Books published by Thinkers Publishing

This book takes a closer look at the Classic mistakes by amateur playersinclude: 1. Moving a piece too often in the opening. This is one of themainstays which we think relates at least partly to the desire to createsomething in the opening, when we would be better advised to focus on simpledevelopment. 2. Impatience. Sometimes amateur players are too eager to changesomething when there really is no need. 3. Overgeneralizing. One of the biggestdifferences I’ve noticed when comparing professional play to amateur play is thatthe former is much more about concrete calculation - you go there, we go hereand so on - whereas an amateur player will have a tendency to overgeneralizewhen thinking about a position, perhaps because they are not used to the basicart of calculation. 4. Cutting variations off too quickly. Amateur players donot extend their calculation far enough, and thus superficiality tends to kickin. These and other mistakes are explained in the book. Of course itshould be noted that professional players also make these kinds of mistakes.

Endgame theory teaches us two fundamental issues: First, how to extract themaximum from a basic theoretical position with little material, where the experts(from practice comprising thousands of games) have reached definite conclusions.Second, the way in which we can handle an endgame, depending on the materialremaining on the board, and the ideas and plans we should employ.This second issue is significantly more difficult to master because, apart frommaking full use of the first one (we must be aware of the possible outcomes of theendgame in question) it is greatly influenced by our experience and understanding,which are basically derived from the images and impressions we have from relatedpositions. A primary role is played here by the effort we have invested in studying.In middlegame theory, things are even tougher. We are obliged to study varioustypes of positions with specific strategic and tactical attributes, so as to understandthe underlying ideas and be able to employ them ourselves in similar situations.While players have studied these topics and acquired knowledge, it isthe application of this knowledge in practice that helps differentiate between them.Chess is not a simple game.The purpose of this series is to introduce the reader to advanced training concepts,using the same methods of presentation and instruction that were taught to greatplayers by famous trainers that they have worked with.The series will continue with the topic of “the Bishop Pair”, the first volume handled 'bishop endings' and we will examine how tohandle this “power of the sun” coupling.

Talloze onderwerpen zijnmooi beschreven en keurig uitgewerkt. Maar bij het bestuderen van partijen vanschaakstudenten, of het nou talentvolle jeugd was, of volwassen clubschakers vandivers niveau, viel me één aspect op dat ik als volgt zal proberen te beschrijven: nadatde klok is aangezet en de partij is begonnen, wordt de opening gespeeld. Veel spelers blijken redelijk goed op de hoogte van de theorie. Onvermijdelijk komt het moment waarop één van beide spelers afwijkt, waardoor beide spelers op zichzelf zijnaangewezen. In de fase daarna moeten de spelers hun weg zien te vinden in eenwirwar van varianten en plannen. Zij mogen de tactiek niet uit het oog verliezen,maar bovenal zullen zij een strategisch plan moeten bepalen. In deze fase viel mij –door de bank genomen – op dat veel clubschakers over het algemeen de momentenwaarop tactiek een rol speelt, goed in de gaten hebben. Laten we zeggen dat ergemiddeld om de vijf zetten tactiek in de stelling zit. Echter… die andere vier zettenmoeten zij toch zelf verzinnen! Maar hoe moeten zij dat doen? Waar moeten ze opletten? Welke principes dienen zij te hanteren. Hoe zien ze of een bepaald strategischkenmerk dominanter is dan een ander?Als ervaren speler en gediplomeerd schaaktrainer kon ik er meestal wel een vingerachter krijgen waar het ergens mis ging. Dat was bij elke speler telkens anders, maartoch slaagde ik er soms in om een “grootste gemene deler” in de partijen van iemandop te sporen. Daarmee was ik er nog niet. Want elke partij was natuurlijk verschillendmet de partijen die nog gingen komen. Hoe kon ik deze speler daadwerkelijk vooruithelpen hiermee? In deel 2 komen de belangrijke Pionnenstructuren aan bod!

The revolutionary Wilhelm Steinitz(1836-1900) considered himself to be in the vanguard of an emerging, late-19thcentury ‘Modern’ school, which embraced a new, essentially scientific vitalityin its methods of research, analysis, evaluation, planning, experiment and evenbelligerent fight.Steinitz, who dominated the chess world inthe shadow of a more directly attacking, openly tactical and combinative,so-called ‘romantic’ age, established a much firmer positional basis to chess.A pivotal change!This book follows that story, both beforeand beyond Steinitz’s early ‘modern’ era, focusing closely on the subtly variedways in which the world’s greatest players in the last two centuries have thoughtabout and played the game, moving it forward. The author reflects on all sixteen ‘classical’world champions and others, notably: C-L. M. de la Bourdonnais, Adolf Anderssen,Paul Morphy, Siegbert Tarrasch, Aron Nimzowitsch, Richard Réti, Judit Polgar andthe contemporary Artificial Intelligence phenomenon, AlphaZero.Be inspired by this exploration of the ‘modern’game’s roots and trajectory!

