Andre Schulz - The Big Book of World Chess Championships

System requirements: Pentium-Processor at 300 Mhz or +,
64 MB RAM,
Windows XP, Windows Vista,
DVD drive, mouse, soundcard

Gebeitste schaakstukken, met lood verzwaard en met vilten onderkantjes. 

In Black and White is probably the most honest autobiography ever published by a chess grandmaster. It covers Paul van der Sterren’s rise to the chess elite, but above all, his struggle to become a better player, his insecurities and the difficulties he encountered.

This book provides a hugely illuminating insight into the life of a chess professional, but there is a lot in his story that will resonate with players of any level. From his first moves on the chess board to his Candidates Match against Gata Kamsky, only four steps away from the World title – everything is described in great detail and with the utmost frankness by the Dutch grandmaster. The story doesn’t end there – the book’s final part describes the slow decline of an ageing pro and his eventual shift to meditation and mindfulness.

The Dutch edition of In Black and White, which contains more than 300 deeply analysed games and fragments, was published in 2011 and has achieved cult status. With this English translation, it will finally get a well-deserved wider audience.

Paul van der Sterren (1956) was a professional chess player for over twenty years. He won the Dutch Championship in 1985 and 1993 and played for the Dutch team at eight Olympiads. Van der Sterren lost to Gata Kamsky after a great fight in a Candidates Match in 1994. He has written several chess books, of which Fundamental Chess Openings (2009) is the best known. In Dutch, he has also written several books on mindfulness. 768 pages

A completely revised edition, which retains the structure of the first edition but is based on new analysis of all critical lines.

This book presents a Black repertoire based on the Scandinavian Defence with 3...Qd6. This is the safest yet aggressive queen retreat. It allows Black to increase pressure on d4 with ...0-0-0 or ...Rd8 while keeping coordination in the centre. Kotronias offers new plans for Black in the most topical lines. They are backed with deep analysis based on solid chess understanding.

As Kotronias puts in the introduction chapter:
"(...) Instead of reprinting the book, the publisher offered me to make a new, revised edition. It took me almost a year to analyse all the new developments and repertoire books that proposed dangerous new weapons against the Qd6 Scandinavian. Meanwhile the AI engines surged, with their original view on some positions. The result is a completely rewritten book, with major corrections, especially in its second half. The structure of variations remained the same, but I introduced many improvements in the subsequent play. I also added some games of mine from the last year." 300 pages