Editorial Reviews:
The Basics of Chess Strategy While there are many books about how to improve your chess tactics, instructive books about chess strategy, particularly for players of less than master strength, are few and far between. In the latest entry in the widely acclaimed Back to Basics Chess Series, international grandmaster and popular author Valeri Beim explains the basics of strategic concepts in chess. His topics include: - Piece Development - The Center - Principle of two weaknesses - Pawn structures - Cooperation of pieces - Weak pawns - Weak square complexes - Positional considerations - The Bishop pair - Conditions for proper implementation of a strategic plan - Open Lines ,and much more! This book has been written for the great majority of chessplayers rated below master strength. Clear, concise explanations and examples, discussions of strategic objectives and of the formation of strategic plans are all designed to aid the aspiring chessplayer to better understand and implement chess strategy.

Editorial Reviews:
The Key Concepts of Chess Endings In 2003 when it was released, Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual became an instant classic. Now the chess instructor extraordinaire offers an introduction to the fascinating world of chess endings. This book is designed to highlight the key concepts of the most common chess endgames and will prove quite instructive to chessplayers of all levels. Topics include: - The King in the Endgame - Pawn play - Zugzwang - Saving Methods - Tactics in the Endgame - Piece Maneuvering - Piece Exchanges - "Technique" ,and much more! The author has countless practical suggestions for improving your endgame play in this era of rapid-time controls so that you don't end up "drowning" in the ocean of endgame theory. Let Mark Dvoretsky help you win more games as he examines some elementary endgame errors from master play and shows you how to avoid making the same mistakes.

Editorial Reviews:
Four hundred years ago, an Italian chess master, Gioachino Greco, discovered an extraordinary bishop sacrifice on h7 that often leads to checkmate or a significant material advantage. More amazing still, he recorded the idea! This book chronicles the history of that idea, what many have come to call the Classic Bishop sacrifice, from its discovery and formative years through its remarkably complex uses in modern chess. During the past century, several annotators have attempted to explain the circumstances under which the sacrifice works, and when it doesnt. Edwards reviews their efforts and, in a spectacular ninth chapter, provides a modern classification. His taxonomy of the sacrifice is comprehensive and full of pleasant surprises for beginners and even accomplished masters. This book represents a thematic approach to chess tactics and strategy. Careful readers will suddenly discover that they are able, quickly and accurately, to see 5-10 moves or more ahead in these lines. Here you will find hundreds of carefully annotated games. Learn from brilliant moves and strategies; and take full advantage of others instructive mistakes.

Editorial Reviews:
The KGB Plays Chess is a unique book. For the first time it opens to us some of the most secret pages of the history of chess. The battles about which you will read in this book are not between chess masters sitting at the chess board, but between the powerful Soviet secret police, known as the KGB, on the one hand, and several brave individuals, on the other. Their names are famous in the chess world: Viktor Kortschnoi, Boris Spasski, Boris Gulko and Garry Kasparov became subjects of constant pressure, blackmail and persecution in the USSR. Their victories at the chess board were achieved despite this victimization. Unlike some books, this story has two perspectives. The victim and the persecutor, the hunted and the hunter, all describe in their own words the very same events. One side is represented by the famous Russian chess players Viktor Kortschnoi and Boris Gulko. For many years they fought against a powerful system, and at the end they were triumphant. The Soviet Union collapsed and they got what they were fighting for: their freedom. Former KGB Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Popov, who left Russia in 1996 and now lives in Canada, was one of those who had worked all his life for the KGB and was responsible for the sport sector of the USSR. It is only now for the first time that he has decided to tell the reader his story of the KGB's involvement in Soviet Sports. This is his first book, and it is not only full of sensations, but it also dares to name names of secret KGB agents previously known only as famous chess masters, sportsmen or sport officials. Just a few short years ago a book like this would have been unimaginable. Read this book. It is not only about chess. It is about glorious victory of the great chess masters over the forces of darkness.

Editorial Reviews:
"Chess Movies" represents a new idea in the Pandolfini Chess Library series. It offers instructional material with every single move diagrammed and explained. Thus a chessboard and pieces are not needed to follow through. This makes it possible to rely solely on the book itself, as one would with a text on tactics and problems, without having to set up the positions. It's almost as if one is sitting in a movie theater, watching the film roll by, with the narrative carried along by subtitles. But whereas a film seen in the theater just keeps going, here you can "stop" the action and take time thinking about what you're seeing and what's being explained to you, as if you were home watching on your own DVD. In this second volume of the Chess Movies series, The Means and Ends, the enthusiast is presented with an assortment of 50 precisely finessed and well-executed endgames from the oeuvres of the world's foremost chess gladiators. Lasker, Rubinstein, Capablanca, Karpov, Fischer, Anand and other chess gods, offered in stratagem, maneuver, and insightful simplification, provide the subject matter for this newest collection of chess cinema. Taking off from volume 1 of the Chess Movies series, the present volume shows the other end of successful chess play, the actual final moves of winning endgames. Read and watch on, and may all of you play happily ever after.

