En este nuevo libro el GM paraguayo Zenón Franco Ocampos comenta 54 partidas poniendo énfasis en la parte posicional y en la parte práctica.
Está dividido en cuatro capítulos con diferentes temas estratégicos, al finalizar cada capítulo se proponen ejercicios sobre los temas tratados, de dificultad variada.
El libro tiene una versión previa en inglés, llamada Winning Chess Explained publicada en 2005.
Este volumen contiene correcciones y actualizaciones, es un libro seminuevo.
Se suprimieron algunos ejemplos y se agregaron partidas más recientes, tiene 11 partidas en formato “Jugada a Jugada” y ocho ejercicios “nuevos”.
“¡Primero la idea y después la jugada!” solía comentar Miguel Najdorf, esa frase es la perfecta síntesis de la planificación en el ajedrez.
El campeón de mundo, Magnus Carlsen, hablando sobre descubrir los mejores planes y las jugadas, comentó: “Los mejores jugadores encuentran los planes correctos porque han estudiado esos patrones durante miles y miles de horas”, y enfatizó la importancia de la parte táctica para implementar esos planes.
Este libro trata sobre la planificación en el ajedrez.
The Semi-Slav Defense transcends its classification as a mere defensive response to 1.d4.
It embodies a dynamic and multifaceted system that offers Black not only solidity in defense but also active counterplay and strategic flexibility. Here's why the Semi-Slav is more than just a defense:
Rather than passively defending, the Semi-Slav allows Black to counterattack in the center and on the flanks. Moves like ...e6-e5 and ...c6-c5 often lead to sharp, tactical positions where Black can seize the initiative.
By delaying the development of the knight to f6, Black achieves a solid pawn structure with pawns on d5, e6, and c6. This structure provides a firm foundation for Black's pieces and restricts White's options for pawn breaks.
The Polgar Way to Better Chess!
Learn Chess the Right Way is a five-volume chess puzzle book series aimed at the novice, beginner and intermediate level player, using the unique methods of the award-winning coach and former world champion Susan Polgar. It introduces the most important checkmate and material-winning tactics, as well as defensive techniques to the new chess player. Each of the five volumes will consist of over 500 puzzles.
Volume 4 is all about exercises where you have to make a “sacrifice” for a material gain or even checkmate.
In each of the first five chapters, a certain piece is being sacrificed to checkmate the enemy King (in chapter 1 – The Queen, in chapter 2 – The Rook, and so on). In chapters 6-10, you will get no hint about which piece should be sacrificed. However, you will know what the target is, to win a Queen, or Rook etc.
In chapter 11, there will be no hints whatsoever. The goal is simple: sacrifice one of your pieces to either checkmate or gain material. Many of the examples are built on skills (such as forks, discoveries or pins) learned in volumes 1 and 2 of this series. In most of the puzzles, you will need to think 2-3 pairs of moves ahead in order to find the correct solution.
With over 40 years of experience as a world-class player and coach, international grandmaster Susan Polgar has developed the most effective way to help young players and beginners – Learn Chess the Right Way. Let her show you the way to understanding the most common and critical patterns and let her show you the way to becoming a better player.
SUSAN POLGAR is a winner of four Women’s World Championships and the top-ranked woman chess player in the United States. She became the #1 woman player in the world at 15 and remained in the top 3 for over 20 years. In 2013, she received the U.S. Coach of the Year Award and the following year, she was named the Chess Trainer of the Year by the International Chess Federation (FIDE). She thus became the first person in history to be accorded both honors. Under her guidance, SPICE chess teams at both Texas Tech University and Webster University have won a combined six consecutive National Division I Collegiate Chess Championships.
Learn Chess the Right Way is a five-volume chess puzzle book series aimed at the novice, beginner and intermediate level player, using the unique methods of the award-winning coach and former world champion Susan Polgar. It introduces the most important checkmate and material-winning tactics, as well as defensive techniques to the new chess player. Each of the five volumes consist of over 500 puzzles.
Book 5 focuses on learning how to find the right continuation in critical positions of a chess game. In the first four books of this series, the reader was introduced to all the most important, basic elements of chess tactics to win material or to checkmate.
