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| Title: Danish
Dynamite |
Author:
Karsten Müller & Martin Voigt |
Language:  |
Pages: 233 |
| Cover: Paperback |
Published: 2003 |
| Publisher:
Russell Enterprises, Inc. |
Homepage:
http://www.chesscafe.com |
| Price: $ 19,95 |
ISBN:
1-888690-20-8 |
| Reviewed by: Erik
Sobjerg |
Date: 11/4 2004 |
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Danish Dynamite
The title of this book needs a comment by a Dane:
As it is remarked in the foreword dynamite was invented by the famous Swede, Alfred Noble.
However, there is no mention of the fact, that Danish Dynamite was a term invented,
when the Danish national football team impressed the world in the mid 80’ies, reaching its peak in Mexico 1986.
A national newspaper made a competition for the best slogan to support the team. And the now classic:
"We are red, we are white, we are Danish dynamite!" somehow won. The team played beautifully, and the slogan caught on
elsewhere - and now in a chess book….!
The Danish Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 is by the way called
"Nordic Gambit" in Denmark, in recognition of the fact that at least Swedes helped developing this violent Opening.
Contents
- Foreword, Introduction, Acknowledgements and Photo Credits (in all 5 pages)
- Some Miniatures as Appetizers (6 pages)
- Chapter 1: Danish Gambit Accepted (69 pages)
- Chapter 2: Göring Gambit Accepted (57 pages)
- Chapter 3: Göring Gambit Accepted with 5.Bc4 (3 pages)
- Chapter 4: Scotch Gambit Accepted (17 pages)
- Chapter 5: Danish Gambit Declined (4 pages)
- Chapter 6: Göring Gambit Declined (3 pages)
- Chapter 7: Danish/Göring Gambit, Capablanca Defence (27 pages)
- Chapter 8: Unusual Moves Orders (22 pages)
- Chapter 9: Lines with an early Bc4 and Urusov Gambit (18 pages)
- Exercises, Index of variations, Bibliography and About the Authors (in all 10 pages)
The acceptance of the Danish and Göring gambits has always had the reputation of being dangerous, but it seems that there has now been found ways to defend against the white assaults.
The Theory
Having read John Watson's excellent discussion of and expansion on the lines in question in his latest book reviews on TWIC, I will encourage you to look there for the details. But in short the critical line for White in the Danish gambit seems to be:
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Bc4 cxb2 5.Bxb2 Nc6 6.Nf3 d6 7.Nc3 Be7 8.Qb3 Nh6 9.Nd5
and now 9…0-0 is even better than the known moves, according to both Müller/Voigt and Watson. 10.Qc3 Lf6 11.Sxf6 Qxf6 12.Qxf6 gxf6 13.Bxf6 Ng4 and
"this is not what White wants to out of the opening." says Müller and Voigt. It is not easy to find an improvement here.
The Göring Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3 is also possible to accept with 4…dxc3 5.Nxc3 Bb4 6.Bc4 Bxc3 7.bxc3 d6, and again I will refer you to Watson’s analysis on TWIC. But it might be easier just to decline with 4…d5.
The book also touches on the Scotch Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4
and now the minor choices 4…Bc5 5.c3 and 4…Bb4+ 5.c3 gets analysis. Whereas 4…Nf6 leading directly to the Two Knights Defence gets something I have never seen before in an Opening book: hints of where to find material and analysis of it on the web and in books.
Blacks option of entering the Two Knight Defence is also taking away a lot of the charm of playing the Urusov Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nf3. Accepting the gambit with 4…Nxe4 5.Qxd4 Nf6 is really dangerous, and Müller/Voigt underlines this conclusion as well.
Extensive Analysis
As the book is without much explanatory text, and the analysis is very extensive, I think the book rules out a large segment of the players who would want to play this type of Openings. The popularity, and I dare say the usefulness, of these gambits are definitely higher among players below 1800 than above. But both the wish to and benefit from diving into such an amount of lines and sub lines (on pages 102 the book has a sub-sub-….line called B2b22233221 (!!)) are definitely bigger among stronger players.
To give a word in defence, it must be admitted that these gambits are so terribly concrete and forcing, that it may be difficult to give many general advises and avoid ending up in long and heavy analysis.
The collecting and organising of the material and not least the analytical work that has been done by Müller and Voigt is very impressive. The bibliography is simply exemplary. If you have a special place in your heart for the Danish or Göring Gambits then this is a book that will please you. But making them attractive Openings from neither a theoretical nor a practical point of view, it does not. It is Black that has the safe, equal and just as importantly easy choice to decline the gambits with 3…d5 (Danish) or 4…d5 (Göring) leading to the same endings. And it is Black that can go for more by accepting the gambits in the way we saw above.
Müller and Voigt analyses the endings 4…d5 5.exd5 Qxd5 6.cxd4 Lb4+ 7.Nc3 Bg4 8.Be2 Lxf3 9.Lxf3 Qc4! - the so called Capablanca Defence which he played against Frank Marshall – and now both 10.Bxc6+ bxc6! 11.Qe2+ and 10.Qb3 gives Black an easy game. As
"the Boss" – Seagaard himself - said when he handed me the book to review:
"They can analyse that ending as long as they want, but they can’t do magic. It’s as equal as it has been known to for many
decades!".
Daring Gambits
"Danish Dynamite" seems to be one in a new range of books and articles on
"daring but maybe suspect" gambits, that due to the possibility of computer assisted analysis digs so deep, that it tends to prove them unattractive or even unplayable from a theoretical point of view. Kosten’s
"The Latvian Gambit Lives!" and the recent articles in New in Chess Yearbooks about the Traxler Counterattack are obvious examples. I can only guess that the same will be the case with Gutman’s upcoming book on the Budapest Fajarovich Gambit.
The title and also the preface of the book tries to sell the openings as promising for White, but the content of the thorough analysis inside tends to show a different picture.
Conclusion:
It is a very thorough an impressive work that the two German authors has done, and it is a very detailed study on a few of the classical gambits in opening theory.
However the book has two flaws which makes it hard to give it the recommendation, the authors dedicated work deserves.
First, the gambits are not really attractive enough from a theoretical nor a practical point of view. Second, the books focus on long analysis and few explanations makes it unattractive for the weaker players to whom the theoretical status does not matter, and the gambits could prove a dangerous weapon.
In short, I think this book falls between two chairs, which could easily have commercial implications for it.
"Danish Dynamite" is good stuff, but the national football team of ‘86 was better!
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