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.

The vast majority of chess games witness familiar strategies and well known tactical motifs. These are the games that you will find in the anthologies and opening repertoires. Sometimes however, games appear that seem to have been played on a different planet.

The Barry Attack is somewhat defensive-looking from the start. It tempts Black forward, provocatively. The Barry Attack is, after all, a little rebellious, flouting, as it does, all those common sense development rules. Perhaps your game needs a good shot of tactics to boost your results - it’s one of the fastest ways to improve and this is true not only for young players. If your opponent plays an early move order that’s not in this book such as 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c5 or 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 for example, the good news is that Black will be forced to transpose back into the mass of material. 

The spirit of Indian Defenses is based on flexibility and harmony.

Most of the lines are positional, not tactical in character.

Wydanie 2 - poprawione i rozszerzone

In addition to the basic Taimanov ideas we had to keep, we followed – in an original manner – our two main concepts: ‘almost never play an early …d6’ (Scheveningen-style) and ‘push …h5 whenever you can’ (Paulsen-style).

The distinction between strategy and tactics is one of the first things any chess player learns about, but have you ever heard about statics and dynamics before? Did you know that nearly every critical decision you take in a game of chess is governed by the rules of the so-called static/dynamic balance? If not, for the sake of your own chess development, you might want learn more about it from this very book!

Thinkers Chess Academy | Test your chess knowledge

Not every reader is ambitious enough or has enough time to work very hard on his chess. That’s quite understandable and nothing to be ashamed of. You can enjoy chess very well without being a strong tournament player. You could just entertain yourself by playing through interesting combinations.

Guidelines for the Fundamentals of the Endgame

There are many books devoted to basic endgames, even from the Middle Ages. Principles of typical endgames (such as keeping the rook behind a passed pawn, not setting pawns on the same colored squares as your bishop’s, distant pawns being more dangerous than central ones etc.) are well known too. But what about “complex endgames”? I have in mind endgames with at least two pieces on each side; well I don’t find them often nor sufficiently well-explained in the past! It is exactly this fact (together with my passion and great endgame experience) that has motivated me to write this book (many friends simply call me “Endgame Wizard” ).

Try to expand your knowledge in the 3.c3 variation and go beyond the book’s content Deepen your knowledge in 3.c4 variation and do not play it before you know it well. Finally, follow the very strong GM Vladislav Artemiev, who has had a relatively successful run with this opening in rapid online events.

35 Conversations with Chess Stars

The interviews in this book span over twenty years, over two decades. For years I went with my recording device to tournaments like Wijk aan Zee, Frankfurt Chess Classic, Hoogeveen… often to interview the interesting player of the moment in some hotel bar or quiet interview room. 31 out of the 35 interviews came about this way. That is… until March 2020, when out of nowhere, covid broke out. Suddenly chess tournaments were no longer held and a live interview with chess players was no longer possible.

The most famous team ever participating in a chess pub quiz was MC Hammer. The team members are pretty decent chess players and happened to know their bit of chess trivia and chess history. Do you know or can you guess their names?

This book offers a collection of hundreds of chess trivia and chess-related trivia. You can use it by yourself, solving puzzles. Or you can use the book for multiple thematic pub quizzes at your local chess café or chess club.

Enjoy. The best game ever.

Zlotnik covers a wide variety of topics and uses a wealth of material. Readers will love this new book, as they did his first book, Zlotnik's Middlegame Manual. 'A brilliant, important and extraordinarily instructive book', said Florian Jacobs, the book reviewer for the Max Euwe Center in Amsterdam. 'This is how probing, rich and motivating studying chess can be.'

Grandmaster Training Camp 1 – Calculation! offers you a unique chance to participate in a training camp with Super-GM Sam Shankland, as he works through 300 problems set to him by his long-time trainer. Sam shares what he saw, what he did not see, and what he thinks about the problems and the skills needed to solve them.

An Active Repertoire

The Sicilian Sveshnikov arises after the opening moves 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5, and is an ideal weapon based on sound principles of fast development and seizing central space. Decades of practical testing and analysis have proved the theoretical soundness of Black’s system, and its dynamic counterattacking potential makes it a popular choice among club players and top grandmasters alike.

