The Queen’s Gambit is easily the most talked-about chess opening since the immensely popular Netflix TV series of the same name became a hit. The screen adventures of Beth Harmon have inspired thousands to start playing the Royal Game but didn’t offer any information on this highly popular chess opening. This book fills that gap.
German Grandmaster Michael Prusikin presents a solid but dynamic opening repertoire for Black against the Queen’s Gambit. He wants you to understand rather than memorize what is important. His primary focus is on explaining the relevant pawn structures and the middlegame ideas behind the lines he recommends.
Prusikin deals with every single variation of the Queen’s Gambit in a way that is highly accessible for club players but at the same time surprisingly effective and concise: the Catalan, Tartakower, Carlsbad, London, Colle, Veresov, and all the others. As a bonus, the FIDE Senior Trainer also provides responses to openings such as the Bird, Réti, and Nimzo-Larsen. It may seem unlikely, and yet it is true: in less than 200 pages, Countering the Queen’s Gambit has Black covered for really every first move except 1.e4!
To test your newly acquired insights in the tactical motifs and strategic ideas of the Queen’s Gambit, you are invited to solve 36 exercises in carefully selected key positions from actual games.
Former Russian Champion Alexei Bezgodov explains for a wide range of players how they can employ the skills of former World Champion Tigran Petrosian to deal with adversity in their own games. The aim of this book is to help amateur players to improve the standard of their defensive play. In many training programs a serious analysis of the art of defense is missing. That is why most club players are much better at attacking than at coping with difficult positions. This book will point the way to finding creative solutions and save lots of points. Written by former Russian Champion Alexei Bezgodov, on a subject that has been neglected in many training programs: defense.
On 30 April 2023, in Astana, Kazakhstan, Chinese grandmaster Ding Liren sensationally defeated Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi in a dramatic battle for the chess crown. Ding Liren not only became the 17th World Chess Champion, but he also won the hearts of chess fans across the globe with his incredible fighting spirit and disarming interviews. At the final press conference, the new champion said the match ‘reflected the deepest of his soul’.
Humble and almost vulnerable in his demeanour, Ding Liren is a formidable fighter with a rich inner chess world. Throughout his career, his creative output has been immense. His games feature outstanding precision, rationality and superior endgame technique on the one hand and a talent to find brilliant, imaginative solutions on the other. His stoicism in the face of adversity and ability to quickly learn from mistakes and adapt to his opponents is unique.
Few chess greats can boast that they reached first place in both the blitz and rapid world rankings and became World Champion in classical chess. Even fewer can claim an unbeaten streak of 100 classical games. That’s how special Ding Liren is.
In this best games collection, grandmaster Davorin Kuljasevic follows and explores Ding Liren’s rise from his first chess steps in provincial China to the top of the chess world. Making no secret of his admiration for this extraordinary chess genius, the author describes Ding Liren’s successes and setbacks and how these experiences shaped him as a player and a person.
Davorin Kuljasevic is an International Grandmaster born in Croatia. He graduated from Texas Tech University and is an experienced coach. His first book Beyond Material: Ignore the Face Value of Your Pieces was a finalist for the Boleslavsky-Averbakh Award, the best book prize of FIDE, the International Chess Federation. His second book, How To Study Chess on Your Own, was an international bestseller.
Do you want to do the same chess homework that world-famous grandmasters Fabiano Caruana, Robert Hess and Peter Heine Nielsen did in their formative years as chess players? This book will test you with hundreds of positions created by their coach Miron Sher (1952-2020). Just like Fabiano, Robert and Peter, you are not supposed to stop after the first move. You have to find the last move of the solution!
Miron Sher is one of those legendary coaches who got their chess education in the Soviet Union and in later years spread their knowledge in Western Europe and the United States. He was born in Ukraine, studied in Moscow, coached the Russian national team and emigrated to New York in 1997. There he taught at various schools and worked privately with dozens of students.
Dream Moves focuses on five themes that Sher considered important for chess improvement.
– An unprotected piece – the trigger to start thinking tactics!
– In-between moves – they help you spring a surprise on your opponent
– Open files – a fundamental element of chess strategy
– The 20% Rule – if your pawn has advanced to the 5th or 6th rank, moving it forward is quite often your best option
– Dream Move – dream about the final, decisive move, and you will find the way there
The book contains close to one hundred illustrated games and more than three hundred puzzles. Do as the legends did - and use these puzzles to sharpen your tactical skills and improve your understanding of chess.
Miron Sher (1952-2020) is chess grandmaster and legendary coach. He was born in Ukraine, won a dozen international tournaments as a player, and became famous as a trainer in the United States where he lived since 1997. In New York he taught chess at multiple schools, including the Dalton School, IS 318 and Stuyvesant High School. He worked privately with dozens of students such as Fabiano Caruana, Robert Hess and Peter Heine Nielsen.
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.
In this widely acclaimed chess classic, Russian trainer Mikhail Shereshevsky explains how to master the most important endgame principles. Where other endgame manuals focus on the basics and theoretical endgames, this book teaches the ‘big ideas’ that will help you find the most promising and most practical moves in any endgame.
Even in endgames, it helps to think schematically instead of trying to calculate every move. To maximize your winning chances, this invaluable manual will teach you these lessons:
- Do not hurry
- Centralize your king
- Fight for the initiative
- Exploit two weaknesses
- Exchange the right pieces at the right moment
Endgame Strategy is considered to be one of the most important endgame manuals. In comparison with the 1981 publication, this new edition has been thoroughly revised and the author has added dozens of new and inspiring positions.
The book is highly recommended by club players, coaches, and grandmasters alike. ‘I especially read the chapter “Do not hurry!” with pleasure; not just because I agree with what he says, but more importantly because it defines the playing style of Magnus Carlsen,’ said Grandmaster Simen Agdestein, long-time trainer of the Norwegian World Champion.
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.
Magnus Carlsen’s brilliant endgame play is one of the key reasons for his success. The World Chess Champion can win positions which look drawn to anybody else. And more than any other player, he is able to save bad endings.
For this second volume of Magnus Carlsen Endgame Virtuoso, International Master Tibor Karolyi has selected Carlsen’s best endgames from 2018-2022, whereas the first volume covered 1999-2017. Reviewing these new games and explaining what Magnus was doing, the author was thoroughly impressed. Even Carlsen, who in 2017 was already the best endgame player of all time with Anatoly Karpov, had managed to improve his skills further.
Carlsen has it all. He can find deep ideas, play very technically, and is exceptionally well-versed in strategic and tactical endgames. The author is convinced that this new selection contains even better and more instructive games than Volume one.
Karolyi explains the general ideas in the games and gives concrete variations. Exploring these annotated endgames, you will soon get a good sense of what is happening. You will find out that Carlsen does not rush unless it is necessary. You will learn how Carlsen increases the pressure and uses all available resources. And you will see that sooner or later, his opponents will start playing second-best moves, feeling uncomfortable, following up with some dubious decisions, and, finally, cracking.
Endgame Virtuoso Magnus Carlsen - Volume 2 is a highly instructive, inspiring and entertaining book. It will help you appreciate Magnus’ endgame magic and improve your skills in this important game phase.
Tibor Karolyi is an International Master, a former Hungarian Champion, a prolific chess author and a renowned trainer. For New In Chess, he wrote about Karpov and Carlsen.