Chess is an enthralling game that provides countless hours of enjoyment for players young and old, but it's true that for the beginner it can often seem like an intimidating prospect. Have you tried your luck at learning the game but have been put off by its sheer complexity, not to mention some of the demanding books on the subject. Don't give up, there's help on the way! Chess for Rookies is a fun-to-read guide for the regular person. Assuming no prior knowledge of this famous game, Craig Pritchett takes the reader on a journey through the crucial basics of chess. Mixed with instruction and humour, this book is an ideal way to learn chess and improve your skills. Reading this book you will: *Learn how to set up the chessboard *Discover how the pieces move, and understand their strengths and weaknesses *Gain knowledge of the basic chess tactics and strategies *Realize when to attack and when to defend *Learn the basics of the opening, middlegame and endgame *Understand tricky ideas such as castling and en passant *Find descriptions of all the strange-sounding chess terms *Discover the best places to play chess, whether on the board or on your computer *Find out who's who in the chess world *Be ready to beat your friends at chess!

The Philidor is a dynamic and underrated answer to White's most popular opening move, 1 e4. Recently it has acquired something of a cult following amongst certain Grandmasters; its supporters include the French number one Etienne Bacrot and the former European Champion Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu. One of its major selling points is its flexibility - Black even has a choice of two opening moves. It also suits a wide variety of playing styles; games can lead to sharp, tactical duels as well as strategic, positional battles.
In this book Christian Bauer, himself a renowned Philidor expert, uncovers the secrets behind this intriguing opening. Using his own experience and other top-class Philidor games, Bauer identifies both the critical main lines and the tricky sidelines. He also examines the key tactical and strategic ideas for both White and Black, while highlighting crucial issues such as move-order options - a major weapon for the modern Grandmaster.
*Comprehensive coverage of a provocative opening
*Packed with original analysis
*Ideal for club and tournament players
Christian Bauer is a young Grandmaster from France who has a string of tournament successes to his name. He is a former national champion and has represented France in numerous team tournaments, playing top board at the 2000 Istanbul Olympiad. He is a regular columnist for the renowned French chess magazine "Europe Echecs,"" "while this is his second book for Everyman Chess; his first was "Play 1...b6!."

Ian Nepomniachtchi, challenger to Magnus Carlsen's World Championship title in 2021, is an outstanding chess talent. "Nepo" as he is universally known is a fascinating player and this book assesses his career and analyses his original and creative style in great depth with numerous deeply annotated games. Nepo is one of the very few players in the world to hold (at least prior to the match) a plus score (four wins to one with six draws) against Carlsen in classical chess. Nepo and Carlsen are peers and first started playing each other in the Under-12 category of the World Youth Championship in 2002. In that event, Nepo edged out Carlsen on tie-break. At that time he out-rated Carlsen by 100 points and was generally considered to be the more promising of the two prodigies. Nepo is a fascinating player who loves open and irrational positions and excels when on the attack. Unsurprisingly, he cites Mikhail Tal as his all-time favorite player and says Tal is the player who has exerted the greatest influence on him. As with that great Latvian genius, Nepo thrives on anarchy and chaos and has frequently got the better of Carlsen in games with mind-boggling complications. He is also lethal when he has the initiative. Nepo has steadily climbed the world rankings and his finest achievement was his victory in the 2020/2021 Candidates' tournament with 81/2/14 points (+5-2=7) which gave him the right to challenge Carlsen for the world title.

The official story of the 2020 Candidates Tournament began on November the 11th, 2019 with the signing of a contract between FIDE and the Russian Chess Federation detailing the hosting duties of said tournament in Ekaterinburg from the 15th of March to the 5th of April, 2020. At that point no one could have even imagined how difficult the road to that tournament would be nor how unexpected the outcome. Yet the significance of the actual numbers in this dramatic epic is hard to overestimate which is why the author will attempt to play the role of chronicler and try to describe as accurately as possible the key moments of this historic event. Vladimir Tukmakov was our close observer, author and wrote a historically important book on the first part of the Candidates 2020.

