Thursday, February 28, 2008

Norwegian Variation Sources

From Norwegian chess enthusiast, chess author and chess shop owner (Sjakkbutikken) Øystein Brekke, I recently received two very interesting sets of photo copies. The most recent one is from the Swedish chess magazine "Tidsskrift för Schack" 1964 with the heading "En ovanlig variant i spanskt parti" (An Unusual Variation in the Spanish Game). It was written by the late Svein Johannessen and is a five part article on the Norwegian variation in the Ruy Lopez.

Even more ancient is the second set of photo copies which is from "Deutsche Schachzeitung" 1901 with the heading "Eine neue Vertheidingung der spanische Partie" (A New Defence in the Spanish Game). This set consists of an article by editor Carl Schlechter (February issue), a summary of some readers' letters regarding the variation 6.Bxf7+ (June issue) and finally a second article by Schlechter focusing on the 6.Bxf7+ variation (September).

This new information obviously calls for an update of my list of Norwegian variation sources:

The Norwegian Variation Bibliography
Below is a list of the significant sources that I am aware of. I will update it whenever I find the time or stumble over anything new.

Alternative names:
English: Wing variation, Taimanov variation, Furman variation
German: Jagdvariante
NIC-code: RL 9.3
ECO-code: C70

Major sources:

  • New In Chess Yearbook 37 (1995):
    (25 pages article by Jonathan Tisdall)
  • Norsk Sjakkblad 1993 and 1994 (Norwegian language):
    7 articles by Jonathan Tisdall (drafted by Sverre Johnsen): 2/93; 3/93; 4/93; 5/93; 1/94; 2/94; 6/94 and 7/94. There is also an annotated game Ernst-Tisdall, Gausdal 2002 (Zwaig variation) in 1/93.
  • Sjakkmesteren Svein Johannessen, Brekke, Norsk Sjakkforlag 2009 (Norwegian language). Contains many annotated games - some previously unknown - and an overview chapter.
  • Opening for White according to Anand 1.e4 (vol.2); Khalifman, Chess Stars 2003
    (I don't have the book available but have read it and as expected it offered a serious try for White to extract a genuine advantage)
  • Chesspublishing 1.e4 e5; Davies, February 2003
    (mainly for subscribers)
  • Play the Ruy Lopez; Greet, Everyman 2006
    (13 well researched pages from White's point of view).
Minor sources:

  • Easy Guide to the Ruy Lopez; Emms Everyman 1999
    (quite good coverage but mainly from White's perspective)
  • The Lopez Grip Part 3; Martin, Bits and Pieces (Chessville) 2004
  • Norsk Sjakkblad #4 and #5 2005 (Norwegian language)
  • Older issues of Norsk Sjakkblad (I will eventually try to make a list of the relevant issues).
Historic sources:

  • Tidsskrift för Schack 1964 #7, 8 and 9; Svein Johannessen (Swedish language)
  • Deutsche Schachzeitung 1901 #2, 6 and 9; Carl Schlechter (German language)

General sources:
The encyclopedic works (ECO, NCO, MCO, BCO2 etc.) almost by definition have some coverage of the line. I will add some details on this whenever I find the time.

  • ECO C (4th edition) has 1,5 pages
  • NCO has 0,5 pages

This is an updated version of an entry I originally posted August 30th, 2007. Some information added August 26th, 2009)

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