The Moscow Variation & sidelines

Black is forced to make an immediate decision on move 3 and wait for the right moment to open the position. On top the author created practical difficulties for the Black. Naturally, it is not possible to find an advantage in every variation but Ravi added many detailed explanations to guide plans and aid understanding in the various positions White encounters. Ravi’s analysis makes Black’s path to equality extremely narrow.

Effektives Mittelspieltraining

Wer diese oder jene Eröffnung lernen will, kann unter vielen oder gar Dutzenden von Lehrbüchern auswählen. Aber wie sieht es aus, wenn man sich mit der Mittelspielstrategie vertraut machen will, die in Stellungen angewendet werden sollte, die aus genau dieser oder jener Eröffnung hervorgegangen sind? Oder anders ausgedrückt: in Stellungen, die für diese oder jene Eröffnung typisch sind.

Strategy and Tactics

Learn from the legacy of one of the most talented players to ever grace the chess world.

All elements of the game explained in an easy-to-digest and highly entertaining fashion.

Dear readers, it is both our solemn duty and exceptional honour to present you a collection of Ivkov’s instructive explorations on various chess themes. In this book you will find a great number of intriguing anecdotes casting a new light on some of the greatest chess players of all time, and some lesser known heroes of our bellowed game.

Do you want to try out a new systematic chess training method? If yes, then read here:

The Tactics Ladder

Many improving players are told to use either the Yusupov's 9-book series or the Woodpecker-book to improve their tactical skills. These books are however quite hard for most intermediate players. The idea behind the woodpecker method is quite interesting, which is to repeat the puzzles 7 times in cycles. The book however only has 222 easy puzzles, before the level gets harder.

Das Verständnis des Mittelspiels ist von fundamentaler Bedeutung, um nach der Eröffnung stellungsgerechte Pläne zu finden. Oft wird hierfür der Schachcomputer eingeschaltet und die Zugfolge wird einfach übernommen. Dies geschieht vor allem auf Amateurebene. Viel wichtiger ist es jedoch zu verstehen, wie Ideen und Züge ermittelt werden können - und wie Sie daher selbst solche oder bessere Ideen finden können. Dazu werden in diesem Lehrwerk Methoden vermittelt, die Ihnen genau das ermöglichen: den richtigen Plan zu finden. Zunächst jedoch müssen Schwächen in der gegnerischen Stellung ermittelt und festgelegt werden.

“I realize that this book will not cover all open wounds, nevertheless my aim to write a manual about defense which can help us defenders enduring the hardest difficulties in practice, seems to be achieved

What exactly makes the greatest players of all time, such as Magnus Carlsen, Bobby Fischer, and Garry Kasparov stand out from the rest? The basic aspects of chess (calculation, study of opening theory, and technical endgame ability) are of course of great importance. However, the more mysterious part of chess ability lies within the thought process.

The Subtle Art of Winning Brilliantly

“To be passive... is fatal to the beginner or medium player – such players must be aggressive. He must attack, because only in that way can he develop his imagination, which is a very important thing.” This quote comes, perhaps surprisingly, from José Capablanca, a world champion far better known for his brilliant strategic and positional play than his attacking prowess.

6. Auflage 2021; 3.198 Kombinationen

The 1 st edition of the “Encyclopaedia of Middlegames: Combinations” was published in 1980, and ever since it has been a favourite training tool for aspiring chess students, trainers, and of course - professionals. The 6 th edition of our classic (Encyclopaedia of Chess Combinations 6 th edition - ECC 6) contains examples and instructive positions from games played by all World Champions. From Steinitz to Carlsen!

and the Art of Counterattack in 64 Pictures

A tale of 64 magical squares in 64 shrewdly created pictures. Many a book delved deep into the vast oceans of tactics, positional play and strategy, but very few dared to enter and master a notoriously elusive realm of defence in chess.

In this highly instructive tome the authors tried to accomplish several demanding goals. To uncover many of the secrets that remain hidden so very often, to tackle the most difficult area of chess skill - defence, and finally to teach a great number of ambitious chess-players helping them to improve their knowledge in this important area of chess expertise.

Improve Your Ability to Spot Typical Mates

Giving mate is the ultimate goal of every chess player. Finding that all-decisive combination is immensely satisfying. But how are you supposed to spot a checkmate when you are sitting at the board with the clock ticking?

In this guide International Master Vladimir Barsky teaches the method created by his mentor Viktor Khenkin (1923-2010). It’s based on an ingenious classification of the most frequently occurring mating schemes. A wide range of chess players will find it an extremely useful tool to recognize mating patterns and calculate the often narrow path to the kill.

Strategy Meets Dynamics

In this book I have taken strategic themes from specific openings and combined these with standard strategies such as the open file, space or flexibility. Indeed, the subtitle for this book is “Strategy Meets Dynamics” and that is a good definition of what this book is about.

The Essential Knowledge of Pawn Structures

The author addresses the most frequent questions that arise in all the three aspects of a modern chess game (material, pawn structure - space, and dynamics). The core of the book cosists of 49 deeply annotated games played by the elite players.

Der Autor hat in diesem Testbuch 120 instruktive Aufgaben zusammengestellt, die dem Leser/Löser in Diagrammform mit jeweils zwei bis drei Antwortvorschlägen nach der Multiple-Choice-Methode präsentiert werden. Die ausführliche Diskussion aller Stellungen erfolgt im Anschluss. Bei den Beispielen hat der Autor neben wenigen Theorievarianten Stellungen ausgewählt, die der Turnier- und Wettkampfpraxis entstammen. Der Thematik des Buches entsprechend wird der Löser überwiegend auf taktisch-kombinatorische Probleme treffen, aber auch positionell-strategische Aspekte wurden in die Fragestellungen inte- griert.

A responsible chess trainer is ‘destined’ to analyse, prepare and teach his/her trainees the plain truth and the difficult paths to chess excellence. Well, this is easier said than done, but of course nothing is really as difficult as it sometimes appears. When the responsible trainer knows what to do and how to do it, things get simpler and can be more easily absorbed by the trainee! And from time-to time the responsible trainer should reveal his work and his ways of teaching.