AAGAARD - Excelling at Chess

Si quelqu'un s'y retrouve, il me fait signe Voici donc (au choix) le premier volume d'une triplette baptisée Chess Evolution, ou le troisième d'un trio dénommé The Fundamentals - à moins qu'il s'agisse simplement du septième tome d'un projet global qui en comportera neuf Ce qui est sûr, c'est que les 24 nouveaux chapitres truffés d'exemples et bardés d'exercices présentés ici vous feront cogiter quelques dizaines d'heures, et seront certainement profitables. Au boulot !

The best chess training closely resembles the activity you're training for. This book provides you with an essential component - decision-making in the crucial positions of a real game of chess, played by club players rather than grandmasters. You have to answer the same questions that you face when you stare at the chess board and have to find a move.
Amateur games can be very instructive. Studying the games of top players will undoubtedly help you to improve. However, it is often more enlightening to make decisions or see mistakes at a lower level, as they are easier for most of us to relate to.
Thomas Willemze has carefully selected thirty games that illustrate an important theme, for example:
- Dealing with irreversible moves
- Rerouting your rooks
- Aligning your bishop and pawns
- Converting a long-term advantage
- Taming the London
Willemze is a master at choosing just the right positions to help you improve your chess knowledge and understanding.
Thomas Willemze is an experienced chess trainer and International Master from the Netherlands. All thirty games in What Would You Play have been published in New In Chess magazine. Willemze has written five books for New In Chess, all of which are available as courses on Chessable. 230 pages

Sergei Tiviakov was unbeaten in a streak of more than a hundred chess games as a professional player. Who better to share the secrets of Rock Solid Chess and the activity and value of pieces than Tiviakov?

The highly acclaimed first volume of his chess strategy trilogy dealt with pawn structures. In this second volume, Sergei moves on to discuss piece play and unique chessboard situations. Topics covered include the bishop pair, opposite-coloured bishops, centralization and the almost-ignored question of when and whether to castle.

Tiviakov also demonstrates how the value of pieces can vary drastically depending on their exact position. He shows how the entire assessment of a position, and the correct strategy for playing it, can be changed by moving a single pawn from one square to another.

In the final chapters, Tiviakov discusses how to play cramped and passive positions, how to play for a win with Black and how to choose your strategy, based on the opponent’s style and other psychological factors.

Illustrated with examples from classic games and from his own games, and supported by instructive exercises, Volume Two of Rock Solid Chess offers invaluable and unique instruction on topics not covered in traditional textbooks. These strategy lessons will significantly improve your chess and are suitable for all readers, from club players to grandmasters.

Sergei Tiviakov is a grandmaster, Olympic gold medallist, three-time Dutch Champion and European Champion.
Yulia Gökbulut is a FIDE Women's Master, chess author and sports writer from Turkey. 251 pages

OUT OF STOCK

“And the Rest Is Just a Matter of Technique...”

How often has this comment been appended to a game move or variation? As many players know, it really may not be all that easy to figure out what is meant by this familiar phrase.

After the untimely passing of legendary instructor Mark Dvoretsky, Artur Yusupov was given access to Dvoretsky’s famous card files. With the core material based upon these files, the former top ten grandmaster – and perhaps the most successful of all of Dvoretsky’s students – put together this book, modifying and refining the content as needed.

The book begins with a “theoretical” explanatory section. This is followed by 102 practice positions, which increase in in difficulty. Good technique for gaining an advantage is useful in all areas of the game, so there are positions from the opening, middlegame, and especially the endgame – not only from practical games but also from various studies.

The comments to the solutions are very detailed, explaining not only the main line but also the supplementary side variations. Yusupov thought it important to demonstrate the logic in the search for a decision and to show how a chessplayer can come to the right conclusions at the board.

Dvoretsky’s master student Artur Yusupov has done a great job in selecting and presenting the material so that this book “feels” like another genuine Dvoretsky work. This book is a real gem and I hope that it gives you as much pleasure as it has given me. And that from now on, when you have an advantage, the rest really will be, well, just a matter of technique... – From the Foreword by Grandmaster Dr. Karsten Müller. 175 pages

Puisqu'on est dans le pédagogique, signalons donc la (re)sortie du cinquième et dernier tome de la série School of Future Champions - re puisqu'il s'agit en fait de la réédition de Attack and Defense paru naguère (1998) chez Batsford. Recommandable tout de même : les leçons de la Dvoretsky's Chess Scholl ne se périment pas si vite

Si quelqu'un s'y retrouve, il me fait signe Voici donc (au choix) le premier volume d'une triplette baptisée Chess Evolution, ou le troisième d'un trio dénommé The Fundamentals - à moins qu'il s'agisse simplement du septième tome d'un projet global qui en comportera neuf Ce qui est sûr, c'est que les 24 nouveaux chapitres truffés d'exemples et bardés d'exercices présentés ici vous feront cogiter quelques dizaines d'heures, et seront certainement profitables. Au boulot !