London is a universal system, valid against almost any black response and one of the safest for White. It is very popular with club players who want to avoid the more theoretical lines, but it is also played regularly by strong grandmasters
Mikhail Botvinnik is widely regarded as one of the greatest chess players of all time, in the same league as Magnus Carlsen, Bobby Fischer, and Garry Kasparov. Botvinnik was born in 1911 and died in 1995. He is known as The Patriarch, or the father of the Soviet School of Chess. He was World Chess Champion from 1948 until 1963, with two short interruptions, and later mentored other world champions Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik.
For this modern biography, the Russian grandmaster Alexander Khalifman has selected and annotated more than fifty of Botvinnik’s best games. Khalifman is an excellent guide with a deep understanding of chess and a talent for explaining games in a clear and accessible manner.
Botvinnik’s Best Games is part of a series by New In Chess that celebrates the greatest chess players of all time. Previous titles in the series include collections of games by Paul Morphy, Max Euwe, Boris Spassky, and Ding Liren.
Alexander Khalifman (1966) is a Russian grandmaster who has won numerous tournaments, including the Russian Championship and the New York Open. He was FIDE World Champion in 1999-2000 and has written more than a dozen widely acclaimed chess books.
Why Play the Catalan Opening?
If you’re looking for an opening that combines strategic depth with long-term pressure, the Catalan Opening is a top-tier choice. It’s favored by world champions like Vladimir Kramnik and Magnus Carlsen for good reason: the Catalan blends solid positional play with dynamic potential.
By fianchettoing the king’s bishop and exerting long-range pressure on the center, White builds a solid yet flexible structure. This opening is ideal for players who prefer a quiet buildup that leads to deep middlegame plans, rather than immediate tactical fireworks.
Whether you’re an ambitious club player or a seasoned tournament competitor, the Catalan gives you a strong foundation with plenty of room to outplay your opponent in a positional battle.
Key benefits:
– Reliable opening with a rich strategic backbone
– Proven success at the highest level of play
– Excellent choice against both 1…d5 and 1…Nf6 setups
– Ideal for players who value control, initiative, and clarity
The Caro-Kann Defence arises after the moves 1.e4 c6. With this first move Black (as is also the case with the French Defence – 1.e4 e6) plans 2...d5, establishing a well-protected central pawn. The Caro-Kann has a reputation as a rock solid defence that minimises the risk of Black being subjected to undue early pressure. Rather than inviting the opponent to engage in immediate warfare, Black focuses on completing development comfortably and postponng the serious battle until the middlegame. It is notable that the White systems which try to batter the Caro-Kann into early submission are highly double-edged and often rebound badly. First Steps is a new opening series and is ideal for improving players who want simple and straightforward explanations.
First Steps books are based around carefully selected instructive games which demonstrate exactly what both sides are trying to achieve. There is enough theory to enable the improving player to get to grips with the opening without feeling overwhelmed. If you want to take up a new opening, First Steps is the ideal place to start.
TACTICS TRAINER AVAILABLE! This book is the continuation of the successful puzzle-book series, which started with the “Greatest 365 Puzzles” and “Greatest 501 Puzzles” from 2012. It was followed by “Tactics, Tactics, Tactics!” Volumes 3 and 4 which covered the best practical puzzles of 2013-2015 and the next ones of the series were the “Greatest 551 Puzzles” and the “Greatest 550 puzzles” with the combinations of 2016 and 2017. The new book contains 525 puzzles divided into 3 chapters. You will find a huge range of tactical ideas that you can use in your own games! All the puzzles have been collected from practical games throughout 2018.
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.
In this book, the authors aim to assist the reader in becoming better at finding combinations and creative solutions, constructing plans, and calculating long, forcing variations. For the purpose of instruction, the material is based on the creative output of the Austrian International Master in Chess Composition Alois Wotawa (1896-1970), using his endgame compositions from various works and publications.
This is not a book for lower-rated players and newcomers to chess as the material is seriously complex and challenging. But ambitious players will find an incredible source of interesting material that is carefully annotated.
Boris Spassky is the most underappreciated World Champion in chess history, remembered as the Soviet who lost to Bobby Fischer in 1972. In this two-volume work, biographer extraordinaire Tibor Karolyi puts the focus on Spassky’s brilliant career and life story.
Born in 1937, Spassky barely escaped with his life when evacuating from the Siege of Leningrad as a young boy. This book tells the story of how that boy subsequently learned to play chess and rose through the Soviet ranks to become the strongest player in the world in the late 1960s.
International Master Tibor Karolyi is a renowned author and trainer from Hungary. His biographical works for Quality Chess have received glowing praise from readers and reviewers.
The world’s top trainer, Mark Dvoretsky, and one of his best-known pupils, grandmaster Artur Yusupov, present a five-volume series based on courses given to talented young players throughout the world. The books contain contributions by other leading trainers and grandmasters, as well as games by pupils who have attended the courses.
Successful endgame play is all about technique. In this third volume of the series the authors explain how to study the endgame and to analyse endgame positions, and illustrate the highly important technique of converting an advantage.
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