GRIVAS - Modern Chess Planning

Turbo-Charge Your Tactics 2 concludes a multi-year effort by GM Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko and world-renowned trainer IM Vladimir Grabinsky to create the perfect chess puzzle books. This second volume builds upon the first, using games from the World Champions and their challengers. Most chess games are decided by tactics, so solving tactical puzzles is the most effective path to improvement.

This book also contains a special chapter with expert guidance on how to use chess engines. The engines might analyse precisely but they can also harm our chess understanding if followed blindly, so we must know when and how to use them. Hardcover 280 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.

Voici un recueil de parties de Bullet Chess (z'en seriez doutés, non ?), doublé d'un petit guide pratique pour ceux qui voudraient se risquer dans cette forme extrême du blitz (1 minute pour toute la partie, pour les distraits). Les parties sont exactement à l'image du principe : c'est couillon, c'est fun, et au fond assez rafraîchissant, en ces temps d'AAO et de jeu trop parfait.

Six ans après le très remarqué Imagination in Chess, retour du plus célèbre entraîneur géorgien - qui s'attaque ici à un thème important, difficile et rarement traité (Rowson seul s'y étant attaqué avec un certain bonheur). Même approche (tout en exercices - 269 - ou presque) que dans le premier opus, même qualités (originalité du thème, nouveauté des exemples) et même défaut (aucune tentative pour se mettre à portée du joueur moyen). Les costauds, en revanche, vont se régaler.

This second-volume workbook in Davorin Kuljasevic's How to Study Chess on Your Own series is optimized for chess players with an Elo rating between 1500 and 1800 but is helpful for anyone between 1200 and 2000.  The astounding success of his How to Study Chess on Your Own made clear that thousands of chess players want to improve their game and like to work on their training at least partially by themselves. 199 pages

Are you a parent of a junior chess player who feels that because you don’t know how to play chess, you can’t help your child? Or are you an adult or junior chess player who has taken private chess lessons for years, but feels you haven’t been progressing?

In both cases, there can be a lot of reliance on a chess coach who has been given free rein with lesson content and direction. They probably have some sort of plan but it is likely to be a plan used for all their students. This is not ideal. More important is a well-thought out, individualized plan, that focuses on a specific player’s unique strengths and weaknesses. Formulating such a plan is crucial for making improvements.

Victoria Doknjas and her son John Doknjas are an ideal writing partnership to tackle this topic. John is a FIDE Master who has already established himself as an excellent and highly-respected author who understands the improvement process very well. Victoria has over a decade of experience navigating the competitive chess arena with her three master-level sons, including also running her own chess academy. Together they offer a unique and informative insight to those wanting to get more out of their chess studies, as well as presenting practical advice in areas including:

- Identifying important goals and how to work towards them.
- Understanding how to objectively analyse your games.
- Maximising the efficiency of software and engines for learning.

Reading this book can broaden your horizons in the essential areas of chess study, and ideally let you better evaluate what your chess coach is teaching you. And if you don’t have a chess coach, this book will provide you with an excellent foundation for serious chess study. 384 pages