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.
The repertoire is based around two main themes: 1. The suggested variations for White are ones that rely far more on a generic understanding of strategic ideas rather than the memorisation of reams of opening theory. This explains the choice of the Bishop’s Opening (handled “Lopez-style”) against 1...e5 and the Bb5 variations against the Sicilian Defence. Both these lines are designed to create dynamic and interesting middlegame positions rather than attempting to score a quick knockout victory – a generally overambitious aim that often backfires 2. The variations are chosen so that White can gain space whenever possible. Therefore the Advance Variation is recommended against the French Defence (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5) and also the Caro-Kann Defence (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5). The fact that these lines often create similar middlegame structures is helpful for general comprehension of White’s plans.
The Polar Bear System starts after 1.f4 (the Bird opening) and then fianchetto of the King’s bishop.The system is for players who like interesting and original positions and want to avoid memorizing a lot of theory..
In Chess Survivor – The Last of the Greats a chess legend shares his life story and annotates his best games.
When FIDE introduced the grandmaster title in 1950, Andor Lilienthal was one of the 27 names on that original list. And when he died at age 99, he was the last survivor of that historic group. This inspired our title. Douglas Griffin translated Lilienthal’s book from Russian and added 17 games to the 60 that Lilienthal annotated.
Lilienthal met or played all the World Champions of the 20th century. In fact, that understates it – Lilienthal won a game against Lasker, whose reign began in the 19th century. And some 21st-century champions, such as Vladimir Kramnik, certainly met Lilienthal. One might say that Lilienthal was connected to three centuries of chess.
Lilienthal’s quality of play matched his longevity. Most famous is his win against Capablanca in 1935. Equally famous is the story that when Bobby Fischer saw Lilienthal in the audience during his 1992 return match against Spassky, Fischer immediately said: “Pawn e5 takes f6!” – a reference to that Capablanca game.
The Dutch defense is a highly popular opening nowadays with the idea to get a sharp and assymetrical position against 1.d4. Together with the second part, the book gives the reader a full Dutch repertoire with black. The first volume will be useful for players who want to play the Stonewall, the Ilyin-Zhenevsky or the Hort systems without allowing the French or the Pirc defences.
The lines covered in this book, the Ruy Lopez Main Lines, arise (with a few exceptions for move order and such) after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0. Some of the lines are incredibly theoretical, but rather than burden you with a ton of theory in lines you will have limited chance of using in your own games, the emphasis is on the lines that are more likely to occur in your games. Those lines will be in chapters 3 and 4, the two longest chapters of the book. This book is by no means an all-encompassing theory work, which means that there is a lot of theory that is not discussed in the notes. This is of course intentional. The book is written to entertain and inspire. If you find some lines that you like, you are encouraged to dive deeper into those lines before using them in your own games.
Rudolf Spielmann was one of the strongest chess players in the world in the first half of the 20th century. Following his shared second place at the Carlsbad tournament in 1929 with Capablanca, half a point behind Nimzowitsch, he was considered one of the world’s top five. His career spread over four decades and included a host of tournament and match victories, such as defeating Bogoljubov over ten games in 1932.
Often known as the Last Romantic in chess with his predilection for the King’s Gambit and Vienna Game and love of sacrifices, he bequeathed a rich legacy of ideas and techniques. These combinational and positional master classes are examined here in 213 instructional games and fragments, organized thematically in a way similar to Grigory Bogdanovich’s previous volumes on Bogoljubov.
Detailed commentary is provided on games against leading contemporaries. Opponents in this work include five world champions Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, and Botvinnik, as well as Marshall, Janowski, Tarrasch, Tartakower, Nimzowitsch, Reti, Rubinstein, Romanovsky, Bogoljubov, and many others. Bogdanovich’s commentary is richly supplemented by that of stars of the epoch and, above all, of Spielmann himself.
