If you play chess for blood, it makes sense to learn the violent tactics that feature in the openings that you play.

Good command of strategy and tactics are the key to success in chess. Tactical skill can enhanceyour strategic ability, by broadening the range of positions where you know you can exploit a weakness in your opponent’s position. In the Sac & Mate series, Bill Harvey helps you hone your tactics with a focus on sudden piece sacrifices to leave the opposing king fatally exposed. Arranged by level of difficulty from two-move shockers to four-move combinations, Volume 1 presents the best tactical shots by famous chessplayers from Napoleon and Captain Evans (of Evans Gambit fame) in the early 1800s to Bobby Fischer and Mikhail Tal in 1960.

Good command of strategy and tactics are the key to success in chess. Tactical skill can enhance your strategic ability, by broadening the range of positions where you know you can exploit a weakness in your opponent’s position. Arranged by level of difficulty from two-move shockers to four-move combinations, Volume 2 presents the best tactical shots by famous chessplayers from Boris Spassky and Bent Larsen in the early 1960s to Garry Kasparov and Vishy Anand in the late ’90s.

Good command of strategy and tactics are the key to success in chess. Tactical skill can enhance your strategic ability, by broadening the range of positions where you know you can exploit a weakness in your opponent’s position. Arranged by level of difficulty from two-move shockers to four-move combinations, Volume 3 presents the best tactical shots by famous chessplayers of the new millennium from Vladimir Kramnik to Magnus Carlsen.

Simple Attacking Plans is a classic right from the get-go

The Hedgehog is a thoroughly modern defense where flexibility and understanding trump rote memorization. Using deeply annotated critical games from international practice, GM Sergey Shipov traces the Hedgehog’s development – from its origins as a way to avoid well-trodden paths to its current status as a respected weapon in Black’s armory.

The Hedgehog lives! GM Sergey Shipov concludes his monumental investigation of this counterattacking system for Black with in-depth coverage of formations arising from 1.e4 and 1.d4. Sparing no effort to discover best play for both sides, he presents White’s most promising plans and breathes new life into variations that – according to theory – had turned the Hedgehog into an endangered species. Like its companion volume focusing on the English Opening, this is no dry reference manual, but a labor of love and a lively exposition of the opening’s strategic basis and typical tactical ideas. Along the way, the reader is treated to the author’s wide-ranging observations on such topics as the usefulness of computers in opening analysis; the dangers of narrow thinking; and the value of optimism to a chessplayer’s rating. The Hedgehog is an unconventional opening requiring unconventional treatment by both Black and White. Sit down with one of its foremost experts and learn how elite players including Fischer, Karpov, and Judit Polgar honed it into a formidable weapon.

In The Czech Benoni in Action, two practitioners of this little-known but sound counterattacking system join forces to show how you can pose novel problems for opponents of all strengths, leaving them to fend for themselves as early as move 3.

Faced with the novel challenges of The Elshad System, your opponent will have to rely on his own resources instead of cranking out deep theory. Avoid those symmetrical drawing variations from unambitious opponents playing White. Play the Elshad and experience once again what it’s like to play fresh, fighting chess!

More opening outrage and mayhem! The author of the 2017 groundbreaking study The Elshad System once again defies the principles of opening play – this time from White’s side of the board with 1.c3, 2.Qa4, and a quick advance of the kingside pawns. In The Elshad System for White, FM Igor Nemtsev surveys Black’s most common responses to this creative opening, including the King’s Indian, Dutch, and big-center setups. Conventional approaches are hazardous for Black: unexpected tactics abound, and White is not afraid to sacrifice material for a sudden attack. Not even grandmasters tread safely in the Elshad minefield. Break free from the shackles of memorized variations and stereotyped book lines. Challenge your opponent on the first move with The Elshad System for White!

The Fighting Dragon showcases a variety of ways for Black to handle White’s responses. After taking in the key concepts, aspiring Dragon players can then deepen their understanding with three dozen critical test positions.

Chess master, author, and renowned teacher Dan Heisman shows you the whys and the hows of annotating your games. Using entertaining clashes from four decades of tournament play, Heisman traces his own development as a player and analyst, illustrating how his method works in practice.11