Fight the King's Indian, Gr Nfeld, and Dutch Defenses with Zuka, a Stand-Alone, Cohesive Chess Opening System (Includes the Dangerfield Attack) Paperback – June 7, 2012

David Rudel's recent book ZUKA (2012) advances and enlarges his original, highly innovative, program for revitalizing the Colle System. This attractive program commenced with Zuke `Em (2008), an exciting presentation of a new approach to the Colle-Zukertort variation. Rudel's writing style and Socratic teaching method are aimed primarily at class players.Zuke `Em was followed in rapid-fire succession by two additional books (2009) expanding Rudel's original analysis of the Colle-Zukertort (CZ) variation. He subsequently expanded the analysis further still to include a highly-promising new line, the Phoenix Attack, that may be played in both the CZ variation and the main line of the Colle-Koltanowski (CK) variation (2011); and now, with ZUKA this imaginative analyst has expanded his perspective from its focus on the Colle to include all other 1.d4 openings.Most authors of repertoire books give little attention to the strongest replies by black. Rudel, in contrast, has tackled head-on the weaknesses of both variations of the Colle system and has shown the strengths of many of the defenses that a Colle player is likely to encounter. For instance, in Zuke `Em he devoted forty-seven pages to the two main lines of the CZ and then used the next one hundred and seventeen pages making suggestions as to how players with the white pieces should meet the most likely "pet defenses" they would face! This method of teaching is, in my view, vastly superior to the usual one-sided approach.Up to now, however, nearly all Colle System advocates (including until now Rudel also) have advised players who face such defenses as the Kings Indian Defense (KID) the Dutch, and the Grunfeld to switch from the Colle set-up to a different opening system. Even George Koltanowski--the man who first taught Americans how to play the Colle--adopted this recommendation. Rudel, in contrast, now proposes novel ways to expand his previous analyses for attacking the "pet defenses" to include the most highly-tested Colle-killing defenses.His recommended set-up for white is not new (white's pawns at e3, d4, and c4, with his two knights at f3 and c3). What is new is, first, Rudel's demonstration of how the 1.d4 player may use this set-up when facing a high-powered defense, such as the KID, a defense that has weathered the test of time in Grandmaster practice, as well as in the play of class players; second, his analysis is an extension of, rather than a departure from, his previous recommendations and, thus, may be learned more easily than if a player had to start over; and third, he has suggested a convenient name--Zuka--to identify this set-up and to simplify writing about it.In my opinion, the analyses presented in ZUKA offer class players who prefer 1.d4 better chances than ever before to win against the most successful Colle-killing defenses (as well as many "pet defenses" without having to learn specialized attacks devoted to each of those defenses. The continuity between Rudel's previous recommendations for Colle players and those recommended in this book enables all 1.d4 players to simplify their preparation without sacrificing their winning chances. Although this book was written primarily for class players, some of its suggestions should be of interest also to experts and masters.S. McLemore

I find this book, Fight the King's Indian, Grunfeld and Dutch Defenses with ZUKA very useful. I play OnLine and at a local club. The author describes a system for the white pieces that can be adjusted to respond appropriately to the King's Indian, Grunfeld, Benoni and Dutch Defenses. This book is a great companion to Zuke'Em (The Colle-Zukertort or Rubinstein Opening) also by David Rudel. With these two books you have a great store house of many lines and variations to handle most anything that black may throw your way. The font is large and content easy to read. David takes you through critical moments and explains possible alternative approaches to the various lines, and he does it all with a sense of humor. 'Knock on wood', playing the white pieces I have 73% wins, 9% draws and 18% loses at Online chess since January 2013 with these materials as a resource, There is a support website and forum where you can get the latest thoughts and updates on the various lines described in the books. Thanks to David Rudel for sharing his enthusiasm and expertise so we can improve our game. Strongly recommended!

This third book in Rudel's trilogy on the Colle-Zuke is of the same high quality and remarkable detail and original thinking as the previous two.

Very easy to read and follow. Supplements Zuke Em very well and provides a solid opening to play as white against anyone.

not a book for beginners. pretty extensive of coverage of queen pawn openings, transposition technique, methods of handling various indian defences, and strongly pushes the'barry attack', which i think is fairly suspect at higher levels, and incorporates the 'dangerfield attack' which i think is quite intriguing as a plan to counter the dutch defence

Pros and cons:The book really could have been 200 pages.. (Not sure if Good or bad). It had big print, a lot of white space, double spaced, so it was easy to read. I wish it had more full games, instead of partial moves--7 to 8 moves in (more full games needed). I mean, I got through a third of the book in little over a day. Good introduction to the system, but could have been stronger with a full games section..

David Rudel is THE expert on the Colle. All of his books are great.

I am very happy now all aspects are covered by David Rudel about openingplay in the Colle-System against any openingreply black can think of. I have all of his books now, and it feels like I am done searching. I don't have to find any other book on openingplay anymore. I was in fact allready playing his setup against the Kings Indian Defense. But his thoughts and ideas confirms; "Yes, I am on the right track",and are very motivating and stimulating. And so, if you ever wanted to have your diner served on a plate and have it chopped bytesized and fed to you with love and care instead of having to cook all your meal by yourself and rated fivestar michellin tastefully awakening, you surtanly want to try to see and find out how this book can change your chessvision, chessfeel and chessstyle. If you was thinking about quitting chess because among other things you cannot see the forrest from the trees then you should really give this book a try. It may give your chessmind a new impuls and have it be a bigger and more joyfull chesspart of your life again. So, good luck, and eventhough chess is a serious matter I wish you a lot of chesspleasure and fun.

Comme tous les livres de David Rudell, l'auteur sait se mettre au niveau de débutants pour expliquer de manière simple les plans des Blancs.Basé sur une structure de pion systématiquement à base du pion en e3 (issu de son ouverture de prédilection : la Colle), les positions sont tout à fait jouables. Et même si l'avantage blanc n'est pas franc, les Noirs doivent jouer avec une grande précision.De plus, l'auteur a créé un forum de discussion sur chacun de ses livres afin d'améliorer les révisions suivantes, ce qui n'est pas courant.La seule chose que je reprocherais est que les variantes et surtout les sous-variantes ne sont pas clairement indiquées. A nous de le deviner ou de les ordonnancer sur papier ou informatique, ce qui peut perdre les amateurs.Ceci dit, j'ai expérimenté sur internet en parties rapides de 15 min le répertoire et en réel avec un score de 80% du fait de la solidité de la position et de systèmes qui sortent les Noirs de leur connaissances théoriques. Par exemple, les joueurs d'Est-Indienne qui affrontent e3 ont tendance à jouer comme avec e4 et tombent facilement dans des pièges stratégiques.L'arme contre la Hollandaise est simple et proche du système de Londres très solide. Quant à la fameuse Grünfeld, l'auteur l'aborde avec des plans que l'on retrouve chez les Noirs couleurs inversées dans un style hyper-moderne. Convainquant.A recommander pour une arme secondaire car sinon la préparation des adversaires récurrents deviendrait assez vite facile. Par exemple, on peut jouer contre l'Est Indienne avec un système précis (ex: fianchetto du Fg2 qui tient bien la route - voir les célèbres parties de Wojtkiewicz) et changer avec ce système proposé avec pion e3. La masse théorique étant assez légère à assimiler.Je conseille donc de se créer un arbre de variante pour combler le côté un peu brouillon de l'auteur avec qui je discute sur son forum. Il est très ouvert d'esprit.Bonne lecture.