I saw someone with a similar avatar which got me thinking of him - he's been off <CG> since June.

And the same to you. All the best.

* * * * *

PS- My desert island book choice?

If I had to pick just one title, it might have to be Polgar's <Chess: 5334 Problems>:

https://www.amazon.com/Chess-5334-P...

My rationale?

Since I'd be alone, without internet or computer, it seems that book might hold the largest hours of chess entertainment.

If I follow you around on this site and post some 'nonsensical ' comments to annoy you , would you mind (those 'nonsensical ' comments would not violate posting guidelines )?

Ha ha - good one!

<For a single tome it would be difficult to select between it and the Mammoth 125 Games...>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAt...

Around 1970, I began playing the Peilikan/Sveshnikov (see NOTE). Impressed with the game Robatsch-Larsen, Halle 1961, I began to look at other possible …e5 Sicilians. The O’Kelly, 2. …a6, caught my eye, and I played it with reasonable success given my limited skill at the game.

There is sort of an ‘open secret’ about the reply 3. d4 by White to the O’Kelly. Some label it a mistake. It isn’t! It simply gives Black an easy Pelikan/Sveshnikov since White’s strongest retort Nb5 is no longer possible. As you can see from any database 3. d4 is still very popular. Some play it not knowing better; some play it perfectly happy with the kinds of positions which arise. To take advantage Black often must play an early …d5 which does open up the position…

Obviously, 2. …a6 is a hypermodernist move. “We want Information” said No. 2 to the Prisoner – and so does Black before he commits central pawns.

O’Kelly Sicilian Books:

The only pure O’Kelly tome has been The O’Kelly Sicilian by Lutes ……. This is an MCO column style book and a must have if you are serious about this defense because of the many older game references. As Fischer once recommended about MCO: “Play over every line…then play them over again!”

There are references to a book by Richard Verber on the O’Kelly, but I have never seen a copy. I asked some other collectors who should know, and they’ve never seen it, either. If my pal Ed Labate hasn’t seen it, well…

Up to the present, otherwise, players had to get their O’Kelly kicks from general sources on the Sicilian perhaps most notably Dangerous Weapons: Sicilian.

Play the O’Kelly Sicilian by Andrew Martin (Everyman 2022, 276pp) and The Modernized O’Kelly Sicilian by Jan Boekelman (Thinker’s Press 2022, 342pp).

Going in to these two tomes my conclusions on the O’Kelly would be summarized:

White’s primary replies are: 3. c4, 3. c3 (often cited as best) and 3. d4. The Wing 3. b4 is a real possibility. c3 is supposed to be the strongest, that at best Black gets an Advanced French with …a6 committed too early or a strange Scandinavian. c4 often leads to a Hedgehog formation unless Black tries to dragondorf it with …g6 or (my preference) an early …e5 any way!

The format of the Martin tome in line with other “Play the …” series, is game-based. There’s a couple dozen of them now more proof P.T. Barnum was right. “Collect ‘em all boys and girls!” The book includes 110 annotated games. This format makes for easy reading but lacks the thoroughness of the Variation-based format.

The chapter layout is logical: Introduction, O’Kelly Timeline, Routine 3. d4, Development 3. Nc3, Sensible 3. c3, Seizing Space 3. c4 and Loose Ends.

IM Martin begins his Introduction with a 3. c4 game where Black essays …e5. So, that’s good. But he says the common belief is that any of 3. c3, 3.c4 or 3, d4 gives White a small advantage. I’m not seeing that, as above. I am convinced 3. c3 is the critical line.

The chapter, Timeline of the O’Kelly (68 pp) is the star of the show. A truly excellent historical look at this variation and its development.

The four main body chapters on 3. c3, 3. c4, 3. Nc3 and 3. d4 are mostly adequate. His analysis of 3. c3 doesn’t alter my opinion of the move, as above. TNSTAAFL.

The chapter Loose ends covers, 3. b3, 3. g3, transpositions from 2. c3. The final two games look at 3. b4.

CHESS BOOK TIP! When you read a line like, “Remember you’re not playing a computer, you’re playing a flesh-and-blood human being.” It means the variation in question sucks.

Play the O’Kelly Sicilian is a workman-like tome and, as noted, the Timeline is almost worth the price of admission. I’ll give Andy a 4-Star on this effort.

I am not familiar with the work of Jan Boekelman, ‘a dedicated chess enthusiast and analyst’ but apparently, he has written other books for Thinker’s Press. I am familiar – and a fan – of Thinker’s Press!

According to the FIDE website, Jan’s Standard Rating is 2131…not too shabby. I’ve never believed you had to be 2400+ ELO to offer the world a decent chess book.

The Modernized O’Kelly Sicilian is variation-based, unlike Martin’s ‘game-based’ format. It is thorough, there is some heavy slogging, but it is laid out about as well as a variation/sub-variation/sub-sub variation book can be – until I spring my wonderful ‘ParisAttack Format’ on the unsuspecting chess world…someday.

