In this book, David Bronstein describes the chess personalities he has met in various countries over the past decade, and annotates 40 of his best games from this period. He also recalls the most significant events from his earlier career; gives his impressions of contemporaries such as Larsen, Spassky, and Korchnoi including a secret training match against the latter played in 1971; and expresses his outspoken views on modern chess.

The initial part of this book deals with combinations and tactical techniques, and suggests methods for developing a player's calculating ability. In the second part the author analyses a number of fascinating examples, in which he examines a wide variety of attacking and defensive means. Once again, the reader is encouraged to developing his chess understanding by tackling numerous tests. Join in and become one of Mark Dvoretsky's pupils!

Victor Korchnoi is one of the greatest figures in chess history, which he has helped to shape for nearly 50 years now. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, the aggressive style of the now over 70-year-old is undiminished and as awe-inspiring as ever. At tournaments with numerous entrants, the naturalised Swiss citizen leaves world-class players young enough to be his grandchildren far behind him. It is high time, therefore, to update Viktor Kortshnois autobiography "Chess is my life", which met with great interest on its publication more than 20 years ago. In long interviews, Victor Korchnoi has completely retold his life story. The memories of his childhood in the besieged Leningrad, his time as a student of the university of his home town (now Saint Petersburg), his rise to the top of the major chess power USSR and the years before and after his defection to the West in 1976 are also of significance as contemporary documents of a life spent in the former Soviet Union. The volume also includes many photographs as well as a number of games with comments in typical Korchnoi-style and which are of decisive importance for his brilliant chess career.

When Mikhail Botvinnik lost the world championship in 1960 to the dazzling attacking player from Riga, Mikhail Tal, there seemed little chance of him regaining his title. Yet in the Return Match a year later, with a surprising demonstration of aggressive chess, Botvinnik completely outplayed his young opponent and ran out the easy winner. All 21 games of the match are deeply annotated.

Proper technique is central to executing successful endgame play. This instructional guide provides information on how to study the endgame and analyze endgame positions. It also illustrates the highly important technique of converting an advantage.

The strategies of the Norwegian chess grandmaster the "Washington Post" calls "the Mozart of chess," currently the top ranked player in the world Now firmly established among the world's elite, the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen has been setting records ever since he embarked on his chess career. He became a grandmaster at the age of just 13, and in 2010 he became the youngest player to be ranked No.1 in the world. This book presents detailed annotations to 64 of Carlsen's best games, together with a description of his career. Also examined are the deficiencies from which he suffered as a young player, and how he overcame these on his way to the top.

The world's top trainer, Mark Dvoretsky, and one of his best-known pupils, grandmaster Artur Yusupov, present a five-volume series based on courses given to talented young players throughout the world. The books contain contributions by other leading trainers and grandmasters, as well as games by pupils who have attended the courses. The final volume of the series deals with various creative aspects, such as the calculation of variations and the development of intuition. It also explores the psychology of taking decisions, both when attacking and when defending.

This third volume in Mark Dvoretsky's course is devoted to questions of strategy, and is aimed at improving the reader's positional understanding. The author also examines a number of positions that lie on the boundary between the middlegame and endgame. As in the other books of the series, he uses examples from his own games and those of his pupils, together with original analyses of episodes from other player's games. "My books may or may not be liked, but it is unlikely that they could have been any different. I demonstrate examples that are memorable to me in the way that I myself see them, and I describe the chess and psychological mechanisms in the same way that I explain them in lessons to my pupils. I am sure that an attempt to deliberately correct, and artificially simplify the material would have led to a significant lowering of its quality, and a distortion of the chess patterns generated in the mind of the author, and, I hope, subsequently also in the mind of the reader ..." -- Mark Dvoretsky

The Leningrad System is one of the sharpest and most interesting replies to 1 d4, and since this typical set-up is also playable against the flank openings 1 c4 and 1 If3, it provides the Black player with a genuine universal weapon. A repertoire for Black based on 7...Ee8 in the main line of the Leningrad System is presented here, but since the typical motifs and ideas for both sides are fully explained. White players too will benefit from a study of the book.

The second volume explains the basic principles of the opening, discusses how to build an opening repertoire and produce opening novelties, and explores the connection between the opening and the later stages -- the middlegame and the endgame.