Chess has evolved significantly over the past few years. Talented teenagers are playing better than ever, top players possess even deeper theoretical knowledge and make fewer mistakes, and preparation now demands more time and energy. Consequently, winning against strong opponents has become increasingly challenging. This has taught us that players need to manage their energy levels carefully. Most of the advice in this book remains applicable even when you are tired, though in such cases, it's usually better to play more solidly if you're primarily aiming for a good result. That said, results aren't everything. Interesting games are also important, and we are excited to share them with you in this epic book.
Here are 62 masterly demonstrations of the basic strategies of winning at chess, compiled and annotated by one of the game's most admired and respected writers. Each game offers a classic example of a fundamental problem and its best resolution, described and diagrammed in the clearest possible manner for players of every level of skill.
As Irving Chernev observes in the Introduction, "Who will doubt the tremendous power exerted by a Rook posted on the seventh rank after seeing Capablanca's delightfully clear-cut demonstration in Game No. 1 against Tartakower? And who will not learn a great deal about the art of handling Rook and Pawn endings (the most important endings in chess) after playing through Tarrasch's game against Thorold?"
Chernev's lively and illuminating notes on each game reveal precisely how Capablanca, Tarrasch, and other masters — Fischer, Alekhine, Lasker, and Petrosian among them — turn theory into practice as they attack and maneuver to control the board. Readers will find their techniques improving with each lesson as Irving Chernev dissects winning strategies, comments on alternate tactics, and marvels at the finesse of winning play, noting at the end of his Introduction: "I might just as well have called this collection The Most Beautiful Games of Chess Ever Played."
The book of a strong tournament is more than just a games collection. When its participants are the world's strongest players . . . the tournament as a whole represents a step forward in the development of chess creativity. We may take as examples of such tournaments the events at Hastings 1895, St. Petersburg 1914, New York 1924, Moscow 1935, and Groningen 1946. Beyond doubt, Zurich-Neuhausen 1953 deserves a place among them.
David Bronstein ventured this evaluation of Zurich 1953 just three years after the event, in the preface to the first Russian edition of this book. Since that time the 210 games of the legendary tournament have only grown in stature. Most knowledgeable chess players now rate it the greatest tournament since World War II, and possibly the greatest tournament of all time.
In the 1920s Jim Marfia, a talented amateur player, became determined to provide an authoritative English translation of Bronstein's book, a task which occupied him for several years. The complete record of the famous Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953, is available in English for the first time.
Held to determine a challenger for then World Champion Botvinnik, Zurich 1953 attracted fifteen of the strongest players in the world: Smyslov; Geller; Boleslavsky; Bronstein; Najdorf; Szabo; Keres; Kotov; Gligoric; Reshevsky; Taimanov; Euwe; Petrosian; Averbakh; and Stahlberg.
Almost all the games were hotly contested, and many are masterpieces of the first rank. To mention Euwe-Smylov (round 3), Taimanov-Najdorf (round 4, winner of a brilliancy prize), and Keres-Reshevsky (round 11, one of the most reproduced and analyzed games in chess), is just to touch the tip of the iceberg; there are literally dozens of memorable, innovative games in this volume, including a substantial portion by the author, one of the game's greatest players, who finished tied for second with Keres and Reshevsky, behind the winner Smyslov.
Advanced players will want this book for the games alone. Beginning and intermediate players, concerned more immediately with instruction, will find David Bronstein's annotations not only perceptive and thorough, but also a veritable textbook on how to play the middle game.
Written by a young Grand Master, this introduction to chess strategy is aimed primarily at players for whom a game plan is utterly enigmatic. By isolating the basic elements and illustrating them through a selection of Master and Grand Master games, Simple Chess breaks down the mystique of strategy into plain, easy-to-understand ideas — only a knowledge of basic chess terminology is assumed.
More than a lesson in chess fundamentals, this book illustrates an increasingly prevalent and successful style of play — a method that begins by slowly accumulating small but permanent advantages, saving the outright attack for later in the game. Newly converted into the current algebraic chess notation, this edition of Simple Chess offers a strategic weapon for players at every level of expertise.
CHESS INFORMANT’S 161st ADVENTURE
OLYMPIC SPIRIT
CONTENTS:
• VELICKOVIC – EDITOR'S CORNER
• SPEELMAN – REAL-TIME ACTION AND BRITISH MISCELLANY
• PERUNOVIC – SERBIAN CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP
• AFEK – DUTCH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS
• KOTRONIAS – NAJDORF VARIATION – 6. h3 e6! Repertoire for Black
• PRUSIKIN – MICHAEL'S MUSINGS
• PERELSHTEYN – SICILIAN DRAGONDORF
• SPRENGER – OBSTRUCTING THE OPPONENT'S PLAN
• EDWARDS – CORRESPONDENCE CHESS MATTERS
• GONEN – WORLD OF CORRESPONDENCE CHESS
• ROGERS – Candidates Semifinal Matches, London 1983
• GRIFFIN – FROM THE CHESS INFORMANT ARCHIVES
Traditional sections: 287 games and fragments, combinations, endings, Tournament reviews, the best game and the most important theoretical novelty from the preceding volume.
The periodical that pros use with pleasure, and at the same time, a must-have publication for all serious chess students!
Think Like Ivanchuk is a celebration of a true chess genius. This book is a collection of Vasyl Ivanchuk's best games, a chess biography and a highly entertaining training manual all in one.
