The Veresov

Grandmaster Nigel Davies arms the reader with an all-in-one repertoire with the white

pieces, with the Veresov being the key component.

Nigel Davies is both an experienced Grandmaster and chess trainer and a former British Open Quickplay Champion.

Looking for a new opening?

The Veresov could be the one for you!

It's a surprisingly tricky system that, in the right hands, can be forged into a powerful attacking weapon.

White forgoes the normal queen's pawn opening ideas in favour of speedy development of the queenside pieces.

One advantage of this underrated line is that players with the black pieces are less likely to be familiar with all the subtleties here than in a more mainstream opening.

In this book, Grandmaster Nigel Davies arms the reader with a complete repertoire with the white pieces, with the Veresov being the central line. Davies delves into the secrets of the opening, explaining tactical and positional ideas, and highlighting the main plans for both sides.

• An aggressive opening repertoire for White
• Ideal for club and tournament players
• Full explanation of the latest theory

The Veresov is a little played opening that is ideal for creative, aggressive players. As early as the second move White dares to be different by developing his knight to c3, and in so doing he contravenes the conventional wisdom about Queen's Pawn Openings which states that you must never obstruct your c-pawn. In fact White has a far more ambitious idea in mind; he wants to play for e2-e4.

The first Grandmaster to use this opening regularly in tournaments was Saviely Tartakower, but he was certainly not to be the last. Over the years many great players have enriched it with their games and ideas, including David Bronstein, Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky, Bent Larsen, Lev Alburt and Kurt Richter. Yet it is Gavril Veresov who has contributed most to the theory of this opening, having played it week in and week out during his heyday in the 1950s and 60s. It is therefore fitting that it carries his name.

My first contact with the Veresov Opening came when I was a teenager and read a 1975 article in the magazine Chess. The author, Robert Bellin, wrote The Veresov is young and still molten, the crust of definite variations has yet to form. You can participate in the making of a new opening - if you try.' Being young and still molten myself, this sounded pretty good, and during my teenage years I played the Veresov regularly. It turned out that many other British amateurs had the same idea and this opening experienced an explosion of popularity in club and county games.

Since that time interest dwindled away with many of the Veresov specialists moving on to pastures new or disappearing from the chess scene altogether. Books have been written showing what are supposed to be effective answers for Black. Yet the Veresov is alive and well with the supposed 'antidotes' having been directed only at the traditional lines such as 3...Nbd7 4 f3 or 3...Nbd7 4 Nf3. Having examined the evidence I believe that 3...Nbd7 is by no means as good as some books have made out, with 4 Qd2!? (the ultra-violent approach), 4 Nf3 (Veresov's own favourite) and 4 e3 (my personal recommendation) being quite dangerous for Black.

It's not just in the 3...Nbd7 lines that I've found myself disagreeing with the experts; it seems to me that just about every variation of the Veresov has been misanalysed and/or misassessed. This presents a wonderful opportunity for practical players to surprise and outfox their opponents. I'm not in the least bit surprised that the Veresov has recently attracted the attention of the Swedish GM Jonny Hector and the up-and-coming Russian superstar Alexander Morozevich. Morozevich in particular seems to revel in the complex and original positions that the Veresov offers.

Because of the uncharted nature of the Veresov I haven't attempted to pin down the 'theory' and 'main lines' on the basis of a handful of obscure games. Instead I've written this book as an exploratory guide, saying what I drink is happening and what White's most promising plans are. Accordingly you will find a lot of my own suggestions and ideas which I've worked out in conjunction with Fritz 8 as an analysis partner. Fritz has been very good at checking tactics and some of the sharp variations, though I have frequently had to lead it by the hand in positions where strategy predominates or a material imbalance exists.

In order to provide a complete repertoire I have suggested an option for White against moves which transpose into other openings. Thus in Chapter 8 you'll find my suggested method of dealing with 3...e6, which normally transposes to a French Defence. In Chapter 9 I've given some lines against 1 d4 d5 2 Nc3 e6, 2...f5 and 2...c6, whilst in Chapter 10 I'll show you some things you can play against 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nc3 c5, 2...d6, 2...g6 and 2...e6. In these three chapters I've 'doctored' the early move order of games to show how they arise from a Veresov. My aim was to lend greater clarity to the material.

Learning a new opening should be a gradual process through which you get used to the positions before using them in serious games. The way I suggest you do this is by following the steps below:

1) Familiarise yourself with the basic pattern of play by playing through the games at speed. At this stage you should ignore the notes and sub-variations.

2) Play these lines in quick games at your local club or on the internet (www.freechess.org or www.chessclub.com).

3) Look up the lines that occurred in your games and cross-check your play against my own thoughts on these variations.

4) Repeat steps 2 and 3 for a month or two.

5) Study the book more carefully, working from cover to cover and making notes about any points of interest. Analyse the points of interest.

6) Adopt your new weapon in competitive games and matches.

7) Analyse your competitive games to establish what was happened and whether either side could improve.

I hope you enjoy this voyage through the uncharted waters of the Veresov Opening. I have certainly found this to be a fascinating subject to think and write about and after a 30 year hiatus I have started playing the Veresov again in a few games on the internet.

If you have any suggestions, comments or recommendations you might like to discuss them with me at the Tigerchess Yahoo Group. To enrol for this discussion group please go to my home page at http://www.tigerchess.com and enter your email address in the form provided. I look forward to meeting you and hearing about your Veresov triumphs!