The first part of this book includes learning about special, more advanced themes such as “Zugzwang,” “Intermediate Moves,” and “Pawn Power.” Building on the knowledge acquired throughout this book series, in the second part of this volume, the reader can practice on familiar patterns. However, just as in the real game situation, there will be no hint which patterns to look for.
The goal is simple. Find a way to either checkmate or gain material. In most of the puzzles, you will need to think 2-4 pairs of moves ahead to find the correct solution.
SUSAN POLGAR is a winner of four Women’s World Championships and the top-ranked woman chess player in the United States. She became the #1 woman player in the world at 15 and remained in the top 3 for over 20 years. In 2013, she received the U.S. Coach of the Year Award and the following year, she was named the Chess Trainer of the Year by the International Chess Federation (FIDE). She thus became the first person in history to be accorded both honors. Under her guidance, SPICE chess teams at both Texas Tech University and Webster University have won a combined seven consecutive National Division I Collegiate Chess Championships.
In Volume 3, you will be introduced to 500 must-know defensive techniques. Each chapter will start with a few introductory examples and explanation about to what to look for in the puzzles that follow.
In chapter 1, the task is to move an attacked piece. In each puzzle, there is only one good solution by moving the attacked piece to a safe square. In chapter 2, one of the kings is in check. The goal is to find the correct response. In chapter 3, a piece is attacked, but has no good square to which to move. So, rather than moving the attacked piece(s), you will need to look for a way to protect it with another piece.
In chapter 4, we focus on defensive ideas against a direct checkmate threat. In chapter 5, one side “defends” by counter-attacking. In chapters 6 and 7, you will be introduced to the game-saving techniques of drawing by stalemate or perpetual check. In chapter 8, the task is to catch a pawn that is about to promote. In chapter 9, a certain piece is about to get “trapped.” The task is to prepare for the attack and avoid material loss. Finally, in chapter 10, you can practice solving a variety of defensive ideas, with the goal to avoid or minimize material losses or being checkmated.
Available via subscription
British Chess Magazine (May 2024)
In the phase of the game, the endgame, strange things happen. Material advantages don’t bring home the expected fruits, wins vanish, draws slip away, and frustrations build. Why is it that when things are supposed to be simpler, they become slippery and nearly impossible to handle with any kind of accuracy? And why do players such as Rubinstein, Capablanca, Andersson, Karpov, and Carlsen seem able to drum up resources out of nothing, make the lives of their opponents miserable, and win things that looked drawn and draw things that looked lost? Many factors are at play, but an accurate assessment of the remaining resources, both present and latent, allows these players to make better plans and maximize the potential for a positive outcome.
In this book, experienced authors, IM Lakdawala and FM Hansen, look at this phenomenon and help the reader better “read” the positions to understand what measures are needed in a given position.
Along with numerous practical examples, and endgame studies with practical application, there are also many exercises for the student to work through, either on their own or with a coach.
100 Years Later, Nimzovich Is Still Good for Your Chess!
Almost a century ago, a chess book about positional play and strategic concepts appeared on the chess scene. Written by a Latvian grandmaster residing in Denmark, it quickly took its place as one of the classics of chess literature. Since then, Aron Nimzovich’s magnum opus My System has been embraced by every generation of chessplayers.
However, there were some inherent flaws. For starters, it was quite “dense.” The reader had to plow through many subjective digressions and other literary detours before getting to the core concepts. Now American Grandmaster Alex Fishbein has adapted this classic for the modern chessplayer.
While remaining true to the original text – and with the same goals as his outstanding work with the FastTrack Edition of Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual – Fishbein has produced an eminently readable, modernized version of My System. The result is a book that not only retains the unique imagery of the original text, but a book that is also easy to understand by both club players and masters.
As the author stated in his preface: Nimzovich’s ideas have stood the test of time and, if anything, are more relevant today. In his famous foreword to the 1974 Russian edition, Mikhail Tal wrote: “This old book, sustaining many editions in different forms and different languages, is imbued with an elixir of eternal chess youth.” My aim was to retain that elixir in this new translation.