Former US Open Champion Timothy Taylor presents an attacking repertoire for White against the most popular opening in chess - the Sicilian Defence. His repertoire is based first and foremost on the Open Sicilian, which is generally regarded as White's most aggressive and challenging response. Taylor constructs an armoury which contains a potent mix of mainline and offbeat weapons. He examines the most important games, studies in depth the main plans and tactics for both sides, and highlights key practical issues. Read this book and you will be ready to slay the Sicilian! *Presents a Sicilian repertoire for White *Covers all the main variations *Ideal for improvers, club players and tournament players

The Accelerated Dragon is a dynamic choice for Black and arguably the most natural way to play the Sicilian Defence: Black develops rapidly and chooses the most active squares to place his or her pieces. Unknowing white players looking for a direct attack similar to the one used against traditional Dragon are shocked by Black's increased options due to the flexible move order. Instead, White sometimes employs a more positional approach incorporating the famous Maroczy Bind, when the battle centres on White's impressive pawn structure against Black's lively pieces and the ability to create a pawn break. The Accelerated Dragon was brought to prominence by the Danish chess legend Bent Larsen, while in more recent years its advocates have included World Championship Candidate Sergey Tiviakov.
This book is a further addition to Everyman's best-selling "Starting Out" series, which has been acclaimed for its original approach to tackling chess openings. International Master Andrew Greet, an Accelerated Dragon expert, revisits the basics of the opening, elaborating on the crucial early moves and ideas for both sides in a way that is often neglected in other texts. The reader is helped throughout with a plethora of notes, tips and warnings highlighting the vital characteristics of the Accelerated Dragon and of opening play in general. "Starting Out: The Accelerated Dragon" is a perfect guide for improving players and those new to this opening.
*User-friendly design to help readers absorb ideas
*Includes coverage of the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon
*Ideal for improvers, club players and tournament players
Andrew Greet is a young International Master, a former British Junior Champion, and is one of the UK's most rapidly improving players. In 2005 he scored a perfect 11/11 in the British National League, the first time any player had achieved this remarkable feat. He is also an experienced coach and writes regular articles for "CHESS,"

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 Mueller, annotates each game of the player many believe to be the greatest of all time. All 736 serious tournament 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.

Are you bored of playing the same old openings time and time again? Fed up with constantly having to keep up with modern chess theory? Or perhaps you simply wish to play something new and exciting, but cannot decide between the numerous choices available? Don't despair - help is on hand!' In "Dangerous Weapons: The Sicilian", John Emms and Richard Palliser team up to investigate by far the most popular and widely-played chess opening, but in a revolutionary way. They concentrate on fresh or little-explored variations of the open Sicilian, selecting a wealth of ideas and options for both colours. Many of the carefully chosen weapons are innovative, visually shocking, incredibly tricky, or have been unfairly discarded; they are guaranteed to throw even your most experienced opponent off balance. Whether playing White or Black, a study of this book will leave you assured and fully-armed, and your opponents running for cover! "Dangerous Weapons" is a brand-new series of opening books that provide the reader with an abundance of hard-hitting ideas to revitalize his or her opening repertoire.

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. The King's Indian Attack is a very popular system of development for White. It's easy to learn and play, can be used against many defences and is based on understanding ideas rather than memorizing moves. White's plan typically involves a deliberate and sustained attack on the black king, which often proves to be highly effective. In this book, Grandmaster Neil McDonald examines in depth the many variations of the King's Indian Attack. He outlines White's most promising options and Black's best defences, and provides answers to all the key questions. *Essential guidance and training in the King's Indian Attack *Provides repertoire options for White *Utilizes an ideal approach to chess study

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)

"Bobby Fischer...The precision and energy that he played with is unmatched in the history of chess." Magnus Carlsen, World Chess Champion Nearly 30 years since his last chess game, Bobby Fischer's fame continues to grow. Appearing in Hollywood movies, documentaries and best-selling books, his life and career are as fascinating as they ever were and his games continue to generate discussion. Indeed, with each new generation of computer, stunning discoveries are made about moves that have been debated by grandmasters for decades. International Grandmaster Andrew Soltis played Fischer and also reported, as a journalist, on the American's legendary career. He is the author of many books, including Pawn Structure Chess, 365 Chess Master Lessons and What it Takes to Become a Chess Master.

