NEW BOOKS RECEIVED
Our book reviews have now been taken over by Stephen Gordon IM now that Phil Adams has hand over his mantle of reviewer.
Published
November 2008 EU, December 2008 US | ISBN 9781857445862
Format Paperback, 240 pages
It's not easy finding a good
opening to play against 1 e4, especially if - like the majority of chess players
- you don't have endless time available to study the latest theoretical
developments. If you choose fashionable openings, it's often a necessity to keep
pace with modern theory if you want to succeed with Black.
This book provides a solution. Neil McDonald advocates his favourite opening -
the very popular French Defence - but chooses a repertoire for Black that
requires only the minimum amount of move memorization. The lines he selects are
very easy to learn and play - perfect for those who are unwilling to be slaves
to opening theory. But there's also something here for more experienced players,
as McDonald goes on to offer a second repertoire based on counter-attacking
lines against 3 Nc3 and 3 Nd2.
An easy-to-learn defence against 1 e4
Provides solutions to all of White's options
Written by a world-renowned expert on the French
Ideal for improvers, club players and tournament players
International Master and former US
Open Champion Timothy Taylor draws upon his wealth of personal experience to
offer an instructive and entertaining account of how to improve your
understanding of chess and your results. This book is awash with invaluable
advice and helpful tips on all stages of the game - opening, middle game and end
game. Taylor emphasizes the practical aspects of chess: how to really make the
most of your ability; how to win at all costs; and how to absorb the lessons of
defeat to come back stronger.
Grab every advantage over your opponents and be in the best possible shape for
battle. True Combat Chess will show you the way
An essential guide to winning chess
Full of useful advice on improving results
Ideal for players of all levels
For many chess-players, opening
study is sheer hard work. It is difficult to know what is important and what is
not, and when specific knowledge is vital, or when a more general understanding
is sufficient. Tragically often, once the opening is over, a player won't know
what plan to follow, or even understand why his pieces are on the squares on
which they sit.
In this highly-acclaimed and popular series, John Watson helps chess-players
achieve a more holistic and insightful view of the openings. He explains not
only the ideas and strategies behind specific openings, but also the
interconnections of chess openings taken as a whole. By presenting the common
threads that underlie opening play, Watson provides a permanent basis for
playing openings of any type.
This third volume focuses on the English Opening while also drawing together
many threads from the first two books in a wide-ranging discussion of general
opening topics. Particularly in the context of reversed and analogous forms of
standard structures, we understand why certain ideas work and others don't, and
experience the concept of 'Cross-Pollination' at work in even more varied forms
than seen in the first two volumes.
International Master John Watson is one of the world's most respected
writers on chess. His groundbreaking four-volume work on the English firmly
established his reputation in the 1980s, and he has produced a string of
top-quality works since. In 1999,
Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy, Watson's first book for Gambit,
won the British Chess Federation Book of the Year Award and the United States
Chess Federation Fred Cramer Award for Best Book. He reviews chess books for The
Week in Chess and hosts a weekly radio show on the Internet Chess Club.
STARTING OUT: THE MODERN, by Nigel Davies
Paperback, 189 pages, £14.99, Everyman Chess, http://www.everymanchess.com, ISBN 9781857445664
Everyman Chess's Starting Out series has firmly established itself as the leading guide to studying openings for up-and-coming players. These books are distinguished by their easy-to-read layout, the lucid explanations of the fundamentals, and the abundance of notes, tips and warnings to help the reader absorb vital ideas. Starting Out opening books are ideal for enthusiastic chess players who have little experience of the openings in question and who wish to appreciate the essential principles behind them.
Publisher's blurb: Are you tired of playing the same old openings time and time again? Perhaps it's time for a change, but you cannot decide between the numerous options available? Here's the answer: choose Dangerous Weapons and amaze your opponents with new and exciting opening ideas!
In this book, four renowned opening experts get together to take a revolutionary look at the Benoni, the Benko and all their associated variations. Instead of travelling down well-trodden and analysed paths, they concentrate on fresh or little-explored variations, selecting a wealth of 'dangerous' options for both colours. Whether playing White or Black, a study of this book will leave you confident and fully-armed, and your opponents running for cover!
Dangerous Weapons is a series of opening books which supply the reader with an abundance of hard-hitting ideas to revitalize his or her opening repertoire. Many of the carefully chosen weapons are innovative, visually shocking, incredibly tricky, or have been unfairly discarded; they are guaranteed to throw even your most experienced opponent off balance.
Publisher's blurb: 'I love playing the King's Indian, but no-one ever allows me to reach my favourite opening!' Does this sound like an all too familiar complaint? The answer to this problem lies here.
The truth is you will reach your favourite opening in barely half the games you play against 1 d4, and that's why this book is a godsend to those players fed up with blindly searching for the right way to play against these annoying White systems designed to avoid the main lines: the Trompowsky; the London System; the Torre Attack; the Barry Attack; the Colle System; the Veresov; the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit - the list goes on and on!
Yelena Dembo, who as a hardened King's Indian and Grünfeld player has considerable experience facing these irritating openings, deals with them in no uncertain terms, in each case offering Black a no-nonsense solution that enables you to face the future with confidence
Covers all of White's possibilities after 1 d4 Nf6
Also includes advice and King's Indian solutions to 1 Nf3 and 1 c4
Written by an renowned opening expert
Publisher's blurb: What are the greatest opening ideas in chess history? This is a fascinating question that would undoubtedly spark endless debate and discussion amongst all the experts and enthusiasts of the game. From the invention and development of openings which are now considered to be mainline, to the wealth of stunning one-move novelties which have convincingly overturned previous expert assessments, there is certainly a plethora of brilliant ideas to choose from - everyone will have their own opinion on this subject!
In this book, Christoph Scheerer looks back though chess history and at modern times in order to create his own list of favourites. Selecting from hundreds of candidates, Scheerer examines factors such as creativity, shock value, effectiveness and endurance in order to decide which ideas are most worthy of inclusion. Read this book and discover the stories behind the most powerful opening ideas of all time, and how you can utilize and learn from these ideas to improve your chess.
Publisher's blurb: Pawn sacrifices are incredibly common in chess games, and yet curiously they have been neglected in literature... until now.
In this pioneering work, Timothy Taylor carries out an in-depth study of this major subject. Using an abundance of instructive examples, Taylor uncovers the secrets of pawn sacrifices, highlighting the many reasons for their success and indicating the ideal situations in which pawn sacrifices work, as well as those cases in which they are not so effective.
The ability to handle pawn sacrifices is one of the most important skills in chess, and enhancing this skill will undoubtedly improve your understanding and results. This book will show you how to do this.
Publisher's blurb: The Slav has a well-deserved reputation as one of Black's strongest answers to 1 d4, and it's no coincidence that it has been used by almost all the World Champions in chess history. Put simply, the Slav is a classy opening, one which combines reliability with the promise of dynamic counterplay.
In this book, James Vigus presents a comprehensive and trustworthy repertoire for Black. He outlines the main ideas for both sides and highlights the tactics to watch out for. This book will provide you with enough knowledge and skill to play the Slav with confidence in your own games.
Dr James Vigus is a FIDE Master and former British Junior Champion. He’s a regular book reviewer and contributor to British Chess Magazine, and was editor of Dragon (Cambridge University Chess Magazine). Outside of chess, he’s recently completed a PhD in English Literature at Cambridge..
Publisher's blurb: Do you wish to surprise your opponent on the first move? Do you enjoy playing creatively from the beginning of the game? Look no further than 1 b4!
With this aggressive pawn lunge White takes the game into relatively unknown territory and forces Black players onto their own devices.
In this landmark book, Yury Lapshun and Nick Conticello take an in-depth look at 1 b4. The authors provide a practical and fun-to-play repertoire for White, offering options against all of Black's main possibilities. Read this book and confound your opponents with 1 b4!
Publisher's blurb: The Accelerated Dragon is a dynamic choice for Black and arguably the most natural way to play the Sicilian Defence: Black develops rapidly and chooses the most active squares to place his or her pieces. Unknowing white players looking for a direct attack similar to the one used against traditional Dragon are shocked by Black's increased options due to the flexible move order. Instead, White sometimes employs a more positional approach incorporating the famous Maroczy Bind, when the battle centres on White's impressive pawn structure against Black's lively pieces and the ability to create a pawn break. The Accelerated Dragon was brought to prominence by the Danish chess legend Bent Larsen, while in more recent years its advocates have included World Championship Candidate Sergey Tiviakov.
This book is a further addition to Everyman's best-selling Starting Out series, which has been acclaimed for its original approach to tackling chess openings. International Master Andrew Greet, an Accelerated Dragon expert, revisits the basics of the opening, elaborating on the crucial early moves and ideas for both sides in a way that is often neglected in other texts. The reader is helped throughout with a plethora of notes, tips and warnings highlighting the vital characteristics of the Accelerated Dragon and of opening play in general. Starting Out: The Accelerated Dragon is a perfect guide for improving players and those new to this opening.