The book further contains a biographical sketch and is supplemented by a large number of tournament photographs and portraits. Spielmann’s life was ultimately tragic – a lonely death in Sweden aged just 59 as a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany following the demise three years earlier of his sponsor, while several family members failed to escape the Holocaust.
Additional materials in the book include a detailed table of tournaments and matches from his career, as well as a translation of Spielmann’s fascinating article dating to 1923 called “From the Sickbed of the King’s Gambit”.
6 Chessfest
8 NIC’s Café
From a sickening Russian attack on a chess school in Ukraine, via Judit’s lunch with the Terminator, to the FIDE presidential elections.
16 Searching for the real Gukesh
Successfully hanging on to an early lead, Alireza Firouzja became the winner of the Chennai Grand Masters. There was plenty of captivating chess – as witness our extensive games section – but the main topic of conversation was once again the man who finished last, the out-of-form World Champion.
27 Celeb 64
The new head coach of Manchester City, Enzo Maresca.
48 The Magnus Mountain
Over the past 15 years, no fewer than twelve different players have reached the number two spot in the world rankings. The top spot has been the exclusive domain of just one player: Magnus Carlsen.
54 Why is he really the best?
Peter Heine Nielsen sees Magnus Carlsen’s double victories in the World Rapid & Blitz Championships as eminent proof of the Norwegian’s overall dominance.
68 All-round Aronian
Levon Aronian showed a much-welcomed return to form as he crowned his debut in the Biel Chess Festival with a win in the Grandmasters Triathlon.
72 Kazakhstan Rising
Boris Gelfand’s choice pick of fascinating recent games from around the world.
88 A Tribute to Danya
An incredible number of top grandmasters, content creators and other friends came to the Charlotte Chess Center to honor the memory of Daniel Naroditsky.
100 King Safety
No matter what advantage you have, it may amount to little or nothing if your king is under threat.
109 The Killer Blow
111 Fair & Square
112 The Scoresheet
Unzicker-Fischer, Buenos Aires 1960.
114 New Tries in Old Openings
Nikolaos Ntirlis presents four practical opening ideas from current tournament practice that promise good play; two for White and two for Black.
118 The Model Game
Sound positional play and relentless pressure: How football imitates chess.
122 Sadler on Books
Our book reviewer celebrates the endgame and much-missed authors on the subject.
130 Just Checking
What is Nihal Sarin’s biggest fear?
A Chess Olympiad to Remember!
The 02 2026 issue of CHESS INSIGHT takes readers to Samarkand, where the 46th Chess Olympiad produced dramatic encounters, historic achievements and unforgettable moments. With exclusive interviews, first-hand accounts and in-depth game analysis, we reveal the stories behind one of the year's most exciting chess events.
UZBEKISTAN STRIKES GOLD!
Playing on home soil, Uzbekistan claimed Olympic gold in spectacular fashion. Head coach Rustam Kasimdzhanov provides an extraordinary behind-the-scenes account of the team's triumph, taking readers through all eleven rounds. He reveals the critical moments, difficult decisions and psychological challenges that shaped their road to gold — including their only defeat, against Germany.
GERMANY'S BRONZE BREAKTHROUGH
For the first time in 26 years, Germany returned from a Chess Olympiad with a medal. Led by Vincent Keymer and featuring an outstanding performance by Frederik Svane, the German team defeated both Uzbekistan and the top-seeded United States on their way to bronze. Second Dmitrij Kollars and gold medalist in Board 3 Frederik Svane share their insights into this historic achievement, while Rasmus Svane's individual success and Germany's remarkable team spirit receive special attention.
THE RACE FOR GOLD – INDIA AND THE USA
What separated the medal winners from their closest rivals? In exclusive contributions, India's team captain Srinath Narayanan reflects on his team's silver-medal performance, while John Donaldson examines why the heavily favoured United States had to settle for fourth place. Their perspectives offer a fascinating look at preparation, expectations and the fine margins that decide chess at the highest level.
