Mc Donald - Break the Rules

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

During his long journey as a chess player and coach, GM Axel Smith came to the realization that understanding colour-complex strategies is one of the key differences between strong and weak players. After many years of delivering lectures and training material to his students, Smith produced a Chessable course on the topic, which has been extensively edited and reorganized by Quality Chess to produce this book.

In these pages, the award-winning author breaks down colour complexes into various sub-topics such as blockades, opposite-coloured bishops and exchange sacrifices, with carefully chosen exercises to test and reinforce the reader’s newfound understanding. Use Black & White Magic to improve your chess strength!

GM Axel Smith is the award-winning author of The Woodpecker Method, Pump Up Your Rating, e3 Poison and Street Smart Chess, which were all enthusiastically received by readers and reviewers. Using the Woodpecker as part of his training, as an adult he improved from a rating of 2100 to becoming a Grandmaster. 264 pages

Encore un livre sur le principe “move by move”, créé jadis par Chernev.et repris ensuite par Nunn, McDonald et quelques moindres. C'est ici l'auteur de How to defend in chess et Great Attackers qui s'y colle, avec un certain bonheur - même s'il n'a pu éviter les redites et enfonçages de portes ouvertes qui sont la loi du genre. Reste que les joueurs de tous niveaux trouveront agrément et profit à découvrir ces 33 parties ultra-récentes (2005-08) commentées en (grand) détail.