Learn the ancient and fascinating game of Chinese Chess with this expert guide. Chinese chess, or "elephant chess," has intrigued the powerful and the quizzical for centuries. Although its rules are similar to the well-known Western game, subtle and fascinating variations must be mastered in order to understand the strategies it requires. A great way to learn Chinese Chess, this book is simple enough for Chess beginners but contains a wealth of information and tips that experienced players will find useful as well. In Chinese Chess, author H.T. Lau explains the game's fundamentals--the rules, the board, and the basics with dozens of insightful diagrams. With the aid of 170 diagrams, Chinese Chess walks players through the board, the movement and values of the pieces, basic rules for capturing and defeating an opponent, techniques and game-winning tactics. Once he's covered the basics, Lau introduces advanced tactics, methods for escaping difficult positions, and cunning strategies for winning. This book includes eighty mid- and end-game exercises designed to sharpen playing skills and strategy, and concludes with two appendices devoted to the elegantly constructed games found in The Secret Inside the Orange and The Plum-Blossom Meter, two classic seventeenth-century works on Chinese chess.

Discover the untold potential of magic! Secrets of Magic, the newest hardcover rulebook for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game! Secrets of Magic brings the popular magus and summoner classes into Pathfinder Second Edition, unlocking heroes who combine magical might with martial prowess and offering command of a powerful magical companion creature. The lavishly illustrated, 256-page rulebook contains hundreds of new spells with potent offerings for all spellcasting character classes, magic items for any player character, and lore detailing the fundamental structure and theories of magic. A special section within the volume-the Book of Unlimited Magic-presents new methods of spellcasting, with elementalism, geomancy, shadow magic, rune magic, and even pervasive magic to give every place and creature in your game a magical spin! Written by Logan Bonner, Mark Seifter, and Amirali Attar Olyaee, Kate Baker, Minty Belmont, Logan Bonner, James Case, Jessica Catalan, John Compton, Katina Davis, Jesse Decker, Chris Eng, Eleanor Ferron, Leo Glass, Joan Hong, Vanessa Hoskins, Jason Keeley, Joshua Kim, Luis Loza, Ron Lundeen, Liane Merciel, David N. Ross, Ianara Natividad, Chesley Oxendine, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Shiv Ramdas, Mikhail Rekun, Simone D. Salle, Michael Sayre, Mark Seifter, Sen H.H.S., Shay Snow, Kendra Leigh Speedling, Tan Shao Han, Calliope Lee Taylor, Mari Tokuda, Jason Tondro, Clark Valentine, Ruvaid Virk, Andrew White, Landon Winkler, Tonya Woldridge, and Isis Wozniakowska

The Scandinavian (also known as the Centre Counter Defence) occurs when Black meets White's 1 e4 with 1 ... d5, immediately countering in the centre. White invariably continues with 2 exd5 when Black can choose between two systems, both of which are covered in this book. Firstly 2 ... Qxd5, which regains the pawn immediately but exposes the black queen early on - a feature that complicates the play for both players. Secondly 2 ... Nf6, which invites White to risk attempting to hold onto the d5-pawn. If White goes down this path then a complex tactical struggle can easily develop. ----- 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.

10 metallic colored pencils feature foil-stamped labels for Red Planet exploration and identification.

Featuring Photos from NASA!

• Great gift for anyone interested in space exploration
• Perfect for notes, coloring books, or drawing
• High-quality, two-tone art pencils

Let NASA's Mars imagery add color to your artistic and space quests!

Spend more study time on whats really decisive in your games! The average chess player spends too much time on studying opening theory. In his day, World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker argued that improving amateurs should spend about 5% of their study time on openings. These days club players are probably closer to 80%, often focusing on opening lines that are popular among grandmasters. Club players shouldnt slavishly copy the choices of grandmasters. GMs need to squeeze every drop of advantage from the opening and therefore play highly complex lines that require large amounts of memorization. The main objective for club players should be to emerge from the opening with a reasonable position, from which you can simply play chess and pit your own tactical and positional understanding against that of your opponent. Gerard Welling and Steve Giddins recommend the Old Indian-Hanham Philidor set-up as a basis for both Black and White. They provide ideas and strategies that can be learned in the shortest possible time, require the bare minimum of maintenance and updating, and lead to rock-solid positions that you will know how to handle. By adopting a similar set-up for both colours, with similar plans and techniques, you will further reduce study time. Side-stepping Mainline Theory will help you to focus on what is really decisive in the vast majority of non-grandmaster games: tactics, positional understanding and endgame technique. Gerard Welling is an International Master and an experienced chess trainer from the Netherlands. He has contributed to NIC Yearbook and Kaissiber, the freethinker's magazine on non-mainline chess openings. Steve Giddins is a FIDE Master from England, and a highly experienced chess writer and journalist. He compiled and edited The New In Chess Book of Chess Improvement, the bestselling anthology of master classes from New In Chess magazine.

