Tag Archives: 2023

Supreme Chess Understanding – Statics & Dynamics

From the Publisher:

“The distinction between strategy and tactics is one of the first things any chess player learns about, but have you ever heard about statics and dynamics before? Did you know that nearly every critical decision you take in a game of chess is governed by the rules of the so-called static/dynamic balance? If not, for the sake of your own chess development, you might want learn more about it from this very book!

In Supreme Chess Understanding: Statics & Dynamics, GM Moranda meticulously explains rules governing the physics of the game, focusing in particular on the interplay between static and dynamic factors. In today’s dog-eat-dog chess world it is namely not enough to know the general principles, but rather to grasp when, how and why can these be bent… or even broken. Thanks to the knowledge gained by studying this work, navigating through the maze of positional transformations is going to become a piece of cake!

The 65 (there are actually 60, not 65) carefully selected exercises are going to make your chess senses tingle with learning excitement. Apart from that, you shall also benefit from the massive amount of practical advice and psychological tips provided by the author. Finally, the book’s quiz format will make the study process not only fruitful, but above all fun!”

About the author:

“Wojciech Moranda (1988), Grandmaster since 2009, highest FIDE rating 2636 and Poland’s TOP 3 player (August 2022). His most notable recent results include, i.a. silver at the Polish Individuals (Bydgoszcz 2021) as well as team bronze at the European Teams (Čatež 2021), together with individual silver on Board 4 at the very same event. Professional chess coach training students all over the world, focused on helping talented juniors and adult improvers ascend past their previous limitations. In his work as a trainer, GM Moranda puts special emphasis on deep strategic understanding of the game, improving his students’ thought-process as well as flawless opening preparation. As an author, GM Moranda begun his adventure with writing in 2020 by publishing the best-selling Universal Chess Training with Thinkers Publishing. The book quickly became a favorite among amateurs and titled players alike, gaining high acclaim from critics too.”

GM Wojciech Moranda, Photo courtesy of GM Moranda
GM Wojciech Moranda, Photo courtesy of GM Moranda

A few months ago I saw some research into the optimum average score which makes a test effective. I don’t remember the exact figure offhand, but I seem to recall it was something like 70% or 75%. If they get everything right they’ve wasted their time taking the test but if they make a significant number of mistakes they haven’t fully understood the material. Interesting, but you might or might not consider it relevant to books of this nature.

Here we have three chapters, each containing 20 quiz questions, alternating between statics (positional play) and dynamics (tactical play). In each question the best continuation wasn’t found over the board. The questions in the first chapter (Bedtime solving for kids… with 10 years of experience) score 2 points each, for solving a puzzle in the second chapter (Buy this book, they said. It will be fun, they said) you’ll receive 3 points, with 5 points awarded for correct solutions in Chapter 3 (Even MC can’t touch these). Moranda helpfully includes a chart which tells you that you would expect to score 70-79% if your playing strength is 2500-2599. If your playing strength is 1800-1899, you’d expect to score 0-9%.

But he also writes that “Although I believe that this book will mostly benefit +1800 players, I do wish to encourage those rated below this threshold to try their hand.” Even though you wouldn’t be surprised if you failed to solve any of the questions? Well, perhaps. Regular readers of my reviews will know that I think authors and publishers often claim books are suitable for lower rated players than they really are, and that chess players often buy books that are too hard for them to really benefit from.

Let’s take a look inside. I’ll show you one position from each chapter.

I was looking for something to use for the Puzzle of the Week on my club website which would link up with both this book and the World Championship match, and was pleased to find this position where Ding, playing black against Artemiev in a 2021 rapidplay game, failed to come up with the optimal plan.

What you get here, as in Moranda’s previous book, which I reviewed here, is a discussion of the position and the move chosen in the game followed by a (computer generated/checked) variation demonstrating what might have happened if the correct plan had been selected.

Here, Ding should have played 13… Bxc4, followed by Na5, Nb3 and c4, with a slight advantage. Of course, as Moranda points out,  you need to see the whole plan in order to justify giving up what looks like your better bishop for a knight.

Out of curiosity, I left the position on Stockfish for a bit. It soon decided that Black’s advantage was just above 0.5, but leaving it on longer saw this dwindling to 0.27, although you might consider that the practical advantage is somewhat greater as his position is perhaps easier to play.

Ding instead chose 13… Bg4, and, as he eventually won the game, no harm was done. Stockfish considers this, Bd7 and Bc8 (which Moranda doesn’t like after Bh3) all equal, but leaving the bishop to be captured on e6 would be a serious error giving White a large (1.5 or thereabouts) positional edge.

Here’s a position from the second chapter: something more challenging taken from the game Anand – Karjakin (Gashimov Memorial Rapid 2021).

Again you have to find a continuation for Black.

Karjakin was awarded one point for sacrificing his h-pawn: 22… g6, but after 23. Nxh6+ Kg7 24. Rf1 he failed to receive the remaining two points as he missed 24… Qd8, a very difficult move to find, especially in a rapid game, according to Moranda, with f5 to follow.

Again, though, we’re talking about small margins. 25. Ng4 f5 26. Qxe5 + Rxe5 27. Nxe5 gives White RNP against Q, with Stockfish assessing the position as about 0.35 in Black’s favour.

The game continued with 24… Rh8 which is assessed as about equal, but again Karjakin won anyway after Anand miscalculated.

Chapter 3 offers puzzles that ‘even MC can’t touch’: I presume he means Magnus Carlsen rather than MC Hammer.

This one’s about dynamics rather than statics. You’ll really have to calculate.

Black to play once again in Vachier-Lagrave – Duda (Zagreb Rapid 2021).

White has sacrificed a knight for an attack against the black king. There’s a threat of Rc5, with a possible mate on h7 to follow. How are you going to defend?

The correct move, which Duda failed to find, is 33… Rfe8, which earns you three points. You’ll get an extra point for meeting Rc5 with Re1 (although Qxc5 also leads to equality), and another extra point for meeting Rg5 with Re4. If you want to see the analysis you’ll have to buy the book!

(Here’s a strange thing. Moranda tells us that after Duda’s 33… Ne3, ‘White converted his advantage in a rather confident manner by … transposing cleverly into a winning rook endgame. Well, yes, but then he traded rooks into an apparently simple pawn ending that should have been drawn, but won after several blunders by both players. But that’s a story for another time and place.)

This is, in many ways, an outstanding book. Moranda is an excellent teacher with a gift for finding interesting and instructive positions, all taken from games played between 2020 and 2022. He also writes engagingly and humorously (not always totally idiomatically, but no matter) while explaining difficult concepts clearly. I really enjoyed reading it, and perhaps you will too.

The book is handsomely produced, like everything from Thinkers Publishing, looking good on both the outside and the inside. The hardback edition received by British Chess News seems to be currently unavailable according to the publisher’s website, but you can still order the paperback there.

If you’re a traditionalist who objects as a matter of principle to computer-generated analysis this probably isn’t the book for you. It’s also probably not a good choice for novice or intermediate players: the title of the first chapter suggests, not entirely seriously, that ten years’ experience may be required. Ambitious players of, say, 2200+ strength will benefit from working through the book sequentially, spending the recommended 15 minutes on each question. Below that level, from about 1800 upwards, if you find the questions too hard you’ll learn a lot from just reading through the answers. I don’t have a FIDE rating but my national rating is currently 1938. I found the puzzles in the first chapter about the right level for me, but those in the second and third chapters too hard, which sounds about right from the chart in the introduction.

If you’re a strong player with time to spare who is looking for a book which will add something extra to your play, this could be just what you’re looking for. If you just want an enjoyable read showing you some fascinating positions from recent games, this book can also be highly recommended. Congratulations to the author and publisher on an excellent publication.

 

You can discover more, and see some further reviews here. You’ll find some sample pages here.

 

 

Richard James, Twickenham 28th November 2024

Richard James

    . Richard James

Book Details:

  • Hardback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Thinkers Publishing; 1st edition (2 May 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 9464201770
  • ISBN-13: 978-9464201772
  • Product Dimensions: 17.15 x 1.91 x 23.5 cm

Official web site of Thinkers Publishing

Supreme Chess Understanding: Statics and Dynamics, Wojciech Moranda, Thinker's Publishing, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9464201772
Supreme Chess Understanding: Statics and Dynamics, Wojciech Moranda, Thinker’s Publishing, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9464201772

Chessboard Combat: The Give and Take of Chess Tactics

From the back cover:

“Chess students love a Puzzle Rush. And solving tactics puzzles certainly helps you improve your pattern recognition and will help you find good moves in tournament games. But there is a downside to most tactics puzzles — we always know who is supposed to win!

