Chess Life Magazine - April 2011 Issue

Chess College is a new series of books to take intermediate players to new levels of chess understanding. New ideas are introduced and immediately illustrated by a number of entertaining and instructive examples, many drawn from the author's own practice.

Volume 3: Technique features topics including the central break, bishop vs. knight, standard sacrifices against the castled position, opposite-coloured bishops, and immobilization, and discussions on topics such as how to handle won positions and lost positions, and positions with small advantages, together with a wealth of training tips.

Every chessplayer hopes to make brilliant moves which will overcome the opponent in a blaze of glory. But such combinations come into being only as a result of proper planning, as demonstrated in Chess Middlegame Planning. The lucid and penetrating analysis of the games in this volume demonstrate the imagination and creativity necessary for proper handling of the central stage of the game.

Publisher: ISHI Press
Author: Ludek Pachman
Year of Publication: 2012 (Reprint) Pages: 185
Notation Type: Descriptive (DN)


Book Description Continuing his major work on strategy and tactics in modern chess, the internationalyl renowned Grandmaster, Ludek Pachman, now turns his attention to the play of the pawns and the achievement of control of the center squares. Though the pawns are the weakest pieces in chess, their importance in determining the character of the attack (and defense) and the development of strategic play cannot be underestimated. Pawns are essential to the protection of important squares and pieces. They are the best means of blockading enemy pawns and when correctly deployed, their advance can open vital files and diagonals, thereby creating weaknesses in the opposite position. Despite its limited power, the pawn has one special advantage over other pieces in that it can be promoted when it reaches the eighth rank; a successful pawn advance can completely change the balance of power and the outcome of a game. Pawns have aptly been described as "the soul of chess." Vital of chess mastery is a basic understanding of the importance of control of the center squares. The effectiveness of the pieces depend upon the strength of their position and center control creates a vital sapatial superiority. The effective play of the pawns and center control have been touched upon on other works, but seldom with the insight and lucidity revealed in this second volume of Pachman's masterwork.

Following on from his successful Understanding Chess Endgames, John Nunn turns his attention to the middlegame - the phase of the chess battle where most games are decided, yet the one that has received the least systematic treatment from chess writers. With the outstanding clarity for which he is famous, Nunn breaks down complex problems into bite-sized pieces.

Planning is critical to winning in chess. While other writers offer you thinking tools for building an effective plan, in Chess Blueprints: Planning in the Middlegame Nikolay Yakovlev gives you the bricks - the positional themes and patterns that you need to know in order to make use of those fancy tools. With 188 positions and 559 diagrams ranging from the classics to little-known gems of Russian chess, the author challenges you to form your own impression and then see how the masters honed in on the key elements to achieve victory, or neglected them and went down to defeat.

IM Andrew Martin will teach you how to play for a win in the middlegame. He explores the importance of king safety, pawn structures and piece activity. You will be well on your way to a better understanding and mastery of the middlegame.

This book tells you about the heart of Chess - the middlegame - in a format designed for young players. It uses a large clear type and is illustrated throughout with many chess diagrams and cartoons.

This monumental DVD covers a subject that is certainly not for beginners How pawns should be used in the middlegame to develop an attack on the opposing King. It includes 27 examples comprised of 7 complete games and 20 game fragments divided into three distinct Parts: King(s) Caught in the Center, Kings Castled on Opposite Wings, and Kings Castled on the Same Side. Material is illustrated from the praxis of many of the worlds great players including Alekhine, Anand, Topalov, Fischer, and a few postal gems from IM Kopec himself.