Modern Chess Preparation

Opening, middlegame and endgame are the three universally recognized stages of a game of chess, but what about the art of preparation? Winning starts with planning before the game, teaches legendary chess trainer Vladimir Tukmakov in this enlightening and entertaining work on a neglected subject. Exploring and understanding, prior to the game, the strengths and weaknesses of your next opponent and being aware of your own strong points and shortcomings, are a key to success. Tukmakov describes how planning has become a systematic process, how methodical preparation works, and which critical steps you have to take. The role of the computer in preparing for a game has grown tremendously, and Modern Chess Preparation explains how it is used by top players to get organized for success. But you will also learn the limitations on the use of chess engines and databases and how disastrous it can be to overly respect them and rely on them. A separate chapter is devoted on how to prepare for all-important games, games that will decide a tournament, a match or a even an entire career. Modern Chess Preparation is about more than just opening preparation. It also teaches you how to immerse yourself in order to find the best approach to the game. With powerful anecdotes and many instructive high-level games, Tukmakov explains how, as a competitive chess player, you can organize your homework, focus your efforts, and arrive at a viable game plan. Vladimir Tukmakov is a chess grandmaster and a former national champion of Ukraine. In his active career he won many tournaments as well as gold medals in international team competitions. He is universally acknowledged as an outstanding chess trainer and coach. ,

One, and sometimes more engines, toil without rationing electricity, sometimes checking on their master's ideas or more oft en showing their own evaluations and recommendations on screen with each conclusion supplemented by an exact numeric equivalent. There is no arguing with such an expert. Is it even necessary? He, as the almighty judge, knows all and can answer any question. All that is needed is patience. During a mutual training session, a young player who is currently one of the top in the world, asked Garry Kasparov: "How did you evaluate positions in the past?" After all standard evaluations like "better" or "worse" are too vague and cannot begin to satisfy a modern professional. Th e very question feels like a giant gap between the approach to solving chess problems then and now. Intuition and improvisation are gradually phased out by exact knowledge and calculation. So far this has only become fully evident in the opening. More than anything else it has become opening preparation which has made the biggest fundamental change to professional chess. So now let us peer behind the curtain!

The classic chess reference book – as seen in Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit. The standard reference work on chess openings for more than half a century, earning the epithet 'the chess player's bible'. Batsford's Modern Chess Openings is the most comprehensive single-volume work on the openings. Covering every standard line of play, it provides the distilled essence of contemporary opening theory. This edition is an indispensable reference work for club and tournament players.International Grandmaster Nick de Firmian is a three-times US Champion and an expert on opening theory. He helped develop computer Deeper Blue's opening repertoire in its match victory over arch-theoretician Gary Kasparov.

PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION In the Sixth Edition of this book there is a notable change, which we are sure that all our supporters will appreciate. While we were considering the advisability of bringing it out in the current year we were approached by Mr. Reuben Fine with a suggestion that he should under take the task of revision and we gladly agreed. Reuben Fine needs no introduction to those who are interested in the game of chess. His past achievements had already made him famous and he added another glorious chapter to the story of his career, just as he had finished his work for us, by tieing for the first place in the great A. V. R. O. Tournament towards the end of 1938. Naturally we gave our reviser a free hand in dealing with his task, merely reserving to ourselves the editorial right of making such slight changes in his text as might seem to us necessary. Mr. Fine, however, scrupulously adhered to the traditions of Modern Chess Openings, while availing himself fully of the privilege which must be con ceded to a master of his rank of expressing his personal opinions on the lines of play which are illustrated in the book, and altering as he thought fit the introductions to the various openings. In comparing this new edition with its predecessor we may note that it contains 332 pages and 1,215 columns, as against 300 pages and 1,060 columns of seven years ago, We have gladly got rid of the cumbrous device of Addenda, which was forced upon us by circumstances of production in 1932. We have also, in deference to Mr. Fines wishes, abandoned the use of starred columns to indicate what appears to be the best line of play for both sides. In his preface the reviser explains the systemadopted by him in appraising lines of play, so no comment on it is needed from us. The only difficulty which arose in the completion of this edition was caused by our desire to introduce new variations from the A. V. R. O. Tournament after the manuscript had been sent to the printers and was in process of being set up. The printers work was held back sufficiently to permit the mention of the most important of these and it so happened that this delay made it possible to put in some of the novelties from the Hastings Tourna ment of 1938-39 and a few from the Leningrad-Moscow Tournament this year. In conclusion we should like to convey our personal thanks to Mr. Fine for the admirable way in which he has carried out his revision on which point we think our readers will agree, and to acknowledge how little he left us to do. The manuscript was typed by his wife, and the printers had no difficulty on the score of illegibility. We desire also to express our gratitude to all who have helped us in the preparation of this new editi6n, and especially to our assistants in the exacting work of reading the proofs, with particular mention of Messrs. F. J. Camm and R. Hutter, and Sir Gilbert Jackson. T E EDITORS. London, Januar 1939. THE task of revising Modern Chess Openings has been both arduous and pleasant arduous because of the almost endless ramifications of modern opening theory, which necessitated the examination of the openings of thousands of games pleasant because the result is a solution, albeit an incomplete one, to the complicated labyrinth. I have been guided by the principle of the earlier editions, that this work is intended to be both modern and practical For that reason I haveenlarged the sections on the Queens side openings and the Ruy Lopez, as these are the sine qua non of contemporary tournaments, although I have refrained from paying too much attention to any particular variation in these openings, since the practical player must be acquainted with a great number of different lines. I wish to express my grateful thanks to various friends who have helped me particularly to Mr...

