10 Book Bundle

Simple Winning Chess

Paperback, 145 pages, Everyman Chess 1999

The first step towards self-improvement is self-assessment, and so Baker starts off with advice on assessing your own strengths and weaknesses. He then discusses how to form and improve your opening repertoire, and how to prepare for competitive play. Next comes advice on how to think at the board, how to cope with time-pressure, and chessboard psychology. A welcome feature is a summary of the most important rules of chess that competitive players must know. Baker also discusses how to learn from your games and how to study chess using books and computers, or with the help of a trainer.

Learn From Your Chess Mistakes

Paperback, 144 pages, 2002 Batsford Publishing

Most players want to put the experience of defeat behind them as quickly as possible, but there is no better way to improve your game than by analysing your lost games to find out what went wrong, ensuring that you don't make the same mistake again.

This Original work - designed specifically for club players - identifies typical failings, such as poor opening preparation, inappropriate choice of openings, being tricked, losing the thread of the position, miscalculation, lack of confidence, faulty judgement, time trouble, missed opportunities, confusion, failure to adjust and losing the initiative.  This book helps the reader identify and analyse these mistakes in order to avoid them next time around.

Man Versus Machine

Man Versus Machine by David Goodman & Raymond Keene
Kasparov Versus Deep Blue

Paperback, 128 pages

In May 1997 world chess champion Garry Kasparov, regarded by many as the greatest player of all time, came to New York to face his most unusual and challenging opponent yet. Deep Blue, a supercomputer developed by a team of IBM scientists in a project started over ten years earlier, was capable of calculating 200 million chess positions in a single second and was incapable of tiring, losing heart or making an oversight.

Six games would be played for over $1 million in prize money.This book tells the full story of this historic encounter, from the personalities, hype, and controversies to the debates over computer intelligence and the future of chess. Every game is analyzed in detail and the earlier 1989 and 1996 matches between the two contestants are reviewed. Man versus Machine: Kasparov versus Deep Blue is the definitive on-the-scene report that every chess enthusiast must read.

Chess Choice Challenge 3 by Chris Ward

Paperback, 160 pages

By popular demand, a third Chess Choice Challenge and another bumper bundle of tricky and varied chess positions on which to test your analytical ability. Multiple-choice questions direct your attention to different facets of each position, while you are also invited to 'take your pick' from a range of suggested continuations. Having wracked your brains to come to the correct conclusions, you can then compare your findings with those of Grandmaster Chris Ward whose deep and imaginative analytical solutions, spiced with his customary good humour, will help to increase your appreciation of the art of chess analysis - and also your playing strength!

About the Author
Chris Ward is an international grandmaster, and former British Champion. He is also an experienced and popular chess coach as well as the author of numerous books on the game.

The Nimzo-Indian: 4 e3

Paperback, 320 pages, Gambit Publishing 2002

Ever since Nimzowitsch introduced his flexible, dynamic defence to the queen's pawn, debate has raged over White's best reply. Many variations have been in and out of fashion, but one line in particular has proved an enduring weapon - the sound and solid 4 e3 line, known as the Rubinstein Variation. The 4 e3 Nimzo is extraordinarily rich in strategy. All manner of different central pawn-structures can arise, such as the blocked centre characteristic of the Hubner Variation and a variety of IQP positions. Moreover, in some lines the central tension persists well into the middlegame. The 4 e3 Nimzo provides a stern test of both players' understanding of chess, and so is an ideal choice for those who are looking to win as either colour.

The Sicilian Sozin

Paperback, 272 pages, 2001 Gambit Publishing

The Sozin Attack is White's most overtly aggressive counter to the Sicilian. White puts his bishop on c4, and often follows up with direct play against the black king. Unless Black defends with the utmost precision, the bishop's influence often fuels a deadly attack leading to a cascade of sacrifices and a brutal king-hunt.

The Sozin set-up can be employed against the classical Sicilian, the Najdorf and even the Scheveningen. Mikhail Golubev is a young grandmaster who has employed the Sozin with devastating effect throughout the whole of his adult chess career. Here he explains how White carries out the attack in its various forms (including some reletively positional lines), and presents in detail the theory of all its variations, including the razor-sharp Velimirovic Attack.

Startling Castling!

paperback, 240 pages, Batsford Chess Publishing 1997

A well-known Dutch chess writer takes a detailed look at all aspects of castling, including whether to castle early or late, whether to go kingside or queenside and standard attacks against the castled position. This excellent practical manual also includes plenty of entertaining examples of late castling and castling in studies.

Budapest Fajarowicz

The Fajarowicz variation of the Budapest Gambit is one of Black's most exciting options against 1 d4. Established 'theory' has maintained a dim view of this line, which nevertheless has been a favourite of club players.

With a slightly better theoretical reputation its popularity would explode. In this groundbreaking work, Gutman rehabilitates this ancient gambit with his usual creative and original analysis. A cult book in the making, it is a must for all club and tournament players.

A former second of Viktor Korchnoi, author Lev Gutman is an outstanding expert on opening theory. He is also an International Grandmaster.

Paperback 287 pages, Batsford 2004

How To Think in Chess

288 pages, paperback

What wins chess games? More than anything else, organised and efficient thinking. But chess thinking is specialised. Even Albert Einstein was a confessed chess duffer. It's not so much how smart you are as how smart your chess-thinking techniques are. The effects of memorising moves, one of the most widespread attempts to improve, pale beside the results of learning how to think effectively in chess. How to Think in Chess is the rare book that explains in clear terms the techniques chess masters use to find their moves.

The authors, an international chess champion and a trained professional thinker, are uniquely qualified on the subject. They offer you both academic research and personal experience. How to Think in Chess teaches you practical ways of thinking to win. You'll see how to assess your thought processes during play and how to reorganise them in practice. You'll get exercises to increase your thinking skills. You'll see how to use elements of sports psychology in your preparation. How to Think in Chess gives you techniques to analyse and improve your own chess thinking; methods to foster creativity; over 200 specialised chess exercises to strengthen your game; advice on setting goals and coping with stress; and techniques to overcome mental blocks.

There is no "quick fix", a magic wand that will instantly and easily add 300 points to your rating. But if you are willing to apply yourself to the study regime advocated by the authors, you will surely improve your game. When it was released in June 2001 it became an instant best seller. Here is a chance to pick up one of the fine one-volume training manuals of our time.

"How to Think in Chess can reveal a great deal to a player who wants to improve, a chess teacher who wants somebody else to improve or even a psychologist who just wants to observe the thinking brain in action" from the foreword by Grandmaster and journalist Jon Levitt.

Improve Your Chess at any Age - Andres D. Hortillosa

Hortillosa believes that a chessplayer can improve at any age as long as he or she is inspired with the right attitude and enabled with the right thinking processes. In this original and thought-provoking book, Hortillosa explains his ever-evolving system of chess improvement. He discusses in detail methods of preparation, how to get the best out of all the available sources, and numerous over-the-board techniques such as capitalizing on mistakes, eliminating blunders, sticking to plans and minimizing harmful bias. His system works and now he is divulging his secrets.If you are serious about improving your chess, no matter what age you are, then this is the book for you!

• A clear study plan to improve your chess
• How to sharpen over-the-board techniques
• Excellent guidance on how to train with books and software

Published by Everyman, 172 pages