Books published by Gambit Publications Ltd

This is a book for those who have started to play chess and want to know how to win from good positions and survive bad ones.The endgame is where most games are decided, and knowing all the tricks will dramatically improve your results. Endgame specialist John Nunn has drawn upon his decades of experience to present the ideas that are most important in real games. Step by step he helps you uncover the key points and then add further vital knowledge.Chess Endgame Workbook for Kids is the third in a new series of books that help players gain chess skills by solving hundreds of carefully chosen exercises. The themes are similar to those in Gambit's best-selling 'Chess for Kids' series, but the focus is on getting hands-on experience. Many positions build on ones given earlier, showing how advanced ideas are normally made up of simpler ones that we can all grasp.Each chapter deals with a particular type of endgame and features dozens of exercises, with solutions that highlight the key points. For each endgame we are given tips on the themes that are most important and the strategies for both sides. The book ends with a series of test papers that enable you to assess your progress and identify the areas that need further work.Dr John Nunn is one of the best-respected figures in world chess. He was among the world's leading grandmasters for nearly twenty years and won four gold medals in chess Olympiads. In 2004, 2007 and 2010, Nunn was crowned World Chess Solving Champion, ahead of many former champions.

Assuming no specialized endgame knowledge, John Nunn presents 100 key endgame concepts, and explains how they are used to win games or save difficult positions. He covers all the main types of endgames and typical thinking methods, and so equips readers with all the skills needed to excel in this vital phase of the game up to good club level and beyond. The endgame is the stage of the game where precision is most important, and where errors are punished most drastically. It is also deceptive: many endgame positions look too simple to require prior knowledge, but yet contain fiendish concealed pitfalls that can reverse the result of the game on the spot. Some key positions simply have to be memorized, as they can hardly be worked out at the board, especially when playing with today's faster time-controls. In such perilous terrain, an expert guide is necessary. John Nunn could not be better qualified: he is a battle-hardened grandmaster of top-level over-the-board chess and a solving world champion. From his wealth of endgame expertise, he has distilled a course of fundamental knowledge that is highly targeted on practical success for all levels of players.

Illustrates 50 tactics that experienced chess masters use to win their games.

It is generally agreed that one of the best ways for a chess-player to improve is by constant practice and testing. The puzzles in this book provide a wealth of positions to test every facet of the reader's tactical skills, and have been selected by analyzing games new and old in search of original puzzle positions (rather than simply trawling through previous puzzle books as is all too often the case). It is therefore very unlikely that even seasoned solvers will recognize many of these positions!

This thorough work on how Nimzowitsch's theories have been refined and synthesized with classical concepts into the modern dynamic understanding of chess will help ordinary players adopt these important concepts in their own games. An in-depth investigation of the concepts that underlie modern chess!

This is a book for those who want to start their chess games purposefully and take full advantage of their opponents' mistakes.It is vital to start a chess game well. Each move needs to be useful and precise. The best way to develop the necessary know-how is by experience and practice, rather than rote learning of 'rules' and principles. It's all about the specifics and being alert to what the opponent is doing, and pouncing on any errors.Chess Opening Workbook for Kids is the second in a new series of books that help players gain chess skills by tackling hundreds of carefully chosen exercises. The themes are similar to those in Gambit's best-selling 'Chess for Kids' series, but the focus is on getting hands-on experience. Many positions build on ones given earlier, showing how advanced ideas are normally made up of simpler ones that we can all grasp.Each chapter is focused on a particular theme and features dozens of exercises, with solutions that highlight the main strategic and tactical points. Each chapter offers tips on opening play, such as how to detect weaknesses and poorly-placed pieces. Later chapters address key aspects of opening strategy such as the centre, development and castling. The book ends with a series of seven graded tests where you are given few clues about the themes involved.Award-winning author Graham Burgess has written 27 chess books, including two on opening play for the 'Chess for Kids' series. He is a FIDE Master and a former champion of the Danish region of Funen. In 1994 he set a world record for marathon blitz chess playing and won the British Chess Federation Book of the Year Award in 1997.

Tired of being surprised in the opening? Horrified by studying many hours each week to keep on top of the latest developments in main-line openings? Then this is the book for you!For here is a repertoire of opening lines based on 1 e4 that are slightly off the beaten track, but full of practical sting and cunning traps for unwary opponents. All are based on rapid, healthy development, central control and play against the enemy king. You go straight from the opening into a sharp, little-explored middlegame where you will be better prepared than your opponent.This new edition brings the repertoire completely up to date. The basic choice of main lines is unchanged, but each move has been re-examined and new ideas from practice and analysis incorporated at every turn.Teeming with dangerous new ideas never published anywhere else beforeMakes use of the new generation of neural-network based engines inspired by AlphaZeroUpdated by an openings expert and editor with a wealth of experience creating repertoiresEmphasis on lines that are hard to meet in practice with the clock ticking!Future-proofed: recommendations against rare and untried ideas for BlackChris Baker is an international master from England with a vast wealth of experience of chess at club and weekend tournament level. The first edition of A Startling Chess Opening Repertoire established his reputation as a writer and proved extremely popular, reprinting several times. Award-winning author Graham Burgess is a FIDE Master and a former champion of the Danish region of Funen. In 1994 he set a world record for marathon blitz chess playing and won the British Chess Federation Book of the Year Award in 1997.

Chess-players understand that it is vital to play logically, but often lack the methods needed to do so. In this book, renowned trainer Erik Kislik presents a wide range of specific concepts that will help them succeed. These include positional techniques, thinking methods, and modes of play to adopt when either better or worse.Just the list of chapter titles shows how original Kislik's presentation is. They include:Painfully Slow MovesFocal PointsReciprocal LogicFighting against Centralized PiecesWhen Playing a Bad Move Wins a Good GameA Chronically Weak KingThroughout, the discussion is illustrated by a mass of examples from both recent elite chess and the play of Kislik and his students, showing how his themes cut across all levels of chess. After the book's two main sections - Thinking Concepts and Positional Concepts - comes a section of exercises, again with a strikingly original theme: our task is simply to assess each position.Erik Kislik is an International Master originally from California who lives in Budapest. He is an expert in computer chess and one of the most in-demand chess trainers on ICC. He has coached many grandmasters and assisted a number of elite players with their opening preparation. His previous book for Gambit, Applying Logic in Chess, was shortlisted for FIDE Book of the Year.

Is chess a logical game? What constitutes an advantage in chess? How can we set problems and create psychologically difficult situations for the opponent? These are big questions, and Erik Kislik tackles them and others head-on in this thought-provoking, thoroughly modern, and original work.He answers the first of those questions with a resounding 'yes!'. His assessments focus on concrete points: pawn-structure, material imbalance and compensation. Even though the analytical proofs may be complex, he repeatedly shows that these elements are the keys to evaluating positions and forming plans.As the trainer of players ranging from high-level grandmasters to average club-players, Kislik is very strong on providing practical guidance on topics such as how best to use chess software, choosing hardware, getting psychologically ready for a game and preparing for specific opponents. He is always willing to boldly state his views, even when they run contrary to conventional chess wisdom."I was excited by this book because of the way all of the ideas are intertwined and you get very concrete advice ... Everything is applicable and it is easy to see how it applies to the real world." - from the Foreword by GM Hjörvar Steinn Gretarsson.Erik Kislik is an International Master originally from California who lives in Budapest. He is an expert in computer chess and one of the most in-demand chess trainers on ICC. He has coached many grandmasters and assisted a number of elite players with their opening preparation.