Working on chess tactics and checkmates will help you win more games. It develops your pattern recognition and your ‘board vision’ – your ability to capitalize on opportunities. This Workbook features a complete set of fundamental tactics, checkmate patterns, exercises, hints, and solutions.

Peter Giannatos selected 738 exercises based on ten years of experience with thousands of pupils at the prize-winning Charlotte Chess Center. All problems are clean, without unnecessary fluff that detracts from their instructive value. The Workbook has ample room for writing down the solutions to the exercises. This is helpful for both students and coaches, who can assign homework from the book without having to worry about being unable to review the solutions. And writing down the correct chess moves will greatly accelerate your learning process.

Everyone’s First Chess Workbook offers you a treasure trove of chess knowledge and more than enough lessons to keep you busy for a year!

Your chess engine can do so much more than just calculate variations!

Every chess player, from club level up, can improve their game by using engines. That is the message of Matthew Sadler’s thought-provoking new book, based on many years of experience with the world’s best chess software. You may not be able to replicate their dazzling-deep calculations, but there is so much more your engine can do for you than just checking variations!

В этой книге представлены редкие и интересные дебютные варианты (за белых), которые призваны быстро подготовить вас к партии или соревнованию. Также вы сможете познакомиться с ловушками, теоретическими новинками и оригинальными анализами действующего гроссмейстера. Здесь вы найдёте и позиции для решения, которые помогут улучшить вашу тактическую подготовку.

Книга предназначена для широкого круга читателей, увлечённых шахматами.

В своей новой работе авторитетный гроссмейстер, тренер и автор рассказывает об уникальном турнире претендентов, который из-за пандемии растянулся на 400 с лишним дней: первый круг был сыгран в Екатеринбурге весной 2020 года, второй – только через год. Автор подробно анализирует все 56 поединков ведущих гроссмейстеров мира, делая упор на психологическую составляющую: пытается объяснить, почему игроки принимали за доской и при подготовке то или иное решение. Турнир отличался невероятным накалом борьбы и порадовал любителей шахмат множеством ярких партий. Первое место завоевал российский гроссмейстер Ян Непомнящий, который получил право сыграть матч за корону с чемпионом мира Магнусом Карлсеном (Норвегия). «Талант и мужество, проявленные лучшими шахматистами мира во время всемирной беды, достойны своей летописи» (В. Тукмаков). Дополняет книгу интервью Яна Непомнящего, которое он дал «по горячим следам» – в день окончания турнира претендентов. Для широкого круга любителей шахмат. 

Книга гроссмейстера Ильи Смирина «Сицилианские сражения» – не дебютная работа, она о том, что происходит на доске уже после воспроизведения теоретических ходов. Автор, признанный эксперт по Сицилианской защите, разъясняет свое видение позиционных и, особенно, динамических возможностей дебюта. Структура этой книги такая же, как и предыдущей – «Староиндийские сражения». Каждую из 10-ти глав предваряет подборка упражнений по рассматриваемой теме, дается краткий обзор содержания на одном или более примерах, в которых тема раскрывается максимально ясно. Затем эта же тема, но в уже более сложных игровых «декорациях» изучается на партиях автора.

Большое число дополнительных партий (в том числе и в примечаниях) автора и других шахматистов помогает лучшему восприятию дебютных идей.

В книге есть всё – и жертвы, и позиционные шедевры, что должно сделать ее чтение увлекательным.

В своей новой книге гроссмейстер Зенон Франко глубоко анализирует 30 «чёрных» поучительных побед (включая партии 2020 года) чемпиона мира Магнуса Карлсена. Книга не перегружена вариантами, акцент – на подробных объяснениях в стиле «ход за ходом», что формирует идеальную платформу для изучения шахмат. В «опорных» точках каждой партии читателю предлагаются тестовые вопросы, что помогает и практическому изучению ключевых приемов шахматной игры, и надежному усвоению обретаемых знаний. Вопросы и ответы вовлекают читателя в процесс обучения и помогают ему отслеживать рост своей шахматной силы. Большинство партий взято из недавнего творчества Карлсена. Почти все его соперники супергроссмейстеры, – экс-чемпионы мира Виши Ананд и Владимир Крамник, а также Фабиано Каруана, Сергей Карякин, Шахрияр Мамедьяров, Алексей Широв, Максим Вашье-Лаграв, Левон Аронян, Аниш Гири и др. 

