Standard Paper Tournament Chessboard - 2.25'' Squares

This comprehensive study of middle-game theory is a classic unlikely to be superseded. It is a valuable addition to the library of every serious student of chess.

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.

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.

Chess Middlegame Combinations, a companion volume to Chess Middlegame Planning, forms the second part of Peter Romanovsky's classic Russian textbook on the middlegame. Now available for the first itme in an English language translation, Chess Middlegame Combinations is written with a view to helping the reader acquire a practical understanding of middlegame techniques as well as an appreciation for the beauty and aesthetics of chess.

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.

Max Euwe was World Chess Champion in the 1930s and he collaborated with International Master Kramer to write this great treatise on how to play chess middlegames. Book II of the series covers the dynamic features of the game of chess.

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.

In each of these books the need for understanding is emphasized: there are too many variations for any memory to store. The player must understand the basic principles involved and the typical positions or maneuvers that can arise.