Защита Каро-Канн – один из самых популярных современных дебютов, который прочно входит в репертуар большинства элитных шахматистов. 

2-е издание, переработанное и дополненное, популярной монографии, которая посвящена одному из самых боевых современных дебютов – староиндийской защите. 

Первый капитальный труд, посвящённый Рудольфу Шпильману – одному из сильнейших шахматистов мира первой половины 20-го века. В начале книги даётся биографический очерк, дополненный редкими фотографиями. В основной её части – шахматной, через глубокий анализ более чем 200 партий автор рисует творческий портрет Шпильмана. Подробные комментарии, тематическое разбиение материала делают книгу настоящим учебником шахматной игры. В приложении приведена знаменитая статья Шпильмана «У постели больного королевского гамбита».

Для широкого круга любителей шахмат.

How often have you seen a game like this?

The hero has no advantage whatsoever but somehow manages to keep setting the opponent problems. Their opponent goes slightly astray and suddenly hero has a tiny advantage. It’s not much but now that they have a little something to work with, they are in their element. They play accurately and remorselessly and make life incredibly difficult for their opponent. Suddenly, and almost imperceptibly, their advantage increases. Further tiny inaccuracies follow, hero turns the screw and bags the full point. Their opponent is left shaking their head, wondering where on earth they went wrong.

Do you struggle to score against the Hedgehog and find it difficult to break the Black fortress? This opening manual, which could double as a positional middlegame manual, will show you how White can use a space advantage in this chess opening with maximum results.

The Tarrasch Variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined is a fierce counter-attacking line arising after 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 c5. In this variation Black gains free and easy piece play but in return usually has to accept the structural weakness of an Isolated Queen’s Pawn (IQP). In the early development of chess theory this line was somewhat frowned upon due to the vulnerability of the IQP. However, Siegbert Tarrasch, after whom the opening is named, famously declared that, “he who fears an Isolated Queen’s Pawn should give up chess”.

The biggest selection of composed endings with up to seven pieces on the board.

Solving endgame studies has become a major working tool in modern chess training combining the instructive with the enjoyable. Studies are highly recommended for refining calculating and tactical skills, deepening endgame understanding, as well as improving creativity and out of the box thinking.

A Solid and Straightforward Chess Opening Repertoire for Black

Looking for an easy-to-learn yet super-solid repertoire for Black against everything, which doesn’t require endless memorization of sharp theoretical lines? It’s here – and it was voted the best opening course on Chessable by the users of the most popular chess learning platform.

The Growing Pains of a Chess Genius

Spielmann had comments on all the games that he gave the moves for. The treasure of the book is his introductory comments to each game. That was the point of the book. It was not to analyze all the moves or even most. Just where he felt it was worth mentioning.

Presents 350 pages of the very best in chess:

Leitao – Opening Trends in South American Chess

Moradiabadi – European Club Cup (Tournament Review)

Navara – European Club Cup – Novy Bor

Shyam Sundar – This or That? – Part 2

Gormally – 4NCL and Crypto Blitz (Tournament Review)

Marin – Benoni Files (Old Wine in New Bottles)

Kotronias – King’s Indian – Fianchetto Variation (Survey)

Perelshteyn – Dzindzi-Indian (Theoretical Survey)

Davies – The 3…g6 Ruy Lopez – Part 2 (Theoretical Survey)

Perunovic – Catalan (Theoretical Survey)

Rogers – Toluca 1982 Interzonal (Roger’s Reminiscences)

Griffin – Karpov – Timman 1981(From Informant Archives)

Traditional sections: games, combinations, endings, Tournament reviews, the best game from the preceding volume 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!

A Strange Enigma Is the Chess World

The origins of the Royal Game go back centuries. And throughout its diverse and multi-faceted history, controversies and mysteries have arisen. Some have been resolved; many have not.

The Dawn of the Planet of the b-Pawns!

