Chess master, author, and renowned teacher Dan Heisman shows you the whys and the hows of annotating your games. Using entertaining clashes from four decades of tournament play, Heisman traces his own development as a player and analyst, illustrating how his method works in practice.
This ebook is a part of Bundle: Dan Heisman's Books
Who says that you can’t learn from the games of amateurs? With approximately 99.5% of U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) members being amateurs (rated under 2200), there is much wisdom to be gained from studying their games. In fact, learning from amateurs' typical mistakes can often be more informative and relevant than learning from the subtle errors of grandmasters.
In this book, a renowned chess instructor, Dan Heisman, presents 30 games played by intermediate-level players, offering a rich variety of lessons in competitive play for all amateur chess enthusiasts.
A key focus of this book is time management, with many games time-stamped to showcase how long it took the players to make their moves. By analyzing the players' decision-making processes, Heisman provides valuable insights into the pitfalls of playing too fast or too slowly, helping readers avoid similar mistakes in their own games.
Additionally, the book emphasizes the importance of recognizing critical positions and making informed decisions, further enhancing players' strategic vision.
For amateur players seeking to enhance their chess skills, The World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book is a valuable resource to gain insights from fellow enthusiasts and take their gameplay to new heights.
The ability to determine when conditions are suitable for attacking the opposing king is critical to successful chess play. Readers will hone this skill while learning valuable techniques to force the enemy monarch out of his fortress.
Most opening books assume you want to become an expert. Openings for Amateurs starts somewhere else: with the mistakes that players under 1600 actually make, over and over, in the first fifteen moves of a game.
The book is in two parts. Part One — "The Primer" — is structured around 24 common opening errors, each given its own chapter. The titles are deliberately stated as mistakes: "Allowing the king to give up castling without a good reason", "Don't make unnecessary pawn moves if you have not completed your development", "Don't develop the queen too early", "Solid, passive defenses are the waiting rooms for defeat." Each chapter explains not just what the mistake is but why it keeps happening and how to avoid it. Author Pete Tamburro, a longtime chess teacher and columnist, pays particular attention to the situations players find most confusing: what to do against gambits like the Blackmar-Diemer or the Belgrade; how to handle "system" openings like the Colle and the Barry Attack; whether to chase an active bishop; how to use (and when to distrust) opening manuals.
Part Two puts principles into practice. Tamburro presents a selection of playable, learnable openings — chosen for their compatibility with the ideas in Part One rather than their theoretical complexity — and illustrates each with annotated games. The 53 games are chosen to show the opening's strategic logic, not to demonstrate the latest theory.
360 pages. Aimed at club-level and scholastic players looking for a practical foundation rather than memorised lines.
Club players looking to master an efficient, safe, and practical White repertoire will benefit from this highly readable book
Wojo's Weapons, Volume 2
The late Aleksander Wojtkiewicz was one of the most successful tournament grandmasters of his era — a player who racked up wins year after year with a compact, repeatable White system rather than a sprawling theoretical repertoire. This series preserves and teaches that "Wojo System," and Volume 2 carries it forward into the heart of the Queen’s-Pawn battleground.
The backbone is the Catalan, reached via the flexible 1.Nf3 and g3 move orders Wojo favoured. The book gives a complete, layered treatment of both the Closed Catalan and the Open Catalan — the latter examined in real depth, line by line — and then extends the same fianchetto approach to the Slav, the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, the Tarrasch, and the Chigorin.
What makes the material so practical is its coherence: the same bishop on g2, the same pressure on the long diagonal and the c-file, and the same handful of plans recur across every line, so the repertoire is far easier to learn and maintain than its scope suggests. The authors explain how to assemble the pieces of the system into a working whole.
A sound, grandmaster-tested White repertoire for club players and above who want to win the way Wojo did — quietly building pressure and grinding out the point. It is the second of three volumes in the Wojo’s Weapons: Winning With White series; this book concentrates on the ...d5 and ...e6 defences (the Catalan and the Queen’s-Gambit family), while the companion volumes cover the rest, so the three together form the complete repertoire.
Have you ever wished for a “formula” to help you decide what move to make in any given chess position?
Far from a dusty relic once played by great masters such as Rubinstein, Pillsbury and Bogolyubov, the Zukertort System now enjoys new life.
If you play chess for blood, it makes sense to learn the violent tactics that feature in the openings that you play.
Enhance your positional understanding in chess and sharpen your endgame skills with Johnathan Hawkins’s book, Amateur to IM. In this informative work, the author shares invaluable insights learned from his transformative journey from an average tournament player to the cusp of securing the Grandmaster title. He explores foundational concepts and key areas for focused study of the endgame.
Through in-depth analysis and practical exercises, players are guided toward enhancing their proficiency and developing a deeper understanding of crucial endgame elements. This will enable them to outplay opponents with weaknesses in this area and strengthen their overall game, paving the way to victory.
By studying Hawkins’ insights and approach, readers can replicate his strategies and adopt his mindset and methodologies that will lead to tangible improvements in chess.
The final, and eagerly awaited, volume of the series will complete the opening repertoire for White according to Wojo.
“I had a fantastic position, but I couldn’t figure out what to do next!” If that sounds familiar, this book is written for you. Fred Wilson’s aim is to take the apparent mystery out of attacking the enemy king and reduce it to a handful of recurring principles that underlie most successful attacks.
The teaching is done through a curated collection of complete games rather than disembodied positions, so you see each idea arise, get prepared, and get executed in a real game. Wilson groups them to highlight specific attacking methods — the classic Greek Gift bishop sacrifice on h7, attacks against a fianchettoed king, and the deflection and removal-of-the-guard motifs that so often deliver the final blow.
The range of games is part of the charm: alongside masterpieces by Rossolimo, Larsen, and Maróczy sit instructive club and scholastic games — including some never previously published — chosen because they show the ideas cleanly. The style is conversational and welcoming throughout.
Novices and intermediate players will benefit most from the explanations and practical tips, while stronger players can simply enjoy it as a collection of enterprising attacking chess. A short, encouraging book about turning a promising position into a win.
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