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. :)
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=217726111412
(13/10-09) Just a link to a new review of the FRG!
For those who didn't know, the Réti Gambit is the sequence 1.e4 e6 2.b3!? and if black goes through with his french intentions with 2...d5 white ignores the threat of d5xe4 with 3.Bb2!?
Then the main line is 3...dxe4 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Qe2 (or even 5.g4). This may not look so fantastic at first sight, but it's almost as fun to play as the KG! - Which may not be so surprising since Reti was a lifelong King's Gambiteer himself!
So what is the attraction of the Réti Gambit then?
Well,
1) it gives fun tactical play and often 'a self playing attack' based on g2-g4-g5 and the powerful firebreathing Réti Bishop on b2.
2) you avoid the most typical french positions. (No more being tied up to the defence of pawn d4 and then getting hit by f7-f6!) So, if black has played the french the last 10-30 years, which is not unusual, then 2.b3!? reduces his advantage in know how - and probably even reverses it! I.e. if you've played the RG consistently a while, you'll have more experience than your opponents who perhaps face it once in a hundred games.
3) the cost for the above two perks is the sacrifice of a pawn. But, in 90% of the games, you will be able to regain the pawn almost at will, or get so much compensation that you'll hardly notice you have a pawn missing! In fact, even when black tries to hold the pawn, his best defence will usually be giving it back 'to equalise', but the equality provided is usually 'roughly equal chances' and not 'should be drawing'.
Most french books dismiss 2.b3 with an old game like for example Spielmann-Grau, San Remo 1930. and adding an '=' somewhere around move ten. However, nobody mentions that black resigned on move 23! And that was not due to a one move blunder, but the logical result of white using his d-file control and better development in an early ending. And when looking through the game, it's not so obvious what black did wrong to end up in that miniature... So, an '=' after move ten, may be the equivalent of 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5!= Not wrong, but on the other hand - not very helpful for black either! :)
The format is reminiscent of the format in the FKG but this time I'm trying to go for readability rather than extremely detailed analysis. (Single column instead of two columns, for one thing...) But as usual, I wrote it to satisfy my own curiosity, so some positions gets the 'down to the endgame' treatment.
The reviews have started appearing, first out was Phil Adams at 3Cs. Phil's review can also be read at the FRG-discussion thread at ChessPub).
Mike Donnelly's review can be read here.. The third reviewer is Stefan Bücker in Kaissiber 25.
And a fourth review has just appeared on chessville 22/1-07.
New - 4th July 2007. A fifth and final review, this time in Deutsch, has just appeared on: Schachlinks.
Here are the links where you can order your own copy online - you'll need a credit card or PayPal.
For more info on the book, links to reviews, other reader's opinion and so on, check out the following discussion at chesspub: Here!
Here's a shot with a webcamera to give you an idea of what it looks like. The colours are hard to get exactly right, the table should be wood-coloured as comparison...
A couple of tips, for those who for some reason don't want to buy the book from Lulu.com:
Here's an online bookstore I've stumbled across recently. It seems to be a bit less expensive than Amazon.co.uk for one thing, though I haven't had any reason to try it out myself. But it's always nice when Amazon gets a little competition! :) The link goes directly to the FRG BrowseForBooks and this one to their page for the FKG
As comparison: Amazon.co.UK
25/11-07 Finally, for those who have missed them, the videos are up again. I got a mail from a German reader wondering about them, so I decided I might as well put them up again and also turn it into a 'little videocampaign' while I was at it anyway - so you can find them at several major video sites now! :)
1/12-08, Want a 2nd opinion on the Reti Gambit? Check out this guy's video commenting on one of his games with the RG: link
January 2009, I moved the vids to my video section
March 21st 2009. Recently, I got a request from a Dutch chess store, willing to sell the FRG hardcover. So, I logged in to lulu.com to see what kind of discount I could offer - hadn't been there for more than a year. Unfortunately, it turned out that international shipping costs at Lulu.com has increased in the last six months. Making it practically impossible for any chess store to sell the book. As for some strange reason, lulu.com don't offer any discount for the shipping for larger orders. That is, 1 hardcover will cost 4 Euros to send from the US to Europe and 10 copies will cost 40 Euros! Seems like they don't want to sell anything outside the USA, or they want to get rid of non-american authors...
Anyway, I had a long look at different alternative publishers, but didn't find anyone that seemed worth the hassle of moving the book. Moving it to trafford where I published the FKG was my first thought, but paying at least 900 Pounds for moving a 3 year old book that has never sold especially well...
So, the solution I ended up with, is to dramatically lower my royalty on the hardcover version to $27.99 or 22.25 Euros Actually making it cheaper than the softcover version! (To also lower the softcover version is more difficult as it entails paying amazon for a 'revision', besides the softcover ships from UK, so the postage is only 3 Euros.)
By the way, the FRG has recently been added to books.google if you wish to browse through it: Reti Gambit at Books.Google.com