“There can be no Plan B because there is no Planet B,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. We disagree when it comes to chess. In this book you will see analyzed not only 1.d4 b5 (the Polish Defense) but also the St. George Defense (1.e4 e6 2.d4 a6 intending 3...b5), 1.Nf3 b5, also 1.f4 b5 and, most shocking of all, 1.e4 a6 2.d4 b5. Grandmasters have lost to these systems; other Grandmasters even try them out themselves when they have the black pieces. No, an early ...b7-b5 is not Plan A. However, if you want to humiliate the opposition by being literally eccentric (off-center) and disrespectful ... Welcome to Planet B!

Юрий Рафаэлович Дохоян (1964-2021) – гроссмейстер, заслуженный тренер России, сеньор-тренер ФИДЕ. Более 10 лет являлся тренером-секундантом Гарри Каспарова, а также тренировал сестер Татьяну и Надежду Косинцевых, Сергея Карякина и Андрея Есипенко, был главным тренером женской и мужской сборных России.

Я играю в шахматы около пятидесяти лет, из них свыше тридцати – на высшем уровне. Наверное, пришло время поделиться самыми памятными встречами. В первый том вошли партии, сыгранные в XX веке» (Б. Гельфанд).

Podręcznik strategii i taktyki szachowej.

В последнее время лондонская система все чаще применяется на практике, и причины этого очевидны. Белые могут опровергнуть почти любой ответ противника на 1.d4 с помощью надежных и простых в освоении вариантов. В процессе у вас появится выбор между стратегическим подходом и более агрессивной тактической игрой, и при этом вам не придется изучать все тома по дебютной теории! Идеальный вариант для шахматистов, у которых не так много времени на тщательный анализ.

Таль Михаил Нехемьевич (9.11.1936—28.06.1992) восьмой чемпион мира (1960—1961), международный гроссмейстер (1957). Чемпион Латвии 1953, 1965 гг. Чемпион СССР 1957, 1958, 1967, 1972, 1974, 1978 гг. 

1200 CHESS COMBINATIONS

Решебник международного гроссмейстера и опытного тренера (в числе учеников которого А. Грищук) Максима Блоха содержит свыше 1200 комбинаций из практических партий и специально составленных примеров.

Данное учебное пособие адресовано тем, кто хочет самостоятельно научиться играть в шахматы и совершенствоваться дальше. Поурочный метод изложения, а также многочисленные упражнения способствуют последовательному усвоению правил и законов, составляющих основу шахматной игры. 

В своей книге гроссмейстер и опытный тренер Александр Галкин не только попытался структурировать некоторые типы шахматных окончаний с нестандартным соотношением материала на доске, но и предложил свою методологию понимания основных особенностей подобных эндшпилей. 

The only complete Encyclopaedia of Chess Problems ever written is available once again as a polished reprint of the original edition.

The life work of GMs Milan Velimirovic and Kari Valtonen is a must for any chess lover and enthusiast!

Tiviakov's Unbeatable Strategies: Pawn Structures

A fun & tricky ambush weapon for Black against 1.e4? In this book, the authors cover the exciting 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Nf6!? which players like Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Richard Rapport, and other strong players have used with powerful effect to drag White players out of their comfort zones into Black's domain.

The authors are pulling games from many resources, including their own experiments with the opening to illustrate how it is possible to beat titled players right out of the opening by shocking White's system and beliefs.

The Basman-Williams Attack arises after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.h4, which was first played by the inventive and creative English International Master Michael Basman in the 1970s and later adopted & developed by English Grandmaster Simon Williams. Nowadays, it has become a weapon used by several top grandmasters and it was even adopted for use in the recent Candidates tournament by Chinese top grandmaster and former world number 2, Ding Liren. It is a fun way to avoid Black's intentions of playing the main line theory of the King's Indian and Grunfeld Indian defenses.

The King’s Indian Defense has a reputation as a sharp combative opening where Black aims to attack on the kingside, usually through a pawn storm supported by heavier artillery.

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.

What exactly makes the greatest players of all time, such as Magnus Carlsen, Bobby Fischer, and Garry Kasparov stand out from the rest? The basic aspects of chess (calculation, study of opening theory, and technical endgame ability) are of course of great importance. However, the more mysterious part of chess ability lies within the thought process.