Two great books from the Everyman Chess Library, The New Old Indian by Alexander Cherniaev and Eduard Prokuronov and The New Sicilian Dragon by Simon Williams, brought together in one volume. The Old Indian Defence is considered to be a sound way for Black to meet 1 d4. Some might argue that it is steady rather than spectacular, but is this reputation totally deserved? Grandmaster Alexander Cherniaev strongly disagrees, and in this book he introduces ambitious and aggressive ways for Black to play in the main lines. He constructs an improved version of a repertoire he has himself utilized with great success against grandmaster opposition. Using illustrative games, he studies the fundamental tactical and positional ideas for both sides, and also covers what to do if White avoids the Old Indian. This book tells you everything you need to know about playing the New Old Indian. Grandmaster and well-known Sicilian Dragon expert Simon Williams takes a totally fresh look at this famous opening. Concentrating on his favourite Dragadorf Variation, Williams constructs a cutting-edge repertoire for Black, one which is perfect for the modern Dragon player who wishes to cause his opponents maximum problems in the opening. Drawing upon his considerable experience and using illustrative games, Williams covers the key tactical and positional ideas for both players, and highlights crucial modern day themes such as the importance of move orders. The Sicilian Dragon is a highly popular opening, ideal for players of all levels. It enjoys such a great appeal because it leads to fascinating and fun-to-play positions in which both players regularly attack each other's kings with a complete lack of inhibition.

What separated Alexander Alekhine from the rest of his contemporaries? Why did he dominate the chess world for so long? The main reason was undoubtedly his brilliant attacking style of play. Alekhine had a combinative gift and thrilled the chess public and influenced every great chess player since. Garry Kasparov once said, 'I fell in love with the rich complexity of his ideas at the chessboard. Alekhine's attacks came suddenly, like destructive thunderstorms that erupted from a clear sky.'
In this book Alexander Raetsky and Maxim Chetverik take a look back at how Alekhine defeated his opponents in dazzling style. They carefully select and analyze some of Alekhine's most famous attacks and glorious combinations. A deep study of his games cannot fail to entertain and inspire any true chess fan.
*Includes Alekhine's most celebrated games
*Test yourself with his most difficult combinations
*Perfect for sharpening your attacking play

Do you instinctively know what to do in every type of chess position or are you often uncertain about how to proceed? Wouldn't it be really useful to know the best chess strategies and to recognise when they should be used? In this book Sam Collins examines key games from both the classical and modern eras. He analyses the major strategic ideas that have stood the test of time and notes their considerable influence on his own games. Studying classic examples from great players allows us to create a personal library of standard ideas. This helps us recognize key positions, making it easier to determine the most effective ways to attack and defend. Crucially, it helps us find the right path much more quickly than we would by relying on calculation alone. * An essential guide to chess strategy * Covers opening, middlegame and endgame play * Ideal for players of all levels

The Catalan is a sophisticated and wide-ranging opening system which is popular at all levels of chess. In recent years it has been catapulted into the limelight by Vladimir Kramnik, who has revitalized it with many new ideas and has utilized it with great success against the world's strongest players - on occasion making it look like a forced win for White! In this book, Grandmaster Nigel Davies presents a major study of this important opening. Drawing upon his wealth of personal experience with the Catalan, Davies provides a reliable and dynamic repertoire for White, covers the keys plans for both sides, and tackles crucial modern day issues such as move orders.

Chess is an easy game to learn, but a difficult one to master. A study of tactical play and some practical experience can get a player to a standard where they are skilful enough to prevent both checkmate and material loss. However, to advance from here to a higher level it is necessary to tackle positional play. This can appear daunting. However, once the principal strategic ideas are recognized, then everything becomes clearer and the game becomes simpler. In this book Grandmaster and experienced chess writer John Emms provides the improving player with the fundamental knowledge required to enter very game with confidence.This book offers a complete introduction to chess strategy, important positional ideas and is ideal for club and tournament players. (6 x 9, 144 pages, diagrams)

This book provides a repertoire for Black with the ever-popular Queen's Gambit Declined. Opening expert John Cox covers not one but two key options for Black. The Tartakower Variation is a sophisticated defence used successfully by world champions such as Kasparov, Karpov and Kramnik. The Lasker Variation is an easy-to-learn and reliable option devised by one of the legends of the game. Cox also demonstrates how to play against White's other tries, including the Exchange Variation and Bf4 lines. He explains in detail the typical plans and tactics adopted by both sides, whilst also tackling the tricky subject of move-order possibilities. *A repertoire for Black against the Queen's Gambit *Provides answers to all of White's main options *Ideal for improvers, club players and tournament players