User-friendly design to help readers absorb ideas
Includes coverage of the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon
Ideal for improvers, club players and tournament players
Publisher's blurb: In the modern classic, Secrets of Spectacular Chess, Jonathan Levitt and David Friedgood shared their joy and appreciation of chess beauty, engulfing readers with a wealth of amazing and magnificent examples from the aesthetic side of the game. More than this, they showed how this fascinating subject could actually be analysed, and how this could help players improve the practical side of their game. Now the authors have produced a much awaited and largely expanded second edition, in which they present further thoughts, provide many new mesmerizing examples of games, studies and problems, and revisit previous material to explain how the theory has developed. This book captures the imagination; read it and become hypnotized by the power and beauty of chess!
*A new expanded edition, with 50% new material
*An enthralling guide to the artistry of chess
*Ideal for players of all levels
Publisher's blurb: How can you improve your chess? It's not by chance that the top players say: 'Study the endgame!' This is because a great number of encounters reach the endgame, and studying these positions will teach you how to convert winning positions, and how to save or even overturn inferior ones. Moreover, it's a well-known fact that studying endgames undoubtedly enhances other aspects of your play.
Practical Endgame Play is a comprehensive guide to all fundamental chess endings, and a godsend for those looking to improve their endgame play. Crucially, the emphasis is just as much on practical play as it is on theoretical understanding. Whenever an idea is introduced, Grandmaster Efstratios Grivas immediately illustrates it with a number of entertaining and instructive examples, a considerable number of which are drawn from his own over-the-board experiences.
This is a companion volume to Everyman's earlier book Practical Endgame Play - Beyond the Basics, a work which specializes in more complex positions.
HOW TO CRUSH YOUR CHESS OPPONENTS by Simon Williams
112 pages, Paperback, £12.99, Gambit Publications, http://www.gambitbooks.com, ISBN 1-904600-99-9
Publisher's blurb: Simon Williams, one of Britain's most dynamic and aggressive chess-players, has selected his favourite attacking games from the modern era, and annotated them with an infectious zeal that will inspire and instruct. He takes us inside the decision-making process, explaining how each stage in an attacking concept is formed, and shows how top players spot the signs that indicate it is time to stake everything on an all-out assault. We also get insights into the role of intuition and calculation in both attack and defence.
The players featured in this entertaining collection include: * Judit Polgar * Alexei Shirov * Veselin Topalov * Viswanathan Anand * Vasily Ivanchuk * Peter Svidler * Alexander Grishchuk * Magnus Carlsen *
Simon Williams is an experienced international grandmaster from England who has gained a reputation for playing uninhibited attacking chess. He represented England in World and European Championships in various age groups, and has been a regular in the British Championship since his early teens, an event in which he was runner-up in 2004. This is his third book for Gambit: see also Improve Your Attacking Chess and Play the Classical Dutch.
ISBN 1-904600-97-2
Publisher's blurb: All chess-players love to play a smooth attacking game, flowing from start to finish, and sprinkled with spectacular ideas and sacrifices. However, few can do so regularly, and for most players, their collection of brilliancies missed far outweighs their creative successes.
Innate talent plays an important role, but many of the skills needed for attacking chess can be learnt by study and practice. Here, one of the world's most experienced annotators has selected 33 superb examples, and explained them in a way that strips away the mystery. We see how the decision to attack is made, and which positional factors led to that decision being justified. We observe either a gradual build-up, or a lightning-fast storm, and understand why one approach or the other was necessary. Finally, we witness the final execution of the tactical blows.
To check that we have truly grasped the ideas, Franco presents us with plentiful exercises, where it is we who have to perform the heroics.
Zenon Franco is a grandmaster from Paraguay who now lives in Spain. He is an experienced chess trainer, his most notable pupil being Paco Vallejo, now one of the world's top grandmasters, whom he taught from 1995 to 1999. He has written four previous books for Gambit, including Chess Self-Improvement and Winning Chess Explained.
A Gambit re-issue of this instructive endgame guide.
Publisher's blurb: For all chess-players - from beginners to grandmasters, and whatever their style of play - one thing is certain: rook endings will arise in a great many of their games.
Yet it is precisely in this area of the game that many players give away hard-earned points, either through lack of knowledge or inadequate understanding. Most previous books on the subject have been extremely technical and theoretical, but this one is different. John Emms provides the essential specific knowledge and explains the key concepts that will enable readers to find the right plan in most common types of rook endings.
John Emms is one of England's strongest grandmasters, and an experienced trainer. He is also a skilful and versatile writer: he has several opening monographs and general guides to his credit, and authored the hugely popular work, The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book.
Publisher's blurb: The Semi-Slav is on track to becoming the most popular 1 d4 response at the highest levels in the same way that the Marshall Attack is the most popular opening after 1 e4. In this book American IM and theoretical expert David Vigorito gives a full repertoire for Black with many possibilites to vary. If you want to play this topical opening you cannot do without this book.
Publisher's blurb: In this companion volume to Fundamental Chess Endings, Müller and Pajeken focus on the practical side of playing endgames. They cover all aspects of strategic endgames, with particular emphasis on thinking methods, and ways to create difficulties for opponents over the board.
Using hundreds of outstanding examples from modern practice, the authors explain not only how to conduct 'classical' endgame tasks, such as exploiting an extra pawn or more active pieces, but also how to handle the extremely unbalanced endings that often arise from the dynamic openings favoured nowadays. All varieties of endgames are covered, and there are more than 200 exercises for the reader, together with full solutions.
Major topics include:
* Basic Principles and Methods
* Activity
* Schematic Thinking
* The Fight for the Initiative
* Prophylaxis and Preventing Counterplay
* The Bishop-Pair in the Endgame
* Domination
* The Art of Defence
* Typical Mistakes
* Rules of Thumb
Publisher's blurb: A much-expanded new edition of 101 Brilliant Chess Miniatures
In this tremendously instructive and entertaining work, John Nunn selects 125 of the finest short decisive grandmaster games of the modern era.
For a grandmaster to lose a game in 25 moves or fewer takes something special, and club players can learn a great deal from studying these miniatures. Each of these games is a true battle, with the result often in doubt until near the very end of the struggle.
Nunn identifies the most common causes of the errors that lead to the loser's demise, and how one can seek to take dramatic advantage of the opponent's risky or faulty play. In his thought-provoking extended introduction, he explains that in many cases, the problem was of a psychological nature: often the loser fails to accept that events have not unfolded according to plan, and as a consequence steers into the reefs when there was still time to head for safer waters.
Publisher's blurb: A Gambit re-issue of the definitive modern work on pawn endings, written by the same authors as the award-winning Fundamental Chess Endings.
This book provides a thorough course in endings with just kings and pawns, from the simple to the highly complex. Armed with this knowledge, the reader will also be able to tackle other types of endgame with greater confidence and certainty.
Many interesting and beautiful positions are included, and there are test positions for the reader to solve. The authors follow the rigorously logical conventions introduced by John Nunn in his famous series of endgame manuals. This has necessitated a phenomenal amount of new analysis of theoretical positions to assess precisely the merits of each and every move.
·
A comprehensive and authoritative
guide to the most fundamental type of endgame
* Includes puzzle positions to test the reader's understanding
* Makes use of computer software specifically geared to pawn endings
* Logically organized in user-friendly fashion
Publisher's blurb: The opening is reaching its end, and we must make a pivotal decision: what shall our middlegame strategy be? Do we seek an active plan to profit from our strengths and highlight the opponent's weaknesses? Or do we adopt prophylaxis, attending to our own position's shortcomings and hindering the opponent's plans? Alternatively, are there any ready-made plans that we know from other games that can be tailored to fit our position?
The authors present 90 'multi-choice' tests where the reader faces this task. In detailed solutions, they explain the best solution, and why other possibilities are less convincing. We develop a feel for how the decision is made, while painlessly building our 'repertoire' of plans in typical positions.
All the examples in this book arise from Queen's Pawn or Flank Openings, and are arranged by opening and level of difficulty. Many are drawn from games by virtuoso strategists such as Karpov and Petrosian. In all cases, the game is annotated in full, so we see the consequences of the critical decision, while also appreciating the finer points of some of the most instructive games in chess history.
Publisher's blurb: The Nimzo-Indian is one of the most important of all chess openings, and popular at all levels of play. Together with the Queen's Indian also covered in this series, the Nimzo has provided the backbone of the opening repertoire of a large portion of the world's top players over the last 80 years. It is considered a fully reliable defence, and provides winning chances for both sides as it leads to structures of great strategic variety and complexity. Key battlegrounds in the Nimzo include the blockade, IQP positions, the handling of unbalanced pawn-structures, and the struggle between bishop and knight. All these topics are covered in depth in this book, and an understanding of them will prove valuable in a much broader context than just the Nimzo-Indian.
Chess Explained books provide an understanding of an opening and the middlegames to which it leads, enabling you to find the right moves and plans in your own games. It is as if you were sitting at the board with a chess coach answering your questions about the plans for both sides, the ideas behind particular moves, and what specific knowledge you need to have.
Publisher's blurb: The French Defence is one of the most important chess openings. Its qualities are such that it appeals to a wide range of chess temperaments: it is solid yet uncompromising, and with a variety of chaotic variations to appeal to the most bloodthirsty of players, but also offering more tranquil lines to those seeking a quieter existence. While it is hard for White to avoid at least some imbalance in the position, he also has a wide choice. In some of the most critical lines, he accepts major structural weaknesses in return for piece-play and dynamic chances, while he can also seek to establish a modest space advantage without such heavy positional commitments.
