The Belgian master Edgard Colle was one of the most dynamic and active chess players of the 1920s and early 1930s. Though his international career lasted only ten years, Colle played in more than 50 tournaments, as well as a dozen matches. Moreover, he played exciting and beautiful chess, full of life, vigor, imagination and creativity. As with such greats as Pillsbury and Charousek, it was a tragedy for the game that his life was cut short, at just age 34.
Author Taylor Kingston has examined hundreds of Colle’s games, in an effort to understand his skills and style, his strengths and weaknesses, and present an informed, balanced picture of him as a player. Colle emerges as a courageous, audacious, and tenacious fighter, who transcended the limitations his frail body imposed, to battle the giants of his day and topple many of them. 110 of Colle’s best, most interesting, and representative games have been given deep and exacting computer analysis. This often revealed important aspects completely overlooked by earlier annotators, and overturned their analytical verdicts. But the computer’s iron logic is tempered always with a sympathetic understanding that Colle played, in the best sense, a very human kind of chess.
Though not intended as a tutorial on the Colle System, the book has many instructive examples of that opening. Additionally, there is an extensive excerpt from Max Euwe’s Gedenkboek Colle, several other memorial tributes, biographical information about many of Colle’s opponents, his full known tournament and match record, and all his available tournament crosstables.
We invite the reader to get acquainted with this wounded but valiant warrior, whom Hans Kmoch called a “chess master with the body of a doomed man and the spirit of an immortal hero.”
A comprehensive guide through the Najdorf Sicilian jungle that enables you to find your way to security and initiative with the black pieces.
The so called “rare lines” have become extremely popular in recent times, so we offer you a single volume “solution” to all the nuances and complications that may arise in these less common lines.
Over the years some of the variations covered in this book got a strong following among the professionals and amateurs alike (6.h3 in particular), while some remained less explored and essayed only by the very elite (6.a3, or 6.Qd3).
IM Szuhanek presents you his deep and diligent analysis of all the possible (and reasonable) White tries with focus on more common lines. Throughout the book you will find many improvements for both sides, but with author’s clear preference for the black side.
Now you got a highly practical weapon to tackle all the White’s pesky Najdorf options!
What you are holding in your hands is the natural follow up of Volume 1 where some “lesser” openings aft er 1.d4 d5 2.c4 were examined, as well as a couple of less popular variations of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted. This second Volume comprises all of the established main lines of the QGA aft er our recommended 3.e4 with the intention of giving you a full picture of this topical opening while helping you build a repertoire based on aggressive ideas. Objectively speaking, it is very hard for White to find an advantage in the event of the absolute main lines 3…Nf6 and 3…e5, but we believe we have done our duty. We scrutinized multiple interesting variations with the help of engines while applying our human understanding to select those lines that would be the most unpleasant for Black. Additionally, we tried to provide you with as many alternatives as possible so as not to become “victims” of a narrow repertoire.
Think Like a Super-GM is a unique collaboration combining the chess insights of an elite grandmaster with a scientific investigation into thinking at the chess board.
40 chess puzzles were shown to a panel of players ranging from occasional club players up to Super-GM and co-author Michael Adams. Researcher Philip Hurtado recorded not only the moves chosen, but also the detailed thought processes of every player in order to shed light on the mystery as to what exactly defines superior chess strength.
This book offers a unique opportunity for readers to not only solve the puzzles, but also compare their thinking to that of club players, strong amateurs, IMs, GMs and Michael Adams himself. With an additional Bonus Puzzle section and a fascinating Eyetracker experiment showing where different players focused their attention on the board, this is a chess improvement book like no other.
I am glad to welcome you to the second volume dedicated to the Benko Gambit. This volume examines the most basic lines. It is these lines that can be found most often at the board. We’ll take a look at the rare and tricky lines and move on to the more popular and classic lines.