Chess in real life is different, not just because no one taps us on the shoulder and tells us to look for a tactic. Sometimes tactics work, and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes your opponent has a few tricks up their sleeve, too.

This book shows the reality of chess tactics. It explores a chess player’s challenges over the board: attack, defense, and counterattack! It exposes the actual give-and-take nature of chess tactics.

American grandmaster Joel Benjamin, a three-time U.S. Champion, was inspired by the 20th-century classic Chess Traps, Pitfalls, and Swindles by legendary chess authors Fred Reinfeld and Israel Albert Horowitz. With modern examples, Benjamin arouses the same spirit of fun and enjoyment. With a generous amount of puzzles in quiz form, this manual will help chess students sharpen their tactical skills and be ready to strike – or counterstrike.”

About the Author:

“Joel Benjamin won the US Championship three times and has been a trainer for almost three decades. His book Liquidation on the Chess Board won the Best Book Award of the Chess Journalists of America (CJA), and his most recent book Better Thinking, Better Chess is a world-wide bestseller.”

Joel Benjamin during the Lloyds Bank Masters
Joel Benjamin during the Lloyds Bank Masters

 

I’ve recently been reviewing books on endgames and grinding, and understandably so as well.

Here’s something, as they say, completely different.

I’ve always liked the Tal quote: “You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.”.

That’s what we get here. 129 thrilling games in which the tactics could go either way.  The author’s main source was his ‘Game of the Week’ series which ran for several years on ICC, so if you followed that you’ll have seen some of the games before. You may well enjoy meeting them again, though. While there are a few familiar chestnuts, many of the games are likely to be new to most readers.

Chapter 1 is Strike, Counterstrike, ‘the fundamental give-and-take nature of chess tactics’.

Chapter 2 tells us that The King is a Fighting Piece, and bears some similarities to the Steel Kings chapter of one of my all-time favourite chess books, Tim Krabbé’s Chess Curiosities.

Take this position, from Spassky – Polugaevsky (USSR Championship 1961).

White could have mated by marching his king further up the board, to f7, but instead played Kh5. This should have led to a draw, but he later blundered and lost.

Here’s the complete game. Click on any move for a pop-up window.

Chapter 3, Dodging Defenses, is much shorter, looking at how the attacker with a plethora of tempting continuations might choose the one that negates the opponent’s attempt to escape.

Chapter 4, Staying Alive, is more David Smerdon than John Travolta. Here, we look at how to maximise our chances of a successful defence, perhaps by looking for swindles.

Here’s a position from a game in which an amateur threw all his pieces at his 500 point higher rated GM opponent.

It proved effective, as Black erred with 29… Qc8, after which White demonstrated the win, as you’ll see below. The winning move would have been 29… Nxd4, but these things are never so easy over the board, even against a massively lower rated  player.

Chapter 5 is another short one: Trying Too Hard to Win. In a complex position you sometimes have to decide whether to take a draw (for instance by repetition) or try for more. If you’re too ambitious it might well backfire.

It can work the other way as well.

In this position England’s new No. 1 Vitiugov missed a snap mate against Svidler, taking a perpetual with 26… Nf3+?, when he might have preferred 26… Qa5+! 27. b4 Qxb5!! 28. Qxb5 Nc2+ 29. Ke2 f3#.

The complete game again:

Chapter 6 looks at Back Rank Tactics, which might be the key to a winning combination, or provide an unexpected defence. All players at all levels should be familiar with these ideas.

Chapter 7, In the Beginning … and in the End, considers two very different topics. First, we’re shown a couple of openings which often lead to tactical mayhem: the King’s Indian Defence and the Marshall Attack in the Ruy Lopez. Engines now consider the former close to unplayable and the latter more or less a forced draw, but at anything below GM level they’re worth playing – and often a lot of fun. Then we look briefly at some endgame tactics.

Finally, or almost finally, Chapter 8, Whoops!, looks, as you might expect, at blunders, in particular the nature of mistakes and the misconceptions that cause them.

The book concludes with Chapter 9, Tactical Tips, 30 useful suggestions to help you improve your tactical play.

The first eight chapters open with some puzzles based on the games in that chapter: a total of 78 in all, to provide interactive content for those who wish to avail themselves.

The examples throughout have been expertly chosen, although I suppose another author might have chosen different chapter headings or placed some of them in different chapters. In a book of this nature there will be considerable overlap. The annotations are excellent: Benjamin does a first class job in getting the balance right between computer and human assessments, which, in complex positions can be very different from each other. I’m pleased that the complete games are always given, rather than just the tactics at the end.

The production is well up to this publisher’s customary high standards, although, as everyone does, they fail the Yates test (he was Fred, not Frederick).

You might not consider this an essential purchase, but, if you like games of this nature, and who doesn’t?, you’ll enjoy and perhaps learn from this book. It’s certainly enormous fun for all lovers of red-blooded tactical chess. The names of the author and publisher are guarantees of excellence, and I’d consider it suitable for everyone of average club standard or above.

If you’d like to see more before deciding whether it’s for you, you can read some sample pages here.

 

Book Details:

  • Softcover: 224 pages
  • Publisher: New In Chess (5 April 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10:9493257835
  • ISBN-13:978-9493257832
  • Product Dimensions: 17.22 x 1.42 x 23.01 cm

Official web site of New in Chess.

Chessboard Combat: The Give and Take of Chess Tactics, Joel Benjamin, New in Chess, April 2023, ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9493257835

Endgame Virtuoso Magnus Carlsen: The World Champion Shows His Superior Skills

From the back cover:

“Magnus Carlsen’s brilliant endgame play is one of the key reasons for his success. The World Chess Champion can win positions which look drawn to anybody else. And more than any other player, he is able to save bad endings.

For this second volume of Magnus Carlsen Endgame Virtuoso, International Master Tibor Karolyi has selected Carlsen’s best endgames from 2018-2022, whereas the first volume covered 1999-2017. Reviewing these new games and explaining what Magnus was doing, the author was thoroughly impressed. Even Carlsen, who in 2017 was already the best endgame player of all time with Anatoly Karpov, had managed to improve his skills further.

Carlsen has it all. He can find deep ideas, play very technically, and is exceptionally well-versed in strategic and tactical endgames. The author is convinced that this new selection contains even better and more instructive games than Volume one.

Karolyi explains the general ideas in the games and gives concrete variations. Exploring these annotated endgames, you will soon get a good sense of what is happening. You will find out that Carlsen does not rush unless it is necessary. You will learn how Carlsen increases the pressure and uses all available resources. And you will see that sooner or later, his opponents will start playing second-best moves, feeling uncomfortable, following up with some dubious decisions, and, finally, cracking.

Endgame Virtuoso Magnus Carlsen – Volume 2 is a highly instructive, inspiring and entertaining book. It will help you appreciate Magnus’ endgame magic and improve your skills in this important game phase.”

About the Author:

“International Master Tibor Károlyi was Hungarian Champion in 1984 and is renowned as both an author and a trainer. He won the Guardian Chess Book of the Year prize in 2007.”

 

You will probably agree that endings are increasingly important – at all levels – in chess today, and that Magnus Carlsen is the strongest human endgame player in the history of chess. So everyone will benefit from studying his endings.

It’s not quite as simple as that, though. The problem is that today’s top GM games are played at a level way beyond the comprehension of average club players. If you’re looking for a book that will do more to improve your endings, I’d recommend this book which was the subject of my last review.

On the other hand, studying the games of the world’s leading players will give you a wider appreciation of chess culture, and, with the guidance of a skilled instructor to provide excellent annotations, you’ll undoubtedly learn something as well as being inspired, in a more general way, to improve your chess.

In this book you’re in the safe hands of IM Tibor Karolyi, one of the best and most experienced annotators in the business, and one who has a particular gift for making difficult positional concepts comprehensible to the average player.