Chess Explained books provide an understanding of an opening and the middlegames to which it leads, enabling you to find the right moves and plans in your own games. It is as if you were sitting at the board with a chess coach answering your questions about the plans for both sides, the ideas behind particular moves, and what specific knowledge you need to have.
PLAY THE ENGLISH: AN ACTIVE OPENING REPERTOIRE FOR WHITE, by Craig Pritchett,
Everyman Chess, 192 pages, £14.99, ISBN 9781857445459 http://www.everymanchess.com
Publisher's blurb: The English is a sophisticated opening which is very popular at all levels of chess: from up-and-coming players to World Champions such as Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik. It has many attractions, including flexibility and diversity: White can play either aggressively or quietly, and positions are rich in both strategy and tactics.
In Play the English, Craig Pritchett provides an active repertoire for White, offering answers to Black’s key defences both in the main lines and sidelines. Drawing upon his wealth of experience in this opening from both sides of the board, Pritchett highlights the positional and tactical ideas for White and Black, and the subtle move-order nuances so important in the modern game. This book contains all you need to know to play the English with confidence in your own games.
STARTING OUT: CLASSICAL SICILIAN, by Alexander Raetsky and Maxim Chetverik,
Everyman Chess, 176 pages, £14.99, ISBN 9781857445374 http://www.everymanchess.com
Publisher's blurb: The Classical Sicilian is one of Black's most popular and highly regarded opening choices against 1 e4, and it's been a favourite of such greats as Vladimir Kramnik, Alexei Shirov and Vishy Anand. White has a number of aggressive ways to battle against the Classical: the fashionable Richter-Rauzer Attack; Bobby Fischer's favourite, the Sozin Attack; and finally the wild Velimirovic Attack, and no work on the Classical would be complete without a study of these fascinating variations. In this book, Alexander Raetsky and Maxim Chetverik revisit the basics of the Classical Sicilian, elaborating on the crucial early moves and plans for both sides in a way that is often neglected in other texts.
The Everyman Chess Starting Out series has firmly established itself as the leading guide to studying openings for up-and-coming players. These books are distinguished by their easy-to-read layout, the lucid explanations of the fundamentals, and the abundance of notes, tips and warnings to help the reader absorb vital ideas. Starting Out opening books are ideal for enthusiastic chess players who have little experience of the openings in question and who wish to appreciate the essential principles behind them.
GAMBITEER II: A HARD-HITTING CHESS OPENING REPERTOIRE FOR BLACK, by Nigel Davies,
Everyman Chess, 192 pages, £14.99 ISBN 9781857445367 http://www.everymanchess.com
Publisher's blurb: Are you fearless in your approach to chess openings? Do you like to attack your opponents from the very beginning? Are you happy to take calculated risks? Are you a Gambiteer? If the answer to these questions is 'yes' then this is the book for you!
In this second volume of the Gambiteer series, opening expert Nigel Davies produces an ambitious and uncompromising repertoire for Black. His two main choices are the Albin Counter Gambit and the Schliemann Gambit. As gambits go they are the pick of the crop, having been tried and tested by some of the World's most inventive players. All of the opening lines Davies advocates lead to positions of open warfare, where sharp, tactical play completely dominates dreary, positional subtleties. Are you ready for the battle? Then cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!
*Includes an armoury of aggressive ideas for Black
*Features chess at its most bloodthirsty
*Ideal for the attack-minded player
The Complete Chess Workout: Train your brain with 1200 puzzles! by Richard Palliser,
Everyman Chess, 360 pages, £17.99 ISBN 9781857445329 http://www.everymanchess.com
Publisher's blurb: All top chess players agree that to keep your tactical muscles in shape it's imperative to continue training, and the easiest and most fun way to do this is by performing tactical exercises. Even solving a few puzzles for ten minutes each day can be of the utmost benefit for the aspiring player. But where can one find the required number of suitable puzzles to satisfy this demand?
Look no further than The Complete Chess Workout. In this book, tactics expert Richard Palliser presents the reader with a massive 1200 puzzles, all checked for accuracy by the latest computer engines. There is something for players of all levels here: a huge number of basic tactics - forks, pins, skewers and checkmates - to appeal to beginners and improvers, and several brain-teasers that will tax even the strongest of players. Palliser has meticulously collected puzzles from practical play in recent years - a large percentage of the exercises here will be completely new to most readers. All the important tactical themes are covered, while there are special sections on opening traps and endgames. Work your way through this book, and your opponents will soon be on the receiving end of your increased tactical powers!
*A comprehensive training manual for chess tactics
*Ideal for all levels of player
*All puzzles checked by computer engines
Publisher's blurb: Do you need a well-deserved break from your normal chess openings?
Are you tired of constantly having to keep up with modern chess theory?
Or perhaps you simply wish to try out something new and inspiring, but cannot decide amongst the embarrassment of choices available?
Look no further for the answer! In Dangerous Weapons: 1 e4 e5, renowned opening experts John Emms, Glenn Flear and Andrew Greet take a revolutionary look at one of the most famous and widely-played chess openings. Instead of travelling down well-trodden and analysed paths, the authors concentrate on fresh or little-explored variations, selecting a wealth of 'dangerous' options for both colours. Whether playing White or Black, a study of this book will leave you confident and fully-armed, and your opponents running for cover!
Dangerous Weapons is an exciting series of opening books which supply the reader with an abundance of hard-hitting ideas to revitalize his or her opening repertoire. Many of the carefully chosen weapons are innovative, visually shocking, incredibly tricky, or have been unfairly discarded; they are guaranteed to throw even your most experienced opponent off balance.
Publisher's blurb: The Grand Prix Attack is one of White's most aggressive ways of fighting the Sicilian. It leads to a sharp, complex battle in which White often launches a direct attack against the black king. The opening has become a powerful weapon in the cut and thrust of tournament chess, where victory is everything and draws are not enough. It has even gained the seal of approval from elite players such as Vishy Anand and Nigel Short, who have both utilized it with success.
In this book Gawain Jones, one of the world' leading experts on the Grand Prix Attack, provides everything you need to know about this opening. Using illustrative games and drawing upon his own wealth of experience, he introduces the key moves and ideas for both sides, taking care to explain the reasoning behind them - something that has often been neglected or taken for granted.
The Everyman Chess Starting Out series has firmly established itself as the leading guide to studying openings for up-and-coming players. These books are distinguished by their easy-to-read layout, the lucid explanations of the fundamentals, and the abundance of notes, tips and warnings to help the reader absorb vital ideas.
Covers all the main lines after 2 Nc3 and 3 f4
Includes bonus chapters on the fashionable 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 Bb5
Ideal for improvers, club players and tournament players
Publisher's blurb: Are you tired of playing the same old openings time and time again?
Fed up with constantly having to keep up with modern chess theory?
Or perhaps you simply wish to play something new and inspiring, but cannot decide between the numerous options available? Don't despair - help is on hand!
In Dangerous Weapons: The Queen's Gambit, opening experts Richard Palliser, Glenn Flear and Chris Ward team up to investigate one of the most popular openings in chess history, but in a revolutionary way. They concentrate on little-explored and fun-to-play variations of the Queen's Gambit, selecting a wealth of 'dangerous' options for both colours. Whether playing White or Black, a study of this book will leave you confident and fully-armed, and your opponents running for cover!
Dangerous Weapons is an exciting series of opening books which supply the reader with an abundance of hard-hitting ideas to revitalize his or her opening repertoire. Many of the carefully chosen weapons are innovative, visually shocking, incredibly tricky, or have been unfairly discarded; they are guaranteed to throw even your most experienced opponent off balance.
Publisher's blurb: Joel Benjamin is one of the most prominent faces in the history of US chess. At thirteen years of age he broke Bobby Fischer's record as the youngest ever national master, and this was followed by countless tournament successes. Perhaps most famously, in 1997 he hit the headlines when he became the chess consultant for IBM's Deep Blue computer, which made history by beating World Champion Garry Kasparov in an epic encounter.
In American Grandmaster, Benjamin takes the reader on a journey through chess adventures spanning more than thirty years. Tracing through his own career, from being a prodigy in the 'Fischer boom' era thorough to an experienced Grandmaster with many titles, Benjamin is in a unique position to highlight the major changes that have occurred both in US and international chess throughout the last four decades.
This book includes:
*Instructive annotations of his favourite games
*Anecdotes and reflections from thirty years of US and worldwide chess events
*New perspectives on the legendary Kasparov-Deep Blue match
*Insights into how Grandmasters earn their living
*A deep look into the current major issues of chess
San Luis 2005 by Alik Gershon & Igor Nor
Quality Chess, 442 large glossy pages, £19.99, ISBN: 978-91-976005-2-1 http://www.qualitychessbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: San Luis 2005 is the most celebrated chess tournament of the decade. Bulgarian Grandmaster Veselin Topalov triumphed and proved that he is a worthy successor to World Champions such as Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov. In this ambitious work Gershon and Nor analyse all the games from the tournament, but there is no danger of the reader drowning in masses of variations, as the authors clearly explain the ideas behind the moves. Tournament books used to be a familiar part of chess literature with Zurich 1953 a classic example, however such books are now rare because of the huge effort they demand from the authors. Gershon and Nor have risen to the challenge and produced a book that is destined to become a modern classic, a magnificent book worthy of an extraordinary tournament. Many colour photographs of the event and the surrounding Argentinean scenery help the reader feel what it was like to be at San Luis 2005.