The book that you are holding in your hands is a continuation of the famous Kuzmin series. The two prior books concerning the chess creativity of Alexander Morozevich and participants in the Candidates tournaments was written for rather experienced players. That last book on the Candidates recently won the FIDE Chess Book Award of the Year 2018.This book is different in that ¿Together With Mamdeyarov¿ has been written primarily for chess players with an Elo ranging 1400¿2100. While working on the book I followed two objectives. First to help the players¿ improvement and secondly to closer acquaint the readers with the creativity of one of the brightest contemporary grandmasters. If I were to characterize Mamedyarov¿s play in one word I would use the adjective ¿powerful¿ and if I were to use two words, then perhaps ¿power chess¿. Namely this energy and power are the dominants of his creativity with his opening preparation being only a supplementing factor.¿Together With Mamedyarov¿ is not a collection of his selected games but it is primarily a study-book. It contains test positions taken from games of the famous Azeri grandmaster with detailed comments on the solutions to the tasks. In this book the solutions have been placed right after a diagram with a test except for the six positions given as a warm-up in the beginning of the chapter one. For those of you who work without the assistance of a coach would recommend that you cover the answer with a sheet of paper to avoid spoiling the benefit of solving the problem. This book is dedicated to all young chess players aspiring to improve but i also hope that it will be interesting for admirers of the Azeri ¿number one¿ chess player¿s creativity and his fans. Further we hope this book will be useful for coaches in their work.

Your opponent plays a gambit against you. How dare they!? But how can you punish them?Spanish Grandmaster Salgado has taken a close look at a wide variety of 'Gambit Lines'. Many gambit lines, where one or more pawns are sacrificed for the initiative, have to be taken seriously, but Ivan has succeeded in finding many new ideas and theoretical improvements. The result is the neutralisation or refutation of most of these common and well known 'Gambits'.This book is simply a must for anyone who wants to be fully prepared to engage in battle against a 'Gambit Player'. If you are a gambit player yourself, you need to read this to prepare yourself for new challenges to your systems.

I would like to thank you for purchasing this book, I really appreciate it. It also means that you found an interest in my work of trying to crack the Ruy Lopez. As I said in the introduction to the first volume, I had no idea what I was signing up for when deciding to write a book on Ruy Lopez. This opening has such a rich history and good reputation that proving advantages in many lines is nearly impossible. Writing the first volume on this opening was a Herculean effort and I thought "it cannot be more difficult". After all, I was covering such solid variations as the Berlin and the Open Spanish. Well, I got surprised again! I am not exaggerating when I say that writing the second volume was at least as hard as writing the first one. This second volume on the Ruy Lopez consists of two parts. In the first part I focus on modern systems with …Bc5, attempting to dissect both the Archangelsk and Moller Variations. These two variations have quite a rich history but in 2020 there have been several developments. If I had to name one person that contributed the most to the developments in those lines it is, without a doubt, Fabiano Caruana. His encounters in the Candidates Tournament in Ekaterinburg, then his theoretical discussion in those lines with Leinier Dominguez, revised my opinion on many of those lines and led to interesting discoveries that I analyze in this bookIn the subsequent part I discuss the Closed Ruy Lopez. It is easily one of the most popular openings throughout the history of chess with many games occuring as early as the 1800s. I suggest going for 9.h3 which usually leads to a positional battle. I present new trends and find new paths and ideas in such evergreen variations as the Zaitsev, Breyer, Chigorin and others. Additionally, I attempt to crack the Marshall Attack by suggesting the Anti-Marshall lines with 8.a4. I must admit that I thought that it would be a pretty easy task to analyze those openings having some prior analysis and experience with both colors. However, time after time I was encountering new challenges and new ideas from both sides that I had to resolve. My conclusions, based on careful analysis with the most powrful engines currently available is presented in this book. This book completes my series on the Ruy Lopez. I would like to take a moment and recall what I said in the introduction to the first volume. When both sides play very good and sound chess, it is normal that games end in a draw. It is especially true for such sound openings as Ruy Lopez. I do not attempt to dismiss one line or another because somewhere with best play Black can make a draw by force on move number 30, playing sometimes ridiculous moves that are only found during the analytical work. Over the board the reality is way different – practical aspect plays an important role in chess. Some positions are easier to play, some harder. Similarly to what I did in the first volume, I try to offer the most playable positions. I do not mind if the positions are equal, provided it is easier to paly with White or the chance of an error by Black is quite large. Sometimes I go into forced variations (e.g. in Moller Defense or Archangelsk Defense), sometimes into more positional battles (like in the Zaitsev) but I truly believe that the positions I aim to reach have potential and are tricky for Black. With proper knowledge I think White can put pressure on Black in the Ruy Lopez. I hope that you will find my approach to tackling the Ruy Lopez interesting. I am aware that there is only so much I can analyze and someone may say that I did not analyze some positions deeply enough but that is the nature of chess – possibilities are pretty much unlimited and there will always be theoretical debate!Finally, I wish you, dear Reader, good luck and I hope you can successfully use the ideas that I present in this book in your games. Dariusz Swiercz February 2021.

