Gambit

Netflix’s most watched limited series to date! The thrilling novel of one young woman’s journey through the worlds of chess and drug addiction.​ When eight-year-old Beth Harmon’s parents are killed in an automobile accident, she’s placed in an orphanage in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. Plain and shy, Beth learns to play chess from the janitor in the basement and discovers she is a prodigy. Though penniless, she is desperate to learn more—and steals a chess magazine and enough money to enter a tournament. Beth also steals some of her foster mother’s tranquilizers to which she is becoming addicted. At thirteen, Beth wins the chess tournament. By the age of sixteen she is competing in the US Open Championship and, like Fast Eddie in The Hustler, she hates to lose. By eighteen she is the US champion—and Russia awaits . . . Fast-paced and elegantly written, The Queen’s Gambit is a thriller masquerading as a chess novel—one that’s sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. “The Queen’s Gambit is sheer entertainment. It is a book I reread every few years—for the pure pleasure and skill of it.” —Michael Ondaatje, Man Booker Prize–winning author of The English Patient

As a young man, Paul Hoffman was a brilliant chess player . . . until the pressures of competition drove him to the brink of madness. In King's Gambit, he interweaves a gripping overview of the history of the game and an in-depth look at the state of modern chess into the story of his own attempt to get his game back up to master level -- without losing his mind. It's also a father and son story, as Hoffman grapples with the bizarre legacy of his own dad, who haunts Hoffman's game and life.

Collects Deadpool V Gambit #1-5. Gambit: one of the smoothest, best-looking operators in the world of the X-Men. Deadpool: one of the most annoying, ugliest dirtbags in the world of everything. But do you know what they have in common? A secret history of working together to pull con-jobs! That’s right — the grift is on as the Regeneratin’ Degenerate and the Ragin’ Cajun begrudgingly take on one last scam together. Swindling an object of mythical power out from under a Chinese businessman sounds easy, right? Spoiler: It doesn’t go according to plan. Can Wade and Remy talk their way out of this one? Or maybe fight their way out? Would you believe cook? Plus: Who or what is the Scrambler? The pen may be mightier than the sword — now find out whether the playing card is mightier than the katana!

Solving tactical puzzles is one of the most effective ways to improve your chess. This convenient book provides 300 exercises, with instructive points highlighted in the solutions. There is something here for everyone. The puzzles in the first two chapters are based on a clear-cut tactic or checkmate, such as those explained in Gambit's best-sellers How to Beat Your Dad at Chess and Chess Tactics for Kids. The endgame challenges highlight tactics and principles in action. In practice it is vital to defend resiliently and seek counterattacking chances - there is an innovative chapter on these rarely-covered themes as well as puzzles where the reader must decide how to punch home an attack. Later chapters help readers develop a vital skill: the ability to make tough chessboard decisions. Attack, sacrifice, grab material, defend or simplify - it's for you to decide! Principles and guidelines are emphasized, together with common sources of error. The final section of puzzles will prove a stern challenge even for the best players, with the reader exposed to the full complexity of modern chess - with a few helpful hints along the way.

There was a time when the Kings Gambit was the favorite chess opening of every attacking player. In the glory days of Paul Morphy it was considered almost cowardly to play anything else. Legends such as Spassky and Bronstein kept the flame burning in the 20th century, but its popularity faded, as many players are wary of sacrificing a pawn for long-term compensation. There are honorable exceptions whose games prove that this ancient weapon can still draw blood: Morozevich, Short, Zvjaginsev and ex-US Champion Yury Shulman are world-class players who attack with the Kings Gambit.

The Benko Gambit is one of the most dynamic defences for Black against 1.d4 and is favoured by world class players such as Veselin Topalov and Alexander Khalifman, both of whom have used this defence to score memorable victories. The dynamic counterplay Black receives in return for the sacrificed queenside pawn gives Black compensation, often lasting all the way into the endgame. In this entertaining and instructive book renowned theoretician Jan Pinski clearly identifies the critical lines every player needs to know in order to play this opening, and clearly explains the core ideas of the opening. Besides being completely up-to-date and thoroughly researched, the book also contains a large amount of new analysis, including in the currently popular Epishin variation.

The Queen's Gambit Accepted (QGA) is Black's most straightforward answer to the popular Queen's Gambit. By accepting the gambit pawn, Black refuses to submit to the strategic bear-hug which is so common in the Queen's Gambit Declines. The QGA is fundamentally sound, but soon leads to sharp play where both sides have plenty of chances to play for a win.

The Inheritance Games meets Ocean’s Eleven in this cinematic heist thriller where a cutthroat competition brings together the world’s best thieves and one thief is playing for the highest stakes of all: her mother's life. At only seventeen years old, Ross Quest is already a master thief, especially adept at escape plans. Until her plan to run away from her legendary family of thieves takes an unexpected turn, leaving her mother’s life hanging in the balance. In a desperate bid, she enters the Thieves’ Gambit, a series of dangerous, international heists where killing the competition isn’t exactly off limits, but the grand prize is a wish for anything in the world—a wish that could save her mom. When she learns two of her competitors include her childhood nemesis and a handsome, smooth-talking guy who might also want to steal her heart, winning the Gambit becomes trickier than she imagined. Ross tries her best to stick to the family creed: trust no one whose last name isn’t Quest. But with the stakes this high, Ross will have to decide who to con and who to trust before time runs out. After all, only one of them can win.