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British Chess Magazine (February 2024)
The Queen’s Gambit Accepted (1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4) has a long history and has always been popular at all levels of play. However, in the past few years it has undergone an explosion of interest, thanks to many new discoveries of possibilities for very dynamic play from Black. One of these is the line 1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4 3 e4 b5!?. This was previously thought to be a very poor line for Black but numerous recent games and investigations have completely changed this assessment. This is now almost the main line of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted and there is currently very little theoretical material on it.
Nicolas Yap analyses this line in forensic detail and also investigates other popular, counterattacking lines such as 3 e3 e5!?. The book is rounded off with suggestions to meet other White systems that involve 1 d4 but not 2 c4 (such as the London, Colle etc.) This makes the book a complete repertoire to face 1 d4.
– A complete repertoire for Black to counter 1 d4.
– The question and answer approach provides an excellent study method.
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Boost Your Chess 1 continues Artur Yusupov’s Fundamentals series, helping players to build their skills on solid foundations. Yusupov guides the reader towards a higher level of chess understanding using carefully selected positions and advice. This new understanding is then tested by a series of puzzles.
Artur Yusupov was ranked No. 3 in the world from 1986 to 1992, just behind the legendary Karpov and Kasparov. He has won everything there is to win in chess except for the World Championship. In recent years he has mainly worked as a chess trainer with players ranging from World Champion Anand to local amateurs in Germany, where he resides.
Winner of the 2009 Boleslavsky Medal from FIDE (the World Chess Federation) as the best instructional chess books in the world (ahead of Garry Kasparov and Mark Dvoretsky in 2nd and 3rd place).
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.
Build up your Chess with Artur Yusupov is for chess players who want to build their skills on solid foundations. Yusupov guides the reader towards a higher level of understanding using carefully selected positions and advice. This new understanding is then tested by a series of puzzles.
Artur Yusupov was ranked No. 3 in the world from 1986 to 1992, just behind the legendary World Champions Karpov and Kasparov. He has won everything there is to win in chess except for the World Championship. In recent years he has mainly worked as a chess trainer with players ranging from World Champion Anand to local amateurs in Germany, where he resides.
The English Defence (1 d4 e6 2 c4 b6) is a dynamic, counter-attacking line, initially investigated by English grandmasters. Black aims to set White difficult problems to solve at the very earliest stage of the game. Black’s play is provocative – aiming to lure White into establishing a big pawn centre. This is a risky strategy as White falls behind in development and Black switfly becomes very active. However, if White’s response is more circumspect then Black can often manoeuvre into favourable structures reminiscent of positions arising from the Nimzo-Indian Defence, the Queen’s Indian Defence or even the Dutch.
José González provides an excellent analysis of this complex opening and carves out a powerful repertoire for Black covering all lines after 1 d4. It is possible for White to avoid the "English battle" by playing either 2 Nf3 or even 2 e4 (a rare move for 1 d4 players but seen occasionally). Gonzalez champions an aggressive variant of the Dutch against 2 Nf3 and outlines a simple but effective French Defence repertoire to counter 2 e4.
Have you ever wondered why it takes grandmasters just seconds to see what's happening in a chess position? It's all about pawn structures, as Ivan Sokolov explained in his groundbreaking book Winning Chess Middlegames.
In his 2010 bestseller, Grandmaster Sokolov focused on structures arising from 1.d4 openings; in this new companion guide, 1.e4 players get their turn. This new volume covers a dozen topical structures including various pawn formations in the flexible Ruy Lopez, Italian and Petroff openings. But also Black's doubled f-pawn in the Rauzer Sicilian, the notorious Maroczy Bind, the mysterious Hedgehog, the versatile Sveshnikov and the paradoxical French Winawer. Deeply analysed top-level games illustrate the motifs in all these structures.
Club players who study Winning Chess Middlegames 1.e4 or 1.d4 will:
– significantly improve their middlegame skills
– develop an accurate sense of which positions suit their style
– gain new strategic and practical knowledge of openings
Ivan Sokolov's analysis is profound but accessible, and he doesn't take anything for granted. As reviewer Sean Marsh wrote of the first volume: "The lucid and informative explanations convey a large amount of genuine Grandmasterly wisdom. This is easily one of the best middlegame books of recent times."
