The diverse set of tactical ideas involving two bishops in the finale will enable them to gain a deeper understanding of how the bishop pair combines.
A number of systems in the labyrinth of the Sicilian Defense involve the idea of increasing central pressure by playing ...Qb6. The main object of this early queen move is to decentralise the strongly placed white knight on the d4 square. The most direct way to apply this idea is the ‘Grivas Sicilian’, which arises after the moves: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6
Rashid Nezhmetdinov (1912-1974) played fearless attacking chess. With his dazzling style, the Soviet master already was a legend during his lifetime, but international fame largely eluded him. Only once did he get permission to show his exceptional talent in a tournament abroad.
Five times Nezhmetdinov was chess champion of the Russian Federation. In the 1961 Soviet Championship, he won the ‘Best Game’ prize for a spectacular win against... Mikhail Tal who praised his opponent for his ‘amazing creativity.’ Other stars that ‘Nezh’ defeated in grand style included Spassky, Polugaevsky, Bronstein, and Geller.
His games, full of tactical pyrotechnics, are his legacy and have reached an ever-growing audience. Nezhmetdinov’s shocking strategic queen sacrifice, in 1962 against Chernikov, as shown on Agadmator’s YouTube channel, has become the best-watched chess video of all time with millions of views.
In this book, Cyrus Lakdawala pays tribute to the genius of the enigmatic Nezhmetdinov, a Tatar who grew up as an orphan in the part of the Soviet Union that is now Kazakhstan. In more than one hundred impressive and instructive games and positions, Lakdawala shows how Nezhmetdinov fought for the initiative, how he bluffed and sacrificed, and how he kept his cool to out-calculate his opponents. Lakdawala’s lucid writing perfectly matches the power of ‘Nezh’s’ moves. This wonderful collection celebrates Nezhmetdinov as the Greatest Attacker in Chess.
“Secrets of Positional Sacrifice” is the second book, created within the premises of the Nestorović family chess workshop. I would like to mention that the whole family contributed to this book. We are also extremely thankful to our friends, who, thanks to their previous experience, have introduced us to the process of creating chess books, with their invaluable advice and ideas.
Considering the abundance of material regarding this topic that was gathered, we decided to make this book only the first, lower level of the “Positional sacrifice” edition. My father and I worked hard to make sure that the new book will be as interesting as the first one, but also more adapted to the wider audience.
Although the book mostly covers the more recent games, we could not help but include the beautiful creations of “old masters”, that we consider classical today. When it comes to dividing the book into chapters, there were multiple, interesting possibilities, but we opted for sectioning it based on a subject of sacrifice. Hence, there are five chapters within the book: positional pawn sacrifice, exchange sacrifice, piece sacrifice, queen sacrifice and finally, the unavoidable section dedicated to the classics.
There are a lot of interesting ideas presented in the book, applied by world class players, as well as by the less known ones. We kept the analysis of their games simple and easy to follow, and we made sure to include plenty of diagrams and explanations within the text.
Also, the addition to the book are exercises, given at the end of each chapter, which are meant to test the reader’s newly acquired knowledge. Exercises are mainly based on the correct assessment of asymmetric positions, and of course on accurate calculation.
We hope you will enjoy the book, at least as much as my father and I enjoyed writing it, and we have no doubt that our book will improve your chess knowledge and the feeling for positional sacrifice. ~ GM Nikola Nestorović
Grandmasters Kotronias and Ivanov are renowned as leading theoreticians and chess trainers. They offer a unique and world-class repertoire based on 1.d4! They advocate an ambitious approach for White, with the aim to fight for an advantage in any position. This is their first joint effort; they tackle the ever-popular Queen’s Gambit Accepted and their sidelines in Volume 1A and 1B.
The material is divided into four chapters, and two parts, depending if we have an endgame with queens or rooks on the board. I have decided to keep the focus on endgames because in middlegames, some other factors may simply prevail. In endgames, the importance of having a knight against a bishop just increases! For easier understanding, I suggest that before studying any example, you should determine which side will prevail and you can find the solutions yourself. Of course, you can work directly from the book and even skip some examples, and you can analyze them in random order.
In the book, you will find Capablanca’s famous postulate about the queen and knight cooperating better than the queen and bishop, and some exceptions as well. For first time, you will hear of my audacious “postulate” that a rook and knight will “more often” prevail over a rook and bishop combination. I know this may sound absurd. I know Tal and Fischer would have disagreed and probably would have been indignant to hear this. I know many strong players would rather have a rook and bishop combination, basing their approach on the past masterpieces of these giants. But what about Rubinstein, and especially Karpov and Andersson – these masters had a great influence on my style and my coaching methods. Furthermore, I have based my “postulate” on statistics that I obtained after deeply searching for examples for this book. I hope it will reopen a debate about this material balance. My opinion is made, and I would like to apologize to all “bishop fans”.
