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Forging New Paths in an Ancient Opening

The Queen’s Gambit Accepted is one of the oldest known openings in chess. It was first mentioned in chess literature in the late 15th century. Over 500 years later, American Grandmaster Max Dlugy demonstrates in this groundbreaking work that the QGA is still a fighting, uncompromising opening that allows Black to play for a win from the very first move. 349 pages

"For me, a draw is not a result at all. If the game develops normally, I never think about a draw. I always think about playing to win. I blame all chess players who play chess to make draw and thus degrade this ancient game!"

"I like fast, "rocket" chess and always play to win. It seems to me that chess was invented precisely to have winners and losers. If someone offers me a draw, I take it as an insult."

"I start every game with the firm intention of finishing it with, or on, the shield!"

"One pawn more or less. I have 8 of them, don't I?"

"I am very pleasant to talk to and very unpleasant to play chess with!"  307 pages Hardcover

zymon Winawer was a world top-10 player in the 1870s and 1880s, dueling with such titans as Steinitz, Lasker, Anderssen, Marshall, Chigorin, Zukertort, Louis Paulsen, Janowski, Maroczy, Tarrasch and others, and defeating most of the leading players of his time. He won or took prizes in major international tournaments, including Paris 1867 (second, behind Kolisch and above Steinitz), Leipzig 1877 (fourth, behind Paulsen, Anderssen and Zukertort), Paris 1878 (first equal with Zukertort, though he lost the play-off), Berlin 1881 (third equal with Chigorin, behind Blackburne and Zukertort), Vienna 1882 (first equal with Steinitz), and Nuremberg 1883 (first, ahead of Blackburne).
Winawer was a proponent of fighting chess, regularly deploying the King’s Gambit and Ruy Lopez as white, demonstrating winning combinations as well as positional sacrifices and endgame precision. He attacked the castled king with his h-pawn 150 years before Alpha-Zero. He displayed technique using Horowitz bishops and opening the g-file. At the same time, we see in the book that he also played solid positional chess. Moreover, several opening ideas are named after him, including the popular Winawer Variation of the French Defense.
The Warsaw-born player was not a chess professional and never published any annotated games of his own, but some of his concepts, both in the opening and in the middlegame, are still valid in the 21st century. Indeed, many strategic ideas (blockade, exploiting doubled pawns, maneuvering) described in the works of Nimzowitsch and other hypermodernists can be found, in embryonic form, in the games of Winawer played half a century earlier.
In the first half of this biographical work, Warsaw-based chess historian Tomasz Lissowski, who has co-written books on Kieseritzky and Zukertort among others, portrays Winawer’s life and his sporting achievements in the context of the epoch. This book delivers not only a description of the evolution of chess in Poland in the nineteenth century, but a sense through the prism of chess of the political and social history of Poland and the Austro-Hungarian, German and Russian empires in a period of war and upheaval. It is illustrated by many historical photos from the period.
In the second half of this book, International Master Grigory Bogdanovich paints Winawer’s creative portrait, as well as examining the legacy that this ingenious improviser left to chess culture. The book contains in total 132 annotated instructive games and fragments of Winawer and his contemporaries. 301 pages

Mikhail Tal is one of the most celebrated World Champions in chess history, who confounded his opponents and dazzled chess fans around the world. Seemingly breaking every rule in the book, yet also breaking records with his accomplishments, Tal truly was The Chess Alchemist.

In this unique book, Oleg Stetsko has compiled 80 of Tal’s most interesting games, as annotated by the Magician himself in a variety of sources, many of which have been translated into English for the very first time here.

Mikhail Tal became World Champion in 1960 by defeating the great Mikhail Botvinnik. Tal’s play is famed for its sacrificial brilliance, and he is also renowned as a witty and lively writer. 384 pages

Ce backgammon italien en cuir ravira les amateurs de beaux jeux. 

Finition soignée et matériaux de qualité supérieures.

Couleurs noir/orange

Dimension fermée 37 x 24 x 5 cm

A jumbo set of high-quality poker cards, made of 100% plastic. This makes them the perfect choice for everyone enjoying regularly the thrill of a poker evening. Unlike cards made of cardboard, the Texas Hold'em Jumbo Set is made for a long life. Available with a red or black back. 

Silicone chess pieces and board. The chessboard is available in  brown or green. The advantages of Silicone are that the pieces are indestructible, (unless you throw them in the fire...) and the chessboard always keeps its perfect shape, even if folded or rolled beforehand. This set is particularly suitable for children. The dimensions are those used in clubs: 55 mm square for the chessboard and 95 mm height for the king.

In Joseki Revolution, Shibano focuses on local exchanges, in contrast to the predominantly whole-board focus on fuseki strategy of his previous book, Fuseki Revolution. Even so, Shibano's analysis always maintains a global view, as the basic nature of go is such that without whole-board judgement, there is no local judgement. Even when you are evaluating a joseki in a corner, a whole-board viewpoint is always essential.

Of particular interest in Joseki Revolution is his treatment of the taisha, the avalanche, and the magic-sword josekis. Shibano shows how, thanks to AI, these extremely complicated josekis have been "swamped in a wave of simplification."

In Chapter 3 Shibano discusses the merits and demerits of the four corner enclosures based on the 3-4 point. He investigates the reason why the small-knight enclosure has declined in popularity and why the previously shunned two-space enclosure has become so popular.

The book consists of 35 themes divided into four chapters as follows:

Chapter 1. Changes in basic josekis

Chapter 2. The transformation in opening strategies

Chapter 3. Up-to-date information about corner structures

Chapter 4. Looking at the most up-to-date josekis

In an appendix, Shibano examines some unconventional moyo-oriented fuseki strategies and gives some advice on how to handle these large-scale moyos. The appendix also contains a section on the revival of the high Chinese Opening and explains why this opening strategy is strategically sound.