Boekelman’s TOC shows some creativity in arrangement of the material: Slow Set-Up by White, Routine Open Sicilian 3. d4, Maroczy Bind 3. c4, Delayed Alapin 3. c3, Sicilian Kan I, II and Anti-Sicilians. I prefer Martin’s but kudos to Boekelman for going his own way.

Just having spent minimal time with the book, I want to say his work on the critical 3. c3 is stronger than Martin’s and offers Black a couple of possible improvements to thread-the-needle to full equality.

There is also a Foreword, Preface and Theoretical Overview…all in five pages; nothing to compare to Martin’s Timeline. Modernized O’Kelly does offer both a Print and Digitized bibliography for those who must dig deeper.

The ‘mix’ in annotations between analysis and verbiage is excellent and well-balanced. The author does offer some historical derivatives and interesting tidbits therein. All-in-all, very readable.

I also give Boekelman a 4-Star for his work.

Truly both books would be strongly recommended to anyone thinking of playing the O’Kelly! They seem to complement each other quite well. Of course, don’t forget Lutes for the Complete O’Kelly Sicilian Library.

I assume your number 2 was Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd.

Then there is Brick by Ben Folds Five. You might be too old for that one but it's a fantastic if depressing (especially if you know the backstory) song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt5...

Night Shift seems a propos:

Since there were no computers back then, it sure would have taken a mighty long time to go all around the world counting each fellow one-by-one. Given similar work conditions, do you suppose they hired a shepherd for that job? Poor fella had to always be worried about counting duplicates. At least it was all before the Germans invaded Poland in 1939.

Bird’s was the first opening I played after I learned chess in December of 1966. My second trip to the local chess club a fellow, Dave Gerber, showed me the famous Lasker-Bauer game and explained the basic idea of the opening to me. I was hooked both on the opening and the idea of the two-Bishop sacrifice. I gave away a lot of Bishops until Fine’s Middle Game set me straight on the proper conditions for it to work. I think I’ve pulled it off twice successfully over the years.

The knock on Bird’s Opening of course is that it is very committal and weakens the king-side. e3 can also be a sore point.

Anyway, back to Raven Sturt and modernizing the Bird.

As above, the book is 583 pages. It is laid out in two-column format. The Variation/Sub-Variation/Sub-Sub Variation organization is quite solid and uneventful - B / B1/ B2 / B2-1 and so forth. Not as cool as my new approach but the world will need to wait for my Meet the Benonis book to see it. Diagrams are small but numerous. The book’s overall layout is neat and pleasing to the eye.

Bird’s Opening - Modernized is in three sections according to Black’s response: Part 1 - …d5, Part 2 - …Sicilians, Part 3 – Other Black Systems.

This is a nice change as most other Bird’s books (see Bibliography) are organized according to White’s setup.

Sturt concentrates on the original White Bird’s strategy of controlling and occupying the e5 square .That is to say – the Dutch Stonewall Reversed and – for me, more critically, the Leningrad Reversed - are sort of only covered en passant. Perhaps that is the modernization noted in the title.

I do very much like the Chapter Guide which breaks down the various White motifs and ‘should I or shouldn’t I’ decisions: to chop or not to chop, post chop structures, the b1-Steed’s steps, the Stonewall questions and the c4/…d5 exception. This really sets the book apart from the other Bird’s books, IMHO. In fact, I think it could have been longer, discussing several other Bird’s motifs and decisions. I’ve seen this in The Hippo System by Briffoz and Play the Orangutan by Hansen and I very much like the idea. These discussions bridge the gap when the organization of major lines is not cut-and-dried.

The analysis itself is a good balance of variations and text discussion. Perhaps a little favoring the text side but considering his intended audience just about right!

Sturt states the book is for players in the ELO 1200-2000 range. To my mind and experience this is a little lower scale than many other opening books which seem to be more like 1600-2200.

The author is a lower-end grandmaster, currently rated about 2450. Please don’t get me started on the adulteration of the GM title over the last 30 years! Still, he is much stronger than I ever was and I am sure much of the analysis is computer-checked. (That said, Bird positions often don’t seem to lend themselves to accurate engine evaluations.

Sturt notes he played the Bird’s in 2022 and 2023 but did not play any games in 2024. Probably busy writing this nice book! Still, he promises to play Bird’s again in 2025. Looking at a couple of online databases at this time I see no examples of him essaying Bird’s this year. In fact, looking back on his games I do not see many Bird’s. I would be more comfortable with a book by someone who has actually played the opening for a number of years. Think Botvinnik on the English or Kasparov on the Najdorf Sicilian.

Still, I do like the book. If you have considered playing Bird’s I would say this is the best tome to begin a study.

A solid Four Stars!

Below, most of the available books on Bird’s.
Besides Sturt I would recommend, Lakdawala, Taylor and – especially – Robinson.

Bird’s Books:
Danielson: The Polar Bear System
Lakdawala: Bird’s Opening
Pickett: A Modern Approach to Bird’s Opening
Robinson: 1. P-KB4 – A Guide to Bird’s Opening Schwarz: Bird (German)
Soltis: Bird-Larsen Attack
Taylor: Bird’s Opening