Benjamin Katz is a renowned chess coach with over 20 years experience coaching students of all ability levels throughout the United States. He has helped numerous students improve and achieve chess success.
This book details the training program he has developed based on this extensive experience. It cultivates the core skill set required to advance beyond the basics in chess. Included are key strategies, basic endgame positions and techniques, information on what to do when you’re stuck, how to convert an advantage, and a high-level opening repertoire for both black and white.
There are also numerous practical exercises that utilize a combination of recent examples from the games of Benjamin’s students, as well as games played by the top players in the world, both contemporary and from the game’s history.
Four-time US Champion Yasser Seirawan provides a fascinating and highly entertaining account of his games and encounters with the world champions of chess including: Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Bobby Fischer, Boris Spassky, Tigran Petrosian, Mikhail Tal, Vassily Smyslov, Mikhail Botvinnik and Max Euwe. Having been involved in frequent battles against world champions over a 25-year period, Seirawan is in an ideal position to reveal how it really feels to be facing the legends of the game. He describes and analyses, in depth, his most memorable encounters - both famous victories and painful defeats, against the best chessplayers of the last 50 years. During this time Seirawan has also been highly active in off-the-board chess activities. This has brought him into close personal contact with many of these champions. In,"Chess Duels: My Games with the World Champions,"Seirawan recounts many stories involving these giants of the game - giving an intriguing insight into their personalities away from the board.
Chess Secrets is a series of books which uncover the mysteries of the most important aspects of chess, such as strategy, attack, defence, opening play, endgames, off-board preparation and mental attitude. In each book the author chooses and deeply studies a number of great players who have excelled in such aspects of the game, greatly influenced their peers and inspired all of us.
In Giants of Innovation, Craig Pritchett selects five chess legends whose play exemplifies outstandingly innovative attributes. Wilhelm Steinitz established the essential ground-rules for modern positional chess. Emanuel Lasker pioneered a new kind of total all-out battling chess. Mikhail Botvinnik taught us how to prepare and successfully play an entire range of complex modern opening systems. Viktor Korchnoi set particularly high standards in the art of defence and counter-attack. Vassily Ivanchuk, a modern byword for ingenuity and surprise, excels by constant creation.
Read this book and enhance your own skills. Understand how to inject more innovation into your own games.
The chess world has witnessed a great number of wonderfully gifted attacking players, geniuses who have dazzled the chess public with their brilliant masterpieces. Everyone has their own favourites, and in Chess Secrets: Great Attackers, Colin Crouch chooses three of his own: Garry Kasparov, Mikhail Tal and Leonid Stein. World Champions Kasparov and Tal need no introduction, while Stein was a highly creative and intuitive player with the ability to destroy the world's best players with his vicious attacks. Crouch examines phases of these players' careers, compares their differing approaches and styles, and highlights key attacking themes including the idea of controlled risk - in some sacrificial attacks even the greatest players can't always see everything to the end. A study of this book will help you to enhance your skills in one of the most crucial elements of the game.
Chess Secrets is a series of books which uncover the mysteries of the most important aspects of chess, such as strategy, attack, defence, opening play, endgames, off-board preparation and mental attitude. In each book the author studies a number of great players who have excelled in such aspects of the game, greatly influenced their peers and inspired all of us.
In Great Chess Romantics, Craig Pritchett selects five players, whose chess artistry expresses a deeply personal commitment to the discovery and revelation of great new truths and beauty on the chessboard. Anderssen defined romanticism's inherently dramatic and correct combinational core. Chigorin championed this essence in splendid opposition to an emerging new classical consensus. Réti revealed the extraordinary power of new flank openings. Larsen confounded the overly sober, scientific Soviet schoolÌ at innumerable turns. In the computer age, Morozevich constantly discovers new depths to chess, while simply oozing exquisite strokes in his best games.
In Heroes of Classical Chess, Craig Pritchett selects five great players whose style exemplifies classically direct, clear, energetic, tough, ambitious yet fundamentally correct chess playing attributes. Pritchett studies the major contributions they have made, compares their differing styles and discusses the critical influences they have had on the development of chess, on their peers and on all our games.
Read this book and enhance your own skills. Understand how to play in a classical style and win more games.
Many players are serious about their chess but become stuck at a certain playing strength. It’s rarely a lack of talent or practice or opening knowledge that holds them back. Usually they get left behind because they don’t know how to make best use of the time they have available to study chess. This book addresses this problem and is your self-improvement plan. It shows you how to work on your own games to root out mistakes. It will sharpen your calculation of variations. You will be challenged to find the best middlegame strategy. Endgame technique is also covered in detail. All topics are discussed with numerous examples and puzzles from the games of modern players such as Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and Viswanathan Anand. If you want your chess to leap forward it’s time to Coach Yourself!
Every chessplayer, from beginner to world champion, loves to win a game with a brilliant attacking display. However many, if not most, attacks that end in victory do so due to inaccurate defence. This may be due to simple tactical miscalculation or perhaps a more fundamental misunderstanding of the important principles of defence. Furthermore, many attacks that are launched are simply unsound but succeed because many players feel uncomfortable when forced to defend, get flustered and make mistakes. In this book, highly experienced chess author and coach, Neil McDonald addresses these issues.
Defensive skill is crucial in chess. Good, accurate defence can win a game just as well as a fine attacking display can, so expertise in this department is essential for any player wishing to improve their game. With thorough explanations, questions, and exercises, this book provides fascinating material to enable you to hone your defensive skill and not feel intimidated when your opponent hurls pieces at your king.