Editorial Reviews:
Imagine you are a club player who has been given the opportunity to talk at length with a famous grandmaster. How would you make the most of this opportunity? Club players are unaware of the subtleties that exist in grandmaster chess. Great players can analyse chess at a depth that is unfathomable to amateurs. However, having reached such a high level can make it difficult to understand what is lacking in the mind of the amateur. Lessons with a Grandmaster bridges this gap between grandmaster and amateur through a series of conversations between teacher, the renowned Grandmaster Boris Gulko, and student Dr. Joel R. Sneed, a professor of psychology and amateur chess player. The lessons are based on Gulko’s own battles against fellow grandmasters, and there is particular focus on strategy, tactics and the role of psychology in chess competition.

Editorial Reviews:
Successful attacking play is all about preparation. No-one can attack effectively if they haven’t prepared properly, and yet planning in chess can be a difficult skill to master, even for experienced players.
This book provides a solution. Using an abundance of illustrative games and examples, Gary Lane answers the questions which constantly puzzle players of all levels. How should I plan after the opening? Where are my opponent’s weaknesses? Do I have enough pieces in the attack? When should I strike? Do I need to sacrifice? Should I cash in or continue to attack? Read this book, discover the answers and attack with confidence!

Editorial Reviews:
Leading chess author Colin Crouch selects and explains over 30 sensational games, all from the new millennium. By studying battles between the world's best players, Crouch examines in detail all the key areas of modern chess. Powerful attacking and resourceful defending, bloodthirsty tactical battles, profound positional mastery, deep opening preparation and superb endgame play are all in evidence here, while Crouch also explores the ever-increasing role of computers and the way human imagination can work in harness with them. There is something for everyone in this book: aspiring players will benefit greatly from the clear explanations of the fundamentals, while stronger players will gain considerably from Crouch's deep insight and analysis in more complex positions. This book reflects the continuing changes in modern chess, and how you can use the lessons learned to great effect in your own games. This book features over 30 brilliant games of chess, annotated move by move. Learn from Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik, Topalov and other greats. It covers all aspects of modern chess.

Editorial Reviews:
Former US Open Champion Timothy Taylor draws upon his wealth of personal experience to offer an instructive and entertaining account of how to improve your chess. This book is awash with invaluable advice on all stages of the game. Taylor emphasizes the practical aspects of chess: how to really make the most of your ability; how to win at all costs; and how to absorb the lessons of defeat to come back stronger.
Grab every advantage over your opponents and be in the best possible shape for battle. True Combat Chess will show you the way.

Editorial Reviews:
How do you react in the line of fire? Are you able to remain calm in a storm? Defending against a threatening attack on your own king is one of the most difficult aspects to master in chess. Yet given the frequency of such offensives, it's certainly worthwhile investing a good amount of time on honing the ability to defend properly. In this valuable and entertaining book, Angus Dunnington arms the reader with all the necessary skills to be able to cope with vicious assaults on his or her king. Using illustrative games, Dunnington investigates in depth defensive ideas such as blockading, giving up material and the timely launch of counterattacks. Read this book and defend with confidence!

Editorial Reviews:
Attacking the opponent's king is one of the most exhilarating aspects of chess, but also one of the most difficult to master. Everyone loves a good old-fashioned king hunt, especially when it leads to checkmate, but often the pressure is very much on the aggressor-one false move and the attack can often fizzle out into less than nothing, leaving the attacker with an empty shell of a position. In this instructive and entertaining book, James Plaskett, very much renowned for his attacking prowess over the chessboard, presents the reader with all the necessary skills and belief to launch successful offensives against unwary opponents. Using illustrative games, Plaskett reveals how to convert all types of advantages, such as a lead in development, a better pawn structure or a safer king, into fully blown attacks. Read this book and you will be able to attack with confidence!

Editorial Reviews:
There are many differing opinions amongst the top players in the world of chess, but there is one thing upon which World Champions, Grandmasters and other experts all agree: the art of chess calculation is the absolute key to the success of a player. Master this discipline and you can surely expect your results to improve dramatically. And yet there have been very few serious attempts in the past by chess authors to delve into this delicate topic, perhaps not surprisingly given its complexity and difficulty. In Excelling at Chess Calculation, Jacob Aagaard tackles the subject matter head on, unravelling the many secrets behind chess calculation and arming the reader with the necessary tools to be able to calculate effectively at the chessboard. Aagaard pays particular attention to the searching practical questions like ‘when should you calculate?’, ‘how can you discover candidate moves?’ and ‘how long should you spend on critical moves?’ A thorough study of this book will enable you to calculate with confidence in future games.