The first volume of this series covered Carlsen’s earlier career. Here we have 104 endgames from 2018 up to 2022, taken from games played at all time controls. As in my last review, the author takes a pretty broad view of what constitutes an ending.

Here, for example, is a position where Magnus missed the best continuation.

This is taken from the first play-off game in the 2018 Carlsen – Caruana World Championship match.

Carlsen played the obvious 24. Bxe6+, winning a pawn and, eventually, the game, although Caruana missed drawing chances on a few occasions.

He missed the very difficult 24. Rxd4!! Kf7 25. Kh1!!, a great prophylactic move according to Karolyi, so that an eventual Nxf3 won’t be check, when Black would have had no defence to Red1 followed by Rd6. This fascinating ending is analysed extensively over 3½ pages.

Black against Vallejo Pons (Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden 2019), Carlsen reached a pawnless ending with RB against BN.

You might think this is drawn, but Carlsen knew that, with the opposing bishops on different colour squares, Black is winning. If you buy this book you can see for yourself how he brought home the full point – and how his opponent could have made it harder for him.

Karolyi tells us that Fischer could have reached a similar ending against Browne (Rovinj/Zagreb 1970), but his annotations suggested that he believed the ending to be drawn.

This game, from move 12 to its conclusion 60 moves later, is covered in 4½ pages here.

It’s striking how often Magnus plays for mate with very limited material on the board.

Here,  our hero was black in an Armageddon game against Nepomniachtchi (Stavanger 2021).

Nepo erred by playing 52. Bg7? here (Ke2 would have held), which Magnus met with 52… Rh1, with Rh2+ to follow.

Along with the games you also get a running commentary on Carlsen’s tournament performances over the period, helpfully putting the games into context as well as providing some gripping reading.

At the end of the book there’s an informative interview with Carlsen’s long-term second Peter Heine Nielsen, along with a useful Endgame Classification index and the expected index of names.

What you don’t get here is the opportunity for interactive learning. Unlike in many books from this publisher, there are no quizzes at the start of each chapter, nor does the author stop every few moves to ask you questions. You might well consider this not to be a problem in a book of this nature.

As usual from New in Chess, the production values are excellent. The English, although not always totally idiomatic, reads fluently. If you’re looking for a book on Carlsen’s endgames, and there are many reasons why you should be, you won’t be disappointed with this volume. You might also want to buy Volume 1 as well, and, in a few years time, Volume 3.

I consider this a first class book written by one of the best annotators in the business. While players of, say, 2000+ strength will perhaps learn most from it, all club standard players will find Carlsen’s endgames, especially as explained here, both instructive and inspirational.

If you want to look further before making up your mind you can find some sample pages here.

Richard James, Twickenham 18th October 2024

Richard James
. Richard James

Book Details:

  • Softcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: New In Chess; 1st edition (23 March 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10:9493257703
  • ISBN-13:978-9493257702
  • Product Dimensions: 17.22 x 1.63 x 22.99 cm

Official web site of New in Chess.

Endgame Virtuoso Magnus Carlsen Volume 2: The World Champion Shows His Superior Skills, Tibor Karolyi, New in Chess, March 23rd 2023
Endgame Virtuoso Magnus Carlsen Volume 2: The World Champion Shows His Superior Skills, Tibor Karolyi, New in Chess, March 23rd 2023

The Practical Endgame Bible – Guidelines for the Fundamentals of the Endgame

From the Publisher:

“There are many books devoted to basic endgames, even from the Middle Ages. Principles of typical endgames (such as keeping the rook behind a passed pawn, not setting pawns on the same colored squares as your bishop’s, distant pawns being more dangerous than central ones etc.) are well known too. But what about “complex endgames”? I have in mind endgames with at least two pieces on each side; well I don’t find them often nor sufficiently well-explained in the past! It is exactly this fact (together with my passion and great endgame experience) that has motivated me to write this book (many friends simply call me “Endgame Wizard” ).

Over two decades of working as a coach has confirmed my opinion that endgames are the biggest problem for young players. Today, in the computer era with a lot of information easily provided, youngsters all over the world rather play blitz, or solve some tactical puzzles in a manner that is “the faster the better” (or even spend time on some other chess disciplines). All of this neglects the basis of chess – the importance of endgames! It is not uncommon that everyday you can be witness to some strange endgame misunderstanding, even at the top level.

This is why I consider some of my favorite endgame books based on logic as the best I’ve ever read – I learned the endgame from some of the best endgame players and authors. And this is why I want to fill that gap in chess literature and to share my devotion, ideas, principles, opinions with you! I hope you will enjoy this material and I am pretty sure you will broaden your endgame horizons.”

About the author:

FM Boroljub Zlatanovic

  • Born in Cuprija, Serbia, 05 August 1977
  • Started chess at four years old watching father and his brother playing
  • Entered first chess club “Radnicki” Cuprija at seven
  • Fide Master in 1994
  • Serbian youth champion in 1995
  • Champion of the Belgrade University in 2001 and 2002
  • Won countless times the Serbian team championship (in youth competition as well)
  • IM since 2014
  • FIDE TRAINER since 2015
  • Winner of many open, blitz, rapid and internet events
  • Professional coach for more than 15 years
  • Author and contributor for American Chess Magazine since 2019
  • This is his 4th book for Thinkers Publishing.

From the back cover:

IM Zlatanovic will bring something new to your chess library. In our computer era, focus is usually on openings. Watching recent broadcasts, the new generation would rather choose games of a certain opening and look for an interesting idea or even a brilliant novelty. I offer, and recommend, a different concept altogether, based on the famous Soviet school of chess. The focus should be on understanding strategical concepts, principles and underlying logic. Fashionable opening lines will be forgotten (or re-evaluated) sooner or later, but understanding cannot be lost, and can only be upgraded. It is sad to see some players that are well equipped with opening lines, who are unable to realise a big positional advantage in an endgame. So, our advice is con concentrate on Strategy and Logic.

This new series of books are highly recommended for club players, advanced players and masters, although even higher rated players may also find it useful! There is no doubt that lower rated players will learn a lot about thinking processes and decision making, while some logical principles can be put to use by more advanced players too.

 

What is an endgame? Engines tend to tell you you’re in the endgame when neither player has more than two major/minor pieces on the board. You might, of course, consider BNN v BNN to be more like an ending than QR v QR. Me, I have no very strong views on the subject. Zlatanovic seems to take a very broad view of what constitutes an ending.

This, then, is a practical, rather than a theoretical book. If you want to know how to play KRB v KR, for example, you’ll need to look elsewhere. We have 188 positions, all of which start with at least two major/minor pieces, many with three, and some with almost the whole complement of pieces. Most of the positions come without queens. So what we have here is something much more than just an endgame manual. You could see it as a guide to positional play in the late middlegame, or even, in some cases, the opening.

The range of sources is impressively wide: from Steinitz in 1883 through to Zlatanovic himself in 2021.  From grandmasters to amateurs. From world championship matches to online blitz games. While there are a few very familiar examples (although they’ll always be new to somebody) there will be a lot which you almost certainly won’t have seen before. Here, then, is an author, unlike many who only use a small number of sources for their books, who clearly has an exceptional knowledge of chess and its literature.

He explains in the preface that he has divided the material into 15 chapters, starting with the most important principles and gradually moving on to the most specific principles.

We have:

  1. The Center
  2. The Active King
  3. Open Files
  4. The Bishop Pair
  5. Activity & Harmony
  6. Space Advantage
  7. Key Squares
  8. Pawn Majority
  9. Pawn Weaknesses
  10. Two Weaknesses & Playing on Both Sides
  11. Opposite-Colored Bishops
  12. Exchange Problems
  13. Do Not Rush
  14. Schematic Thinking
  15. Restriction & Prophylaxis

These chapters represent an increasingly important aspect of chess. Even relatively low rated amateurs these days can play the opening well and avoid tactical oversights in relatively simple positions. Incremental time limits mean that games are more likely to be decided by positional factors in the ending than in the days of mad time scrambles or, when I was learning the game, by the adjudicator.

I’d suggest, then, that this could be a very valuable book for anyone of average club standard or above wanting to improve their game. Let’s take a look inside.

Each chapter starts with a brief introduction. Here, as a fairly random example, is that for Chapter 8 (Pawn Majority).