Dit is het eerste deel van de nieuwe serie Sleutelconcepten in het Middenspel. Het idee is om middenspelen te behandelen waarin een bepaalde structuur of essentieel thema cen­traal komt te staan. De gedachte om deze serie te beginnen, sluit aan bij de andere serie Begrijp wat je doet omdat het streven is om het inzicht van clubschakers te verbeteren. Het spelen van een opening dient volgens de auteur ‘opgehangen’ te worden aan stereotiepe ideeën en concepten behorende bij die structuur. Het grondige uitdiepen van midden­spel­structuren gaat te ver bij openingsboeken, vandaar dat het logischer is om dat te gaan doen in deze complementaire reeks. In dit boek wordt het Egelsysteem uitgebreid besproken. Behalve dat de speelwijze deel uitmaakt van het repertoire van de auteur, verdient deze zeer typische spelsoort het om ruim onder de aandacht gebracht te worden. Hoewel in het tweede deel van de trilogie over het Siciliaans de egel al zijn intrede heeft gedaan, kan het ogenschijnlijk kwetsbare, maar o zo verraderlijke diertje in dit boek op uitgebreide wijze zijn stekels recht overeind zetten!

This is the first volume of the new series "Key Concepts of Chess". The idea is to deal with middlegames in which a certain structure or essential theme becomes central. The idea of starting this series is in line with the "Understanding before Moving" series because the aim, is to improve the understanding of club chess players. According to the author, playing an opening should be 'hung up' on stereotypical ideas and concepts belonging to this structure. The thorough exploration of middlegame structures is beyond the scope of opening books, hence it makes more sense to expose it in this complementary series.In this first volume, the "Hedgehog System" is discussed in detail. Apart from being part of the author's repertoire, this typical set-up deserves to be widely highlighted. Although in the second part of the trilogy on the Sicilian, the Hedgehog has already made its appearance, in this book the seemingly fragile, but oh so treacherous creature can reconsider its spines in an extensive way.

The official story of the 2020 Candidates Tournament began on November the 11th, 2019 with the signing of a contract between FIDE and the Russian Chess Federation detailing the hosting duties of said tournament in Ekaterinburg from the 15th of March to the 5th of April, 2020. At that point no one could have even imagined how difficult the road to that tournament would be nor how unexpected the outcome. Yet the significance of the actual numbers in this dramatic epic is hard to overestimate which is why the author will attempt to play the role of chronicler and try to describe as accurately as possible the key moments of this historic event. Vladimir Tukmakov was our close observer, author and wrote a historically important book on the first part of the Candidates 2020.

There is no doubt that the Nimzovich Defense is one of Black¿s most inspiring openings after 1.e4. Black strives to unbalance the position by creating new problems for White from move two, giving himself every opportunity to fight for the initiative from the outset. It is no surprise that 1¿Nc6 appeals ambitious players who relish a complicated battle. In this book, GM Christian Bauer explains how to use this powerful weapon drawing from his own successful experiences. He is not shy to show you the fundamental ideas, the traps, the pitfalls and naturally the move order subtleties which play such an important role in our modern game of chess. We are convinced this book will give you plenty of confidence and make your opponent think more than twice.

The idea was towrite about the best players in the USA born at the turn of the century. Theseplayers grew and blossomed thanks to the continuous and generous support by theworld’s biggest chess patron Rex Sinquefield and the Saint Louis Chess Club. Their success changed the scenery of American chess, set new standards andpropelled the country as the promised land for new talents. Grandmaster AlexColovic will be your guide in his fascinating journey with the US’s Young ChessGuns!

Have you ever wondered why you do well in certain tournaments and not in others? If your opening choices are the right ones? If your attacking play is good, bad, or Tinder swipe left ugly?In this entertaining account, the author explains how to achieve success in chess we need to understand our what works for us, but to achieve true mastery we should prepare to go beyond our zone of comfort. Along the way he takes us on a journey through his own world of discovery and explains how he became one of the best chess players in England. It’s a deeply honest and at times tragicomic memoir as he also reveals his strategy for taking on his biggest rivals and how best to use computers to improve your chess.