Chess Explained books provide an understanding of an opening and the middlegames to which it leads, enabling you to find the right moves and plans in your own games. It is as if you were sitting at the board with a chess coach answering your questions about the plans for both sides, the ideas behind particular moves, and what specific knowledge you need to have.
Belying its solid classical appearance, the Semi-Slav is one of Black's most aggressive responses when White opens with the queen's pawn. The Meran is its traditional main line, and often leads to chaotic positions of immense strategic and tactical richness. This is territory where the player who is better prepared and has a superior 'feel' for the nuances will typically emerge victorious, even against a stronger opponent. Vera draws upon decades of personal experience to explain the underlying logic of the Meran and related lines, and to pick out the key features of positions that to the untrained eye might appear random and unfathomable. In addition to discussing all major lines after 5 e3, Vera also covers many subtle issues of move-order, which are of great importance when trying to steer the game into the desired channels.
Reinaldo Vera comes from Cuba and has been a grandmaster since 1988. He has won the Cuban Championship on two occasions and was a member of the Cuban national team for more than two decades. Vera graduated from Havana University, and has written for many chess magazines, including New in Chess, Jaque and Peon de Rey. He is also a FIDE Senior Trainer, and the coach of the Cuban team.
Publisher's blurb: Chess Explained is a new series of books about chess openings. They are not theoretical works in the traditional sense, but more a series of lessons from a chess expert with extensive over-the-board experience with an opening. You will gain an understanding of the opening and the middlegames to which it leads, enabling you to find the right moves and plans in your own games. It is as if you were sitting at the board with a chess coach answering your questions about the plans for both sides, the ideas behind particular moves, and what specific knowledge you need to have.
* 25 recent and highly instructive games discussed in detail
* Chapter introductions and conclusions emphasize the key points
* Full indexes of games and variations
* Extensive verbal explanations of plans and manoeuvres
The Modern Benoni is a perennial favourite among players looking to create winning chances with Black. It is one of the few openings where White has no easy way to force drawish simplifications or deny Black any dynamic counterplay. Both players need to understand the imbalances in the position and pursue their plans with great vigour. In this book Franco shows how Black can seek to create the kind of mayhem that has attracted champions such as Tal, Kasparov and Topalov to the Benoni, and also demonstrates how White can seek either to put a positional clamp on the game, or else to storm Black's position before his development is complete. A special section deals with the vital question of move-orders.
Zenon Franco is a grandmaster from Paraguay who now lives in Spain. For more than a quarter of a century, he has written a popular column for Spanish-language chess magazines. He is an experienced chess trainer, his most notable pupil being Paco Vallejo, now one of the world's top grandmasters, whom he taught from 1995 to 1999.
Publisher's blurb: Chess Explained books are not theoretical works in the traditional sense, but more a series of lessons from a chess expert with extensive over-the-board experience with an opening. You will gain an understanding of the opening and the middlegames to which it leads, enabling you to find the right moves and plans in your own games. It is as if you were sitting at the board with a chess coach answering your questions about the plans for both sides, the ideas behind particular moves, and what specific knowledge you need to have.
The Queen's Gambit Declined is one of the most important and popular of chess openings. While an immensely solid and classical choice for Black, it has remained highly topical for more than a century. Both sides have ways to create imbalance and test their opponent's skills and knowledge in a full-blooded struggle. Most of the World Champions have taken both sides of the QGD, with Spassky and Karpov especially notable defenders of Black's cause. In addition to the traditional main lines with Bg5, White has at his disposal the Exchange Variation, and the Bf4 system, both of which can be handled in highly aggressive style if he wishes. Rizzitano covers all these lines and a plethora of other important lines, focusing on the fundamental ideas on which they are based.
James Rizzitano is a strong international master who dominated chess in the New England region during a 14-year period from 1976 to 1989 - he won 157 out of 336 events in which he competed. His career highlights include victories over Alburt, Benjamin, Benko, Christiansen, Dlugy, I.Gurevich, and Wolff. Rizzitano has recently made a return to competitive chess, and has already written three successful books for Gambit.
Publisher's blurb: The English Opening, from the Flank Games group, was developed by Howard Staunton. In this opening, white avoids or delays the occupation of the centre with Pawns. Once considered a minor diversion, the English is now one of the main openings and all modern world champions have played it. One of the most famous world champions, Anatoly Karpov, brings his sharp eye and extensive experience to bear in this concise introduction to the opening. Like the previous volumes from Karpov on the Caro-Kann, it is a rich book with terrific insight that is ideal for all players, particularly club players.
True Lies in Chess by Lluis Comas Fabrego
Quality Chess, 165 pages, £14.99 ISBN: 978-9197600576 http://www.qualitychessbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: For Lluis Comas Fabrego chess is about
more than just winning as many games as possible, it is a creative search for
the truth. In True Lies in Chess Comas Fabrego takes on the challenging task of
separating the truth from lies in chess literature. Guided by many practical
examples and clear advice, the readers will learn how to reduce the complexity
of chess towards the essential features of each position, and so improve their
play.
The author argues that in modern chess the tendency to prefer concrete analysis
to the written word is dangerous. Humans are incapable of finding the correct
move by brute-force calculation like a computer. We must simplify the problem by
focusing on the elements that our judgement tells us are most significant. Comas
Fabrego shows how his creative approach has helped him find many novelties in
the opening, particularly concentrating on the ¤a6-lines of the King’s Indian in
which he is a renowned expert.
Lluis Comas Fabrego is a grandmaster and has twice been Spanish Champion. This is his first book for Quality Chess.
Publisher's blurb: Are you making the most of your chess talent? Do you always perform to the best of your ability? Do your results match up with your understanding of the game? If the answer to any of these questions is 'no' then read on! In The Survival Guide to Competitive Chess, Grandmaster and experienced tournament player John Emms reveals the secrets of how to maximize your potential and improve your results. Drawing upon his own over-the-board experiences, Emms tackles the all-important aspects of practical play: concentration and behaviour at the chessboard; playing for a win or a draw; winning good positions and saving difficult ones; handling time trouble; avoiding silly mistakes; understanding your strengths and weaknesses; building an opening repertoire; using chess computers and software; preparing for opponents; understanding and utilizing the finer points of the rules; and much more besides. Read this book and play every game with the confidence that you really can give it your best shot.
Publisher's blurb: Are you constantly struggling with the black pieces? Can't make up your mind which openings to play? Are you looking for something new: an all-in-one solution to your problems? Look no further!
In this original book, Christoph Wisnewski, who is renowned for his innovative and adventurous opening ideas, provides the reader with an ambitious and all-encompassing repertoire for Black against every main line opening that White can play, based on the initial move 1...Nc6. The principal components of this black repertoire are the uncompromising Chigorin Defence, a long-time favourite of the brilliant Russian Grandmaster Alexander Morozevich, and the equally tricky Nimzowitsch Defence, advocated by Britain's first ever Grandmaster, Tony Miles.
Drawing upon his wealth of practical experience in this opening, which has produced a remarkable success rate and some notable Grandmaster scalps, Wisnewski uncovers the secrets behind 1...Nc6 and divulges his findings to the reader. He examines both the critical main lines and the tricky sidelines, and provides a thorough grounding in the crucial tactical and positional concepts for both White and Black. Reading through this book will allow you to begin playing 1...Nc6 with skill and assurance in your own games.
Publisher's blurb: The Sicilian Defence is by far Black's most popular answer to 1 e4 at all levels of chess. The reason for this is easy to understand: from the very first move Black unbalances the position and can play for a win without needing to take unjustified risks. This is particularly the case with the Open Sicilian, where Black can take comfort from the knowledge that his superior pawn structure ensures control of the centre and excellent long-term chances.
Faced with this problem, along with the fact that Open Sicilians generally carry a massive build-up of theory, it's unsurprising that many White players prefer to play one of the various 'Anti-Sicilian' lines on offer. These numerous alternatives to 2 Nf3 include the primitive but dangerous Grand Prix Attack, one or two wild gambits, and also some tedious and niggling variations such as 2 c3 and the Closed Sicilian, which are designed to stamp out any fun Black was envisaging when playing 1...c5.
These annoying lines have become the scourge of Sicilian players, but in this book Richard Palliser, a lifelong Sicilian devotee, decides it's time for Black players to finally fight back! Drawing upon his vast experience and understanding of Anti-Sicilians, Palliser creates a dynamic and practical repertoire for Sicilian players to use against these possibilities. In many instances he offers more than one solution for Black - ambitious or solid - and he pays special attention to tricky move orders, weapons that present-day players are likely to use.
Publisher's blurb: Andrei Volokitin is one of a rare breed of players: he achieved a ranking in the world's top 20 while still a teenager, playing dynamic and often brilliant chess. Although we cannot all aspire to emulate his achievements, there is much that we can learn from his training methods, his games and his general approach to chess. These topics are the subject of this book, written in collaboration with his trainer.
