If you are reading this, you likely already know the feeling: that unique blend of tension and solidity that comes with playing 1...e6. I have played the French Defense my entire life. It has been my trench, my counter-attacking weapon, and at times, my lifeline in positions where others would have collapsed. I know it intimately, not because I memorized a thousand variations from a database, but because I have suffered and enjoyed its structures over the board, with the clock ticking and adrenaline pumping.
And this is where I want to be brutally honest with you: memorizing variations will not make you a better French Defense player. I see too many students (and even many masters) fall into the trap of "modern theory." They memorize 25 moves of a line recommended by an engine, but the moment the opponent plays a "human" move that wasn't in the file, they go blank. They know the move, but they don't understand the position. This book is not designed for you to memorize; it is designed for you to absorb patterns.
Why Study "Model Games"? Chess is played by analogy. When you are on move 30, in time trouble, your brain doesn't calculate infinite variations; your brain searches its internal archive and says: "This looks like that Radjabov game. The plan here is to break with f6." The 20 games I have selected here are not random. They are the "cream of the crop" of master practice from 2025. They are living battles where the theory of the Tarrasch Variation (3.Nd2) was tested at the highest level.
By studying these complete games, from opening to endgame, you will achieve something that studying isolated variations cannot give you:
– Understanding Transitions: When should you trade the "bad bishop"? When should you accept an Isolated Queen's Pawn (IQP) in exchange for activity?
– Learning to Defend: The French requires nerves of steel. You will see how elite GMs withstand pressure and wait for the exact moment to counterpunch.
– Recognizing Typical Endgames: Many of these duels are decided in rook or knight endgames that recur time and time again.
A Note on Technology (Stockfish and Leela)
To write this analysis, I have used the most advanced technology available. I have consulted the silicon oracles (Stockfish 16 and Leela Chess Zero) to ensure tactical precision. There is nothing worse than a book with calculation errors. However, the engine is merely a quality control tool, not the author. The engine might tell you a position is "+0.45". For a human, that number means nothing. My job here has been to translate that number into human language: to explain why White is better (space, weak squares) or why that advantage is illusory if Black manages to activate their light-squared bishop. I have prioritized human ideas over incomprehensible computer lines. I want you to understand the plan, not memorize binary code.
How to Use This Book
Do not read this like a novel. If you have a physical board, use it. If you are using the ForwardChess screen, pause at critical moments. Try to guess the Master's move before revealing it. Ask yourself: "Why did he reject the queen trade?" or "Why did he sacrifice that pawn?". These 20 games are a treasure map of the modern French. If you study them deeply, the next time someone plays 3.Nd2 against you, you won't be recalling lines; you will be playing with the borrowed experience of the best players in the world. Welcome to the trench. Let’s begin.
This revised and enlarged special anniversary edition for his 80th birthday includes both volumes with his games with white and black. Korchnoi’s annotations are honest, detailed and very instructive.
„In all of chess history you cannot find another player with this long-lived discipline, vigour, and ferocity… He still wants to play big games with big ideas. He is one of the greatest truth-seekers.“ Garry Kasparov
The strategies of the Norwegian chess grandmaster the Washington Post calls "the Mozart of chess," currently the top ranked player in the world. Now firmly established among the world's elite, the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen has been setting records ever since he embarked on his chess career. He became a grandmaster at the age of just 13, and in 2010 he became the youngest player to be ranked No.1 in the world. This book presents detailed annotations to 64 of Carlsen's best games, together with a description of his career. Also examined are the deficiencies from which he suffered as a young player, and how he overcame these on his way to the top.
Available via subscription
British Chess Magazine (January 2026)
The story of the Polgar sisters is extraordinary. The idea that Laszlo Polgar, a mediocre chess player, could decide to turn his children into chess geniuses, and then succeed beyond his wildest dreams, is incredible.
It suggests that, with the right training, anything’s possible.
In this book, Judit Polgar - the strongest of the three sisters and a former world top-10 player – reveals some of the secrets of her success. Together with the prize-winning coach, International Master Andras Toth, she has created a course based on the training she received as a young player. It is like having a private lesson from one of the best players in the world.
You will learn how to punish the three most common opening mistakes. And how to spot hidden tactical opportunities and how to force your opponent to play weakening moves. You will understand how to master one of the most difficult skills in chess: seizing the initiative. And you will find the tools to turn yourself into a lean, mean, attacking machine.
Master Your Chess with Judit Polgar covers all aspects of the game: from the opening to the endgame. The manual is accessible both for ambitious beginners wanting to build their chess development on a strong foundation and for intermediate players who have hit a plateau and need new insights to leap forward.
