In American Grandmaster, Joel Benjamin takes the reader on a journey through chess adventures spanning more than thirty years. Tracing through his own career, from being a prodigy in the 'Fischer boom' era thorough to an experienced Grandmaster with many titles, Benjamin is in a unique position to highlight the major changes that have occurred both in US and international chess throughout the last four decades.
Frank Marshall (1877–1944) reigned as America’s chess champion from 1907 through 1936—the longest stint of anyone in history. A colorful character almost always decked out in an ascot and chewing a cigar, his career coincided with many evolutionary changes in competitive chess. Marshall was a master gamesman. He took up the game of salta, akin to Chinese checkers, and was soon world champion. But more than anything, he loved chess, claiming that after he learned the game at 10 he played every day for the next 57 years. Marshall’s life and playing style are fully examined here, including 220 of his games (some never before published) with 190 positional diagrams.
Updating a Classic! Five years ago, when ChessBase Complete was released, it was an instant sensation. For the first time ever, a comprehensive manual for one of the most popular chess programs was available. It covered ChessBase through version 12. Since then, ChessBase has introduced three new versions and a remarkable (and free) suite of online tools for the world wide web. Many new and powerful functions have been added, all with an eye towards ease-of-use. This Supplement updates the original ChessBase Complete, and once again gives the chess community the opportunity to make the most of this remarkable software. Searches are much more powerful, analysis has been automated, and we can now take full advantage of storing and sharing our data in a “chess cloud.” While this Supplement should be helpful to all ChessBase users, it builds upon the original edition. If you do not already have the first edition, you may wish to consider getting it. ChessBase Complete and this Supplement should make your chess time much more productive and enjoyable and, with the software at hand, vastly accelerate your chess improvement. About the Author: Jon Edwards recently qualified for the World Correspondence Chess Championship final round. He won the 10th United States Correspondence Championship in 1997 and the 8th North American Invitational Correspondence Chess Championship in 1999. He is a four-time winner of the APCT (American Postal Chess Tournaments) Championship and has been awarded the APCT Game of the Year Award twice. He received his correspondence International Master (IM) in 1997, his Senior International Master (SIM) in 1999. He is currently fighting for his final grandmaster norm in the prestigious ICCF Spanish Masters. He has competed on the United States Correspondence Chess Olympiad team competing, reaching the final round. His correspondence ICCF rating places him the top 100 correspondence chess players worldwide. In addition to the extremely popular ChessBase Complete, Jon has written more than a dozen chess books, including The Chess Analyst (Thinkers Press 1999) which chronicles the success in the US championship; Teach Yourself Visually: Chess (Wiley 2006); a photographically based chess primer; and Sacking the Citadel: The History, Theory, and Practice of the Classic Bishop Sacrifice (Russell Enterprises 2011). He also writes a regular column on Chess Technology for the American Chess Magazine.
At the U.S. Championship in 1989, Stuart Rachels seemed bound for the cellar. Ranked last and holding no IM norms, the 20-year-old amateur from Alabama was expected to get waxed by the American top GMs of the day that included Seirawan, Gulko, Dzindzichashvili, deFirmian, Benjamin and Browne. Instead, Rachels pulled off a gigantic upset and became the youngest U.S. Champion since Bobby Fischer. Three years later he retired from competitive chess, but he never stopped following the game. In this wide-ranging, elegantly written, and highly personal memoir, Stuart Rachels passes on his knowledge of chess. Included are his duels against legends such as Kasparov, Anand, Spassky, Ivanchuk, Gelfand and Miles, but the heart of the book is the explanation of chess ideas interwoven with his captivating stories. There are chapters on tactics, endings, blunders, middlegames, cheating incidents, and even on how to combat that rotten opening, the Réti. Rachels offers a complete and entertaining course in chess strategy. At the back are listed 110 principles of play—bits of wisdom that arise naturally in the book’s 24 chapters. Every chess player will find it difficult to put this sparkling book down. As a bonus, it will make you a better player.