How does one determine the "best" chess games? What one may see as brilliant, another may see as simply necessary. Like some art lovers, chess fans claim that they know a good game when they see it, and that they know better from good. But "best"? How is this articulated? This book, itself a work of art, is brought together by the use of five criteria: the overall aesthetics (clever and relentless are insufficient qualities); the originality (e.g., not yet another white knight sacrifice in a Sicilian); the level of opposition (the loser played very well); the soundness (i.e., Are the moves refutable with perfect play?), accuracy (few of the moves are second-best), and difficulty (the winner overcame major obstacles) of the game; and finally the overall breadth and depth (one wants a series of sparkling ideas, with no dry patches). The 100 best games were taken from an initial field of about 7,000 played from 1900 through 1999 that had already gained some attention in magazines, books and periodicals. Three hundred games were then selected that appeared to have features consistent with the criteria. The 300 games were evaluated with scores - points given for each category of criteria. The games were then ranked, one to 100, by the score they received. No attempt was made to balance the selection according to period, nationality of players or opening. Also included is a chapter on the most overrated games of the twentieth century and one on games that would have made the list if...It includes 335 diagrams, an index of players and an index of openings by ECO codes.

Everyone knows that the queen is the most dominant piece in chess, but few people know that the game existed for five hundred years without her. It wasn't until chess became a popular pastime for European royals during the Middle Ages that the queen was born and was gradually empowered to become the king's fierce warrior and protector.

"Birth of the Chess Queen" examines the five centuries between the chess queen's timid emergence in the early days of the Holy Roman Empire to her elevation during the reign of Isabel of Castile. Marilyn Yalom, inspired by a handful of surviving medieval chess queens, traces their origin and spread from Spain, Italy, and Germany to France, England, Scandinavia, and Russia. In a lively and engaging historical investigation, Yalom draws parallels between the rise of the chess queen and the ascent of female sovereigns in Europe, presenting a layered, fascinating history of medieval courts and internal struggles for power.

In the summer of 1972, with a presidential crisis stirring in the United States and the cold war at a pivotal point, the Soviet world chess champion, Boris Spassky, and his American challenger, Bobby Fischer, met in Reykjavik, Iceland, for the most notorious chess match of all time. Their showdown, played against the backdrop of superpower politics, held the world spellbound for two months with reports of psychological warfare, ultimatums, political intrigue, cliffhangers, and farce to rival a Marx Brothers film. Thirty years later, David Edmonds and John Eidinow have set out to reexamine the story we recollect as the quintessential cold war clash between a lone American star and the Soviet chess machine. A mesmerizing narrative of brilliance and triumph, hubris and despair, Bobby Fischer Goes to War is a biting deconstruction of the Bobby Fischer myth, a nuanced study on the art of brinkmanship, and a revelatory cold war tragicomedy.This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

The definitive work on practical endgame tactics

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 Taimanovs 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 6"-2". Altogether, Fischer had scored an incredible 36 points from 43 games against many of the worlds 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 Fischers sensational run and takes a fresh look at the games. The annotations are in the authors trademark lucid style, that happy mix of colourful background information and sharp, crystal-clear explanations.

Are you tired of playing the same old openings again and again? Perhaps it's time for a change. This book features three opening experts who get together to take a look at the Dutch Defense, one of Black's most ambitious answers to 1 d4. It presents the Dutch defense in a different light.

Leading expert Paul Booth explores the growth in popularity of board games today, and unpacks what it means to read a board game. What does a game communicate? How do games play us? And how do we decide which games to play and which are just wastes of cardboard? With little scholarly research in this still-emerging field, Board Games as Media underscores the importance of board games in the ever-evolving world of media.

Chess Secrets is a series of books which uncover the mysteries of the most important aspects of chess, such as strategy, attack, defence, opening play, endgames, off-board preparation and mental attitude. In each book the author studies a number of great players who have excelled in such aspects of the game, greatly influenced their peers and inspired all of us. In Great Chess Romantics, Craig Pritchett selects five players, whose artistic spirit expresses a personal commitment to the discovery and revelation of great new truths and beauty on the chessboard. Anderssen defined romanticism's inherently dramatic and correct combinational core. Chigorin championed this essence in splendid opposition to an emerging new classical consensus. Reti revealed the extraordinary power of new flank openings. Larsen confounded the overly sober, scientific Soviet school at innumerable turns. In the computer age, Morozevich constantly discovers new depths to chess, while simply oozing exquisite strokes in his best games.