CHINA'S GOLDEN GIRLS
China emerged victorious in the Women's Olympiad, and team member Song Yuxin tells the story from the inside. She shares her experiences, the team's preparation and the decisive moments of their gold-medal campaign, accompanied by her own annotated games.
MORE THAN JUST MEDALS
The Olympiad also provided plenty of surprises and controversy. Thailand's Prin Laohawirapap, who defeated world-class star Arjun Erigaisi, answers our questionaire about his remarkable achievement. Georg Mohr offers a different perspective on the Olympiad through his experiences with the Guyana team, while we also examine Germany's disappointing performance in the women's competition.
Beyond the chessboard, Stefan Löffler investigates the dramatic FIDE presidential election in Samarkand, revealing the political struggles and competing interests behind the scenes.
As always, CHESS INSIGHT offers much more than tournament reporting: challenging tactical exercises, chess history, book reviews, and a selection of fascinating problems and endgame studies complete the issue.
This book is the sequel of the successful puzzle-book series from GM Ivan Ivanisevic. Known as a great tactical player Ivan Ivanisevic select the 548 puzzles All the puzzles have been collected from practical games (OTB, Blitz, Oline). There are more than 500 examples from GM practice. Puzzles are divided into 5 levels of difficulty. In this book, you can find a lot of tactical motifs and ideas which you can use in your games. Maybe you will find your games in our next book! Have fun and enjoy solving puzzles.
Isaak Lipnitsky (1923–1959) was a leading Ukrainian chess player of the early 1950s as well as a celebrated chess theoretician and journalist, whose textbook Questions of Modern Chess Theory became an internationally recognized classic. Born in Kiev shortly after the establishment of Soviet control over Ukraine, he achieved a career-best result of second equal in the 1950 Soviet Championship, half a point behind the winner Paul Keres, during which he defeated Petrosian, Smyslov, and Geller. He also played in the finals of the 1951 and 1952 Soviet Championships, as well as winning the Ukrainian Championship in 1949 and 1956, and the Kiev Championship in 1956. According to the Chessmetrics website Lipnitsky was ranked no. 12 in the world between September and December 1950 with a peak rating of 2700 and a best TPR of 2729 recorded in the 1950 Soviet Championship.
In the words of Grandmaster Kevin Spraggett: “As a player Lipnitsky was well trained in strategy and tactics, capable of playing all types of positions equally well. However, what he really liked doing was playing complicated positions, a trait that many of the finest Ukraine masters seemed to have inherited.”
Lipnitsky’s fascinating biography with original research by the authors takes us from his childhood in a poor Jewish family, through to his membership of the Kiev children’s chess club at the Pioneer Palace under the tutelage of the great coach Alexander Konstantinopolsky, who nurtured David Bronstein’s talent at the same time. It introduces the reader to the origins of the Soviet Chess School in Kiev, which was one of the USSR’s greatest talent mills. Lipnitsky’s World War Two service as an intelligence officer is discussed, as is what is known of his wife and daughter and his eventual full-time chess career.
Lipnitsky died at the tragically young age of 35 from a terminal disease that curtailed his tournament performances in his final years. His tragedy was not confined to that, however. His paternal grandparents and aunts were murdered by the Nazi occupiers during the War, and his daughter later died in a psychiatric hospital.
Kyiv-based Candidate Masters and chess historians Mykola Fuzik (born in 1957) and Alexei Radchenko (1947-2013) spent several years researching Isaak Lipnitsky’s biography, which was first published in Ukraine in 2018. This book provides instructional analysis of 63 of his best games, mostly annotated by Lipnitsky and his contemporaries, supported by computer corrections. Opponents include Tal, Petrosian, Smyslov, Botvinnik, Bronstein, Keres, Geller, Averbakh and Taimanov among other names. It also contains a highly original article he wrote on attack along the a1-h8 diagonal, as well as a number of interesting photographs of the protagonist and his family.
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