Rating: 
Summary: A (redundant) review, AND correction of A.J.Goldsby I
Review: Yes, this is a great book on the IQP. How can I add anything to the splendid reviews by Hashimm4 and A.J.Goldsby I? I can't, except to say, the book's title, "Winning Pawn Structures," is suspiciously misleading. How about something like "The Isolated Queen's Pawn: Winning Strategies"? Surely the title is a crass attempt by the publisher to increase his market of chess readers.But my REAL complaint (with a segue back to Baburin's work) is with A.J.Goldsby's misrepresentation of Nimzowitsch's "My System", which happens too often for me to let this one go by (especially by a top 1000 reviewer who presents himself as a chess authority -- which he probably is). To quote Goldsby's review:
"This book was a major revelation to me. Having grown up under the influence of Nimzovich, I had mostly assumed that the positions containing an Isolated Queen's-Pawn, like any isolated pawn; was weak and should be avoided at all costs. (I almost never allowed myself to be saddled with an IQP, mostly as a result of what I had learned from Nimzowitsch's "My System.") This is a fallacy." I am yet again amazed by a chess critic's misinformation regarding "My System" (while, admittedly, the later "Chess Praxis" tends to tarnish the IQP's reputation). It's as if they've never even read this classic! In "My System," Nimzowitsch has a chapter entitled: "The isolated d-pawn and its descendants." In it he addresses both the potential weaknesses of the IQP and the inherent strengths. He refers to the IQP as "permeated with dynamic strength." He COMMANDS that the student experience "how dangerous an enemy isolani may be." He says the IQP's strength "lies in its lust to expand (advance)," and that it "protects and indeed creates the White outpost stations at e5 and c5 [noting the enemy has only one outpost, and that White's at e5 "would have a sharper effect than is ever possible to an opposing Knight on d5."]. He shows how to take advantage of the extra open file that comes with the IQP. And he even has a section entitled, "4. The isolani as a weapon of attack in the middlegame." While, yes, he fully explains how the IQP can be weak, especially in the endgame (suggesting as a countermeasure that you make a timely use of the IQP's attacking possibilities in the middlegame), the fact is that Nimzowitsch gives a FULL understanding of the IQP's advantages... as well as weaknesses. Which brings us back to "Winning Pawn Structures." Just like Nimzowitsch, Baburin discusses both the advantages and disadvantages of the IQP. How to attack WITH it and AGAINST it. Nimzowitsch covers this topic (and that of isolated pawn couples and hanging pawns!) in about 10 pages. Very effectively, I might add. Thus, if you already have a good grasp of positional chess, then read Baburin's great book. Otherwise, pick up a more general book on positional chess that includes, but does not dote on, the IQP.... How about this little gem: "My System"
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