Starting Out: d-Pawn Attacks

Interesting review from David , but how the bishop is supposed to get out in these lines?? 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 Bg4 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 Bf5 BTW I believe that the london system fits better with the 150 and barry attack than the Zukertort because it has the same motive : Bishop to f4. "Win with the london system" together with this book might be a "good" complete repertoire, they all can start with d4, Bf4, Nf3, so good transposition possibilities and you might flick in c4 with knight on c3 in some lines. To easy for Black in the Zukertort to get good counterplay on the c file after c5. The major gain when you use these opening is not to get a ferocious attack on black (you might get some with lower rated players) but is time. If black knows a line to play against the barry or 150 you will get an equal (solid) position not more. But that is what i was looking for, save time to study chess! (middlegame,tactics & endgame) and get a playable position.

By way of disclaimer, I am the author of Zuke 'Em-The Colle Zukertort Revolutionized: A chess opening system for everyone, now bullet-proofed with new ideas, a book dedicated to the Zukertort and the many pet defenses against it. My book, being rather new itself, came out too late for Palliser to incorporate its new ideas into D-pawn Attacks. While some could see this as a competing book, I see Zuke Em and the D-Pawn Attacks books as complementary. I tell all people who bought Zuke Em to get D-pawn Attacks, and anyone contemplating D-pawn attacks should likewise get Zuke Em. Taken together, they provide a response against every significant Black option except the Dutch. The first major book describing the Barry and 150 attacks to the world was Aaron Summerscale's excellent A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire (Cadogan Chess Books), which has been out of print for years. Now, nearly 10 years later, Palliser provides us with a much-desired update on these openings. The worst thing about the book is the formatting and organization. I think it might just be how the Starting Out books are done in general, because Palliser's other book on the Colle had the same problem. There is almost always one diagram PER PAGE (and sometimes 2) that are out of place. You'll be reading along in one line, and then BOOM, you see a pair of diagrams side-by-side, and _neither_ pertains to the line you are looking at. Most of the time the diagrams are from various sub-variations rather than the the mainline you might be reading. It's just the worst formatting/organization I've seen in any set of chess books, ever. In addition to diagrams, the various sections are thrown together in a way where you are not always sure where a new section "fits in" to the overall scheme. The only other negative thing about the book is that it is missing several important lines. This should not be considered a mark against the book, though. Palliser is rather up-front about this. He says in the preface that this is not meant to be a repertoire book, but rather one focusing on the 3 attacks mentioned. Since he fills 260+ pages covering these three, you can hardly blame the guy for not covering the others. However, it must be pointed out that the lines that are not covered do happen to be the most challenging for White. These important lines are: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 [The Benoni] 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 g6 [The Sneaky Gruenfeld] 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 c5 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c5 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 Bg4 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Bg4 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 Bf5 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Bf5 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Nc6!? 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 Most of the above require some extra understanding to handle well, and most are rather formidable in general. Together, they represent about 41% of the games most tournament players can expect to see. I cover all of these lines in Zuke Em, but I do not cover the early King-side Fianchetto lines [1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6], which are exactly what the Barry and 150 attacks are there for. This is why t