8 Book Bundle

Grandmaster Secrets Counter-Attack

Paperback, 240 pages, Gambit Publishing

Superb defensive technique is a hallmark of all great chess-players. With a few deft counterstrokes, they not only deflect what looked like an overwhelming offensive, but also expose the darker side of their opponent's build-up. Is this sheer black magic, or are these skills that ordinary players can develop? While some of the key defensive skills follow well-established principles, modern players ally this with an appreciation of chess dynamics that is a good deal more subtle.

Zenon Franco provides a wide-ranging course in how to handle difficult positions, seeking not only to hold them together but to go on the counteroffensive, exploiting to the full the commitments and concessions the opponent has made to launch his attack. The methods he advocates are varied: often a countersacrifice is the key, while simplification can also employed as a subtler, but equally deadly weapon. Zenon Franco is a grandmaster from Paraguay who now lives in Spain. He is an experienced chess trainer, his most notable pupil being Paco Vallejo, now one of the world's top grandmasters, whom he taught from 1995 to 1999. 

The Richter-Veresov

Paperback, 283 pages, Mongoose Press

Do you play 1.d4, but feel discouraged by the seemingly limitless number of finely honed defensive systems available to Black? If you're put off by the idea of having to learn massive amounts of theory just to reach a playable middlegame, then The Richter-Veresov Attack: Qd3 Variation might be just what you're looking for.

Right away, you'll be taking your opponents out of their preparation and into your comfort zone. While the Richter-Veresov has developed its own "book" over the years, Eric Fleischman shows you how to bypass a lot of that body of theory, too, with an early deployment of the queen to d3, an idea sometimes known as the Amazon Attack.

Covering a wide range of setups that Black could adopt in response (including French, Caro-Kann, Indian, Benoni, and Dutch formations), the author uses games by international players and examples from his own play to show how experience and a sense of the position count for more than memorized lines in The Richter-Veresov Attack: Qd3 Variation.

Who Dares Wins! Attacking The King on Opposite Sides - Lorin D'Costa

Both players are gunning for each other's kings. Whose attack will break through first? This is a typical scenario in chess games. In such tense battles where one slip can be fatal, often it's a case of 'who dares wins'. But it's not enough to throw your pieces up the board and hope for the best. To succeed you need to acquire sophisticated attacking and defensive skills. The good news is that they can easily be learned, remembered and put into practice. Lorin D'Costa presents a comprehensive study of opposite-side castling and the crucial techniques needed both in attack and defence. He tackles all the key subjects, including sacrificing, speed of attack, strong and weak defensive formations, when to delay or avoid castling, and much more. Studying this book will allow you to approach these frequent situations with confidence.

• An essential guide to attacking and defending the king Includes more than 50 instructive and entertaining games Covers the crucial tactical and positional ideas.

Published by Everyman, soft cover, 190 pages

Secrets of Spectacular Chess

In the modern classic, Secrets of Spectacular Chess, Jonathan Levitt and David Friedgood shared their joy and appreciation of chess beauty, engulfing readers with a wealth of amazing and magnificent examples from the aesthetic side of the game. More than this, they showed how this fascinating subject could actually be analysed, and how this could help players improve the practical side of their game. Now the authors have produced a much awaited and largely expanded second edition, in which they present further thoughts, provide many new mesmerizing examples of games, studies and problems, and revisit previous material to explain how the theory has developed. This book captures the imagination; read it and become hypnotized by the power and beauty of chess!

• A new expanded edition, with 50% new material

• An enthralling guide to the artistry of chess

• Ideal for players of all levels

Paperback, 287 pages, 2008 Gambit Publishing

Why We lose at Chess

Paperback, 187 pages, Everyman Chess

The main reason why we lose at chess is no big secret: we all make unnecessary mistakes! But simply acknowledging this fact isn't enough to help us improve. The big question is, how can we eliminate these mistakes from our game, or at least keep them to an absolute minimum?

