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On March 24, 2005, a small plane with Bobby Fischer on board landed at Reykjavik Airport. The arrival in Iceland of the former World Chess Champion was front-page news all over the world. In a ploy to free him from prison in Japan the Icelandic Parliament had granted the American Icelandic citizenship. Fischer had been arrested in Tokyo when the US warrant caught up with him that was issued after he had violated American sanctions against the former Yugoslavia by playing a controversial match against Boris Spassky. Icelandic chess grandmaster Helgi Olafsson was 15 year old in 1972, when in a sensational match in his home country Bobby Fischer beat Boris Spassky for the world title. Breathles...
Genna Sosonko is widely acclaimed as the most prominent chronicler of a unique era in chess history. In the Soviet Union chess was developed into an ideological weapon that was actively promoted by the country’s leadership during the Cold War. Starting with Mikhail Botvinnik, their best chess players grew into symbols of socialist excellence. Sosonko writes from a privileged dual perspective, combining an insider’s nostalgia with the detachment of a critical observer. He grew up with legendary champions such as Mikhail Tal and Viktor Korchnoi and spent countless hours with most of the other greats and lesser chess mortals he portrays. Sosonko was born in Leningrad, where he lived for 29 ...
When the Icelandic Chess Federation made a bid to host the 1972 world title match between Soviet icon Boris Spassky and American challenger Bobby Fischer, many Icelanders were rightly shaking their heads in disbelief. How could their small island country in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with a population of less than 300 thousand people stage such a prestigious event in the first place?
Simen Agdestein was awarded the title of chess grandmaster at the age of eighteen, the youngest in the world at the time. Two years later he wrote in his diary that he believed he could become the best in the world. But chess wasn't his only passion. He also excelled at football and was selected nine times for the Norwegian national team. Foreign clubs wanted to sign him as a professional. Simen Agdestein's combined careers are unique and amazing. 'I can't choose between my left and my right arm', he once said of the choice between chess and football. His international football career was cut short when he refused to play for Norway in a World Cup qualifier against Scotland. He opted instead...
The third installment of the best-selling series of attack books - Formation Attacks, Formation Attack Strategies, and now, Positional Attacks is another 500 page book, full of great attack information with 532 fabulous attack games from all openings and all eras. The aim of Positional Attacks is to uncover the artistic side of attacking, one that is primarily centered on the creation and exploitation of weaknesses. Oh sure, there will be tactics; after all they cannot be avoided in chess - nor would we want to exclude them. But there is nothing quite like witnessing chess masters dissect their opponents with smooth, elegant, aggressive, positional attacking maneuvers. And, once again, the games provided in the book came from an in-depth global search for unique, inspirational, and original attacks from some of the world's greatest attackers. Many of them toil in remote areas of the planet and have only a local following.
Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov: Part II is the second volume in a major three-volume series made unique by the fact that it records the greatest chess battles played by the greatest chessplayer of all-time. Kasparov's series of historical volumes have received great critical and public acclaim for their rigorous analysis and comprehensive detail regarding the developments in chess that occurred both on and off the board. Part I of this series saw Kasparov emerging as a huge talent and eventually toppling his great rival Anatoly Karpov to gain the world title. This volume focuses on the period from 1985-1993 which witnessed three title defences against Karpov as well as a number of shorter ...
Alexey Bezgodov provides a complete chess opening repertoire for Black against 1.d4. After replying with 1…d5, the former Russian Chess Champion advises you to take up the Double Queen’s Gambit and play 2…c5! against both 2. c4 and 2. Nf3. In The Double Queen’s Gambit Black’s attitude is as active and ambitious as that of White in the Queen’s Gambit. This ambition may seem premature at first sight, but many strong grandmasters have already successfully played this system. After thoroughly investigating and analysing this opening, Bezgodov has gained a lot of experience in practical grandmaster play. The system not only turned out to be playable but also brought him success, and not just because of its surprise value. Bezgodov’s conclusion is that there is no clear and compelling way for White to reach an advantage. The fresh ideas and the clear explanations in The Double Queen’s Gambit may change your view on modern chess opening theory. Bezgodov provides dozens of exercises to test your understanding of his system.
In Black and White is probably the most honest autobiography ever published by a chess grandmaster. The Dutchman, born in 1956, covers his rise to the chess elite, his insecurities, and the difficulties he encountered. The highlight of his career was his qualification for the Candidates Matches, only four steps away from the World Championship. He won a game but lost the match against Gata Kamsky. The Dutch edition was published in 2011 and has reached cult status. It was very well received by fans and reviewers - and with the English translation will finally get a well-deserved wider audience.
The Key Concepts of Chess Endings In 2003 when it was released, Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual became an instant classic. Now the chess instructor extraordinaire offers an introduction to the fascinating world of chess endings. This book is designed to highlight the key concepts of the most common chess endgames and will prove quite instructive to chessplayers of all levels. Topics include: - The King in the Endgame - Pawn play - Zugzwang - Saving Methods - Tactics in the Endgame - Piece Maneuvering - Piece Exchanges - "Technique” ...and much more! The author has countless practical suggestions for improving your endgame play in this era of rapid-time controls so that you don't end up "drowning” in the ocean of endgame theory. Let Mark Dvoretsky help you win more games as he examines some elementary endgame errors from master play and shows you how to avoid making the same mistakes.
Brilliant Chess, Brilliant Essays, Brilliant Writer Dutch Grandmaster Hans Ree is considered by many to be the best chess writer in the world today. As noted by the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, reviewing the original Dutch edition, "This is more than a book about chess politics or leaders in the chess world. It is above all a declaration of love for the game, with an elegant collection of odes to the greater and lesser personalities that evolve around the 64 squares. Ree personally knows many of the people he writes about. That leads to beautiful and striking portraits.” In almost sixty separate essays, in seven categories (World Champions, Politics, In Memoriam, History, The Endgame, Matches & Tournaments and Miscellanea), Ree touches on chess matters near and dear to the hearts of chessplayers worldwide. This book, published in 1999, still retains its relevance, insight and its edge, more than a decade after being released.