Fed up with getting difficult positions with the black pieces? Tired of always having to keep up with all the latest developments? Take a break from the mountains of opening theory and play 1...b6! With the move, preparing a bishop fianchetto, Black immediately directs the game into relatively uncharted territory, one where White players are not able to sit back and rely on their 'opening book' knowledge.
The real beauty of 1...b6 is that it can be played against virtually every single first move by White, so it is a perfect choice for Black players with neither the time nor inclination to memorize a multitude of different defenses. Despite being relatively unexplored, 1...b6 has been the weapon of some dynamic and uncompromising world-class players, including Britain's first Grandmaster, the late Tony Miles.
In this revolutionary book, Christian Bauer reveals for the first time the secrets of how to play 1...b6 with success. He takes an in-depth look at both the main lines and White's more offbeat tries, creating a comprehensive repertoire for the Black player and highlighting the tactical and positional ideas for both players.
*Written by a 1...b6 expert
*All of White's possibilities are covered
*Full explanation of the most important thematic ideas

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." - Abraham Lincoln There's no escaping the fact: if you want to win chess games, you have to attack at some point. Many players are happy solving combinations in winning positions, when the hard work is already done, but the key to a successful attack undoubtedly comes much earlier. No-one can attack effectively if they haven't prepared properly, and yet planning in chess can be a difficult technique to master, even for experienced players. This book provides a solution. Using an abundance of illustrative games and examples, Gary Lane answers the questions which constantly puzzle players of all levels. Where are my opponent's weaknesses? Do I have enough pieces in the attack? When should I strike? Do I need to sacrifice? Should I cash in or continue to attack? Read this book, discover the answers and attack with confidence! *An essential guide to attacking chess*Introduces easy-to-learn techniques*Focuses on planning and strategy

A firebolt broom pen, interactive book, iron-on team badges, and trading cards highlight this spirited celebration of the magical sport of the Wizarding World. The Player's Kit includes: * 4 iron-on badges featuring team insignia for Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff * 4-1/4 x 7" 128-page interactive book on Quidditch, including history on the sport, play instruction, play-making templates, quotes, full-colour photography and illustrations, and more * Firebolt broom pen * Quidditch all-stars trading cards * Keepsake box

"Lasker's Manual of Chess" is one of the greatest chess books ever written. The fact that it was first published over 80 years ago has diminished neither its relevance nor significance in today's modern chess world.Lasker was both a wonderful fighter and a deep thinker; his book is the quintessence of the exceptionally successful experiences he had over many long years, and his thoughts about them. He teaches what he himself considers most important: general principles and methods applicable to any situation. Once you have read the "Manual," you will become smarter - afterwards, this is bound to help you, both in chess and in life.Emanuel Lasker, the Second World Champion, begins at the most basic level, explaining the board, the pieces, how they move and then goes on to describe the fundamentals of chess strategy, chess tactics and even chess philosophy.The result is one of best chess books ever written. This 21st Century Edition has been supplemented with dozens of archival photographs of Lasker and his contemporaries. In addition, an entertaining and instructive feature, "Lasker Lore," highlights the chess history and trivia of the Lasker era.Finally, if the significance of "Lasker's Chess Manual," needed to offer more, the greatest chess instructor of the modern era, Mark Dvoretsky, has penned a special foreword to this new edition of the legendary classic.

Mermaids, sword fights, and adventures through Neverland are all fun and exciting-until you're staring down the mouth of a crocodile big enough to topple a castle. Journey into the world of Peter Pan and its mysterious inhabitants in Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting. EXPLORE THE ISLE OF MISCHIEF & MYSTERY Many have heard of the island of Neverland. Stories of pirates, mermaids and Peter Pan are told by parents around the world to send their children off to a happy, dreaming sleep. But, it's been a long time since the Darlings first flew to Neverland and a new story is about to be told. Your own. Take a journey into the world of Peter Pan and its mysterious inhabitants in Neverland: A Fantasy RPG Setting. The book is a feature-length hex crawl campaign, intended for sandbox exploration. Created by Andrew Kolb, you'll find endless adventure inside, lovingly adapted from the tales of Peter Pan and tailored for an older audience. Each hex is self-contained, brimming with lore from Peter Pan and the Darlings' escapades. It's time to tell your own stories of pirates, mermaids and children who can fly. For use with the fifth edition of the world's oldest role-playing game.

