Explains all legal chess moves, and discusses the regulations governing tournaments, lifetime rankings, and tournament director certification.

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.

Jose Raul Capablanca is renowned for his exquisite positional play and flawless endgame technique. But The Chess Machine was also a master of that other way to deliver mate: the attack on the enemy king.In this groundbreaking work, award-winning chess coach and author Frisco Del Rosario shines a long-overdue light on this neglected aspect of Capablanca's record. He illustrates how the Cuban genius used positional concepts to build up irresistible king hunts, embodying the principles of good play advocated by the unequaled teacher, C.J.S. Purdy. The author also identifies an overlooked checkmate pattern - Capablanca's Mate - that aspiring attackers can add to the standard catalogue in Renaud and Kahn's The Art of the Checkmate. As Del Rosario shows, Capablanca has inspired not only generations of players, but also many of the classics of chess literature.Easy to read but chock-full of advice for study and practical play, Capablanca: A Primer of Checkmate fills a gaping hole in our understanding of the third World Champion.

If only real life were like a book on chess tactics! But during a game you are on your own, and nobody will whisper in your ear that you have reached a position that is, in fact, a tactical puzzle and all you have to do is solve it. What you need, discovered Emmanuel Neiman in his long career as a chess trainer, is a way to read the signals which indicate that, somewhere in the position you are looking at, there is a tactical blow. What you need is a Chess Tactics Antenna! This trailblazing book by award-winning author Neiman provides a set of tools that enables the average club player to determine the moment he needs to look for win. ,

If you want to improve at chess, you must know the characteristics of typical pawn formations. Understanding the pawn structure is a key tool when you are evaluating a position on the board. One simple pawn move can ruin your position or win the game. Post-beginners should know the basic essentials of chess structures and that is what this modern training manual focuses on. Experienced chess teacher Grandmaster Jörg Hickl helps you to recognize the important characteristics of pawn structures, learn how you can and should develop your pieces, identify how you can improve your position and develop a plan of action. This book provides common sense guidance and Jörg Hickl uses practical examples to explain typical structures, strategies and plans. His tips and exercises are both highly enjoyable and to the point.