Opening, middlegame and endgame are the three universally recognized stages of a game of chess, but what about the art of preparation? Winning starts with planning before the game, teaches legendary chess trainer Vladimir Tukmakov in this enlightening and entertaining work on a neglected subject. Exploring and understanding, prior to the game, the strengths and weaknesses of your next opponent and being aware of your own strong points and shortcomings, are a key to success. Tukmakov describes how planning has become a systematic process, how methodical preparation works, and which critical steps you have to take. The role of the computer in preparing for a game has grown tremendously, and Modern Chess Preparation explains how it is used by top players to get organized for success. But you will also learn the limitations on the use of chess engines and databases and how disastrous it can be to overly respect them and rely on them. A separate chapter is devoted on how to prepare for all-important games, games that will decide a tournament, a match or a even an entire career. Modern Chess Preparation is about more than just opening preparation. It also teaches you how to immerse yourself in order to find the best approach to the game. With powerful anecdotes and many instructive high-level games, Tukmakov explains how, as a competitive chess player, you can organize your homework, focus your efforts, and arrive at a viable game plan. Vladimir Tukmakov is a chess grandmaster and a former national champion of Ukraine. In his active career he won many tournaments as well as gold medals in international team competitions. He is universally acknowledged as an outstanding chess trainer and coach. ,

One, and sometimes more engines, toil without rationing electricity, sometimes checking on their master's ideas or more oft en showing their own evaluations and recommendations on screen with each conclusion supplemented by an exact numeric equivalent. There is no arguing with such an expert. Is it even necessary? He, as the almighty judge, knows all and can answer any question. All that is needed is patience. During a mutual training session, a young player who is currently one of the top in the world, asked Garry Kasparov: "How did you evaluate positions in the past?" After all standard evaluations like "better" or "worse" are too vague and cannot begin to satisfy a modern professional. Th e very question feels like a giant gap between the approach to solving chess problems then and now. Intuition and improvisation are gradually phased out by exact knowledge and calculation. So far this has only become fully evident in the opening. More than anything else it has become opening preparation which has made the biggest fundamental change to professional chess. So now let us peer behind the curtain!

Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov are unquestionably the protagonists who featured in the greatest ever chess rivalry. Between 1984 and 1990 they contested five long matches for the World Championship. This 3rd volume of the, Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess series concentrates on the third and fourth matches in this sequence: London/Leningrad 1986 and Seville 1987. Both matches were tremendously exciting and hard fought and both produced chess of an extremely high level. The 1986 clash was groundbreaking in that it was the first World Championship match between two Soviets to take place outside Moscow. It was split between London and Leningrad with twelve games being played at both venues. The defending champion was now Kasparov (having won the 1985 match) and he leapt into an apparently decisive three point lead. However, this sensationally dissolved when a crisis broke out in the Kasparov camp. Karpov exploited this and pulled off the remarkable feat of winning three games in a row. Kasparov finally regained his composure and eventually clinched the match with a late victory. The 1987 match was notable for it s sensational finale. Kasparov approached the final game with a one point deficit, knowing that only a win would enable him to retain the title. When the game was adjourned overnight in a position where Kasparov had to win to stay champion, Spanish TV cleared its entire schedule so that the nail-biting conclusion could be watched live. A pre-internet global audience of millions was glued to their TV screens as Kasparov ground out his historic victory. In this volume Garry Kasparov (world champion between 1985 and 2000 and generally regarded as the greatest player ever) analyses in depth the clashes from 1986 and 1987, giving his opinion on the background to the matches as well as the games themselves."

* The perfect survival guide to the chess openings * All openings covered * Detailed verbal explanations of plans for both sides * Up-to-date and featuring many tips and recommendations * Insights into the 'character' of each opening * Written by one of the world's foremost opening experts The first moves of a chess game define the nature of the whole struggle, as both players stake their claim to the critical squares and start to develop their plans. It is essential to play purposefully and to avoid falling into traps or reaching a position that you don't understand. This is not a book that provides masses of variations to memorize. Paul van der Sterren instead offers a wealth of ideas and explanation, together with the basic variations of each and every opening. This knowledge will equip players to succeed in the opening up to good club level, and provide a superb grounding in opening play on which to build a more sophisticated repertoire. The strategies he explains will, unlike ever-changing chess opening theory, remain valid as long as chess is played, and so the time spent studying this book will be rewarded many times over. Grandmaster Paul van der Sterren has won the Dutch Championship on two occasions, and in 1993 reached the Candidates stage of the World Chess Championship. He is an internationally renowned chess writer and editor: he was one of the founding editors of New in Chess, for whose Yearbooks he has contributed more than 150 opening surveys.

'A terrific work that is particularly suited for those from beginner to club player' JOHN WATSON, The Week in Chess The fully revised and updated award-winning, bestselling, classic chess book by FIDE Master and chess world-record holder, Graham Burgess. Comprehensive and clear, this fully revised and updated fourth edition of Graham Burgess's bestselling chess classic is an invaluable guide to help any player progress to good club level and better. It provides a complete guide to the main chess openings along with hundreds of test positions for players at every level. This new edition includes: Expanded and updated sections on playing online chess and using computers. A complete and detailed guide to all the main chess openings. Hundreds of new training exercises for players of all standards. Courses in tactics, attacking strategy, combinations and endgames. Analysis of some of the greatest games ever played. Information and advice on club, national, and international tournaments. A comprehensive A-Z glossary of chess terminology. Practical advice and information for further study. New sections on endgame studies and problems, with all examples from 2020 or 2021.

This guide, intended for tournament players, addresses all the factors that indicate the correct choice of opening lead. The format challenges players to think for themselves before being presented with the solution.

You cannot win in chess without taking risks. Winning requires courage and psychology. No matter how deep you calculate, there always comes a point where you have to deal with uncertainties and take a decision. What is carefully calculated risk, and what is bluff? And why were famous players like Lasker and Tal so successful with both? They realized that chess is not a science. Emotions also play a role behind the board. If you can guess what your opponent is feeling and thinking, you are ahead of him. When your main aim is to derail your opponent’s calculation by weaving a web of deception, you engage in the highest form of risk: bluff. Renowned chess coach Vladimir Tukmakov has played against, and worked with, quite a few chess greats. Many of them told him frankly about their thoughts and feelings during crucial games. These stories became the foundation of a collection of more than 100 practical ways that masters and grandmasters have used to push beyond the limits of calculation and take a deliberate risk. It works – even at the highest level! Tukmakov shows how to trick your opponent into believing your bluff. After studying this book, with its many fascinating and often funny examples, you will think twice before wasting an opportunity to do what even the greatest players do: bluff your way to victory!