The core material of the book is 375 positions where the reader is given a task or asked a question. These tasks resemble those that players regularly face over the board, and are especially useful from a training viewpoint. Sometimes we are told we need to find a combination, but often the task is simply to decide on a move. It is for us to determine whether to play quietly or stake everything on a sacrificial attack!
The examples are all from recent years, and so even the most zealous reader of chess literature will have seen few of them previously. Many of the positions are from Volokitin's own games, so we get the 'inside story' on some truly spectacular chess. We are also presented with fine examples from Grabinsky's training files, carefully collected and graded over the years for their instructive merit. The commentaries and detailed solutions explain the key issues in each position, and also convey the authors' philosophy of chess and their love for the game.
Grandmaster Andrei Volokitin was born in 1986 in Lvov. In 2004, he won the Ukrainian Championship and was a member of the team that won the Chess Olympiad in Calvia. In the January 2005 rating list he was, at age 18, placed in the world's top 20 for the first time. He has won many prizes in junior championships and major international events. International Master Vladimir Grabinsky is the coach of the Ukrainian youth team. In addition to Volokitin, his pupils include several other players who have achieved international titles at an early age.
Publisher's blurb:
THE MOST IMPORTANT ENDGAME BOOK EVER PUBLISHED
Welcome to a new type of endgame book. A book that includes...
Forget those books which just recycle established theory. Forget those books which concentrate on fantastical studies. Grandmaster and endgame expert Glenn Flear has created an in-depth book of all endgames which feature either two pieces for each side, or two pieces against one - an essential area of the game that has never before been comprehensively covered in one volume.
Why is this so important? Because these situations arise incredibly frequently in practical play. These are the endgames that matter. If you can handle such endgames well, your results will improve. This book shows you how.
Chess Secrets: The Giants of Strategy: Learn from Kramnik, Karpov, Petrosian, Capablanca and Nimzowitsch by Neil McDonald
Everyman, 256 pages, ISBN 9781857445411 http://www.everymanbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: Chess Secrets is a brand new series of books which uncover the mysteries of the most important aspects of chess: strategy, attack, opening play and gambits, classical play, endgames and preparation. In each book the author studies a number of great players from chess history who have excelled in a particular field of the game and who have undeniably influenced those who have followed.
The chess world has been blessed with some wonderful strategists, innovators of the game with their instructive play and profound teachings. In The Giants of Strategy, Neil McDonald chooses his selection of the most prominent ones and highlights the major contributions they have made. He examines their differing approaches and styles, and from Nimzowitsch to Kramnik, how they followed in each other's footsteps. A careful study of this book will help you to understand and improve in one of the most crucial elements of the game.
*An entertaining and instructive guide to chess strategy
*Learn from the greats of the game
*Discover how famous chess minds work
Published September 2007 EU,
October 2007 US | ISBN 9781857445411
Format Paperback, 256 pages
Publisher's blurb: A Gambit re-issue of a classic work on chess defence. Many books discuss how to attack in chess, but resourceful defensive play is also a vital ingredient in competitive success. This is an area largely neglected in the literature of the game. This book fills the gap admirably. Following a survey of general defensive methods in chess, Dr Colin Crouch investigates the techniques of World Champions Emanuel Lasker and Tigran Petrosian, both highly effective defenders. Lasker would place myriad practical obstacles in the opponent's way, and was a master of the counterattack. Petrosian developed Nimzowitsch's theories of prophylaxis to a new level. His opponents would find that somehow their attacking chances had been nullified long before they could become reality.
International Master Dr Colin Crouch is a highly experienced chess-player from England who has written well-regarded books about openings, endgames and middlegame theory. His game annotations have appeared in several major chess magazines, including Inside Chess and Chess Monthly.
Publisher's blurb: For many chess-players, opening study is sheer hard work. It is difficult to know what is important and what is not, and when specific knowledge is vital, or when a more general understanding is sufficient. Tragically often, once the opening is over, a player won't know what plan to follow, or even understand why his pieces are on the squares on which they sit. John Watson seeks to help chess-players achieve a more holistic and insightful view of the openings. In his previous books on chess strategy, Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy and Chess Strategy in Action, he explained vital concepts that had previously been the domain only of top-class players. Moreover, he did so in ways that have enabled them to enter the general chess consciousness of club players. Here he does likewise for the openings, explaining how flexible thinking and notions such as 'rule-independence' can apply to the opening.
In this major two-volume work, Watson presents a wide-ranging view of the way in which top-class players really handle the opening, rather than an idealized and simplified model. This volume, focusing on king's pawn openings, is a book that will make chess-players think hard about how they begin their games, while offering both entertainment and challenging material for study in openings such as the Sicilian and Ruy Lopez.
Publisher's blurb: For most chess-players, opening study is sheer hard work. It is hard to know what is important and what is not, and when specific knowledge is vital, or when a more general understanding is sufficient. Tragically often, once the opening is over, a player won't know what plan to follow, or even understand why his pieces are on the squares on which they sit. John Watson seeks to help chess-players achieve a more holistic and insightful view of the openings. In his previous books on chess strategy, he explained vital concepts that had previously been the domain only of top-class players. Here he does likewise for the openings, explaining how flexible thinking and notions such as 'rule-independence' can apply to the opening too. Watson presents a wide-ranging view of the way in which top-class players really handle the opening, rather than an idealized and simplified model.
This volume, focusing on queen's pawn openings, is a book that will make chess-players think hard about how they begin their games. It also offers both entertainment and challenging study material in openings such as the Nimzo-Indian, King's Indian and the entire Queen's Gambit complex.
Publisher's blurb: Good planning is central to good chess. A plan gives meaning to manoeuvres and tactical devices, forming a coherent whole that brings us closer to our goals. The modern understanding of chess planning has evolved considerably since the days of the "grand plan", whereby a player might even try to map out the whole course of the game. Nowadays, top-class players appreciate that the opponent's ideas also deserve respect, and our own plans must take them into account too. Modern grandmasters plan with great purpose but also flexibly, ready to adjust or even change direction completely when the situation demands it.
Grivas provides 75 superb practical examples where it is important to make the right plan. Once the critical position is reached, he guides you through the options and challenges you to find the right path. Detailed solutions are provided, with a full discussion of the pros and cons of the various options.
Grandmaster Efstratios Grivas lives in Athens and is also an International Arbiter and Organizer. He has represented his country on a great many occasions, winning an individual gold medal at the 1989 European Team Championship and an individual silver medal at the 1998 Olympiad. He is a FIDE Senior Trainer and an experienced writer. This is his sixth book for Gambit.
Publisher's blurb: The Caro-Kann is a reliable and highly respected answer to White's most popular opening move, 1 e4. It has the seal of approval of numerous leading Grandmasters including Vishy Anand, Evgeny Bareev and Alexey Dreev, as well as former World Champion Anatoly Karpov, who has utilized it with great success throughout his illustrious career. One of the attractions of the Caro-Kann is that it suits a variety of different styles; it can lead to wild tactical battles as well as quiet, positional play.
In this book, International Master Jovanka Houska presents the reader with a concise and trustworthy repertoire within the Caro-Kann, providing a solution against all of White's main options, and efficient methods to deal with tricky sidelines. Houska examines the important tactical and strategic plans for both sides, arming the reader with enough information to begin playing the Caro-Kann with confidence in his or her own games.
Publisher's blurb: No opening in recent times has captured the imagination of the chess public more than the Sicilian Sveshnikov. Initially popularized in the 1970s, the Sveshnikov has exploded onto the chess scene at the highest levels and is now regarded by many experts as one of Black's most promising answers to 1 e4. One of its major attractions is that more often than not the opening leads to incredibly sharp and complex play. In such situations both sides must play with extreme accuracy just to stay on the board as a single slip may lead to disaster! This uncompromising and modern approach with the black pieces has found favour with many of today's leading Grandmasters, including Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Leko, while Garry Kasparov also began playing it towards the end of his career.
This book is a further addition to Everyman's best-selling Starting Out series, which has been acclaimed for its original approach to tackling chess openings. John Cox revisits the fundamentals of the Sveshnikov, elaborating on the crucial early moves and ideas for both sides in a way that is often neglected in other texts. The reader is helped throughout with a plethora of notes, tips and warnings highlighting the vital characteristics of the Sicilian Sveshnikov and of opening play in general. Starting Out: Sicilian Sveshnikov is a perfect guide for improving players and those new to this opening.
Gambiteer I: A hard-hitting chess opening repertoire for White, by Nigel Davies, 192 pages
Everyman, ISBN 9781857445169 http://www.everymanbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: Are you fearless in your approach to chess openings? Do you like to attack your opponents from the very beginning? Are you happy to take calculated risks? Do you loathe trivial positional chess? Do you feel the need to sacrifice pawns early in the game? Are you a Gambiteer? If the answer to these questions is 'yes!'then this is the book for you!
In his two-volume Gambiteer series, opening expert Nigel Davies produces a complete opening repertoire which is certainly not for the faint-hearted: uncompromising and wild attacking ideas for both colours. This first volume deals with a gambit-style approach for White; the second volume will concentrate on an ambitious black repertoire. All of the opening lines Davies advocates in this book lead to positions of open warfare, where sharp, tactical play completely dominates dreary positional subtleties. Are you ready for the battle? Then cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!
