The most famous team ever participating in a chess pub quiz was MC Hammer. The team members are pretty decent chess players and happened to know their bit of chess trivia and chess history. Do you know or can you guess their names?
This book offers a collection of hundreds of chess trivia and chess-related trivia. You can use it by yourself, solving puzzles. Or you can use the book for multiple thematic pub quizzes at your local chess café or chess club.
Grandmaster Dimitri Reinderman won the Dutch championship in 2013, is one of the few chess players with purple (or blue) hair, and loves games. During the pandemic, he created the holiday season in-house chess pub quiz for New In Chess publishers.
IM Gary Lane (Australian Chess)
“There is much to make you smile, inform and even shock you. The quality of the questions makes it an excellent read and somewhat thought provoking. The ideal present for any chess player.”
Grandmaster Dejan Antic and International Master Branimir Maksimovic have written a book that will change the way chess players look at the French Defence, one of the most popular chess openings.
Black players in a French Defence have sound options like undermining the White center or playing against a damaged pawn structure. Once you have really mastered the black side in the French, you possess such a powerful weapon that even strong players will think twice what to play against you.
This is a complete and up-to-date book for players of all levels, with brand-new concepts in topical modern lines such as the Steinitz, McCutcheon and Morozevich Variation. Antic and Maksimovic explain strategic concepts and methods of attack, and present numerous novelties and new tactical ideas in all French main lines. But they have also developed several sidelines into deadly surprise weapons. The conclusion is clear: Black is OK in the French!
The Lighter Side of Chess celebrates the game we love from a refreshingly humorous angle. Beyond deep calculations and serious tournament battles lies a world filled with blunders, bizarre positions, unexpected checkmates, and unforgettable moments of human comedy.
Georg and Adrian brought together a delightful collection of entertaining games, amusing goofs, and curious chess facts that reveal just how funny chess can be. From legendary masters caught in embarrassing mistakes to incredible oversights that defy belief, each chapter reminds us that even the greatest players are human—and that laughter is part of the game.
Perfect for casual reading, coffee-table browsing, or sharing with fellow chess enthusiasts, The Lighter Side of Chess is a joyful tribute to chess as a source of fun, surprise, and endless amusement. Whether you’re a seasoned competitor or a weekend player, this book proves that chess doesn’t always have to be serious to be brilliant.
When Mikhail Botvinnik lost the world championship in 1960 to the dazzling attacking player from Riga, Mikhail Tal, there seemed little chance of him regaining his title. Yet in the Return Match a year later, with a surprising demonstration of aggressive chess, Botvinnik completely outplayed his young opponent and ran out the easy winner. All 21 games of the match are deeply annotated.
Three years after winning the world championship, Mikhail Botvinnik had to defend his title against the challenge of David Bronstein. Though out of practice and largely outplayed by his brilliant young opponent, Botvinnik nevertheless demonstrated his fighting qualities, levelling the scores in the penultimate game and thereby retaining his title. All 24 games of the match are deeply annotated.
In Schach 6/2026 finden Sie Berichte über folgende Veranstaltungen/Themen:
* Grand Chess Tour Bukarest und Warschau
* TePe Sigeman & Co Malmö
* Abschluss Herren-Bundesliga
* Open Orosei (Sardinien)
* Schachgedanken: Schachfilme
* Mitropa-Cup
* Mannnschafts-WM der Senioren
* Fragebogen: Alexandr Fier
* Kombinationsschule, Problemschach, Turnierausschreibungen, Rezension
* Mitarbeiter dieser Ausgabe: Oleg Aronson, Dr. Gerhard Köhler, Mihail Marin, Adrian Michaltschischin, Karsten Müller, Peter Heine Nielsen, Franz Pachl, Michael Prusikin, Josefine Safarli
SCHACH die älteste noch erscheinende Schachzeitschrift der Welt – ihre historischen Wurzeln reichen bis ins Jahr 1846 zurück.
The Janowski Variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined arises after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 a6. Black plays ...a6 to prepare the queenside expansion ...b5, aiming to challenge White’s c4 pawn and gain space. The idea was introduced by the Polish-French grandmaster Dawid Janowski around the turn of the 20th century.
Compared with classical QGD lines, this variation is less theoretical and offers flexible development for Black. White usually responds by strengthening the center and preventing ...b5, often with moves like a4, Nf3, or cxd5. The resulting positions typically feature a strategic battle between White’s central control and Black’s queenside expansion.
When Max Euwe defeated Alexander Alekhine in 1935, the chess world was stunned. A modest Dutch mathematics teacher had dethroned the most charismatic and feared champion of his time. Almost immediately, doubts arose: Was Euwe truly worthy of the crown? Did he really belong in the lineage of Anderssen, Morphy, Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine himself?
Nearly a century later, these questions still influence how Euwe is remembered — and, all too often, how he is underestimated.
This book takes a fresh look at Euwe’s years as World Champion and presents solid evidence. It challenges the familiar narrative that portrays his reign as a brief intermezzo, largely created by Alekhine’s powerful and enduring self-portrait. Euwe himself never played that game. He analysed his victories soberly, credited his opponents generously and avoided self-glorification, even when it was fully deserved.
Drawing on contemporary sources, tournament results, and a close examination of Euwe’s games with today’s best computers, the authors place his achievements in their proper historical context. The picture that emerges is clear: Euwe did not merely win the title — he belonged at the very top. In the mid-1930s, he was consistently on par with and at times surpassed the strongest players in the world.
This book offers a balanced reassessment. However, it leads to an unmistakable conclusion: Max Euwe was not a footnote in chess history — he was a true World Champion.
Paul van der Sterren is a grandmaster and two-time Dutch champion who qualified for the Candidates Matches. He is a prolific author and won the ECF Chess Book of the Year Award in 2024 for his autobiography, In Black and White. His other books include Mindful Chess and Fundamental Chess Openings.
Erwin l’Ami is a grandmaster, former Dutch champion and winner of the 2015 Reykjavik Open. He is a highly regarded opening expert and has published several Chessable courses. He is also a renowned second, having worked with chess greats such as Veselin Topalov and Anish Giri.
Alexander Münninghoff tells the unforgettable tale of the fifth World Chess Champion. Filling a gap in the literature of chess, he shows that Euwes world title was the result of his iron will, his methodical drive and his energetic handling of all aspects of the game. By bringing his world title under the aegis of the world chess federation FIDE, Euwe profoundly changed the history of chess, and it was Euwes diplomatic determination as President of FIDE that saved the Match of the Century in 1972 between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. This gripping story is illuminated by numerous photos and fifty games with the original annotations by Max Euwe.
This book presents the 100 most essential chess endgames — the basic endings every club player is likely to encounter in real games.
Learning how to handle these positions will help you win more games, and also save more games. Once you reach the stage where your results are no longer decided by simple tactical mistakes, the real challenge begins: converting your advantages with confidence.
With clear explanations and a structured, step-by-step approach, these 100 lessons form a complete endgame survival kit. You will learn:
* how to stay confident when the game transfers into an endgame
* how to exploit advantages you have gained in the middlegame
* how to avoid the frustration of failing to win clearly better positions
* how to approach simplification without uncertainty
Master these basic endings and they will serve you for the rest of your chess life. Study them carefully, and your technique — and your confidence — will improve forever.
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.
Available via subscription
British Chess Magazine (May 2026)
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