The Modern Defence is not a solid opening. In fact, on some level maybe it's not an opening at all. It's the Wild West of chess opening theory, a safe haven for true chess lovers who are just spoiling for a fight. The structures that can result are almost unlimited in their variety and the potential for dynamic piece play is also huge. You need real passion to play it, and also the ability to work hard at the board. But it's also played at the very top: even the names Carlsen and Kramnik occur sometimes in these pages! This book is primarily intended for players who want to play the position after 1.e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 for Black. However, and inevitably for the computer age, there is also a strong focus on chess truth. That means there are also some recommendations for White that are not yet well-known in mainstream opening theory, and that the book has something to offer everyone.

To learn and to play endgames well the chess player must love endgames¿ - Lev Psakhis. Different kinds of endgames have specific characteristics and rules. Every serious player must know many typical positions and main principles of all types of endings. That knowledge should help us during the game, but it is not enough to become a good player, not yet. There just too many different endings, some of them with two or more pieces, some are very complex. To be comfortable and play well those complex endings require specific knowledge and specific ways of thinking. We will call it `endgame thinking¿.I chose to write a book on advanced rook endings as I simply did not wish to write another book that would be like the many already available. I have done my best to present analysis and articles I have written over the past 10-15 years. Th is work has been presented in my daily coaching sessions, seminars, workshops, etc. The material has helped a lot of trainees to develop into quite strong players gaining international titles and championships. Now, it is your turn to taste and enjoy it!

The main part of the book is divided into exercises and solutions, with 110positions taken from double fianchetto games. I have divided the exercisesinto chapters, with each chapter featuring games by players who have deployedthe double fianchetto quite often. You will find a lot of typical motifsused by these players.

The Philidor Defense is a most popular opening at all levels. In this first book Sergio brings a no-nonsense opening repertoire for players of all strenghts.You will find this book nor only a useful handy guide but find it also loaded with an indispensable source of inspiring ideas.

In his enlarged edition Grandmaster Rozentalis looks at some of the most important questions: the connection between the opening, middlegame and endgame. The book is the updated and enlarged version of the first edition published August of 2016. The author found new thrilling examples to prove his point once more: when to rely on your acquired knowledge or not. This book is highly recommended to all players as well as anyone who is coaching and cares for the pure understanding in the endgame.

This is the first book fully devoted to the double fianchetto for both colors, White and Black.GM Daniel Hausrath draws upon his vast experience to provide guidance on how to use the differentkinds of set-ups the double fianchetto has available for White and Black. In a clear manner, Daniel explains the many subtle move orders, the critical resulting middle game structures and typical endgame positions. His guidance through the presented games will bring you an immediate gain in the understanding of the benefits of the `Double Fianchettö.This is an ideal book for all club players and is written by one of the leading experts on the `Double Fianchettö.

'Learn from Michal Krasenkow' is a splendid walk through the games and life of the author. Michal presents his games in the most instructive way and gives the reader a deeper look of his own thinking. We are convinced you will find many fascinating games inspiring the reader to improve his game as well!

This book is the presentation of the history of all the Candidates tournaments and matches in the history of chess. However it is also a book of test and solutions, given in the format of game fragments with detailed comments. All the problems selected by the author have been taken from the games of all the Candidates competitions

Grandmaster Grivas presents the reader an unique and massive amount of amazing puzzles including their historical background. All the most famous and rare tactical themes are covered, promising the read of the year!

Do you relish the prospect of setting youropponent awkward problems from the early start of the game? If so, you shouldjust continue reading, for in the Bg5 Najdorf, it’s every man for himself, andonly the best informed and most creative resourceful player survive. The Bg5variation gives White very dangerous attacking ideas, and Blacks really needsto know a precise defense to come out of this variation alive. This bookprovides weapons that are ideal choices for those who revel in forcingopponents into chaotic and uncomfortable positions.Lukasz Jarmula, a player and writer ofinternational caliber, will be your truthful guide!

The Nimzo-Indian and Queen's Gambit Declined are amongst black's soundest and most universal answers to 1.d4. In his trademark style, Milos investigates the most positional ways to proceed after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6. He analyses all the critical lines whilst also taking a close look at all the sidelines and gives Black many new possibilities to spice up the game. We are convinced that this book will bring you inspirational games and results.

The author focused in his first volume on middlegames, now his attention was drawn to endgames. Romain has carefully selected more than 496 positions, which arose in real games in the recent past. He separated the exercises into 11 different categories, covering both tactics and strategy, attack and defence. This book is a fantastic training tool for any player to improve his level of chess thinking.

This book is not a pure (auto)biography, rather a games collection. It consists mainly of interesting high-class games played by me, including many losses. Most of the games are preceded by accompanying texts, which vary from essays to tournament reports. The title of the book might seem presumptuous, but I wanted to show how I see or experience the competitions without denying the chess worlds of others. While the texts are mostly light and subjective, at the same time I tried hard to stick to the facts and provide some food for thought. GM David Navara May 2020.