As a Chess Master who has spent many years playing aggressive and attacking chess, I was quite dismayed during a recent visit to my local bookstore. I was in search of a book that covered an array of attacks against many Pawn formations in an organized fashion. Needless to say, my search came up empty. The books on attacking fell short in many ways. Many of the books were simply a small collection of attack games with no instruction about the art of attacking or about the skills required to become a great attacker. None of them provided the reader with any reference information about attacking or the weaknesses of various Pawn formations. None of them contained games with attacking themes like the Traxler Variation of the Two Knight's Defense, and the Jack Young Fishing Pole. None of them contained any wild attacking ideas that can stream from opening gambits such as the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, King's Gambit, Scotch Gambit, Nakhmanson Gambit, etc. 500 pages, 435 games, Figurine Chess Notation.

Formation Attacks

Humor & Entertainment

Johnson, Joel

Puzzles & Games

Lulu Press, Inc.

PRELUDE “Two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one.”  ~John Keats, Finding true love is priceless. For many, living a lifetime falling more in love with the one you love is only a dream. Can you put a price tag on finding the one who loves you―heart &amp; soul―solely for your heart? There’s no monetary equivalent to finding the Love-of-your-Life. Wouldn’t it be great if you had someone, versed in the ways of love, to help find your One-and-Only? That’s what hundreds of men and women do on the hit reality TV show The Millionaire Matchmaker. For tens of thousands of dollars, millionaire bachelors hire Patti Stanger, the Millionaire Matchmaker, to help them find the only thing they haven’t acquired, their True Love. Patti has a massive index of the most eligible men and women in Southern California and boasts of having a 98% match success rate. Watch out e-harmony! If we all had a matchmaker this successful to help us find Mr. or Miss. Right and avoid Mr. or Miss. Wrong, it might make some of us feel a little better about our chances of finding our true love. Though Patti’s operation is impressive, wouldn’t it be great to have a matchmaker who had an even bigger Rolodex than her? Let’s say someone who had access to the most eligible individuals across the country or, for you international types, across the world? You might even feel better about your chances of finding your soul mate, if this matchmaker was a personal family friend, had watched you grow up, knew pretty much everything about you and had offered their matchmaking services when ever you were in need of them? I think many of us would. I hope it won’t come as a surprise, when I tell you that I employed someone much like this to help me find Casey, the absolute Love of my Life. Without hesitation, I can say, that the time, training and money I invested totally paid off. Like my matchmaker told me, you can’t put a price tag on finding everlasting love. If you’re single, you might be thinking you would be interested in getting his business card. (Even if you’re not “in the market” right now, it might be good to have his contact info for some other time.) I promise, if you’ve seen the film Hitch, He’s the real life Alex Hitchens, only better. He’s incredibly smooth―a true Love Doctor. He’s helped even the most romantically challenged individuals find their way down love’s, occasionally bumpy, path. His staff services a 24-hour a day help line. He has a global database and connections everywhere. He is the world’s foremost expert on love and a divine matchmaker. I relied upon his advice every step of the way and now I am hopelessly in love with the woman of my dreams. He led me into a romance with the right person at the right time and for that I am forever appreciative. Surprisingly, most people have heard of my matchmaker, but had no idea that he was so proficient in the art. You may be asking who this love guru is? His name is God. While many lovers often believe they are truly a match made in heaven, few would go as far as to say that God, himself, was their Matchmaker. I think this may be an expertise of his that many grossly under acknowledged today, but is clearly attributed to God throughout the Scripture. Abraham was a believer in God’s keen matchmaking ability. This is undeniable, just look at the instruction he gives to his servant sent to pick up a wife for his son, Isaac. He says, “God will send his angel ahead of you to get a wife for my son.” (Gen. 24: 7). Now if you’ve heard this story before, you might gloss over this verse and continue with the story. But if you stop and really think about what Abraham is saying, it is a bit bizarre. I’ve never heard anyone talk like this. I’ve never heard a pastor preach on this? Actually, if anyone did say to me that God’s angel was going to pick out my spouse, I would