Книга международного мастера Максима Четверика посвящена дебютным экспериментам, предпринятым за доской (как правило, с классическим контролем времени) игроками в гроссмейстерском чине. 50 партий, приведенных полностью и 33 тестовых задания иллюстрируют необычные разветвления в полном спектре шахматных начал.

Исследование новых и возрождение старых дебютных редкостей актуально в связи с бурным развитием теории. Освоение длинных вариантов требует недюжинной памяти и более подходит шахматным профессионалам. На примерах креативного творчества гроссмейстеров читателю предлагается оценить качество дебютного эксперимента и решить – уместно ли взять на вооружение идею титулованного игрока.

"We talk a lot about defence in chess but rarely try to break this major notion down into elements that constitute it and, importantly, that we can systematically learn. This book does exactly that. It is suitable for players of all levels aiming to improve their game. It may be especially appropriate for coaches because of its systematized character."

GM Adrian Mikhalchishin

В книге даётся аналитический обзор всех основных шахматных начал, проиллюстрированных содержательными партиями, включая партии самого последнего времени.

Предпочтение отдано тем дебютным системам, вариантам и ходам, которые выдержали самое серьёзное из всех испытаний - испытание временем. Новое издание дополнено и переработано коренным образом - внесены существенные изменения в аналитическую часть книги с учётом последних достижений современной шахматный теории. Особое внимание в разделе партий уделено творчеству чемпиона мира Магнуса Карлсена.

Книга поможет освоить премудрости дебютной теории не только начинающим шахматистам, но будет полезна и более опытным игрокам.

· 64 deeply annotated instructive games

· 5 areas of positional sacrifice

· Carefully selected exercises with solutions

Strategic Concepts, Typical Plans and Tactical Themes 

The London System is being played by an ever increasing number of players, and it’s easy to see why. Against virtually every Black defence after 1.d4 it offers White an easy-to-learn and reliable set of lines. In the process, White has interesting choices between strategic or more aggressive approaches, while avoiding loads of opening theory. Ideal for players who don’t have much time to study.

Have you ever wondered why you do well in certain tournaments and not in others? If your opening choices are the right ones? If your attacking play is good, bad, or Tinder swipe left ugly?

In this entertaining account, the author explains how to achieve success in chess we need to understand our what works for us, but to achieve true mastery we should prepare to go beyond our zone of comfort.

Along the way he takes us on a journey through his own world of discovery and explains how he became one of the best chess players in England. It’s a deeply honest and at times tragicomic memoir as he also reveals his strategy for taking on his biggest rivals and how best to use computers to improve your chess.

Aleksandr Rakhmanov was born on 28 August 1989 in Cherepovets, Russia, and started to play chess at the age of seven. He became an IM in 2006, a GM in 2007 and a FIDE trainer in 2020. His current rating is 2651. His peak ratings are 2676 (classical), 2721 (rapid) and 2704 (blitz). In 2007 he won a hat-trick of bronze medals at the Russian, European and World U-18 championships. In 2017 he took 21st place in the World Rapid Championship in Riyadh and in 2019 won gold medal on 3rd board in the European Club Cup in Montenegro, took 18th place in the FIDE Grand Swiss, probably the strongest chess open ever, and participated in the World Cup. As a chess tourist Aleksandr likes to travel and has visited about fifty countries around the world.

"Half a century ago I left a country whose red color dominated a large portion of the world map. One way or another, the fate of almost every single person described in this book is forever linked with that now non-existent empire.

Many of them ended up beyond its borders too. Cultures and traditions, and certainly not least of all a Soviet mentality, couldn’t have just left them without a trace.

Having been transplanted into a different environment, they had to play the role of themselves, apart from certain corrections with regard to the tastes and customs of a ew society.

Nevertheless, every one of them, both those who left the Soviet Union and those who stayed behind, were forever linked by one common united phenomenon: they all belonged to the Soviet school of chess."

The Secret Ingredient is a grandmaster guide to maximizing your chess results, focusing on key elements of practical play which have received little to no attention in previous chess literature.

How exactly can we best make use of computers? What’s the ideal, step-by-step way to prepare against a specific opponent? How can we optimize our time management at the board? And what’s the one key skill that separates the best players from those who have yet to reach their full potential? GM Jan Markos sheds light on these topics and many more, helped by the world-class insights of his good friend GM David Navara.

The legendary Bobby Fischer would likely vote for the bishop. Other authorities like Nimzowitsch would prefer the knight. The truth is somewhere in the middle.

