Gambit Guide to the Bogo-Indian

Rating:
Summary: Uninspired
Review: In the introduction, Pedersen states: "I do not think that the Bogo-Indian is a difficult opening to learn. ...Very few precise variations have to be memorized and in most cases one can get by with a general understanding of the strategic principles." While this is true, it completely contradicts the contents of the book! Being a book in the Gambit "Guide to..." series, it shuns illustrative games in favor of presenting indexed variations. Each chapter is prefaced by a presentation of typical pawn structures and planning for both sides, but these explanatory passages are so brief and generalised that they are of little use at all.

Another problem is how the material is divided up: 4.Nbd2 gets 32 pages of coverage, while 94 pages are allotted to 4.Bd2. Obviously, 4.Bd2 is more common (my database suggests that it occurs about twice as often), but this seems a bit unfair. The important transposition to the Nimzo-Queens Indian hybrid after 4.Nc3 gets 16 pages, and the Catalan-Bogo a mere 7 pages.

I don't feel that this book has advanced my understanding of the Bogo-Indian, neither has it inspired me to play the opening. I get lost in subvariations and put off by the lack of clear recommendations from the author (lots of "possibles" and "maybe's"). Pedersens "Guide to the Benko Gambit" is a better book (though it uses the same format. Perhaps the Benko is more suited for it, anyway he seems to put more soul into it), and especially "Dutch for the Attacking player". For treatment of the Bogo-Indian, I encourage you to look elsewhere.