A Spanish Repertoire for Black provides a world-class repertoire against 1.e4. In his previous book, Beating the Open Games, Mihail Marin dealt with White's options up to 3.Bb5. Now Marin provides all the answers for Black after 4.Ba4.

Such a high-level repertoire has rarely been published for a mass audience before, as grandmasters usually prefer to keep their secrets. In fact, Marin's understanding is so renowned that he has worked as a second for the top woman player in the world, Judit Polgar. The complexity of the material could have been daunting, but Marin is also a master of explaining profound ideas to a wide audience.

Foreword

In Beating the Open Games I started building a complete repertoire for Black based on 1...e5 as an answer to 1.e4, but space limitations forced me to leave the story unfinished halfway. The present book is a logical sequel of my previous work by providing Black with a coherent system of development after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6.

Since these two books can be considered as complementary parts of the same whole, my general approach has been the same in many ways, but there are some significant differences, too.

I have structured each chapter in the same way as in the previous book. The introductory part deals with the general aspects as well as with the historical evolution of the variation. The theoretical section contains detailed analysis, which aims to be one or two steps ahead of the current stage of theory.

Throughout the book, I have put a strong emphasis on the notion of development, which offers the most reliable guidelines in any open game. It is easier and more constructive to follow just a few general recommendations about development than remember a large mess of variations. At the same time, rules tend to have many exceptions, which frequently require combining common sense with concrete thinking. I have aimed to highlight and explain the most important situations where this latter aspect becomes vital.

The main difference compared to the general structure of most other opening books consists of reversing the natural order of the chapters. Usually, books start with the sidelines and examine the main systems at the end. To a certain extent, this is the approach I had chosen for Beating the Open Games, too. I have examined Whites alternatives to 2.Nf3 first, then the deviations from 3.Bb5 and only in the end the Exchange Variation. The need for a formal line-up was justified by the fact that each of the openings examined there had its own individuality, with more or less equal rights with the others. Once we have entered the territory of the Spanish Game, the situation becomes different. Each of White's attempts to deviate from the main stream implies a small concession and simplifies Blacks defensive task. The main line is by far the most complex from a strategic point of view. Once its basic ideas have been assimilated, the other variations become easier to understand. This aspect has convinced me to arrange the systems in what I consider an order of decreasing strategic complexity. Admittedly, a certain amount of subjectivity was involved, but I believe that the general structure is quite practical: when examining certain "side-lines" I have frequently made reference to positions from previous chapters. For the same reasons, the first chapters are also the longest. In addition, certain variations are unpopular and inoffensive at the same time, which makes detailed analysis unnecessary.

Although such openings as the Scotch, the Italian Game, and the Four Knights Game have become increasingly popular over the past few decades and require from Black a relatively high degree of accuracy, the Ruy Lopez remains unchallenged in its privileged position of queen of the open games. This is not just a consequence of respect for tradition, but instead is due to the rich strategie content of the fight that characterizes the Ruy Lopez. Mastering the subtleties of this eternally young opening is synonymous with being a strong positional player. I hope that this book will help the reader make progress on this territory.

Finally, I want to express my gratitude to:

Valentin Stoica, who helped me to prepare the theoretical material for the Yates System, the Worrall Attack, the Delayed Exchange variation and the d3-systems;

Jacob Aagaard, who suggested possible ways of improving the initial versions of the first chapters;

My wife, Luiza, for her patient and kind support.

Bucharest, 1st of January 2007.

Content:
005 List of Symbols

006 Bibliography

007 Foreword

009 The Chigorin Variation - General Aspects

025 The Rubinstein System

097 The Petrosian System

133 The Yates Variation

137 The Yates Variation - 10.d5

149 The Yates Variation - 10.Be3

169 The d3-System

189 The Worrall Attack

197 The Delayed Exchange Variation

209 The a4-System

217 The System Based on Nc3

225 The Central Attack

232 Index of Main Lines