Cyrus Lakdawala does something no other chess writer has done before: he makes you reflect deeply about your style of play and its consequences. After reading Chess for Hawks you will be a stronger player because you have mastered an essential but neglected skill: you will know how to obey the position’s requirements instead of your natural inclination.
It teaches the most important patterns you need to know in order to develop and mobilize your pieces, manoeuvre your pawns into positions of strength, put pressure on your opponent, attack the enemy king, or execute standard sacrifices to get the initiative. Ambitious beginners and post-beginners who study this book will soon experience a significant improvement in their results.
In this new edition of his award-winning book, IM Herman Grooten presents a complete and structured course to amateur players on how to recognize key characteristics of all types of positions and how to make use of them to choose the right plan.
Kalinin helps players seeking the master title by showing how concrete knowledge leads to improved decisions at the board. He stresses the essence of the classics and the importance of human interaction in reaching analytical mastery.
In a clear and concise manner, Srokovski explains basic positional motifs like the strengths and weaknesses of pieces and pawns, of squares, files and diagonals.
Lakdawala teaches how to efficiently exploit a development lead, capitalize on an attack, identify and convert favourable imbalances, accumulate strategic advantages and other tools to increase your conversion rate. His examples are compelling, his explanations are captivating and often funny.
Yuri Razuvaev (1945-2012) was an outstanding Russian chess player. He had a refined positional style and for many years he was one of the leading Grandmasters in the Soviet Union. He also was a first-rate chess author and opening theoretician, always open to new ideas. But it was as a trainer that Razuvaev was truly world-class. The long list of prominent players he worked with includes Karpov, Kramnik, Gelfand, Lautier, Fressinet, Salov, Tomashevsky, Topalov and Kosteniuk. Both Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana had sessions with Yura, as his friends called him. It was his exceptional feeling for chess, his understanding of weaknesses and strong points in someone’s play, that made working with Razuvaev a privilege. Moreover, spending time with him was a joy because he was intelligent, cultured and witty. In this book, compiled by Boris Postovsky, dozens of chess players and contemporaries share anecdotes and insights into chess that Razuvaev gave them. Devoted to Chess also presents Razuvaev’s best games, accessibly analysed by himself and others. His finest articles and interviews on a wide variety of subjects are also included in the book. "Studying the creative heritage of Yuri Razuvaev will bring you great benefits", writes Vladimir Kramnik in his foreword.
It has been difficult for White to obtain any advantage in Sicilian sidelines, and this book therefore presents a complete repertoire for White in the most widely played main lines: the Open Sicilians with 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3. All of Black’s possible answers are covered.‘Dismantling the Sicilian’ is clearly organized, and each variation is presented with its history, its main ideas, its typical tactics and strategies, and with instructive games.
In this enlarged edition of a modern classic (first published in 1991) on the battle of chess ideas, grandmaster Mihai Suba developed the concept of dynamic potential in modern chess strategy.
The book provides valuable insight into the qualities that made Karpov such a great endgame player, maybe the greatest of all time.
International Master Tibor Karolyi has studied Carlsen’s career and selected more than 90 of his best endgames. He reviews them in chronological order to show how Magnus developed his skills. His technique and his choices are being explained in a manner that is easy to understand for club players.
Alexander Kalinin chronicles the amazing story of the first American Challenger since Bobby Fischer and follows his development from a pure attacker to a universal, all-round star. This selection of Caruana’s best and most instructive games, arranged in thematic chapters, is a perfect guide for amateur chess players, as there is plenty to be learned about all the skills that really matter.