Regan/Ball - Zwischenzug (a comprehensive guide to Intermediate Moves in Chess)

UITVERKOCHT

Pressure Play by Neil McDonald. Have you ever been tortured at the chessboard? If so, then you have probably been a victim of pressure play.

Elite players are brilliant exponents of pressure play. In situations where they have either a tiny advantage or no advantage at all they are highly adept at constantly setting problems for their unfortunate opponents. The position on the board may appear lifeless but they can probe and find plans and regroupings that will constantly ask their opponents difficult questions. These can be countered only by continual alert and accurate defence and we all know how difficult and wearing that can be.

The arch exponent of pressure play is world champion Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen is superb in this area of the game and consistently defeats world class opposition from simplified positions where he has no advantage whatsoever. How does he do it?

In this book, the highly experienced author and coach Neil McDonald analyses the finest examples of pressure play. In doing so he teases out the fundamental concepts that enable players like Carlsen to torture their opponents mercilessly.

• Paralyse the enemy pieces.

• Target the weakest squares on the board.

• Increase and exploit a space advantage.

Master pressure play and it will be your opponent on the rack, not you.

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Forging New Paths in an Ancient Opening

The Queen’s Gambit Accepted is one of the oldest known openings in chess. It was first mentioned in chess literature in the late 15th century. Over 500 years later, American Grandmaster Max Dlugy demonstrates in this groundbreaking work that the QGA is still a fighting, uncompromising opening that allows Black to play for a win from the very first move. 349 pages

The aim of this tricky game is to open the chest. 

15.1 cm x 8 cm x 5.5 cm

Free the Canary!

difficulty level: 4/6

Full natural wood for this cute puzzle!

Exquisite, hand-crafted wood design with high-gloss case with drawer for the weighted pieces and components. Modern chessboard 35 x 35 cm with drawer and figures of ultra-modern design. Made of wood modern style with original design and a stunning high gloss finish interior is lined with high-quality felt and presented in an original box with transparent top. Size  35 x 35 cm

Sergei Tiviakov was unbeaten in a streak of more than a hundred chess games as a professional player. Who better to share the secrets of Rock Solid Chess and the activity and value of pieces than Tiviakov?

The highly acclaimed first volume of his chess strategy trilogy dealt with pawn structures. In this second volume, Sergei moves on to discuss piece play and unique chessboard situations. Topics covered include the bishop pair, opposite-coloured bishops, centralization and the almost-ignored question of when and whether to castle.

Tiviakov also demonstrates how the value of pieces can vary drastically depending on their exact position. He shows how the entire assessment of a position, and the correct strategy for playing it, can be changed by moving a single pawn from one square to another.

In the final chapters, Tiviakov discusses how to play cramped and passive positions, how to play for a win with Black and how to choose your strategy, based on the opponent’s style and other psychological factors.

Illustrated with examples from classic games and from his own games, and supported by instructive exercises, Volume Two of Rock Solid Chess offers invaluable and unique instruction on topics not covered in traditional textbooks. These strategy lessons will significantly improve your chess and are suitable for all readers, from club players to grandmasters.

Sergei Tiviakov is a grandmaster, Olympic gold medallist, three-time Dutch Champion and European Champion.
Yulia Gökbulut is a FIDE Women's Master, chess author and sports writer from Turkey.

251 pages

Do you play 1.d4, but feel discouraged by the seemingly limitless number of finely honed defensive systems available to Black? If you’re put off by the idea of having to learn massive amounts of theory just to reach a playable middlegame, then The Richter-Veresov Attack: Qd3 Variation might be just what you’re looking for.

Right away, you’ll be taking your opponents out of their preparation and into your comfort zone. While the Richter-Veresov has developed its own “book” over the years, Eric Fleischman shows you how to bypass a lot of that body of theory, too, with an early deployment of the queen to d3, an idea sometimes known as the Amazon Attack.

Covering a wide range of setups that Black could adopt in response (including French, Caro-Kann, Indian, Benoni, and Dutch formations), the author uses games by international players and examples from his own play to show how experience and a sense of the position count for more than memorized lines in The Richter-Veresov Attack: Qd3 Variation. 

283 pages

The vast majority of chess games witness familiar strategies and well known tactical motifs. These are the games that you will find in the anthologies and opening repertoires. Sometimes however, games appear that seem to have been played on a different planet. 

Conventional strategies go out of the window. Familiar tactical themes are nowhere to be seen. Chaos has broken out. The pieces appear to be in open rebellion and are steadfastly refusing to do the natural jobs that they were designed for. 

Having to navigate a path in such a game can be a nightmare. Do you rely purely on calculation? Is it better to trust your instincts? Can you assess the position using “normal” criteria?

In order to answer these questions, prolific chess author and coach Cyrus Lakdawala has assembled a collection of brilliantly unconventional and irrational games. The positions in these games appear almost random. Kings have gone walkabout, pieces are on bizarre squares, huge pawn rollers are sweeping all before them. 

Irrational chess is like nothing you’ve seen before. As well as being highly instructive this is a hugely entertaining book. 

Do not adjust your set. It’s chess, Jim, but not as we know it.