Tigran Petrosian is a titan of chess history. All agree he was a genius of strategy, defence and sacrifice, but didn’t he take too many draws? Possibly so, but when Petrosian selected and annotated his best games, that flaw disappeared, leaving only brilliance and profound chess understanding. As Garry Kasparov said: “My games with the 9th World Champion broadened my understanding of chess. Had it not been for these two defeats, I would possibly not have reached the top in chess.” This book is an English translation of a Russian classic that is a favourite of many grandmasters, including Mihail Marin and Levon Aronian. A literal translation of the Russian title might be ‘The Strategy of Soundness’ but Python Strategy is a better fit for Petrosian’s more ambitious games. As another World Champion, Max Euwe, once wrote: “Petrosian is not a tiger that pounces on its prey, but rather a python that smothers its victim.” Tigran Petrosian was World Champion from 1963 to 1969, as well as a superb team player for the Soviet Union. In Olympiads he won nine team gold medals and six individual gold medals, winning 78 games, drawing 50 and losing just once.

Python Strategy.

Tigran Petrosian

Quality Chess Europe

Playing the Ragozin

Richard Pert

Chess is a strategically deep game and it is no surprise that players often struggle to find the right strategy over the board. Computers may be able to show a good move in a position, but they can't explain how it should fit into an overall plan. In The Science of Strategy, Alexander Kotov takes a methodical approach to this mysterious subject, breaking it down into clear themes. He starts with the crucial role of the pawn in chess, before systematically discussing a series of key strategic elements to complete the overall picture. Finally, building on what has gone before, one of the most difficult aspects of chess is discussed: the ability to evaluate a position and conceive a plan on the basis of this evaluation. Kotov's clear and methodical style makes this book an ideal guide to chess strategy. He describes the chess in words rather than relying overmuch on variations, and illustrates his ideas in insightfully annotated positional games, with the likes of Alekhine, Botvinnik and Karpov featuring heavily. Alexander Kotov was a formidable grandmaster of the Soviet school. He was the 1948 Soviet Champion (jointly with Bronstein), and a member of the USSR gold-medal-winning team at the 1952 and 1954 Olympiads. He is also renowned as a chess author, most famously for Think Like a Grandmaster.

The Science of Strategy

Alexander Kotov

The World Championship match between Fischer and Spassky in Reykjavik 1972 was played at the height of the Cold War. The image of a lone American genius defeating the Soviet machine captivated a worldwide audience unlike anything else in chess history. Exactly fifty years later, Fischer – Spassky 1972 takes a fresh look at both the chess and the human aspects of this monumental match. Bobby Fischer is one of the greatest chess players of all time. His astonishing journey up to the 1972 match was documented in The Road to Reykjavik. In this volume, award-winning author Tibor Karolyi completes his study of Fischer’s career with in-depth analysis of the legendary Reykjavik match and the controversial Fischer – Spassky 1992 rematch. International Master Tibor Karolyi is a renowned author and trainer from Hungary. His biographical works for Quality Chess have received glowing praise from readers and reviewers.

Fischer - Spassky 1972. Hardcover

Tibor Károlyi

The power of the Queen's Gambit is beyond question, even though it allows some serious defences - the Slav and Semi-Slav are favoured by the elite. Kasparov was playing the Queen's Gambit Accepted until he retired, and the Queen's Gambit Declined has been trusted for a century. The principled way for White to build a repertoire after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 is to play the critical main lines. Take as much space as possible - no compromises. The Tarrasch, Chigorin, Albin and all minor lines are also met with the same vigour - this is a complete White repertoire after 1.d4 d5 2.c4.

Playing the Queen's Gambit: A Grandmaster Guide

Humor & Entertainment

Schandorff, Lars

Puzzles & Games

Grandmaster Repertoire - 1.e4 vs The Sicilian II by Parimarjan Negi (2015-11-18)

Parimarjan Negi

Lars Schandorff's two volumes on 1.d4 were celebrated by reviewers and grandmasters. GM Simen Agdestein said: "I have recently been reading Lars Schandorff's Playing 1.d4 books, thinking that it cannot possibly get more instructive than this." Meanwhile, GM Boris Avrukh's verdict was simple: "Lars, I want to play your book." Now Schandorff switches sides and offers a top-class Semi-Slav repertoire against 1.d4. The Semi-Slav strikes the perfect balance of ambition and soundness, which has made it popular at every level up to and including the world championship. Black needs to know his stuff, but Schandorff is the ideal guide to make the learning process a pleasure. Lars Schandorff is a Danish grandmaster who is renowned for his deep opening preparation

Grandmaster Repertoire 20: The Semi-Slav. Hardcover

Lars Schandorff

‘Chess is 99% tactics’ is an old saying. This may be an exaggeration, but even the remaining 1% still depends on tactics. When Martin Weteschnik started working as a trainer in his local chess club, he quickly realized that even the stronger club players had great weaknesses in their tactical play. He also discovered that simply asking them to solve a huge number of puzzles did not fix the problem. These players clearly needed a good book, but when Weteschnik looked for it he found nothing suitable, so he decided to write it himself. But Weteschnik was not completely satisfied with the book and decided to restructure and rewrite it completely.

Understanding Chess Tactics

Weteschnik, Martin

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Quality Chess Europe publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Quality Chess Europe