Ivan Sokolov is a top grandmaster who was born in Bosnia and lives in the Netherlands. He is a former Yugoslav and Dutch Champion and has beaten World Champions Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand. As a coach, he led Uzbekistan to victory at the 2022 Chennai Olympiad. Sokolov has written a dozen highly acclaimed books.
Having you ever been tortured at the chessboard? If so, then you have probably been a victim of pressure play.
Elite players are brilliant exponents of pressure play. In situations where they have either a tiny advantage or no advantage at all they are highly adept at constantly setting problems for their unfortunate opponents. The position on the board may appear lifeless but they can probe and find plans and regroupings that will constantly ask their opponents difficult questions. These can be countered only by continual alert and accurate defence and we all know how difficult and wearing that can be.
The arch exponent of pressure play is world champion Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen is superb in this area of the game and consistently defeats world class opposition from simplified positions where he has no advantage whatsoever. How does he do it?
In this book, the highly experienced author and coach Neil McDonald analyses the finest examples of pressure play. In doing so he teases out the fundamental concepts that enable players like Carlsen to torture their opponents mercilessly.
– Paralyse the enemy pieces.
– Target the weakest squares on the board.
– Increase and exploit a space advantage.
Master pressure play and it will be your opponent on the rack, not you.
Boris Spassky is the most underappreciated World Champion in chess history, remembered as the Soviet who lost to Bobby Fischer in 1972. In this two-volume work, biographer extraordinaire Tibor Karolyi puts the focus on Spassky’s brilliant career and life story.
Born in 1937, Spassky barely escaped with his life when evacuating from the Siege of Leningrad as a young boy. This book tells the story of how that boy subsequently learned to play chess and rose through the Soviet ranks to become the strongest player in the world in the late 1960s.
International Master Tibor Karolyi is a renowned author and trainer from Hungary. His biographical works for Quality Chess have received glowing praise from readers and reviewers.
Have you ever wondered how chess grandmasters always seem to know which pieces need to be exchanged? Or how an attack is influenced by the number of pieces on the board? When should we keep the queens on, and when should we switch to an endgame?
Understanding Chess Exchanges shares expert insights into using exchanges as a strategic weapon. Your newfound knowledge will then be tested using exercises taken from elite modern practice. With a particular focus on Magnus Carlsen – the master of exchanges – this book reveals the principles behind a vital part of chess strategy.
Chess mastery is the art of knowing when principles should be followed and when they must be broken. This book guarantees that you will not only become familiar with the typical guidelines, but also learn about their exceptions. Filled with tips, principles and practical advice, Understanding Chess Exchanges is an invaluable asset to a chess player’s arsenal!
GM Amir Bagheri is an experienced player and coach from Monaco, and was the second-ever Iranian to achieve the grandmaster title.
Mohammad Reza Salehzadeh is a FIDE Trainer and respected chess coach from Iran.
In his heyday, Samuel Reshevsky was one of the great contenders for the world title and, according to Bobby Fischer, for a period of about ten years, from 1946 to 1956, he was the best player in the world.
This book contains sixty of his best games, all analysed and annotated.
It also includes exercises and answers to various questions that might arise in the mind of the reader.
I believe this is a good method, both for teaching and learning.
The author hopes that in this way the reader will learn from the magnificent play of Sammy Reshevsky, and grow to admire it as much as I do.
In this book the highly experienced grandmaster Milos Pavlovic outlines a powerful repertoire for White based on 1 d4. The variations are very much based on strategic themes where an understanding of plans is far more important than memorisation of lines and move orders. The author focuses on important positional considerations such as:
– Which pieces need to be traded off.
– On which squares will pieces be most effective.
– What is the best way to develop the initiative.
Nowadays many strong players try to beat opponents by learning sharp lines in the opening. However, it is also possible to do the same by obtaining positions where you have a great understanding of how to conduct the middlegame and thus can consistently outplay your opponent.
In Opening Repertoire: Strategic Play with 1 d4, Milos Pavlovic guides the reader through the chosen variations and carves out a complete repertoire for White. He examines all aspects of play and provides the reader with well-researched, fresh, and innovative analysis. Each annotated game has valuable lessons on the opening and contains instructive commentary on typical middlegame plans.
– A complete repertoire for White with 1 d4.
– A question and answer approach provides an excellent study method.