Chess Set Zagreb Acacia

Tournament 48x48 cm chessboard inlaid with walnut and maple. This brilliant board with square size of 50mm fits perfectly to our chess pieces with king's height of 90mm or maximum 95mm. The bottom of the board is inlaid with walnut too. 

This book is both test and training. It will not only help you to assess your skill level, but also to identify your strengths and weaknesses in the game of Go. In a total of eight chapters, you are asked to solve the exercises within a given time limit. With the help of the evaluation tables you will be able to determine where you are roughly located within the kyu and dan ranks. In addition to the classification into the rank ranges, your results will reflect in which areas you are particularly strong and where may still be room for improvement. 116 pages

The Pirc Defence and the Modern Defence are two naturally entwined chess openings that are both flexible and rich in strategic and tactical ideas. They feature in the repertoire of great players like Grischuk, Ivanchuk, Nakamura and Carlsen.

In The Perfect Pirc-Modern, Viktor Moskalenko, a renowned propagator of dynamic chess who has championed the Pirc-Modern for many years, explains:

• the ideas and plans that matter
• the various pawn structures and how to handle them
• tricky transpositions: opportunities and risks
• a wealth of new resources for both Black and White.

In this updated version of Moskalenko’s 2013 book of the same name, 33 of the 42 games are new, the structure has been updated in places, and there are fresh ideas on every page.

Moskalenko expertly guides you through this ground-breaking opening book with the enthusiasm, ease and humour that characterize his style.

255 pages

Viktor Moskalenko (1960) is an International Grandmaster and a well-known chess coach. The former Ukraine champion has won many tournaments in Spain, his current home country. For New In Chess, he wrote, among others, The Fabulous Budapest Gambit (2007), Revolutionize Your Chess (2009), The Diamond Dutch (2014), Training with Moska (2017), The Fully-Fledged French (2021) and Trompowsky Attack & London System (2022).

In Black and White is probably the most honest autobiography ever published by a chess grandmaster. It covers Paul van der Sterren’s rise to the chess elite, but above all, his struggle to become a better player, his insecurities and the difficulties he encountered.

This book provides a hugely illuminating insight into the life of a chess professional, but there is a lot in his story that will resonate with players of any level. From his first moves on the chess board to his Candidates Match against Gata Kamsky, only four steps away from the World title – everything is described in great detail and with the utmost frankness by the Dutch grandmaster. The story doesn’t end there – the book’s final part describes the slow decline of an ageing pro and his eventual shift to meditation and mindfulness.

The Dutch edition of In Black and White, which contains more than 300 deeply analysed games and fragments, was published in 2011 and has achieved cult status. With this English translation, it will finally get a well-deserved wider audience.

Paul van der Sterren (1956) was a professional chess player for over twenty years. He won the Dutch Championship in 1985 and 1993 and played for the Dutch team at eight Olympiads. Van der Sterren lost to Gata Kamsky after a great fight in a Candidates Match in 1994. He has written several chess books, of which Fundamental Chess Openings (2009) is the best known. In Dutch, he has also written several books on mindfulness. 768 pages

Silicone chess pieces and board. The chessboard is available in  brown or green. The advantages of Silicone are that the pieces are indestructible, (unless you throw them in the fire...) and the chessboard always keeps its perfect shape, even if folded or rolled beforehand. This set is particularly suitable for children. The dimensions are those used in clubs: 55 mm square for the chessboard and 95 mm height for the king.

Tournament chess board with description finished in walnut and sycamore marquetry measuring 54x54cm. This chess board has 55 x 55mm fields and is ideal for our large 3.75" or Staunton No 6 Staunton No 6 pieces

In an ideal world, any aspiring chess player, at almost any level, would get better with a coach. If that’s not possible, having chess champion coach Thomas Engqvist’s book at your side is the next best thing.

In his series of lessons, Engqvist guides you through not only the most important elements of chess to master but also the psychology, how to marry knowledge with imagination, and how to stay motivated.

Suitable for older children through to adults, the lessons are drawn from chess games through history, from the 16th century to Magnus Carlsen and latest Alpha Zero computer chess. It features a range of key players, including Steinitz, Lasker, Nimzowistch, Botvinnik (Soviet chess school), and Fischer. With clear and accessible annotations to give clarity, the games highlight the most important lessons to learn and, just as importantly, how to ‘practise’ chess. 

International Master Thomas Engqvist has travelled the world teaching and coaching chess to a very high level for decades – and with this book, he can be your coach too.

About the Author
Thomas Engqvist is an International Master from Sweden. He has over 30 years’ experience as a chess coach and teacher. He has worked with players at world championship level in both junior and correspondence chess. He is the author of 300 Most Important Chess Positions and 300 Most Important Tactical Chess Positions, both published by Batsford.