Fleischman - The Richter - Veresov Attack (Qd3 variation)

The English Opening is very popular nowadays, but 1.c4 e5! is a serious challenge and not to everyone's taste. Here comes 1.Nf3, with the idea to transfer the game into the English with c2-c4 to follow. The only hurdle on that path is 1...d5. Then White is at a crossroads. 2.c4 allows 2...d4 3.b4, while 2.e3 is an attempt to deny ...d4. Black can revive the threat with 2...c5, and again, White has a choice. 3.c4 d4 4.b4! leads to the Blumenfeld with reversed colours. Or he can continue to fight against ...d4 with 3.b3. White's decisions on the second and third move depends on the way he wants to meet the Queen's Gambit and the Slav/Meran/Chebanenko. Semkov covers in detail the different options, and also devotes several chapters on 1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 and 3...e6 4.b3! (avoiding the innocuous version of the QGA after 4.Nc3 dxc4). There is another chapter on 1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.c4 dxc4, where the absence of Nc3 allows White to get some pressure by refraining from d2-d4.   244 pages

bag, fibre, two long handles, for various purposes.
dimensions: 44 x 33 cm

Romain Edouard a travaillé  comme secondant avec Topalov et ce durant 4 années, entre 2010 et 2014. De cette association, le GM français a voulu en tirer un livre, qui ne traite pas seulement de l'analyse de parties durant cette période, mais aussi tout le travail effectué en amont, les nombreuses recherches,les coulisses...  lors de ses "magiques années" passées avec le grand joueur qu'est Veselin Topalov.

Ce livre est une édition française d'un ouvrage paru auparavant  (en 2019) en anglais.

272 pages

The English Defence (1 d4 e6 2 c4 b6) is a dynamic, counter-attacking line, initially investigated by English grandmasters. Black aims to set White difficult problems to solve at the very earliest stage of the game. Black’s play is provocative – aiming to lure White into establishing a big pawn centre. This is a risky strategy as White falls behind in development and Black switfly becomes very active. However, if White’s response is more circumspect then Black can often manoeuvre into favourable structures reminiscent of positions arising from the Nimzo-Indian Defence, the Queen’s Indian Defence or even the Dutch.

José González provides an excellent analysis of this complex opening and carves out a powerful repertoire for Black covering all lines after 1 d4. It is possible for White to avoid the "English battle" by playing either 2 Nf3 or even 2 e4 (a rare move for 1 d4 players but seen occasionally). Gonzalez champions an aggressive variant of the Dutch against 2 Nf3 and outlines a simple but effective French Defence repertoire to counter 2 e4.

• A complete repertoire for Black to counter 1 d4.
• The question and answer approach provides an excellent study method.   318 pages

C'est la Vie - Constantin Brainpuzzel - Wood
Can you remove the metal ring from the wooden maze? More challenging then you might think, but such is life!

• Size: 15.5cm x 15.5cm x 4.5cm (H x B x D)

In Joseki Revolution, Shibano focuses on local exchanges, in contrast to the predominantly whole-board focus on fuseki strategy of his previous book, Fuseki Revolution. Even so, Shibano's analysis always maintains a global view, as the basic nature of go is such that without whole-board judgement, there is no local judgement. Even when you are evaluating a joseki in a corner, a whole-board viewpoint is always essential.

Of particular interest in Joseki Revolution is his treatment of the taisha, the avalanche, and the magic-sword josekis. Shibano shows how, thanks to AI, these extremely complicated josekis have been "swamped in a wave of simplification."

In Chapter 3 Shibano discusses the merits and demerits of the four corner enclosures based on the 3-4 point. He investigates the reason why the small-knight enclosure has declined in popularity and why the previously shunned two-space enclosure has become so popular.

The book consists of 35 themes divided into four chapters as follows:

Chapter 1. Changes in basic josekis

Chapter 2. The transformation in opening strategies

Chapter 3. Up-to-date information about corner structures

Chapter 4. Looking at the most up-to-date josekis

In an appendix, Shibano examines some unconventional moyo-oriented fuseki strategies and gives some advice on how to handle these large-scale moyos. The appendix also contains a section on the revival of the high Chinese Opening and explains why this opening strategy is strategically sound.

The Scotch Game is a solid opening that has been tried and tested in practice by some of the strongest chessplayers in the world for more than two centuries. The idea behind the Scotch Game is simple and easily understandable. White eliminates – in a purely mechanical fashion – Black’s e5-pawn which initially impedes his ambition to dominate in the center.

This is very appealing for White, as he controls the direction of the struggle’s development, while Black can only try to keep pace. Furthermore, there are relatively simple schemes in the white repertoire in which it is enough to remember the main plans of both sides and typical maneuvers.

This is the second edition of Vladimir Barsky’s book that first appeared in 2009. The new edition consists of seven chapters dealing with the core ideas and variations of the Scotch, supplemented by 79 Illustrative Games. The authors not only present detailed analysis of all lines but are also careful to discuss the ideas behind the opening. If you already play the Scotch, you need this book. If you don’t, find out what you have been missing.  224 pages

Cube de 5 cm de côté.

Rare sont ceux qui font du speeding cube avec un 2x2x2, mais celui-ci tourne très bien. Donc, si vous le voulez, à vous les records!