Amazon reviewers called it a “hidden gem” and “the best chess book I have ever read,” etc. Several complained of very bad proofreading, typos, diagrams, etc.
In the book Evans examined the elements of space, time, force and Pawn structure. Eugene Znosko-Borovsky published the Middle Game in Chess (not sure of the date) that was translated into English by Julius Du Mont back in 1938. You can take a look at Znosko-Borovsky’s book that was published as a Project Gutenberg Canada Ebook. HERE
In his book Evans has different samples and discusses some things Znosko-Borovsky didn’t and I suppose some of his instruction may be helpful. I have the book, but never read it. I did read Znosko-Borovsky’s book many years ago and liked it, but it never helped...that’s not a slam at the book because none of the books I ever read elevated much beyond the patzer level.
When it comes to gambits, Evans explained that the gambiteer hopes to profit from his rapid development and superior mobility, but he added that if the player accepting the gambit has made no errs or his position has no organic weaknesses then the gambit is unfounded.
Evans stated that there are three way to meet a gambit. 1) decline it, 2) doggedly hold on to the material at the cost of the initiative and 3) accept it and then return the material at a favorable moment.
Evans style dictated approach number 2 as can be seen in the following game from San Antonio, 1972.
The tournament was sponsored by Bill Church of Church's Fried Chicken, a restaurant chain in the United States. The company started out as a small fried chicken shack across from the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.
In 1952, retired chicken incubator salesman George W. Church Sr. opened the first restaurant, Church's Fried Chicken To-Go, in San Antonio. It sold two pieces of chicken and a roll for 49 cents. They added fries and jalapenos to the menu in 1955. To allow customers to see their food prepared while they waited, Church designed the kitchen with the fryers next to the takeout window.
The company had four restaurants by the time of Church death in 1956. After his death, family members took over operations and in 1962, Church’s son Bill Junior took over as top executive.
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Popeyes bought Church's Chicken for nearly $400 million in 1989 in a heavily financed deal that plunged the new owner into bankruptcy proceedings by 1991. AFC Enterprises, originally called America's Favorite Chicken Co. acquired Popeyes and Church's Chicken in 1992. The company changed its name to Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen in 2014. Bill Church passed away at the age of 81 on February 7, 2014.
In the following game both players were true to their style. Ken Smth played the Smith-Mora Gambit against Evans’ Sicilain Defense and Evans, who had a strategic and patient (i.e. boring) style held on to the Pawn and, in a way that was unusual for him, almost immediately went after Smith’s King.
Kenneth Smith–Larry Evans0–1B21Church's Fried Chicken, San Antonio30.11.1972Stockfish 16
B21: Sicilian: Smith-Morra Gambit 1.e4 c5 2.d4 This was long advocated by
Smith who wanted amateurs to play gambits. White sacrifices a P for quick
development (hopefully) attacking chances. It's rarely seen at this level even
though it does not have a refutation. cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 White has two options:
4.Nxc3 and 4.Bc4 which is similar to the Danish Gambit and may be a bit too
much. 4.xc3 White’s plan is straightforward and consists of placing his
B on c4 from where it attacks f7, control the c and d-files with Rs and
utilize the fact that black will find a suitable place for his Q. c6
Black has gobs of decent setups that are effective. 5.f3 d6 6.c4 a6 7.0-0 f6 8.g5 e6 9.e2 h6 10.h4 g5 An excellent move. Evans wastes
no time going after the K. 11.g3 h5! 12.fd1 12.ad1 isn't any
better as the game Lendwai,R (2410)-Lutz,C (2550) Graz 1993 demonstrated. xg3 13.hxg3 f6 14.h2 e7 15.f4 gxf4 16.gxf4 g7 Black is better and went on
to win. 12...xg3 13.hxg3 g4 14.e1 14.d4 e5 15.ac1 d7 16.b3 c8 17.c2 g5 18.e3 h5 19.a4 xc1 20.xc1 c6 21.d1 h4 22.b6 h3
White resigned. Sanchez Maya,S (2203)-Arenas,D (2266) Medellin 2009 14...e5 15.b3 h5 Black only has a N developed, but white is already in serious
difficulty. 16.d3 g7 17.f4 17.xe5 with the idea of eliminating an
attacking piece isn't any better. To wit... xe5 18.e3 h4 19.e2 hxg3 20.xg3 d7 21.ac1 h4 White's K goes on the run, but there is no really safe
place. 22.f1 b5+ 23.e1 xb2 Black is winning. 17...h4 18.d2 18.e3 hxg3 19.xg3 g5 20.ac1 d7 White is out of reasonable moves. Black
has no forced win here, but a Shootout continuation ran... 21.c2 c6 22.e3 h6 23.f1 e5 24.g3 b5 25.d3 xe3 26.fxe3 xg3 27.g2 e5 28.xg4 e7 29.c1 f6 30.g2 h1+ 31.g1 xg1+ 32.xg1 g8+ 33.f2 h8 34.f4 e5 35.g2 b4 36.d1 a5 37.a4 xc3 38.bxc3 bxa4 39.cxb4 axb3 40.bxa5 c6 41.f3 b8 42.e2 f5 43.c3 b2 44.a6 b3 45.b1 xe4+ 46.f2 b5 47.a7 a5
and it's pretty clear that black wins. 18...hxg3 19.fxg3 b6+ 20.f1 d7 21.ac1 d8 22.e2 White is dead in the water...he has no plan and zero
useful moves. All that's left is for Evans to play solid, careful moves (which
was his style) to secure the win. f3 23.d3 d4+ 24.d2 xb3+ 25.axb3 f2+ 26.ce2 b5 27.e3 xe3+ 28.xe3 e5 29.d5 h6+ 30.f2 xc1 31.xc1 c6 32.ec3 d7 33.f6+ e6 34.xg4 f5 35.exf5+ xf5 36.e3+ e6 37.g4 d5 38.e2 d4 39.c4 dg8 40.g3 g5 The time control
has been reached and so Smith resigned. Neraly flawless play by Evans left
Smith without a chance. 0–1
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