The Catalan is one of the most popular openings and a favorite of many of the world's leading players. Its rich tactical and positional subtleties provide an excellent platform for players wishing to improve their overall understanding of the game. In this groundbreaking book, Alexander Raetsky and Maxim Chetverik provide a comprehensive coverage of this opening, outlining the most common plans and tactics for both White and Black, and studying the latest theoretical developments in the most important variations. This book is a must for die-hard Catalan fans and those wishing to take up this fashionable opening.
*Played by the world's top Grandmasters
*Written by leading openings theoreticians
*Ideas, strategies and tactics discussed for both sides

Defend yourself and protect your assets in a lair that feels as real and alive as your monsters with advice from Keith Ammann, author of The Monsters Know What They're Doing: Combat Tactics for Dungeon Masters. The world is a dangerous place-especially when you're up to no good. Whether you're a rampaging monster, a calculating mastermind, or the current possessor of the Golden MacGuffin, someone's going to come at you. Probably more than one someone. You can't know when, but you can choose where. You need to be ready. You need a lair. In How to Defend Your Lair, gamemaster Keith Ammann pulls back the curtain on an underrated but crucial part of any tabletop roleplaying game: the theater of battle. Say goodbye to encounters in randomly generated dungeons and hello to a game in which where the fight takes place is just as important as who is doing the fighting. This book teaches you how to use real-world principles of building security and area defense to create strongholds infused with flavor, informed by narrative, and complex enough to force your players to think strategically. You'll look at the strengths and weaknesses of both defenders and potential attackers, creating spaces that are strong enough to keep out ordinary intruders...and to provide thrilling challenges to extraordinary ones. Including more than a dozen fleshed-out sample strongholds, How to Defend Your Lair is a crucial resource for any RPG gamemaster who wants to push players to think about how to solve problems before running at them head-on.

Cosplay lets you step out of your own skin and into someone else's shoes (or boots, or paws...). This beginner's guide helps you walk that walk with confidence in an awesome costume of your own creation.

True to the cosplay spirit of collaboration, Cosplay Crash Course shares favorite tricks and techniques from some of the community's most imaginative artists. Step by step, you'll learn how to turn ordinary fabrics, inexpensive toys, easy-to-manipulate thermoplastics, wigs and other humble materials into original costumes you'll wear with pride. Whether you're making fabulous feathers, metallic armor, wicked horns, lifelike claws or form-fitting boots, this book puts it all within your reach. You'll even learn awesome hair and makeup effects to complete the look.

Use this inside advice to fast-forward through years of trial and error; learn to select the best fabrics and adhesives and to make practical choices for comfort and wearability. Armed with the know-how in these pages and a spirit of adventure, who will you become?

Everything you need to dress your part!

• 25+ step-by-step projects for creating authentic-looking props, costumes and accessories
• Easy techniques and clever shortcuts from nine international cosplay artists
• How to manipulate wigs, extensions and your own hair to create unique and expressive looks
• Awesome makeup effects, from tattoos and zombie bites to tricks for making faces appear more feminine or masculine
• Bonus tips for striking a pose and snapping dynamic, in-character photos

Bored of the same old dinner-party chitchat? Spice up your soirees, impress your guests and show up your brother-in-law with these hilarious, and sometimes dangerous, after-dinner tricks and challenges. Twenty-one handsome cards presented in a beautiful gift tin illustrate each technique along with step-by-step instructions and explanations of the science behind the tricks. From sabering a bottle of champagne to hammering a needle through a coin, each of these tricks is guaranteed to wow your guests.

The computer has changed the way top players think about chess. The silicon mind has no psychological barriers. It is "willing" to check moves that most humans, including top players, consider absurd and reject instantly. Thus this brave, new computer era inevitably leads to a reassessment of old axioms, principles and evaluations. In Play Unconventional Chess, the reader will discover the incredible power unconventional moves can have. These moves contradict the most fundamental principles of the "old chess", and yet most of them played by leading grandmasters. At first sight these moves look so strange that the reader can not avoid asking, "Was this grandmaster was inspired or drunk?" The answer will definitely surprise you. As we progress as chess players we quickly learn a set of guidelines which help us to formulate plans, develop typical strategies and recognize key tactics. However, chess is not an easy game, with fixed 'rules' that can be applied to every single position. In fact, blindly following such rules proves to be counterproductive and prevents a player from moving on to the next level, whereas knowing when to 'break' these rules is precisely the skill which separates the best from the rest. In Break the Rules!, Grandmaster Neil McDonald studies in depth the key components of successful rule-breaking in chess. Drawing upon his own experience and using illuminating examples from modern grandmaster chess, McDonald examines how to avoid stereotypical thinking, how to exploit typical thinking patterns, and how to confuse and beat opponents with surprising ideas.