Contents:1. Sicilian Defence, Wing Gambit 2. Danish Gambit 3. French Defence, Wing Gambit 4. Caro-Kann Fantasy Variation 5. Alekhine's Defence with 3 Nc3 6. Pirc Defence, Austrian with 5 a3 7. Scandinavian Defence 8. Nimzowitsch Defence 9. The Pseudo-Philidor and Other defences Index of Complete Games
Starting Out: The Colle, by Richard Palliser, 251 pages
Everyman, ISBN 9781857445275 http://www.everymanbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: The Colle is a solid, reliable system of development based on the popular opening move 1 d4. One of its major advantages is that although the system is very easy to learn and play, it leads to exciting middlegame positions where White often launches a violent attack against Black's king. The Colle is a particular favourite amongst club players, but is also seen at grandmaster level; perhaps its most well-known exponents are the former World Championship Candidate Artur Yusupov and the twice World Junior Champion Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
This book is a further addition to Everyman's best-selling Starting Out series, which has been acclaimed for its original approach to tackling chess openings. International Master Richard Palliser examines the fundamentals of the Colle, elaborating on the crucial early moves and ideas for both sides in a way that is often neglected in other texts. The reader is helped throughout with a plethora of notes, tips and warnings highlighting the vital characteristics of the Colle and of opening play in general. Starting Out: The Colle is a perfect guide for improving players and those new to this opening.
Play the Grünfeld by Yelena Dembo, 192 pages
Everyman, ISBN 9781857445213 http://www.everymanbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: The Grünfeld is an exciting and dynamic answer to 1 d4, and has become very popular at all levels of chess. A major reason for this is that it has been a long-time favourite of the World's strongest-ever chess player, Garry Kasparov, who used it many times in his numerous World Championship battles. The Grünfeld very much relies on the principles of the hypermodern school of chess: Black allows White to erect an impressive-looking centre on the assumption that in the long run it could prove to be more of a liability than an asset. Play often becomes very complex and tactical, one of the reasons the Grünfeld appeals to ambitious players.
Despite its attractions, some prospective Grünfeld players are discouraged by the necessity of needing to learn numerous different variations in such a complex opening. In Play the Grünfeld, however, opening expert Yelena Dembo circumvents this problem by producing a comprehensive and yet workable repertoire for Black, offering a solution against each of White's tries, whether it's a critical main line or a tricky sideline. After reading this book, you will have the required knowledge and confidence to begin playing the Grünfeld in your own games.
Contents
Part One - The Exchange Variation (1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 N c3 d5 4 cxd5 N xd5 5 e4 Nxc3 6 bxc3 Bg7)
1 Introducing 7 Nf3 c5 3 Be3 Systems 4 The Fashionable 7 Bc4 5 White's 7th Move Alternatives 6 4 cxd5 Nxd5 without 5 e4 Part Two - 3 Nc3 Without The Exchange 7 The Russian System 8 Qa4+ Systems 9 Bf4 Systems 10 Bg5 Systems 11 The Solid 4 e3 12 Offbeat 4th Move Alternatives Part Three - White Postpones Nc3 13 The Fianchetto System 14 Angling for a Sämisch: 3 f3 Index of variations
Gambiteer I: A hard-hitting chess opening repertoire for White by Nigel Davies
Everyman, 192 pages ISBN 9781857445169 http://www.everymanbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: Are you fearless in your approach to chess openings? Do you like to attack your opponents from the very beginning? Are you happy to take calculated risks? Do you loathe trivial positional chess? Do you feel the need to sacrifice pawns early in the game? Are you a Gambiteer? If the answer to these questions is 'yes!'then this is the book for you!
In his two-volume Gambiteer series, opening expert Nigel Davies produces a complete opening repertoire which is certainly not for the faint-hearted: uncompromising and wild attacking ideas for both colours. This first volume deals with a gambit-style approach for White; the second volume will concentrate on an ambitious black repertoire. All of the opening lines Davies advocates in this book lead to positions of open warfare, where sharp, tactical play completely dominates dreary positional subtleties. Are you ready for the battle? Then cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!
Contents
1. Sicilian Defence, Wing Gambit
2. Danish Gambit
3. French Defence, Wing Gambit
4. Caro-Kann Fantasy Variation
5. Alekhine's Defence with 3 Nc3
6. Pirc Defence, Austrian with 5 a3
7. Scandinavian Defence
8. Nimzowitsch Defence
9. The Pseudo-Philidor and Other defences
Index of Complete Games
Gambiteer II: A hard-hitting chess opening repertoire for Black by Nigel Davies
Everyman, 192 pages, ISBN 9781857445367 http://www.everymanbooks.com
Publisher's blurb Are you fearless in your approach to chess openings? Do you like to attack your opponents from the very beginning? Are you happy to take calculated risks? Are you a Gambiteer? If the answer to these questions is 'yes' then this is the book for you!
In this second volume of the Gambiteer series, opening expert Nigel Davies produces an ambitious and uncompromising repertoire for Black. His two main choices are the Albin Counter Gambit and the Schliemann Gambit. As gambits go they are the pick of the crop, having been tried and tested by some of the World's most inventive players. All of the opening lines Davies advocates lead to positions of open warfare, where sharp, tactical play completely dominates dreary, positional subtleties. Are you ready for the battle? Then cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!
*Includes an armoury of aggressive ideas for Black
*Features chess at its most bloodthirsty
*Ideal for the attack-minded player
Weapons: The French, by John Watson, 320 pages
Everyman, ISBN 9781857444353 http://www.everymanbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: Do you need a well-deserved break from your normal chess openings? Are you tired of constantly having to keep up with modern chess theory? Or perhaps you simply wish to try out something new and exciting, but cannot decide amongst the embarrassment of choices available? Look no further for the answer!
In Dangerous Weapons: The French, International Master John Watson takes a revolutionary look at one of the most famous and widely-played chess openings: the French Defence. Instead of travelling down well-trodden and analyzed paths, Watson concentrates on fresh or little-explored variations of the French, selecting a wealth of‘dangerous’ options for both colours. Whether playing White or Black, a study of this book will leave you confident and fully-armed, and your opponents running for cover!
Dangerous Weapons is a brand-new series of opening books which supply the reader with an abundance of hard-hitting ideas to revitalize his or her opening repertoire. Many of the carefully chosen weapons are innovative, visually shocking,incredibly tricky, or have been unfairly discarded; they are guaranteed to throw even your most experienced opponent off balance.
Starting Out: Closed Sicilian, by Richard Palliser, 192 pages
Everyman, ISBN 9781857444148 (also available on CD) http://www.everymanbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: The Closed Sicilian is an ideal weapon for players who wish for an aggressive way to attack the Sicilian but have neither the time nor the inclination to learn the seemingly endless mountains of opening theory associated with Open Sicilians. In the Closed Sicilian an awareness of the typical themes is far more important than memorising variations. White's play is logical and the basic strategies are simple to master, while the deliberate and slow burning attack on the black king appeals to many.
In Starting Out: Closed Sicilian Richard Palliser takes a fresh look at this famous opening. The early moves and ideas are introduced and care is taken to explain the reasoning behind them – something that is often neglected or taken for granted. As with previous works in the popular Everyman Chess Starting Out series, the reader is helped throughout with a plethora of notes, tips and warnings highlighting the vital characteristics of the Closed Sicilian and of opening play in general.
The Pirc in Black & White: Detailed coverage of an enterprising chess opening by James Vigus, 381 pages
Everyman ISBN 9781857444322 http://www.everymanbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: The Pirc is an ambitious counter-attacking response to White’s most popular opening move, 1 e4. Black’s philosophy is based around allowing White to build a large and impressive-looking pawn centre, only toplot its downfall by attacking it with pieces or timely pawn strikes. When it works, the results can be spectacular, but of course this method of play carries with it some danger; if Black is not careful he runs the risk of simply being swamped in the centre. Such a provocative approach has found favour witha line of uncompromising Grandmasters including former Soviet Champion Alexander Beliavsky and Mikhail Gurevich.
In this book James Vigus provides an up-to-date appraisal ofthe Pirc and its many variations. Using illustrative games, he examines the traditional main lines, the fashionable alternatives and the tricky sidelines,while outlining the typical tactical and positional ideas for both White and Black. A study of this book will allow the reader to begin playing the Pirc with confidence in his or her own games.
Beating the King's Indian and Grünfeld by Timothy Taylor
Everyman 192 pages ISBN 9781857444285 http://www.everymanbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: The King's Indian and the Grünfeld are two of Black's most popular answers to 1 d4; unsurprising given that they were long-time favouritesof chess legends Garry Kasparov and, before him, Bobby Fischer. Brimming with complexity and dynamism, these two openings often leave those playing White scratching their heads wondering how to squeeze even the slightest of advantages out of the opening and, just as crucially, how to avoid becoming swamped in a morass of complicated theory.