Editorial Reviews:
Chess Movies represents a new idea in the Pandolfini Chess Library series. It offers instructional material with every single move diagrammed and explained. Thus a chessboard and pieces are not needed to follow through. This makes it possible to rely solely on the book itself, as one would with a text on tactics and problems, without having to set up the positions, even though the present volume, Quick Tricks, contains games of ten full moves or more. It's almost as if one is sitting in a movie theater, watching the film roll by, with the narrative carried along by subtitles. But whereas a film seen in the theater just keeps going, here you can "stop" the action and take time thinking about what you're seeing and what's being explained to you, as if you were home watching on your own DVD. In this first offering of the series, Quick Tricks, the reader (viewer) is provided with a collection 50 neat traps and shots in the opening, illustrations often stemming from the practice of the world's best players. There's a variety too, so that you can sample different openings and variations. All you have to do is read the beginning paragraph, sit back in your living room, on your favorite flight, commuter bus or train ride, and pleasure your way through each informative film. It's also a great way to prepare for upcoming competition. Just find a comfortable chair and spend a few hours watching, learning, and enjoying your way into shape.

Editorial Reviews:
Which side stands better? How much better? Why? Most chess players rely on loosely knit, unstructured methods to evaluate chess pieces and positions. They learn positional principles which often lead to inaccurate evaluations and faulty decisions about how to proceed. This groundbreaking book by best-selling chess author Dan Heisman addresses the evaluation and understanding of how static features affect the value of the pieces in a given position. Emphasis is placed on the static evaluation of each piece s value and its role in the overall position rather than the assessment of a specific position, but Heisman s approach can also be applied to help evaluate entire positions by helping to answer the questions who stands better, by how much, and why?

Editorial Reviews:
A complete opening repertoire is presented for White, with something unique offered against any response by Black. The repertoire has at its core the Center Game, a potent, but rather underestimated opening. The Center Game was a favorite of old-time players like Mikhail Chigorin and Jacques Mieses; then in the 1990s it was revived by Alexander Shabalov, Judit Polgár and others. They appreciated that the aggressive 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd5 takes control of the opening by sidestepping all of Black's familiar defenses to the expected 2.Nf3. Not only does this book provide the first comprehensive coverage of the Center Game, but it also goes on to provide a complete White repertoire. Black's responses to 1.e4 are met with a mix of forceful ideas, old and new, all of them like the Center Game aiming to take control of the game from the very start. White's play will never be the same again!

Editorial Reviews:
Nowadays, chessplayers spend almost all their free time preparing openings, and rarely spend the time necessary to perfect the vitally important technique of calculating. Regular training in solving and playing out endgames studies is a good recipe for eliminating that shortcoming. This training is directed at developing resourcefulness, fantasy (in chess, these qualities are called combinative acuity ), and the readiness to sacrifice material, in pursuit of the goal winning! How do we develop good habits of winning endgame play? There are lots of manuals; but this may be the first in which a famous practical player, a trainer with a world-renowned name, and a study composer who has earned the title of International Grandmaster of Composition, share their views in one and the same book.

Editorial Reviews:
Akiva Rubinstein occupies a unique position in chess history. One of the greatest artists ever to sit down at a chessboard, Rubinstein was also the strongest player never to get a shot at the title of World Champion. The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein, Volume 2: The Later Years (2nd ed.) chronicles the second half (1921-1961) of the Polish grandmaster's life. Dozens of archival photos and crosstables finish off this splendid work, completing the journey begun with the second edition of The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein, Volume 1: Uncrowned King.

Editorial Reviews:
Richard Reti was a formidable over the board grandmaster as shown by his victories at the splendid tournaments of Kaschau 1918, Gothenburg 1920 and Teplitz Schonau 1922. His victims included Capablanca, Alekhine and Nimzowitsch, while his elegant destruction of Bogolyubov deservedly won the beauty prize at New York 1924.

Editorial Reviews:
This book is designed to be a companion of Book 1, Teaching Chess Step by Step Teacher s Manual. It contains a series of exercises designed to reinforce the knowledge that children gain from the teacher s presentations in the classroom. The exercises were designed for K-12 beginners and require a minimum of explanation. The solution may be written in chess notation or drawn on the board. The teacher can use the exercises for presentation in class or as homework. They are designed for individual or group use. With respect to homework, it is advised that during the class the teacher shows some examples that are slightly modified versions of the exercises in the book, so the children will gain some understanding of the subject matter and what is asked of them.

