Risk is a fundamental element of human activity, from ancient advisory systems in Babylon to modern concepts of risk assessment and management used in engineering, finance, and safety systems.
Chess, although deterministic and without randomness, provides a highly dynamic model of decision-making under uncertainty. Each move changes the nature of the position, creating new possibilities while simultaneously introducing new risks, including counterplay for the opponent. The balance between initiative and vulnerability is therefore central to correct evaluation.
In this sense, chess can be viewed as a practical laboratory of risk management: players assess positions, anticipate scenarios, and choose between competing lines under time pressure, often relying on a combination of calculation and intuition. These processes closely mirror analytical methods used in risk assessment models.
Beyond the board, chess develops discipline, strategic thinking, and decision-making skills applicable in many fields, including management and complex system analysis. It trains the ability to act under pressure, evaluate incomplete information, and adapt to changing conditions.
Ultimately, chess represents a structured form of controlled risk, where success depends on accurate evaluation, timely decisions, and the ability to balance calculation with practical judgment.
Every aspiring chess player wants to improve their positional understanding. In this ambitious work, GM Daniel Naroditsky explains clear positional themes in complex settings. Drawing on his own games, those of US colleagues, and top-level grandmasters, the prodigious author navigates chess strategy with the liveliness and clarity he later became famous for.
Mastering Positional Chess was first published when Naroditsky was just 14. This edition has been significantly updated.
Daniel Naroditsky (1995-2025) became the World U12 Champion in 2007 and a Grandmaster at just 17 in 2013. He competed in the US Championship in 2021, defeating World No. 2 Fabiano Caruana. At his death in 2025, Naroditsky ranked 23rd in the world in blitz. Online, he was a respected and much-loved chess educator.
Play Winning Chess is an enthusiastic introduction to chess that will transform you into a veritable gladiator of the chessboard.
Yasser Seirawan begins by explaining piece movement, chess notation, the rules of play and basic tactics. His examples, question-and-answer sections, psychological hints, and lively sample games help you learn strategies and play aggressively while having fun. Discovering how to engage in clever attacks and subtle defenses will take you beyond the thrill of competition into the realm of creative art.
Play Winning Chess is exuberant and conversational, enlivened by personal anecdotes and fascinating historical details.
The entire Winning Chess series is fully revised with a modern, fresh layout.
Yasser Seirawan, born 1960, is a 4-time US Champion, and 13 times US international, representing the US first time in the 1980 Chess Olympiad, and last time at the 2011 World Team Championship, where he won a personal silver medal and defeated Polgar and Mamedyarov.
In his long career he managed to defeat six World Champions: Smyslov, Tal, Spassky, Karpov, Kasparov, Topalov and Anand. His highest World Ranking was no. 4 in 1982.
In the last decade he has mostly worked as a live commentator for top level events, such as the US Championship and the Grand Chess Tour.
Yasser Seirawan knows winning chess.
Want to play chess like a champ? Dummies can help.
From Netflix's “The Queen’s Gambit” to podcasts, virtual and mobile gaming, and beyond, chess is back in a big way. But, with all those kings, queens, and knights, chess can be a royal pain to grasp. Chess For Dummies is here to help beginners wrap their minds around the rules of the game, make sense of those puzzling pieces, and sharpen their chess strategy such that even Paul Morphy would be impressed. You’ll learn the laws of chess, its lingo, and engage in the art of the attack with the easy-to-follow, step-by-step explanations found in the latest edition of Chess For Dummies.
Whether you’re playing chess online, in a tournament, or across the dining room table with a family member or friend, this hands-on guide is sure to capture your interest (and your opponent's queen), getting you up to speed on the game and its components and giving you the know-how you need to put the principles of play into action from the opening to the endgame.
• Grasp the rules of play and the nuances of each phase of the game
• Familiarize yourself with the pieces and the board
• Pick the perfect chess set and chessboard for you
• Get to know each of the pieces and their powers
If you feel like you’re in a stalemate before you even begin a game, Chess For Dummies is your guide to forcing moves, raking bishops, and skewering your opponents like a true champion.
