Shashin B.S. Attacking the Queenside

Macmillan Publishing Company, 1990. — 112 p. — ISBN: 978-0-02-029815-3.This 100-page book consists of 4 chapters, of which the first is a historical perspective of dubious relationship to the subject matter. The remaining three are "connected" by the common "theme" that the demonstrated play takes place on the queenside, but the contents could easily fit into any number of other books.If you are looking for some GM revelations or strategic insights into "Attacking the Queenside", forget it. The closest this book comes to that is the beginning of chapter 2 with the quote, "The main aim of a queenside attack is an invasion behind enemy lines by the major pieces, to the back two ranks where the main strength of the defense is normally situated. The invasion of the powerful rooks either obtains a material advantage or sometimes results in a switch over with extraordinary speed to an attack on the King."Now, anyone with any playing strength or experience already knows that the second sentence is true. And that same experience may cause you to question sentence number one.In fact, the premise is totally abandoned at the conclusion of chapter 2, when the author takes up the subjects of pawn play and pawn promotion. The idea of rooks on the seventh rank just seems to disappear into the fog.As it happens, I think the illustrative games are really excellent examples of the ideas under discussion. For that reason alone, I give the book three stars. So, if you feel compelled to search out this book, just be forewarned — it has no other redeeming qualities.