Tried and True for More than Two Centuries
The Scotch Game is a solid opening that has been tried and tested in practice by some of the strongest chessplayers in the world for more than two centuries. The idea behind the Scotch Game is simple and easily understandable. White eliminates – in a purely mechanical fashion – Black’s e5-pawn which initially impedes his ambition to dominate in the center.
This is very appealing for White, as he controls the direction of the struggle’s development, while Black can only try to keep pace. Furthermore, there are relatively simple schemes in the white repertoire in which it is enough to remember the main plans of both sides and typical maneuvers.
This is the second edition of Vladimir Barsky’s book that first appeared in 2009. The new edition consists of seven chapters dealing with the core ideas and variations of the Scotch, supplemented by 79 Illustrative Games. The authors not only present detailed analysis of all lines but are also careful to discuss the ideas behind the opening. If you already play the Scotch, you need this book. If you don’t, find out what you have been missing.
About the Authors
Grandmaster Alexei Bezgodov won the Russian Championship in 1993, and finished second in 1999. He is the author of many books, including The Art of the Tarrasch Defense, The Liberated Bishop Defense, Extreme Caro-Kann, The Double Queen’s Gambit, and Defend like Petrosian.
International Master Vladimir Barsky is a respected journalist and trainer. Among the books he has written are A Modern Guide to Checkmating Patterns, The Ragozin Complex, The Modern Philidor Defense, and A Universal Weapon 1.d4 d6.
The Polgar Way to Better Chess!
Learn Chess the Right Way is a five-volume chess puzzle book series aimed at the novice, beginner and intermediate level player, using the unique methods of the award-winning coach and former world champion Susan Polgar. It introduces the most important checkmate and material-winning tactics, as well as defensive techniques to the new chess player. Each of the five volumes will consist of 500 puzzles.
Volume 2 is all about “winning material” exercises. In each of the first six chapters a certain piece captures an enemy piece (in chapter 1 – The Queen, in chapter 2 – The Rook, and so on). In chapter 7, you will get no hint about which piece should be moved. In chapters 8-12, the most common and important chess tactics (such as decoy, fork, pin, discovery and skewer) are introduced. Finally, in chapter 13, in addition to the previously mentioned patterns, you will need to figure out which tactical pattern to use to win material, including concepts like “trapping a piece” or “intermediate move.”
With over 40 years of experience as a world-class player and coach, international grandmaster Susan Polgar has developed the most effective way to help young players and beginners – Learn Chess the Right Way. Let her show you the way to understanding the most common and critical patterns and let her show you the way to becoming a better player.
SUSAN POLGAR is a winner of four Women’s World Championships and the top-ranked woman chess player in the United States. She became the #1 woman player in the world at 15 and remained in the top 3 for over 20 years. In 2013, she received the U.S. Coach of the Year Award and the following year, she was named the Chess Trainer of the Year by the International Chess Federation (FIDE). She thus became the first person in history to be accorded both honors. Under her guidance, SPICE chess teams at both Texas Tech University and Webster University have won a combined five consecutive National Division I Collegiate Chess Championships.
In Book 1, the focus is on one-move checkmate exercises. In each of the first five chapters, a specific piece delivers checkmate (in Chapter 1 – the queen, Chapter 2 – the rook, and so on). In Chapters 6-8, checkmates which involve special tactics (such as pins, discovered attacks, etc.) are introduced. Chapter 9 has a mixed collection of puzzles, without any hint about which piece is to deliver checkmate. Chapter 10 builds on the previous 9 chapters, and introduces basic patterns of checkmate in two moves.
The Modern Gurgenidze
Most openings let White build a big centre before the fighting starts. The Gurgenidze does the opposite: with 1...g6 followed by a quick ...c6 and ...d5, Black challenges White’s centre from the very first moves. It is the brainchild of Georgian grandmaster Bukhuti Gurgenidze, sits somewhere between the Modern Defence and the Caro-Kann, and draws the battle lines immediately.
This is the first book devoted to the system, and it presents it as a complete, combative Black repertoire. The coverage is organised by how ambitiously White meets it — occupying the centre with two pawns, the aggressive three-pawn set-ups with f4, and the closed systems after 1.d4 — so the reader has a clear answer whatever White tries.
A word on the engine age: the author is candid that in some lines the computer will favour White on the screen. That misses the point. The Gurgenidze is a practical, fighting weapon designed to create the kind of unbalanced, double-edged middlegame in which a prepared human outplays an unprepared one — so a small nominal edge for White should not put you off.
A genuine surprise weapon for adventurous club players who want to seize the initiative with Black and steer opponents into unfamiliar territory at once.
