Do masters methodically cut their way through the branches of a tree of analysis? Is it true that attacking players calculate a dozen moves ahead, while positional specialists rely on abstract principles? What exactly does it mean to “calculate,” anyway?

The goal of this book is to illustrate how specific pawn structures should be studied for typical themes even if they arise from different openings. The pawn structure with (typically) White’s isolated queen pawn on the ‘d’ file has been known for over a hundred years, and different players have shown best plans for both sides over the years.

Grandmaster and former senior world champion Larry Kaufman provides a ready-to-go repertoire for both colors that is based not on what on what is objectively ‘best’ (meaning the most popular in recent grandmaster play), but on what is easy to digest for amateurs.

Grandmaster Simon Williams has played the Classical Dutch for over twenty years. It remains his favourite opening and has featured in some of his greatest individual results, including a win over World Championship finalist Boris Gelfand. In this book, Williams examines the Classical Dutch in great depth. He also presents a complete repertoire for Black with the Dutch Defence, which is based on his own repertoire he has used successfully at grandmaster level for many years. As well as presenting the latest theory and revealing his new ideas in the key lines, Williams highlights the main tactical and strategic ideas for both sides and covers important issues such as move orders. Each chapter includes a series of tests at the end, so that readers are able to assess how well they have understood the main concepts. This books tells you everything you need to know about successfully playing the Classical Dutch.

FIDE Master and coach Tigran Gyozalyan fills a gap in the chess literature with the first systematic exploration of the king’s role and capabilities in the opening and the middlegame

The diverse set of tactical ideas involving a single king in the finale will enable you to gain a deeper understanding of the king’s resourcefulness.

Famous Grandmaster Victor Bologan offers a complete Black repertoire Based on “probably the most romantic response to 1.d4 (Bologan) – The King’s Indian Defence

Tigran Petrosian, the ninth world chess champion, was one of the deepest thinkers the chess world has ever seen. His handling of complex strategic positions was legendary. Now, for the first time, Russian international master Igor Yanvarjov has put together a superb collection of virtually all the known games played by Petrosian – with both colors – in the King’s Indian Defense and other closely related Indian structures. The author’s objective was, first of all, to reveal the richness of Petrosian’s chess world and to follow the strategic development of the King’s Indian Defense through the prism of Petrosian’s creative work. He does this with the presentation of almost 300 deeply annotated, complete games. This splendid collection of annotated games will not only have enormous appeal to King’s Indian aficionados, but to all chessplayers who wish to expand their understanding of the strategic concepts underpinning the royal game as a whole.

With twenty-five years’ experience getting underprivileged kids to achieve beyond all expectations, Cripe now takes his holistic instructional methods to the chess arena. Designed for both chess novices and their coaches, The Learning Spiral sets out the theory, explains how it works, and then applies it with more than 400 positions for the student to solve.

GM Malaniuk has been the main driving force behind the Leningrad Variation for decades. He has found many original plans which turned this branch of the Dutch into an active and dangerous weapon.

Akiva Rubinstein occupies a unique position in chess history. One of the greatest artists ever to sit down at a chessboard, Rubinstein was also the strongest player never to get a shot at the title of World Champion. This book focuses on the years 1882-1920, covering Rubinstein’s rise from a modest upbringing to his emergence as Emanuel Lasker’s chief challenger in the last years leading up to World War I. It also examines the effects this conflict had on his sensitive psyche and the way it influenced his play in the post-War years. The most definitive work ever done on the first part of Rubinstein’s career, this revised and expanded edition of The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein, Volume 1: Uncrowned King offers almost 500 games, many of them deeply annotated with notes translated from top players of the pre-World War I era, including Lasker, Tarrasch, Schlechter and Rubinstein. The authors have also made many new annotations to the games and uncovered quite a bit of interesting material, including recent discoveries on Rubinstein’s stay in Sweden after World War I. The second edition of The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein, Volume 1: Uncrowned King is 20 percent larger than its predecessor and with its wealth of crosstables, archival photos, multiple indexes and through bibliography it offers a treasure trove for the Rubinstein fan.

Akiva Rubinstein occupies a unique position in chess history. On of the greatest artists ever to sit down at a chessboard, Rubinstein was also the strongest player never to get an opportunity to play for the title of World Champion. This greatly enlarged second edition chronicles the second half (1921-1961) of the Polish grandmaster’s life. Dozens of archival photographs, photographs and approximately 40% more material finish off this splendid work, completing the journey begun in volume 1.