Of course, it is clear a bishop usually dominates in open positions while the knight should be preferred in blocked positions. But what does that “usually” mean? Are there exceptions? Sure, a bishop can dominate even in a blocked position if the controlled diagonal is important. Further, the knight can dominate in open positions if there is a good outpost or influential place for it.

The Dutch is renowned as a fighting weapon against 1.d4, as 1...f5 immediately sets up an unbalanced struggle. Then Black’s kingside fianchetto, which defines the Leningrad Dutch, allows pawn-storming play in similar style to the King’s Indian Defence. Mihail Marin is the ideal author to explain both the strategic ideas and the latest theory.

Leningrad Dutch covers lines where White also fianchettoes the king’s bishop – these lines are the critical test of the Leningrad. The companion volume, Dutch Sidelines, completes Black’s Dutch repertoire.

BRAK NA MAGAZYNIE - produkt może zostać sprowadzony "NA ZAMÓWIENIE" 

Coffeehouse Repertoire is a 1.e4 player’s dream: an arsenal of ideas from a world-class grandmaster to surprise and confound your opponents, combining coffeehouse trickery with complete theoretical soundness.

In Volume 1, GM Gawain Jones shows how to put pressure on the Sicilian, Caro-Kann, Scandinavian and Alekhine’s Defences, using lines which feature a potent combination of surprise value, objective soundness and practical effectiveness.

The Coffeehouse 1.e4 Repertoire will be completed in Volume 2, which covers 1...e5, plus the French, Pirc, Modern, Philidor and other miscellaneous Defences.

The first ever English translation of this remarkable book, giving the inside story on the 1971 match.

What does a chess player need who is familiar with the rules, but often gets into trouble right away in the opening?

This question was the starting point for the authors before they began to compile their material. The result is a book that gives explanations to help the reader understand the 'Queen's Gambit' – and instructions to show him how to use it.

And no matter if he is little or even completely unfamiliar with opening theory, this book gives him easy access to this difficult and comprehensive field. The ideas and plans behind each line are explained in detail to ensure that the reader understands them properly instead of just playing moves that he has learned by heart. Even the sense and purpose of single moves are ex- plained, if they are not quite obvious.

Based on the knowledge that the reader will surely acquire by studying this book, it will be easy to build a game and play interesting, entertaining and – last but not least – successful chess.

An aggressive, dynamic approach for meeting 1.d4

This book considers a gambit treatment of the Slav and the Semi-Slav.

White offers the c4-pawn in order to get a space advantage and a long-term initiative. It also covers the Closed Catalan and the modern line 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.g3 0-0 6.Bg2 dxc4 7.Ne5. The author’s idea is to throw 1...d5 players off their comfort zone by dragging them into sharp unbalanced positions. If you are fed up with all the mainstream Slav/Meran theory out-there, this book will offer you new refreshing approaches for both sides.

Grandmaster Kiril Georgiev has been one of the strongest Bulgarian players for many years. He was a Junior World Champion and a bronze medalist in Europe. He has played in 15 Olympiads and also coached Bulgarian national team. His peak rating was in the world's top ten. Kiril wrote the books The Sharpest Sicilian, Squeezing the Gambits, Fighting the London System and The Modern English.

The author presents a full opening repertory for the club player, which is analysed in seven volumes. In the books you will find many novelties for both sides, with a full move-to-move presentation. Furthermore, the reader will get access to middlegame strategies, endgame techniques and common tactical motifs, which are patterning the proposed variations.

With the seventh volume Grivas is completing the full opening repertoire!

A total of over 2000 pages in 7 books will give you a chance of having a solid, long time lasting opening repertoire which will make you feel confident in your tournament games.

A great deal for a player who just wants to open the book and get to a solid level in the opening theory instead of spending hundreds of hours on the opening studies.

In the seventh and last volume the openings of the Benoni Defence, the Old Indian Defence, the Modern Defence, the Polish Defence and Various Sidelines are presented.

The author presents a full opening repertory for the club player, which is analysed in seven volumes. In the books you will find many novelties for both sides, with a full move-to-move presentation. Furthermore, the reader will get access to middlegame strategies, endgame techniques and common tactical motifs, which are patterning the proposed variations.

In the sixth volume the openings of the the Janowski Defence, the Orthodox Defence, the Cambridge Springs Defence, Various Slav Systems and the Tartakower Defence are presented.