Vasyl Ivanchuk, a super-grandmaster from Ukraine, was born in 1969 and was the best player in the world in the 1990s behind World Champion Garry Kasparov. He has won the Olympiad, the super-tournaments in Linares and Wijk aan Zee, and many, many other events. He is an incredibly versatile player and has employed almost every possible opening variation known to chess.
Grandmaster Viktor Moskalenko has known his compatriot since childhood, has been his second and sparring partner, and understands his style like no other. Moskalenko has selected Ivanchuk's most fascinating games against world champions and top grandmasters and has derived more than 500 training positions from them. The exercises are fun, engaging, and presented in a way that any chess player can understand.
This collection of Ivanchuk's best artistic ideas will make you think like Ivanchuk and reach new heights in chess. Welcome to Planet Ivanchuk!
Viktor Moskalenko (1960) is one of the leading chess instructors of our time. The Ukrainian Grandmaster has authored numerous inspiring opening manuals such as Trompowsky Attack & London System, An Attacking Repertoire for White with 1.d4, The Fully-Fledged French, The Wonderful Winawer, and The Fabulous Budapest Gambit.
Available via subscription
British Chess Magazine (September 2024)
The Bogo-Dutch is a hypermodern defense to 1.d4 which is based on 1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5. It is a hybrid opening that is based on the Bogo-Indian Defense (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+) and the Dutch Defense (1.d4 f5).
Black tries their hardest to wrest control of the e4–square from White by checking on b4, plus having a pawn on f5 at the same time.
It is undoubtedly an underrated defense, to the point that most players, from super-GMs all the way down to amateur level, are completely unfamiliar with this entire set-up.
It is not the quality of your best moves that wins you games; it is the quality of your worst moves. The quickest way to improve your chess skills is to raise the bar.
The Spanish grandmaster and coach Jesus de la Villa has proven with his best-seller 100 Endgames You Must Know that he understands exactly what a chess student needs. Building on his experience as a writer and as a coach for juniors, he has carefully selected the 50 Mistakes every player should be aware of – so the mistake can be avoided.
De la Villa loves this quote from the American First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt: ‘Learn from the errors of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.’
For over a decade, De la Villa has closely observed the Spanish junior championships, noting the recurring errors that players make. He has taken notes, classified these errors, and created training tasks based on them. From this wealth of chess exercises, he has selected the most impactful and has added recommendations how to correct the error.
Your performance will improve dramatically because this book offers you:
– 50 important chess lessons
– detailed and lively explanations
– clear summaries and recommendations
– dozens of tests.
Jesus de la Villa (1958) is an International Grandmaster born in Spain. He is a successful author and a well-known chess trainer. He has twice won the Spanish Championship. His book 100 Endgames You Must Know is an international bestseller.
Paul Morphy might well be the most brilliant and enigmatic chess champion of all time. He burst onto the scene in 1857 as a 20-year-old and dominated the chess world for two short years, convincingly defeating all the strongest players. After conquering the European chess scene, Morphy was universally recognised as the greatest player of all time. But at the age of 22 he suddenly and permanently retired from serious competition.
Morphy's greatness shone so brightly that 75 years later he was still considered the greatest by world champions Lasker and Capablanca. He is still revered for his brilliant combinations and other contributions to chess. Bobby Fischer called him 'perhaps the most accurate player who ever lived'. Garry Kasparov regarded him as 'the prototype of the strong 20th century grandmaster' and 'the forefather of modern chess'.
There are many important biographies and game collections about Morphy. Award-winning chess author Charles Hertan brings us something new - a comprehensive modern biography that delves deep into his fascinating history, unearthing new information about Morphy's origins, intertwined with an in-depth exploration of Morphy's games, often overturning over 160 years of previous analysis.
Hertan uses his experience as a professional psychotherapist to shed new light on Morphy's tragic mental deterioration. The author also examines the state of chess before Morphy, wading into the current debate about the role of the great masters Howard Staunton and Adolf Anderssen in chess history, and whether Morphy's time should rightly be called the 'Romantic Era'.
The Real Paul Morphy brings you everything you need to know about Paul Morphy's life, chess and legacy in a single volume.
In this book, the authors aim to assist the reader in becoming better at finding combinations, constructing plans, and calculating long, forcing variations. For the purpose of instruction, the material is based on the output of the brilliant endgame composer and player Herman Mattison (1894-1932), using his endgame compositions from various works and publications as well as several of his practical endgames from games entirely too short career.
Themes: Annihilation of Defence, Blockade, Clearance, Deflection, Discovered Attack, Pinning, Demolition of Pawn structure, Decoy, Interference, Double Attack
Levels: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced
Finally, a word of advice!
Beginners and relatively inexperienced players should study and play through all the examples on a chessboard. Also, it is advisable to write down the solutions with all the variations you calculated, and only after the training session to compare those with the Solutions given in the Encyclopaedia. Keep your notes in a notebook especially dedicated for that purpose, so you could monitor and assess your own progress. As you progress you will be able to solve many of the basic and intermediate examples without a chessboard, but still writing down the solutions and variations is of extreme importance. Of course, when you successfully reach higher echelons of chess mastery you will be able to solve large portions of the examples without a chess board, only by looking at the diagrams.
The Encyclopaedia of Chess Combinations is a benchmark work on the art of chess tactics and combinations. It is designed to offer the infinite pleasure for chess enthusiasts, everlasting source of training for most diligent students, and would-be-grandmasters.