PLASKETT - Starting out Attacking play

Are you a parent of a junior chess player who feels that because you don’t know how to play chess, you can’t help your child? Or are you an adult or junior chess player who has taken private chess lessons for years, but feels you haven’t been progressing?

In both cases, there can be a lot of reliance on a chess coach who has been given free rein with lesson content and direction. They probably have some sort of plan but it is likely to be a plan used for all their students. This is not ideal. More important is a well-thought out, individualized plan, that focuses on a specific player’s unique strengths and weaknesses. Formulating such a plan is crucial for making improvements.

Victoria Doknjas and her son John Doknjas are an ideal writing partnership to tackle this topic. John is a FIDE Master who has already established himself as an excellent and highly-respected author who understands the improvement process very well. Victoria has over a decade of experience navigating the competitive chess arena with her three master-level sons, including also running her own chess academy. Together they offer a unique and informative insight to those wanting to get more out of their chess studies, as well as presenting practical advice in areas including:

- Identifying important goals and how to work towards them.
- Understanding how to objectively analyse your games.
- Maximising the efficiency of software and engines for learning.

Reading this book can broaden your horizons in the essential areas of chess study, and ideally let you better evaluate what your chess coach is teaching you. And if you don’t have a chess coach, this book will provide you with an excellent foundation for serious chess study.

384 pages

Danny Gormally is a Chess Grandmaster stuck in a fugue state. He has forgotten how to analyse - blinded by the brilliance of chess engines, every time he gets stuck he turns on the machine. In this book he attempts to discover his love of analysis and the game of chess by attempting different methods of analysis and calculation. He asks what separates the analysis methods of an amateur player with a Grandmaster, and further still what separates the very best players from super computers. It all culminates in the mind-bogglingly complex “Impossible quiz” where some of the most skilled players in chess are confronted by extremely complex positions.

If that sounds off-putting it shouldn’t be - Gormally breaks down the material in a way that is comprehensible to any amateur player. 262 pages

Ca, c'est un conseil ! Reste juste à savoir lesquelles - et comment En fait, cet assez bref opuscule nous cause de l'usage moderne du pion passé, des coups de pions anti-positionnels, des pièces à la bande ou encore des retards de développement qu'acceptent parfois les champions modernes - entre autres Magnus Carlsen, très bien représenté ici. A lire, en complément bien sûr des deux bouquins de Watson (SOMCS et CSA) qui abordaient déjà ces questions

Comme il arrive parfois, le plus important bouquin du mois est en fait vieux de presque trente ans Comme son titre l'indique, il est consacré à l'un des éléments-clés de la stratégie échiquéenne : les colonnes ouvertes - et c'est le meilleur ouvrage sur le sujet. Bon, d'accord : c'est le seul ouvrage sur le sujet. Mais considérant a/ l'importance dudit sujet, b/ la réputation de son principal signataire et c/ son excellence didactique, on peut sans doute le considérer comme indispensable.