When deciding upon a repertoire to meet 1 d4, those players whose natural inclination is to be aggressive have a difficult decision. There are plenty of outright counter-attacking tries such as the Benko Gambit, the King's Indian Defence and the Modern Benoni. However, such openings are generally considered borderline unsound at the higher levels. On the other hand the safe options such as the Queen's Gambit Declined and Queen's Gambit Accepted make it difficult to create middlegame complications. So, what to do?

Chess Informant 162 “Manoeuvre!!” presents:

World Championship Match Ding – Gukesh, analysis by GM Ivan Ivanisevic

European Individual Chess Championship, analysis by GM Milos Perunovic

The Budapest Gambit, theoretical survey by GM Vasilios Kotronias

The King’s Gambit, 5.h3 Variation by GM K. Szabo

The Wandering King, instructive lecture by GM Michael Prusikin

Thankless Tasks, studies by GM Steffen Nielsen

Roger’s Reminiscences, Kasparov’s first trip to the West by GM Ian Rogers

A story of a Chess Prodigy – Roman Shogdzhiev

Traditional sections:

Correspondence Chess

The best game and most important theoretical novelty from the previous Volume

Endgames

Combinations

200 games according to ECO Codes.

The periodical that pros use with pleasure is at the same time a must have publication for all serious chess students!

A full Black repertoire grounded in answering 1…e6 against any move!

The answer against 1. d4 is the Stonewall, while the answer against 1. e4 is the French. The repertoire is geared towards all levels due to its flexibility. The Stonewall Dutch is a defense that nowadays has a dodgy reputation, but this is ungrounded. It is true that Black willingly creates a bad bishop, but I have both improved on modern theory, as well as offer some odd-looking, interesting, and innovative new ways to play this once renowned (and soon-to-be renowned!) defense. A defense that powerhouses such as Viktor Korchnoi used to play a lot is not being scrapped and thrown into the bin, as much as people nowadays believe it should, but rather shall be revitalized and spring to life anew.

Nikola Sedlak is a renowned chess player known for his expertise in the London System. He is a grandmaster from Serbia who has been considered one of the strongest players in the country for many years. Sedlak is also a well-known chess trainer and author, who wrote several books on the London System and other chess openings.

This book aims to give you a wealth of self-study knowledge about handling different types of endings that occur frequently but on which there is not much literature analyzing recent games. Imbalanced material endgames involving rooks are a key focus of the book, covering three-fifths of the material, and all endings in the book feature at least one rook. The vast majority of games are taken from the last few years, including many from 2021-2022. Like the author’s previous endgame book published with Elk and Ruby, 101 Endgame Crimes and Punishments (2020), this one is aimed at strong tournament players (1900-2300 Elo) and fast improving juniors.

Are you ready to shock your opponent on move 3?

The Reti Opening is a dynamic opening invented by Richard Reti more than a century ago. It has since been featured in the repertoires of countless grandmasters and world champions, including Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Garry Kasparov, Tigran Petrosian, Vassily Smyslov, and many others.

The book about defense is created as an endeavor to help players who struggle with this very difficult set of chess skills.

How to organize a proper defense?

SERIES INTRODUCTION

There are many various concepts and approaches to creating chess books. Chess strategy books have, more or less, well-known structure and contents. Writers work on “elements, principles, concepts... The chapter titles are more or less known in advance. I suggest an alternative concept. I will try to explain how to use your pieces and how to handle situations with the same pieces in your opponent’s camp!

Not once I heard statements like: “He doesn’t know how to play with minor pieces, or “He always stays with a bad bishop”, or “He is bad in rook endgames” etcThat conclusion motivated me to focus on such peculiar problems and to explain everything related to a concrete chess piece.

Having the Nimzo-Indian Defence in his repertoire is a must for every 1.d4 player. However, it has been deeply explored, and lately White has been struggling to make something out of the opening. Indicatively, recent years have seen only books from Black’s perspective. This repertoire presents an innovative approach for White. While he starts with Kasparov’s move order 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3, he is often ready to transpose to the Rubinstein System with e3, having sidestepped the main Black’s equalizers against it. That allows White to get rich dynamic positions with fair chances for success.