Nobody said mastering chess was easy! But with Grandmaster Judit Polgar and International master Toth behind you, you will learn to Master Your Chess and attack like the chess legend herself.
When a young woman from India moves to America and reaches out to Bobby Fischer, the world's greatest chess champion, it sparks a lifelong bond few knew existed.
Growing up in a privileged family, Shernaz Kennedy discovered the magic of chess at an early age. After Bobby Fischer's legendary victory over Boris Spassky in the match of the century, she sent him a heartfelt letter asking for advice - and he answers.
What began as a simple act of admiration blossomed into an extraordinary, enduring friendship. This exhilarating account of their relationship reveals how she sustained his spirit for decades, educating him and rekindling his love of competition during his darker periods.
Like A Beautiful Mind and Amadeus, Bobby Fischer's Chess Queen transcends the boundaries of its subject. This is not just a story about chess - it is a story about ambition, resilience, and the healing power of connection.
Discover the untold story behind the legend, an unforgettable portrait of two champions and a love that defied distance, fame, and the demands of genius.
Shernaz Kennedy is a chess player, teacher and writer. She is a Women’s International Master, has competed in ten U.S. Women's championships and has represented the United States at the Olympiad. She teaches chess at two dozen schools in Manhattan, New York. She was born in India and immigrated in 1976 to the United States.
The Benko and Blumenfeld Gambits have, for decades, been known as ways for Black to fight for the initiative.
While the Benko Gambit has its foundation in positional ideas, the Blumenfeld Gambit is more of a traditional gambit: play for a lead in development, a broad center, and ultimately an attack.
In this book, FM Carsten Hansen covers one hundred miniature games (games that are decided in 25 moves or fewer) across all variations of the Benko and Blumenfeld Gambits: The material is split up into the following chapters:
– Chapter 1: 4.Nf3
– Chapter 2: 4.Qc2, 4.a4 and other 4th Move Options
– Chapter 3: 4.cxb5 a6 5.Nc3
– Chapter 4: 4.cxb5 a6 5.b6
– Chapter 5: 4.cxb5 axb5 5.f3
– Chapter 6: 4.cxb5 a6 5.e3
– Chapter 7: 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 – 5th and 6th Move Alternatives
– Chapter 8: Accepted – White plays a quick e2-e4
– Chapter 9: Accepted – Fianchetto Lines
– Chapter 10: Blumenfeld Gambit: 5.Bg5 & Minor Lines
– Chapter 11: Blumenfeld Gambit: Accepted
– Chapter 12: The Dzindzi-Indian
Throughout the book, there are hundreds of puzzle positions for both players, where you will be challenged to find the best move or to figure out why a certain move does or does not work.
If you play the Benko or Blumenfeld Gambits (or both), this book will help you be better prepared to recognize tactical patterns for both sides.
In 1904, the American chess player Frank James Marshall was at the top of his game. He had won several tournaments in a row, including the prestigious event in Cambridge Springs 1904, ahead of the reigning world champion Dr. Emanuel Lasker.
In the present work, the reader will find:A biographical sketch of Frank J. Marshall
– Opening Analysis of all relevant openings (as they looked in 1904)
– A selection of thirty-two of his best and most interesting games from the period 1899-1904, all annotated by contemporary players, including many by Marshall himself.
– All games and analyses have been thoroughly reviewed, updated, and expanded by FIDE master Carsten Hansen.
In 1921, the long-reigning champion Dr. Emanuel Lasker finally accepted the conditions to play a match for the World Chess Championship against the young, Cuban Phenom José Raúl Capablanca. The match took place in Havana and became a rather one-sided affair, with Capablanca with four games before Lasker forfeited the match after just 14 games.
The present book revisits the material and analysis put forward by Capablanca in a 1921 book on the match and includes:
– The analysis by Capablanca has been re-examined, computer-checked, and expanded.
– Additional game references from contemporary games, with an emphasis on games and variations played by Lasker and Capablanca.
– In the second part of the book, all other games between Lasker and Capablanca have been included. drawing on the analysis and annotations from the original tournament books.
– Analysis included by Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch, Bohatyrchuk, Sozin, and others.
– Tournament tables from all tournaments where both Lasker and Capablanca took part, both before and after the 1921 match.
– Unique material including pictures from some of their encounters and a recounting of a conversation between Capablanca and Rokhlin ahead of Capablanca's game vs Lasker in Moscow, 1936.
