Anyone have a copy of "An EXPLOSIVE Repertoire for Black"?

[Rudel]

I gave my copy of this book away I think...or simply just lost it.

If someone else has a copy, could you please refresh my memory what their suggested response is to a Colle-Like setup.

In particular, what would the opening moves be if White aimed to play:

1. d4
2. Nf3
3. e3

And, similarly, what would be the opening moves if White instead played:
1. d4
2. Nf3
3. c4
4. e3

I think they play ...Bg4 pretty early on, but forget exactly when.

-David

[graham]

Probably a bit late, but they recommend ...Bg4 on move 2. If White then plays 3 e3 they suggest 3 ...e6!? and "Black can continue in a flexible manner, sometimes reaching positions similar to a Queen's Gambit or Slav by playing ...d5." Their main game is Portisch-Speelman, Reykjavik 1988 (13-move draw).

[Rudel]

Thanks! I might have some more questions for you on this.

[Rudel]

Hey Graham, what do they suggest after...

3.Qd3!?

3.c4

3.h3!?

[graham]

I'll try to give a quick summary of the 5 chapters (!). It looks like there's not much settled theory here: they give lots of suggestions of what might be worth looking at.

Starting from 1 d4 d6 2 Nf3 Bg4, which they call the Hodgson Variation (also played by Spielmann, Stein, Kavalek, Petrosian, Adams, Hickl and Jansa).

A 3 Qd3 c6 (or 3 ...Nd7!? 4 Bg5 c6 5 Nc3 Ngf6 6 e4 e5 7 Be2 Be7 8 0-0 0-0 with a Philidor-type position, B. Hansen-Hoiberg, Arhus 1993; or 3 ...Nc6!? 4 d5 Nb8 5 h3 Bd7 6 e4 e5 (6 ...g6!?) 7 dxe6 fxe6 Ciglic-Novacan, Slovenian Cht 1994) 4 Ng5 e6 5 f3 Bh5 6 Nh3 d5 7 Nf4 Bg6 etc (=/+ Gil Capape-Danailov, Zaragoza 1992).

B 3 c4 this is their mainline, so they give 4-5 chapters on this. After 3 ...Nd7 they discuss three plans for Black:
1) Fianchetto the king's bishop and press d4;
2) Play ...e5 and ...Be7 Old Indian style and try to exchange the dark-squared bishops.
3) Exchange on f3 and try to shut out White's bishops

The Portuguese Gambit is given a separate short chapter: 1 d4 d6 2 Nf3 Bg4 3 c4 e5 4 dxe5 Nc6!?

C 3 h3 Black was willing to exchange on f3 anyway, so why waste a tempo? After 4 exf3 (they say gxf3 doesn't work with h3) Black "develops flexibly with ...Bg7, ...e6, ...Ne7, and ...Nd7 and later starts playing against White's weakened pawns".

[Rudel]

Thanks, I think I'll just avoid their main chapters and go with Qd3, which is in line with some suggestions in AKCOR.