Editorial Reviews:
‘And the rest is a matter of technique’ is an annoyingly common phrase used in chess literature. The implication from the author is that the task of converting a typically winning position into a full point or converting a drawing position into half-a-point is relatively straightforward. However, as all of us practical players realise, it’s not always a simple as this, and many hard-earned points are wasted through ‘a lack of technique’. In this valuable book Jacob Aagaard aims to solve this perennial problem. He arms the reader with several endgame weapons that every strong technical player has in his toolbox. These include important skills such as schematic thinking, domination, preventing counterplay, building fortresses and utilising zugzwang. These tools are illustrated in deeply analysed games containing numerous different themes. A serious study of this book will ensure that the reader need no longer need fear the word ‘technique’!

Editorial Reviews:
Being able to solve puzzles and combinations is one of the principal components of a successful chess player. But how can one improve on such an important skill? How can one acquire combinational vision? The answer lies within the pages of this book! Experienced chess writer Jacob Aagaard explains how tactical intuition and ability develops and uses pattern recognition to improve the reades tactical ammunition. Is also no secret that the continued practice of puzzles and combinations helps to sharpen the chess brain, and here there is a wealth of exercises and problems to solve accompanied by the full solutions and explanations. This book is a must for the serious competitive player.

Editorial Reviews:
Some might say that it is impossible to learn middlegames in the same way you can with the more structured parts of chess: the opening and the endgame. However, although it’s true to say that middlegame play is generally more difficult to categorise, there are still many aspects that can be taught and studied in an effective way. In this easy-to-read pocket-sized guide, Grandmaster Neil McDonald concentrates on the fundamentals of middlegame play, including attacking and defending the king, good and bad pieces, and strong and weak pawn formations. At the same time, McDonald is careful not to swamp the reader with too much information. He provides simply enough material so that you can enter this part of the game with the knowledge and confidence you require.

Editorial Reviews:
No one likes to make mistakes, but all chess players, even those belonging to the worls elite, are prone to blundering. How can this problem be eradicated or, at the very least, kept to a minimum? Read this book and find out! Experienced chess player and writer Angus Dunnington takes a look at why the good, the bad and the indifferent all make errors, from small positional misjudgements to simply leaving a queen en prise. Dunnington explores the reasons for oversights and the habits one needs to develop in order to banish these problems. This book is crucial reading for those plagued by chess disasters!

Editorial Reviews:
What do we understand by brilliancy in chess? The author delves back into history to examine how this concept has developed, before presenting a dazzling array of brilliant games from the past few decades - the prize-winners as selected by grandmaster panels for each issue of Yugoslav 'Chess Informator' between 1968 and 1998. Apart from providing hours of pleasure, a study of these masterpieces will also surely help to add sparkle to your own play!

Editorial Reviews:
All three books are written in a user-friendly style with plenty of notes, tips and warnings to illustrate key points. The authors are experienced at writing for players of all levels and are particularly noted for their ability to explain ideas in a clear and straightforward fashion. The books are particularly useful for those players who honed their skills with the earlier books Improve Your Opening Play, Improve Your Middlegame Play and Improve Your Endgame Play.

Editorial Reviews:
Every chess player adores the thrill of the sacrifice, whether this part of a checkmating attack, a defensive measure or simply an attempt to confuse the opponent. But every sacrifice has a time and a place, and a correct use of sacrifices is a skill possessed by only a precious few. Now you can add yourself to that list! In this ground-breaking book, Angus Dunnington acquaints the reader with key aspects of all kinds of chess sacrifices, including the queen sacrifice, sacrifices in the endgames and the psychology attached to the sacrifce. Read this book and sacrifice with confidence.

Editorial Reviews:
Are you realising your chess potential? Are you performing to the best of your capabilities? Find out in this book! Using instructive chess games, International Master Graeme Buckley repeatedly poses the question What would you do here?' The reader is invited to step into a grandmaster's shoes, work out all the relevant tactics and strategies of the game and select a move out of a possible four choices. A scoring system has been devised which can assess your playing strength according to the answers you give. It's as simple as that!