Playing the Ragozin by Richard Pert

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The Ragozin is an ideal system against 1.d4: Black establishes a foothold in the centre and quickly develops his pieces on active squares, with good chances for dynamic counterplay or a kingside attack. Black’s opening has proven its worth at the highest level, yet the underlying ideas are simple enough to be learned without excessive memorization of variations.

In this book, IM Richard Pert shares his own complete repertoire for Black after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6. The main subject is the Ragozin, which occurs after 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bb4, but the author also provides thoughtful recommendations in the related 3.Nc3 Bb4 variation, as well as against the Catalan (3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3) and all other popular White options. Throughout the book, Pert not only checks for theoretical soundness, but also goes out of his way to avoid forced draws and other dead-equal positions, making this repertoire especially suitable for practical players who want to play for a win with Black.

Richard Pert is an English International Master whose previous book, Playing the Trompowsky, was well received by readers and critics. GM Glenn Flear commented that Pert shows: “...how the Trompowsky can be played with attitude. He succeeds in his quest, as time and time again Richard Pert reveals innovative ideas from both his own games and analyses.”

ISBN: 978-1-78483-030-4 - 440 pages - Published 21 December 2016

Reviews

"It's quite amazing – and a testament to the quality of the chess book market at the moment – to see this sort of analytical work published like this while the lines are still fresh. A really good opening book – 4 stars!"

GM Matthew Sadler, New in Chess

"It’s not easy to find an opening that has never been covered but English International Master Richard Pert comes close with Playing the Ragozin... Pert is very thorough and does a terrific job of presenting the best theoretical lines for Black... Playing the Ragozin is a first rate effort that will prove of interest to anyone looking for a defense to 1.d4."

IM John Donaldson

"Overall this is an opening book that I like very much... Even in the quiet variations the author always finds ways to save the game from the complete drying out... As with all Quality Chess publications, there is also an abundance of innovations, so I highly recommend this book to everyone!"

IM Dirk Schuh, Rochade Europa