Moingt - Morceaux choisis du jeu d'échecs

In my first book I wanted to enlighten the reader on those various lines that were

less explored, and those that have been almost forgotten but were nevertheless

interesting.

However this time the book is about cutting-edge lines, which is a very

modern approach to this fascinating opening. Moreover it is important to say that

when I was writing my first book a few years ago, surprisingly, some of these current

lines simply didn’t exist, or were only discussed in a very minor way.

It is true that the Grünfeld fits in very well with the engines’ way of playing chess,

and in that sense it’s almost the perfect opening with which to implement and generate

such ideas.

Let’s have a look now at what I mean and start reading my findings!

GM Milos Pavlovic, January 2024.

This book is dedicated to the match-tournament of 1948, which gave rise to the first Soviet World Champion - Mikhail Botvinnik. The main content of the book is the detailed analysis of the fifty games played in this event. Detailed commentary to the games has been written for a very wide circle of qualified chessplayers, in which connection particular attention has been paid to the accessibility of the presentation and the appearance in the games of important turning points. The criticism of the mistakes committed by the participants could seem at times to be overly severe, but represents the fruits of painstaking analysis and should bring benefit to chessplayers who wish to draw the necessary theoretical and practical conclusions from the games of the match-tournament.It is very difficult, and often impossible, to claim absolute accuracy in chess analysis, but at any rate, I have endeavoured to fulfil my work with the maximum thoroughness. 257 pages Hardcover

Translator’s Foreword

It is exactly 75 years since one of the most significant events in chess history – the 1948 Match-Tournament for the World Chess Championship – took place in The Hague and Moscow. To mark this anniversary, my colleagues at Chess Informant have agreed to publish a new English translation of Paul Keres’ book on the tournament.

The original work has been extended to include historical context to the event – in this case, excerpts from the contemporary Soviet chess press and from the memoirs of Mikhail Botvinnik. Keres’ book on the event was first published in his native Estonian language in 1949. A year later it appeared in Russian translation and it came to be regarded as one of the best books on chess ever written. For instance, the likes of Garry Kasparov and Boris Gelfand are both on record as listing it among their favourites.

In this book, Keres’ annotations to the games have been faithfully reproduced. They have not been corrected by computer analysis; instead, they have been supplemented in some cases by the analysis of other masters – generally with that of the other players. In addition, historical context has occasionally been added in those cases where Keres’ assessments of certain openings have been overturned, or at least challenged, by many decades of tournament practice.

It has been a considerable pleasure to work on this project. Keres, as well as being an outstanding grandmaster, was also a superb analyst and annotator. His notes to the games represent a fine blend of general considerations and concrete variations; unlike in many books published today, the latter are never allowed to dominate. It is my sincere hope that the combination of these notes with the additional historical context will succeed in bringing Keres’ work to a new audience, and that this book will be a valuable addition to the libraries of chess enthusiasts of all abilities

Douglas Griffin

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.

Rook endgames are the most frequently recurring endgames and also one of the most exciting areas of chess, with mind bending tactical opportunities and dizzying nuances available. They have unsurprisingly been a big topic in endgame literature, with a heavy focus on the set theoretical positions and their logic and fixed conclusions (see the excellent Theoretical Rook Endgames by GM Sam Shankland, published as a sister volume to this book as the peak example of this).

Conceptual Rook Endgames goes in a different direction. Focused on two dozen major concepts, the book explains the mechanisms of rook endgames in a novel way, by building foundations with simple examples, which can be seen in the most complicated examples as well. Rook endgames will remain rich and surprising, as they are for the greats, but armed with this book, your comprehension of them will skyrocket.

Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard is the most talented chess writer of his generation. He won the British Championship in 2007, but is mostly known for his multi-award winning books and his work with students that have won club, country, state, national, continental and world championships, as well as Olympiad golds (board and overall), the World Cup and Candidates tournament. Hardcover. 416 p.