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 practicing 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. Bird's Opening, 1 f4, is an ideal choice for freethinking chess players who prefer to rely on their general chess knowledge and intuition rather than having to memorize and keep up to date with mainline opening theory. Bird's Opening is essentially the Dutch Defense with an extra move, and White can choose between a number of different set-ups, including the reversed Leningrad, Classical and Stonewall variations, depending on mood and opponents' responses. In this book, International Master Cyrus Lakdawala examines all the important variations of Bird's Opening, including the sharp From's Gambit. Using illustrative games, he explains the main positional and tactical ideas for both sides, provides answers to all the key questions and tells you everything you need to know about successfully playing 1 f4. *Essential guidance and training with 1 f4*Provides a repertoire options for White*Utilizes an ideal approach to chess study

Renowned chess teacher and grandmaster Artur Yusupov continues his complete course of chess improvement. Volume 1, The Fundamentals, showed club chess players the basic ideas they should know. Now Volume 2, Beyond the Basics, sets off on the road to mastery. Yusupov guides the reader towards a higher level of chess understanding using carefully selected positions and advice. This new understanding is then tested by a series of puzzles. Artur Yusupov was ranked No. 3 in the world from 1986 to 1992, just behind the legendary World Champions Karpov and Kasparov. He has won everything there is to win in chess except for the World Championship. In recent years he has mainly worked as a chess trainer with players ranging from current World Champion Anand to local amateurs in Germany, where he resides.

A 21st-Century Edition of a Great Checkmate Collection Ask most chessplayers from the "baby boomer" generation how they acquired and sharpened their tactical skills, and chances are a Fred Reinfeld tactics collection will be part of their answer. And now, for the first time, 1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate is available in modern algebraic notation. This may be the all-time great checkmate collection, with forced checkmate positions culled mainly from actual play. And Reinfeld's selection is simply marvelous, touching on all the important tactical themes. In short, this is an outstanding book to hone your tactical abilities. It will help you recognize mating patterns, develop visualization skills, enhance imagination, and improve tactical sharpness. And now, with a modern 21st-century edition of this great checkmate collection finally available, there is no excuse for not only improving your tactical skills, but also enjoying yourself along the way.

If you are aware of endgame patterns, you spot key moves quicker, analyse and calculate better, avoid making errors and memorise what you have studied more fully. Most of the patterns Jesus de la Villa presents in this new book are from the phase of the game just before a theoretical endgame turns up. Knowing these practical endgame fundamentals will enable you to fully reap the benefits of what you learned in De la Villas widely acclaimed classic 100 ENDGAMES YOU MUST KNOW. Studying patterns only makes sense if you are going to encounter them frequently. De la Villa presents those that have the greatest practical importance and explains and illustrates them with carefully selected examples. To show the patterns as clearly as possible, he mainly concentrates on positions in which both sides have just one piece. Presenting positions with more pieces risks blurring the picture and making motifs less straightforward. The fact that players think in patterns has an important side-effect: their endgame errors tend to repeat themselves. Thats why De la Villa has not just included examples from games of elite GMs but also of amateurs. Errors are always instructive and working with this book will seriously reduce the number of typical mistakes you are prone to make. The many practical exercises that De la Villa has selected will help you improve and retain what you have learned.

The outcome of most matches depends on positional skills; the first player to establish a positional advantage gains the best chance of a successful direct attack. This complete guide, written by a grandmaster, can assist all players at every level in developing a more powerful strategic game. Spanning more than a century of chess, it presents examples on such themes as key squares, bad bishops, and pawn structures in ascending difficulty, with ample cross-references. 495 b/w illus.

Every chess player wants to improve, but many, if not most, lack the tools or the discipline to study in a structured and effective way. With so much material on offer, the eternal question is: How can I study chess without wasting my time and energy? Davorin Kuljasevic provides the full and ultimate answer, as he presents a structured study approach that has long-term improvement value. He explains how to study and what to study, offers specific advice for the various stages of the game and points out how to integrate all elements in an actionable study plan. How do you optimize your learning process? How do you develop good study habits and get rid of useless ones? What study resources are appropriate for players of different levels? Many self-improvement guides are essentially little more than a collection of exercises. Davorin Kuljasevic reflects on learning techniques and priorities in a fundamental way. And although this is not an exercise book, it is full of instructive examples looked at from unusual angles. To provide a solid self-study framework, Kuljasevic categorizes lots of important aspects of chess study in a guide that is rich in illustrative tables, figures and bullet points. Anyone, from casual player to chess professional, will take away a multitude of original learning methods and valuable practical improvement ideas.

Are you tired of playing the same old openings time and time again? This book takes revolutionary look at Flank Openings. It focuses on little-explored variations, selecting a wealth of 'dangerous' options for both colours.

One day in 2005 while searching for food, nine-year-old Ugandan Phiona Mutesi followed her brother to a dusty veranda where she met Robert Katende. Katende, a war refugee turned missionary, had an improbable dream: to empower kids in the Katwe slum through chess - a game so foreign there is no word for it in their native language. Laying a chess board in the dirt, Robert began to teach. At first children came for a free bowl of porridge, but many grew to love the game that - like their daily lives - requires persevering against great obstacles. Of these kids, one girl stood out as an immense talent: Phiona. By the age of eleven Phiona was her country's junior champion, and at fifteen, the national champion. Now a Woman Candidate Master - the first female titled player in her country's history - Phiona dreams of becoming a Grandmaster, the most elite level in chess. But to reach that goal, she must grapple with everyday life in one of the world's most unstable coun tries. The Queen of Katwe is a remarkable and inspirational book that shows how 'Phiona's story transcends the limitations of the chessboard' (Robert Hess, US Grandmaster).

This new 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. The Torre Attack is a popular opening, especially at club level. White's development plan is straightforward and there are clear tactical and strategic goals. Sometimes White plays quietly; on other occasions he suddenly launches a direct attack against Black's king, and many quick victories arise because this unexpected aggression catches Black off guard. In this book, renowned opening expert Richard Palliser answers all the key questions and reveals everything you need to know about the opening. *Essential guidance and training in the Torre Attack *Utilizes an ideal approach to chess study *Important ideas absorbed by continued practice

This book on strategy is one of the best and clearest texts ever written. Lasker claims that by following a few principles of strategy which he gives one can play chess very well. A large part of the book is devoted to illustrative games to show how these strategic principles have been applied by masters. These games show that by learning how to clear files, concentrating forces in the center of the board, and keeping pawn movement down to only the most needed ones, you can become a master.

Learn to play attacking chess from move one by studying the Fried Liver Attack, the Fishing Pole, the Bishop Sacrifice, the Halosar Trap, and other attacks used by the masters of the past.This book is a compilation of some of the best chess opening traps and attacks. Most attacks result in mate within 10 moves or less. These attacks illustrate how to mount a powerful attack quickly.