Chess Camp - VOLUME 7

Superb defensive technique is a hallmark of all great chess-players. With a few deft counterstrokes, they not only deflect what looked like an overwhelming offensive, but also expose the darker side of their opponent's build-up. Is this sheer black magic, or are these skills that ordinary players can develop?

With refreshing simplicity, Coffeehouse Chess Tactics shows how to turn bad, even seemingly hopeless positions to our advantage. How to distinguish the essential from the trivial. How to adapt according to the situation on the board. Each game sparkles with some unusual tactical or defensive motif. Along with the games the author describes in eloquent but brutal language the beautiful, sometimes terrible, world of chess "where sport, art and science merge.

1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners is a great first tactics book. It helps you in identifying weak spots in the position of your opponent, in recognizing patterns of combinations, and in visualizing tricks.

Publisher: Dover
Author: T. D. Harding
Year of Publication: 2001 Pages: 208
Notation Type: Algebraic (AN)


Book Description As noted British chess author T. D. Harding explains in the preface to Counter Gambits: Black to Play and Win, the aim of this book is to show you how to win games with Black. The method? Calculated aggression, right from move one! To offset the distinct advantage White is thought to have because it moves first, Black can engage in dynamic counterplay to avoid those openings that give White the opportunity of early exchanges. Following a brief explanation of symbols, this excellent guide covers such topics as dynamic counterplay, counter-gambits in open games, Black sacrifices in the half-open games, counters to the Queen's Gambit, Indian counter-gambits, and an index to openings and variations. Seventy-seven games, including ten new to this edition, are fully annotated, while more are found in the theoretical notes, with commentary. Among the counter-gambits used in the quest for dynamic counterplay are the Budapest, Blumenfeld, Falkbeer, and Latvian — all illustrated in great detail. A new update "Update 2001," written especially for this edition, examines developments in the field since this book was first published in the 1970s. Players at all skill levels — beginner to advanced — are sure to benefit from this expert analysis of gambits and counter-gambits.

British Champion Jacob Aagaard explains the rules of attack (the exploitation of a dynamic advantage) in an accessible and entertaining style. This groundbreaking work is well balanced between easily understandable examples, exercises and deep analysis. Five years in the making, this book will surely not disappoint. Volume I deals with bringing all the pieces into the action, momentum, colour schemes, strongest and weakest points, evolution/revolution.

Most competitive players are very familiar with the idea of a sacrificial checkmating attack, but the positional sacrifice has been strangely neglected. By means of a subtle positional sacrifice, a player can sometimes fundamentally alter the course of a game in his or her favor. In this instructive and entertaining book International Master Neil McDonald demonstrates just how effective well-executed positional sacrifices are. Topics covered include sacrifices to open lines for the pieces, sacrifices as a defensive weapon, the exchange sacrifice, the psychology of sacrifice and much more.

Combinations are the central element in chess; they make the game so magical and captivating. The beautiful point of sacrificing a queen, the strongest piece, in order to checkmate with a lowly pawn brings a smile of joy to all chess lovers. Virtually all chess games possess a combination, either one hidden in the shadows of analysis carefully avoided or one that provides a decisive blow.

Is the ability to make combinations something you are born with or can it be acquired by practice? Russian chess trainer Livshitz, who has had extensive experience teaching a wide range of players from novices to masters, presents here a course for developing your combinational skill, based on the recognition of tactical motifs. As you work your way through this carefully graced series of tests, themes such as 'diversion,' 'interference,' 'X-Ray,' and many more will become an integral part of your chess armoury, to be employed in your own games.