Of course the natural goal of pawn play is the creation of a passed pawn and its promotion! However, this does not happen often!

The logical prerequisite to creating a passed pawn is to have a majority. Of course, with balanced material there would be majorities for both players, on different wings. Which majority is better? Well generally, it is clear that a 2:1 majority is “the best one”. Not only because it can easily create a passer, but even more importantly, it is because of the fact that the passer will be a distant one – it should deflect the opponent’s army (and king!) which would lead to progress and to gaining material on the opposite flank!

You may have already seen this approach a multitude of times. However what about other majorities? Is a 3:2 always better than a 4:3 majority? What about doubled pawns? What about exchanging pieces? Is it better to have more or fewer pieces kept on the board in a situation with mutual majorities? All these answers can be found in this chapter. And a lot of others besides!

I’ll quickly show you a few of Zlatanovic’s examples.

This is Botvinnik – Rabinovich (Leningrad 1934).

Let’s start this chapter with a relatively simple example. White has the better majority – 3:2, which is usually better than 4:3. However the point is that Black has separated a- and c-pawns and it looks like the majority will soon transform to an even better version for White: 2:1.

Later in the chapter: Smyslov – Szabo (Hastings 1955).

White is dominant although it may look as if Black is okay. White’s queenside majority is the key positional factor here, especially after fixing the b7-pawn. Black cannot easily advance it to b6 because of c6, and even exchanging it would create the a-passer. With his next move White opens up the key diagonal and attacks b7.

For my final example, we’re still in the opening, with most of the pieces still on the board. White has to decide on his 12th move in Erenburg – Murariu (Las Palmas 2003).

Here is a more complex example. White has many advantages: better development, more space and a better majority. However the advantage is not large. Black hasn’t made a single bad move – he is ready to place his king on e7 and finish development soon. In such situations active play is extremely important.

Is this position really an ending? Probably not. Does it matter? Again, probably not. If you want to see what happened next in these games, along with Zlatanovic’s explanations you’ll have to buy the book.

You might think the title is slightly misleading, and I might well agree with you, although I’m not sure I could come up with anything better. In some respects this is a modern book on a modern subject but in other respects it might be seem as slightly old-fashioned, and perhaps none the worse for that. The annotations throughout are based on practical considerations rather than computer analysis. Whereas other publishers promote active learning by offering puzzles at the start of each chapter or stopping to ask questions after every few moves, there’s nothing of that nature here.

You could just read the book, or, if you prefer, cover up the moves and try to guess the continuation. You could also set up the positions and play them out against a training partner, your chess coach or a computer.

The production standards are high, although, as you might have realised from the brief quotes above, the English is not always as idiomatic as one might like. There’s also some inconsistency in naming conventions – sometimes using just the player’s initial, sometimes the first name, sometimes also the middle initial and sometimes the full name. It probably won’t bother you but I find that sort of thing slightly annoying. The book also, inevitably, fails the Yates test (he was Fred Dewhirst, not Frederick Dewhurst). We have an index of games at the end,  but an index of players might also have been useful.

In spite of these minor reservations I really enjoyed this book and think that, if you’re an above average club standard player, it will add an extra dimension to your play. Even stronger players will, I suspect, find much of value as well. I’d also consider it an invaluable resource for chess coaches working at this level: it’s evident from the book that the author must be an outstanding teacher.

Zlatanovic has clearly put an enormous amount of thought into how the book should be structured and done a lot of research into finding the most suitable examples to include, and should be congratulated on having produced an excellent book. If you agree with him (as I do) that, at least at club level, understanding is much more important than memory, I’d recommend you to take a look.

You can read some sample pages here.

 

Richard James, Twickenham 10th September 2024

Richard James

    . Richard James

Book Details:

  • Softcover : 496 pages
  • Publisher: Thinkers Publishing; 1st edition (2 May 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 9464201746
  • ISBN-13: 978-9464201741
  • Product Dimensions: 15.88 x 3.18 x 22.86 cm

Official web site of Thinkers Publishing

The Practical Endgame Bible – Guidelines for the Fundamentals of the Endgame, Boroljub Zlatanovic, Thinker's Publishing, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9464201741
The Practical Endgame Bible – Guidelines for the Fundamentals of the Endgame, Boroljub Zlatanovic, Thinker’s Publishing, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9464201741

 

Rock Solid Chess: Tiviakov’s Unbeatable Strategies: Pawn Structures

From the back cover:

Sergei Tiviakov was unbeaten for a consecutive 110 professional chess games as a grandmaster, a record that has only been broken by World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Who better to teach you rock-solid chess strategy than Tiviakov. He was born in Russia and trained in the famous Russian chess school. In his first book, he explains everything he knows about the fundament of chess strategy: pawn structures.

If chess players trust that their knowledge of opening theory and tactics is enough to survive in tournament play, they are mistaken. Once you settle down for your game and the first moves have been played, you will need a deeper understanding of the middlegame. And one of the most challenging questions is: how to navigate different pawn structures?

Sergei Tiviakov gives you all the answers in this first volume of his highly instructive series on chess strategy. ‘Tivi’ is famous for his deep chess knowledge and rock-solid positional play. He has gathered a rich collection of strategic lessons he has been teaching worldwide, drawing mainly from his personal experience. The examples and exercises will improve your chess significantly and are suitable for any reader from club player to grandmaster level.”

About the Author:

“Sergei Tiviakov is a grandmaster, winner of an Olympic Gold Medal, three times Dutch Champion, and European Champion. Yulia Gökbulut is a Women’s FIDE Master, chess author and sports writer from Turkey.”

GM Sergei Tiviakov drawn by Rupert van der Linden in 1995
GM Sergei Tiviakov drawn by Rupert van der Linden in 1995

Before we start, you might liked to inspect sample pages

 

This book has its origins in a recent series of lectures given by Tiviakov. His co-author was responsible for shaping the material into a book.

We start with a long introduction about the difference  between human and computer chess, which is interesting in itself, but not directly relevant to the subject of the remainder of the book.

What you don’t get is a complete guide to pawn structures: if you want that you’ll need to look elsewhere. Instead, you get something very much based on Tiviakov’s own repertoire. In general you’d expect positional players to prefer queen’s pawn openings, just as Tivi’s hero Tigran Petrosian did, while tactical players will be more likely to choose king’s pawn openings. Tiviakov, though, has been almost exclusively a 1. e4 player throughout his career. With White he makes little attempt to secure an advantage, just aiming to reach a pawn formation he understands better than his opponent.

In the first chapter we look at positions with a pawn majority on one flank. Something like this formation, which Tiviakov often reaches after 1. e4 c5 2. c3, or 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5.

He comments that he’s unaware of any book dealing specifically with this sort of position, and neither am I. If you’re likely to reach this sort of pawn formation in your games you’ll find this material very helpful and instructive.

In this position, from a game Tiviakov – Romanov (White to play), he discusses the idea of deciding, even this early in the game, which pieces you want to trade off for the ending. His conclusion is that ideally you should retain the dark squared bishops, so that you can attack Black’s queenside pawns, and try to trade everything else off. He managed to realise his plan successfully in this game, where he compared his style to that of Petrosian, Karpov and Carlsen.

I’ve thought for many years that perhaps the topic which, more than anything else, needed a book was that of doubled pawns. Naturally, I was delighted to see that Tiviakov devotes two chapters to this. Some of the examples were an eye-opener for me.

Here, he uses his game against Igor Efimov (Imperia 1993: it’s not in MegaBase) to demonstrate how he plays against the Trompowsky.

At first glance you might think that Black’s bishop on e6 looks like a rather useless Big Pawn, but Tiviakov explains that it’s actually more useful than its white counterpart.

But it’s important to understand that in chess a piece is labelled ‘bad’ or ‘good’ not by how it stands, whether it is blocked by pawns or not, but on its role in the actions that its army will carry out. 

He explains that Black plans to swing his knight to e4, followed by b6 and c5, and, if White does nothing, by c4, b5, b4, Qd6 and Rb8.

A very instructive game, he claims, but you’ll have to buy the book to find out why.

It’s grandmasterly insights such as this, sprinkled liberally throughout, which make this book worthwhile.