The author presents a full opening repertory for the club player, which is analyzed in six volumes. In the books, you will find many novelties for both sides, with a full move-to-move presentation. Furthermore, the reader will get access to middlegame strategies, endgame techniques, and common tactical motifs, which are patterning the proposed variations.

In the fifth volume, the openings of the Chigorin Defence, the Queen's Gambit Declined, the Tarrasch Defence, and the Semi-Tarrasch Defence are presented.

The Daunting Domain of Queen Endgames Explained!

Knowing the abilities and limitations of the powerful queen is very valuable for mastering the secrets of the royal game, and this can be studied best in the endgame.

Queen endgames are very difficult, if only for purely mathematical reasons – the queen is the most mobile peace in chess, and the amount of possible options is incomparably higher than in any other type of endgames.

This book follows a dual philosophy as in the three previous works by the same authors: Understanding Rook Endgames, Understanding Minor Piece Endgames and Understanding Rook vs. Minor Piece Endgames. The 7-piece endings are dealt with in great detail. They are often so complex that pre-tablebase analysis almost always contains errors. Many new discoveries are revealed here.

But to really understand the fight of a queen against a queen or minor pieces with rooks, these theoretical positions are of course not enough. So subchapters on the principles of each material configuration have been added.

Grandmaster Igor Zaitsev ranks as one of the most creative chess minds ever in the history of the royal game. This is his book of secrets and methods, his remarkable life’s work.

Zaitsev unearthed astonishing ideas which even giants of the game had overlooked. World champions Tigran Petrosian and Anatoly Karpov insisted on Zaitsev’s analytical help in their matches, wanting to be first to play his profound discoveries, such as the famous Zaitsev Variation of the Ruy Lopez.

Zaitsev was himself a tournament champion. With his sharp, combinative style, he won dozens of “Most Beautiful Game” awards. Many of these games provide context for his lessons.

But Zaitsev is even more than a renowned coach and competitor. Part analyst, part champion, part chess philosopher, and part chess poet, he reveals the underlying logic and beauty of chess in a way no one else has ever done.

In his eye-opening title chapter, “Attacking the Strongpoint,” Zaitsev makes explicitly clear a common strategic element never formalized until this book. Often overlooked by amateurs and even GMs, the idea can lead to winning tactics in many games!

Backed up by top-level games, Zaitsev also provides deep-level explanations about:

- Combinations and Piece Harmony

- Strategy and Structure

- Learning from the Cycle of Chess Epochs

- The Role of Reason and Judgment

- The Chess Law of Conservation of Energy

- Strategy: Evolution vs. Revolution, Recognizing a Favorable Structure

- As you read Zaitsev, you’ll often find yourself thinking, “Ah, now I get it!&rdquo

The volume is topped off by supplemental games, a complete autobiography by Zaitsev, a special foreword by world champion Garry Kasparov, as well as tributes and memories from world champion Anatoly Karpov and famed coach Mark Dvoretsky.

In the first book ever exclusively devoted to the Exchange French Variation, American grandmaster Alex Fishbein recognizes that the Exchange French is an opening for a player who likes active piece play, fights for the initiative, excels in positions with possibilities on both sides of the board, and finds strategic and tactical nuances that arise out of almost nothing. And if you play the French as Black, then this book will help you deal with White’s 3.exd5.

Authors of French Defense books from the black perspective have recognized for a while that there is no draw here at all and have proposed lines where Black can create interesting play. Indeed, both sides can create complications. The author shows that playing “boring” moves is actually risky with both White and Black. The Exchange French is a vibrant opening, just like any other, and yet there has been very little literature showing how to play it from the white side. That void is filled with this book.

While the main point of this book is to build a White repertoire, any player of the Black side of the French will benefit by reading it. A good number of the sample games end well for Black, whereas in the games in which White gains the upper hand, Fishbein is careful to note improvements for the second player. I have been playing and writing about the French Defense, including this variation, for many years, but I came across a lot that I hadn’t known in nearly every sub-variation.

I suspect that most readers of this book will be pleasantly surprised to find out how rich the play can become in the French Exchange Variation. That alone is enough to reward a careful reading, and Fishbein’s careful exposition of lines and strategies will undoubtedly translate into extra points over the board. – from the Foreword by John Watson

A Memoir of Players, Games and Engines

Larry Kaufman can safely be called an exceptional chess grandmaster

Larry Kaufman started out as a prodigy, however not in chess but as a whizz kid in science and math. He excels at shogi (Japanese chess) and Go, and is also a world-famous computer programmer and a highly successful option trader. Remarkably, as a chess player he only peaked at the weirdly late age of fifty.