I have decided to use actual words instead of symbols to explain my ideas, methods and plans. I think that it should be right in this computer era that is full of numbers, digits, etc. that words and sentences from the coach are simply irreplaceable to explain strategy and endgames.
I am sure that this book will demystify that “eternal battle” and help you to broaden your horizons. I am sure you will find a lot for yourself in this book.
The chess world has witnessed a great number of wonderfully gifted attacking players, geniuses who have dazzled the chess public with their brilliant masterpieces. Everyone has their own favourites, and in Chess Secrets: Great Attackers, Colin Crouch chooses three of his own: Garry Kasparov, Mikhail Tal and Leonid Stein. World Champions Kasparov and Tal need no introduction, while Stein was a highly creative and intuitive player with the ability to destroy the world's best players with his vicious attacks. Crouch examines phases of these players' careers, compares their differing approaches and styles, and highlights key attacking themes including the idea of controlled risk - in some sacrificial attacks even the greatest players can't always see everything to the end. A study of this book will help you to enhance your skills in one of the most crucial elements of the game.
In this follow-up to his acclaimed 1001 Chess Exercise for Club Players, FIDE Master Frank Erwich teaches you how to reach the next level of identifying weak spots in the position of your opponent, recognizing patterns of combinations, visualizing tricks and calculating effectively. Erwich repeats the themes of his previous book, focusing on exercises in which the key move is less obvious. He also introduces new, more sophisticated tactical weapons. They are geared towards the reality of the advanced club player (Elo 1800 – 2300): it is not enough to spot simple combinations, at this level you must be able to resist your reflexes and look deeper. In variations that look forcing you will always search for that deadly Zwischenzug. Quiet moves in general should be your new best friends. In short: an advanced club player should expect the unexpected. One of the celebrated elements of Erwich’s previous book, which is neglected in other books on tactics, is back: defence! You will also learn how to defend against tactics, as well as how to use tactical weapons when you are under heavy pressure. This is a complete and structured course, and not just a collection of freewheeling puzzles. Erwich starts every chapter with an instructive explanation of the tactical concept at hand and has carefully selected the most didactically productive exercises.
The book offers a positional repertoire against the Caro-Kann, based on exd5.
The Basman-Williams Attack arises after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.h4, which was first played by the inventive and creative English International Master Michael Basman in the 1970s and later adopted & developed by English Grandmaster Simon Williams. Nowadays, it has become a weapon used by several top grandmasters and it was even adopted for use in the recent Candidates tournament by Chinese top grandmaster and former world number 2, Ding Liren. It is a fun way to avoid Black's intentions of playing the main line theory of the King's Indian and Grunfeld Indian defenses.
CHESS INFORMANT’S 150th ADVENTURE
Midwinter Dream
CONTENTS:
FIDE CHESS.COM GRAND SWISS 2021 GM L'ubomír Ftáčnik
SOUTH AMERICAN HIGHLIGHTS GM Rafael Leitão
US CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2021 GM Sabina-Francesca Foişor
EUROPEAN CHESS CLUB CUP 2021 GM Dragoljub Jaćimović
EUROPEAN WOMEN’S TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP WIM Sandra Đukić
MR. FIRE ON BOARD GM Mihail Marin
MELTWATER CHAMPIONS CHESS TOUR FINALS GM Elshan Moradiabadi
THE SEMI-TARRASCH – PART II GM Nigel Davies
NEW IDEAS IN THE ARKHANGELSK RUY LÓPEZ GM Miloš Perunović
KING’S INDIAN, FIANCHETTO – Part I GM Krisztián Szabó
THE ART OF INTUITIVE SACRIFICES GM Michael Prusikin
ROGERS' REMINISCENCES – Asia-Pacific Zonal, Jakarta 1987 GM Ian Rogers
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES GM Marian Petrov
FROM THE CHESS INFORMANT ARCHIVES Douglas Griffin
Traditional sections: games, combinations, endings, Tournament reviews, the best game from the preceding volume and the most important theoretical novelty from the preceding volume.
The periodical that pros use with pleasure is at the same time a must have publication for all serious chess students!
When I decided to write The Modernized Sveshnikov (June 2020) I knew that I was basically committing myself to covering the Anti–Sicilians in a separate book as well. After all, what’s a book on the Sveshnikov alone worth when your opponents decide to avoid the Open Sicilian? Especially since the Sveshnikov is nowadays considered to be one of the most reliable options for Black in the Sicilian, White players have been investigating new territories within the Anti–Sicilians. The book you are holding in your hands, Beat the Anti–Sicilians, aims to provide a complete Black repertoire against all the critical sidelines after 1.e4 c5. The biggest part of the book covers the Rossolimo and Alapin, but also the popular lines at club player’s level like the Grand Prix Attack and the Morra Gambit, and other alternatives on White’s 2nd move are also worked out in detail.