Tony Kostens Latvian Book (Openings)

by Mahout, Wednesday, October 03, 2007, 21:07 (6407 days ago)
edited by Mahout, Wednesday, October 03, 2007, 21:21

Here are some highlights of a debate raging in another forum about this work (which started as a thread about the Danish Gambit and somehow got onto this book)...anyone have any comments to add...(nb:non of these posts are mine!):

- "I still think it a little dodgy to write books on openings you never play yourself. How can you have a real feel for it? Another example was Tony Kosten, who wrote not one, but two(!) books on the Latvian (Greco) Counter Gambit and was publicly derided by John Nunn for doing so."

- "I have a copy of Kosten's The Latvian Gambit lives in front of me now.
There is a lack of specialist info on the Latvian & Kosten's work is incredibly detailed & seems very thorough."

- "The basic problem is the suspicion that Kosten is effectively selling a book on false premises, in other words giving an objectively dodgy opening a GM seal of approval - hence Nunn's derision. The plain fact of the matter is that no GM will ever play the Latvian, since white obtains a clear positional advantage by force. I write this as a one-time occasional player of this opening myself. It really is a shame that 3.Nxe5 is so positionally strong for white, since the other main lines (3.Bc4 and 3.exf5) are incredibly interesting tactically and maybe fairly playable for black."

- "There are some openings that can be very successful at sub-IM levels that would probably only be a draw at IM+ levels. Masters are generally very good at navigating through complex positions, unlike class players, who might overlook a simple combination."

- "Have you read Kosten's book?
It really is quite impressive."

- "I agree with the theme of your argument (if the shoe fits then wear it) but that doesn't really take anything away from Kosten's work in itself."

- "By the way, I find 6 games by Kosten choosing the Latvian gambit:

Lamoureux / Kosten 1994 1/2 1/2
Schnabanel / Kosten 1994 0-1
Elburg / Kosten 2001 1/2 1/2
Ruggeri / Kosten 2001 1/2 1/2
Tiemann / Kosten 2001 1-0
Voliani / Kosten 2001 1/2 1/2

Hardly resounding, but at least he does play it sometimes."

- "Be interesting to know just how often he has played it.
I know that obviously only relatively few games make it onto internet databases.

I would stand by the claim that if you are a Latvian gambit devotee the Kosten book is required reading."