In the first volume, in the Introduction, we touched on my personal attitude to this opening, which has been constantly changing over the course of the last 10 years. We touched upon the history of how the opening developed, noted who needed to play this opening and what to expect from it.
What do I want to highlight in this Introduction? This is what the reader will notice in this volume – that the lines have become more specific, sometimes requiring very accurate knowledge. The load on memory increases, but it will be rewarded a hundredfold, since the positions that arise are interesting and full of dynamic factors. In this volume, we look at positions that start after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6. We’ll start with the rarer continuations and end with the most popular and relevant ones.
In this book’s pages you will find tons of novelties not seen in practice, and in many of the lines I offer strong improvements. Many sources were reviewed, where the authors defended certain options from White’s point of view, while I defended Black’s side. In addition, this book has absorbed my attitude and approach to various positions, and I have been analyzing the Benko Gambit for more than 10 years! I wanted to approach each position from the point of view of a human, as close as possible to a practical game. In addition, even if this book becomes outdated at some point, I am sure that it will always be possible to improve the variations – but the backbone of studying this opening can be taken from this book; this is normal work on chess.
Tartakower’s Legendary Magnum Opus
The decade after the First World War was one of exciting change for the royal game. A new wave of dynamic chess was taking shape, led by the young lions Alekhine, Réti, Nimzowitsch, Breyer, Euwe, Tartakower and others. They were successfully asserting their new ideas against the Old Guard.
It was in this period that Savielly Tartakower’s magnificent work Die Hypermoderne Schachpartie was first released. A massive tome of over 500 densely packed pages, the first edition was published in German in 1924. It was an instant best-seller and a second edition soon followed with corrections and additional material.
At first glance, it appears to be an opening manual with incredibly comprehensive notes. But in fact it is much more. There are essays on strategy, tactics, endings, history and other chess-related topics, all presented in Tartakower’s wonderful writing style. However, don’t be fooled by the witty aphorisms and humor. The scope and depth of Tartakower’s annotations would be unmatched until ChessInformant came along in the 1960s. And the rise of the silicon monsters notwithstanding, there is much fertile opening theory to be found and explored.
The Hypermodern Game of Chess is the first English-language work of the Second Edition. Several hundred diagrams have been added and some reformatting of the text has been done to meet the expectations of 21st century readers. In every other respect, it preserves all the comprehensive content.
The Hypermodern Game of Chess is now available in English. See why it has inspired generations of chessplayers. See why Tartakower’s magnum opus is, as they say, the stuff of legend...
Who would be silly enough to resign a tournament game they were not losing? As Oops! I Resigned Again! shows, almost anyone – including some of the world’s best players!
Learn the stories behind the most embarrassing moment any chessplayer can suffer, while trying to outmatch the poor, unfortunate player who resigned. Indeed, this is the only chess puzzle book where you cannot do worse than the player in the game! Pit your wits against legends such as Kramnik, Nunn, Tarrasch and Timman, knowing that they failed the test and that you can, perhaps, do better.
Australian Grandmaster Ian Rogers has assembled 100 extraordinary positions in themed sets of 5 puzzles designed to both baffle and delight the solver, in a format which makes it easy to sneak a look at the answer!
With a foreword written by US Olympian Sam Shankland – baring his soul about his own silly resignation at a top level tournament – Oops! I Resigned Again! is a rare treat for chessplayers of all strengths, who after finishing the book will fervently hope never to have to say... Oops!
It is hard to understate the importance of tactic ability to overall chess proficiency. Of course other elements such as a knowledge of opening play and an understanding of strategy are also important. However, it is undoubtedly the case that 99% of games are won or lost because one player either spots or overlooks a tactic. Consider your own games and just imagine how much stronger you would be if you never overlooked a tactical idea.
The good news is that your tactical ability is not some genetically-acquired unalterable trait. Tactical ability can always be improved through the application of diligent practice. Tactical themes are repetitive. The same arrangements of pieces occur again and again and a continual study of the subtle interactions between the forces will inevitably lead to a greater sharpness in actual play.