A Killer Guide to Attacking Chess provides an expert introduction to the main elements of good attacking chess. From the foundational concepts of Momentum and Include all the pieces in the attack, to more situational ideas such as Attacking the weakest square, Attacking the strongest square, Evolution/Revolution, the Killzone and much more. By breaking down attacking play into easily identifiable elements everyone can understand, we see that attacking play is not the result of a genius in action, but a consequence of positional factors at play. With this knowledge, and the chance to practise it with the sister volume Grandmaster Training Camp 2 – Attack! by GM Sam Shankland, true attacking greatness is within reach.
Jacob Aagaard is one of the foremost chess authors in the world, and previously the trainer of GMs Abdusattorov, Gelfand, Shankland and more, helping many students to reach their full potential and career peaks. Not the least through his online academy killerchesstraining.com.
A completely reassessed study of the isolated queen's pawn structure. The book is based on modern examples, with a heavy accent on the practice of Magnus Carlsen. Two important chapters deal with:
– How to maintain the balance with an isolani when the opponent has successfully blockaded it and tamed the initial initiative;
– Examples on the theme “to create or not to create an isolani later into the game”.
Have you reached a plateau in chess? Do you ever struggle to find a plan, or learn after a game that your chosen strategy was all wrong? Expand Your Chess Strategy will dramatically enhance your ability in this vital area of chess, providing the key to unlock further improvement.
Grandmaster Neil McDonald offers a comprehensive strategic toolkit, using carefully selected examples covering pawn breaks, attacking and defending, how to optimise the value of your pieces, and much more. Expand Your Chess Strategy with this book, and take your results and rating to the next level and beyond!
Neil McDonald has been a grandmaster for almost thirty years. An acclaimed author and sought-after coach, he is the ideal guide towards improvement in chess strategy.
For kids who love to amaze their friends with their chess skills, Charles Hertan presents new ways to find Power Moves, winning tactics that require thinking ahead.
In Volume 2, the four special teachers get a new colleague! Knelly the Knight arrives on the scene and will assists Zort (a computer from outer space), the Dinosaurs, the Power Chess Kids and the Chess Professor. Together they will help you to become a very dangerous chess player.
Power Chess for Kids is the most complete, practical and fun kids guide ever on learning how to win games. Forget about studying openings and endgames, Power Moves will help you to beat your opponents in all stages of the game!
Charles Hertan is a FIDE master from Massachusetts who has been teaching kids for more than thirty years. He has written a chess book for advanced players called Forcing Chess Moves: the Key to Better Calculation which was shortlisted for the Guardian Chess Book of the Year Award and won the ChessCafe Book of the Year Award.
Lukas Wedrychowski, DailyChess:
"What a wonderful series. This is really a beautiful and instructive book and a lot of children will certainly be enjoying it and getting better because of it."
If you want to improve in chess you often find instructional material based on games played long ago by old masters with who you have no affinity at all. Franco Zaninotto has a different approach. He knows from experience how stimulating it is to study the games of the best players in your peer group.
Zaninotto teaches elementary strategy and tactics by using games he has selected from recent Junior Championships all over the world. He shows that you don’t need to have decades of experience in order to play clever moves.
Super Chess Kids tells you all you need to know about recognizing and exploiting weaknesses in your opponent’s position. You will learn how to evaluate your position, develop a plan, and calculate moves of attack and defence. You will also see typical errors that even the best young players tend to make.
In the process you get to know players who may be members of the world elite in the not-so-distant future. Included are more than 100 strategic and tactical exercises. There is little excuse for not finding the winning moves: after all, other kids already did!
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.
The main theme of volume 4 is prophylaxis, a concept first expounded by Nimzowitsch and one which has been brilliantly developed by Mark Dvoretsky and his pupils. The art of positional play is explained in terms of planning, manoeuvring, the study of typical positions, and deep strategy in grandmaster games.
If you want to amaze your friends with your chess skills, this is exactly the book you have been looking for. To become one of the best chess players in your school you need to play Power Moves, winning tactics that require thinking ahead.
