CHESS INFORMANT’S 160th ADVENTURE
STEP AHEAD
CONTENTS:
• PAVLOVIC – OVERVIEW OF CANDIDATES
• AFEK – AN UZBEK VICTORY IN PRAGUE
• PERUNOVIC – AUSTRIAN BUNDESLIGA 2023/24
• SPEELMAN – HAND IN SILICON HAND
• KOTRONIAS – KING'S INDIAN DEFENCE – 5.Be2 Variation
• NTIRLIS – DEEP OPENING IDEAS THAT ARE NOT JUST FOR GRANDMASTERS
• PRUSIKIN – ABOUT OUTPOSTS AND PAWN MAJORITIES
• BARAK GONEN – WORLD OF CORRESPONDENCE CHESS
• DJURASEVIC – STUDIES – PEARLS OF THE CHESS GAMES
• ROGERS – THE SEMTEX BLUES
• GRIFFIN – FROM THE CHESS INFORMANT ARCHIVES
Traditional sections: 355 games and fragments, combinations, endings, Tournament reviews, the best game 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!
The Slav (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6) is a great choice against 1.d4 for players who are after a solid position from the opening but one that also contains dynamic possibilities. The pawn on c6 guarantees Black a firm foothold in the centre but there is also the ever-present possibility to capture on c4 and possibly even try to hold on to this pawn. The Slav is ideal for combining reliability with a promise for dynamic counterplay in the middlegame.
In Opening Repertoire: The Slav, highly experienced chess author and coach Cyrus Lakdawala guides the reader through the complexities of the Slav and carves out a repertoire for Black. He examines all aspects of this highly complex opening and provides the reader with well-researched, fresh, and innovative analysis. Each annotated game has valuable lessons on how to play the opening and contains instructive commentary on typical middlegame plans.
Building and maintaining an opening repertoire can be a demanding task – for a start there are an enormous number of different lines to choose from. There's a strong temptation amongst beginners and improving players to opt solely for tricky lines in order to snare unsuspecting opponents, but this approach has only short-term value. As you improve and your opponents become stronger, very often these crafty lines don't stand up to close scrutiny, and suddenly you're back to square one with no suitable opening weapons.
In Starting Out: 1 e4! Neil McDonald solves this perennial problem by providing the reader with a strong and trustworthy repertoire with the white pieces based on the popular opening move 1.e4. The recommended lines given here have stood the test of time and are regularly employed by Grandmasters. Reading this book will give you the confidence to play these variations against all strengths of player and provide you with reliable opening armoury for years to come.
This book is written in Everyman Chess's distinctive Starting Out style, with plenty of notes, tips and warnings throughout to help the aspiring player.
The Réti is a popular opening at all levels of chess. The great advantage it possesses over other openings is that it's a thematic system which can be adopted against many different defences, and because of this it's a firm favourite amongst those who prefer the understanding of ideas over dry memorization of moves.
In this book, Grandmaster Neil McDonald examines the Réti by going back to basics, introducing the key moves and ideas, and taking care to explain the reasoning behind them - something that has often been neglected or taken for granted in other works.
The Starting Out series has firmly established itself as the leading guide to studying openings for up-and-coming chess players. These books are ideal for enthusiasts who don't necessarily have extensive knowledge of the openings in question and who wish to appreciate the essential principles behind them.
The Basman-Sale Variation is a relatively unexplored weapon for Black in the Sicilian Defence. The advantages are clear: it is surprising, aggressive and easy to learn. Compared to the complexity of mainstream Sicilian variations it requires little theoretical preparation, while you don’t run excessive risks.
CHESS INFORMANT’S 156th ADVENTURE
MESMERIZED
• Gormally – World Chess Championship – Nepo – Ding (Review)
• Shyam Sundar – World Chess Championship – The Most Instructive Moments and Positions
• Miodrag & Milos Perunovic – European Chess Championship (Tournament Report)
• Leitao – The English Opening (WCH Edition – Theoretical Survey)
• Foisor – Woman’s Candidates Final (Instructive Review)
• Prusikin – The Power of Knight Pair(Instructive Lesson)
• Davies – The Maroczy Bind (Theoretical Survey)
• Kotronias – The King’s Indian Saemisch (Theoretical Survey)
• Perelshteyn – The Alekhine Defence (Theoretical Survey)
• Rogers – Telechess Olympiads (Roger’s Reminiscences)
• Griffin – Vaganian – Gulko, Baku 1977 (From Informant Archives)
• Barak Gonen – Correspondence Chess (Review)
Traditional sections: games, combinations, endings, Tournament reviews, the best game from the preceding volume and the most important theoretical novelty from the preceding volume.
In this book, German-English Grandmaster Mieses has selected 100 fascinating endgame compositions by several of the greatest endgame composers of the age, such as Kubbel, Rinck, Troitzky, the Platov Brothers and many more from the classic period of chess up to the conclusion of World War 1.
The material is split into eight chapters, covering all types of endgames.
All of the studies and the analysis have been re-examined by Carsten Hansen, adding a fascinating new perspective to these classic compositions.
There is lots of exciting material to examine and learn from for dedicated students.
Do you want a simple and practical method to counter Black’s kingside fianchetto defences after 1 d4? A line that takes the initiative from a very early stage and creates difficult practical problems? If so, then The Harry Attack (1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 h4!) is for you.
At first this looks like some sort of joke or, at the very least, a weird outlandish line. Aren’t we all taught to focus on development and control of the centre in the early stages? What’s 3 h4 got to do with that?
Perhaps surprisingly, this is a very difficult line for Black to counter effectively. This applies not just in practical play but also theoretically, where it is far from straightforward for Black even to find a route to equality. And when Black gets it wrong they are often on the receiving end of a very unpleasant miniature.
You may be thinking that surely the best chess engines can show how to counter this line? No! One of the unexpected features of leading engine play is their enthusiasm for shoving the h-pawn up the board and they fully concur that 3 h4! is a very decent move for White. Many leading players have taken the hint and 3 h4 is frequently seen at elite level.
Richard Palliser and Simon Williams (the GingerGM) provide a thorough guide to this fascinating line. They show how to adapt when Black chooses a King’s Indian set-up, a Grünfeld set-up, a Benoni set-up or even plays in Benko style.
The Harry Attack is easy to learn and is perfect for unsettling players steeped in the theory of their favourite Indian defences.
Anyone who plays the Sicilian Defence as Black must be prepared to meet a whole host of options for White known as the Anti-Sicilians. These includes popular choices such as the c3-Sicilian, the Grand Prix Attack, the Closed Sicilian, the King’s Indian Attack and all Bb5 lines, as well as numerous gambits and tricky sidelines which can be very difficult to meet for the unwary player. In this book, International Master Cyrus Lakdawala examines the Anti-Sicilian lines and provides repertoire options for Black against all of them. Using illustrative games, he explains the positional and tactical ideas for both sides, highlights important move-order issues and provides answers to all the key questions. This book tells you everything you need to know about facing the Anti-Sicilians with Black.
The Colle and London are opening systems for White starting with 1.d4. They are very popular choices at club level and for two very good reasons:
In this book, International Master Cyrus Lakdawala examines both openings in detail and provides a highly practical repertoire for White based on a mix of the Colle and the London. All the way through the reader is helped along by numerous notes, tips and exercises. This book tells you everything you need to know before taking your first steps with the Colle and London systems.
First Steps books are based around carefully selected instructive games which demonstrate exactly what both sides are trying to achieve. There is enough theory to enable the improving player to get to grips with the opening without feeling overwhelmed. If you want to take up a new opening, First Steps is the ideal place to start.