’s second move options 2… Nf6, Smith/Morra Declined 2… d5 and the French-like 2… e6

Against the French Defence in Chapter 7, Levy advised the most active 3. Nc3, opting for Alekhine’s sharp 4. a3 against the Winawer - a line Fischer sensationally lost to Kovacevic in Zagreb in 1970. A classical style of open development against the Rubinstein variation, after branding the Fort Knox variation “completely unthematic”. And it’s the old Steinitz system against 3… Nf6.

Chapter 8 unwraps the Gunderam Attack against the Caro-Kann, it’s a Panov - Botvinnik with 5. c5. Hardly mentioned in chess literature since Gerhart Gunderam’s extensive analysis published in 1951. Levy classifies the system as “unusually virile counter” to the Caro-Kann.

Chapter 9 lets loose the Four Pawns Attack against the Alekhine defence, avoiding the …f6/…e5 pawn break line that provided Black with sufficient counterplay. Levy follows in the footsteps of Velimirovic, forsaking castling and aiming for an early central attack with d5.

Chapter 11 covers the Byrne system (3. Bg5) against Black’s Pirc, a system that combines solidity and aggression, creating tense positions with mutual chances. This chapter is the intersection of the player’s White and Black repertoires. The variations are a balance of tactical and subtle manoeuvring.

Chapter 12 covers the Centre Counter (or Scandanavian Defence, as it’s commonly known as today). Levy refers to the system as “plain bad” (sic), as “a defence which allows White to make full use of his one move initiative”. Levy covers the … Qxd5 and … Nf6 lines. The disdain of the Scandi is prevalent in this chapter, and likely the variations and discussions here haven’t aged well.

Chapter 13 covers the Nimzowitsch with a modicum of respect (“Its unnatural first move is no cause for jest”), Levy outlines a French-like repertoire response that fits into two pages.

Repertoire as Black

Chapter 10 delves into adopting the Pirc as Black’s response to 1. e4. Keene claims that the Pirc only recently became respectable as a result of Soviet victories in the 1963 Curaçao Candidates Tournament. The chapter covers major White systems other than the Byrne system. Keene handles the Austrian Attack with 5… c5, and sacrificing a pawn against 6. e5 for dangerous chances.

Against the Holmov system (4. Bc4) Keene outlines a strategic plan of expanding on the queenside, and the tactical stroke … Nxe5 and … d5. He hits out at various early kingside pawn storms with … c5 similar to the Holmov system approach. Against the slower Classical System Keene guides the player into … e5 structures. Against the Sämisch-like 4. f3 and 5. Be3 aiming for queenside castling and a kingside attack he briefly covers queenside attacks against the White castled king.

Chapter 14 is the repertoire’s main response to White’s 1. d4, the Benko Gambit. Levy claims it’s “an ideal weapon for the repertoire player” because its thematic ideas are easy to understand. Levy covers the main piece configurations in the introduction, concluding that “Black has ample compensation for the sacrificed pawn. If Black can win white’s a- or b-pawn he will nearly always win the game”.

Levy first covers White’s alternative second move options, the Veresov-Richter, labelling the now-fashionable Jobava London System as “innocuous” and venturing no further, a French-like setup against the Trompowsky, the Bogoljubov Defense to the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit (5… g6) with the conclusion “White’s gambit play has only its spirit to compensate for the sacrificed pawn”. Various ways of declining the Benko Gambit also receive the customary Levy disdain, of not playing into his pet systems. But the coverage of the main Benko accepted lines is good, albeit fairly concise, it’s enough to get grounded and play out of the opening with good expectations of what to do in the middlegame.

Keene covers the less tangible English Opening in Chapter 15 highlighting the transpositional possibilities and move-order nuances. He recommends a system for Black to achieve an aggressive setup from the start, which if left alone turns out to be the Closed Sicilian in reverse (with …e5 and … f5 and kingside fianchetto), or in Keene’s words “play a sort of Dutch Defence in which Black has already achieved … e5 (his thematic break in the Dutch)”. Keene notes that “Black frequently achieves an active position by means of a series of almost stereotype moves”, which fulfils the aims of a repertoire player of having an easy-to-understand plan to learn.

Chapter 16 covers White’s first move 1. Nf3 with a flexible 1… d6 offering transpositions to the Pirc or English setups, but meeting 2. d4 with the Old Indian / Czech system 2… Bg4.

Chapter 17 covers meeting the Nimzowitsch/Larsen 1. b3, Keene meets it head-on with 1… e5 and a kingside fianchetto, following the game Larsen - Portisch from Siegen 1970.

Chapter 18 looks at independent opening lines from the Reti / King Fianchetto openings. Again Keene opts for an 1… e5 system, expecting a transposition into an English opening or Nimzowitsch/Larsen.

Lastly, Chapter 19 covers the Bird Opening, Levy advocating a solid 1… d5 system, exchanging Black’s light-squared bishop for the knight on f3, and aiming for an … e5 break, castling queenside, and launching an attack on the White kingside.

Title

An Opening Repertoire for the Attacking Player

ISBN

0884054365

Author(s)

Levy, David
Keene, Raymond

Publisher

B.T. Batsford Ltd

Year

1976