How Magnus Carlsen Became the Youngest Chess Grandmaster in the World is the fairy-tale-like story of his rise.
Magnus Carlsen is arguably the strongest player of all time. His dominance is such that every loss comes as a shock. They remind us that even he has his weak moments. In fact, identifying the root causes of his losses holds valuable lessons for all players. Cyrus Lakdawala’s search starts with a series of Magnus wins and draws to give the reader a feel for how incredibly difficult it is to beat him. The World Champion’s arsenal is awesome: a superlative ability to calculate, near-perfect intuition, probably the best endgame technique ever, a wide and creative opening repertoire, a willingness to unbalance the position almost anytime, and last but not least: his unparalleled will to win. How to Beat Magnus Carlsen has a thematic structure, which, together with Lakdawala’s uniquely accessible style, makes its lessons easy to digest. Sometimes even Magnus gets outplayed, sometimes he over-presses and goes over the cliff’s edge, and sometimes he fails to find the correct plan. And yes, even Magnus Carlsen commits straightforward blunders. Lakdawala explains the how and the why. It’s wonderful to have a World Champion who is not just incredibly strong, but who is also happy to experiment and take risks. That’s what makes Magnus Carlsen such a fascinating chess player. And that’s why he is the hero of this book. There is no doubt that Carlsen has examined all his losses under a microscope. If he benefits from this process, then so will we.
This book is based on real amateur games and shows how an average club player can proceed through the ranks and reach master level. It is a hard struggle, with set-backs and disappointments. Just like real life. Alex Dunne guides the reader in the more than 50 games they will be playing and offers lots of practical, straightforward and effective advice. He explains when and how to activate your pieces and how to recognize and punish the errors that opponents are bound to make. At the end of the book, experience, technique and confidence will have improved in such a way that the first win against a master will not come as a big surprise. After all, the reader will have reached master level! This is an improved and extended edition of the 1992 bestselling classic.
Study chess without wasting your time and energy! Every chess player wants to improve, but many, if not most, lack the tools or the discipline to study in an effective way. With so much material on offer, the eternal question is: ‘How can I study chess without wasting my time and energy?’ Davorin Kuljasevic provides the full and ultimate answer, as he presents a structured study approach that has long-term improvement value. He explains how to study and what to study, offers specific advice for the various stages of the game and points out how to integrate all elements in an actionable study plan. - How do you optimize your learning process? - How do you develop good study habits and get rid of useless ones? - What study resources are appropriate for players of different levels? Many self-improvement guides are essentially little more than a collection of exercises. Davorin Kuljasevic reflects on learning techniques and priorities in a fundamental way. And although this is not an exercise book, it is full of instructive examples looked at from unusual angles. To provide a solid self-study framework, Kuljasevic categorizes lots of important aspects of chess study in a guide that is rich in illustrative tables, figures and bullet points. Anyone, from casual player to chess professional, will take away a multitude of original learning methods and valuable practical improvement ideas.
This repertoire is not based on forcing variations but on understanding the underlying principles and techniques. As a result your opponent will not be able to surprise you because you forgot to check recent novelties
In this book IM Arthur van de Oudeweetering supplies building blocks for your chess knowledge. In short chapters he presents lots of well-defined subjects, easy to remember because of their specific elements. After working with this book you will experience something wonderful: your mind and memory will be triggered much easier and more frequently. An increasing number of positions, pawn structures and piece placements will automatically activate your chess knowledge. As a result, you will simply find the right move more often and more quickly!
Instruction + exercises according to the old Soviet chess school. Experienced Russian Grandmaster Yakov Neishtadt reveals the training material that was used in Soviet times to build up young masters
Invisible Chess Moves with its many unique examples, instructive explanations and illuminating tests, will teach how to discover your blind spots and see the moves which remain invisible for others. Your results at the board will improve dramatically because your brain will stop blocking winning ideas..
Seven years after his acclaimed and bestselling The Kaufman Repertoire for Black and White, Grandmaster Larry Kaufman is back and presents a completely new White repertoire with 1.e4 aiming for an objective advantage in the simplest practical manner. The Black repertoire from his previous book has been thoroughly revised and updated, with some crucial chapters replaced. This is the first opening book that is primarily based on Monte Carlo Search, a revolutionary algorithm that has made chess engines much stronger and more geared towards practical, human chess. The highly original analysis has resulted in many improvements on existing theory.
Sielecki has created a reliable set of opening lines for chess players of almost all levels. The major objective is to dominate Black from the opening, by simple means. You don’t need to sacrifice anything or memorize long tactical lines. His main concept is for White to play 1.d4, 2.Nf3, 3.g3, 4.Bg2, 5.0-0 and in most cases 6.c4. Sielecki developed this repertoire while working with students who were looking for something that was easy to understand and easy to learn. This new 1.d4 repertoire may be even easier to master than his 1.e4 recommendations, because it is such a coherent system. Sielecki always clearly explains the plans and counterplans and keeps you focussed on what the position requires. Ambitious players rated 1500 or higher will get great value out of studying this extremely accessible book.
Sielecki always clearly explains the plans and counterplans and keeps you focussed on what the position requires. Ambitious players rated 1500 or higher will get great value out of studying this extremely accessible book.
The Basman-Sale Variation is a relatively unexplored weapon for Black in the Sicilian Defence. The advantages are clear: it is surprising, aggressive and easy to learn. Compared to the complexity of mainstream Sicilian variations it requires little theoretical preparation, while you don’t run excessive risks.