About My King's Gambit Repertoire Book
How it started
Some years ago, I experienced a few devastating losses in the King's Gambit due to either insufficient knowledge about certain variations or because of simply confusing two similar lines. That's why I resolved to do an in depth study of at least one variation against every black defence.
As the work progressed I found many new or interesting ideas which I incorporated into the work as ways of expanding or avoiding theory for those who wish to think for themselves. At the same time I had to discard a few pet variations which unfortunately did not work quite as well as I'd like them to.
Two years later I believed the book was complete so I sent it to an American publisher who had advertised after new material. Three months later the manuscript returned - address unknown…
Then I sent it to Hypermodern Press, after three or four months I wrote to them and it turned out that the manuscript had disappeard on the way (their address went to a "P O box that no longer forwarded the mail"), but they weren't interested anyway…
By now I was pretty fed up with the whole project. As a last try before filing my MS in the bookshelf, I printed the preface, first chapter and bibliography (about 20 pages) and sent them to three publishers, two German and one British.
A couple of weeks later I got a letter from one of the German publishers saying they were very interested in publishing the book although they couldn't offer me very much for it; advising me to take a British offer if there was one… I waited another week and then I recieved the "Thanks, but no thanks" from the British publisher (the other German publisher never replied).
So, I went for the publisher that was interested - Kania Schachverlag, which I have had no reason to regret despite a delay of, all in all, almost a year. - It turned out the publisher Harald Keilhack was a bit overworked, editing five(!) books at the same time.
Six months later the book was edited and bilingualized (the original English text is followed by a rough German translation in another type font - yes, it sounds messy but it is actually quite well done and the result is very readable).
Then there was a further delay of about six months with the Hungarian printers but in December 1998 my book finally entered the world… Well, that's most of the story of how The King's Gambit for the Creative Aggressor was born.
The main pillars of my recommended repertoire are
- The Kieseritzky against 3...g5 with the new 9.Be2;
- 3.Nf3 + 4.Nc3 against the Classical Declined 2...Bc5.
- 4.b3 against the Becker Defence;
- 4.Bc4 + 5.b3 or 5.d3 against the Fischer defence;
- 4.ed5 + 5.Bc4 against the Modern.
13/5-02
By the way, in February/March the book was reprinted in a limited edition. So those who have tried to get it earlier when it was sold out, could contact Mr Keilhack at the emailaddress below.
4/5-06 - Occasionally, I still stumble over 'new' reviews of the Creative Aggressor despite that it's now eight years since it was first published!
Here the latest I've found (pdf): www.masschess.org January 2004
19/9-05
On and off I do some work on a new revised edition, but it's still doubtful if it will happen at all...The revised version soon got a life of itself, and entered the world in January 2005. For more info on it, check this page: The Fascinating King's Gambit
Amazingly, the demand for the Creative Aggressor has increased lately, perhaps people want to have both books or get the cheaper one first to see if they like it? Anyway, the demand seemed big enough for a 2nd reprint, which will be available in late September 2005.
Here's some links to reviews on the net:
January 2010, here's a link to a facebook group I've created - just in case there are any fans of this book out there. :)
http://www.bcmchess.co.uk/reviews/bcmrev9901.html
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/jwatson12.html
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kgcaa.txt
ChesspagesofMikeDonnelly.co.uk/DrMJDonnelly/bookrevi.htm
Here's one I happened to stumble on, look at the end of the review of MacDonald's KG book! :-)
http://www.very-best.de/Shop.htm
Here's the latest review of the Creative Aggressor, a couple of years old by now as I've forgot to link to it until now (14/4-05) - despite that it's probably the longest and most positive review of them all!
http://www.chessville.com/reviews/Kings_Gambit_for_the_Creative_Aggressor.htm
To order the book please write to my publisher below.
To send me games, ask questions or come with suggestions
etc, you can reach me at
this e-mail address:
Harald Keilhack.
Richard Wagner Strasse 43
D-71701 Schwieberdingen
Germany
January 2009, Alternatively, the Creative Aggressor can also be found at this Czech site (the site has an english version as well) ChessBookShop.com. Just thought I'd mention it as every year someone emails me asking where he can find it. Though Kania above is of course the surest place to order it. And googling for the title would also be a good idea.
