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The Diamond Dutch

Grandmaster Viktor Moskalenko does for the Dutch Defence what he did for the French and the Pirc: shakes up the theory and hands the reader a box of explosive new ideas. For anyone who plays the Dutch — or has to face it — this is danger and opportunity in equal measure.

The coverage is complete and works for both sides of the board. Moskalenko tackles the whole Anti-Dutch complex (the various gambits and the 2.Nc3 and 2.Bg5 systems White uses to dodge the main lines), the fianchetto "Catalanized" set-ups, and then the three great Dutch families — the Stonewall, the Classical, and the Leningrad — offering fresh weapons for Black and refutations of old ones.

As always, the draw is the author’s voice: he guides you through the lines with the enthusiasm, ease, and humour that have made his opening books cult favourites, so even sharp theory reads enjoyably and the key ideas stick.

A combative, idea-rich repertoire for club players and above who want to play the Dutch as an active, fighting opening — or who need to understand it well enough to take the fight to those who do.

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 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.

Chess Training for Post-Beginners

There is a frustrating gap in most players’ development: you know the rules and you’ve picked up some tactics, but nobody has ever taught you how to actually think about a position. Experienced trainer Yaroslav Srokovski wrote this book to fill exactly that gap — a structured first course in positional understanding.

Across twelve focused chapters he builds the core skills of strategy from the ground up: how pieces become strong or weak, the use of open files and key squares, weak-square complexes and diagonals, queenside pawn majorities, the power of the passed pawn, weak pawns, the exposed king, the eternal good-knight-versus-bad-bishop questions, and the bishop pair in both middlegame and endgame.

The presentation is deliberately clear and compact, and every chapter ends with exercises so the ideas stick through practice rather than just reading. The two underlying skills Srokovski keeps returning to are the ones that decide most amateur games: how to assess a position honestly, and how to choose sensible long-term plans.

Pitched precisely at the post-beginner — the player ready to move beyond pure tactics toward genuine positional judgement.

Bent Larsen's Best Games

Bent Larsen (1935–2010) was one of the great fighting spirits in chess history — the Danish grandmaster who defeated every World Champion from Botvinnik to Karpov, qualified as a Candidate four times, and was chosen ahead of the entire Soviet team to play board one for the Rest of the World in 1970. This is the definitive collection of his finest games, annotated by the great man himself.

More than 120 games are presented, and Larsen’s notes are the heart of the book: lucid, sharply to the point, deeply instructive, and famously witty. He was as original a writer as he was a player, and his comments convey not just the analysis but the uncompromising, risk-embracing attitude that made him such a dangerous and beloved competitor.

The games are arranged as a career narrative, carrying the reader from his early Scandinavian successes through his astonishing run of five consecutive international victories in 1967, the Interzonals and great tournaments of the 1970s, and his encounters with Fischer, Spassky, and the rest of the era’s elite.

Part games collection, part autobiography, this is a book to study and to enjoy — ideal for any player who wants to learn attacking, independent chess from one of its supreme practitioners.

In this book Ivan Sokolov presents a set of practical tools that will help you to master the art of sacrifice.

While good opening preparation is important, it is often the proper middle and endgame execution that dictates the game outcome. In Techniques of Positional Play, authors Valeri Bronznik and Anatoli Terekhin focus on 45 key practical methods that every aspiring player must know. From concepts like restricting enemy pieces, creating space, navigating pawn structures, leveraging rook pawns, seizing open files, and more, these skills, while often intuitively understood, can be honed through deliberate study to enhance strategic vision. 

Most of these techniques are easy to understand and memorize. Bronznik and Terekhin do not burden the reader with deep analysis and only present those variations that are necessary to get the point. Additionally, the book includes a special training section where the players can test and reinforce their skills and positional understanding.