Rozentalis - To Exchange or Not?

Il y a déjà plusieurs semaines que vous avez quitté la terre ferme. Vous êtes à la tête d'une expédition ayant pour mission de coloniser l'île de Catane. Les ouvrages des Explorateurs décrivent cette île comme un paradis où abondent toutes les richesses nécessaires pour y construire de prospères cités.

Suite à un long et pénible périple votre navire atteint enfin les côtes de l'île. Mais soudain, vous constatez de votre longue-vue que vous n'êtes pas seul ! D'autres navires autour de l'île débarquent des hordes de colons.

Les premières colonies fondées croissent rapidement. L'espace devient de plus en plus rare et les échanges commerciaux de plus en plus nécessaires. Vous devrez donc utiliser à profit vos talents de négociateur ! Une grande aventure vous attend.

Deviendrez-vous le premier souverain de Catane?

Awélé en teck et graines

World Chess Champion Max Euwe, who held the title from 1935-1937, is one of the greatest chess players in history. Much has been written about him, and he authored dozens of books himself. But missing was an outstanding collection of games of this 'efficient, man-eating tiger' as the chess player William Napier once called Euwe.

Max Euwe's Best Games fills this gap. And it couldn't have been written by anyone else than Euwe's successor in Dutch chess – Jan Timman, World Champion finalist and arguably one of the leading chess analysts of our time.

This book offers eighty of Max Euwe's games annotated with great clarity, starting in his early twenties when he worked his way to the world top, up until his late seventies when he was still a force to be reckoned with. It is incredible how high Euwe's level of play was for over fifty years – and how attractive his attacking style was.

Timman made many discoveries in Euwe's best and most famous games but has also unearthed several lesser-known brilliancies. Some interesting paradoxes are addressed along the line. For example, although he was an amateur almost his entire life, Euwe was better versed in opening theory than most of his top-level opponents. Although he was the underdog, he beat the mighty Alexander Alekhine in an epic World Championship Match in 1935. At 52, he could still beat top players like Geller and Najdorf with fantastic attacking play in the Zürich Candidates Tournament. And when he was over seventy, he was still highly dangerous for the new upcoming Dutch generation.

This game collection of an often underrated World Champion, annotated by top grandmaster Jan Timman, is a must-have for anyone interested in World Championship chess.

Although known for a long time, the London started to catch up in popularity just in the last decade or so. I guess the reason for this is probably the desire of many players to focus more on the practical side of chess, with less use of engines and less memorization of long theoretical lines, and more about positional understanding of game. I must say, it received a huge boost not only in the number of games but also in a deeper understanding of the positions arising from the opening. In the past it was used from time to time, but only a few players employed it on a regular basis, such as grandmasters from former Yugoslavia, Milorad Knezevic and Vlado Kovacevic, and the English GM Tony Miles, who used it often.
Today, Kamsky is one of the players who uses it very often, and of course Magnus Carlsen, but we have many other grandmasters and non-grandmasters who now have it in their repertoire on a regular basis. I must say that it’s also important to emphasize the move orders of the line, and due to that we have an immense number of transpositions, which you don’t find so much in other openings.
My experience with the London is good and bad: after I lost a game to grandmaster Volkov in the Rilton Cup, I decided that such positions are not exactly my cup of tea, but in 2019 I picked it up again in one game in a World Senior tournament and produced a very good game. So, as in any opening, good and bad games can happen, but the London itself became a very important part of 1.d4 theory.
Milos Pavlovic, 2024.

248 PAGES Hardcover

• Scroll the map blocks around the board to discover the hidden membership code of the Society of Shadows
• Will you be able to uncover the hidden code of the secret society?
• Difficulty: EXTREME 4/6
• Box dimensions: 10,5 x 13,5 x 3 cm; Only disponible english version with instruction leaflet