Inspired by both Daniel Defoe's 'A Journal of the Plague Year' (1722) and 'The King', an anthology of the witty and provocative chess columns of the Dutch Grandmaster, Jan Hein Donner, Ray Keene here collects his thoughts and writings on the year 2020 - both in chess and the wider world. His reflections include the impact of Covid-19 on the popularity of chess, the remarkable influence of the Netflix series 'The Queen's Gambit', the growing army of teenage Grandmasters, the online pivot of chess competition and the emergence of chess entrepreneurs, such as World Champion Magnus Carlsen and Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura.. Like Donner, Ray uses chess as a metaphor for observations on art, culture and civilisation.

This match between the number one and number two ranked players in the world is one of the most eagerly-awaited World Championship clashes of recent years. Defending champion Magnus Carlsen first gained the title in 2013 when he beat Viswanathan Anand. He has already successfully defended his title twice, against Anand in 2014 and against Sergey Karjakin in 2016. Carlsen has been the highest ranked player in the world since July 2011. ***** His challenger, Fabiano Caruana, has been playing brilliantly in the run-up to the championship, registering numerous tournament victories against elite competition. He gained the right to challenge Carlsen thanks to a superb victory in the Berlin Candidates event early in 2018 where he scored 9/14, finishing a point clear of the best players in the world. Prior to the match he has drawn to within three points of the champion on the current ratings (Carlsen is 2835, Caruana 2832). Caruana is the first American since the legendary Bobby Fischer to play a match for the supreme title. ----- * All match games analysed in great detail. --- * Portraits of the protagonists with key games and moments from their careers. --- * History of the World Chess Championship.

"In the dimension of reviving the mystique and wonder of chess, it is all too easy for those engaged in the rough and tumble of chess combat to overlook the mystery and infinite aesthetic profundity of its intellectual and iconic ethos. One example stands out... Barry has encountered many of the greats in person and across the board. Barry's insights into the relationship between Staunton pattern pieces, pawns and Masonic Symbology are worthy of a new Dan Brown novel. So, in this book, prepare to follow a Tour d'Horizon, a veritable Smorgasbord of chess information, artistic connections and inspirations combined with a mentally stimulating journey throughout the diverse ramifications of chess, art, culture and its place in the canon of civilised virtue." Raymond Keene OBE, International Chess Grandmaster, Chess Correspondent of The Times

Leonid Stein's brilliant chess career, cut tragically short in 1973, included overwhelming victories against the world's leading grandmasters, Stein not only stormed to an incredible total of 3 first prizes (out of 4 attempts) in the USSR Championships, but also won what were arguably the two strongest tournaments of all time, (Moscow 1967 and Moscow 1971)

Ray Keene selects and annotates his most interesting games against such giants as Anatoly Karpov, Mikhail Botvinik, Mikhail Tal, Jan Timman, John Nunn, Tony Miles and Svetozar Gligoric. Originally published as a private limited edition.

Inspired by both Daniel Defoe's 'A Journal of the Plague Year' (1722) and 'The King', an anthology of the witty and provocative chess columns of the Dutch Grandmaster, Jan Hein Donner, Ray Keene here collects his thoughts and writings on the year 2020 - both in chess and the wider world. His reflections include the impact of Covid-19 on the popularity of chess, the remarkable influence of the Netflix series 'The Queen's Gambit', the growing army of teenage Grandmasters, the online pivot of chess competition and the emergence of chess entrepreneurs, such as World Champion Magnus Carlsen and Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura.. Like Donner, Ray uses chess as a metaphor for observations on art, culture and civilisation.

A new edition of Ray Keene and Barry Martin's lucid presentation of how to start on the stimulating path of playing chess. It features: a clear explanation of the legal moves for each piece; a straightforward guide to special rules, such as castling and en passant; and a discussion of how to begin - basic openings - and how to finish - endgames. There is also an updated gallery of chess 'heroes' past and present, a section on the Golden Rules of chess mastery, and - to reinforce the important ideas - a selection of puzzles (with solutions) to test progress and understanding.

