The Tarrasch variation of the French Defense is reached after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2. This is one of the most positional treatments White has available. Using his typical funny and dynamic writing style, David shows that it is possible to play solidly but also remain with the dynamic elements Black has available. He recommends several creative lines, even a bit off the beaten track, but which he has very carefully worked out over the several years of his own practice. Again, Miedema and his love for the French Defense shines through his second volume, the third and final being available at the end of this year.

Details 59 brilliant games from the career of a correspondence world champion with his own notes, and provides insights into the processes of analysis and decision-making, as well as abundant study material. Packed with general chess wisdom and pertinent quotes from the great masters of chess.

How can you improve at chess? This is the eternal question asked by players of all levels. Which part of the game should you focus on? How often should you play? Should you change your opening repertoire? What's the best way to learn from your defeats? So many questions ...and yet direct answers are hard to find. It's no wonder aspiring players are left bewildered and in need of direction. In this book grandmaster Nigel Davies provides that direction. He examines the methods used by a number of players who were looking to improve their game, and how they went about achieving their goal. He has drawn heavily on the games and thoughts of players who have been his students over the years and experienced a clear improvement in their play. Finding the path towards improvement can prove difficult without the right guidance. This book will demonstrate the route to take. *A major study of chess improvement *Written by a renowned chess trainer *Tackles all areas of the game

With six new chapters, this expanded edition contains every move (standard international algebraic notation) of every game played in world championship competition, including all official such titles since 1886 and all decisive matches by the world's leading players for the 50 years before that date. A diagram of the critical or most interesting moment accompanies every game. All games are dated, with playing locations noted. All source material discrepancies have been researched and resolved. Charts or crosstables showing overall results precede each match or tournament. A lengthy bibliography and a detailed openings index complete the work. The book is published as a set of two volumes. Replacement volumes can be obtained individually under ISBN 0-7864-2665-7 (for Volume 1) and ISBN 0-7864-2666-7 (for Volume 2).

Improve your chess by studying the greatest games of all time, from Adolf Anderssen's 'Immortal Game' to Magnus Carlsen's world championship victories, and featuring a foreword by five-times World Champion Vishy Anand. This book is written by an all-star team of authors. Wesley So is the reigning Fischer Random World Champion, the 2017 US Champion and the winner of the 2016 Grand Chess Tour. Michael Adams has been the top British player for the last quarter of a century and was a finalist in the 2004 FIDE World Championship. Graham Burgess is the author of thirty books, a former champion of the Danish region of Funen, and holds the world record for marathon blitz chess playing. John Nunn is a three-time winner of both the World Solving Championship and the British Chess Federation Book of the Year Award. John Emms is an experienced chess coach and writer, who finished equal first in the 1997 British Championship and was chess columnist of the Young Telegraph. The 145 greatest chess games of all time, selected, analysed, re-evaluated and explained by a team of British and American experts and illustrated with over 1,100 chess diagrams. Join the authors in studying these games, the cream of two centuries of international chess, and develop your own chess-playing skills - whatever your current standard. Instructive points at the end of each game highlight the lessons to be learned. First published in 1998, a second edition of The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games in 2004 included an additional twelve games. Another new edition in 2010 included a further thirteen games as well as some significant revisions to the analysis and information regarding other games in earlier editions of the book, facilitated by the use of a variety of chess software. This 2021 edition, further updated and expanded, now includes 145 games. The authors have made full use of the new generation of chess analysis engines that apply neural-network based AI.

Jonathan Rowson's competitive success as a chess Grandmaster and work as an applied philosopher have given him a unique perspective on why the great game is more important than ever for understanding the conflicts and uncertainties of the modern world. In sixty-four witty and addictive vignettes, Rowson takes us on an exhilarating tour of the game of life, from the psychology of gang violence, to the aesthetics of cyborgs, the beauty of technical details, and the endgame of death. Chess emerges as a singularly powerful metaphor for the thrills and set-backs that invest our daily lives with meaning and complexity.

