Starting Out: d-Pawn Attacks: The Colle-Zukertort, Barry And 150 Attacks (Everyman Chess)

There are not many books available on this opening. This is a good one with some original ideas of how to deal with king side fianchetto defences by black. He is honest in his evaluation of positions, comprehensive in letting you know what openings are not covered by the book, and generous in giving insightful comments thru out.

The problem with the Colle-Zukertort is that you'll never get to play it. No matter how you play, there is a way black can thwart you, and he probably will. Nobody is going to play into your main line C-Z. Everyone, in my experience, will play some sort of anti-Colle system. So learn the main line, of course, but spend most of your time on the anti-Colle lines, because these are what you are going to end up facing 95% of the time. One way I tried to get around this was 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2 followed by 4.e3, 5.d4, and 6.Bd3, but even this can be thwarted (and it was). I've probably won more games than I've lost with this system, but it's been close, and mostly against weaker opponents. As for the Barry Attack, it's not called a load of it for nothing. The 150 attack seems to be okay. I haven't had that much opportunity to play it. Most KID players seem to be alert enough not to transpose into a king pawn opening.

This is an introductory repertoire book built around the Colle Zukertort, Barry Attack and 150 Attacks. Collectively these openings allow White to play a set of conceptually similar piece setups, promoting kingside attacking chances against most of Black's defenses based on 1...d5 and 1...Nf6 including The King's Indian, Queen's Indians and the Pirc Defenses, among others. As the title implies, the book is written primarily for those who are not already very experienced in these openings. One the whole, the book does a nice job introducing this relatively straightforward and cohesive repertoire to the intended audience.

Content-wise, the book provides good overviews of the Colle-Zukertort, Barry, and 150. What it does best is focusing the reader's attention on key positions and important themes.Where the book fails is as a book. After a few months of light usage, the binding has fallen apart. And I do mean light usage, since I'm already familiar with these systems and am primarily using this book as a review and reinforcement guide. Usually, Everyman books are long lasting, but this is the first time I've ever bought one of their "Starting Out" titles. Don't think I'll buy one of those ever again, as the books is well on its way to becoming just a sheaf of papers.

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 c51.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c51.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 Bg41.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Bg41.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 Bf51.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Bf51.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Nc6!?1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6Most 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 the two books complement each other well.One of the best aspects of Palliser's book is that he does not laud his own opening to high heavens. Other books give the reader the idea that they are going to win every game in 20 moves. Palliser is just the opposite. Compared to other opening books, he looks abjectly pessimistic. This is certainly the better of the two extremes. His book does not come off sounding like a used-car salesman trying to sell you the opening.The most valuable part of this particular book is the coverage of the Barry. He spends over 50 pages [cram-packed pages, not those single-column tons-of-white-space pages] on the Barry. Compare that to Summerscale's 29 pages. [Of course, Summerscale managed to put _an entire repertoire_ into 144 pages, so their aims are clearly different.]32 of those pages are on the mainline Barry [1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3], but over 20 pages are on the less common, but still important options where Black delays castling or where White tries the more flagrant 5.Qd2!?. (This brings up another point worth mentioning: Palliser does not just give one option for White. These lines have not been worked over as much as others in more popular openings, so he gives alternatives pretty early on, especially when the main-line appears to have stagnated.)The coverage of the 150 is not as long, but there are fewer lines in general. Palliser does point out the change in recent times to how Black players react to the 150. Those below 2000 can pick up lots of points here when their opponents castle too early.With regard to the Zukertort, Palliser should be commended for being dealing with Prie's line [1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.b3 Nc6 6.O-O Bd6 7.Bb2 O-O 8.Nbd2 Qe7 9.Ne5 Qc7!] This line had for years gone undiscussed. Unfortunately, his solution is not very encouraging [not his fault, I don't think there is a solution to this after White has played 8.Nbd2. I have written an article on what I think is "the answer" to this whole mess at chessville: [...] .Palliser does not present many new solutions to known equalizers in the Zukertort section, but he does at least describe these ideas rather than just pretend they do not exist. He's the first author to even mention the crucial tactic Black has in the classic line where he pulls White's d-pawn to e5 and then threatens ...Nc4. Unfortunately, Palliser mentions this as an aside rather than as a major idea that shapes the entire line. In fact, this very idea is what makes 8.Nbd2 the correct play after 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.b3 Nc6 6.O-O Be7 7.Bb2 O-O. Other books are ambivalent, suggesting both 8.Nbd2 or 8.a3 as options, but Palliser correctly gives only 8.Nbd2 (I just wish he had better explained _why_ 8.a3 leads to trouble.)So, in short, this book is absolutely essential to those who use this d-pawn attacking repertoire because it's the most comprehensive book on the Barry/150, and these work better with the Zukertort than the London does.