* The perfect survival guide to the chess openings * All openings covered * Detailed verbal explanations of plans for both sides * Up-to-date and featuring many tips and recommendations * Insights into the 'character' of each opening * Written by one of the world's foremost opening experts The first moves of a chess game define the nature of the whole struggle, as both players stake their claim to the critical squares and start to develop their plans. It is essential to play purposefully and to avoid falling into traps or reaching a position that you don't understand. This is not a book that provides masses of variations to memorize. Paul van der Sterren instead offers a wealth of ideas and explanation, together with the basic variations of each and every opening. This knowledge will equip players to succeed in the opening up to good club level, and provide a superb grounding in opening play on which to build a more sophisticated repertoire. The strategies he explains will, unlike ever-changing chess opening theory, remain valid as long as chess is played, and so the time spent studying this book will be rewarded many times over. Grandmaster Paul van der Sterren has won the Dutch Championship on two occasions, and in 1993 reached the Candidates stage of the World Chess Championship. He is an internationally renowned chess writer and editor: he was one of the founding editors of New in Chess, for whose Yearbooks he has contributed more than 150 opening surveys.

'A terrific work that is particularly suited for those from beginner to club player' JOHN WATSON, The Week in Chess The fully revised and updated award-winning, bestselling, classic chess book by FIDE Master and chess world-record holder, Graham Burgess. Comprehensive and clear, this fully revised and updated fourth edition of Graham Burgess's bestselling chess classic is an invaluable guide to help any player progress to good club level and better. It provides a complete guide to the main chess openings along with hundreds of test positions for players at every level. This new edition includes: Expanded and updated sections on playing online chess and using computers. A complete and detailed guide to all the main chess openings. Hundreds of new training exercises for players of all standards. Courses in tactics, attacking strategy, combinations and endgames. Analysis of some of the greatest games ever played. Information and advice on club, national, and international tournaments. A comprehensive A-Z glossary of chess terminology. Practical advice and information for further study. New sections on endgame studies and problems, with all examples from 2020 or 2021.

This series provides an ideal platform to study chess openings. By continually challenging the reader to answer probing questions throughout the book, the Move by Move format greatly encourages the learning and practising of vital skills just as much as the traditional assimilation of opening knowledge. Carefully selected questions and answers are designed to keep you actively involved and allow you to monitor your progress as you learn. This is an excellent way to study any chess opening and at the same time improve your general chess skills and knowledge. The Nimzo-Larsen Attack is an ideal opening choice for players keen to avoid mainline theory but still wanting to set their opponents problems from the outset. In the Nimzo-Larsen, White begins 1 b3 and then develops in hypermodern fashion - planning to undermine any central structures Black dares to erect. A key attraction of the Nimzo-Larsen is that White can steer the game into either sharp play or elaborate strategic battles. In this book, International Master Cyrus Lakdawala invites you to join him in examining the many different variations of the Nimzo-Larsen. Lakdawala studies the typical plans and tactics for both sides, offers repertoire options for White, provides answers to all the key questions and tells you everything you need to know about playing the Nimzo-Larsen Attack. Essential guidance and training in the Nimzo-Larsen AttackPresents a repertoire for White with 1 b3Utilizes an ideal approach to chess study