The Najdorf is one of the most respected variations of the Sicilian Defence. Over decades it has remained a sound yet attacking weapon in the hands of the world's finest players including several world champions. Join Robert James Fischer, Kasparov, Anand, Topalov, MVL and legions of club players by playing for a win with Black using the Najdorf. Expert and Grandmaster Milos Pavlovic will be your practical and honest guide in this fifth book for Thinkers Publishing.

This is the second book of the Thinkers' Chess Academy series. In the first book we started at a beginner's level with checkmates in 1, 2 or 3 moves and the most common tactical motifs. If you have already worked with the first book you will now be much more experienced and ready for some more difficult lessons. We will start with 50 combinations to refresh our memory of the motifs from the first book. Th e chess friends who have not read the first book can treat it as a kind of self-test. If you cannot solve many of the examples it may be better to go back and work through the first book again. It is not a good idea to leave basic knowledge out. It will certainly hinder your progress if you do so. In this book we will not only show you more tactical motifs, but we will also give you an introduction to the basics of chess strategy. You will learn the most important elements of strategy which will help you to find better plans and to understand positions better. At the end of the book a chapter with 50 checkmates of 5+ moves will show you techniques of how to attack or hunt the opponent's king and also how to improve your calculation skills and your imagination at the chessboard. Now enough of the prologue, let us go to work and learn lots about chess tactics and strategy! Have a lot of fun while studying chess and enjoy your improvement! Yours, Thomas Luther Grandmaster and FIDE senior trainer

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. The Winawer is a very popular choice amongst French Defence players. It enjoys a sound reputation and reaches positions rich in possibilities for both players. It offers Black the opportunity to enter sharp, dynamic lines, such as the notorious Poisoned Pawn Variation, as well as lines which are more strategic in nature. In this book, FIDE Master Steve Giddins invites you to join him in studying the French Winawer, an opening which he has played for over 25 years, and its many variations. He examines instructive games, covers the most important lines and provides answers to all the key questions.

The 1999 World Championship in Las Vegas produced a surprise winner - after a month-long battle, the Russian grandmaster Alexander Khalifman emerged from this grueling knock-out event to become the 14th FIDE World Champion. Alexander Khalifman has been competing in the higher echelons of world chess for many years. He is a player with a broad opening repertoire and a distinctive style, one of his favorite stratagems being the sacrifice of material for long-term positional compensation. A former European Junior Champion and a winner of numerous Russian and international tournaments, he has recently founded a grandmaster chess school in his native St. Petersburg. (6 3/4 x 9 3/4, 208 pages, diagrams)

Grandmaster Simon Williams was taught the English Opening at the age of six and 1 c4 was his weapon of choice until long after he became an International Master. For this new work, he teamed up with acclaimed theoretician International Master Richard Palliser to explore his old favourite. 1 c4 remains an excellent choice for the club and tournament player. This book focuses on the set-up popularised by the sixth world champion, Mikhail Botvinnik, the so-called Botvinnik formation with 2 Nc3, 3 g3, 4 Bg2, 5 e4 and 6 Nge2. This system is compact but still aggressive and rewards an understanding of plans and strategies rather than rote memorisation of moves. In Opening Repertoire: The Iron English leading chess authors Simon Williams and Richard Palliser guide the reader through the complexities of this dynamic variation and carves out a repertoire for White. They examine all aspects of this highly complex opening and provide 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 dynamic and easy-to-play repertoire for White * Complete coverage featuring several new ideas * Take your opponents out of their comfort zone!