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Gambit Chess Books - Chess Strategy
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Creative Chess Strategy
by Alfonso Romero
Publication Date: November 2003
Editorial Review:
A Spanish grandmaster explains how creativity can be used to overcome technical obstacles on the chessboard. Once they have obtained an advantage, too many players make the mistake of assuming that the exploitation of this advantage will just be a matter of technique, requiring accuracy but little imagination. Romero shows that the opposite is often the case: sometimes it is the paradoxical solution that works, whereas the mechanical method would fritter away the hard-earned advantage. By following Romero in his investigation of the many outstanding practical examples in this book, readers will inevitably increase their understanding of chess strategy in general, and fine-tune their instinct for sensing those critical moments when non-standard solutions are necessary.
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Chess Strategy in Action
by John Watson
Publication Date: August 2003
Editorial Review:
John Watson fleshes out the theory presented to enormous acclaim in Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy and extends it into new areas. He illustrates the modern practice of chess with many examples from imaginative players such as Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand, Ivanchuk and tempestuous innovators such as Shirov and Morozevich. In Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy, Watson broke new ground by describing the developments in chess strategy since the time of Nimzowitsch. He explained how modern players are more willing than their predecessors to favour dynamic considerations over static ones, and how they have increasingly transcended the limiting 'rules' which influenced play in earlier times. The dominant results of Garry Kasparov and the rise of a new generation of supergrandmasters testify to the effectiveness of this dynamic and open-minded philosophy which has enriched modern chess.
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How to Become a Deadly Chess Tactician
by David Lemoir (Author), Ken Lemoir (Illustrator)
Publication Date: June 2002
Editorial Review:
A guide for chess-players to help them spot unlikely-looking tactical tricks and launch cunning attacks. Readers are shown how to hunt the enemy king and how to seize the initiative with surprising sacrifices. LeMoir shows that the key factors in becoming a deadly tactician are motivation (having the willingness to sacrifice and to consider tactical ideas during play), imagination (being aware of tactical concepts that lead to ideas which other players might miss) and calculation (being able to analyse and calculate effectively).
This user-friendly and humorously written book contains many outstanding examples of seized opportunities, together with guidance on how to spot surprising tactics and handle positions of material imbalance. Throughout, there are exercises for the reader to tackle.
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Secrets of Chess Intuition
by Alexander Beliavsky, Adrian Mikhalchishin
Publication Date: May 2002
Editorial Review:
Intuition is central to all chess decision-making, and an understanding of its role is vital in improving one's game. Players who try to calculate everything to a finish are doomed to lose out to those who use their logical and intuitive abilities in harmony with one another. This book, the first devoted to the role of intuition in chess, explains how to allow your intuition to reach its full potential and provides guidance on the types of positions in which one should rely heavily on intuition, and on those where one ought to be more analytical.
The two authors, both top-level authors and players, have drawn examples from modern practice and from the classics, with special emphasis on players whose intuition has been legendary, such as Mikhail Tal. The authors devote particular attention to the role of intuition in sacrifices, whether for attacking, defensive or positional purposes.
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Secrets of Chess Defence
by Mihail Marin
Publication Date: September 2003
Editorial Review:
Good defensive abilities earn players a great many half-points and full-points. The climax of the defence is the launching of a devastating counter-attack, a skill at which all the great chess champions have been adept. Of particular interest to club players is Marin's discussion of how to defend against unsound attacks, and the problem of how to parry the attack while retaining winning chances. Other topics include attack and defence in equal positions, where both sides must judge carefully how much of their resources to devote to the attack and the counter-attack. The main subject, though, is the case where the defender is fighting for his life, and must decide how to maximise his chances of survival. Marin considers psychological issues and explains the main options available to the defender: simplification, cold-blooded defence, a positional sacrifice, 'blackmailing' the attacker, or a counter-attack.
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Chess Recipes from the Grandmaster's Kitchen
by Valeri Beim
Publication Date: February 2002
Editorial Review:
Jonathan Rowson, author of the highly acclaimed Seven Deadly Chess Sins, investigates three questions important to all chess-players:
1An experienced trainer and grandmaster explains key principles of chess strategy and thinking methods in chess. His 'recipes' include: tactical ideas in the middlegame; liquidation to the endgame; the technique of analysing variations; inverted thinking in chess. Readers are presented with new ways of looking at chessboard issues that will help them develop a deeper understanding of the game. Every chapter contains stunning examples of the themes, together with challenging exercises where you can put your new insights to the test.
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How to Be Lucky in Chess
by David Lemoir
Publication Date: November 1, 2001
Editorial Review:
Some players seem to have an inexhaustible supply of chessboard luck. No matter what trouble they find themselves in, they somehow manage to escape. Among world champions, Lasker, Tal and Kasparov are famed for peering into the abyss but somehow making sure it is their opponents who fall. This book aims to help ordinary players, who may have little time for studying chess, to make the most of their abilities. Unlike most previous literature on chess psychology, this is no heavyweight theoretical treatise, but rather a practical guide in how to lure opponents into error - and thus create what is often called 'luck'.
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Dynamic Pawn Play in Chess
by Drazen Marovic
Publication Date: October 1, 2001
Editorial Review:
This book tackles fundamental questions such as: 'How should pawns be used to fight for the centre?' and 'How does the central pawn formation affect planning for both sides?' These issues are central to understanding chess. Marovic discusses central pawn-structures and their impact on play both in the centre and on the wings. He begins by surveying how the pawn's role in controlling the centre has been developed over the last 150 years, and how this has led to the refinement of concepts such as the 'dynamic' backward pawn and the positional exchange sacrifice. The bulk of the book is devoted to discussions of the main type of centre: Open Centre; Closed/Blocked Centre; Fixed Centre; and in particular the Mobile/Dynamic Centre.
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Understanding Chess Move by Move
by John Nunn
Publication Date: 2001
Editorial Review:
John Nunn is one of the most highly regarded chess writers in the world. He has carefully selected thirty modern games to help the reader understand the most important aspects of chess and to illustrate modern chess principles in action. Virtually every move is explained using words that everyone can understand. Jargon is avoided as far as possible. Almost all the examples are taken from the 1990s and show how key ideas are handled by the grandmasters of today. The emphasis is on general principles that readers will be able to use in their own games, and detailed analysis is only given where it is necessary. Each game contains many lessons, but to guide the reader through the most important ideas in each phase of the game, the thirty games are grouped thematically into those highlighting opening, middlegame and endgame themes.
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The Seven Deadly Chess Sins
by Jonathan Rowson
Publication Date: December 1, 2000
Editorial Review:
Everyone loses chess games occasionally, but all too often we lose a game due to moves that, deep down, we knew were flawed. Why do we commit these chess-board sins? Are they the result of general misconceptions about chess and how it should be played? And how can we recognize the warning signs better? In this thought-provoking and entertaining book, Jonathan Rowson investigates, in his inimitable style, the main reasons why chess-players sometimes go horribly astray, focusing on the underlying psychological pitfalls: thinking (unnecessary or erroneous); blinking (missing opportunities; lack of resolution); wanting (too much concern with the result of the game); materialism (lack of attention to non-material factors); egoism (insufficient awareness of the opponent and his ideas); perfectionism (running short of time, trying too hard); looseness ("losing the plot", drifting, poor concentration).
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Chess Books 
