Attacking Chess: The French - Simon Williams (K-6215)

New In Chess Yearbook, which appears four times a year, contains the latest news in chess openings. Each issue brings you dozens of new ideas on the cutting edge of modern chess opening theory. Have a look at what this issue has to offer.

Forum

The Forum section contains a lot of material from the Tata Steel Chess Tournament which ended just before our deadline. You can find hot ‘Tata’ contributions by Han Schut, René Olthof and Frank Erwich, besides an impressive analysis by young player Artem Odegov, an SOS line versus the Najdorf employed by Nakamura against MVL no less than 10 times in the chess.com Speed final (written by Peter Boel) and a baffling opening discovery by new grandmaster Max Warmerdam who was also the second of Tata winner Jorden van Foreest.

From Our Own Correspondent

Our GM correspondent Erwin l’Ami dives deep into five openings again with the help of correspondence chess games. You’re getting the latest on the English Attack vs the Najdorf, a new path for Black in a difficult King’s Indian/Benoni hybrid, a sharp attacking game with the Shirov/Shabalov Slav, a new blow for the Blumenfeld Gambit, and another blow for a much-applauded Bobby Fischer idea for Black in the Benoni.

Reviews

Glenn Flear sees Magnus Carlsen’s influence on opening theory grow and grow. He reviews two books on variations named after the World Champion: Carlsen’s Neo-M\'f8ller by Ioannis Simeonidis and The Carlsen Variation by Carsten Hansen – the inventor of which variation, by the way, is ‘close by’! Flear also takes a look at an impressive tome on a very obscure variation: The Exhilarating Elephant Gambit by Jakob Aabling Thomsen and Michael Agermose Jensen, and first but not least at a French opening – another novelty in the Yearbook! It’s called Jouez la Française and it’s by GM Manuel Apicella.

The candidate move is perhaps the most elusive concept in chess theory. First introduced by Alexander Kotov in his famous book Think Like a Grandmaster, it seems clear and methodical enough: when considering a move, you make a list of "candidates" in your mind, compare their merits, and make your choice. But how do you determine what a candidate move is, and how do you proceed from there?