Chess Book Corner with Ian Marks – Scottish Chess
This month our esteemed bibliophile Ian Marks delves into the world of 1…e6 and IM Nicolas Yap’s repertoire book:
A COMPLETE REPERTOIRE FOR BLACK AFTER 1…e6! By Nicolas Yap, Thinkers Publishing, 509 pp. publ. 2025.
The aim of this sturdy hardback (1.10kg, 2.5lbs) is to do what it says on the cover: provide the reader with enough ammunition on to deal with anything that White might throw at him/her a er 1…e6. This, of course, implies the French and Dutch defenses. I wasn’t familiar with the author’s name, but a quick spot of research revealed that he is an American player with an IM norm who switched federations to England while studying there. He has a number of books and courses to his name, but currently appears to be inactive on the tournament scene.
The first thing you’ll want to know is what variations he recommends. For the Dutch, it’s the Stonewall, and for the French, the Winawer v 3.Nc3 and the less common 3…a6 v the Tarrasch (which he polemically calls ‘White’s strongest answer against 49 the French’. Agree or disagree as you will!). As he says at the start, the goals he set himself were to show that 3.Nc3 Bb4 and 3.Nd2 a6 in the French are fully equal for Black, di o the Stonewall, and that the 1…e6 repertoire he presents gives equality a er 1.c4, 1.Nf3 and everything else. (There are only a couple of occasions where he doesn’t begin with 1…e6 and, no, I’m not telling you what they are. Have a guess.)
The first 174 pages are devoted to the Dutch via 1…e6 and 2…f5. This obviates the need to get involved in any of the dodgy-but dangerous stuff that White can try on move two a er the direct 1.d4 f5, but, of course, commits Black to a French should White go 2.e4. Not an issue here! That said, the author’s first two chapters on the Dutch cover various possibilies on moves two and three a er the 1…e6 move order such as 2.Nc3, 2.Bf4, 3.Nc3 etc.
His other four Dutch chapters cover the real meat a er 1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5 3.g3 and his main suggestion, the Stonewall forma on with pawns on f5, e6 and d5. Black usually joins the dots with …c6, but in this book the b8knight or c8-bishop o en finishes up on that square, while sometimes the c-pawn stays put, goes to c6 as programmed, or fast forwards to c5. Thus it is not hackneyed coverage where Black sets up the formation on auto-pilot; there are plenty of modern, dynamic ideas on show.
Meanwhile, on the kingside, the author illustrates the potency of Black’s a ack with things like …g5, …f4, …Rf6-h6, …Qh5, especially in conjunction with a knight on e4. This is o en dismissed as caveman stuff, but none wants to be whacked over the head with a club, and there is plenty of material here to suggest that White needs to be on his/her toes. The author’s watchword is simple: ‘In the Stonewall, you cannot stay passive!… O en in the Stonewall, both sides try to bust open both sides of the board.’ In the French sec on he also starts with the less common lines before ge ng to the Tarrasch and 3.Nc3. I mentioned above that he suggests 3…a6 against the former, and devotes 30-odd pages to it. 50 51 This avoids a lot of theory, and, as he says, ‘…is definitely a quirky move, which is not only theoretically good, but also would surprise most of your opponents’. The lines he suggests o en feature IQPs, so prospective proponents should be comfortable with those structures, although on p.306 we meet that rarest of creatures, the IKP!
He devotes three chapters to 3.Nc3 – early alternatives, various seventh moves (7.Nf3, 7.h4 and 7.a4) and finally the macho 7.Qg4. Against this the author recommends 7…0-0. This has been regarded as dubious, if not downright terminal, for a while now, but Yap is undeterred: ‘Even recommending this is quite controversial. Black castles headfirst into White’s onslaught. While it is true that White can slaughter Black if the la er knows not what he do, at the end of the highway, White has nothing…I have always been a Winawer bloke, and 7…0-0 has always highly interested me. Here I show you all of my latest findings.’ And show you he does.
He is not sparing in his analysis; lines going into the 30s and 40s are not uncommon, providing guidance on what to do once the middlegame is under way. As he says, ‘One thing that I absolutely HATE is to see a line that seems to cut off too short; I think to myself, ‘So, what happens next?’’. I’m with him on that one! Whether his surgical coverage of 7…0-0 will persuade French defenders to give it a punt is moot. White may very well have nothing and I cannot escape the thought that in the hurly-burly of league chess, Black is the one who is more likely to come a cropper. The upshot of such in-depth analysis is that his prose is pre y much to the point and germane to the line under discussion. There is not a huge amount of background explanation (‘I could not leave heavy commentary on every line, as that would make the page count soar’). The implication seems to be that the reader will be strong enough to figure things out for him/herself, so if you’re new to the Stonewall or the French, this is unlikely to be the book for you.
It is obvious that the author has put his heart and soul into his work (‘one of the hardest projects 52 that I have worked on’) and that alone is o en the sign of a text worth reading. The book is well produced in clear, double-column format, with heavy print for main lines and grey text for sidelines, large diagrams for mainline poisons and smaller ones for analysis. There is no index of variations, but one isn’t necessary. Each chapter is introduced by a guide and page-by page breakdown of where to find each variation. Overall, this is a work for strong, serious players interested in either or both of these openings. If you have the me and understanding to derive the most benefit IM Nicolas Yap has cast his net far and wide re both printed and online resources. He is not afraid to call out others (‘Agdestein and Johnsen do not consider this’. On the other hand, I’d be leery of recommending it to that mythical abstraction, the average club player. If your chess is limited to the odd league game, then I’d suggest you shop around for something a bit more digestible. You’re not going to need anything like this depth for your chess adventures (and besides you should be working on other things anyway) So, kudos to author and publisher for producing what is virtually a state-of-the-art work.