John Healy's The Grass Arena describes with unflinching honesty his experiences of addiction, his escape through learning to play chess in prison, and his ongoing search for peace of mind. This Penguin Classics edition includes an afterword by Colin MacCabe. In his searing autobiography Healy describes his fifteen years living rough in London without state aid, when begging carried an automatic three-year prison sentence and vagrant alcoholics prowled the parks and streets in search of drink or prey. When not united in their common aim of acquiring alcohol, winos sometimes murdered one another over prostitutes or a bottle, or the begging of money. Few modern writers have managed to match Healy's power to refine from the brutal destructive condition of the chronic alcoholic a story so compelling it is beyond comparison. John Healy (b. 1943) was born into an impoverished, Irish immigrant family, in the slums of Kentish Town, North London. Out of school by 14, pressed into the army and intermittently in prison, Healy became an alcoholic early on in life. Despite these obstacles Healy achieved remarkable, indeed phenomenal expertise in both writing and chess, as outlined in the autobiographical The Grass Arena. If you enjoyed The Grass Arena, you might like Last Exit to Brooklyn, also available in Penguin Modern Classics. 'Sober and precise, grotesque, violent, sad, charming and hilarious all at once' Literary Review 'Beside it, a book like Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London seems a rather inaccurate tourist guide' Colin MacCabe

Before you lies the second volume in a trilogy about the Sicilian Defense. The first volume dealt with the Najdorf and Scheveningen variations, and it is now time to pay attention to three other extremely popular systems: the Taimanov, Kan and Richter-Rauzer variations. After careful consideration within the Thinkers Publis -hing team, we decided that it made sense to group these variations together. In particular, the first two are closely related and share the feature that, in both cases, Black plays ...e7-e6 and ...a7-a6 at an early stage. They typically have the idea of retaining more options for their king's bishop by postponing ...d7-d6 (or even omitting it entirely.) The bishop may go to b4 or c5 in different lines. The Richter-Rauzer is, in theory, just one of the possible developments from a Classical Sicilian. We have already dealt with a few games that started with the Classical and where Black shortly played ...e7-e6; and 6.Bc4 (the Sozin variation) was rightly treated within the Scheveningen pages. However, it is clear that White's most po pular counter, the Richter-Rauzer variation (6.Bg5) deserves separate attention. While looking at the variation structure for the Kan and Taimanov and deciding on which model games to use, I noticed a lot of possible transitions to the 'Hedgehog' structure, shown on the right. The key features are white pawns on e4 and c4, and at least four black pawns on a6, b6, d6 and e6. This structure is ideally suited to the task of playing for a win as Black, because of the very complicated middlegames that arise. (And one often needs complicated middlegames to have a better chance of 'converting' a rating advantage!) The 'Hedgehog' is definitely a structure rather than a variation, but it has such a distinctive character of its own that I chose to examine it first in chapter 2. This simplifies later discussion of the Taimanov and Kan variations by removing the need to discuss every possible way of entering a Hedgehog structure.

Many of the classics of Soviet chess literature have struggled to see the light of day, but none more so than Soviet Middlegame Technique by Peter Romanovsky. The original version of this famous guide to the middlegame was published in 1929 when Romanovsky was Soviet Champion. Romanovsky later decided to update and improve his work. As he finished his work in 1942, World War II was underway and Romanovsky was trapped in the notorious siege of Leningrad. The author barely survived and his manuscript was lost. Romanovsky was undeterred and finally recreated his improved book in 1960. His writing was later translated into English and published in two titles -- one on Planning and the other on Combinations. In this fresh translation we have included both works to create the ultimate version of a classic of Soviet chess literature.

Jose Raul Capablanca was a chess legend, world champion and quite simply one of the greatest players in the history of the game. His achievements and seemingly effortless style of play won many admirers, and his legacy includes a treasure of instructive games. Studying Capablanca's play is a must for any aspiring chess player. For Cyrus Lakdawala, it was a key factor in his chess development and improvement, and in this book he revisits many of his favourite Capablanca games. Lakdawala examines Capablanca's skills in the key areas of attack, defence, counter-attack, exploiting imbalances, accumulating advantages and, of course, his legendary endgame play. Move by Move provides an ideal platform to study chess. 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 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 improve your chess skills and knowledge. *Learn from the games of a chess legend *Important ideas absorbed by continued practice *Utilizes an ideal approach to chess study

An insightful new book that is perfect for newcomers to chess inspired by Netflix's Queen's Gambit. Written by one of the best chess communicators in the business, chess master and chess journalist Andy Soltis divulges practical advice and explains technical terms that chess books often overlook. From learning how to train your mind with chess information to choosing the best chess opening, dip in and out of this invaluable guide to improve your chess in a minutes.  Chess questions answered in this book include: Is there a best way to study chess? How do I know if I have a natural talent? How important is chess memory and how can I train mine? How long should I think before choosing a move?  Is there a proper way to think? Can I think like a chess computer? How do I develop chess intuition?  Don't try to swallow too much information in one sitting. Dip in and out of these great chess questions to better understand the game and let the improvement happen incrementally. 