I have returned to my book from a few years ago, to an opening that at the time was a rare guest among books as a topic – and not only among books, but also in tournament practice. In the intervening years it has become very popular to use this old and somewhat forgotten method of playing and I have found lots of interesting new games.

The Sicilian Scheveningen Defense is a highly respected and flexible variation of the Sicilian Defense, characterized by the pawn structure Black adopts with pawns on e6 and d6. It arises after the moves 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6. This setup allows Black to maintain a solid central presence while keeping options open for dynamic counterplay.

We all love the dynamics of chess. Spectacular sacrifices, combinations and attacks on the king never fail to enchant us. But how do we improve our understanding of dynamics? How can we recognize the ‘dynamic energy’ in a position? When can we turn 2+2 into 5, as the legendary tactician Mikhail Tal could? The answers can be found in the Hidden Laws of Chess.

Siegbert Tarrasch and Aron Nimzowitsch could be called the two vainest chess players in history. This book tells the fascinating story of their lifelong rivalry. They clashed as personalities, as players and as chess writers, both searching for the truth in chess, but with very different perspectives.

The astounding success of How To Study Chess on Your Own made clear that thousands of chess players want to improve their game — and like to work on their training at least partially by themselves.

Grandmaster Simon Williams was taught the English Opening at the age of six and 1 c4 was his weapon of choice until long after he became an International Master. For this new work, he teamed up with acclaimed theoretician International Master Richard Palliser to explore his old favourite.

Hikaru is a five-time US chess champion, ranked as high as second in the world with a stratospheric peak rating of 2816, the 10th highest of all time. He is also a top chess streamer with over a million followers across social media, consistently on the list of the five wealthiest gamers in the world. Nakamura has represented the US in 5 Olympiads, earning a team Gold and two Bronze medals.

Who is the greatest chess player of all time, the GOAT? Who is in the top ten? Let the debate ensue!

How do you measure greatness? Is Morphy "greater" than Carlsen? Can such judgements be made, and do they mean anything?

Every chess player faces an opening dilemma: big main lines are complicated and time-consuming to learn, while easy-to-learn sidelines usually suffer from other defects. Finding the best of both worlds has been an impossible dream – until now!

Magic Chess Moves is a book that will enthral you while also testing and improving your chess abilities. You will be invited to solve a collection of exercise positions, but the accompanying text contains far more than simply the solutions. The author offers his reflections on all manner of other fascinating topics, such as how tactics can be coached, and details of the composer’s life story.

Many players approach the opening with a desire to learn sharp lines and out-prepare their opponents. This is an exhausting task, which gets more difficult by the day. However, there is a different strategy which is more practical and designed for longevity. This is to develop an advanced understanding of typical positions. Such a policy is the best approach against different move orders and new ideas.

M Richard Palliser outlines a combative Trompowsky (1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5) repertoire for White. The lines analysed deal with all of Black’s common responses. A perennial favourite of creative players, the ‘Tromp’ sets Black complex problems from the very beginning.

This opening manual completes the Black repertoire against the Sicilian that uses the Kalashnikov as the main line. When possible, Black will opt for the adventurous moves 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5, covered in the book King’s Kalashnikov. But everyone playing 1... c5 has to be ready when White chooses to avoid the Open Sicilian.

The Center Game is a wonderful opening for club players. White starts with a center push, develops quickly, looks for opposite castling, and launches an attack. The setup will feel very familiar to you in no time. And the chess engines show that this opening is both sound and correct, and at least as good as the over-analyzed Ruy Lopez and Italian Opening.

Rook endgames are the most frequently occurring endgames, as well as one of the most exciting and challenging areas of chess. In 2023, Quality Chess published Theoretical Rook Endgames by GM Sam Shankland and its sister volume Conceptual Rook Endgames by GM Jacob Aagaard – a dazzling dyad of domination in endgame literature.

This book advocates the 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 move order for Black with 3.Nc3 Bb4 having been covered in the sister volume Playing the Nimzo-Indian. By waiting for the knight to appear on f3 before transposing to a Queen’s Gambit, Black reduces White’s options.

Spanish GM Renier Castellanos completes his cutting-edge repertoire for Black against 1.d4, with the Vienna Variation (4.Nc3 dxc4) and Catalan (4.g3 dxc4) the biggest topics. This book also provides thorough guidance against all of White’s significant alternatives on moves 2-4.

