Hi all,
I didn't see a proper place to put this, but I thought some people here might like to know that I finally wrote a chess book that was not on the Colle System.

It is a training kit for mastering the Bxh7+ sacrifice. As far as I know, it is the only modern book dedicated to the topic.

You can read the introduction and find four sample exercises (note, this not just an exercise book...but those are the easiest to post as samples) at the Classical Bishop Sacrifice website.

Does this sacrifice require a whole book?

THe Chapter in Vukovic's "Art of Attack" is pretty fantastic. Probably getting more bang for your buck with that book, too. It's considered by many to be one of the greatest instruction chess books every written.

A year ago I would have agreed that it seemed odd for the sacrifice to deserve a whole book. Then I wrote "The Moment of Zuke" and realized how many useful tips, tricks, and guidelines simply seemed unknown even at rather high [2200-2600] levels. The number of times rather strong players walked into the sacrifice unwittingly was rather stunning as well as how often White players botched a winning attack (or, for that matter, Black players botched a defensible position.)

Of course, the above would simply be "the way of chess" if that was all there was to it. It is certainly unremarkable that good players didn't play perfectly, but my point is that it was not a simple case of 99%-correct analysis getting hoisted on the pitard of the 1% of error. Rather, most of the errors and wisdom that would have shown players the proper evaluation or attack can be boiled down to a reasonably small number of "rules," most of which appear simply to not be known in the larger chess literature.

Vukovic's work illuminates the potential of the attack within the details of the handful of games it uses as models, but its greater (big-picture) wisdom can be summed up essentially by saying "Make sure you analyze all 3 lines." While an important warning, it discloses little that would help in that analysis.

Vukovic's work also does not treat the "Knight on e5" version of the attack, nor the double-Bishop sacrifice. The first, at least, is a reasonably important version to be aware of on both sides.

Finally, it should be remembered that this new book is more a "training kit" than a book. It is not 188 pages of instruction. I found that the tips, tricks, and guiding rules on attack and defense could be portrayed in 35-40 pages of instruction divvied into five lessons. The rest of the book contains 116 exercises with worked out [both analysis and general commentary] solutions to help the improving player train and test their understanding.

Are there plans for other books on single square sacrifices? Is there a queen side equivalent?

I haven't seen a whole book on it, but a nice queenside sacrifice is when the pawns get locked up as white has pawns on d4, c5, b4, and a4, while black has pawns on d5, c6, b5, and a6. Often times, it's good to take axb5 axb5 then sacrifice a piece on b5 to get the very dangerous passed c- and b- pawns. This comes up in Slav and QGD positions.

I cannot imagine any other piece sacrifice getting this kind of treatment, but I do like the idea of "books-as-training-kits," and I might do more later.

Of course there’s the classic B sacrifice, but in all my years I’ve never played it and it was played against me only once. There have been opportunities, but the prerequisites for a successful outcome weren’t present. Abba’s suggestion might be worth looking into. I’ve had the opportunity to play it a few times, so think it should definitely be a candidate.

Also where White sac’s on e6 vs. the Sicilian.

It really depends on the type of positions you play. If you play the white side of the French by locking the pawn center with e5, and black castles king side, then you should definitely be on the lookout for this sac. It also seems to come up in the Colle more often than other openings.

Personally, I found that after reading "How to Beat Your Dad at Chess" (silly title, great book), I noticed opportunities to set up this type of sac more often, so I'd intentionally steer the game towards it. I've played that bishop sac several times.

And I like Mr. Rudel's writing style, from having started reading "Zuke Em" (which I really do want to finish some day). His writing is very easy to read and learn from, and he includes lots of exercises to drill the key points into your head.

So I will probably buy either this or his "Moment of Zuke" eventually, though not both, as the author himself has stated that they're redundant enough not to get both. It depends on if I start playing the Colle (still more comfortable with the CK, but I'm will to give the Zuke a try) more often once I read Zuke Em, or if I end up not liking it when I try it and go back to my old 1. e4 repertoire.

--Fromper

I would think that the difference between this book and other books that have this attack is the number of examples and puzzles.

Here's a review if you're interested: Chess Edinburgh - Chandler Cornered - Bxh7+ (Book Review) + Morphy Mate Winner