It’s time for White to strike back! In this book, Timothy Taylor gets to grips with the King's Indian and Grünfeld, providing White with a number of easy-to-learn and effective weapons which are specially designed tocause Black maximum discomfort. Taylor examines the typical tactical and positional ideas for both players, highlighting the tricks and pitfalls one must look out for. A study of this book will allow the reader to battle against the King's Indian and the Grünfeld with renewed confidence.
Starting Out: Sicilian Scheveningen by Craig Pritchett, 192 pages
Everyman, ISBN 9781857444131 http://www.everymanbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: The Scheveningen is an uncompromising and flexible variation of Black's most popular defence to 1 e4, the Sicilian. It's a firm favourite of the world's greatest ever chess player, Garry Kasparov, who used it many times in crucial games, including his world championship matches against Anatoly Karpov and Vishy Anand. His success rate against Karpov was so good that the former world champion was forced to abandon his normal first move to avoid it! Black's play in the Scheveningen is based around a solid and resilient pawn structure, a well-defended king and guaranteed counterplay against every white set-up.
In Starting Out: Sicilian Scheveningen Craig Pritchett takes a fresh look at this famous opening. The early moves and ideas are introduced and care is taken to explain the reasoning behind them – something that is often neglected or taken for granted. As with previous works in the popular Everyman Chess Starting Out series, the reader is helped throughout with a plethora of notes, tips and warnings highlighting the vital characteristics of the Sicilian Scheveningen and of opening play in general.
Starting Out: Chess Tactics and Checkmates, by Chris Ward
192 pages, Everyman, ISBN 9781857444186 (also available on CD) http://www.everymanbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: Once you have figured out how all the chess pieces move, what is the next step up the chess ladder? This helpful and entertaining book provides you with the complete answer. In this easy-to-follow guide, renowned chess teacher Chris Ward explains all the crucial checkmating patterns, plus how to catch out your opponents with an assortment of tricks and traps, commonly known as chess tactics. There is something for everyone in this book: improving players can benefit from learning the basic checkmates and the key tactics such as attacking and defending pieces, forks, pins and skewers, while more experienced players can discover the delights of advanced checkmates and sneaky tricks, ones that can flummox even the world's best players!
Learning chess tactics is fun and one of the quickest ways of improving your chess, and it's even more enjoyable when your opponents begin falling for your tricks! Read this book and, with the help of a Grandmaster, you will be ready to unleash your weapons in your chess battles, whoever your opponent may be.
Publisher's blurb: No time to
study but want to win more chess games? Improve Your Chess in 7 Days is packed
with practical tips, hints on how to improve, learn from the champions and find
out how to beat them - in just a week. With one short chapter for each day of
the week, the book is ideal for social chess players and includes a sprinkling
of chess cartoons to keep you smiling as you read:
Day 1 - So You Want to be Good?
Day 2 - Understanding the Openings
Day 3 - Strategy versus Tactics
Day 4 – Creating the Attack
Day 5 – Avoiding Blunders
Day 6 - Mastering the Ending
Day 7 – The Art of Swindling
Moving On
With comments and advice after each move, this is as clear a guide to improving
your chess as you will ever need.
Publisher's blurb: In chess, a
transposition is a known position reached by a different move order than usual –
a less obvious way of getting to somewhere you want to go, leading to confusion
for your opponent. Every chess player has a number of them in his arsenal, and
they are used most often in openings. There are transpositional tricks in all
openings, but this is the first book devoted to them.
As the book covers all the key openings variations it can be used by most chess
players. The introduction explains what transpositions are and why they're
invaluable, followed by 8 chapters discussing transpositions, illustrated by
some notorious examples from top-flight matches. Chapters are divided by opening
group – Double e-pawn openings; Sicilian Defense; Other Semi-Open openings;
Double e-pawn openings; Indian openings; Other 1 d4 openings; Reti, English, 1
g3. The benefits and drawbacks of each set of move orders are discussed
throughout.
This is an ideal book for all club players and is written by one of the best
chess writers in the world today.
Publisher's blurb: Garry
Kasparov has dominated the world of competitive chess for longer than any world
champion. The period 1999–2005 represents one of the most fascinating and
controversial phases of his career, including repeated and frustrated attempts
to reunify the world championship. Following the recent announcement of his
retirement, this must-have guide is a celebration of the final years of one of
the greatest players of our time.
A large selection of games are covered, accompanied by in-depth annotation and
analysis. Including games right up to the eve of his retirement, this is the
most up-to-date and comprehensive guide available, representing an unrivalled
opportunity to draw on Kasparov's phenonemal experience on the chess board.
Beating the Open Games, by Mihail Marin
288 pages, Quality Chess, £15.99 ISBN: 978-91-976004-3-9 http://www.qualitychessbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: Acclaimed author and chess grandmaster Mihail Marin presents an opening repertoire for Black against the Open Games. This means providing an answer to 1 e4, but not considering the main lines of the Ruy Lopez/Spanish Opening. This includes openings such as the Scotch, the Vienna, the Spanish Exchange Variation, and even the notorious King’s Gambit. Marin uses his renowned writing skills to explain the ideas behind each move, so Beating the Open Games escapes the standard opening book trap of being a boring list of analysis. Marin has based the book mainly on his own repertoire and reveals many original moves and ideas. After studying this book the reader will not only have an excellent repertoire but also a deeper understanding of chess
Challenging the Nimzo-Indian, by David Vigorito
325 pages, £15.99, Quality Chess, ISBN: 978-91-976005-5-2 http://www.qualitychessbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: Every competitive chess player needs a sound grasp of how to play this opening -- and especially how to meet the most popular lines. The Nimzo-Indian is Black’s most respected answer to 1 d4 and is immensely popular at all levels, from club championship to world championship. In fact, the reputation of the Nimzo is so high that some players prefer simply to avoid it. American International master David Vigorito shows that this negative approach is unnecessary. Challenging the Nimzo-Indian provides White with a complete repertoire based on 4.Qc2. The chess is certainly at a high level, but Vigorito’s logical approach and clear conclusions means that readers can easily grasp the concepts and less-experienced players can play through the high-quality example games that are comprehensively explained.
A Spanish Repertoire for Black, by Mihail Marin
232 pages, £15.99, Quality Chess, ISBN 978-91-976005-0-7 http://www.qualitychessbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: Welcome to a world-class chess repertoire for Black against 1.e4. As the title suggests, the repertoire is based on the respected Spanish Opening, or the Ruy Lopez, as it is sometimes called. In his previous book, Beating the Open Games, Grandmaster Mihail Marin dealt with White’s options up to 3.Bb5. Now Marin provides all the answers for Black after 4.Ba4. This depth of chess expertise has rarely been published for a mass audience before, as grandmasters usually prefer to keep their secrets. The complexity of the material could have been daunting, but Marin is also a master of explaining profound ideas to a wide audience.
My System, by Aron Nimzowitsch, new translation
£14.99, Quality Chess, ISBN: 978-91-976005-3-8 http://www.qualitychessbooks.com
Publisher's blurb: Aron Nimzowitsch was one of the greatest chess players of the 1920s and 1930s, ranked just behind the famous World Champions Alekhine and Capablanca. His reputation as an author is higher still.
My System is at the top of a very short list of chess
classics. Nimzowitsch’s
ideas have had a profound influence on modern chess thinking. Most chess
masters will at some point have studied Nimzowitsch’s work, and not to have read
My System is by many regarded as a shocking gap in a chess player’s education.
The problem for an English-speaking audience has been that My System was written in German more than eighty years ago. The commonly-used contemporary translations have sounded dated for some time, and were always questionable: the translators frequently toned down many passages, fearing Nimzowitsch’s biting wit would be too controversial.
This edition uses a brand-new translation that recreates the author’s original intentions. For the first time an English-speaking audience can appreciate the true nature of a famous chess book.
Publisher’s blurb:This
book is the first in a brand new series that follows on from My Great
Predecessors and sees chess legend Garry Kasparov reflecting on a pivotal time
in chess history. Bobby Fischer's spurt towards the chess summit (1970-1972)
marked the approach of a new era affecting all aspects of the game and opening
theory in particular. Fischer demonstrated the need for deep preparation with
both colours, expanded the range of openings
knowledge, and laid the foundations for present-day professional chess.
The leader of the new generation, Anatoly Karpov, fully reaped the benefits of the Fischer revolution
by mastering the lessons of his great predecessor. Of the players of the older
generation, only Victor Korchnoi was able to achieve
such a high level of professionalism.
Alas, Fischer then left the chess stage. However, the
tectonic shifts he had brought about led to the beginning of a genuine
revolution in opening theory and a revolution that overturned traditional
impressions about many typical positions. Between 1972 and 1975 alone, progress
in the field of opening theory was more significant than in the entire
preceding decade! Under Fischer's influence chess was radically regenerated, a
process which then continued to accelerate. As a result, from the 1972 Fischer-Spassky world championship match to 1984 and the Kasparov-Karpov matches, the overall picture of chess openings
changed almost beyond recognition.
This fascinating book tells the story of this opening
revolution. This story is told not only with the insight of Garry Kasparov, but
also as seen through the eyes of the leading players who were at the forefront
of the development of chess theory during those key years. The reader will
witness at first hand how rapidly and inexorably chess development approached
the coming computer era.