In Tactical Training, experienced chess coach and prolific author Cyrus Lakdawala guides the reader through numerous tactical themes. Topics include:
– Checkmating patterns,
– The 32 major combinational concepts,
– Numerous positions ranked in terms of level of difficulty.
The final chapter focuses on a 2020 online match between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, currently the top two ranked players in blitz, the form of chess where tactics predominate.
Goethe once wrote, “Everything is both simpler than we can imagine, and more complicated than we can conceive.” He could well have had chess endgames in mind. Endgames have fewer pieces on the board than middlegames but this does not necessarily make them “easier” to play or understand.
Tactical expertise is, understandably, generally associated with middlegame (and sometimes opening) positions. However, tactics are also crucial in endgames – a point that is sometimes overlooked. Even some quite simple looking pawn endgames can feature complex tactical ideas. Tactics in endgames also tend to be very different to middlegame tactics. As well as the familiar themes of pins, skewers and forks, endgames also feature unique concepts that rarely occur in middlegames such as pawn breakthroughs, manoeuvring for zugzwang and active use of the king as an aggressive unit.
In this book the highly experienced chess author and coach Cyrus Lakdawala guides the reader through the complexities of endgame tactical play. Lakdawala assembles positions that are most effective to improve tactical ability. Work your way through this book and you will undoubtedly see the results in your own games.
International Master Tibor Karolyi and FIDE Master Tigran Gyozalyan have written a comprehensive two-volume treatise on the life and games of Tigran Petrosian, who was world champion from 1963-1969. The present Volume II takes the reader on a journey from Tigran’s victory in the 1963 world title match against Mikhail Botvinnik, when he firmly established himself as the best player in the world, through his next two title matches against Boris Spassky in 1966 and 1969 and subsequent candidates matches against Bobby Fischer, Victor Korchnoi and other world-class players of the era. It covers all his tournaments and matches of the second half of his career, ending with his final games in 1983.
Karolyi and Gyozalyan provide deep modern analysis of 175 full games and fragments, and summarise almost all known games played by Petrosian in the period. They also provide considerable background colour on each game, with round-by-round analysis of tournaments and matches in which they were played. Many of these games have not previously been analysed in detail in modern books, and those that were have nevertheless been subjected to considerably improved analysis.
Petrosian’s opponents in Volume II include world champions and challengers Kasparov, Karpov, Fischer, Spassky, Tal, Smyslov, Botvinnik, Korchnoi, and Bronstein, as well as leading players such as Timman, Larsen, Reshevsky, Beliavsky, Polugaevsky, Portisch, Romanishin, and many others. There is a special focus on his coaches Suetin and Zaitsev.
An added bonus is the inclusion of rare photos taken from private collections in Georgia and Armenia, many of which have never before been published in the West.
For nearly fifty years grandmasters and amateurs alike have been making their annual pilgrimage to the World Open. Legendary organizer Bill Goichberg created the model of this iconic event in American chess: large entry fees, large prizes, and no-frills. Every year around the 4th of July, Philadelphia is the scene of countless epic battles at the board.
Joel Benjamin and Harold Scott examined hundreds of games and conducted a series of interviews with what they call the Heroes of the World Open, players who won the tournament on multiple occasions. What they wanted to investigate was: why have some players been so consistent in their efforts, always battling for the top prizes? Benjamin and Scott discovered that many different paths were taken on the road to victory, but that the Heroes definitely had one common factor: their fighting spirit!
The authors present the history of the World Open from its humble beginnings to the juggernaut it has become today. There are many entertaining stories and scandals that the reader will enjoy. This rich book holds a fantastic collection of the very best games that were crucial in deciding the outcome of the tournament as well as a selection of exciting tactics. Winning the World Open is as entertaining as it is instructive. Not only the many thousands of players that participated will find it an irresistible read.