“There can be no Plan B because there is no Planet B,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. We disagree when it comes to chess. In this book you will see analyzed not only 1.d4 b5 (the Polish Defense) but also the St. George Defense (1.e4 e6 2.d4 a6 intending 3...b5), 1.Nf3 b5, also 1.f4 b5 and, most shocking of all, 1.e4 a6 2.d4 b5. Grandmasters have lost to these systems; other Grandmasters even try them out themselves when they have the black pieces. No, an early ...b7-b5 is not Plan A. However, if you want to humiliate the opposition by being literally eccentric (off-center) and disrespectful ... Welcome to Planet B!
After studying this book, I feel that you should be comfortable using the Polish Defense in your games; it will boost your creativity and will allow you to notch unexpected victories... Although the Polish may not be ideal as a full-time weapon, its version of unorthodoxy will embarrass your opponents, especially if you are well-armed to endure the opening phase. The present work ensures that this is accomplished and gives you valuable tips for the middlegame as well. – Grandmaster Vassilios Kotronias in his Foreword
At the end of each chapter, there are fully annotated illustrative games, and at the very end of the book over a hundred unannotated games from recent practice have been added. In many respects, these represent the most important part of the book. These examples show what human players actually play and just how effective this underrated defense is.
Tigran Petrosian, the ninth world chess champion, was one of the deepest thinkers the chess world has ever seen. His handling of complex positions was legendary.
With his rare strategic feeling and exceptional vision, Petrosian gradually became one of the top exponents of the art of the exchange sacrifice, and perhaps the leading protagonist for the positional exchange sacrifice.
Acclaimed author Vassilios Kotronias has assembled a splendid collection of Petrosian’s games, exemplifying the artist at work. The Greek grandmaster presents 36 games – all deeply annotated – in which he puts the Tiger’s signature sacrifice under the analytical microscope. And each game has an exceptional introduction putting it into historical perspective.
As noted by American grandmaster Alex Fishbein in the Foreword:
You will find your share of positional exchange sacrifices here. But you will also see exchanges sacrificed in the midst of a crushing attack. You will see sacrifices born of desperation, to save a bad ending. You will see correct and incorrect sacrifices. In fact, Tigran Petrosian will lose some games here. This is real life; there are mistakes, and the author explains it all to you.
Vassilios Kotronias has brought you the material in a way that will enhance your appreciation of chess as an art form. He has also offered you practical lessons you can use in your own chess endeavors.
You are already familiar with the exchange sacrifice as an art form. Now enjoy the brilliant games of its greatest artist, Tigran Petrosian.
We are pleased to release another book in the Fred Reinfeld Chess Classics series. The Immortal Games of Capablanca was – and continues to be – one of Reinfeld’s most popular books. A detailed biography of the third world chess champion introduces the 113 games. They are presented chronologically, with clear and instructive annotations.
This 21st century edition has been revised and reformatted to meet the expectations of the modern chessplayer. This includes:
(a) The original English descriptive notation has been converted to modern figurine algebraic notation;
(b) Over 200(!) diagrams have added, along with more than a dozen archival photos; and
(c) The Index of Openings now has ECO codes.
Reinfeld’s annotations were also cross-checked by Stockfish 14, one of the most powerful engines available. When Stockfish had a different, meaningful evaluation from that of Reinfeld’s, the engine’s suggestion is indicated by “S14:” followed by the specific line.
As in our other “21st Century Editions,” and with the exception of the occasional supplement by Stockfish, Reinfeld’s original text has been preserved.
Follow the life and games of the brilliant Cuban world champion in Reinfelds’s timeless classic The Immortal Games of Capablanca.
Vasily Smyslov, the seventh world champion, had a long and illustrious chess career. He played close to 3,000 tournament games over seven decades, from the time of Lasker and Capablanca to the days of Anand and Carlsen. From 1948 to 1958, Smyslov participated in four world championships, becoming world champion in 1957.
Smyslov continued playing at the highest level for many years and made a stunning comeback in the early 1980s, making it to the finals of the candidates’ cycle. Only the indomitable energy of 20-year-old Garry Kasparov stopped Smyslov from qualifying for another world championship match at the ripe old age of 63!
In this first volume of a multi-volume set, Russian FIDE master Andrey Terekhov traces the development of young Vasily from his formative years and becoming the youngest grandmaster in the Soviet Union to finishing second in the world championship match tournament. With access to rare Soviet-era archival material and invaluable family archives, the author complements his account of Smyslov’s growth into an elite player with dozens of fascinating photographs, many never seen before, as well as 49 deeply annotated games. German grandmaster Karsten Müller’s special look at Smyslov’s endgames rounds out this fascinating first volume.