Yet his victories in the chess arena are considerable. Over a career span of nearly sixty years Kaufman won the state championships of Massachusetts, Maryland, Florida, Virginia, D.C. and Pennsylvania. He was an American Open Champion and won the U.S. Senior Championship as well as the World Senior Championship.

‘Never a great chess player’ himself (his words), he met or played chess greats such as Bobby Fischer, Bent Larsen, Walter Browne, Boris Spassky, Viktor Kortchnoi and many others. He worked as a second to legendary grandmaster Roman Dzindzichashvili, and coached three talented youngsters to become International Master, one of them his son Raymond.

This engrossing memoir is rife with stories and anecdotes about dozens of famous and not-so-famous chess players. In one of the most remarkable chapters Larry Kaufman reveals that the American woman chess player that inspired Walter Tevis to create the Beth Harmon character of Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit fame, is his former girlfriend. You will learn about neural networks, material values and how being a chess master helps when trading options. And find lots of memorable but little-known annotated games.

Larry Kaufman is an American Grandmaster. He has been involved in computer chess since 1967, when he worked on ‘MacHack’, the first computer that competed in tournaments with human players. More recently he has been working on the programs Rybka and Komodo.

Bobby Fischer’s Road to Reykjavik

Initially things looked gloomy for Bobby Fischer. Because he had refused to participate in the 1969 US Championship, he had missed his chance to qualify for the 1970 Interzonal Tournament in Palma de Mallorca. Only when another American, Pal Benko, withdrew in his favour, and after the officials were willing to bend the rules, could Bobby enter the contest. And begin his phenomenal run that would end with the Match of the Century in Reykjavik against World Champion Boris Spassky.

Fischer started out by sweeping the field at the 23-round Palma Interzonal to qualify for the next stage of the cycle. In the Candidates Matches he first faced Mark Taimanov, in Vancouver. Fischer trounced the Soviet ace, effectively ending Taimanov’s career. Then, a few months later in Denver, he was up against Bent Larsen, the Great Dane. Fischer annihilated him, too. The surreal score in those two matches, twice 6-0, flabbergasted chess fans all over the world.

In the ensuing Candidates Final in Buenos Aires, Fischer also made short shrift of former World Champion Tigran Petrosian, beating the hyper-solid ‘Armenian Tiger’ 6½-2½. Altogether, Fischer had scored an incredible 36 points from 43 games against many of the world’s best players, including a streak of 19 consecutive wins. Bobby Fischer had become not just a national hero in the US, but a household name with pop-star status all over the world.

Jan Timman chronicles the full story of Fischer’s sensational run and takes a fresh look at the games. The annotations are in the author’s trademark lucid style, that happy mix of colourful background information and sharp, crystal-clear explanations.

Jan Timman is the author of many bestselling books. His Timman’s Titans won the 2017 ECF Book of the Year Award. In The Longest Game, Timman revisited the epic rivalry between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. His most recent book Timman’s Triumphs: My 100 Best Games again met with wide acclaim.

The Scandinavian Defence is one of the most popular chess openings among amateur players, and it is easy to see why. Black players immediately limit the opening theory they have to know because there is no way White can side-step Black’s first move. What’s more, the Scandinavian requires only very little theoretical knowledge, so it has an extremely low maintenance factor. To cap it all, Black gets a solid structure.

And that’s not even the end of the good news, as Thomas Willemze demonstrates in this compact and practical manual. Playing the Scandinavian teaches invaluable techniques that you can use in almost all of your other games. Pressuring the centre, neutralizing your opponent’s initiative, improving your piece coordination, trading the right pieces and exploiting your opponent’s weak points are all typical ‘Scandinavian’ spin-offs that Thomas Willemze teaches you in his trademark lucid style.

The Scandinavian for Club Players offers everything you need to know to be fully prepared to meet 1.e4. The various lines are enriched with verbal explanations, diagrams, flash-cards and exercises that make this book even more accessible. Willemze not just uses examples from the games of elite grandmasters. As an experienced trainer he knows that discussing club player’s adventures are particularly instructive for his target group.

Thomas Willemze is an International Master from The Netherlands. He is an experienced trainer of amateur players and has been the National Youth Coach of the Dutch Chess Federation. He is the author of the acclaimed ‘What would you play?’ column in New In Chess magazine, aimed at helping club players to improve their decision-making skills. In 2018 he published the best-selling improvement guide The Chess Toolbox, also available as a NIC Interactive eBook and a Chessable video course.

