One of the first things I learned about chess is that every chess player seems to worry a lot about openings. As an aspiring beginner, I wanted to play something simple and slightly off-beat, unlike 1.e4 where pretty much everybody throws his favorite anti-X line against you or plays the first 30-something moves from memory. Therefore, I decided to play the Colle-Zukertort system as White and have been playing it almost exclusively ever since. This opening system has enabled me to play quite a few exciting kingside attacks. But of course, any chess opening is far from simple and your opponents usually have plenty opportunities to steer the game in other directions. And with good chances to storm the black castle, quite a few of my opponents stubbornly refused to play into my favorite Zukertort main line, choosing "anti" Colle setups instead. Unfortunately, the Colle-Zukertort is rarely played at the grandmaster-level and thus receives little attention, frequently leaving the fans of this system on their own to find good moves (One exception is Susan Polgar, who used to play the Colle-Zukertort and published a DVD on the Colle-Zukertort System. The DVD nicely explains the basics, but does not cover anything beyond the main line.).

But this has changed now. With Zuke 'Em-The Colle Zukertort Revolutionized, David Rudel published a nice book on this opening system. This book is special for two very different reasons: Firstly, the Colle-Zukertort setup forces White to play e3 relatively early on, which blocks the path of White's dark squared bishop. Black can try to exploit this in several ways, which usually meant trouble for me in many of my own games. David Rudel is proposing several highly interesting alternatives for White in these cases (More about this below).

Secondly, almost all chess book authors are titled chess players. David Rudel, however, is "just" an amateur chess player. You might ask now "hey, why should I trust the analysis of some random dude who writes a book?" Well, first of all, if you read this you already spend quite some time reading the writings of a less-than-average chess player - me! While GMs certainly have superior analysis skills, they do not necessarily explain their thoughts on a level accessible to amateurs. I played through several of the annotated games in this book and read most of the analysis. While reading, I often asked myself questions like "why can't I play Ne5 right now?" Quite often, David Rudel literally asks this questions himself in the book and provides an explanation. Of course, he cannot answer all possible questions in the book. Unlike what chess publishers want to make you believe, you still have to think yourself even if you buy the latest books. But for sure, you will find much less of the useless "obviously, White wins here" statements in this book than you will find in most opening books written by GMs. But if you need more reassurance on the analysis, the book comes with good reviews from GM Aaron Summerscale, an authority on this opening, and Jeremy Silman (see here for Silman's review).

One of my main problems playing this system has been the line 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 g6 where Black plans to fianchetto on the kingside. David Rudel calls this the sneaky Gruenfeld, and sneaky it is, indeed, because with the move e3 White's bishop is already locked in and Black's setup makes the White's standard Colle-Zukertort plan for attacking on the kingside tricky at best. This is an important problem for White because he will face it quite often (at least I see it all the time) and Black is doing pretty well with this line. David Rudel proposes quite an interesting line for White, starting with 4. c4!?. I did not yet have the chance to try this in my games, but certainly look forward to include this in my opening repertoire.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed reading this book and will definitely integrate some of the suggestions in my opening repertoire. The only downside I found is the cover - why do chess books, particularly the ones covering openings, always employ so strange selling tactics? If it is the "revolutionized" Colle-Zukertort in this case or the "killer" chess opening repertoire of Aaron Summerscales book on the same opening, I would prefer if chess publishers would keep it a bit more down-to-earth when it comes to choosing a title or cover image. Aside from that, the book is fun to read - I really enjoyed the lively question and answer style much of the analysis is written in! Furthermore, you can discuss the Colle-Zukertort in the Zuke-Dukes forum run by David Rudel. In the age of the Internet, I wish that more chess books would offer a place where reader can discuss the analysis. Disclaimer: I received a free review copy from the author.

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written by chesstiger, August 20, 2008

In my experience the Colle-Zukertort opening is a very positional opening.
Which i dont find the best openings for a relatively beginner in the chess game. Besides i wonder why you are studying openings. You can better study tactics. The reason i say this is what do you have about 15 minutes theory if you dont know how to play after the bookmoves stop?

This is not ment denegrating or so. I am a 1977 fide elo player and i still havent studied much opening theory. I am always trying to search my own path true an opening. After each game i look up in NCO where i got out of theory and then add just one move extra to my so called knowlegde. That's the way i learn my openings. By play and not by getting my head in a dusty book or before a screen.

But hey, if it works for you then go for it. I only hope that you also learn how to play the game further after the bookmoves stop.

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written by Sciurus, August 21, 2008

I agree with you up to some point. I actually do not spend any time on memorizing opening moves. In fact, I hate to memorize stuff. Instead, when I write I study an opening, I play through complete chessgames using that opening. This way, I get to see common ideas that I can try to use in my games. While I never encounter the same moves I saw in the book, I can still employ some general ideas, such as "if I push my pawn up that file, I can weaken my opponents defense and attack his king". I wrote something about this earlier: "Opening study helps" and still think it really improves my game. Aside from that, I totally agree that my time would be better spend learning tactics, but right now my motivation for that is rather low.

I guess that you are right that the Colle-Zukertort is quite positional. Nevertheless, it was recommended to me by several people as a good thing to start with and I was always too lazy to switch ;-) I only later realized that there are quite a few points where my positional skills are far too primitive to make a sound decision. Oh well...

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written by Blue Devil Knight, September 09, 2008

It looks like a video game cover!

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written by meliza, June 15, 2009

The important part of the game of chess, in my view. They are the first 3 or 4 movements. Indicates whether you're on track as well as your domain in the game. Although similarly always looking for a good opening and try to win as soon as possible.

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