Best Chess Games of Boris Spassky

Soltis, Andrew

David McKay Company, Inc.

Catalog of Chess Mistakes

Humor & Entertainment

Puzzles & Games

Three Rivers Press

Some 250 years ago, the great Philidor wrote, "The pawns are the soul of chess." Although that statement is perhaps the most common cliche in the literature of the game, it is too often misunderstood. Pawns are usually considered weak because of their limited range of movement. But the pawns' restricted mobility is precisely what makes them so important strategically: they form a semi-permanent structure -- often called a "pawn skeleton" -- that establishes the territorial lines of the coming battle and thus the nature of the battle itself. Understanding how pawns affect strategy is the subject of this important book. In it you will learn: -- how to handle the characteristic pawn structure of each opening "family" and each major variation -- how to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of pawn chains -- when to exchange pawns in the center -- and when not to -- how to cramp your opponent's position and what to do if your opponent cramps yours -- how to create and exploit pawn "holes"...and much, much more, all copiously illustrated by complete games from actual play.

Pawn Structure Chess

A lively, personal, and wonderfully informative look at Bobby Fischer, his personality and his playing. Although three decades have passed since Fischer won the world chess title from the former Soviet Union, he still remains a source of fascination and admiration for all players. Andy Soltis, a grandmaster and author of numerous chess books, looks back at his first encounters with Fischer in New York when they were both teenagers; assesses Fischer's exceptional ability to obtain and realize an advantage in play; and analyzes his career right up to his final matches with Boris Spassky. Most important, Soltis comments on and annotates many of Fischer's major matches in detail, explaining the logic behind the moves in illuminating detail. A must for any fan of chess and this remarkably enigmatic champion.

Bobby Fischer Rediscovered

Batsford

Professionals know that during the course of a game, the value of chess pieces change. And they use this knowledge to decide which pieces to exchange--and when. International grandmaster Andrew Soltis, the author of Bobby Fischer Rediscovered, helps pass this important information on to novices so they can benefit, too. He investigates why the traditional "chart of relative values" or computer analysis so often fails to explain why certain trades and sacrifices work and others just don't. All the typical decisions a player has to make, such as whether to swap two minor pieces for rook and pawn, receive detailed scrutiny. Players will appreciate the insightful analysis.

Rethinking the Chess Pieces

There are more than 30 moves to choose from in a typical chess position. Yet masters regularly manage to select the best one--and they do it faster, more confidently, and with less calculation than other players. The reason: masters know shortcuts that enable them to think more efficiently. International Grandmaster Andrew Soltis explains these techniques, including how to use specific cues to find good moves, how to streamline the analysis of a move's consequences, and how to use both objective and highly subjective criteria to find the right move--from any position. An enlightening window into a Grandmaster's thinking process.

How To Choose A Chess Move

B.T. Batsford

Emanuel Lasker held the world chess championship longer than any other player in history (1894 to 1921). He competed against such greats as Capablanca, Rubinstein, and Alekhine at the height of their game, and was consistently successfulyet almost no one studies his games today. International Grandmaster Andrew Soltis now rectifies that oversight with a book that takes the full measure of Lasker’s genius. With more than 100 annotated games, this extended look into the thinking of a neglected chess wizard is full of surprisesoffering both a much-needed reappraisal of Lasker and a cornucopia of fresh insights for today’s player.

Why Lasker Matters

B.T.BATSFORD LTD

A transposition in chess is a little like a bait-and-switch marketing ploy. The customer thinks he’s getting a bargain on one piece of merchandise, but he ends up buying another at a much higher price. In the first book devoted to chess transpositions, New York Post columnist and acclaimed chess author Andy Soltis shows how this strategy works over the board. By transposing a series of well-known moves (i.e., making them in an unfamiliar order), a player leads his opponent into an unfavorable position that he would normally have shunned. Using entertaining examples from the games of the masters, Soltis covers a variety of transpositions in virtually every kind of opening: double e-pawn, Sicilian, the Reti, English, Indian, and others.

Transpo Tricks in Chess

This large and magnificent work of art is both an interpretive history of Soviet chess from the Bolshevik Revolution to the collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1991 and a record of the most interesting games played. The text traces the phenomenal growth of chess from the days of the revolution to the devastation of World War II, and then from the Golden Age of Soviet-dominated chess in the 1950s to the challenge of Bobby Fischer and the quest to find his Soviet match. Included are 249 games, each with a diagram; most are annotated and many have never before been published outside the Soviet Union. The text is augmented by photographs and includes 63 tournament and match scoretables. Also included are a bibliography, an appendix of records achieved in Soviet national championships, two indexes of openings, and an index of players and opponents.

Soviet Chess 1917-1991

McFarland Publishing

How does one determine the “best” chess games? What one may see as brilliant, another may see as simply necessary. Like some art lovers, chess fans claim that they know a good game when they see it, and that they know better from good. But “best”? How is this articulated? This book, itself a work of art, is brought together by the use of five criteria: the overall aesthetics (clever and relentless are insufficient qualities); the originality (e.g., not yet another white knight sacrifice in a Sicilian); the level of opposition (the loser played very well); the soundness (i.e., are the moves refutable with perfect play?), accuracy (few of the moves are second-best), and difficulty (the winner overcame major obstacles) of the game; and finally the overall breadth and depth (one wants a series of sparkling ideas, with no dry patches). The 100 best games were taken from an initial field of about 7,000 played from 1900 through 1999 that had already gained some attention in magazines, books and periodicals. Three hundred games were then selected that appeared to have features consistent with the criteria. The 300 games were evaluated with scores—points given for each category of criteria. The games were then ranked, one to 100, by the score they received. No attempt was made to balance the selection according to period, nationality of players or opening. Also included is a chapter on the most overrated games of the twentieth century and one on games that would have made the list if... Includes 335 diagrams, an index of players and an index of openings by ECO codes.

The 100 Best Chess Games of the 20th Century, Ranked

Reference

McFarland Company

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