Attacking your opponents king is not just a shortcut to victory, its also one of the most enjoyable and gratifying experiences in chess. If you want to win more games you should become a better attacker. Studying typical attacking motifs and ideas easily brings dividends while you are having a good time. Michael Prusikin presents the prerequisites and the rules for a King attack in a lucid and attractive manner. In 15 thematic chapters he teaches you how to assess the nature of the position, identify the appropriate offensive patterns, find the preliminary moves and conduct your attack in a clear and effective way. Battering rams, obstructive sacrifices, pawn storms, striking at the castled position, sacrificing a knight on f5, Prusikin demonstrates the most important patterns of attack with lots of clear and well-chosen examples. Next, Prusikin tests your newly acquired insights and your attacking intuition with exercises covering all the themes and motifs. You will find that studying ATTACKING STRATEGIES FOR CLUB PLAYERS is both entertaining and rewarding.

This book examines what might be described as the "pure" Reti Opening. White starts with 1 Nf3 and intends to meet 1...d5 with the "Reti" response 2 c4. One of the major advantages of playing these systems is that they rely far more on general strategic understanding than rote memorisation. However, this does not mean that Black is not set difficult problems to solve. In the modern era these lines have mainly been championed by Vladimir Kramnik and Lev Aronian. Both these players have frequently set very difficult problems for their elite opponents with these complex systems. This series provides an ideal platform to study chess openings. By continually challenging the reader to answer probing questions throughout the book, the Move by Move format greatly encourages the learning and practising of vital skills just as much as the traditional assimilation of opening knowledge. Carefully selected questions and answers are designed to keep you actively involved and allow you to monitor your progress as you learn. This is an excellent way to study any chess opening and at the same time improve your general chess skills and knowledge. * Essential guidance and training in the Reti Opening * Analyses all key variations * Utilizes an ideal Q+A approach to chess study

Are you looking for something a bit different? Do you wish to surprise your opponent on the first move? Do you enjoy playing creatively from the beginning of the game? Look no further than 1 b4! With this aggressive pawn lunge White takes the game into relatively unknown territory and forces Black players onto their own devices. Those facing 1 b4 are not allowed to fall into the comfort zone of established theory; instead they have to think for themselves from very early on.This opening has been seriously neglected by chess literature... until now. In this landmark book, Yury Lapshun and Nick Conticello take an in-depth look at 1 b4 and its many variations. The authors use illustrative games to highlight key ideas and tactics for both sides. They also provide a practical and fun-to-play repertoire for White, offering options against both Black's main defences and his more offbeat tries. Read this book and confound your opponents with 1 b4! *A complete repertoire for White*Presents answers to all of Black's possibilities*Ideal for ambitious and adventurous players

The a...6 Slav is a relatively new phenomenon in a very popular opening, and over the last few years it has attracted the attention of some top class players: Alexei Shirov, Sergei Movsesian, England's Julian Hodgson, and more recently, world number one Garry Kasparov. In this first ever book solely devoted to the a...6 Slav, Grandmaster and openings expert Glenn Flear delves into the secrets of this complex line. He explains the tactics and positional ideas for both White and Black and presents a comprehensive coverage of the theory, concentrating on all the new wrinkles and discoveries.
* Written by a prominent openings theoretician
* All major lines are covered
* Ideal for club and tournament players

Viktor Moskalenkos bestselling books The Flexible French (2008) and The Even More Flexible French (2015) were hailed by reviewers from all over the world as eye-opening, full of new ideas, easy to read, sparkling, and inspirational. Time has not stood still, and the popular French Defence has seen a lot of new developments, not in the last place thanks to Moskalenkos books. The Ukrainian grandmaster himself has kept playing and researching his beloved chess opening and decided to write a new book with countless improvements, alternatives, new ideas and fresh weapons that will delight and surprise the reader. As always, Moskalenkos analysis is high-level, yet his touch is light and fresh. In his own inimitable style, he whets the readers appetite and shares his love for the French with gusto. The wealth of original and dynamic options in every main line proves that the French continues to be a highly intriguing defence that is very much alive. The Fully-Fledged French is a typical Moskalenko book: practical, accessible, original, entertaining and inspiring.