The Grandmaster

Otto Penzler and the Mystery Writers of America present Grandmaster by Warren Murphy and Molly Cochran, winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback Original in 1985. Two men, born on the same day on opposite sides of the world, driven to oppose each other--for only one man may be the Grandmaster. Justin Gilead and Alexander Zharkov, two men driven by powerful forces they can neither understand nor deny--driven to fight each other in a battle for power that only one of them may win. Gilead, a magnificent athlete, an American, a genius, and a spy. Zharkov, a master strategist, head of the feared secret service agency, Nichevo, a determined, ambitious man. They first meet as ten-year-old chess prodigies-both lonely, both meaning to win, both born under the magical sign of the gold coiled serpent. They will come to know the uses of pleasure, the secrets of pain, the impact of evil turned upon itself. They will understand the deadly forces that grip the world in swift violence, sudden death. And they will finally know that only one man may be the Grandmaster. Grandmaster is an extraordinary tale of spymasters and assassins, murder and intrigue played against a background of Far Eastern mysticism from Moscow to Washington, from Havana to Tibet.

“A bravura performance…An entertaining book” (Kirkus Reviews) about the dramatic 2016 World Chess Championship between Norway’s Magnus Carlsen and Russia’s Sergey Karjakin, which mirrored the world’s geopolitical unrest and rekindled a global fascination with the sport. The first week of November 2016, hundreds of people descended on New York City’s South Street Seaport to watch the World Chess Championship between Norway’s Magnus Carlsen and Russia’s Sergey Karjakin. By the time it was over would be front-page news and thought by many the greatest finish in chess history. With both Carlsen and Karjakin just twenty-five years old, it was the first time the championship had been waged among those who grew up playing chess against computers. Originally from Crimea, Karjakin had recently repatriated to Russia under the direct assistance of Putin. Carlsen, meanwhile, had expressed admiration for Donald Trump, and the first move of the tournament he played was called a Trompowsky Attack. Then there was the Russian leader of the World Chess Federation being barred from attending due to US sanctions, and chess fanatic and Trump adviser Peter Thiel being called on to make the honorary first move in sudden death. That the tournament even required sudden death was a shock. Oddsmakers had given Carlsen, the defending champion, an eighty percent chance of winning. It would take everything he had to retain his title. Author Brin-Jonathan Butler was granted unique access to the two-and-half-week tournament and watched every move. The Grandmaster “is not the usual chronicle of a world-championship chess match….Butler offers insight into what it takes to become the best chess player on the planet...A vibrant and provocative look at chess and its metaphorical battle for territory and power” (Booklist).

This is a well-established training manual which encourages the average player to understand how a grandmaster thinks, and even more important, how he works. Kotov tackles fundamental issues such as knowing how and when to analyze, the tree of analysis, a selection of candidate moves and the factors of success.

Freshman Daniel Pratzer gets a chance to prove himself when the chess team invites him and his father to a weekend-long parent-child tournament. Daniel, thinking that his father is a novice, can't understand why his teammates want so badly for them to participate. Then he finds out the truth: as a teen, his father was one of the most promising young players in America, but the pressures of the game pushed him too far, and he had to give up chess to save his own life and sanity. Now, thirty years later, Mr. Pratzer returns to the game to face down an old competitor and the same dark demons that lurk in the corners of a mind stretched by the demands of the game. Daniel was looking for acceptance—but the secrets he uncovers about his father will force him to make some surprising moves himself, in Grandmaster by David Klass.

Grandmaster Miskel shares his wit and insight into the deeper meaning of martial arts. Essays like, "A Scientific Breakdown of the Strike" discuss the difference between a crushing strike, a compression strike, a jarring strike, a stunning strike, and a shocking strike that will render an opponent unconscious. Grandmaster Miskel explains the foundations and origins of many of the systems developed today. He speaks fondly of the early days and battles and with pride at the direction our brotherhood is going in the future. He talks about martial arts snobbery and petty jealousy that divide us and about the need for unity and tolerance. He reminisces about the old days in Chicago, he speaks of the philosophical principles that form our code of conduct and chivalry, and explains the concept of "coming full circle," so that, in the end, the techniques of the Grandmaster are as simple as those of a beginner, only devastatingly more effective.

Never judge a book by its cover…you will be surprised by what lies within! A Chess Grandmaster is accused of losing a World Championship game intentionally… A middle-class sexagenarian from Nagpur receives a surprise visit from an old friend… A lady will go to any extent to get an ingredient for her recipe… A Mayan explorer in 498 AD encounters a storm and drifts to ancient India… A Brigadier plans to surprise a civilian with a war memento… A politician wants to save the beautiful Seria Valley from an unscrupulous builder… A jet-setting banker gets into a verbal duel with a woman during a plane journey… Debutant author Chinmaya Desai delves into the lives of “ordinary” people and answers some extraordinary questions. Through his lucid and captivating writing, he brings to the fore how there is always something more than what meets the eye. The Grandmaster & other short stories is a selection of fictional tales that provide a glimpse of life’s different facets and oddities. It is these experiences that make our journey interesting, colourful and ends where you least expected it to. Explore these fast-paced tales, with a twist that will keep you turning pages till you reach the end…

Also known as MDZS, the comic/manhua version of the New York Times bestselling novels from China that also inspired an animated adaptation and the live-action series The Untamed! Experience this historical fantasy tale of two powerful men who find each other through life and death in this English version of the beautiful, full-color comic! Feared and hated for his sinister abilities, Wei Wuxian–the grandmaster of demonic cultivation–was driven to his death when the most powerful clans united to destroy him. Thirteen years later, Wei Wuxian is reborn. Summoned by a young man who sacrificed his soul in a forbidden ritual, Wei Wuxian is now bound to seek vengeance on the stranger’s behalf or risk the destruction of his own soul. But when an evil entity emerges, a familiar face from Wei Wuxian’s past suddenly appears amidst the chaos–a powerful cultivator who will help shine a light on the dark truths that surround them. Don’t miss this full-color xianxia fantasy manhua/comic from China about two powerful men who are drawn to each other through war and across lifetimes!

This a compendium of the world's greatest council of Grandmasters. These Grandmasters both past and present represent an amazing history of the martial arts. It contains their bios told as they want it heard and seen along with pictures past and present of these Grandmasters. The WHFSC World Head of Family Sokeship Council brings together Grandmasters and Sokes from every style of martial arts to a yearly meeting, with an awards dinner, Hall of Fame and seminars sessions given by the Grandmasters themselves. Included in the book are some of the upcoming masters in the martial arts.