Marin - Semi-Tarrasch: A universal weapon against 1.d4 DVD

The Dutch Grandmaster Paul van der Sterren was a professional chess player for over twenty years. At the peak of his career, he qualified for the Candidate Matches for the World Championship - and was only four victories away from the World Title. In Mindful Chess, you will get his long and short answer to whether meditation or mindfulness will help your chess.

As a boy, Van der Sterren became fascinated by chess and became a gladiator at the chess board. To quote Theodore Roosevelt, he met with both victory and defeat, much joy and suffering. When, later in life, he discovered vipassana meditation, he met again with joy and suffering - and approached these issues with the same total devotion as he had brought to chess - thousands and thousands of hours on the cushion and studying Buddhist literature.

The reader will follow the two journeys through chess and meditation. And find answers to questions such as: What is chess? What is meditation? Who am I? What is I? Or will the answer elude you, is too much inexplainable and unknowable?

Paul van der Sterren (1956) was a professional chess player for over twenty years. At the peak of his career, the Dutch grandmaster qualified for the Candidate Matches for the World Championship – and was only four victories away from the World Title. He is the bestselling author of Fundamental Chess Openings (Gambit Publishers). In 2023 New In Chess will publish his books: Mindful Chess and In Black and White - a spiritual and a chess autobiography. 127 pages

Do you want to do the same chess homework that world-famous grandmasters Fabiano Caruana, Robert Hess and Peter Heine Nielsen did in their formative years as chess players? This book will test you with hundreds of positions created by their coach Miron Sher (1952-2020). Just like Fabiano, Robert and Peter, you are not supposed to stop after the first move. You have to find the last move of the solution!

Miron Sher is one of those legendary coaches who got their chess education in the Soviet Union and in later years spread their knowledge in Western Europe and the United States. He was born in Ukraine, studied in Moscow, coached the Russian national team and emigrated to New York in 1997. There he taught at various schools and worked privately with dozens of students.

Dream Moves focuses on five themes that Sher considered important for chess improvement.

•     An unprotected piece – the trigger to start thinking tactics!
•     In-between moves – they help you spring a surprise on your opponent
•     Open files – a fundamental element of chess strategy
•     The 20% Rule – if your pawn has advanced to the 5th or 6th rank, moving it forward is quite often your best option
•     Dream Move – dream about the final, decisive move, and you will find the way there

The book contains close to one hundred illustrated games and more than three hundred puzzles. Do as the legends did - and use these puzzles to sharpen your tactical skills and improve your understanding of chess.

Miron Sher (1952-2020) is chess grandmaster and legendary coach. He was born in Ukraine, won a dozen international tournaments as a player, and became famous as a trainer in the United States where he lived since 1997. In New York he taught chess at multiple schools, including the Dalton School, IS 318 and Stuyvesant High School. He worked privately with dozens of students such as Fabiano Caruana, Robert Hess and Peter Heine Nielsen. 304 pages

There are already many endgame books, so why this one? Well, most books deal with elementary endgames, or are very advanced and contain few exercises. But you have only really learned something when you can execute it at the board, with the clock ticking. And solving exercises is very close to this scenario.
The authors present 450 endgame exercises designed to improve your understanding of endgame theory and sharpen your endgame expertise. Starting with the chapter “Specific Positions to Know,” they take you on a journey with just the right mix of practical advice and theoretical knowledge.
Endgame Corner is detailed, well-researched, informative and in-depth, with both authors sharing their experiences, recent games and new examples... I really like this material and hope that you will as well. If you are fascinated by endings, or feel the need to improve this part of your game, this book is a “must” addition to your library. – From the Foreword by Wesley So 

336 PAGES

Enfin, il est là!

This beautiful Staunton chess pieces earn a point in their history; in the 19th century, London was a major center for the production of chess pieces. John Jaques, one of the main ivory and wood turner then, decided to better the appearance and it's function of the chess pieces. Together with his partner Nathaniel Cook, they finish their model in 1849 and record it in honor of Howard Staunton, a former charismatic chess player and journalist. A kind of marketing hit ahead of its time.

The Staunton chess pieces are stable by their broad base and the general aesthetics of the pieces is transformed: The tower is an impregnable fortress, the line of pawns is refined, the miter of the runner is simplified, it is now more easier to distinguishes the crown of the king thanks to the cross, from the lady her pointed collar. And above all, the ultra-realistic appearance of the horse raises the desire to fight on. Style which we clearly find inspiration back in the frieze of the Parthenon, a masterpiece of Greek sculpture in the 5eeuw BC. which is largely preserved in the British Museeum London.

The Staunton pieces quickly had a great success and were officially prescribed in 1924 for competion. Different variants of Staunton since the original model made in 1849 are now all over the world available for chess players, but they remain faithful to the "John Jaques style".

The Supreme Staunton chess pieces are felted and weighted. They are cut in a dense, valuable ebony, an exceptional deep black. They are perfectly polished, smooth and shiny, and fine glittered with oxalic acid crystals. Giving them as recollected more brilliance to light.

They will perfectly suit on a chess board with squares of 55 mm.