Board games: Chess Books

The Budapest Gambit is an ambitious and adventurous opening for Black, who offers a pawn as early as the second move in return for active and rapid development. It has always been a particular favourite at club level, where it still provides a surprise...

The Ruy Lopez is incredibly common at all levels of chess, and everyone who plays 1 e4 e5 as Black needs to have a reliable antidote to this powerful opening. In this book, Milos Pavlovic provides the answer, devising a sound and yet ambitious repertoire...

Starting Out: The Trompowsky Attack is a further addition to Everyman's best-selling Starting Out series. Richard Palliser revisits the fundamentals of the Trompowsky, examining the crucial moves and plans for both sides.

What are the greatest opening ideas in chess history? This is a fascinating question that would undoubtedly spark endless debate and discussion amongst all the experts and enthusiasts of the game. From the invention and development of openings which are...

The French Defence is considered to be one of Black's most reliable answers to 1 e4. Indeed, many players have become frustrated in their attempts to prove an advantage and make headway against Black's ultra-solid formation. In How to Beat the French...

Grandmaster Nigel Davies revisits the fundamentals of the Modern Defence, studying in depth the crucial early moves and plans for both sides. This book is ideal for up-and-coming players.

For those who want to keep up to date with main-line openings. This is a repertoire of opening lines for White, based on starting with Bobby Fischer's favorite move 1 e4, that are slightly off the beaten track, but full of practical sting and cunning...

In American Grandmaster, Joel Benjamin takes the reader on a journey through chess adventures spanning more than thirty years. Tracing through his own career, from being a prodigy in the 'Fischer boom' era thorough to an experienced Grandmaster with many

Do you need a well-deserved break from your normal chess openings? Are you tired of constantly having to keep up with modern chess theory? Or perhaps you simply wish to try out something new and inspiring, but cannot decide amongst the embarrassment of...

The Samisch King's Indian continues to be one of the fiercely contested openings in chess. White's play is based around an extremely solid centre, and there's the very real possibility of launching a direct attack against the black king; a welcome change...

The Queen's Gambit Accepted is one of Black's most trustworthy and yet dynamic ways of facing the Queen's Pawn Opening. Black immediately accepts the invitation to open the position, leading to positions rich in positional and tactical complexity. Now,...

Paul Motwani has selected the finest games of the best 15 young players of the 1990s - including Kramnik, Anand, Adams and Judit Polgar - and annotated them in his own inimitable style. Readers will be both inspired and delighted by the games and notes,...

The King's Indian is an exciting, challenging opening which is very popular at all levels of chess. It is favoured by ambitious and aggressive players such as the two chess legends Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov who perfected the King's Indian into an...

In his two-volume Gambiteer series, opening expert Nigel Davies produces a complete opening repertoire which is certainly not for the feint-hearted: uncompromising and wild attacking ideas for both colours. This first volume deals with a gambit-style...

Everyman Chess continues its original and best-selling Starting Out series with detailed coverage of the Queen's Gambit Declined, an opening that is very much at the forefront of contemporary chess. The Queen's Gambit Declined is Black's fundamental...

In Boris Spassky Master of Initiative, Alexander Raetsky and Maxim Chetverik look back over Spassky's long and distinguished career to examine how he defeated his long-time adversaries, carefully highlighting his most colourful and celebrated encounters...

Are you tired of constantly following the same old opening moves? Fed up with always having to keep up with modern chess theory? Or perhaps you simply wish to try something new and exciting, but cannot decide between the numerous choices available? We...

Are you bored of playing the same old openings time and time again? Fed up with constantly having to keep up with modern chess theory? Or perhaps you simply wish to play something new and exciting, but cannot decide between the numerous choices...

In this book, Timothy Taylor gets to grips with the King's Indian and Grunfeld, providing White with a number of easy-to-learn and effective weapons which are specially designed to cause Black maximum discomfort. Taylor examines the typical tactical and...

Once a chess player has figured out how all the chess pieces move, what is the next step on the chess ladder? This helpful and entertaining book provides players with the complete answer. In this easy-to-follow guide, renowned chess teacher Chris Ward...

The Nimzo-Indian is one of Black's most universally popular and respectable answers to 1 d4. It could be said that no other opening allows Black to play for a win from such a sound positional basis, while its flexibility gives rise to a multitude of...

Bird's Opening is an underrated and dynamic choice for White that immediately directs the game into relatively unexplored territory, setting Black players early problems and forcing them to think for themselves rather than having the luxury of relying on...

There is no doubt that playing the Open Games is one of Black's most reliable and aggressive ways of meeting White's favorite opening move, 1 e4. Experts also agree that playing these fundamental openings is a crucial step in the development of a chess...

The Queen's Gambit Accepted (QGA) is Black's simplest way of dealing with one of White's most fashionable openings, the Queen's Gambit. Black grabs the gambit pawn and thus refuses to succumb to the passive positions so typical of the Queen's Gambit...