With thoughtful explanations backed up by precise analysis, Beating the Queen’s Gambit Indian Style! provides everything you need to handle 1.d4 Nf6 variations where White avoids the Nimzo-Indian Defence.

Introduction

Dear chess friends, the collection of exercises in your hands has the main objective of providing you with ample material for practicing evaluation, calculation and overall decision-making in tactically rich positions. The book contains 500 of the most instructive examples from the games played during 2023 in tournaments around the world.

Paul Morphy might well be the most brilliant and enigmatic chess champion of all time. He burst onto the scene in 1857 as a 20-year-old and dominated the chess world for two short years, convincingly defeating all the strongest players. After conquering the European chess scene, Morphy was universally recognised as the greatest player of all time. But at the age of 22 he suddenly and permanently retired from serious competition.

PRACTICAL CHESS TUTOR - FROM BASIC TO MASTERY 2 is a complete manual of chess strategy for club players, with some introductory tactical themes at the very end of the book. All the crucial elements of strategy are examined in great detail by examining the most instructive classical and modern games (100 games in total).

A foolproof guide to choosing your best next chess move, every time.

International Grandmaster Andrew Soltis brings you a foolproof guide to choosing your best next chess move, every time.

500 hand-picked training exercises with detailed solutions.

Why not just to have a simple puzzle book where you are supposed to find best move in each position? Every single position is picked carefully and this method will help you develop different strategic concepts and patterns. There are no chapters or indicative names or comments to help you find solution more easily. Just positions. ”Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication“ - Leonardo da Vinci.

In Chess Survivor – The Last of the Greats a chess legend shares his life story and annotates his best games.

– Mastering Strategies for Winning Concepts – 

Think Like Ivanchuk is a celebration of a true chess genius. This book is a collection of Vasyl Ivanchuk's best games, a chess biography and a highly entertaining training manual all in one.

Although Jose Raul Capablanca was the World Chess Champion a century ago, his games remain among the most interesting to study. The clear logic and simplicity of his moves inspired other great players such as Mikhail Botvinnik and Bobby Fischer. And the clarity of his play will boost the confidence of any chess student. It all seems so easy when you read the explanations, says a student in a comment on Chessable, so much so that you really believe you can play like Capablanca.

Presents 320 pages of the very best in chess:

Velickovic - Editor's Corner

Speelman - Real-Time Action and British Miscellany

Perunovic - Serbian Chess Championship

Afek - Dutch Chess Championships

Kotronias - Najdorf Variation - 6. h3 e6! Repertoire for Black

Prusikin - Michael's Musings

Perelshteyn - Sicilian Dragondorf

Sprenger - Obstructing the Opponent's Plan

Edwards - Correspondence Chess Matters

Gonen - World of Correspondence Chess

Rogers - Candidates Semifinal Matches, London 1983

Griffin - From the Chess Informant Archives

Traditional sections: 287 games and fragments, combinations, endings, Tournament reviews, the best game and the most important theoretical novelty from the preceding volume.

The periodical that pros use with pleasure is at the same time a must have publication for all serious chess students!

In My First Chess Opening Repertoire you will learn how to play the opening. This book gives you a compact and easy-to-learn repertoire for White, starting with the move 1.e4. And it gives you a similar repertoire for Black, with answers to all of White's approaches.

Perhaps the greatest beauty in chess can be found in endgame studies. Delightful twists and turns on the board are combined into true works of art. In studies, chess is distilled into its purest form, with all pieces making only the most essential moves. Endgame studies are also useful exercises for practical chess players, as they show patterns, improve calculation, and inspire out-of-the-box thinking.

"The motif is the effect that a chess piece has towards another (own or opposing) piece, or square" so is the definition by the author in the introduction chapter.

According to Meszaros, motifs fall into two categories: basic or combinational. The elements of both groups can be simple or complex, depending on the number of their components.

Concepts like Potential Attack, Undefended piece or square, X-Ray, Blockade are explained with illustrative examples. 

It is not the quality of your best moves that wins you games; it is the quality of your worst moves. The quickest way to improve your chess skills is to raise the bar.