Mille et une Valeurs

Black Oak with Walnut and Grey points.

This backgammon is handmade using the art of marquetry (also spelled as marqueterie) which is the art and craft of applying pieces of veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns and designs.

Size of closed board 48 x 30 cm

Ce second tome est divisé en trois parties. La première poursuit l'analyse des thèmes principaux du milieu de jeu (Slots, Splits, Golden point...). La deuxième partie traite des fins de partie, c'est-à-dire de la sortie des pions. Enfin, la dernière aborde les concepts les plus délicats du backgammon : contrôle de l'outfield, backgame, timing.

This wonderful set of pieces has been made with anjanwood (it's like rosewood), the pieces are handcrafted, felted and double weighted. 

A total of 34 pieces (2 extra queens). Size of king is 10.50 cm and diam. of 4.5 cm

The board is handmade in Italy and it is a very hight quality product. It is walnut burr wood, the light squares are crafted form the maple veneers and, complete with the high gloss finish. Chess board is 54 cm and each square is 5.5 cm

It is the perfect companion of the supreme set of pieces.

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.

Ces 4 fiches recto-verso sont un résumé des principes d'entame, des principes du plan de jeu et du maniement contre les cartes manquantes. C'est un aide-mémoire compact, facile à  emporter et à  consulter.

Wooden puzzle in a small, luxurious box from the prestigious Michèle Wilson brand.  Each puzzle is differently hand-cut. 

Impression, Soleil Levant is a painting by Claude Monet housed in the Musée Marmottan in Paris. Its title gave its name to the Impressionist movement in 1874.

Dimensions: 15 x 11 cm

Chess set inspired by the models in vogue during the 50's and 60's in the Eastern countries. The two-coloured pieces bring a special touch, but the set remains quite classical with the ultra sober design of the pieces. The set of pieces is made of acacia wood and boxwood, they are all well weighted for an excellent grip and benefit from a felt underneath for a perfect glide and a comfort of use when moving the pieces. The king measures 9.5 cm and the rook 5.5 cm, the ideal sizes for the chess board we have used it on. The board is made of Padouk wood, it measures 53 cm and each square is 5.5 cm.

Chess players can look ahead, formulate a clear plan, and act accordingly. That's why chess is the perfect learning environment for becoming a strategic expert. But how do you train this? It starts with playing many games and analysing them carefully afterwards. At the same time, you should learn from the best by studying the games of the world's strongest players and gradually build their techniques into your play. This book offers you 100 strategic exercises from the games of the best of the best, the World Champions from Bobby Fischer to Ding Liren. You will learn foundational techniques such as: how to improve your worst-placed piece; how to exploit a lead in development; or make the right piece trade; and how to create a strong square; plus numerous others. Solving these exercises will help every ambitious club player better understand how to make and execute plans. 260 pages

The Bauhaus chess set’s unique look catches the eye right away. It’s certainly one of the more artistic and modern-looking chess sets we’ve come across. And yet, its charm lies in its simplicity (and the very apparent supreme-quality craftsmanship of the set). The smooth, clean lines and interesting shapes of the chess pieces are somehow simultaneously modern and timeless. However, the Bauhaus chess set is more than meets the eye. The pieces are not only designed to be artistically striking but are actually inspired by the movement capabilities and value of each piece in the game.

The Bauhaus chess set would make a gorgeous statement piece in any room of the house. It also could be a special gift for anyone who loves both chess and that clean-lined Bauhaus design style. This set closely replicates the original Josef Hartwig Bauhaus chess set. We choose for this aesthetic set of pieces a chessboard black without edge of 45 cm.

The English Opening is very popular nowadays, but 1.c4 e5! is a serious challenge and not to everyone's taste. Here comes 1.Nf3, with the idea to transfer the game into the English with c2-c4 to follow. The only hurdle on that path is 1...d5. Then White is at a crossroads. 2.c4 allows 2...d4 3.b4, while 2.e3 is an attempt to deny ...d4. Black can revive the threat with 2...c5, and again, White has a choice. 3.c4 d4 4.b4! leads to the Blumenfeld with reversed colours. Or he can continue to fight against ...d4 with 3.b3. White's decisions on the second and third move depends on the way he wants to meet the Queen's Gambit and the Slav/Meran/Chebanenko. Semkov covers in detail the different options, and also devotes several chapters on 1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 and 3...e6 4.b3! (avoiding the innocuous version of the QGA after 4.Nc3 dxc4). There is another chapter on 1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.c4 dxc4, where the absence of Nc3 allows White to get some pressure by refraining from d2-d4.   244 pages