Description
This is the White repertoire of one of USA’s top players. One of Wojtkiewicz weapons in amassing this incredible repertoire was his skill at opening 1.Nf3, often steering the game into 1.d4 openings by transposition. It is this repertoire that is extensively examined in Wojo’s Weapons: Winning With White, Volume 1 by Jonathan Hilton and Dean Ippolito. Volume one of this series deals with the sequence 1.Nf3 d5 2.d4, with the largest part of the book devoted to the Catalan but with lengthy sections on the Slav and the Tarrasch.
Russian born Wojtkiewicz was spending more and more time in the United States and when he landed a chess scholarship at the University of Baltimore at Maryland County, he had made a complete transition from the Old to the New World. Competing in the U.S. meant playing almost exclusively in Swiss events, often two or three games a day over a single weekend. This format required a practical and economic style that would grind out wins without expending unnecessary energy. This way of playing came naturally to Wojo who, although a great lover of chess, was not a systematic studier.
He clearly appreciated the fact that playing in short Swisses minimized pre-game preparation and thrived in his new environment, winning the U.S. Grand Prix six years in a row from 1999 to 2004. During the last eight years of his life he won or tied for first in a staggering 240 tournaments. Part I: The Closed Catalan (1 page) An Introduction to the Close Catalan (35 pages) The Closed Catalan with 4…Bb4+ (23 pages) . Assembling the Repertoire (7 pages) . Part II: The Open Catalan (1 page) .The Delayed Open Catalan with 7.Ne5!? Nc6 (32 pages) .The Delayed Open Catalan with 7.Ne5!? C5 (and others) (11 pages) . The Early Open Catalan with 5…Nc6 (41 pages) . The Early Open Catalan with 5…c5 (23 pages) . The Early Open Catalan with 5…a6 6 Ne5 Bb4+ (8 pages) . The Early Open Catalan with 5…a6 6 Ne5 c5 (27 pages) . The Early Open Catalan with 5…b5 or 5…c6 (11 pages) . The Early Open Catalan – Others (5…Bb4+, 5…Nbd7, 5…Bd7) (22 pages) .Part III: The Slav Defense (1 page) * The Slav Defense with 4 Qc2 dxc4 (27 pages) . The Slav Defense with 4 Qc2 g6 (16 pages) . Semi-Slav Hybrids with 1 Nf3 d5 2 d4 c6 (8 pages) * Part IV: Blacks Other Defenses (1 page) . The Queens Gambit Accepted (26 pages) . The Tarrasch (28 pages) . Systems with 2…Bf5 (13 pages) . The Chigorin (14 pages) . The Austrian Defense (9 pages). In general Wojt didn’t always play the most critical lines, being confident in his excellent technique to realize a small advantage. This ability is often mentioned in Wojo’s Weapons: Winning With White, which is very well written and spends a lot of time explaining what White is trying to accomplish. There is plenty of theory and important theoretical novelties in this book but at the end of the day most users will find the carefully and heavily annotated games to be its biggest strength. Wojo’s Weapons: Winning With White is recommended for players 1800 or up that are looking for a solid and reliable opening repertoire. Ippolito and Hilton have made a successful debut that would have pleased their hero. There is plenty of theory and important theoretical novelties in this book but at the end of the day most users will just enjoy it. Softback 408 pages. 154 x 232 x 18mm, 520g