Colin Crouch tackles this vital subject face-to-face. Drawing upon his considerable experience, he looks back at critical moments within games where mistakes are made, and examines how we can recognise the danger signs and avoid making impulsive decisions. The reader is constantly challenged by exercises, which provide perfect training for real over-the-board battles.

• Essential training to eliminate mistakes
• Advice on how to improve calculation and assessment
• Includes over 50 carefully planned exercises.

How to Win Quickly at Chess

Paperback, 192 pages, 2010 Everyman Chess

 Let's face facts: everyone enjoys winning. And the only thing better than winning is to win quickly!

Mistakes are often made in the early part of the game - at all levels of chess - but a key skill is to recognise these critical moments as they happen and to exploit them with maximum efficiency. This is a skill which Grandmaster Simon Williams addresses in this book. Using instructive and entertaining games in which one side wins quickly, he examines all the typical mistakes chess players make in the opening and early middlegame, how you should look to exploit them, and how to avoid falling into similar traps yourself.

All too often opponents are let off the hook, mistakes go unpunished and the game drags on. Don't let this happen to you - become a ruthless winner!

• Improve your opening and middlegame skills
• Be ready to exploit any error
• Ideal for players of all levels.

In the Zone: The Greatest Winning Streaks in Chess History by Cyrus Lakdawala
Immortal performances of the best players in history

A winning streak in chess, says Cyrus Lakdawala, is a lot more than just the sum of its games. In this book he examines what it means when everything clicks, when champions become unstoppable and demolish opponents. What does it mean to be ‘in the zone’? What causes these sweeps, what sparks them and what keeps them going? And why did they come to an end?

Lakdawala takes you on a trip through chess history looking at peak performances of some of the greatest players who ever lived: Morphy, Steinitz, Pillsbury, Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Botvinnik, Fischer, Tal, Kasparov, Karpov, Caruana and Carlsen. They all had very different playing styles, yet at a certain point in their rich careers they all entered the zone and simply wiped out the best players in the world.

In the Zone explains the games of the greatest players during their greatest triumphs. As you study and enjoy these immortal performances you will improve your ability to overpower your opponents. You will understand how great moves originate and you will be inspired to become more productive and creative. In the Zone may bring you closer to that special place yourself: the zone.

Cyrus Lakdawala is an International Master and a former American Open Champion. He has been teaching chess for four decades and is a prolific and widely read author. His Chess for Hawks won the Best Instructional Book Award of the Chess Journalists of America (CJA). Other much acclaimed books of his are How Ulf Beats Black, Clinch It! and Winning Ugly in Chess.

ISBN: 9789056918774, Paperback, 400 pages, New in Chess

Clinch It!

Paperback, 256 pages, New in Chess

How good are you at bringing in the full point when you hold a clear advantage or are just plain winning?

An honest response to this question is likely to evoke some painful memories. Perhaps the single greatest frustration for club-level chess players is that time and again they see wins turn into draws or even losses.

The reasons for messing up a won position are by no means just technical. And the rest is a matter of technique? Not likely, in the real world. Recklessness, collapsing nerves, relaxing instead of preparing yourself for a long and arduous fight, the inability to cope with a small setback or with a busted opponent who has turned into a fearless desperado: based on four decades of teaching chess Cyrus Lakdawala has identified dozens of thought-provoking reasons why we are throwing away games that should be ours.

Lakdawala teaches how to efficiently exploit a development lead, capitalize on an attack, identify and convert favourable imbalances, accumulate strategic advantages and other tools to increase your conversion rate. His examples are compelling, his explanations are captivating and often funny. A recurring theme in this stimulating, instructive and entertaining book is: don’t burden yourself with the toxic task to prove that you are a genius. Just try to win.

Cyrus Lakdawala is an International Master and a former American Open Champion. He has been teaching chess for four decades, and coaches some of the top junior players in the US. Lakdawala is a prolific and widely read author. Chess for Hawks, his previous book with New In Chess, won the 2017 Best Instructional Book Award of the Chess Journalists of America (CJA).