Here’s another example. Tiviakov used to favour the Scotch against 1… e5, but dropped it after a loss against Mamedyarov in 2006.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. Qd2 dxc6 7. Nc2 Bd4 (obligatory to prevent Qf4 according to Tivi) 8. Bc4 Be6! 9. Bxe6 fxe6

Black has gone in for a deterioration of his pawn structure. From the viewpoint of classical chess strategy, he should stand worse, because of the doubled pawns, the isolated pawn on e6 and in general the three ‘islands’ against two for White. But in concrete dynamic play, Black is not worse. This is something you should understand.

We now move on to positions with semi-open files in the centre.

This sort of pawn formation can arise from very many openings, for example the Caro-Kann or Tiviakov’s favourite Scandinavian.

Here’s another instructive example, with White to play in the 2006 game Godena – Tiviakov. A Qd6 Scandi has resulted in an equal position. Now White chose the apparently natural (to me anyway) 22. c4.

It is possible to place the pawns side by side on c4 and d4, if White has definite dynamic prospects or if the opponent cannot organize an attack on them. In this concrete example, I can prevent the pawn  advancing to d5 and organize an attack on it.

After White’s 32nd move this position was reached. Objectively it’s completely equal, but in practice it’s Black who’s pressing.

Tiviakov again:

After the exchange of rooks, the queen and knight are stronger than the queen and bishop team, because Black has certain secure squares available to him. For example, the queen can come to d4 and then manoeuvre such that he can switch the attack between the white king, the queenside pawns and the pawn on f2.

White’s position is very unpleasant.

Another insight into how a strong grandmaster will perceive a position which a club player like me would think of as just being equal.

The next chapter is about positions with seven pawns each and an open d or e-file.

In this position from a Tiviakov – Kasimdzhanov game, we can deduce from a piece comparison that White stands slightly better. His dark squared bishop is clearly superior, especially after a future f3 and Bf2. It’s perhaps less immediately obvious that his light squared bishop is also better than its opposite number as it’s looking at Black’s slightly vulnerable queenside, while the bishop on b7, once White’s played f3, will be ineffective. Furthermore, White has a potential square on d5, while Black doesn’t have an equivalent square on d4.

Moving on again, we have, logically enough, Two Open Files in the Centre.

Here’s a position from Tiviakov – Ibrahim (2015), with White to play.

If I had a position like this I’d be thinking about offering a draw and heading to the bar, but in fact White is much better here. Black already has a weakness on d5, and by playing Bg4+ now (as it happens Stockfish thinks the immediate Re1 is preferable) and provoking f5, he creates additional weaknesses on e5 and e6.

The final chapter is rather different, looking at the way Tiviakov defends against flank openings, using a double fianchetto system. Again, interesting, but it doesn’t quite fit in.

Summing up, we have four chapters, 1, 4, 5 and 6, which fit together logically, and three chapters, 2, 3 and 7, which, although equally instructive and interesting, don’t really fit in, as well as a long introductory chapter of only tangential relevance. Although it might not make a coherent whole, the quality of the material is very high.

However, contrary to Tiviakov’s claim in his preface that the book is aimed at players of all strengths, from beginner to Grandmaster, it really isn’t.  At lower levels games are usually decided by tactical oversights rather than subtle positional advantages of the type we see in this book. I’d say it was suitable for players of, say, 1750 upwards. Again, if you favour kingside attacks, sharp tactics or heavy opening theory this might not be the book for you. But if you’re a strong player with a preference for positional chess, and especially if you share some of his opening choices, this is a book you really don’t want to miss. A second volume has now been published, which I look forward to reading in due course.

Production values are well up to this publisher’s usual high standards, even though a final read through by a native English speaker might have helped. As usual with books for New in Chess, active learning is encouraged: the reader is asked questions every few moves.

Perhaps this isn’t a book for everyone, but the content is excellent throughout, and, if you’re strong enough to appreciate grandmaster level positional concepts, the book can be highly recommended.

 

Richard James, Twickenham 12th August 2024

Richard James
. Richard James

Book Details:

  • Softcover: 264 pages
  • Publisher: New In Chess; 1st edition (31 Jan. 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10:9493257851
  • ISBN-13:978-9493257856
  • Product Dimensions: 17.22 x 1.65 x 23.01 cm

Official web site of New in Chess.

Rock Solid Chess, Sergei Tiviakov, New In Chess; 1st edition (31 Jan. 2023), ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9493257856
Rock Solid Chess, Sergei Tiviakov, New In Chess; 1st edition (31 Jan. 2023), ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9493257856

The How to Study Chess on Your Own Workbook: Exercises and Training for Club Players (1800 – 2100 Elo)

From the back cover:

“The astounding success of How To Study Chess on Your Own made clear that there are thousands of chess players who want to improve their game – and do (part of) their training on their own. The bestselling book by GM Kuljasevic offered a structured approach and provided the training plans. Kuljasevic now presents a Workbook with the accompanying exercises and training tools a chess student can use to immediately start his training.

Kuljasevic wanted his exercises to mimic the decision-making process of a real game. His focus is on training methods that encourage analytical thinking. Most workbooks offer puzzles and puzzles only. But with this book, you will be challenged by tasks like:

  • Solve positional play exercises
  • Find the best move and find the mini-plan
  • Play out a typical middlegame structure against a friend or an engine
  • Simulation – study and replay a strategic model game
  • Analyze – try to understand a given middlegame position

The Workbook is designed for self-study, but is also useful for chess coaches and teachers and can be applied in one-on-one lessons, as well as in study groups in chess clubs, schools or online classes. This first volume is optimized for chess players with an Elo rating between 1800 and 2100 but is very accessible and useful for any ambitious chess player.”

About the Author:

“Davorin Kuljasevic is an International Grandmaster born in Croatia. He graduated from Texas Tech University and is an experienced coach. His bestselling books Beyond Material: Ignore the Face Value of Your Pieces and How To Study Chess on Your Own were both finalists for the Boleslavsky-Averbakh Award, the best book prize of FIDE, the International Chess Federation.”

GM Davorin Kuljasevic
GM Davorin Kuljasevic

Before we continue you might like to inspect this preview from the publisher’s website (product page here), which will give you an idea of the layout and show you some of the exercises. If you prefer, you can see sample pages from the Kindle edition here.

A quick word first. I have a large backlog of books to review and little time in which to review them, so, in an attempt to catch up, I will be writing much shorter critiques on the titles in my in-tray than I have done in the past.

I reviewed the author’s previous volume with some enthusiasm here, so was eager to see this workbook, especially given that, in terms of rating, but not interest in improving my game, I’m within the book’s target range.

The main body of the book comprises fifteen sets of eight puzzles. We start with five sets on tactics, gradually increasing in difficulty, each set including six ‘find the hidden tactic’ exercises, followed by two ‘tactical analysis’ exercises.

This seems excellent to me. My impression has always been that, at my level, games are much more often decided by spotting or missing exactly this sort of tactical point than by brilliant combinations and sacrifices. The Hidden Tactic exercises present a position and a three-move sequence, in which you have to find the tactical opportunity that was sometimes missed over the board. The analysis questions invite you to analyse several different lines and decide which is best.

Then we have five sets on Middlegame Training. Here we have six positions where you have to find the correct mini-plan, followed by two simulation exercises where you play through part of a game and are awarded points, in the style of Daniel King’s How Good is Your Chess feature in CHESS, for finding good moves.

Finally, there are five sets on Endgame Training to test you on this most important phase of the game. Here, each set gives you four endgame analysis questions where you have to analyse several lines. Then you have two endgame simulation exercises, followed by two positions for you to play out against a training partner, coach or engine. I’m very much in favour of this and believe that playing out endgame positions should be an important part of every player’s training.

In my day, 50-60 years ago, reading books was, for most of us, just about the only option for chess improvement. Now, of course, there are many more options. As was clear from his previous book, Kuljasevic has put a lot of thought into the most efficient training methods, and into what works best within the framework of a book, and has done an excellent job in selecting material appropriate for his target market.

If you think this book might appeal to you, again I’d refer you to the previews linked to above.

As is usual from this publisher, production values are high. The layout could have been more generous and easier to follow, but this would have necessitated more pages and cost you more money.

If you’re rated between 1800 and 2100, ambitious to improve your rating, are prepared to take time out for serious study and enjoy reading books, I can strongly recommend adding this to your library. Further volumes for lower and higher rated players are promised: I look forward to reading these in due course.

