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Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre
Review: I will say this might be the best book on the topic that is currently out... Yet it is not the only book and is a bit pricey for gaps that it has... I find the notation to be very annoying at best... I can not stand when they do Nd5 instead of Nxd5 and stuff like that... The book does not cover certain 4th moves by white at all to say least... Chapter 1 deals with 4 Be2 and is about 13 pages long... He considers this the "Quiet" attempt to defuse black... Chapter 2 has the "Sharp" which deals with 4 f3 lines and is about 23 pages long... Chaper 3 he calls the "Positional" with 4 Nf3 and is about 18 pages long... Chapter 4 is what he calls the "Subtle" which deals with 4 Bb5+ and is about 1 page long... Chapter 5 is a bit of a waste of the book to say least... It deals with White's Third Move... Which wastes about 20 pages on what isnt Portugeuse Variation... There are much better books for this and those pages wasted could of been used for more important things... For example the 4 Be2 lines happen more than f3 lines and about same as Nf3 lines... Yet only 13 pages at best of coverage is stupid... Also chapter 4 he only has like 1 page on the Bishop check lines... Thats pretty pathetic for an opening book thats sposed to focus on this variation... Why have 20 pages with other 3rd moves in it?? The point of getting this book is cuz you want to play 1 e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3 d4 Bg4... If white dont play d4 as his third move its not Portugeuse in its pure form at least... Also left out were moves such as 4 Ne2 and 4 Qd3 just to name two moves that happen without any coverage in this book... Least anything that I have noticed to be honest...
Another problem is he used fritz 4 I think for lots of his lines... So expect lot of useless data dumps from a computer already out dated... Thats a bit minor though, Ill get to more important things... He does not really give a summary talking about what lines seem best for black... You really have to try to figure out things for yourself... It is the authors job to give things at end of chapter to help people on way... The way the book is put together isnt easy to follow... The back is a lie it says "This book is the first devoted exclusively to the Portuguese variation." Now if thats true why have gaps as early as move 4 by white and have 20 pages on white's third moves???
I have been breaking down and working over games on this and Icelandic(Palme) gambit for about 3 months... This book is probably only worth 2 stars to be honest... Yet since it is almost the only book on this topic I rated it as average book... The only real use I have for this book is to augment myself on lines Ive already pulled from actual games... Also to compare with other info I have on this topic...
The index of variations at the back of the book seems rather useful... If the notation was the proper kind that should be used it would be a solid 3 stars perhaps... Since it is Qd5 instead of Qxd5 garbage notation... I would say at best this book really should be 2.5 stars... Sadly if you want a book on this topic, this seems just about only choice... I have not had chance to check for errors in the book... I will say the text is easy to read I find... The big knock is if you see a variation and dont know exchanges cuz he dont use X's... Makes it difficult to in your head have a solid idea of what is going on... My main knock is the gaps in coverage, lack of decent summaries and the horrible no X's in notation... So realize you will have to do a lot of work to get full value from this book... This is best to augment your own work on the topic than a book that will teach you to master it... This is more of a 66 page book (content) on variation than 96 pages... You have about 30 pages of waste keep in mind...
Rating:
Summary: Average at Best...
Review: I will say this might be the best book on the topic that is currently out... Yet it is not the only book and is a bit pricey for gaps that it has... I find the notation to be very annoying at best... I can not stand when they do Nd5 instead of Nxd5 and stuff like that... The book does not cover certain 4th moves by white at all to say least... Chapter 1 deals with 4 Be2 and is about 13 pages long... He considers this the "Quiet" attempt to defuse black... Chapter 2 has the "Sharp" which deals with 4 f3 lines and is about 23 pages long... Chaper 3 he calls the "Positional" with 4 Nf3 and is about 18 pages long... Chapter 4 is what he calls the "Subtle" which deals with 4 Bb5+ and is about 1 page long... Chapter 5 is a bit of a waste of the book to say least... It deals with White's Third Move... Which wastes about 20 pages on what isnt Portugeuse Variation... There are much better books for this and those pages wasted could of been used for more important things... For example the 4 Be2 lines happen more than f3 lines and about same as Nf3 lines... Yet only 13 pages at best of coverage is stupid... Also chapter 4 he only has like 1 page on the Bishop check lines... Thats pretty pathetic for an opening book thats sposed to focus on this variation... Why have 20 pages with other 3rd moves in it?? The point of getting this book is cuz you want to play 1 e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3 d4 Bg4... If white dont play d4 as his third move its not Portugeuse in its pure form at least... Also left out were moves such as 4 Ne2 and 4 Qd3 just to name two moves that happen without any coverage in this book... Least anything that I have noticed to be honest...
