Andrew Soltis

It’s a fact of chess life that if you want to win, you have to put a bit of study in. Every chess player, from near-beginner to experienced tournament player, needs to learn the openings and keep on top of current theory. But studying doesn’t have to be dull. This indispensable book contains foolproof ways to help the information go in... and stay in. Acclaimed chess author Andrew Soltis reveals the key techniques: - Why you can’t study chess the same way you study school subjects - How to acquire the most important knowledge: intuition - The role of memorizing (it’s not a bad thing, despite what people say) - How to get the most out of playing over a master’s game - Adopting a chess hero as a means of learning - How great players study - Computers as a study tool - How to train someone else

Studying Chess Made Easy

Karl Marx Plays Chess and Other Reports on the World's Oldest Game

Even an average chess player can find the same moves as a Grandmaster as much as 75 percent of the time but only the Grandmaster can find that other 25 percent. Packed with tips, tricks, and practical exercises, this book identifies the kinds of moves and techniques that account for that difference. It covers such topics as: Mysterious rook pawn moves, Tacking, Piece Nullification, King Feeling, and much more. Written by one of our best-loved chess authors in his trademark chatty, accessible but always informative style, "What It Takes to Become a Grandmaster" will reveal the secrets of how to join chess's elite ranks."

What It Takes to Become a Grandmaster

A crucial decision spared chess Grandmaster David Bronstein almost certain death at the hands of the Nazis--one fateful move cost him the world championship. Russian champion Mark Taimanov was a touted as a hero of the Soviet state until his loss to Bobby Fischer all but ruined his life. Yefim Geller's dream of becoming world champion was crushed by a bad move against Fischer, his hated rival. Yuri Averbakh had no explanation how he became the world's oldest grandmaster, other than the quixotic nature of fate. Vasily Smyslov, the only one of the five to become world champion, would reign for just one year--fortune, he said, gave him pneumonia at the worst possible time. This book explores how fate played a capricious role in the lives of five of the greatest players in chess history.

A Chess Multibiography with 220 Games

Smyslov, Bronstein, Geller, Taimanov and Averbakh

In chess, a transposition is a known position reached by a different move order than usual – a less obvious way of getting to somewhere you want to go, leading to confusion for your opponent. Every chess player has a number of them in his arsenal, and they are used most often in openings. There are transpositional tricks in all openings, but this is the first book devoted to them. As the book covers all the key openings variations it can be used by most chess players. The introduction explains what transpositions are and why they're invaluable, followed by 8 chapters discussing transpositions, illustrated by some notorious examples from top-flight matches. Chapters are divided by opening group – Double e-pawn openings; Sicilian Defense; Other Semi-Open openings; Double e-pawn openings; Indian openings; Other 1 d4 openings; Reti, English, 1 g3. The benefits and drawbacks of each set of move orders are discussed throughout. This is an ideal book for all club players and is written by one of the best chess writers in the world today.

Transpo Tricks in Chess

Every chess player needs to know how to handle his pawns. Pawns form the 'playing fields' of chess games, a semi-permanent 'structure' that can determine whether a player wins or loses. This comprehensive guide to pawn structure teaches the reader where pieces are best placed, which pawns should be advanced further or exchanged, and why certain structures are good and others disastrous. This invaluable book is a major update of this chess-world classic, first published in 1975 and unavailable for several years.

Pawn Structure Chess

If you want to become a chess master, there are certain things you need to know – essential tips and techniques that the masters know, and you need to learn. This incredibly useful book collects all these techniques together in one volume, so you can try them out, tick them off, and start on your path towards chess greatness. Arranged in chapters covering every aspect of chess, from openings to endgames, renowned chess author Andrew Soltis provides top 20 rundowns of these specific positions and techniques: chapters include Top 20 Sacrifices, Top 20 Crucial Middlegame Decisions, Top 20 Endgame Techniques and Top 20 Exact Endgames. Written in Andrew Soltis's eternally engaging and accessible style, this book will prove invaluable to any player who wants to become a chess master.

From Sacrifices to Endgames

100 Chess Master Trade Secrets

This large and magnificent work of art is both an interpretive history of Soviet chess from the Bolshevik Revolution to the collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1991 and a record of the most interesting games played. The text traces the phenomenal growth of chess from the Revolutionary days to the devastations of World War II, and then from the Golden Age of Soviet–dominated chess in the 1950s to the challenge of Bobby Fischer and the quest to find his Soviet match. Included are 249 games, each with a diagram; most are annotated and many have never before been published outside the Soviet Union. The text is augmented by photographs and includes 63 tournament and match scoretables. Also included are a bibliography, an appendix of records achieved in Soviet national championships, two indexes of openings, and an index of players and opponents.

Soviet Chess 1917äóñ1991

So you're a fairly decent chess player. You compete in tournaments, you play on the Internet. But you would love to make that leap to become a chess master. What do you need to know, how much do you have to practise, and how much of the success of the masters is simply a matter of innate talent, superior brainpower or just good luck? This useful book, aimed at all chess players who aspire to become chess masters, shows you what the masters know and you don't. Written by one of our biggest-selling and best-loved chess authors, in his trademark chatty, accessible but always informative style, this book is filled with practical exercises and test games that will reveal the secrets of how to join chess's elite ranks.

chess strategies that get results

What It Takes to Become a Chess Master

• ‘The best opening is the opening your opponent doesn’t know.’ • ‘The winner of the game is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.’ This fascinating book contains 300 of the most astute insights on chess ever uttered, culled from three centuries of great players. Each of these invaluable maxims is illustrated with an annotated chess position, making the book a short cut to learning from the masters. These snippets of wisdom are arranged into chapters for easy reference: Calculation, Intuition, Strategy, Position Evaluation, Openings, Sacrifices, Attitude, Endgames, Mistakes, Studying, Time Management and Tournament Tactics. This is a great book to dip in and out of – every page contains a nugget of wisdom that will help you hone your own chess skills and win your next game.

