Andrw Martin: Queen’s Pawn Openings
Review by Carsten Hansen (chesscafe.com)
The
back cover blurb tells us: “IM Andrew Martin presents solutions for Black
against the following remarkable array of QP Openings: The Trompowski, The
Pseudo-Trompowski, The Torre attack, The Colle System and Colle Zuckertort
System, The London System, The Stonewall, The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, The Prie
System 2 a3, The Reversed French, 1 d4 Nf6 2 g4 ?!. Move orders with 1 ...d5
and 1...Nf6 with either ...g6 or ...e6 are all covered. You may not agree with
all of Martin’s suggestions, but you will certainly get a decent position as
Black with chances to play for the win every time! This is just what the club
player needs. Video running time: more than 6 hours!”

It’s odd that they misspell Trompowsky and Zukertort here, when they are
spelled correctly on the contents page of the DVD itself. Anyway, this sounds
like an awful lot of openings to cover, even with more than six hours of screen
time available. Still, Martin is an experienced and resourceful presenter, so
let’s see how he has divided the material:
- Intro (1 segment)
- Stonewall 1 + 2 (2 segments)
- Rare Lines 1-3 (3 segments)
- Blackmar-Diemer-Gambit 1 + 2 (2 segments)
- Barry Attack 1 + 2 (2 segments)
- Veresov 1-3 (3 segments)
- Trompowsky 1-4 (4 segments)
- Pseudo Trompowsky 1 + 2 (2 segments)
- Torre Attack 1 + 2 (2 segments)
- Torre vs. g6 (1 segment)
- Reversed French (1 segment)
- London System 1-5 (5 segments)
- Colle 1 + 2 (2 segments)
- Outro (1 segment)

Martin begins by telling us about a presentation he did for
Foxy Openings about ten years ago on how Black should meet the assorted Annoying
d-pawn Openings. Of course, the terrain that is
Queen’s Pawn Openings has changed since then. The Trompowsky has been mapped
out more accurately, and new ideas have arisen such as 1 d4 d5 2 Bf4 and 2 a3.
Click here for
replay how to beat the Blackmar-Diemer.
While Martin has updated his coverage with new material, some of his
recommendations remain the same. I will not go into detail about the individual
lines, but his emphasis is on lines that are relatively easy to memorize and
don’t put Black in any kind of danger from being blown away by a new idea or
sharp move. Yet, even so, his recommendations against the Pseudo Trompowsky are
considerably more dangerous for Black than he lets on, and experienced players
would probably prefer to have more details in many of lines, because as Martin
himself indicates, White often specializes in these lines and might have prior
knowledge of his suggestions.
Nevertheless, the DVD is satisfactory and will undoubtedly find a wide
audience. We have all had to deal with these openings at one time or another,
and Martin’s recommendations may even make you anticipate encountering them in
your own games, when, perhaps for the first time, you will be properly
prepared.
My
assessment of this DVD: Four out of five stars
Original review at www.chesscafe.com