Song - Practical Chess Puzzles

Victor Bologan is not only a strong and creative chess grandmaster, he has also made a career in Moldovan and world chess politics. His strong will and incredible versatility have enabled him to lead a colourful and interesting life. ‘Believe in yourself’ is his motto and it has taken him to places many of us will never see.

A sparkling description of the many roads Bologan has travelled lies before you. In this autobiography you will read about the adventures of an enterprising youngster in turbulent Moldova, his collaborations with renowned chess coaches such as Vyacheslav Chebanenko, Zigurds Lanka and Mark Dvoretsky, and his alliances with top players such as Alexander Morozevich, Ruslan Ponomariov, Vladimir Kramnik and Garry Kasparov. The book also offers a candid insight into Bologan's activities as Executive Director of the World Chess Federation FIDE and his career in Moldovan national politics.

Central to this book, of course, is Bologan's chess career. His most impressive tournament victory was in Dortmund in 2003, where he beat both Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik. But he also won the incredibly strong Aeroflot Open in Moscow in 1995 and twice came first in a personal favourite, the annual Poikovsky tournament. Bologan has extensively annotated 88 of his best and most attractive games. 424 pages

This time, it's not you should know, but you must know... it's the crème de la crème of endgame studies (as the title indicates, there are 100), compiled and commented on by one of the world's leading specialists, the Dutch GM Jan Timman.

Divided into 5 chapters, it starts with affordable studies and ends with extremely complex positions. 231 pages

In his heyday, Samuel Reshevsky was one of the great contenders for the world title and, according to Bobby Fischer, for a period of about ten years, from 1946 to 1956, he was the best player in the world.

This book contains sixty of his best games, all analysed and annotated.

It also includes exercises and answers to various questions that might arise in the mind of the reader.

I believe this is a good method, both for teaching and learning.

The author hopes that in this way the reader will learn from the magnificent play of Sammy Reshevsky, and grow to admire it as much as I do. 424 pages