"A lot of the topics listed demand a very straightforward type of thinking or approach. However it also happens that chess players often discover significant resources which formally exist outside the typical rules of chess. Those who know how to break all the rules and work around those specific guidelines reach the very top." ~ Evgeny Bareev
"Many of the chess players who appear in these pages are still young; their whole life, including their sports career, lies ahead. That is why I tried to avoid purely personal details and did not reveal any professional secrets. I hope that these players, like me, will be curious to reflect on their own achievements and mistakes, and to take…
"What you are going to find in this first volume is a selection of my most memorable battles on the chessboard during the first of two different periods. It covers the time from my arrival in the USA as an up-and-coming young talent in early 1989, acquiring the freedom to play in any open tournament in the world and quickly…
"This book is about the practical approach to the game of chess. It shaped me as a player and now I would like to share my philosophy with you. My objective is to combat several generally accepted misconceptions, such as a) only studying opening theory will make you a better player, b) one should always follow the first or second…
"During my chess career I have played almost 4000 classical games, a good deal of them against grandmasters, including world's top players, a number of which I managed to defeat. A lot of these games are interesting and instructive, and studying them will definitely help any player to get new expertise, learn new ideas and therefore improve their chess skill."~…
“In my view the average club player will be more pleased with an opening book in which a profusion of ideas is offered. If this is also structured, you can hope that the readers will acquire the necessary understanding of standard positions.” ~ Herman Grooten
"The current trend, developed in recent years, is for Black to capture on d4 with his e-pawn, aiming for Benoni-type pawn structure positions which lead to rather double-edged positions." ~ Ivan Sokolov
"Together with the Candidates you should think over the crucial positions, feel the fighting tension and, the most important thing, try to make the right decisions" ~Alexey Kuzmin
"I found the idea to switch sides. By this, I mean to look at games from White’s perspective and then from Black’s. A rather interesting concept, as things often appear quite different, depending on the viewpoint." ~ Christian Bauer Teaser [PDF] - Candidate Moves
The problems in the book are accessible to players with a level from modest to confident. The most difficult ones are marked with an asterisk, while the most challenging chapter comes with a help page, that you may check when necessary.
"Veel clubschakers studeren graag op openingen. Dat is logisch omdat er veel materiaal over te vinden is. Toch blijkt het rendement van de noeste arbeid vaak vrij laag." ~ Herman Grooten
"Veel clubschakers studeren graag op openingen. Dat is logisch omdat er veel materiaal over te vinden is. Toch blijkt het rendement van de noeste arbeid vaak vrij laag." ~ Herman Grooten
"Nowadays, we usually play endgames with 30 seconds increment, and this forces us to improve our mastery of theoretical positions as well as our knowledge of the methods required in complex endgames."
"This book is highly recommended to all players as well as anyone who is coaching and cares for the pure understanding in the endgame." ~ Eduardas Rozentalis
"In this second volume of my “Chess Middlegame Strategies” series I have decided to focus on this connection between the opening and the middlegame. I have selected different themes from popular openings and examined the resulting middlegames, trying to offer a sort of user manual to guide readers through these middlegames." ~ Ivan Sokolov
