The Chess Battles of Hastings
The Chess Battles of Hastings

Author: Jürgen Brustkern

Publisher: New In Chess

Published: 2022-11-05

Total Pages: 746

ISBN-13: 9493257010

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No other chess tournament has such a long and rich history as the annual gathering 'in between the years' at the English seaside resort of Hastings. Countless chess players, professionals, and amateurs alike have celebrated Christmas and welcomed the New Year in Hastings while battling it out on the chessboard. German FM Jürgen Brustkern has been making the annual pilgrimage to Hasting ever since 1977. Together with his compatriot Norbert Wallet, he describes the tournament's fascinating history and portrays forty of the most colourful participants. The stories begin in 1895 when the young American Harry Pillsbury shocked the European chess elite with his victory, and they span 125 years. In this book, you will meet the strongest female players of all time, Vera Menchik, Nona Gaprindashvili, and Judit Polgar. You will get to know the mysterious Sultan Khan and the unorthodox Michael Basman and enjoy anecdotes about Mikhail Tal, Viktor Kortchnoi, and his rival Anatoly Karpov. How many World Champions came to Hastings? How expensive was the Golden Knight trophy that Lajos Portisch won? What was the effect of the British Chess Explosion? This collection of games and stories is enjoyed best in the dark days between Christmas and New Year's Eve, after a stroll on the beach, immersed in the spirit of Hastings. 'Should I trade my Romantic style for the modern way and only hunt for points?', Nicolas Rossolimo is quoted as asking himself. 'No, I won't. I will fight for chess as an art form.'

Chess Theory from Stamma to Steinitz, 1735-1894
Chess Theory from Stamma to Steinitz, 1735-1894

Author: Frank Hoffmeister

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2023-08-11

Total Pages: 491

ISBN-13: 147664456X

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Most chess biographies present the games of famous players--but not their writings. Filling that gap, this book begins with Syrian master and author of chess studies Philip Stamma, and finishes with the first world champion William Steinitz. The main novelties in opening, middlegame and endgame theory in the 160 year period are examined and biographical sketches put the contributions of more than 30 masters into context. The author presents many new insights--for example, regarding the origins of the Ponziani Opening, the Dutch Defense and the Petroff Defense. French star La Bourdonnais used other sources for almost every part of his Nouveau Traite. Morphy's analysis of the Philidor Defense was faulty and Anderssen's play included many positional ideas. Harrwitz and Neumann published modern treatises long before Steinitz came out with his Modern Chess Instructor. Many ending themes belong to less well-known authors, such as Cozio, Chapais, van Zuylen van Nyevelt, Sarratt, Kling and Horwitz, Berger and Salvio.

Techniques of Positional Play
Techniques of Positional Play

Author: Valeri Bronznik

Publisher: New In Chess

Published: 2014-02-18

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 9056914731

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Opening preparation is useful, but understanding the middlegame is much more important. This book, an improved edition of a Russian classic, teaches amateur chess players 45 extremely effective skills in a crystal-clear manner. Quite a few of the ideas presented here will surprise the reader, because they offer solutions for problems the club player is only subconsciously aware. How do you activate your rook pawn? How do you prevent your opponent from opening a file? How do you restrict the efficacy of your opponents pieces? Which rook belongs on the c-, d- or e-file? What is the best way to exchange a piece? How do you castle artificially? In most cases the techniques are easy to understand and memorize. Bronznik and Terekhin do not burden the reader with deep analysis and only present those variations that are really necessary to get the point. There is a special training section at the end of the book where you can test your skills. ,

Sultan Khan
Sultan Khan

Author: Daniel King

Publisher: New In Chess

Published: 2020-04-08

Total Pages: 624

ISBN-13: 9056918761

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Hardly anyone paid attention when Sultan Khan arrived in London on April 26, 1929. A humble servant from a village in the Punjab, Khan had little formal education and barely spoke English. He had learned the rules of Western chess only three years earlier, yet within a few months he created a sensation by becoming the British Empire champion. Sultan Khan was taken to England by Sir Umar Hayat Khan, an Indian nobleman and politician who used his servant’s successes to promote his own interests in the turbulent years before India gained independence. Sultan Khan remained in Europe for the best part of five years, competing with the leading chess players of the era, including World Champion Alexander Alekhine and former World Champion Jose Raoul Capablanca. His unorthodox style often stunned his opponents, as Daniel King explains in his examination of the key games and tournaments in Khan’s career. Daniel King has uncovered a wealth of new facts about Khan, as well as dozens of previously unknown games. For the first time he tells the full story of how Khan, a Muslim outsider, was received in Europe, of his successes in the chess world and his return to obscurity after his departure for India in 1933.