Publisher’s blurb: Beating Unusual Chess
Openings is a
godsend to those chess players fed up with struggling against all opening moves
other than White’s main two: 1 e4 and 1 d4. From the respectable (English
Opening, Réti and King’s Indian Attack) through to theoffbeat (Nimzo-Larsen Attack,
Bird’s Opening) and the totally bizarre (Orang-utan, Grob); everything Black needs to know about facing unusual
openings is covered within these pages. Richard Palliser
gets to grips with all of White’s possibilities, examining their strengths and
weaknesses and in turn organizing a reliable and practical repertoire for
Black.
Publisher’s blurb: The Advance Variation is a popular
and direct way of meeting the ultra-solid French Defence.
Very early on in the game White opts to fix the pawn structure and establishes
a genuine space advantage, upon which he later hopes to mount a serious attack.
This method of playing against the French Defence has
become a firm favourite amongst uncompromising
Grandmasters such as
In this book openings expert Sam Collins explains the strategy
and tactics of this dynamic opening, studying both the main lines as well as
the more offbeat variations. Through the use of model games for both White and
Black, he provides a thorough grounding in the key plans and ideas, so that
readers can quickly and confidently begin to use the French Advance in their
own games.
Also available in CD format
Publisher’s blurb: Once you have figured out how all
the chess pieces move, what is the next step up the chess ladder? This helpful
and entertaining book provides you with the complete answer. In this
easy-to-follow guide, renowned chess teacher Chris Ward explains all the
crucial checkmating patterns, plus how to catch out your opponents with an
assortment of tricks and traps, commonly known as chess tactics. There is
something for everyone in this book: improving players can benefit from
learning the basic checkmates and the key tactics such as attacking and
defending pieces, forks, pins and skewers, while more experienced players can
discover the delights of advanced checkmates and sneaky tricks, ones that can
flummox even the world's best players!
Learning chess tactics is fun and one of the quickest ways
of improving your chess, and it's even more enjoyable when your opponents begin
falling for your tricks! Read this book and, with the help of a Grandmaster,
you will be ready to unleash your weapons in your chess battles, whoever your
opponent may be.
Publisher’s blurb: The King's Indian and the Grunfeld are two of Black's most popular answers to 1 d4;
unsurprising given that they were long-time favouritesof
chess legends Garry Kasparov and, before him, Bobby Fischer. Brimming with
complexity and dynamism, these two openings often leave those playing White
scratching their heads wondering how to squeeze even the slightest of
advantages out of the opening and, just as crucially, how to avoid becoming swamped
in a morass of complicated theory.
It’s time for White to strike back! In this book, Timothy
Taylor gets to grips with the King's Indian and Grunfeld,
providing White with a number of easy-to-learn and effective weapons which are
specially designed to cause Black maximum discomfort.
Publisher's blurb: There's no denying that the opening is
one of the most daunting phases of the game for newcomers to chess. There are
literally hundreds of different opening lines, many with unusual sounding
names, and some of these go up to twenty or so moves of theory. What is a chess
player supposed to do: memorise countless variations?
Don't panic! In Discovering Chess Openings John Emms argues that studying openings doesn't have to be hard
work at all – indeed, it can be both enjoyable and enlightening. The key to
successful opening play is not simply learning lines off by heart; instead it's
the understanding of the basic principles, and here the reader is guided
through the vital themes: swift development, central control and king safety.
An appreciation of these principles and their many offshoots will actually
allow readers to recreate and discover opening theory, giving them the
opportunity to choose the most suitable lines to play in their games.
Books on CD from Everyman
These CDs are in Chessbase format,
enabling the reader to link to all the chess games, commentary and text from
the original book, and replay and interact with the moves easily onscreen.
Play 1 e4 e5!:
A complete repertoire for Black in the Open Games, by Nigel Davies
Play the Queen's Gambit,
by Chris Ward
The French Advance, by Sam
Collins
Starting Out: 1 e4: A reliable
repertoire for the improving player, by Neil McDonald
Starting Out: Chess Tactics and
Checkmates, by Chris Ward
Starting Out: Closed Sicilian,
by Richard Palliser
Starting Out: Sicilian Najdorf, by Richard Palliser
Starting Out: The King's Indian,
by Joe Gallagher
Starting Out: The Scotch Game,
by John Emms
Starting Out: The Sicilian Dragon,
by Andrew Martin
Publisher’s blurb: What is the best way to improve your
chess results? Memorizing an opening encyclopaedia,
learning endgame theory, solving puzzle positions ... there must be an easier
way. How about making the most of your existing talent? In a new and enlarged
edition of a highly popular work, John Nunn helps you to do precisely that.
Drawing upon more than three decades of experience, he provides advice that
will help players of all standards, playing styles and temperaments to achieve
improved results. His methods take into account psychological factors and are
firmly based on good common sense and the objectivity that has made John Nunn
one of the world's favourite writers on chess.
This new enlarged edition contains 45% more material than
the first edition, published nine years ago. It includes a greatly expanded
section on chess computers, and how their use can assist over-the-board players
in opening preparation.
Publisher’s blurb: The c3 Sicilian is one of White's
most popular and poisonous ways to avoid the main lines of the Sicilian. White
denies his opponent the chance to demonstrate his preparation in some chaotic
system; instead he will have to fight carefully for equality in a more rational
position of White's choosing. There are plenty of tricks and traps in the c3
Sicilian, and the open piece-play that often results can lead to quick attacks
and means that careless play will rarely go unpunished.
Publisher’s blurb: Popular chess author Steve Giddins presents 101 ideas that are vital to successful
endgame play. By absorbing and understanding these concepts and methods, you
will ensure that you will spot them when they are possible in your own games.
This is an ideal book to read without using a chess set, as the abundant
diagrams guide you through the analysis and illustrate the key points. All
types of endings are covered, including both simple technical situations and
more complex strategic battles. The tips include both pithy rules of thumb and
general thinking methods. The examples are drawn from an immense variety of
sources and based on Giddins's experiences as a
player, coach and pupil.
Publisher’s blurb: For many chess-players, opening
study is sheer hard work. It is difficult to know what is important and what is
not, and when specific knowledge is vital, or when a more general understanding
is sufficient. Tragically often, once the opening is over, a player won't know
what plan to follow, or even understand why his pieces are on the squares on
which they sit. John Watson seeks to help chess-players achieve a more holistic
and insightful view of the openings. In his previous books on chess strategy, Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy
and Chess
Strategy in Action, he explained vital concepts that had previously
been the domain only of top-class players. Moreover, he did so in ways that
have enabled them to enter the general chess consciousness of club players.
Here he does likewise for the openings, explaining how flexible thinking and
notions such as 'rule-independence' can apply to the opening.
In this major two-volume work, Watson presents a
wide-ranging view of the way in which top-class players really handle the
opening, rather than an idealized and simplified model. This volume, focusing
on king's pawn openings, is a book that will make chess-players think hard
about how they begin their games, while offering both entertainment and
challenging material for study in openings such as the Sicilian and Ruy Lopez.
Publisher’s blurb: The English Opening is a flexible
and dynamic choice for White, which avoids a great deal of sharp and
well-mapped opening theory. It is popular with all levels of chess-players, and
has been used to good effect at world championship level by Kasparov, Korchnoi, Botvinnik and other
greats of the game. The English gives rise to an immense variety of structures,
ranging from reversed Sicilians to Hedgehogs and fluid or locked central
structures. It is an opening where strategic mastery of typical positions is of
immense benefit, and where Black needs to combine circumspection and vigour to obtain a viable game.
ROOK VS. TWO MINOR PIECES by Esben Lund,
174 pages, £15.99 http://www.qualitychessbooks.com
Publisher’s blurb: The material imbalance that is the
subject of this book may seem a narrow topic, but the lessons to be learned
here apply to all areas of chess: those who study this book will improve their
general feeling for the pieces and their interrelation.
Esben Lund is a young Danish FM and respected
trainer.
Chess for Kids and Parents by Heinz Brunthaler,
207 large pages, £6.99 http://www.qualitychessbooks.com
Publisher’s blurb:
It is widely
accepted that learning chess has a very positive effect on children. Many
parents want to help their children to study chess, but don’t know how to do
it. This book is the solution. It is a practical handbook that teaches the
mysteries of chess with a light touch.
All rules and aspects of the game are covered. This book will help children
progress from absolute beginners to playing in tournaments.
About the author: Heinz Brunthaler’s background is as a businessman. For the last
twenty years he has been involved in many aspects of chess, including organising more than a hundred international tournaments.
Now he focuses on writing chess books, especially those designed to help
novices.
Understanding Chess Tactics by Martin Weteschnik,
235 large pages, £13.99 http://www.qualitychessbooks.com
Publisher’s blurb: "Chess is 99% tactics" is
an old saying. This may be an exaggeration, but even the remaining 1% still
depends on tactics. When Martin Weteschnik started
working as a trainer in his local chess club, he quickly realized that even the
stronger club players had great weaknesses in their tactical play. He also
discovered that simply asking them to solve a huge number of puzzles did not
fix the problem. These players clearly needed a good book, but when Weteschnik looked for it he found nothing suitable, so he
decided to write it himself.
About the author: Martin Weteschnik
lives in