By Alex Robins (Mechanics’ Institute, San Francisco, California, USA) Spy’s Mate is an engaging and fun novel that successfully combines historica! fiction, KGB intrigue, and the competitive world of international chess, marking a new genre

By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author AlphaBetChess – Volume 3: Rhyming Chess Chronicles by Vishnu Warrier is the third volume in a series designed to help kids learn chess. Each letter

By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author Business Checkmate by Zeev Zohar is not a chess book with chess in it but rather a book that uses chess as a learning tool.

By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author Andriasian’s Tactical Workout Book: 700 Armenian tactics is a unique book in that all the exercises are taken from great Armenian players. The chapters of

By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author The Lighter Side of Chess: Games, Goofs and Funny Facts by Grandmasters Adrian Mikhalchisin and Georg Mohr is the rare chess book whose pages can

By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author Pushing Horizons: The Chess Legacy of GM Vladimir Akopian is a worthy tribute to an outstanding player. Akopian, who is perhaps best known for finishing

By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author Thinkers Publishing is known for giving first time authors an opportunity and this risk taking has paid off in the publication of My Life in

By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author Serbian International Master Boroljub Zlatonovic pays homage to Akiba Rubinstein in his book which takes a novel look at the games of the great Polish

By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author Dragon Masters II Resurrection by Scottish Fide Master Andrew Burnett is the second volume of a trilogy that examines the Dragon variation of the Sicilian

By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author Battling the Slow Italian Game by Milos Pavlovic is a detailed treatment of an opening variation that is hugely popular in Grandmaster chess today. The

By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author Understanding before Moving 3: Sicilian Structures Part Three Dragon – Sveshnikov – Four Knights by Herman Grooten is the final (massive!) volume in a trilogy

By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author The Modernized Slav Defense by Armenian Grandmaster Zaven Andriasian is a timely book on this solid defense. There have been some excellent works on the

The Duel – The Parallel Chess Lives of Alekhine and Capablanca vertelt het verhaal van de rivaliteit tussen de Cubaan José Raúl Capablanca en de Rus Alexander Aljechin, die tussen grofweg 1920 en 1935 de schaakwereld

Chess Book Corner with Ian Marks – Scottish Chess This month our esteemed bibliophile Ian Marks delves into the world of 1…e6 and IM Nicolas Yap’s repertoire book:  A COMPLETE REPERTOIRE FOR BLACK AFTER 1…e6!

By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author This may be the first book devoted entirely to quiet spectacular moves – moves which don’t involve a check or a capture that creates a

By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author The resurgence of interest in the London System, Exchange variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined and Exchange variation of the Caro Kann has led to

By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author Serbian Grandmaster Milos Pavlovic’s book on the Petrov (or Petroff if you prefer) differs from the earlier book in this review in that presents an

By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author Pairing the French and Dutch Defenses together has a long tradition dating back to Mikhail Botvinnik who made these openings his mainstays. One benefit is