Over a quarter of a century ago, the first edition of this book (published in East Germany in 1981) was a huge best seller. Yet unfortunately it was never reprinted and it soon became a scarce collector's item. The reason: one of its co-authors, the chess trainer Gerhard Schmidt, left for the West. He thus became persona non grata in East Germany and the book was banned there. Despite the book's excellent qualities, which were acclaimed in chess circles, from then on its success could only be an underground one. However, the subject of the book is timeless and transcends frontiers, and so at last we have a new edition, fully revised by the original authors themselves to include modern games by world-class players such as Garry Kasparov, Vishy Anand, Vladimir Kramnik and Judit Polgar. The book explains, clearly, systematically and comprehensively, the strategy and tactics associated with the open file: how files are opened, blocked, occupied and exploited as roads along which to invade the enemy position. A brief introduction lays the theoretical foundations and is followed by carefully selected and organised material in the form of illustrative games, in all of which the open file is the dominant or deciding factor. In each game there is a pause at a key position where a clear verbal assessment is given; these assessments alone are of huge instructional value, since they do nothing less than teach the reader how strong chessplayers think: what to look for, how to assess, how to plan. The book benefits not only from Gerhard Schmidt's experience as a trainer but also from the huge knowledge and skill gained by Grandmaster Wolfgang Uhlmann during his long and successful career in top-class chess, which at one point brought him close to the world title, and made him indisputably one of Germany's greatest ever chessplayers.

This is the 3rd in the American Contract Bridge League's series of bridge books for beginning and advancing players. Successfully used for over 20 years, this edition has been updated to reflect modern theory. Lessons include Opening Leads vs. Notrump Contracts, Opening Leads vs. Suit Contracts, Third-Hand Play, Second-Hand Play, Defensive Signals, Developing Defensive Tricks, Interfering with Declarer, Making a Plan, and the new bonus lesson on Negative Doubles.

____ *THE STRATEGIES BEHIND A SUCCESSFUL LIFE FROM THE LEGENDARY GRANDMASTER AND ADVISOR TO NETFLIX'S THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT, NOW WITH A NEW FOREWORD* 'In this book, chess is a teacher, and I aim to show it is a great one.' For over twenty years, Garry Kasparov dominated the world of chess. As the youngest ever undisputed World Champion, known for confounding his opponents at every move and breaking record after record, Kasparov was asked the same question time and time again: what makes a champion? Drawing on a wealth of revealing and instructive stories, from the most intense moments of his greatest games to the world-changing decisions of history's greatest strategists such as Winston Churchill and Steve Jobs, Kasparov reveals the strategic ways of thinking that always give a player - in the game of life as well as chess - the edge. PRAISE FOR GARRY KASPAROV 'I've never seen someone with such a feel for dynamics in complex positions' - Magnus Carlsen, World Chess Champion 'There is nothing in chess he has been unable to deal with' - Vladimir Kramnik, Chess Grandmaster 'Mr. Kasparov is not only one of the world's smartest men, he is also among its bravest.' - Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch

Featuring 150 iconic artworks, The National Gallery Masters of Art Puzzle Book is a visually spectacular puzzle challenge perfect for any art-enthusiast. This must-buy gift book contains 100 puzzles reproducing and inspired by the world's most famous paintings, making it a truly one-of-a-kind decorative delight. From pictorial puzzles such as Fake or Fortune, Jigsaw and Scrambled Image, to cryptic puzzles like Odd One Out or The Missing Link, through logic puzzles, riddles and even a series of progressively more difficult art knowledge quizzes, there is something for everyone, from the puzzle master to the art aficionado. Featured paintings include Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh, The Fighting Temeraire by J.M.W. Turner, The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck, The Hay Wain by John Constable, The Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci, Bathers at La Grenouillere by Claude Monet and many, many more.

Brought together in one volume as part of Everyman Chess's series of compilation books: Play the Najdorf: Scheveningen Style by John Emms and Play the King's Indian: A complete Repertoire for Black in this most dynamic of openings by Joe Gallagher. The Najdorf Sicilian is one of the most sharp, dynamic and popular openings that Black can play and is a firm favourite amongst the world's elite players, including world number one Garry Kasparov. From very early on, Black unbalances the game to a reach a position in which one can play for the win without exceptional risk. The soundness of the Najdorf has never been questioned, but some players can be put off by the ever-spiralling amount of theory amassed on this great opening. In Play the Najdorf, however, Grandmaster and openings expert John Emms condenses this mountain to produce a workable black repertoire against all of White's possible options. The King's Indian has always been one of the sharpest, most complex and popular openings that Black can play; it still provides the setting for many encounters at the elite level of Grandmaster chess. Straight from the start, Black fights for the initiative and in many variations, while White pursues material gains, it is Black who has the psychological advantage of trying to checkmate the opponent's king. Despite its many advantages, some prospective Kings Indian players are put off by the seemingly endless amount of theory one is supposed to learn. In Play the Kings Indian, however, Grandmaster and life-long Kings Indian devotee Joe Gallagher has produced a comprehensive and yet workable black repertoire against all of Whites most dangerous possibilities.