International Master Richard Palliser studies the Closed Sicilian in a clear-cut way, introducing the crucial initial moves and ideas and taking care to explain the reasoning behind them, something that is sometimes neglected or taken for granted.

International Master Craig Pritchett studies the Sicilian Scheveningen in a clear-cut way, introducing the crucial initial moves and ideas and taking care to explain the reasoning behind them, something that is sometimes neglected or taken for granted.

John Emms reveals the secrets of how to maximize potential and improve results in competitive play. Drawing upon years of his own experience, Emms tackles the all-important practical aspects of chess playing: studying ones own strengths and weaknesses,...

Rudolph Spielmann was one of the most fearsome attacking players in the history of chess. He was very much from the so-called "Romantic School," where gambits were always accepted and checkmating the king was the only real thought of the players. His...

Fed up with getting difficult positions with the black pieces? Tired of always having to keep up with all the latest developments? Take a break from the mountains of opening theory and play 1...b6! With the move, preparing a bishop fianchetto, Black...

Rudolph Spielmann was one of the most fearsome attacking players in the history of chess. He was very much from the so-called "Romantic School," where gambits were always accepted and checkmating the king was the only real thought of the players. His...

This book fills an enormous void in chess literature. There are a countless number of players who are very happy to defend the black side of the Queen's Gambit or play the Nimzo-Indian, Queen's Indian, Bogo-Indian, or Benoni. However, more often than not...

Gain the advantage over your opponent with easy-to-remember strategies from one of the world's top chess players! Strategy - it's the ultimate secret weapon for championship players around the world. Drawing on his considerable experience in tournament...

Alexei Shirov has dazzled and inspired a generation of chess fans with his unique brand of attacking chess. The Grandmaster, originally from Riga, Latvia, is widely regarded as one of the most aggressive and inventive chess players of the modern era, an...

In a major event in chess publishing, Susan Polgar provides a candid inside view of the lives of the Polgar sisters, each with their own goals and aspirations. She takes readers through the incredible development of the three sisters as they pursued...

This magnificent volume contains the extraordinary story of the prolonged battle between Bobby Fischer, the lone American genius who is perhaps the most famous chess player of all time, and the long-standing and all-dominating Soviet chess machine. For...

The King's Indian Attack was a firm favorite of the legendary Bobby Fischer, and more recently it has been utilized with great success by world-class Grandmasters such as Alexander Morozevich. The renowned chess coach Mark Dvoretsky regards the King's...

Grandmaster Joe Gallagher studies the Sicilian Najdorf in a simplistic way, introducing the crucial initial moves and ideas and taking care to explain the reasoning behind them, something that has sometimes been neglected or taken for granted.

The Advance Variation is a popular and direct way of meeting the ultra-solid French Defence. Very early on in the game White opts to fix the pawn structure and establishes a genuine space advantage, upon which he later hopes to mount a serious attack...

The very closely linked Slav and Semi-Slav Defences are two of the most popular and combative openings that Black can play against the Queen's Gambit. They have provided the battleground for thousands of exciting encounters between the world's chess...

Grandmaster Joe Gallagher studies the Sicilian Najdorf in a simplistic way, introducing the crucial initial moves and ideas and taking care to explain the reasoning behind them, something that has sometimes been neglected or taken for granted.

The Advance Variation is a popular and direct way of meeting the ultra-solid French Defence. Very early on in the game White opts to fix the pawn structure and establishes a genuine space advantage, upon which he later hopes to mount a serious attack...

There are not too many feelings more satisfying in chess than winning very quickly by cleverly snaring an opponent in an opening trap. Conversely, all chess players, even budding World Champions, have experienced the utter humiliation of losing in...

The Ruy Lopez Exchange (or Spanish Exchange) is a classical and well-respected opening that is a favorite among Grandmasters and club players alike. It has provided the battle scene for many heavyweight clashes between the world's elite players,...

Tired of constantly defending passive positions with the black pieces? Looking for something new and exciting to unleash at the chessboard? This book provides an answer to these perennial questions. International Master and renowned openings theoretician...

Until a few years ago, the Petroff was opening that was favored by a few top Grandmasters, including Anatoly Karpov and Artur Yusupov. However, the last few years have seen a dramatic rise in its popularity, and it now provides battlefields for many top...

The Dutch Defence is an ambitious and underrated counter to the queen's pawn opening. With his very first move Black creates an asymmetrical pawn structure, thus unbalancing the position from a very early stage and allowing both White and Black players...

From a theoretical backwater to a fully blown main line opening, the rise of the Scandinavian Defence (1 e4 d5) has been nothing short of meteoric. Over the past 15 years the Scandinavian has become more and more popular both at club and Grandmaster...

Endgames with kings, rooks and pawns are by far the most common type--it is estimated that rook endgames are reached in nearly one in five of all chess games. Grandmaster and well-known endgames expert Chris Ward begins with the absolute fundamentals of...