An Insider's View
by Alexey Dreev, 208pp. (Chess Stars 2011)

Read an excerpt here

From the preface: "The author of these lines has a quarter century of experience in both these variations in tournaments and matches, including the World Championships and the Olympiads. I have introduced into the tournament practice numerous new schemes and I have defended them on the board. I collected and wrote about 10 years ago a computer Encyclopaedia of the Meran variation (published by ChessBase). Still, time is running and tournament practice introduces corrections in theory. The development of the computer software and the chess programs helps world’s leading players in their home analyses. Naturally, during the time passed, there were considerable re-evaluations of numerous lines and many new ideas and possibilities were found for both sides. Therefore, it has become necessary not only to introduce changes in the already published material, but to write a new book altogether. It is written from the point of view of Black, just like the analyses during the game. This means that we have analyzed White’s mains alternatives in all the lines, but the emphasis is on how to play with Black (accordingly, I have shared with you how I would react if I should encounter a certain position in a practical game). Of course, if Black has several, interesting and deserving attention possibilities, we have analyzed them all. Similarly to my previous book, dealing with the Moscow and anti-Moscow variations, I have included in this work many of my own games and original analyses."