probably recommend an excellent twelve-step program I know of. For most of us, the idea of winged angelic beings making people fall in love isn’t totally a foreign concept, but we just expect to find this type of thing on Valentine’s cards or in Greek Mythology, not in the Bible. So either Abraham was in need of some serious rehabilitation or maybe the person whom God called his “good friend” was on to something (Is. 41:8). The man sent to get Isaac’s “unknown” bride also believed God was a matchmaker. Abraham had instructed him to get a wife from his hometown, Nahor. The servant came to a spring outside the city, where all the young ladies came to get water. He prayed that God would reveal the young lady to him by a specific sign. He would know it was her if when he asked for a drink of water and she would not only give him a drink but also offer to water all ten of his camels (an act that would take hours of labor to accomplish). When this happened, he would take it as a sign that God was “working graciously behind the scenes.” (Gen 24:14) The servant knew God was working behind the scenes―the Matchmaker was on the move―but asked for God’s help to uncover who that person was. As soon as the servant finished his prayer, he saw God begin to work. A “stunningly beautiful” girl came with her jug to draw water from the spring (Gen. 24:16). Her name was Rebekah. The servant asked her for a drink and she obliged him and then proceeded for the next few hours to water all of his camels until they had “drunk their fill” (Gen. 14:19). The servant silently watched her wondering, “Was this God’s answer? Had God made his trip a success or not?” After she was done, the servant gave her five very expensive pieces of jewelry. Can you imagine Rebekah’s shock? Her dinnertime spent serving at the well was rewarded with breakfast at Tiffany’s. The Bible says she ran back home to tell her parent’s (and if her neighborhood was as rough as mine growing up, I would have ran too, if I was carrying that much bling!) The servant came to Rebekah’s house and discovered it was the very family Abraham desired his son’s wife to come from. He told them about the sign he had asked God for. How Rebekah fulfilled it by watering his ten camels. How he prayed, “Let [that] woman be the wife God has picked out for my master’s son” and God worked behind the scenes to help him find the perfect match for Isaac. The family agreed and replied, “This is totally from God. We have no say in the matter, either yes or no.” (Gen. 24:50). The next morning, the family asked the servant to let Rebekah stay a little while longer, but the servant said, “Oh, don’t make me wait!―God has worked out everything so well―send me off to my master.”(Gen. 24:56 emphasis added) Rebekah’s family asked her, “Do you want to go with this man?” (Gen. 24:56) Rebekah replied, “I’m ready to go.” (Gen. 24: 58) When Isaac met her, he fell completely in love. Rebekah had a ravishingly beautiful exterior, but her interior must have been just as captivating to Isaac, because he let her wholly into his heart. Though there is not a lot of description of their early years together, we do know that after she came into his life, something shifted in his soul. His heart became healthier. His life became richer. We know that at least one of the deepest wounds in Isaac’s heart was healed through their union. Through Rebekah, Isaac’s heart finally found “comfort after his mother’s death.” (Gen. 24:67) They were truly a match made in heaven. If God is a matchmaker and knows everything about you, and everything about everyone, wouldn’t he know who your perfect match is? If he’s truly working behind the scenes trying to match you up with the right person, wouldn’t it make sense to ask God for help uncovering who that person is? It worked out well for Abraham’s servant and, ultimately, for Isaac and Rebekah. It might just work out well for you too. God’s divine handiwork has united many hearts with their True Love. This can be observed all throughout Scripture and attested to by many who have followed his matchmaking advice today. I followed his matchmaking advice and it worked out wonderfully for me. He brought me to my true love, Casey, and I could never adequately express my gratitude to him for this. In the pages ahead, we’ll look at a few Biblical examples of the Divine Matchmaker at work, but mostly Casey and I will share about our experience working with him as he divinely orchestrated our love story. We’ll share some of his time-tested tips, secrets, and wisdom―so if you decide to use his services, you’ll know how he works and be a little ahead of the game. We really hope you’ll use him. There’s no one who’s been at it longer or is better at it than he. However, if you do choose to go with him, you must remember―though his principles on love are timeless―he never brings two hearts together the same way. Here’s to your match made in heaven! We hope you’ll send us a wedding invitation.