But how do you find Power Moves? Experienced chess trainer Charles Hertan will show you and help you to become a very dangerous player!
• You will learn how to weed out silly moves and just consider a few important ones.
• You will learn how to start seeing great moves you never thought of before.
• You will learn the two easiest ways to think one-and-a-half moves ahead:
1. Takes Takes Bang!
2. Check Moves Bang!
Charles Hertan introduces the four main characters who will help you to learn these basic skills: Zort (a teenaged computer from the planet Zugszwang), the Dinosaurs, Power Chess Kids and the Chess Professor. The most complete and fun kids book ever on learning how to win games!
Charles Hertan is a FIDE master from Massachusetts who has been teaching kids formore than thirty years. He has written a chess book for advanced players called Forcing Chess Moves: the Key to Better Calculation, which was shortlisted for the Guardian Chess Book of the Year Award and won the ChessCafe Book of the Year Award.
Edward Scimia, About.com-CHESS:
"I really enjoyed 'Power Chess for Kids'. Just as importantly, the kids I work with got a kick out of it, too (..) The fact that kids can read this book on their own and be entertained while they learn to improve their chess is an added bonus."
Martin Rieger, Rochade Europa Magazine:
"I myself have three children and when my youngest son (8 years old) saw the book, he immediately got excited. The drawings and the child-friendly lay-out had a magic impact on him."
Dr Alexey W. Root, former US Women's Chess Champion, author of 'Children and Chess':
"The organization of the book is stellar, the layout is cheerful (with cartoon-style characters) and the material is important for chess improvement."
Marshtower Chess Reviews:
"Cartoon characters and a very lively writing style make this an appealing book for young juniors. Chess teachers and coaches will be able to put the material to good use, too."
Neha Batt, Outlook India:
"Recommended reading for young chess players to sharpen tactics and strategy."
Marcia Duran, chess parent:
"Charles Hertan is the perfect chess teacher for kids. He has a great grasp of the material and, even more importantly, he makes learning chess fun, and understandable for kids of all ages."
WINNER of The Guardian 2009 Chess Book of the Year Award
WINNER of The British Chess Federation 1995 Book of the Year Award
In this modern chess classic David Bronstein, one of the greatest chess artists of all time, shares his insights in his wonderful games – 237 of them played between 1938 and 1996, a career spanning 58 years.
Bronstein was famous for the joy he derived from teaching the game and this spirit permeates his writings. His explanations and analyses are invariably lively and easy to understand for players of all levels who want to improve their chess.
David Bronstein’s achievements and his legendary creativity have ensured him a unique position in chess history. He drew a match for the World Championship, won Soviet Championship twice and took first place in numerous international tournaments.
This revised and expanded edition, published two years after Bronstein passed away, contains a lot of new material and two moving In Memoriams, one by Bronstein’s widow Tatiana Boleslavskaya and one by his co-author and friend Tom Fürstenberg.
Furthermore, 32 pages of unique photographs have been included, as well as extensive new articles by Bronstein himself.
This unconventional book is a fitting homage to one of the eternal chess greats, fascinating and rich in ideas, and written with contagious enthusiasm.
Arne Moll, ChessVibes:
"Bronstein was not only a fantastic chess player, but also a great chess explicator. The book is full of very useful and instructive explications (..) There's lots of cool new stuff compared to the first edition."
Angus Dunnington, CHESS Magazine:
“There are many tips for the non-genius and it is a very useful book for those who want to improve.”
IM Malcolm Pein, The Guardian:
“There are photographs, personal history, anecdotes and advice. Above all it is a wonderful record of Bronstein's great achievements. A splendid addition to any chess library.”
"Those who already own the earlier edition should be pleased by the new edition too. I think there is enough new material to justify an upgrade for one's library."
The Judges of the Guardian 2009 Chess Book of the Year Award:
"Our book of the year is an unusual, personal, inspirational and endearing work."
IM John Donaldson:
"This revised and expanded edition (..) contains a lot of new material (..) It belongs in every chessplayer's library"
John Henderson, The Scotsman:
"Deserves a place on every chess player's bookshelf."
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