Tony Buzan achieved global fame as the inventor of Mind Mapping, a technique for note taking and creative ideas which has transformed educational theory and practice around the world. In the course of his career, promoting Mental Literacy and the belief that Genius is present in every one of us, Tony has encountered numerous giant personalities. These include the eccentric singer and superstar Michael Jackson, whose children were taught by Tony; quintuple Olympic Gold winner Sir Steve Redgrave; ABBA member Benny Andersson and Poet Laureate Ted Hughes, whom Tony commissioned to write a Memory Poem with a difference. It is published here for the very first time. Other luminaries encountered in these pages include Frieda Hughes, daughter of Ted Hughes and the ethereal poetess Sylvia Plath, UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Dr Henry Kissinger, Edward de Bono and Bill Gates. Tony Buzan’s teachings also embrace Speed Reading, Memory, Physical Fitness, Martial Arts, IQ, Concentration and Creativity, all embodied in his foundation of THE RENAISSANCE ACADEMY for business, future leaders and pioneers of the use of Brainpower. This volume recounts his battles to establish the validity of his methods, and explains the key elements, which can be utilised by all those who wish to improve their powers of Mental Literacy in general. The techniques explained here will help everyone, from school and college exam-taking, to those determined to keep their brain fit and functioning maximally into advanced age.

Website of Raymond Keen: http: //raymondkeen.com/ E-mail address of Raymond Keen: [email protected] As the reader moves through my volume of poetry, Love Poems for Cannibals, he/she will find poems of war (in this case Vietnam), poems dealing with current spiritual issues (Christianity, Buddhism, spiritual doubt and the soaring-singing human spirit), dysfunctional family relationships and feelings, portraits of great figures in contemporary human history presented with candor and wit, poems that rage against the omnipresence of human hypocrisy and poems that present American/Western civilization under the glaring light of truth - with the single redemptive quality that this truth sings in these poems. A volume of contemporary poetry, Love Poems for Cannibals expresses the thoughts, feelings, quandaries and wonder of an American poet very much alive to the darkness and light of the 21st century. Poet Raymond Keen writes, "I was born and raised in Pueblo, Colorado. Back in my childhood of the 40's and my adolescence during the 50's, I believed in human greatness and human virtue. I had respect for authority, and believed that life was fundamentally fair and could be understood as a rational narrative. I believed that a human being could, through words, come close to expressing the truth, even if only a momentary fragment of this truth. I now realize that I may have been overly optimistic. Human verbal communication characteristically obscures the truth, as it covers the truth with the repetitive cliche. My poetry attempts to make that insight present, palpable, and undeniable. Although I sometimes may succeed in getting through or beyond the cliche, I make no claims on truth." In Love Poems for Cannibals, truth and beauty, body and spirit, mind and matter, pain and pleasure admix in the following eight sections: The Vietnam War is not dinky dau. (1967-1968) Est Deus in Nobis. (1969-2012) Mother Is On Vacation. (1974-2004) mouth-honour (1973-2003) Is There Mucus in Paradise? (1973-2010) Homo Homini Lupus Est. (1976-2009) Final Entropy (1974-2012) Prose Coda (2001-2012) Making reference to current cultural, political and social events, Raymond Keen's poems can be darkly provocative, bitingly witty and serenely contemplative. Raymond writes, "I want readers to be stirred with questions about what it means to be a human being. I don't provide answers, but I try to make clear what the stakes are. The stakes for human beings in the 21st century are very high." Powerful, memorable, wise, and at times infuriating, his collection of poetry is the result of an accumulation of language gems and cultural/literary insights acquired over many years, which shed light on the time in which we are now living.

Richard Reti (1889-1929) was both a master player and a superb endgame composer. He was also a prominent member of the hyper-modern school and author of two of the greatest chess books ever written, Masters of the Chessboard and Modern Ideas in Chess. His games, which greatly influenced chess strat egy, are known for their many innovations, beautifully developed combinations, and important advances in opening play and strategy. There are 70 games in this book, selected from all stages of Reti's career. Early games show the budding of Reti's almost phenomenal positional skills and his rise to status of great master with first prize wins at Kaschau and the international tournament of Gothenburg, 1920. There are many games from the tournaments of 1922, during the development of the Reti and the English openings including Reti-Rubinstein 1923, Reti-Becker 1923, Reti - Bogolyubov 1924, and his stunning defeat of Capablanca in 1924. The games from 1925 to his premature death in 1929 show his further development and number among them many which made the chess world sit up and take notice. Fifteen of Reti's most interesting composed endgames are also included. There is a short memoir and expert annotation by Harry Golombek. For this edition Raymond Keene has written a new Introduction.