 

 

Richard James, Twickenham 26th July 2024

Richard James
. Richard James

Book Details:

  • Softcover: 224 pages
  • Publisher: New in Chess; Workbook edition (31 Jan. 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10:949325755X
  • ISBN-13:978-9493257559
  • Product Dimensions: 17.15 x 1.5 x 23.01 cm

Official web site of New in Chess.

How to Study Chess on Your Own, Davorin Kuljasevic, New in Chess, Jan 2023, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9493257559
How to Study Chess on Your Own, Davorin Kuljasevic, New in Chess, Jan 2023, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9493257559

What Chess Coaches Don’t Tell You

Here is the publishers blurb from the rear cover:

“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.”

and about the authors:

John Doknjas is a FIDE Master who has won several strong tournaments in British Columbia, Canada, including the Grand Pacific Open. John is a chess teacher with over eight years of experience and is a highly respected author. Victoria Doknjas has over a decade of experience navigating the competitive chess arena, including also running her own chess academy.

As with every recent Everyman Chess publication high quality paper is used and the printing is clear. Each diagram is clear as is the instructional text. Figurine algebraic notation is used throughout and the diagrams are placed adjacent to the relevant text.

Before we begin, here is a sample

 

A rather provocative title, I think. Here are two chess coaches telling you what chess coaches (presumably apart from them) don’t tell you. You can read their introduction in the sample linked to above.

As I have a rather large pile of books still to review and much else to do I hope you’ll excuse me being rather less detailed than in the past.

Of course there’s a big difference between coaching players with, say, ratings of 0, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000 and 2500. Or between coaching players aged, say, 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25, not to mention 50 or 95. Or between coaching players who have, say, 5 hours a day, 1 hour a day or 1 hour a week to devote to chess.

I can summarise the chapters fairly quickly.

Chapter 1 (3 pages): Working Hard with a Set Purpose. Or, if you like, Deliberate Practice.

Chapter 2 (5 pages): Defining Goals and Developing a Plan to Achieve Them.  All great in principle, but the problem is that, for most of us, life (work, studies, family or whatever) usually tends to get in the way.

Now we move on to the meat of the book.

Chapter 3 (57 pages): Analyzing Your Games.

The authors recommend that when you’ve played a game you enter it into your database (without having an engine on), annotate it with specific reference to the critical moments, write down what you learnt from the game, and only then look at it using an engine and/or show it to your coach.

You’re provided with three exercises: one game by each of the authors and a grandmaster game, each of which is presented five times: without annotations, with the possible critical moments highlighted, with some variations at the critical moments, with further explanations at the critical moments, and finally with engine-based analysis.

With jumbo sized diagrams used liberally, this takes up a lot of space for a lot of repetition.

Here’s the GM game: you might want to see how you get on. Click on any move for a pop-up window.

Analysing a Karpov game would, I’m sure, be a good exercise for a 2000+ player, but it would be pretty hard for a 1500 player and futile for a 1000 player. We’re perhaps looking at this point at a book for very strong and ambitious players, along with their parents and coaches.

This level seems to be continued in Chapter 4: Creating an Opening Database (30 pages). Using as an example the closed Italian Game (with c3 and d3) for White, the authors show you how you might go about this using ChessBase.

When we’re trying to find moves for our opponent to use in our opening repertoire, we should try to find the most popular moves (since these are what we’re most likely to face in a game). However, when we’re trying to find a move to play ourselves, often it’s useful to choose a rare move over a popular move (as long as the engine is fine with it). 

Again, this sounds like excellent advice for, say a 2000 player.

Moving on, then.

Chapter 5 clocks in at a chunky 85 pages on Will to Win: Essential Endgames. All reputable chess coaches will agree that Essential Endgames are, well, essential.

But here we’re taught how to play baby positions like this…

.. which is one of the first lessons I give beginners, followed by pages on RP v R (Philidor, Lucena) and Q v P on the 7th rank, again material more suited to 1000 players than 2000 players.

This all left me rather confused as to the purpose and target market of the book.

We’re still in endgame territory in Chapter 6, Tactics and Studies (32 pages). As well as solving tactics puzzles online the authors recommend, like most chess coaches these days, solving endgame studies. They present five rather difficult studies here, much more suited to 2000 rather than 1000 strength players.

This one, unlike some of their other choices, has a short solution.

White to play and draw (Jan Timman 1981)

The main line runs 1. Nd2 Bf7 2. Kg5 Ng2 3. Nf3 Kf8 4. Ne5 Kg7 5. Nxg6 Bxg6 with stalemate.

Chapter 7 is Slowing Down (another 32 pages). Good advice for novices, yes, but do you need to tell experienced players to slow down? We seem to be back with advice for 1000 players now, telling you to play more slowly and consider basic principles (control the centre squares, develop your pieces etc). We then have a few exercises where you have to use basic principles to find the best plan in some GM games.

The final long chapter, Chapter 8 (88 pages), is on Training Games. I was very pleased to see this chapter as I consider training games to be an invaluable method of improving your chess which is often ignored. We’re first advised to play training games against stronger players if we can. We’re then given 41 positions which can be played out against a training partner or a computer. These range from typical opening positions, through a variety of middlegame positions through to endings. Each of the positions is then repeated along with the game continuation and some analysis, explaining the length of the chapter.

Chapter 9 (22 pages) covers the important topic of To Exchange or not to Exchange  in rather perfunctory fashion: a brief introduction followed by four examples including games from Kasparov and Karpov.

Finally, Chapter 10 (12 pages) gives you some FAQs for Parents or Those New to Competitive Chess – useful, I suppose, but parents and adult newcomers will have rather different questions, and some of the answers are USA/Canada-centric, which may not be helpful for UK readers.

What to make of this book, then?

The question I always ask is whether the publishers commissioned the book, or whether the authors wrote it and submitted it on spec. Perhaps the former, although I may be wrong. It’s clear that the authors are great chess coaches and the book is full of excellent ideas and advice, some of which is not readily available elsewhere. But it doesn’t seem coherent to me, though, switching between advice tailored for budding masters and instruction more suitable for novices. There was, for my taste, rather too much analysis of fairly random examples, and the layout, with the very large diagrams favoured by this publisher, could have been more economical.

While I get that the chess book market, unless your name is Levy Rozman, is relatively small, and publishers want their books to appeal to as wide a range of readers as possible, trying to please everyone at the same time results in a book which will only be useful in parts for most purchasers. A more proactive approach from the publishers to produce a book with a more specific target market could easily have resulting in something half the size and twice as useful (which would perhaps have sold half as many copies).

Although I can only recommend the book with reservations, you might find it fills a gap in the market and at least some of the material will give you some fresh ideas about how to improve your, or your students’ rating.

And, if you’re interested in publishing a book about what chess coaches don’t tell parents of kids rated under 1000, I know just the person to write it.

 

Richard James, Twickenham 11th July 2024

Richard James
Richard James

Book Details :

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Everyman Chess (10 July 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 178194654X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1781946541
  • Product Dimensions: 17.25 x 2.16 x 23.37 cm

Official web site of Everyman Chess

What Chess Coaches Don't Tell You, John Doknjas and Victoria Doknjas, Everyman Chess, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1781946541
What Chess Coaches Don’t Tell You, John Doknjas and Victoria Doknjas, Everyman Chess, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1781946541

Grind Like a Grandmaster: How to Keep Pressing until Your Opponent Cracks

From the publisher:

“It is amazing how much play you can create in a seemingly equal chess position – if you persevere. In this book, the greatest chess player of all time, Magnus Carlsen, and his friend, Grandmaster David Howell, explain how to win these kinds of chess games.

Carlsen and Howell show how you can keep a game alive, how you can keep posing problems to your opponent, how you can recognize the first small mistakes, and how you can grind your opponent down until he cracks.

New In Chess has converted this book from a popular Chessable video and MoveTrainer ® course with the help of Carlsen and Howell. The lively conversations of the two friends translate very well into a highly instructive chess manual. It is top-level chess, using grandmaster games as examples, but the insights are accessible to players of all levels.

Magnus Carlsen won the World Chess Championship in 2013 and gave up his title in 2023. He is regarded as the greatest player of all time and holds the #1 spot in the world ranking. He has read dozens of books published by New In Chess, but this is the first book with Carlsen as an author. Carlsen (1990) lives in Oslo, Norway.

