Chess Secrets: The Giants of Power Play

Chess Secrets is a series of books which uncover the mysteries of the most important aspects of chess, such as strategy, attack, defence, opening play, endgames, off-board preparation and mental attitude. In each book the author chooses and deeply studies a number of great players who have excelled in such aspects of the game, greatly influenced their peers and inspired all of us.

In Giants of Innovation, Craig Pritchett selects five chess legends whose play exemplifies outstandingly innovative attributes. Wilhelm Steinitz established the essential ground-rules for modern positional chess. Emanuel Lasker pioneered a new kind of total, all-out battling chess. Mikhail Botvinnik taught us how to prepare and successfully play an entire range of complex modern opening systems. Viktor Korchnoi set particularly high standards in the art of defence and counter-attack. Vassily Ivanchuk, a modern byword for ingenuity and surprise, excels by constant creation.

Read this book and enhance your own skills. Understand how to inject more innovation into your own games.

• An entertaining and instructive guide to innovative chess
• Learn from the greats of the game
• Discover how famous chess minds work.

The chess world has witnessed a great number of wonderfully gifted attacking players, geniuses who have dazzled the chess public with their brilliant masterpieces. Everyone has their own favourites, and in Chess Secrets: Great Attackers, Colin Crouch chooses three of his own: Garry Kasparov, Mikhail Tal and Leonid Stein. World Champions Kasparov and Tal need no introduction, while Stein was a highly creative and intuitive player with the ability to destroy the world's best players with his vicious attacks.

Crouch examines phases of these players' careers, compares their differing approaches and styles, and highlights key attacking themes including the idea of controlled risk - in some sacrificial attacks even the greatest players can't always see everything to the end. A study of this book will help you to enhance your skills in one of the most crucial elements of the game.

• An entertaining and instructive guide to attacking chess
• Learn from the greats of the game
• Discover how famous chess minds work

Chess Secrets is a new series of books which uncover the mysteries of the most important aspects of chess: strategy, attack, classical play, opening play, endgames and preparation. In each book the author chooses and deeply studies a number of great players from chess history who have excelled in a particular field of the game and undeniably influenced those who have followed.

Chess Secrets is a series of books which uncover the mysteries of the most important aspects of chess, such as strategy, attack, defence, opening play, endgames, off-board preparation and mental attitude. In each book the author chooses and deeply studies a number of great players who have excelled in such aspects of the game, greatly influenced their peers and inspired all of us.

In Heroes of Classical Chess, Craig Pritchett selects five great players whose style exemplifies classically direct, clear, energetic, tough, ambitious yet fundamentally correct chess playing attributes. Pritchett studies the major contributions they have made, compares their differing styles and discusses the critical influences they have had on the development of chess, on their peers and on all our games.

Read this book and enhance your own skills. Understand how to play in a classical style and win more games.

This is a new series which provides an ideal platform to study chess openings. By continually challenging the reader to answer probing questions throughout the book, the Move by Move format greatly encourages the learning and practising of vital skills just as much as the traditional assimilation of opening knowledge. Carefully selected questions and answers are designed to keep you actively involved and allow you to monitor your progress as you learn. This is an excellent way to study any chess opening and at the same time improve your general chess skills and knowledge.

In this book, Grandmaster Neil McDonald studies one of the most important openings of all, the Ruy Lopez. This famous opening enjoys a long and distinguished history and is still widely regarded as Whites strongest choice after 1 e4 e5. McDonald shares his experience and knowledge of the Lopez, examines the main ideas for both sides and offers answers to the key questions.

• Essential guidance and training in the Ruy Lopez
• Important ideas absorbed by continued practice
• Covers both mainline and d3 repertoire options for White

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.

• A crucial guide to the skill of chess calculation
• Ideal for both club and tournament players
• Written by a renowned chess coach and author

This new series provides an ideal platform to study chess openings. By continually challenging the reader to answer probing questions throughout the book, the Move by Move format greatly encourages the learning and practising of vital skills just as much as the traditional assimilation of opening knowledge. Carefully selected questions and answers are designed to keep you actively involved and allow you to monitor your progress as you learn. This is an excellent way to study any chess opening and at the same time improve your general chess skills and knowledge.

The Sicilian Scheveningen is a popular opening and was a firm favourite of Garry Kasparov, who successfully demonstrated how to gain counterplay and strive for the win from its solid foundations. In this book, Sicilian expert Lorin DCosta invites you to join him in examining the opening. He highlights the typical plans and tactics for both sides, constructs a practical repertoire for Black and provides answers to all the key questions.

• Essential guidance and training in the Sicilian Scheveningen
• Utilizes an ideal approach to chess study
• Important ideas absorbed by continued practice

The King's Indian remains a hugely popular opening at all levels of chess - unsurprising given the attacking opportunities it offers. In many of the ultra-sharp main lines, both sides can fight for the initiative. White frequently wins the queenside battle but this often turns out to be a Pyrrhic victory as Black wins the war by checkmating on the kingside! Black is hunting the enemy king and this gives him a psychological edge in practical play.

Here David Vigorito presents an aggressive repertoire for Black based on the main lines. Vigorito is renowned for his attention to detail and creativity, and his repertoire is full of innovative ideas. What's more, his lucid explanations of the key plans and tactics will benefit all players. Volume 2 of his work deals with the Four Pawns Attack, the Fianchetto Variation, the Averbakh Variation and many other lines.

Attacking Chess is a series of opening repertoire books which focus on traditional attacking openings, as well as creative and forceful ways to play openings that are not always associated with attacking chess. It provides ambitious repertoires designed for players of all levels.

• A Kings Indian repertoire for Black
• Packed with original ideas and critical analysis
• Written by a distinguished opening expert.