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The Kaufman Repertoire for Black & White

Larry Kaufman — grandmaster, former World Senior Champion, and a pioneer of computer chess — offers something unusual here: a complete, ready-to-play repertoire for both colours, chosen not by the cold standard of what is "objectively best" but by what actually works for amateurs who lack the time to memorise endless theory.

That guiding principle shapes every recommendation. Kaufman deliberately favours sound, durable lines that are easy to understand and remember over the sharpest computer-approved main lines that change every few months. The White repertoire is built around 1.d4/1.Nf3 with answers to everything Black can throw back; the Black repertoire leans on the resilient defences favoured by Magnus Carlsen, including the Grünfeld and the Breyer.

Because Kaufman is a computer-chess authority, the analysis is rigorously engine-checked, and his discussion of material values and how to use engines sensibly is a bonus rarely found in repertoire books. A "repertoire in practice" section shows the systems working in real games.

Ideal for club players who want one trustworthy book to supply their entire opening repertoire — practical, honest, and built to last.

In The Czech Benoni in Action, two practitioners of this little-known but sound counterattacking system join forces to show how you can pose novel problems for opponents of all strengths, leaving them to fend for themselves as early as move 3.

Do masters methodically cut their way through the branches of a tree of analysis? Is it true that attacking players calculate a dozen moves ahead, while positional specialists rely on abstract principles? What exactly does it mean to “calculate,” anyway?

In this groundbreaking work, award-winning chess coach and author Frisco Del Rosario shines a long-overdue light on this neglected aspect of Capablanca’s record. He illustrates how the Cuban genius used positional concepts to build up irresistible king hunts, embodying the principles of good play advocated by the unequaled teacher, C.J.S. Purdy. The author also identifies an overlooked checkmate pattern – Capablanca’s Mate – that aspiring attackers can add to the standard catalogue in Renaud and Kahn’s The Art of the Checkmate. As Del Rosario shows, Capablanca has inspired not only generations of players, but also many of the classics of chess literature.

Sergei Tkachenko, a member of the Ukrainian team that won the 5th World Chess Composition Tournament in 1997 and which came second in 2000, 2004, 2013, and 2017, has collected 100 studies whose common theme is that white ends up with just one pawn in the finale, yet manages to win or draw.

In this book IM Arthur van de Oudeweetering supplies building blocks for your chess knowledge. In short chapters he presents lots of well-defined subjects, easy to remember because of their specific elements. After working with this book you will experience something wonderful: your mind and memory will be triggered much easier and more frequently. An increasing number of positions, pawn structures and piece placements will automatically activate your chess knowledge. As a result, you will simply find the right move more often and more quickly!

In many 1.d4 openings, Black has trouble getting his bishop on c8 into play. Former Russian Chess Champion Alexey Bezgodov presents a radical solution to this nagging problem; liberate your bishop right away and put it on f5 on the second move!

In this enlarged edition of a modern classic (first published in 1991) on the battle of chess ideas, grandmaster Mihai Suba developed the concept of dynamic potential in modern chess strategy.

Move First, Think Later

Most improvement books preach the same method: study the position’s features, form a plan, then choose a move. International Master Willy Hendriks thinks that is largely a comforting myth — and this provocative, much-discussed book sets out to prove it.

Drawing on his experience as a trainer and on research into how players actually think, Hendriks argues that move selection is not the tidy output of a rational checklist; judging, planning, and calculating all happen together, messily and at once, in weak and strong players alike. The dogma that "good moves follow automatically once you assess the characteristics" simply doesn’t match what happens at the board.

In place of method-worship he offers something more honest and more useful: a healthy scepticism toward chess instruction, and a large amount of no-nonsense training material — exercises and discussion designed to build the pattern knowledge that really drives improvement. The tone is sharp, funny, and refreshingly willing to puncture sacred cows.

Best suited to club and online players who suspect the standard advice hasn’t been working — and to any thoughtful improver who enjoys having their assumptions challenged.