Another problem is he used fritz 4 I think for lots of his lines... So expect lot of useless data dumps from a computer already out dated... Thats a bit minor though, Ill get to more important things... He does not really give a summary talking about what lines seem best for black... You really have to try to figure out things for yourself... It is the authors job to give things at end of chapter to help people on way... The way the book is put together isnt easy to follow... The back is a lie it says "This book is the first devoted exclusively to the Portuguese variation." Now if thats true why have gaps as early as move 4 by white and have 20 pages on white's third moves???
I have been breaking down and working over games on this and Icelandic(Palme) gambit for about 3 months... This book is probably only worth 2 stars to be honest... Yet since it is almost the only book on this topic I rated it as average book... The only real use I have for this book is to augment myself on lines Ive already pulled from actual games... Also to compare with other info I have on this topic...
The index of variations at the back of the book seems rather useful... If the notation was the proper kind that should be used it would be a solid 3 stars perhaps... Since it is Qd5 instead of Qxd5 garbage notation... I would say at best this book really should be 2.5 stars... Sadly if you want a book on this topic, this seems just about only choice... I have not had chance to check for errors in the book... I will say the text is easy to read I find... The big knock is if you see a variation and dont know exchanges cuz he dont use X's... Makes it difficult to in your head have a solid idea of what is going on... My main knock is the gaps in coverage, lack of decent summaries and the horrible no X's in notation... So realize you will have to do a lot of work to get full value from this book... This is best to augment your own work on the topic than a book that will teach you to master it... This is more of a 66 page book (content) on variation than 96 pages... You have about 30 pages of waste keep in mind...
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre
Review: This book is a mediocre work on an interesting opening. The author is not a strong player, and it shows in the position evaluations and elsewhere. And he has used Fritz (an old version of it) a little too much: opening strategy is really one of the weak points of the computer.On the positive side, most major variations are covered. Of course, deviations from the true Portuguese only get a superficial treatment. But this variation is easy to play or write about. What matters is piece placement and some reoccurring tactical patterns. Therefore this book is pretty useful. I use this opening to beat strong players with good effect and I learned quite a lot from this book, especially something about the differences betw. BQ's placement on h5, f5 and d7, and when ..e6 or ..Nc6 should be played first. This is also a thin book. I wish someone wrote a better one on this opening that scores very well for Black, as there is plenty of material. My database tells me that 3...Bg4 has recently become half as popular as 3...Nxd5, so it is good to understand for the White player as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent & Thorough - but very specific
Review: This book is very well done. The text, diagrams, binding, organization is all first rate. The book covers the center counter defense / portuguese subvariation (i.e. 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Bg4 !?) This is a razor sharp / highly trappy line that didn't really receive notice until the mid 1990's. It may look a little strange, but let me assure you that it is emminently playable. One of my favorite lines runs 4. f3 Bf5 5. c4 e6 6. dxe6 Nc6 7. exf7+ Kxf7 Black is down two pawns and can no longer castle - and yet white is BUSTED!! (go check out the theory). Black has activated every piece on the board, while white's pieces are all at home. This may seem rather obscure, yet I have played this line countless times. There are many variations in the portuguese that run along similar ideas. In short, this is an excellent book that deals with a very specific opening. If you are below the rating level of 1900 USCF, I would strongly recommend that you give this opening a try. It is guaranteed to throw your oppoent off balance, and it is great fun. Overall, my results have been excellent.
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