David Howell is an elite chess Grandmaster with a 2700+ peak rating and an individual gold medal winner at the Olympiad. He is a well-known and popular commentator on live chess streams. Howell (1990) is two weeks older than Carlsen, was born in Eastbourne, United Kingdom, and lives in Oslo, Norway.”

David Howell, London Chess Classic, 2013, courtesy of John Upham Photography

David Howell, London Chess Classic, 2013, courtesy of John Upham Photography. For more about David Howell see here

 

This book is essentially a transcript of a Chessable course which you can find here. If you prefer book learning, or you just like the idea of having something written by Magnus Carlsen on your bookshelf you’ll be interested in this title.

David has written a two page preface:

A quick swashbuckling attack full of sacrifices may appeal to some, but a long endgame grind can lead to the same result. Arguably, while one approach is more spectacular and may ensure that games end quicker, the other approach comes with less risk attached.

Magnus provides a shorter preface:

Nothing quite compares to the thrill of pressing a minute advantage and converting it into victory. The excitement of outmanoeuvring and outlasting your opponent. The realisation that – although your first punch may not have landed – there is no need to despair. Try, try and try again. You will very often succeed.

Which are you? A hacker or a grinder? A sprinter or a marathon runner? To become a strong player, of course, you have to master both styles of play, but many will have a preference for either hacking or grinding.

Grinders require qualities such as patience and stamina as well as an outstanding knowledge of both technical and practical endings. If you’d like to become a better grinder, or even if you’d like to be better at defending against grinders, this course is for you.

It’s standard practice these days to have two commentators working together in live broadcasts, sharing ideas, asking each other questions. It’s something that usually works very well, making the broadcast more interactive, more friendly, more accessible, and, for me at least, it’s also effective in book form.

There could be no one better to demonstrate by example how to become a grinder than Magnus Carlsen, not only the highest rated human player of all time, but also a leading exponent of grinding. David Howell, also a strong grandmaster who enjoys grinding, as well as being an excellent commentator, is Magnus’s ideal partner. They are also good friends, and this is something that comes across well, adding to the enjoyment of the book.

Having said that, the contents themselves seem rather slight. Apart from the introductory material to each of the eight chapters you only get twelve games, seven played by Magnus and six played by David. If you’re good at maths you might have noticed that 7+6 is 13: one of the games is between the two authors, played in the final round of the 2002 World Under 12 Championship. It resulted, since you asked, in a draw.

This is one of Magnus’s lesser known games. He admits that it was an ‘awful game’ but still managed to grind down his lower rated opponent. Click on any move for a pop-up window.

The book is beautifully produced, although I guess the, er, colourful cover might not be to everyone’s taste. If this sort of thing bothers you, you might also think that, while a wide sans serif font is best for screens, a narrower serif font might be preferable for books.

The quality of the annotations, if you like the conversational style, is, of course, of the highest quality. At one level the games are more suited to players of, say, 2000+ strength, but some of the more general insights into the nature of grinding will be of interest and value to all players.

If you like the idea of grinding and you’d rather study the material from a book than from an interactive course or videos (or perhaps you’d like the book as well as the interactive course) it can be highly recommended.

Daniel King interviews David Howell about the book here, and if you can’t afford an hour to watch this, Daniel also provides a summary here.

You can read some sample pages from the book, which will enable you to decide whether or not it’s  for you, here.

Richard James, Twickenham 14th May 2024

Richard James
. Richard James

Book Details:

  • Hardcover: 208 pages
  • Publisher: New in Chess; 1st edition (31 Aug. 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10:9083328465
  • ISBN-13:978-9083328461
  • Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 2 x 24.2 cm

Official web site of New in Chess.

Grind Like a Grandmaster: How to Keep Pressing until Your Opponent Cracks, David Howell and Magnus Carlsen, New in Chess; 1st edition (31 Aug. 2023), 978-9083328461
Grind Like a Grandmaster: How to Keep Pressing until Your Opponent Cracks, David Howell and Magnus Carlsen, New in Chess; 1st edition (31 Aug. 2023), 978-9083328461

The Caro-Kann the Easy Way

From the Batsford web site:

“An informative guide to understanding and implementing the fundamentals of the Caro-Kann, the easy way.

The Caro-Kann defence, named after the German chess players Horatio Caro and Marcus Kann, is notorious for its simple solidity and is a popular chess opening that players of all levels benefit from having in their arsenal. It is a firm favourite of grand masters past and present, including Karpov, Petrosian, Capablanca and Anand.

This is the fifth book from International Master Thomas Engqvist, and it avoids overcomplicated details and endless computer variations, focusing instead on key variations of the Caro-Kann that can be committed to memory. Examining classic games to demonstrate key moves in action, Engqvist brings the defence to life and provides you with the knowledge you need to put strategy into practice.”

International Master Thomas Engqvist has travelled the world teaching and coaching chess to a very high level for decades – and with this book, he can be your coach too.”

About the Author (from the publisher’s website):

“Thomas Engqvist is an International Master from Sweden. He has over 30 years’ experience as a chess coach and teacher. He has worked with players at world championship level in both junior and correspondence chess. He is the author of 300 Most Important Chess Positions and 300 Most Important Tactical Chess Positions, both published by Batsford.”

IM Thomas Engqvist (SWE)
IM Thomas Engqvist (SWE)

Previously we have reviewed 300 Most Important Chess Exercises and Chess Lessons from a Champion Coach making this November 2023 title the first of the authors opening books examined in this place. We were keen to take a look especially as our reviewer has a fondness for c6 & d5 structures.

Material is divided into an Introduction and eight chapters covering all of White’s possible options.

The author kicks-off with a contemporary look at four historically instructive games putting anyone new to the CK at ease straight away. “The Easy Way” is a repertoire book from Black’s perspective rather than an encyclopaedic academic tome about the entire CK defence. Each chapter also contains model games examined in detail of which there are 43 in total.

Thomas commences his “theoretical” material with the Classical Variation from White selecting Capablanca’s 4…Bf5 for Black as the first significant repertoire suggestion.

Engqvist makes zero assumptions about the reader’s knowledge of the CK apart from wanting to learn the defence from scratch. Explanations are clear without getting bogged down in reams of variations making the text easy to follow.

For each of his suggestions there is discussion of statistics in term of what move options get played, their order of significance, order of success and what standards of players employ them. These details are quite a novel approach and long way from the lists of variations of older publications TE goes on to write:

There are five variations the second player should know about, even though strictly speaking some of them are not so good and you will probably never encounter them, at least not in a serious game.

This perspective gives one confidence that plausible opponent choices are considered rather than the rather boring modern approach  (of some other authors) to only consider “top engine choices”.  This helps to reinforce our suggestion (to students) to study the so-called side-lines first and then progress to the main dish afterwards.

For example, 5.Bd3!?

is considered but experienced CK players might turn their nose up at even reading about this. The student new to the CK will meet this try many times online and Over-the-Board (OTB). Not only that but 5.Bd3!? was suggested by no less than Siegbert Tarrasch (the “Jolly Doctor”).

Another feature that endears one to the authors approach is his liberal sprinkling of significant and interesting quotations from yesteryear. For example, after

TE quotes renowned theoretician Max Euwe as follows:

Many masters of the opinion that the 6 h4 move merely denotes a weakening and would be better left out

There are a number of novel suggestions throughout the text and many spring from the authors long time experience with the Caro-Kann.

In summary, The Caro-Kann the Easy Way is an excellent primer for any second player starting out or refreshing their knowledge of this venerable and reliable defence to the King’s pawn.

Highly recommended!

John Upham, Cove, Hampshire 25th April 2024

Book Details :

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Batsford; 1st edition (9 Nov. 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10:184994816X
  • ISBN-13:978-1849948166
  • Product Dimensions: 15.29 x 2.54 x 23.37 cm

Official web site of Batsford Chess

The Caro-Kann the Easy Way, Thomas Engqvist, Batsford Chess, Batsford; 1st edition (9 Nov. 2023), ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1849948166
The Caro-Kann the Easy Way, Thomas Engqvist, Batsford Chess, Batsford; 1st edition (9 Nov. 2023), ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1849948166

Chess Lessons from a Champion Coach

From the Batsford web site:

Lessons, motivation and coaching to make you a better chess player.

