Burgess - An Idiot-Proof Chess Opening Repertoire

Simen Agdestein was awarded the title of chess grandmaster at the age of eighteen, the youngest in the world at the time. Two years later he wrote in his diary that he believed he could become the best in the world.

But chess wasn"t his only passion. He also excelled at football and was selected nine times for the Norwegian national team. Foreign clubs wanted to sign him as a professional.

Simen Agdestein"s combined careers are unique and amazing. "I can"t choose between my left and my right arm", he once said of the choice between chess and football.

His international football career was cut short when he refused to play for Norway in a World Cup qualifier against Scotland. He opted instead to play Garry Kasparov in a chess tournament in Belgrade. A few years later, a knee injury put an end to his footballing dreams.

These days Agdestein is a coach and teacher at the Norwegian College for Top Athletes, a fertile breeding ground where his most successful pupil, Magnus Carlsen, also attended. Agdestein continues to compete in chess. In 2023 he won the Norwegian Championship for the ninth time, 41 years after his first successful bid.

Games and Goals is a gripping biography of a unique double talent, revealing his insecurities and ambitions, his doubts and dreams. The author had access to Agdestein"s private letters and diaries and conducted numerous interviews with relatives, friends and Agdestein himself. 272 PAGES

Des ouvrages d'exercices et de tests, ce n'est pas vraiment ce qui manque dans le monde de l'édition échiquéenne. Mais la plupart (à commencer par le pendant de celui-ci, Can you be a tactical Chess Genius, paru antérieurement) concernent uniquement l'aspect tactique et combinatoire du jeu - ce qui est bien utile, mais évidemment insuffisant pour vraiment progresser. A l'inverse, les 150 positions (réparties en trois niveaux de difficulté) contenues dans ce livre vous permettront d'exercer votre jugement positionnel et de réviser concrètement vos classiques : colonnes ouvertes, cases faibles, supériorité sur une couleur, avant-postes... Chaque position est accompagnée d'une courte présentation destinée à orienter votre réflexion, et si vous séchez, vous pouvez recourir à un indice supplémentaire plus explicite. Quand aux solutions, elles sont accompagnées d'explications claires et suffisamment détaillées pour être profitables. En somme, un vrai manuel de stratégie ludique et amusant... Qui l'aurait cru ?

The Dutch Grandmaster Paul van der Sterren was a professional chess player for over twenty years. At the peak of his career, he qualified for the Candidate Matches for the World Championship - and was only four victories away from the World Title. In Mindful Chess, you will get his long and short answer to whether meditation or mindfulness will help your chess.

As a boy, Van der Sterren became fascinated by chess and became a gladiator at the chess board. To quote Theodore Roosevelt, he met with both victory and defeat, much joy and suffering. When, later in life, he discovered vipassana meditation, he met again with joy and suffering - and approached these issues with the same total devotion as he had brought to chess - thousands and thousands of hours on the cushion and studying Buddhist literature.

The reader will follow the two journeys through chess and meditation. And find answers to questions such as: What is chess? What is meditation? Who am I? What is I? Or will the answer elude you, is too much inexplainable and unknowable?

Paul van der Sterren (1956) was a professional chess player for over twenty years. At the peak of his career, the Dutch grandmaster qualified for the Candidate Matches for the World Championship – and was only four victories away from the World Title. He is the bestselling author of Fundamental Chess Openings (Gambit Publishers). In 2023 New In Chess will publish his books: Mindful Chess and In Black and White - a spiritual and a chess autobiography. 127 pages

Des textes d'introduction pour chaque variante avec 915 parties en liens dont 200 annotées. 25 parties-test et 55 questions d'entraînement. Une base de référence de plus de 8000 parties.

Perpetual Chess Improvement : Practical Chess Advice from World-Class Players and Dedicated Amateurs, by Ben Johnson. In a world awash in educational chess content, knowing how to study the game most effectively can be challenging.

As the Perpetual Chess Podcast host, USCF Master Ben Johnson has spent hundreds of hours talking chess with many of the world’s top players and most accomplished trainers. In the popular Adult Improver Series, he has spoken with dozens of passionate amateurs who have elevated their games significantly while pursuing chess as a hobby.

Guests like former World Champion Viswanathan Anand and YouTube Stars IM Levy Rozman and GM Hikaru Nakamura have shared insights and told memorable stories. And Ben has learned just as much from the many dedicated amateurs who applied their considerable professional (non-chess) experience to their chess learning.

In Perpetual Chess Improvement, Ben looks for common ground and shared principles in all chess advice given on the podcast. Chess players do not always agree on the best improvement methods, so he even adjudicates a few disagreements! The book will show you the following:

•     How to approach and study different aspects of the game, including openings, endgames, tactics, tournament games, and speed chess.
•     How to find a chess coach and a like-minded chess community.
•     How to properly utilize all the powerful chess study tools available.
•     Instructive chess positions illustrate the topics discussed.

The guests shared a wealth of beautiful stories, and chess study advice on the Perpetual Chess Podcast. This book compiles the highlights and will help you make a holistic plan for your chess studies.

Ben Johnson is a USCF Master and accomplished chess coach. In 2016, he started the Perpetual Chess Podcast, the most successful chess podcast, with over five million downloads and streams in over a hundred different countries - and counting. Ben grew up in Philadelphia and lives in New Jersey with his family. Before dedicating his life to chess, he was a professional poker player and a stock trader.

245 pages