The Queen's Gambit is one of the great classical openings. All the world champions and elite players have played this opening - most of them for both sides. In this book the highly experienced coach international master Andrew Martin explains the basic ideas behind all the different variations you can encounter after 1 d4 d5 2 c4. This includes the classical defences (such as the Orthodox, the Lasker and the Slav) as well as the weird and wonderful (such as the Albin Counter-Gambit, the Hennig-Schara Gambit and Marshall's Defence). First Steps is a new opening series and is ideal for improving players who want simple and straightforward explanations. First Steps emphasizes: *the basic principles*the basic strategies*the key tricks and traps First Steps books are based around carefully selected instructive games which demonstrate exactly what both sides are trying to achieve. There is enough theory to enable the improving player to get to grips with the opening without feeling overwhelmed. If you want to take up a new opening, First Steps is the ideal place to start.

Learn how to play chess – the world’s most popular board game! Jessica E Martin helps you improve your skills through 35 fun activities – this isn’t just a textbook about the rules! Why not have a game of Face Off, all you need are two rooks and bishops of each colour, then battle it out to capture all of your opponent’s pieces, or try Rookie Cookie, where the rook can go as far as it wants and move in any direction? With Create-a-Mate you will learn the vital skill of following activity and working pieces as pairs. All the activities have clear, easy-to-follow instructions and colourful artworks so you can see exactly where pieces should be on the chessboard. There are also helpful hints and tips throughout, as well as a Starting Out section if you ever need reminding of a rule or have forgotten how a piece can move.

Matthew Sadler is one of the UK's strongest ever players. He became a grandmaster at 19, won the British Championship twice and, amongst other amazing achievements, made a gold medal winning score of 101/2/13 on board four for England in the 1996 chess Olympiad. In 2000 Matthew quite full-time chess. However, he re-emerged ten years later in 2010 to play a rapidplay tournament in Wageningen, Holland which he promptly won with 7/7. In 2011 he played in strong international events at Barcelona and Oslo and won them with the Fischer-like scores of 81/2/10 and 8/9 respectively. After a decade away from the game, these results are simply astounding. Matthew's extraordinary ability at chess stems not simply from natural talent but is based on a brilliant aptitude for studying the game. He understands exactly what needs to be studied and how to go about it. In this book he recounts how he organised his preparation for his 'comeback' and from his results the success of his method is self-evident. In this book Matthew shares his secrets and reveals how to: * Incorporate unorthodox openings into your repertoire * Study middlegame situations * Understand what is important in the endgame As well as being an exceptional player Matthew is also a fine writer who conveys his ideas with ease. He has previously written four books for Everyman with his book on the Queen's Gambit Declined winning the British Chess Federation Book of the Year award in 2000. Matthew currently lives and works in Holland.

The O'Kelly variation of the Sicilian Defence (1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 a6) is a wonderful system for those who enjoy playing Sicilian positions but don't want to get bogged down in heavy theory. The O'Kelly relies far more on an understanding of general strategic ideas and middlegame planning than on rote memorisation of opening moves. One of the benefits of the O'Kelly is that White's natural continuation of 3 d4, although very frequently played, permits Black confortable development and an easy game. In Play the O'Kelly Sicilian, highly experienced chess author and coach Andrew Martin guides the reader through the complexities of the O'Kelly and carves out a repertoire for Black. He examines all aspects of this fascinating opening and provides the reader with well-researched, fresh, and innovative analysis. Each annotated game has valuable lessons on how to play the opening and contains instructive commentary on typical middlegame plans. * A complete repertoire for Black against 1 e4. * All key variations analysed in detail.

Two books from the Chess Secrets series brought together in one volume. Chess Secrets is a series of books which uncover the mysteries of the most important aspects of chess: strategy, attack, classical play, opening play, endgames and preparation. In each book the author chooses and deeply studies a number of great players from chess history who have excelled in a particular field of the game and undeniably influenced those who have followed. Chess Secrets: Heroes of Classical Chess: Learn from Carlsen, Anand, Fischer, Smyslov and Rubinstein by Craig Pritchett. In Heroes of Classical Chess, Craig Pritchett selects five great players whose style exemplifies classically direct, clear, energetic, tough, ambitious yet fundamentally correct chess playing attributes. Pritchett studies the major contributions they have made, compares their differing styles and discusses the critical influences they have had on the development of chess, on their peers and on all our games. Chess Secrets: The Giants of Strategy: Learn from Kramnik, Karpov, Petrosian, Capablanca and Nimzowitsch by Neil McDonald. The chess world has been blessed with some wonderful strategists, innovators of the game with their instructive play and profound teachings. In The Giants of Strategy, Neil McDonald chooses his selection of the most prominent ones and highlights the major contributions they have made. He examines their differing approaches and styles, and from Nimzowitsch to Kramnik, how they followed in each other's footsteps. A careful study of this book will help you to understand and improve in one of the most crucial elements of the game.