One of my latest book in store is THE SLAV. The author is Graham Burgess, a GM who used to be in the same team with GM Dr. John Nunn. Together, they had produced many notable chess books which enriches the chess literature such as NUNN'S CHESS OPENINGS, BEATING THE INDIAN DEFENCE etc.

My price is RM95.00. As far as I am concerned, the local bookstore's price is RM 104.90, which means that I am offering almost RM10.00 less.

My good friend, Hairul (see his famous blog http://hairulovchessmaniacs.blogspot.com/ ) onced had seked me if I know any latest reference for Slav when holding the black pieces. I recommended this. After a few while, when I met him again, I asked about this book. He commented: "This book had helped me answering 2 problems in Slav. First, how to react against the dull exchange Slav, (eg 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 etc). And second, how one should play as black in the line whereby black sacrifices a piece 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 e6 7. f3 Bb4 8. e4 Bxe4 9. fxe4 Nxe4 10. Bd2 Qxd4 11. Nxe4 Qxe4+ 12. Qe2 Bxd2+ 13. Kxd2 Qd5+.

He added, "I prefer to defend the black side".

Saprin Sabri, a very strong local chess player posed me a question during the recent UIA Open 2008; "Can this book (THE SLAV) improve your game?". Well, as a chess books seller and a friend I had to be fair to myself as a businessman and as a friend. I came out with the answer, "Surely this book will help to improve your game, but, if you still lose playing Slav, it is not the book's fault, but it is your own fault", and we bursted into a laugh. My real meaning was, the book is good but it is up to the owner to benefit from the book.

I also present here a partial game of mine (5 minutes game- I could not recall the whole game) against Choo Min Wang (see picture), the silver medalist of Para Games 2005 Manila, and our own very first National Master.



[Event "Catur OKU Berpasukan" (5 minutes warming up game)]
[Year 2007]
[White "Rizal A Kamal"]
[Black "Choo Min Wang"]
[Annotator "Rizal A Kamal]

Slav defence [ECO "D15"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Bf5? (This is a very common mistake in the Slav which I notice, frequently committed by Malaysian players, including by very strong players)
5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Qb3 Nc6 7. Qxb7 Na5 8.Qb5+ Bd7 9. Qd3 g6 10. e3 Bg7 11. Ne5 Bf5 12. Qb5+ Kf8 13. Be2 and white won in a few more moves