New Art of Defence in Chess

Andrew Soltis is among America's best known and widely read chess writers; my only other acquaintance with his works is the excellent 'Younger School of Soviet Chess' which quickly became a favourite. New Art of Defence in Chess is a revised and updated version of the original 1974 edition. This latest offering (published 2014) contains approximately 123 games 75 of which are dated post '74 so these games are new and did not appear in the original publication (?) The games themselves are rarely given in full; rather the critical junctures are annotated to provide the best illustrative examples of defensive technique. Most examples are drawn from middle game positions introduced along with their opening moves, although the book also contains a good number of Queenless positions one might place in the category of endgame tableau. All in all a balanced presentation of compromised positions drawn from various stages of play with lots of sound instruction on how to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. The most pleasurable aspect of this book is that Soltis keeps a tight reign on the material, the topic is how to defend difficult chess positions and the author never strays from the subject. The reader's attention is seldom, if ever, indulged in superfluous details. As already mentioned there are some 123 games, plus a scattering of supplementary examples dotted throughout the ten chapters. The range of data is gratifyingly wide and includes such things as: Risk Management; Coolness Under Fire; Counter Sacrifice... and much more. Chapter four, titled Weapons of Defence, lists eleven independent stratagems used by the protagonists to dig themselves out of a hole. The accompanying game analysis is concise rather than exhaustive yet provides enough insight for the reader to understand what is going on. There is no player index, but as one might expect, the game selection includes top names representative of past and present generations: Keres; Flohr; Stein; Petrosian; Fischer; Karpov; Anand; Kramnik; Carlsen... to name but a few. Soltis' annotated text is particularly readable and one can discern the invaluable insight of the Grandmaster at every turn, making this an enjoyable and stimulating read. Each chapter is broken up into manageable sub-sections introduced by an explanatory heading and the author's engaging comments. The layout is especially appealing in that there's plenty of white space, main notation is in bold algebraic with sub-text well spaced and easily recognizable; diagrams are sufficient and intelligently placed to navigate alternative lines of play. I cannot imagine any chess enthusiast finding this a difficult book to get through, on the contrary, quite the opposite. Its instructive value is plainly evident for all but the most advanced practitioners and by this I mean titled players, NM's and upward, but this last matter is always a difficult and subjective issue to judge. Batsford publishing has a renown pedigree when it comes to producing quality chess books, New Art of Defence in Chess will surely take its place among them.

Practically speaking, better than the original More emphasis on counterattack and aggression I do miss the stabilizing, neutralizing, and slippery style shown the original Just my taste

I own both this book and the original "The Art of Defense in Chess". I found Soltis' assessment that the actual practice of defense in chess has shifted in the interim to be accurate; it's clearly evident from comparing the games of, say, Petrosian in the 1960's, to the games of Anand in the 2000's. The original edition was published in 1986. You'd expect the new edition to draw heavily on new material and leave behind the old games of the 1st edition behind (after using a few as a baseline). After all, there wouldn't be a need for a new edition unless things had changed in the way the game is played, as the title implies. But most of the chapters in the book (Chapter 7, Risk, is the main exception) have _more old games_ (pre-1990) than _new_. If this is an exposition on the "New Defence", why are the illustrations of "new defence" ideas being made with games from 1903? It's not clear that this is a step forward from Soltis' original in terms of the actual theory of defence. I enjoyed the book and found it useful. It's well-organized and the ideas are easily understood and retained. But I'm not left with the impression it's worth replacing the original book. A note on publishing chess in e-book format: I found the Kindle edition miserably difficult to read, because the typesetting uses figurine notation, and the characters are outline-only, not solid. Fortunately, no other chess book I've bought in e-book format does this (and for good reason). This transparent appearance (and their size) makes them _very_ difficult to interpret, unless you're willing to hold your tablet less than 12" from your face, or use a font size that's so big there can't be more than 10 words on a line (which I find too disruptive for rapid reading). In addition, the diagrams are not crisp at all, they're fuzzy, as if they'd been scanned from a printed page. You might think it's a defect with Kindle, but my edition of Fundamental Chess Openings, published by Gambit Press, has diagrams that look like they're in HD by comparison. So, the book is good, but not a necessary replacement for the original, and _don't buy the Kindle edition_ unless you have 20/15 eyesight and want it tested.

One of the few good books covering how to play defensive chess.

Excellent

I have fond memories of the original Art of Defence in Chess by Andrew Soltis. It was the book that took me to master level. Suddenly, I found that I could win 90% of my games against players below 2100 level simply by letting them attack and timing a counter blow. My original copy is well worn. I've lent it to chess friends and students, and can't recommend it enough. One of my students managed to get the copy signed by Arnold Schwarzenegger at a book signing! Imagine now my delight when I find a rewrite of the classic using modern games. It's almost too good to be true. This new edition offers more insights into the dynamic nature of attack and defense. I would almost claim that the book really is about positional play, because these are the kinds of factors one must weigh when conducting the game positionally. Other books will teach you things like the static weaknesses of doubled pawns, and books about dynamic factors tend to be geared towards attacking. This book looks at dynamic factors through the eyes of the defender. It's a relevant skill to have in every game, because when one is winning positionally, most players nowadays will launch desperate counter-play, and being able to negotiate the trade offs is essential on the path to winning. While not as advanced as Dvoretsky's work on the subject, this book is perfect for expert players hoping to reach master level.

In Soltis' introduction to the book, he states "...the biggest change since the 1970s is that our play has been refined by computer analysis." Too bad he doesn't follow his own advice in annotating this book. I have completed going through the first 32 pages of the book using a commercially available chess engine, and the results are not good. In nearly every example, Soltis makes major errors in his analysis. For instance, on page 19-20 he analyzes a position from Carlsen-Tjomsland, and in the span of 15 moves makes eight significant errors. His errors include completely ignoring the best move, or mis-evaluating the move actually played. In fact, sometimes the computer position evaluation is exactly the opposite of what Soltis states. That being said, the book is good at showing the various ebbs and flows that happen in a given chess position, and methods to defend a given position as it changes. I would recommend book only if you intend to use while following with chess software.

The concept of the book is a very interesting one and GM Soltis is a gifted writer. The main reason, however, for the 2-stars is the physical characteristics of the book. I purchased a new book and upon opening it for the first time the first few pages detached from the binding. Few more pages are visibly on their way "out" as well.