Nigel Davies, Southport, July 2003, Introduction

Grandmaster Nigel Davies arms the reader with an all-in-one repertoire with the white

pieces, with the Veresov being the key component.

Nigel Davies is both an experienced Grandmaster and chess trainer and a former British Open Quickplay Champion.

Looking for a new opening?

The Veresov could be the one for you!

It's a surprisingly tricky system that, in the right hands, can be forged into a powerful attacking weapon.

White forgoes the normal queen's pawn opening ideas in favour of speedy development of the queenside pieces.

One advantage of this underrated line is that players with the black pieces are less likely to be familiar with all the subtleties here than in a more mainstream opening.

In this book, Grandmaster Nigel Davies arms the reader with a complete repertoire with the white pieces, with the Veresov being the central line. Davies delves into the secrets of the opening, explaining tactical and positional ideas, and highlighting the main plans for both sides.

• An aggressive opening repertoire for White
• Ideal for club and tournament players
• Full explanation of the latest theory

The Veresov is a little played opening that is ideal for creative, aggressive players. As early as the second move White dares to be different by developing his knight to c3, and in so doing he contravenes the conventional wisdom about Queen's Pawn Openings which states that you must never obstruct your c-pawn. In fact White has a far more ambitious idea in mind; he wants to play for e2-e4.

The first Grandmaster to use this opening regularly in tournaments was Saviely Tartakower, but he was certainly not to be the last. Over the years many great players have enriched it with their games and ideas, including David Bronstein, Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky, Bent Larsen, Lev Alburt and Kurt Richter. Yet it is Gavril Veresov who has contributed most to the theory of this opening, having played it week in and week out during his heyday in the 1950s and 60s. It is therefore fitting that it carries his name.

My first contact with the Veresov Opening came when I was a teenager and read a 1975 article in the magazine Chess. The author, Robert Bellin, wrote The Veresov is young and still molten, the crust of definite variations has yet to form. You can participate in the making of a new opening - if you try.' Being young and still molten myself, this sounded pretty good, and during my teenage years I played the Veresov regularly. It turned out that many other British amateurs had the same idea and this opening experienced an explosion of popularity in club and county games.

Since that time interest dwindled away with many of the Veresov specialists moving on to pastures new or disappearing from the chess scene altogether. Books have been written showing what are supposed to be effective answers for Black. Yet the Veresov is alive and well with the supposed 'antidotes' having been directed only at the traditional lines such as 3...Nbd7 4 f3 or 3...Nbd7 4 Nf3. Having examined the evidence I believe that 3...Nbd7 is by no means as good as some books have made out, with 4 Qd2!? (the ultra-violent approach), 4 Nf3 (Veresov's own favourite) and 4 e3 (my personal recommendation) being quite dangerous for Black.

It's not just in the 3...Nbd7 lines that I've found myself disagreeing with the experts; it seems to me that just about every variation of the Veresov has been misanalysed and/or misassessed. This presents a wonderful opportunity for practical players to surprise and outfox their opponents. I'm not in the least bit surprised that the Veresov has recently attracted the attention of the Swedish GM Jonny Hector and the up-and-coming Russian superstar Alexander Morozevich. Morozevich in particular seems to revel in the complex and original positions that the Veresov offers.

Because of the uncharted nature of the Veresov I haven't attempted to pin down the 'theory' and 'main lines' on the basis of a handful of obscure games. Instead I've written this book as an exploratory guide, saying what I drink is happening and what White's most promising plans are. Accordingly you will find a lot of my own suggestions and ideas which I've worked out in conjunction with Fritz 8 as an analysis partner. Fritz has been very good at checking tactics and some of the sharp variations, though I have frequently had to lead it by the hand in positions where strategy predominates or a material imbalance exists.

In order to provide a complete repertoire I have suggested an option for White against moves which transpose into other openings. Thus in Chapter 8 you'll find my suggested method of dealing with 3...e6, which normally transposes to a French Defence. In Chapter 9 I've given some lines against 1 d4 d5 2 Nc3 e6, 2...f5 and 2...c6, whilst in Chapter 10 I'll show you some things you can play against 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nc3 c5, 2...d6, 2...g6 and 2...e6. In these three chapters I've 'doctored' the early move order of games to show how they arise from a Veresov. My aim was to lend greater clarity to the material.

Learning a new opening should be a gradual process through which you get used to the positions before using them in serious games. The way I suggest you do this is by following the steps below:

1) Familiarise yourself with the basic pattern of play by playing through the games at speed. At this stage you should ignore the notes and sub-variations.

2) Play these lines in quick games at your local club or on the internet (www.freechess.org or www.chessclub.com).

3) Look up the lines that occurred in your games and cross-check your play against my own thoughts on these variations.

4) Repeat steps 2 and 3 for a month or two.

5) Study the book more carefully, working from cover to cover and making notes about any points of interest. Analyse the points of interest.

6) Adopt your new weapon in competitive games and matches.

7) Analyse your competitive games to establish what was happened and whether either side could improve.

I hope you enjoy this voyage through the uncharted waters of the Veresov Opening. I have certainly found this to be a fascinating subject to think and write about and after a 30 year hiatus I have started playing the Veresov again in a few games on the internet.

If you have any suggestions, comments or recommendations you might like to discuss them with me at the Tigerchess Yahoo Group. To enrol for this discussion group please go to my home page at http://www.tigerchess.com and enter your email address in the form provided. I look forward to meeting you and hearing about your Veresov triumphs!

Nigel Davies, Southport, July 2003, Introduction