The Divine Matchmaker

Religion & Spirituality

Johnson, Casey

Christian Books & Bibles

Pilot Communications Group

The much awaited sequel to the best selling book, "Formation Attacks", has arrived. "Formation Attack Strategies" is another 500 page book, full of great attack information with 579 fabulous attack games from all openings and all eras. The games provided in the book came from an in-depth global search for unique, inspirational, and original attacks from some of the world's greatest attackers. Many of the them toil in remote areas of the planet and have only a local following. Let me introduce you to attacking players like Guy West of New Zealand, Marc Esserman of Boston, MA, Liu Wenzhe of China, Kevin Seidler of Denver, CO, Manuel Bosboom of The Netherlands, Dharshan Kumaran of India, Padre Murphy of Ireland, to name a few. The book also contains discussions about many attack philosophies, attack strategy and planning, identification and exploitation of weaknesses, and so much more. If you are one of the many people who love my last book, you will be ecstatic about "Formation Attack Strategies".

Formation Attack Strategies

lulu.com

The goal of the books in this series (Attacking 101: Volume #nnn) is to provide detailed analysis of my own attack games played against lower rated players. The players are all rated in the range of 1000 to 1800 - the types of players you would frequently encounter at your local chess club, local tournaments, online, and at home. They make the same errors you regularly witness in your games but here you get to see a Chess Master dissect and exploit the moves, show why they are wrong, and how to punish the opponent's poor play.

Attacking 101: Volume #001

The third installment of the best-selling series of attack books - Formation Attacks, Formation Attack Strategies, and now, Positional Attacks is another 500 page book, full of great attack information with 532 fabulous attack games from all openings and all eras. The aim of Positional Attacks is to uncover the artistic side of attacking, one that is primarily centered on the creation and exploitation of weaknesses. Oh sure, there will be tactics; after all they cannot be avoided in chess - nor would we want to exclude them. But there is nothing quite like witnessing chess masters dissect their opponents with smooth, elegant, aggressive, positional attacking maneuvers. And, once again, the games provided in the book came from an in-depth global search for unique, inspirational, and original attacks from some of the world's greatest attackers. Many of them toil in remote areas of the planet and have only a local following.

Positional Attacks

Lulu Press

The goal of the books in this series (Attacking 101: Volume #nnn) is to provide detailed analysis of my own attack games played against lower rated players. The opponents are all rated in the range of 1000 to 1800 - the type of players you would frequently encounter at your local chess club, local tournaments, online, and at home. They make the same errors you regularly witness in your games, but here you get to see a Chess Master dissect and exploit the moves, show why they are wrong, and show how to punish the opponent's poor play. In each game, the lower rated players have the White pieces. In addition, a couple chapters have games by high rated players against lower rated opponents with openings they specialize in. The Fishing Pole chapter has Life Master Brian Wall games within, while the chapter on the Budapest Gambit primarily illustrates games by my best student, the 2014-2015 Arizona State AIA Chess Champion and the 2014-2015 National Grade 12 Co-Champion, Nick DesMarais.

Attacking 101: Volume #002

The Stafford Gambit is an exciting method of playing the Black pieces.

Stafford Gambit

The goal of the books in this series (Attacking 101: Volume #nnn) is to provide detailed analysis of my own attack games played against lower rated players. The players are all rated in the range of 1700 to 2100. They make the same errors you regularly witness in your games but here you get to see a Chess Master dissect and exploit the moves, show why they are wrong, and how to punish the opponent's poor play. This book covers White Openings and has deep coverage of the Center Game and Sicilian Grand Prix (all lines).

Attacking 101: Volume #003

King Hunting is an essential skill in the game of chess. You have your opponent on the ropes. His King is stuck in the open. Can you bring home the full point? This book provides guidelines for accomplishing the task with loads of great examples.

King Hunting

Attack Skill - Bayonet Attack - One of the many small, affordable books on attacking by well known attacker, Life Master Joel Johnson.

Attack Skill - Bayonet Attack

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Books by Johnson, Joel