Editorial Reviews:
The ChessCafe World Chess Champions Series Emanuel Lasker was a great chess fighter, thinker and researcher. He was possessed of gigantic playing strength, retaining the title of World s Number One Chessplayer for 27(!) years. Even after losing his crown, he kept his ability for a long time, as shown by his victories and prize-winning finishes in immensely powerful international tournaments when he was 54 (Moravska-Ostrava 1923), 55 (New York 1924), 56 (Moscow 1925), and even at 66 (Moscow 1935)! One of the chief postulates of the Second World Champion was the battle of honor. On the chessboard, lies and dishonesty have no place. These words of Lasker could serve, even today, as an example to every young chessplayer of how to relate to the Great Game. Emanuel Lasker was the first in history to achieve a universal style. This was a Style of the Future, which is why the Second World Champion would not be understood by many of his contemporaries, who believed that he had no style at all. Lasker s games of chess, like his entire chess legacy, will live forever! Join Russian chess historians Isaak and Vladimir Linder as they take you on a journey exploring the life and games of the great world champion Emanuel Lasker.

Editorial Reviews:
The name of Josè Raul Capablanca (1888-1942), the third world champion, is indelibly inscribed in the annals of chess history. Capablanca s technique, intuition, remarkably quick calculation, and sense for elegant combinations made him the paragon of grandmasters during his lifetime. At the peak of his career Capablanca was almost invincible; each of his losses was regarded as a sensation. His books, articles, and lucid annotations became instant classics. As a star of the first magnitude, Capablanca continues to influence the world of chess. All the world champions of the late 20th century Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer, Karpov, and Kasparov have been influenced by Capablanca s original ideas. Join Russian chess historians Isaak and Vladimir Linder as they take you on a journey exploring the life and games of the great Cuban world chess champion.

Editorial Reviews:
The Ultimate Fischer Collection! The Chess Publishing Event of the Decade! The years after the Second World War saw international chess dominated by the Soviets Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian and then Spassky held the world crown, treating it as if it were almost an integral part of their country s heritage. There were occasional flashes of brilliance in the West Reshevsky, Najdorf, and later Larsen but no one really mounted a serious challenge to the Russian hegemony. Then, in the mid-1950s, a lone genius from Brooklyn emerged. Obsessed with chess, all his waking hours became devoted to finding truth on the 64 squares. It was an unrelenting, sometimes frustrating quest, but he persevered, eventually emerging as perhaps the greatest natural chess talent ever. It was clear from his early years as a gifted prodigy through his stormy ascent of the Chess Olympus, no one had ever rocked the chess world quite like Bobby Fischer. His raw genius for the royal game, combined with an indefatigable will to win, made him one of the most feared chessplayers of all time a genuine living legend. Now, for the first time, every single one of his tournament and match games is presented with insightful explanations and analysis. Best-selling chess author, German International Grandmaster Karsten Müller, annotates each game of the player many believe to be the greatest of all time. Almost 1,000 annotated games are supplemented by crosstables of every major tournament and match in which Fischer participated, dozens of archival photographs, along with brief comments and observations putting the play of the great champion into historical perspective.

Editorial Reviews:
Historic London 1922 José Capablanca was the superstar of chess in 1922 and London was his first serious chess in the 15 months since he had won the championship title from Emanuel Lasker. Capa was the chessplayer whom even non-players could identify. But the tournament signified not only Capa s return to the game, it was also something of a revival of international chess after four years of war and four more of recovery. The new world champion would ease into first place undefeated ahead of future challenger Alexander Alekhine. The young Dutchman Max Euwe was honing his skills that would eventually take him to the top of the chess world. And Richard Réti was about to unveil his Opening of the Future 1.Nf3! London 1922 is important for all these reasons, but it also served as the setting for the creation of the famous London Rules which would govern the way in which prospective challengers to the title would have the right to play the champion. As an added bonus, all fourteen games of the 1921 Lasker-Capablanca have been added to this new 21st century edition, with annotations by Capa himself!

Editorial Reviews:
An Historic Clash of Generations! The great international chess tournament at Nottingham, 1936 has taken its place next to other legendary tournaments such as St. Petersburg 1909, London 1922 and New York 1924. It set a record by featuring, for the first time, four men who had held the world championship title José Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Max Euwe (the then reigning champion) and Emanuel Lasker. The champions were expected to be challenged if not surpassed at Nottingham by four young candidates, Sam Reshevsky, Reuben Fine, Salo Flohr and, in only his second trip to a foreign tournament, Mikhail Botvinnik, who turned 25 mid-tournament. There were some historic firsts: Botvinnik had never before played Alekhine, Fine, Reshevsky, Vidmar or Bogolyubov. Reshevsky had never faced Euwe, Lasker, Flohr, Tartakower, Vidmar or Bogolyubov over the board. Also, Nottingham saw the first game between Alekhine and Capablanca since their world championship match nine years before and their ensuing bitterness over a rematch. The tournament was, in short, a very rare event. In his great tournament book, Alexander Alekhine devotes attention to playing the board as well as to playing the man. This new 21st Century Edition has preserved Alekhine s original masterful text and annotations, using figurine algebraic notation and adding many diagrams.