FIDE Master Carsten Hansen has carefully re-examined all games and analyses for this expanded and updated edition that should thrill both fans of Capablanca, Lasker, and chess history.
Award-winning author Charles Hertan knows what kids really need to know (and want to know) about getting their pawns and pieces ready for action.
Traditional chess opening books concentrate on the variations in different openings. Charles Hertan believes that for beginners and advanced beginners memorizing lines is not only boring but also a waste of time.
Hertan’s approach is different.
He helps kids to develop a solid understanding of the fundamental opening principles. What are the properties of each chess piece, and how can they be mobilized effectively to work together and get a strong position on the board?
In his trademark humorous and kidfriendly way, Hertan teaches what you should actually be trying to achieve at the start of a game. Kids will love learning how to avoid The Five Most Common Opening Mistakes.
This is a fun, easy-to-use, down-to-earth and accessible chess opening primer.
Charles Hertan is a FIDE Master from Massachusetts who has been teaching kids for more than thirty years. He won the ChessCafe Book of the Year Award and authored the best-selling Power Chess for Kids books.
Sean March, CHESS Magazine (UK):
"I like the way in which Hertan breaks down the section on development to focus on each individual piece (..) The explanatory notes are perfectly accessible to juniors and novices (..) A very accessible book for juniors to take thier first steps into opening theory."
Max Euwe Centre, Amsterdam:
"In his newest book Hertan discusses good opening play. He starts with basic principles such as development and activitiy. Hertan also gives advice on how to play certain openings and tips on errors he sees children make. An entertaining book."
IM Dirk Schuch, Rochade Europa Magazine:
"Very good for trainers or parents with a chess background."
GM Paul Motwani:
"Excellent. Ideal for young players who already have basic knowledge of the rules of the Royal Game, including how the chess pieces and pawns move, and are now looking to improve to the next level and beyond."
John Hartmann, Chess Life Magazine (US):
"Hertan's basic strategy --investigating what each piece 'likes' to unpack good piece play-- is solid and his ideas-based approach of the opening is good for beginners."
Kees de Groot, Reformatorisch Dagblad:
"Hertan's clear explanations are never infantile. That's why this book will also appeal to adults."
If you want to improve in chess you often find instructional material based on games played long ago by old masters with who you have no affinity at all. Franco Zaninotto has a different approach. He knows from experience how stimulating it is to study the games of the best players in your peer group.
Zaninotto teaches elementary strategy and tactics by using games he has selected from recent Junior Championships all over the world. He shows that you don’t need to have decades of experience in order to play clever moves.
Super Chess Kids tells you all you need to know about recognizing and exploiting weaknesses in your opponent’s position. You will learn how to evaluate your position, develop a plan, and calculate moves of attack and defence. You will also see typical errors that even the best young players tend to make.
In the process you get to know players who may be members of the world elite in the not-so-distant future. Included are more than 100 strategic and tactical exercises. There is little excuse for not finding the winning moves: after all, other kids already did!
The Sicilian Defence is the most attractive and most complicated opening in chess. If you don't play the Sicilian with White or Black, you miss much of the beauty and the challenges our royal game offers. For White 1.e4 players, building a repertoire against 1...c5 should be their priority.
Croatian top grandmaster Ivan Saric is one of today's greatest Sicilian experts. He plays 1.e4 with White and the Najdorf with Black! With The Open Sicilian, based on his highly acclaimed Chessable course, he has managed something impressive: a watertight repertoire against the Sicilian of just over 400 pages. But reading this one volume, your knowledge of this opening and chess, in general, will make a spectacular jump.
The Open Sicilian is not a phonebook crammed with computer lines but a textbook full of 21st-century chess wisdom. Saric covers the entire range of Sicilians, from obscure sidelines to the main lines: the Najdorf, the Taimanov, the Rauzer, the Kan, the Sveshnikov, and the various Dragons. His approach, firmly based on the ideas of the English Attack, is very ambitious, and he supports his claims with deep analysis and illuminating and elaborate verbal explanation.
Saric has written a book that will serve as a standard work for many years. He offers you the content to be fully armoured against all the intricacies of all the topical Sicilian lines.
Ivan Saric (1990) is a Croatian chess player who became an International Master at 17 and a Grandmaster at 18. He became U18 European Champion in 2007, U18 World Champion in 2008, and won the European Individual title in 2018. Saric beat Magnus Carlsen for his country at the 2014 Olympiad in Tromsø.
GM Matthew Sadler (New In Chess magazine)
"...a pretty good book with plenty to interest the aggressive 1.e4 player looking for repertoire ideas in the Open Sicilian."
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