Edouard - Chess Manual of Avoidable Mistakes part 2

Although known for a long time, the London started to catch up in popularity just in the last decade or so. I guess the reason for this is probably the desire of many players to focus more on the practical side of chess, with less use of engines and less memorization of long theoretical lines, and more about positional understanding of game. I must say, it received a huge boost not only in the number of games but also in a deeper understanding of the positions arising from the opening. In the past it was used from time to time, but only a few players employed it on a regular basis, such as grandmasters from former Yugoslavia, Milorad Knezevic and Vlado Kovacevic, and the English GM Tony Miles, who used it often.
Today, Kamsky is one of the players who uses it very often, and of course Magnus Carlsen, but we have many other grandmasters and non-grandmasters who now have it in their repertoire on a regular basis. I must say that it’s also important to emphasize the move orders of the line, and due to that we have an immense number of transpositions, which you don’t find so much in other openings.
My experience with the London is good and bad: after I lost a game to grandmaster Volkov in the Rilton Cup, I decided that such positions are not exactly my cup of tea, but in 2019 I picked it up again in one game in a World Senior tournament and produced a very good game. So, as in any opening, good and bad games can happen, but the London itself became a very important part of 1.d4 theory.
Milos Pavlovic, 2024  248 pages Hardcover

In many 1.d4 openings, Black has trouble getting his bishop on c8 into play. Former Russian Chess Champion Alexey Bezgodov presents a radical solution to this nagging problem; liberate your bishop right away and put it on f5 on the second move!

Play 2...Bf5! against either 2.c4 or 2.Nf3 will surprise your opponent and is also a great way to support your development, because the bishop takes control of the important square e4. If White does not immediately take decisive action, then within a move or two he can relinquish any hopes on an opening advantage.

Alexey Bezgodov has found some great antidotes to White's most dangerous reactions in sharp and attractive lines. To test your understanding of his system he has included more than 100 exercises. After studying the fresh ideas and the clear explanations presented in The Liberated Bishop Defencechess players of almost every strength will enjoy the flexibility of a surprising, effective and universal weapon against 1.d4.

Danny Gormally is a Chess Grandmaster stuck in a fugue state. He has forgotten how to analyse - blinded by the brilliance of chess engines, every time he gets stuck he turns on the machine. In this book he attempts to discover his love of analysis and the game of chess by attempting different methods of analysis and calculation. He asks what separates the analysis methods of an amateur player with a Grandmaster, and further still what separates the very best players from super computers. It all culminates in the mind-bogglingly complex “Impossible quiz” where some of the most skilled players in chess are confronted by extremely complex positions.

If that sounds off-putting it shouldn’t be - Gormally breaks down the material in a way that is comprehensible to any amateur player. 262 pages

The Russian Boris Spassky was the perfect gentleman. He was a chess genius who became World Champion in 1969. But he was also gracious in defeat after he lost his title to the American Bobby Fischer in 1972 in the Match of the Century. This biography includes fifty of Spassky’s best games, annotated by former Russian champion Alexey Bezgodov, and a biographical sketch of a few dozen pages, written by Dmitry Aleynikov, the Director of the Chess Museum in Moscow. Spassky was born in St. Petersburg in 1937; he moved to France in 1976 and returned to Russia in 2010. On his road to the World Championship, he defeated all his contemporaries convincingly in matches, including Paul Keres, Efim Geller, Mikhail Tal, Bent Larsen and Viktor Korchnoi. He lost his first match for the ultimate title against Tigran Petrosian but won in his second attempt in 1969. With his all-round style, fighting spirit and psychological insights, he could beat anybody anytime and, for example, won at least two games versus six other World Champions: Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Fischer, Karpov and Kasparov 279 pages

The best combination for opening training: The big ChessBase opening encyclopaedia with thousands of opening articles plus Fritz19 at a special price! This is how modern opening training works: Test the repertoire recommendations from the encyclopaedia directly against Fritz19! Take the practical test in a game against the Fritz19 player types. Or memorise the variations in the Opening app (with Fritz19 you also get a premium account for 6 months): In drill mode, practise the variation until you remember all the moves perfectly!