Interesting review from David , but how the bishop is supposed to get out in these lines??1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 Bg41.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 Bf5BTW 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.

I agree with the comment about the binding.I picked up the book in a bookstore, and pages were already falling out. I didn't buy it.Richard Palliser writes good books, though.

I bought this book as a d4 club player (rated about 1700-1750) looking to expand my opening repertoire beyond my usual 1.d4, 2.c4 approach. I knew a little about the Colle-Zukertort from facing it as black but had never heard of the Barry or 150 attacks and was quite curious. Well, curiosity paid off big time with this book!The first thing I was impressed with was the format of the book. The "Starting Out" series books apparently all have this format, so I'll be looking into other titles soon no doubt. Basically each section has an introduction where the main line is discussed in detail along with any important deviations, a theoretical conclusion summarized from that main line, an illustrative game or two to see the ideas in action, and then a list of key points to remember about the variation, Sprinkled in between this in bold face are "tips, notes, and warnings" which give the reader crucial advice when playing these attacks.The next thing that impressed me was IM Palliser's very dedicated and thorough attention to detail. I initially thought, well, I'll just pick this beginner's guide up to breeze through and maybe get something else down the road." No need for that, as in between the bold faced moves of the main lines, Palliser has actually snuck in quite a large amount of theory for those interested. A player rated 1200-1400, say, may not want to play out every deviation, but those readers can comfortably skim through those parts and follow the main moves without a problem. I honestly think any player up to 2200 could benefit from this book even though it's a "Starting Out" guide.Lastly, I like how Palliser makes clear and reasonable assessments. There are no grandiose claims about these systems being foolproof for white against any setup. Rather, time is taken to cover black's important responses and tricks, and present the reader with clear themes to look for again and again, rather than some quick-fix trap to set in the first few moves. In this respect, the book is much more than just am opening manual. It's designed to get you comfortably past the opening stages and into certain middlegame themes where hopefully you will have absorbed the bigger picture after awhile.One note on coverage: the Colle-Zukertort is given approximately 60% of the weight here, as there are more ways to meet this opening as black. The Barry gets about 30% and the 150 only about 10%, but this is both due to fewer variations as well as the lesser likelihood of seeing 1.d4, Nf6 2.Nf3, g6 as opposed to 1.d4, d5 2. Nf3, Nf6 and so on.Great book that I would strongly recommend to a d4 player looking to expand their repertoire.

Un très bon livre qui m'a fait découvrir le nombre incalculable de moyens qu'ont les Blancs de détourner les ouvertures classiques au 2ème coup après 1. d4 Cf6. Afin de limiter mes connaissances en ouverture, je diffère à présent au premier coup en ne jouant plus 1. ... Cf6 mais en le différant sous réserve de connaitre l'équivalent en début ouvert. Exemple : 1. d4 e6 et si 2. c4 .. alors Cf6 mais il faut connaitre et jouer la Française si les Noirs jouent 1. d4 e6 2. e4. De même, si après 1. d4 c6, il faut connaitre la Caro Kann ou la défense Slave avec les Noirs, ou enfin si 1. d4 g6, il faut connaitre la Pirc/Moderne et l'Est-Indienne.Par inversion de coups, on peut éviter plusieurs débuts désagréables avec les Noirs en évitant 1. ... Cf6 et beaucoup de théorie, bien démontrée niveau efficacité par ce livre pour les Blancs. Ceci dit tout n'est pas forcément évitable et il faut savoir se défendre. A recommander pour connaitre les idées des ouvertures qui sortent des sentiers battus. Certes, ces ouvertures sont très anciennes, mais si on ne les connait pas, elles deviennent très vite .. des nouveautés !

Fantastic white openings without too much to remember, suitable for positional players.