Alex brings you the best of Nimzovich’s My System, erasing all misconceptions. As a newcomer to the game, you will feel blessed to learn pure, unmistakable strategies, while if you are an old chap like me, you will appreciate the fresh clarity, helping you re-evaluate your personal chess philosophy… Nimzovich is good for your chess, and a more coherent Nimzovich even better. – From the Foreword by GM Vassilios Kotronias
Simen Agdestein was awarded the title of chess grandmaster at the age of eighteen, the youngest in the world at the time. Two years later he wrote in his diary that he believed he could become the best in the world.
But chess wasn't his only passion. He also excelled at football and was selected nine times for the Norwegian national team. Foreign clubs wanted to sign him as a professional.
Simen Agdestein's combined careers are unique and amazing. 'I can't choose between my left and my right arm', he once said of the choice between chess and football.
His international football career was cut short when he refused to play for Norway in a World Cup qualifier against Scotland. He opted instead to play Garry Kasparov in a chess tournament in Belgrade. A few years later, a knee injury put an end to his footballing dreams.
These days Agdestein is a coach and teacher at the Norwegian College for Top Athletes, a fertile breeding ground where his most successful pupil, Magnus Carlsen, also attended. Agdestein continues to compete in chess. In 2023 he won the Norwegian Championship for the ninth time, 41 years after his first successful bid.
Games and Goals is a gripping biography of a unique double talent, revealing his insecurities and ambitions, his doubts and dreams. The author had access to Agdestein's private letters and diaries and conducted numerous interviews with relatives, friends and Agdestein himself.
Atle Grønn (1971) is Professor of Slavic linguistics at the University of Oslo, an International Chess Master and a prolific writer on the game of chess. His books Sjakken eller Livet (Chess or Life, 2016) and Sjakkgeniene (Chess Geniuses, 2018), co-authored with Olav Lahlum, were bestsellers. With his appearances as a chess expert in live broadcasts of chess competitions on NRK and VGTV, he has become a television personality in Norway.
Victor Bologan is not only a strong and creative chess grandmaster, he has also made a career in Moldovan and world chess politics. His strong will and incredible versatility have enabled him to lead a colourful and interesting life. ‘Believe in yourself’ is his motto and it has taken him to places many of us will never see.
A sparkling description of the many roads Bologan has travelled lies before you. In this autobiography you will read about the adventures of an enterprising youngster in turbulent Moldova, his collaborations with renowned chess coaches such as Vyacheslav Chebanenko, Zigurds Lanka and Mark Dvoretsky, and his alliances with top players such as Alexander Morozevich, Ruslan Ponomariov, Vladimir Kramnik and Garry Kasparov. The book also offers a candid insight into Bologan's activities as Executive Director of the World Chess Federation FIDE and his career in Moldovan national politics.
Central to this book, of course, is Bologan's chess career. His most impressive tournament victory was in Dortmund in 2003, where he beat both Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik. But he also won the incredibly strong Aeroflot Open in Moscow in 1995 and twice came first in a personal favourite, the annual Poikovsky tournament. Bologan has extensively annotated 88 of his best and most attractive games.
Victor Bologan (1971) is a world-class grandmaster who has won many prestigious tournaments. In 2005 he was ranked 18th in the world. For New In Chess Bologan has written the acclaimed and ground-breaking opening manuals The Chebanenko Slav, The Rossolimo for Club Players, The Powerful Catalan, Bologan's King's Indian, Bologan's Caro-Kann, Bologan's Ruy Lopez for Black and Bologan's Black Weapons in the Open Games.
CHESS INFORMANT’S 159th ADVENTURE
VIGOROUS
CONTENTS:
• Afek - Wijk aan Zee 2024 (Tournament Review)
• Leitao - The Difficult Art of Defence in Chess
• Gormally - My Hastings Nightmare (Danny's Chess Diary
• Kotronias - King's Indian Defence - Gligoric System (Theoretical Survey)
• Perelshteyn - The Alekhine - Exchange Variation (Theoretical Survey)
• Davies - Understanding the Openings (Theoretical Survey)
• Perunovic - The Sicilian Off-Road (Theoretical Survey)
• Marin - Old Wine in New Bottles
• Prusikin - The Caro-Kann Exchange Variation (Instructive Lesson)
• Barak Gonen - World of Correspondence Chess
• Rogers - Europe v Asia Match, Batumi 2001 (Roger’s Reminiscences)
• Griffin - Browne v Hort, Wijk aan Zee 1975 (From Informant Archives)
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!