The 1978 world chess championship in the Philippines was the most riotous of modern times. Pitting the soviet defector Korchnoi against the golden boy of the soviet establishment - Karpov - the players were not just content to hammer each other over the chess board; they also enlisted such weird assistants as the parapsychologist Dr Vladimir Zukhar and orange-robed gurus from the Ananda Marga sect. The dramatis personae were completed by President Marcos, his shoe-collecting First Lady Imelda and a gaggle of shady characters from the KGB. Grandmaster Ray Keene was Korchnoi's chief second during this wild chess extravaganza and this book tells the inside story of one of the most exotic chess competitions ever staged.

Compiled by three grandmasters and two international masters this scholarly treatise explains in depth the thinking behind a defence that has been a favourite of champions such as Capablanca, Botvinnik, Petrosian and Karpov. Even Kasparov has been known to use the Caro Kann on occasion, for example in one case to defeat Mikhail Tal.

A companion volume to Winning with the Nimzo, this book is the first part of a full explanation of one of the most important defences to the Queen's pawn in contemporary chess. It has been a favourite of Fischer, Kasparov, Karpov, Petrosian and Botvinnik, to name but a few of the greats who have employed it. This book - unlike many rivals - concentrates on full games with notes explaining strategies that will never go out of fashion.

This book recounts the fourth and penultimate chapter in the half-decade long rivalry which erupted between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. In the eyes of many this conflict symbolised the clash between the Brezhnev-inspired forces of reaction in the old USSR and the new Gorbachev/Yeltsin-driven imperatives which ultimately led to the collapse of the creaking Soviet empire.

Moscow, in the autumn of 1984, was the setting for a clash between two of the all-time greats of chess: defending champion Anatoly Karpov, the most deadly tournament player in the history of the game, and Gary Kasparov, the 21 year old from Baku who would become the youngest ever World Champion were he to overthrow his rival. This gruelling test of contrasting character, style and sheer physical reserves roused a wave of media interest and thrust chess into the forefront of public attention.

The history of the World Chess Championship continues in this volume with the epic struggles between Botvinnik, Bronstein, Smyslov, Tal and Petrosian, via the brief but spectacular advent of Bobby Fischer, and on to the modern superstars Karpov and Kasparov. All games from the matches are annotated and this book with its companion volume, World Chess Championship: Steinitz to Alekhine, forms a valuable addition to the library of any chess enthusiast who wishes to possess a complete collection of games played at the very highest level.

In 1981 - World Champion now for 6 years - Anatoly Karpov had reached the height of his powers. He was a master of sharp modern opening systems, thought swiftly and acted decisively. His play was virtually error free. Facing this juggernaut the veteran Viktor Korchnoi pulled out the final stops for his ultimate chess challenge to become champion. In vain. Karpov brushed aside his efforts to secure one of the easiest victories ever achieved at chess summit level. As in 1978 Korchnoi produced his orange robed Ananda Marga gurus to help him chant for victory - but in the sober atmosphere of the Italo-german mountains-rather than the exotic and heady surroundings of the far eastern Philippines-the antics of Korchnoi's suppporters had little effect. Karpov emerged as a seemingly unbeatable colossus. Now guaranteed a reign of at least 9 years Karpov had already exceeded the championship performance of Capablanca and was threatening to surpass the exploits of such mighty champions as Steinitz, Lasker, Alekhine and Botvinnik.

This book recounts the third of the five chapters in the half-decade long rivalry which erupted between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. In the eyes of many this conflict symbolised the clash between the Brezhnev-inspired forces of reaction in the old USSR and the new Gorbachev/Yeltsin-driven imperatives of perestroika and glasnost which ultimately led to the collapse of the creaking Soviet empire.

A companion volume to Two Opening Repertoires for White: Volume 1, this book details some more aggressive strategies in the opening for White again based on the key move 1d4! Together the two volumes give ambitious White players a complete arsenal of choice against all Black defences. The companion volume is Two Opening Repertoires for White: Volume 1: Keeping control with White

In early 1985 Florencio Campomanes - the now disgraced former president of FIDE, the World Chess Federation - halted the World Title challenge from Garry Kasparov "without result," thus forcing a rematch in the autumn of that same year. This book recounts Kasparov's determined fresh assault on the world title which made him at age 22 the youngest champion in the history of the game.

The King's Indian is noted as a dynamic counter-attacking defence par excellence. This book describes the key strategies for both sides in the main lines such as the Fianchetto variation, the Petrosian system, the Sdmisch/ Four Pawns attack and Averbakh. Analysis is backed up with verbal explanation making this book an ideal introduction for those wishing to take up or face the King's Indian in competitive situations.