In an ideal world, any aspiring chess player, at almost any level, would get better with a coach. If that’s not possible, having chess champion coach Thomas Engqvist’s book at your side is the next best thing.

In his series of lessons, Engqvist guides you through not only the most important elements of chess to master but also the psychology, how to marry knowledge with imagination, and how to stay motivated.

Suitable for older children through to adults, the lessons are drawn from chess games through history, from the 16th century to Magnus Carlsen and latest Alpha Zero computer chess. (Reviewer’s note: it doesn’t actually include Alpha Zero, stopping at Carlsen.) It features a range of key players, including Steinitz, Lasker, Nimzowistch, Botvinnik (Soviet chess school), and Fischer. With clear and accessible annotations to give clarity, the games highlight the most important lessons to learn and, just as importantly, how to ‘practise’ chess.

International Master Thomas Engqvist has travelled the world teaching and coaching chess to a very high level for decades – and with this book, he can be your coach too.”

About the Author (updated from the publisher’s website):

“Thomas Engqvist is an International Master from Sweden. He has 45 years’ experience as a chess coach and teacher. He has worked with players at world championship level in both junior and correspondence chess. He is the author of 300 Most Important Chess Positions, 300 Most Important Tactical Chess Positions and 300 Most Important Chess Exercises, all published by Batsford.

IM Thomas Engqvist (SWE)
IM Thomas Engqvist (SWE)

From the back cover:

Chess Lessons from a Champion Coach gives you the opportunity to assimilate the most important chess principles and concepts by following a study plan based on key encounters by over 30 great players.

With lessons from more than 60 instructive games in chronologically arranged chapters, this is the perfect guide for players who want to gain a broad knowledge of chess history and its evolution, but don’t have time to spend hours in what can be unproductive reading.

Featured in each chapter is a highly influential grandmaster who has played his part in developing chess into what it is today. There can be no more enjoyable way to improve your own play than to absorb your personal coach’s explanatory commentaries to exemplary games of past and present chess heroes, including Magnus Carlsen. In this way centuries of accumulated understanding of chess can be learned in just a few weeks.

By adopting the same tactics and strategies as demonstrated by these champions, you can also keep track of your own chess development by comparing it with the overall historical development of chess – and climb the ladder to success.

Swedish International Master Thomas Engqvist has approximately 45 years experience as a chess coach, teacher, writer and player. He has successfully worked with players at world championship level in both junior and correspondence chess.

 

What we have here is a book covering the history of chess ideas in chronological fashion, starting with Ruy Lopez and finishing with Magnus Carlsen. It’s hardly an original idea: the first book of this type was Richard Réti’s Masters of the Chessboard, and there have been quite a few others since then: off the top of my head I’ve reviewed a couple of them here myself. The second Chess Heroes: Games book will take a similar approach (using some of the games from Move Two!), but pitched at a much lower level.

I’d say from the outset is that if you’re knowledgeable about the subject, and have read similar books before, you’re probably already familiar with many of the games displayed by Engqvist here.

But if you’re a club standard player with little knowledge of the history of your favourite game you should certainly read on.

Most of the subjects are represented by just one game, so we quickly whizz through the likes of Greco (‘the first tactical player’), Philidor (‘the first positional player’) and even Morphy until we reach Steinitz (‘the scientific player’), the first of four players to be considered in rather more detail.

According to Engqvist:

The basis of Steinitz’s teachings is to construct a plan which is in accordance with the requirements of the position. These requirements could be an advantage in development, a strong centre, open files etc. One should gather such advantages, one by one, as preparation for an attack. This is the so-called theory of accumulation.

This theory is demonstrated by the following game. As always, click on any move for a pop-up window.

Engqvist adds after the game:

This is why such classic games are much more instructive than modern games. Steinitz’s opponents didn’t realise or didn’t want to realise what he was doing, whereas today’s more knowledgeable players do know – because they have studied such “one-sided” but very instructive classic games.

You might disagree – but I don’t.

Lasker (‘pragmatism and psychology’), the star of the next chapter, also receives special treatment.

In this instructive game, where he defeats Rubinstein’s IQP, he uses the ‘pivot square’ d5 in a variety of ways.

It is indeed a game to be understood in depth and learned by heart, because the idea of a pivot being a source of energy can be used in an untold number of situations.

Engqvist quotes Nimzowitsch’s comments on this game with approval, and makes it very clear throughout the  book that Nimzo is one of his chess heroes.

Although he only gets one game (yes, it’s the Immortal Zugzwang game), the author has this to say:

Nimzowitsch is just as important as Steinitz, since his principles do complement those of his predecessor, However, to appreciate Nimzowitsch’s precepts in depth one needs to also properly understand Steinitz’s classical principles, otherwise the true meaning of Nimzowitsch’s theories will be lost.

and:

In my opinion (reading Nimzowitsch) is much more important than learning from computers, which are very bad teachers indeed, and sometimes incomprehensible. Nimzowitsch must be regarded as one of the greatest, if not the greatest ever, teachers…

Controversial, perhaps, and you might well think he’s overstating his case.

The other two subjects awarded more extensive treatment are, predictably, Capablanca (‘The Chess Machine’) and Alekhine (‘The Complete Chess Artist’).

From then on it’s just one game each, even for giants such as Botvinnik, Fischer, Karpov and Kasparov. right the way through to Carlsen.

Here’s the game used to illustrate Fischer (‘The Aggressive Classical Player’).

Engqvist:

This game is one of Fischer’s best and it is remarkable that he was only 16 years old when it was played. It proves that he was a genius. The good news is that Fischer’s style is possible to emulate,  because it it largely based on positional technique à la Capablanca,  which to a high degree can be learned.

It’s clear from this book, as well as from the author’s earlier volumes, that Thomas Engqvist is an exceptional writer, teacher and annotator. He has also made extensive use of a wide range of secondary sources (but, sadly, he fails the Yates test: he was Fred (Dewhirst), not Frederick Dewhurst). Each chapter is prefaced by a series of quotes by or about its subject, which in itself makes fascinating reading. Computer analysis has been used to correct analytical errors made by earlier authors, but this is done judiciously: he doesn’t go over the top in providing reams of engine generated variations. You might, I suppose, disagree with some of his views, especially on Nimzowitsch, but that’s part of the enjoyment you’ll get from the book. You might also think there’s some simplification and generalisation, but that’s inevitable in a book of this nature.

The production values are, of their type, excellent. The book, like others from this publisher, has a reassuringly old-fashioned look about it. While younger readers may well prefer something glossier and glitzier, it’s not likely to be a problem for those, like me, of the Batsford generation.

Many publishers these days prefer more interactivity, with puzzles at the start of each chapter, or, with annotated games, stopping every few moves to ask you a question. There’s none of that here, just solid, accurate and instructive comments. Different readers will prefer different styles of annotation. The one concession to interactivity is a couple of quizzes with questions like What was Ponziani’s opinion of the theories of Philidor and del Rio?, which I could really do without as they’re testing memory rather than understanding.

I had two other thoughts when reading this book. I often wonder whether chess authors are writing the book they wanted to write or the book the publishers thought would sell. Perhaps I’m mistaken, but my impression was that Engqvist really wanted to write something like The 60 Most Instructive Positional Games rather than a book with a historical perspective offering, for the most part, one game per star player.

I also wonder what exactly the market is for this book. Younger readers, if they want a book at all, might prefer something with a more modern feel, while older readers might have seen many of the games before.

But, if you’re, say, 1500-2000 strength, you’re serious about improving your chess and you’re happy with the style and contents, you won’t go wrong with this excellent book from one of the best authors and teachers around.

Richard James, Twickenham 14th February 2024

Richard James
Richard James

Book Details :

  • Paperback: 312 pages
  • Publisher: Batsford; 1st edition (13 April 2023)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10:1849947511
  • ISBN-13:978-1849948043
  • Product Dimensions: 15.04 x 2.01 x 23.04 cm

Official web site of Batsford

Chess Lessons from a Champion Coach, Thomas Engqvist, Batsford, 13th April 2023, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1849948043
Chess Lessons from a Champion Coach, Thomas Engqvist, Batsford, 13th April 2023, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1849948043