With over 250 annotated positions

The Wisest Things Ever Said About Chess

There are more than 30 moves you can choose from a typical chess position, yet Masters regularly manage to select the best moves – and they do it faster, more confidently and with less calculation than other players. This is because Masters have shortcuts that enable them to think more efficiently. This instructive and practical guide explains these techniques, including: Using specific cues to identify good moves Streamlining analysis of the consequences of moves Using both objective and highly subjective criteria to find the right move – from any position

How to Choose a Chess Move

An insightful new book that is perfect for newcomers to chess inspired by Netflix's Queen's Gambit. Written by one of the best chess communicators in the business, chess master and chess journalist Andy Soltis divulges practical advice and explains technical terms that chess books often overlook. From learning how to train your mind with chess information to choosing the best chess opening, dip in and out of this invaluable guide to improve your chess in a minutes. Chess questions answered in this book include: Is there a best way to study chess? How do I know if I have a natural talent? How important is chess memory and how can I train mine? How long should I think before choosing a move? Is there a proper way to think? Can I think like a chess computer? How do I develop chess intuition? Don't try to swallow too much information in one sitting. Dip in and out of these great chess questions to better understand the game and let the improvement happen incrementally.

for all new chess players

500 Chess Questions Answered

This book describes the intense rivalry--and collaboration--of the four players who created the golden era when USSR chess players dominated the world. More than 200 annotated games are included, along with personal details--many for the first time in English. Mikhail Tal, the roguish, doomed Latvian who changed the way chess players think about attack and sacrifice; Tigran Petrosian, the brilliant, henpecked Armenian whose wife drove him to become the world's best player; Boris Spassky, the prodigy who survived near-starvation and later bouts of melancholia to succeed Petrosian--but is best remembered for losing to Bobby Fischer; and "Evil" Viktor Korchnoi, whose mixture of genius and jealousy helped him eventually surpass his three rivals (but fate denied him the title they achieved: world champion).

A Chess Multibiography with 207 Games

Tal, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi

An instructional book about the crucial questions that masters ask themselves before committing to a move – a checklist for all players to ask themselves before making their own moves. Beginners learn to ask themselves the key questions. As they improve, they ask more sophisticated questions: 'What did my opponent's last move allow me to do?", 'Where is his position weakest?", 'Should I take an irrevocable step now or wait?', 'What does my opponent want me to do?'. For chess master players these are almost subconscious checklist. Andy Soltis runs through the checklist of things to ask before making a move with fascinating and illuminating examples of real chess games, from Karpov to Judith Polgar, from Magnus Carlsen to Fabiano Caruana. A key to improving is to ask all of these questions and find the right answers, for players looking to improve. The advice of Chess Masters is good advice for all chess players and the best way to take your play to the next level.

Chessmaster Checklist

International Grandmaster Andrew Soltis is chess correspondent for the

Magnus Carlsen: 60 Memorable Games

Strategies and examples for beating a superior opponent in chess. Chess history is littered with David vs Goliath chess struggles where the weaker player has prevailed. Chess masters, even international grandmasters, can be defeated by young, improving players who use the right techniques and proper attitude. In David vs Goliath Chess, renowned chess writer Andrew Soltis takes you through 50 annotated games that show how weaker players have scored stunning upsets by overcoming a superior opponent’s greater knowledge and experience. He gives tips on everything from the best psychological mindset to take on a strong player, to studying your opponents past games, identifying weaknesses and identifying chess strategies he or she won't expect. A great chess improver book that will benefit any regular chess player, including club players, giving the reader confidence to take on anyone at chess.

How to Beat a Stronger Player

David vs Goliath Chess

Do masters methodically cut their way through the branches of a tree of analysis? Is it true that attacking players calculate a dozen moves ahead, while positional specialists rely on abstract principles? What exactly does it mean to "calculate," anyway? In The Inner Game of Chess, GM Andy Soltis shows that the key to good calculation is good visualization of the position in front of us and then after the moves we re considering. Being aware of tactical motifs; knowing when to stop looking; and verifying your chosen move are essential, but they all depend on the basic requirement to see clearly what s going on. The author discusses common obstacles to clear visualization and offers techniques to overcome them in your own play. This 21st-century edition of Soltis s celebrated work features new material and revised analysis, while retaining all the insights that made The Inner Game of Chess an instant classic."

How to Calculate and Win

The Inner Game of Chess

Ruy López

The Art of the Game of Chess is the first English translation of Fr. Ruy López’s 1561 book about chess, Libro de la invención liberal y arte del juego del ajedrez. López was a priest who served as King Philip II’s confessor and royal advisor. As a connoisseur of chess, King Philip II promoted the game in his court, and it did not take long for López to become known as Spain’s and one of Europe’s greatest chess players. López is widely acclaimed as one of the most influential chess thinkers of all time whose theories of chess are an integral part of how chess is played today. Academics, including historians, linguists, sociologists, and Hispanists, as well as non-academics, especially chess enthusiasts, will appreciate this translation, which opens with a Foreword by Andrew Soltis, who is a Grandmaster and a United States Chess Hall of Fame Inductee, and includes a critical introduction and more than 275 footnotes.

Andrew Soltis

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