The Belgian master Edgard Colle was one of the most dynamic and active chess players of the 1920s and early 1930s. Though his international career lasted only ten years, Colle played in more than 50 tournaments, as well as a dozen matches. Moreover, he played exciting and beautiful chess, full of life, vigor, imagination and creativity. As with such greats as Pillsbury and Charousek, it was a tragedy for the game that his life was cut short, at just age 34.
Author Taylor Kingston has examined hundreds of Colle’s games, in an effort to understand his skills and style, his strengths and weaknesses, and present an informed, balanced picture of him as a player. Colle emerges as a courageous, audacious, and tenacious fighter, who transcended the limitations his frail body imposed, to battle the giants of his day and topple many of them. 110 of Colle’s best, most interesting, and representative games have been given deep and exacting computer analysis. This often revealed important aspects completely overlooked by earlier annotators, and overturned their analytical verdicts. But the computer’s iron logic is tempered always with a sympathetic understanding that Colle played, in the best sense, a very human kind of chess.
Though not intended as a tutorial on the Colle System, the book has many instructive examples of that opening. Additionally, there is an extensive excerpt from Max Euwe’s Gedenkboek Colle, several other memorial tributes, biographical information about many of Colle’s opponents, his full known tournament and match record, and all his available tournament crosstables.
We invite the reader to get acquainted with this wounded but valiant warrior, whom Hans Kmoch called a “chess master with the body of a doomed man and the spirit of an immortal hero.”
Tartakower’s Legendary Magnum Opus
The decade after the First World War was one of exciting change for the royal game. A new wave of dynamic chess was taking shape, led by the young lions Alekhine, Réti, Nimzowitsch, Breyer, Euwe, Tartakower and others. They were successfully asserting their new ideas against the Old Guard.
It was in this period that Savielly Tartakower’s magnificent work Die Hypermoderne Schachpartie was first released. A massive tome of over 500 densely packed pages, the first edition was published in German in 1924. It was an instant best-seller and a second edition soon followed with corrections and additional material.
At first glance, it appears to be an opening manual with incredibly comprehensive notes. But in fact it is much more. There are essays on strategy, tactics, endings, history and other chess-related topics, all presented in Tartakower’s wonderful writing style. However, don’t be fooled by the witty aphorisms and humor. The scope and depth of Tartakower’s annotations would be unmatched until ChessInformant came along in the 1960s. And the rise of the silicon monsters notwithstanding, there is much fertile opening theory to be found and explored.
The Hypermodern Game of Chess is the first English-language work of the Second Edition. Several hundred diagrams have been added and some reformatting of the text has been done to meet the expectations of 21st century readers. In every other respect, it preserves all the comprehensive content.
The Hypermodern Game of Chess is now available in English. See why it has inspired generations of chessplayers. See why Tartakower’s magnum opus is, as they say, the stuff of legend...
Who would be silly enough to resign a tournament game they were not losing? As Oops! I Resigned Again! shows, almost anyone – including some of the world’s best players!
Learn the stories behind the most embarrassing moment any chessplayer can suffer, while trying to outmatch the poor, unfortunate player who resigned. Indeed, this is the only chess puzzle book where you cannot do worse than the player in the game! Pit your wits against legends such as Kramnik, Nunn, Tarrasch and Timman, knowing that they failed the test and that you can, perhaps, do better.
Australian Grandmaster Ian Rogers has assembled 100 extraordinary positions in themed sets of 5 puzzles designed to both baffle and delight the solver, in a format which makes it easy to sneak a look at the answer!
With a foreword written by US Olympian Sam Shankland – baring his soul about his own silly resignation at a top level tournament – Oops! I Resigned Again! is a rare treat for chessplayers of all strengths, who after finishing the book will fervently hope never to have to say... Oops!
Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual - FastTrack Edition
Since 2003, Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual has been widely regarded as the finest single volume ever written on the endgame — but at 400-plus pages of dense analysis, it can intimidate. This FastTrack Edition is the answer: a streamlined route into the same material, designed to get you to practical endgame competence faster.
The original always used bold type to mark the text every player simply must know. This edition builds on that idea, foregrounding the essential knowledge — the key theoretical positions, rules, and methods — so you can absorb the core of each topic without first wading through the deepest variations. It is a parallel edition rather than a replacement: the same Dvoretsky wisdom, repackaged for efficient study.
Coverage spans the whole subject in the classic Dvoretsky order: pawn endings, knight and bishop endings, the notoriously tricky opposite-coloured bishops, rook endings (the heart of practical endgame play), queen endings, and general endgame principles. New introductory material by Karsten Müller and Alex Fishbein, and a foreword by Ian Rogers, frame the edition.
Best suited to club players who want the indispensable endgame knowledge in a more digestible form — and a strong on-ramp to the full Manual later.
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