The Immortal Game
The Immortal Game

Author: David Shenk

Publisher: Anchor Canada

Published: 2011-03-04

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 0385673787

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A surprising, charming, and ever-fascinating history of the seemingly simple game that has had a profound effect on societies the world over. Why has one game, alone among the thousands of games invented and played throughout human history, not only survived but thrived within every culture it has touched? What is it about its thirty-two figurative pieces, moving about its sixty-four black and white squares according to very simple rules, that has captivated people for nearly 1,500 years? Why has it driven some of its greatest players into paranoia and madness, and yet is hailed as a remarkably powerful intellectual tool? Nearly everyone has played chess at some point in their lives. Its rules and pieces have served as a metaphor for society, influencing military strategy, mathematics, artificial intelligence, and literature and the arts. It has been condemned as the devil’s game by popes, rabbis, and imams, and lauded as a guide to proper living by other popes, rabbis, and imams. Marcel Duchamp was so absorbed in the game that he ignored his wife on their honeymoon. Caliph Muhammad al-Amin lost his throne (and his head) trying to checkmate a courtier. Ben Franklin used the game as a cover for secret diplomacy.In his wide-ranging and ever-fascinating examination of chess, David Shenk gleefully unearths the hidden history of a game that seems so simple yet contains infinity. From its invention somewhere in India around 500 A.D., to its enthusiastic adoption by the Persians and its spread by Islamic warriors, to its remarkable use as a moral guide in the Middle Ages and its political utility in the Enlightenment, to its crucial importance in the birth of cognitive science and its key role in the aesthetic of modernism in twentieth-century art, to its twenty-first-century importance in the development of artificial intelligence and use as a teaching tool in inner-city America, chess has been a remarkably omnipresent factor in the development of civilization. Indeed, as Shenk shows, some neuroscientists believe that playing chess may actually alter the structure of the brain, that it may be for individuals what it has been for civilization: a virus that makes us smarter.

The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal
The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal

Author: Mikhail Tal

Publisher: Everyman Chess

Published: 1997-07-01

Total Pages: 639

ISBN-13: 1781944334

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Mikhail Tal, the 'magician from Riga,' was the greatest attacking World Champion of them all, and this enchanting autobiography chronicles his extraordinary career with charm and humor. Dazzling games are interspersed throughout with anecdotes and witty self-interviews, and in typically objective fashion he related both the downs and ups of his encounters. An inveterate smoker and drinker, Tal's life on the circuit was punctuated by bouts in the hospital with kidney problems, but nothing could dull his love for chess and his sheer genius on the chessboard. His illustrious tournament record, up to his death in 1992, is included here in full, along with 100 complete games and nearly as many positions. Tal's annotations in this book are a world apart from ordinary games collections. No reader could fail to be swept along by his passion and vitality as he sets the scene for an encounter and then recounts every psychological twist and turn.

The Last Conquest
The Last Conquest

Author: Berwick Coates

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013-04-11

Total Pages: 633

ISBN-13: 1471111970

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Two armies. One kingdom. Only one will win the greatest prize - the jewel of England. Hastings, October 1066. The Normans have landed in Sussex, ready for battle. They have prepared for everything about the English - except their absence… Their enemy, King Harold and his fyrd, are hundreds of miles away, fighting to expel the Viking host in the north. But they have heard that William has landed and rumour is that they are marching back, triumphant and dangerous - and spoiling for a second victory. Back in Sussex, Gilbert, a young scout in William's army, is sent out in search of the enemy. He is dedicated and ambitious, and determined to be the first with news for his leader. Deep in the English countryside, Edwin, houndsman to King Harold, longs too for glory. He has missed the first battle against the Vikings, but he will not miss the second. He knows his king is about to make history, and he is going to be part of it. And as the action sweeps up towards the hilltop close to Hastings where Harold will plant his standard - defying the Bastard of Normandy to come and get it - the ground is laid for battle. This is the story of the greatest battle ever seen on British soil and of the men who fought it. This is the story of the Battle of Hastings. Praise for The Last Conquest: 'Lovingly written, brilliantly researched, with a sure eye and heart for the characters and the time. These aren't strangers; they are real people battling with real events' Robert Low

Carlsbad International Chess Tournament 1929
Carlsbad International Chess Tournament 1929

Author: Aron Nimzovich

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2004-01-01

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 0486439429

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In this account of his victory at the 1929 Carlsbad Tournament, Nimzovich offers a captivating retrospective of his triumph over some of the best of his contemporaries: Capablanca, Spielmann, Bogolyubov, Tartakower, Sämisch, and others. A tart analysis of Carlsbad's 30 best games.