Puzzle 1000 pièces : Vue de Paris

The book consists of 36 attacking games from the 21st Century divided into four chapters.

Mastering attacking play in chess is a dream that we all long to achieve, but of course the art of attack does not arise by itself.

Constructing positions which favour the attack is the most difficult task.

In this book we shall see games with brilliant finishes, but we shall also draw attention to the different phases through which the struggle passes, in order make such finishes possible.

Attention has been paid not only to what happens on the board but also, wherever possible, to the influence of the analysis engines not only on a player’s preparation for the game, something that has become more important in these early years of the new century, but also on the practical context of the game.

The games are prefaced by brief biographical information and a short description of the events of the game.

After each game some lessons are highlighted. 254 pages

While today, Reginald Pryce Michell (1873-1938) is largely forgotten, he was a quiet giant of his time. A leading British master, he beat all nationally leading players from Blackburne and Atkins to Golombek, as well as internationally renowned players such as Bogoljubow, Reti and Sultan Khan, and drew former, reigning, and future world champions such as Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, and Botwinnik.
His best individual result was in Margate 1923, where he shared second place with Alekhine and Bogoljubow. As a team player, Michell was part of the team that won bronze in the 1927 Chess Olympiad.
In 1947, Julius Du Mont, then editor of British Chess Magazine, wrote a biography on Michell with a selection of his games. The annotations to the original game selection have been considerably expanded, and another thirty thoroughly annotated games have been added by Carsten Hansen. 313 pages

There are many secrets in chess, knowledge of which distinguishes a chess virtuoso from an amateur. One of these secrets is the ability to play positions with opposite-colored bishops.

Why is it so important? The point is that the presence of opposite-colored bishops is not always a sign of an impending draw. Due to a number of factors, one of the bishops may turn out to be stronger than its opposite number. This can lead to a successful attack, material gains or obtaining some other advantages that contribute to winning the game.

Grandmaster Alexey Bezgodov has written a book analyzing 174 endgame positions with opposite-colored bishops as training material for advanced players who wish to deepen their endgame skills. Endgame theory, tactics and strategy are all covered, and this will help strong improvers to grind out wins instead of draws, and to avoid losing in difficult positions. Most positions are taken from modern games, and they mostly feature world champions and top grandmasters, including Carlsen, Anand, Kramnik, Kasparov, Karpov, Fischer, Tal, Korchnoi, Andersson, Shirov, Gelfand, Caruana, Nepomniachtchi, and others.