New In Chess Yearbook, which appears four times a year, contains the latest news in chess openings. Each issue brings you dozens of new ideas on the cutting edge of modern chess opening theory. Have a look at what this issue has to offer.

Forum

This issue’s Forum Section features an article by René Olthof on the stunning piece sacrifice with which Fabiano Caruana took Maxime Vachier-Lagrave by surprise in the second leg of the Candidates Tournament. This is followed by some unique analysis material by Ganguly on a game he lost against Pavel Eljanov! Two other grandmasters, Mikheil Mchedlishvili and Max Warmerdam, also made a contribution, and you should certainly check out IJntze Hoekstra’s short but intriguing note to the book Side-Stepping Mainline Theory by Gerard Welling and Steve Giddins!

From Our Own Correspondent

Our GM correspondent Erwin l’Ami starts his column with a good equalizing method for Black in the Tarrasch and then presents a thorough analysis of a correspondence game with the Delayed Poisoned Pawn in the Najdorf. L’Ami has played the Black side of Kramnik’s QGD endgame and demonstrates that Black is OK here – which cannot be said of his two final subjects, the Poisoned Pawn line in the London System and the Winawer French with 7…0-0.

Reviews

Part of Glenn Flear’s Reviews column is dedicated to modern media again. The 2-volume ebook The Modern French by Kryakvin is reviewed and compared to two other recent works on the French: Anish Giri’s awesome Lifetime repertoire course; The French Defense (for Chessable) and Pentala Harikrishna’s book Beat the French Defence with 3.Nc3. The Englishman also pays attention to Ilya Smirin’s book Sicilian Warfare – arguably more than just an opening book – and of course the latest masterpiece by Parimarjan Negi: Grandmaster repertoire: 1.e4 vs Minor Defences.

Selected and analysed by Ivan Ivanisevic

- Test your chess prowess and sharpen your tactical antenna

- 500 carefully selected exercises

- 5 levels of difficulty

- Practical training tool with detailed solutions

Study, practice and improve with our selection of tactical jewels!

Шахматы - одна из самых распространенных игр в мире, причем их популярность постоянно растет. И не важно, сколько вам лет: восемь или восемьдесят. В этой книге вы найдете все, чтобы в полной мере насладиться шахматами — от объяснений правил игры до начального курса дебютов.

Вашими наставниками станут легендарные Эмануил Ласкер, Хосе Рауль Капабланка, Макс Эйве, Арон Нимцович и другие. Шахматы существуют не только для особо одаренных людей, они — одно из самых увлекательных занятий для всех и каждого.

Для широкого круга читателей.

Z okazji stulecia urodzin Wasilija Wasiljewicza Smysłowa Rosyjska Federacja Szachowa wydała album fotograficzny przedstawiający życie siódmego mistrza świata. To nie tylko fotobiografia wielkiego szachisty, ale także panorama szachowego życia naszego kraju przez siedemdziesiąt lat, od lat trzydziestych do początku XXI wieku.

Album wydany na papierze kredowym. Zdjęcia w albumie są wydrukowane na kolorowo.

Half a century ago the first edition of the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings was released, as a truly unique, ground-breaking tome. Such monumental work was a logical continuation to the Informant series which came to life a few years earlier. Chess Informant introduced a completely revolutionary system of chess signs, and also created the classification of chess openings, according to codes (ECO codes). Today Chess Informant’s ECO Codes and System of Signs are integral parts of the universal chess culture and heritage.

Over the years, and subsequent editions of five ECO tomes (A, B, C, D and E) all the greatest chess players and analysts contributed to the Encyclopaedias, each focusing on the sections which they were most acquainted with, producing astounding analyses and recommendations.

Eighteen years passed since the previous edition of the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings - Volume B was released. We tried to keep all the major qualities of the previous ECO Volumes intact, but to make the book easier to read and browse through, especially when used as a source of reference. The material we gathered was so rich in details and nuances, so ultimately we decided to publish the ECO B Volume in two parts. We are positive that omitting any of the lines would be a terrible shame, so you will have the pleasure of reading and digesting the material in its completeness.

Finally, we are sure that the human touch should remain crucial, so all the members of the editorial crew gave their absolute best in researching, analysing, evaluating and suggesting lines of the greatest value and strength, thus allowing you to read the book and apply the lines in your own games with complete confidence.

ECO B - Part II contains detailed coverage of ECO codes 50-99