This book investigates how chess-players find good ideas. Amatzia Avni, a psychologist by profession, pursues this goal by interviewing top players and analysts. The discussion focuses on their most interesting and instructive games and compositions. Avni has been careful to allow his interviewees to convey their own thoughts, rather than direct their answers to comply with any pre-existing theories. We experience the events on the board through the vivid recollections of the player. This gives us a realistic view of each struggle and how the critical decisions were really made. Avni also presents the players with some unfamiliar positions, and records their reactions upon encountering these new situations. Once we have heard from the grandmasters, Avni discusses the essence of what was said, and provides some insights and recommendations. The interviewees include famous grandmasters such as Boris Gelfand, Ilia Smirin and Lev Psakhis.

By going through the chapters, you will get acquainted with my way of grandmaster type thinking. I can assure you of one thing: there are better and weaker grandmasters, but you won't find a GM who is playing without ideas or, let's say, without his way of thinking! As you will find out, I am basically trying to detect the problem or goal of the position and then I am starting to scan factors which can lead to the solution. That process you will find in many examples in the book. GM Alojzije Jankovic, April 2020.

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.

What separates a Grandmaster from an International Master? How do the thought processes of strong club players differ from that of middling club players? What techniques can enthusiastic chess players employ when striving to reach the next rung on the ladder? Jacob Aagaard provides the answers to these questions in this fascinating and entertaining new book. The material is based around numerous carefully selected tests which are offered to a group of players of a very wide range of ages and playing strengths. Once all the participants have attempted the tests, their discoveries, solving methods, and difficulties with the exercises are evaluated and compared, and conclusions are drawn. The players are also quizzed about their exercise techniques, ideas, and opinions about chess in general. Inside the Chess Mind enters fresh territory in chess literature by providing a thought-provoking insight as to how the chess brains of the great, the good, and the improver operate. Highlights include: *Clarifies both the differences and similarities between Grandmasters and amateurs *Suitable for players of all strengths *Includes challenging puzzles *Written by a highly experienced chess coach

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.

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.

A chess grandmaster reveals the powerful teachings this ancient game offers for staying present, thriving in a complex world, and crafting a fulfilling life. Refined and perfected through 1,500 years of human history, chess has long been a touchstone for shrewd tacticians and master strategists. But the game is much more than just warfare in miniature. Chess is also an ever-shifting puzzle to be solved, a narrative to be written, and a task that demands players create their own motivation from moment to moment. In other words, as Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson argues in this kaleidoscopic and inspiring book, there are ways to see all of life reflected in those 64 black and white squares. Taking us inside the psychologically charged world of chess's global elite, Rowson mines the game for its insights into sustaining focus, quieting our inner saboteur, making tough decisions, overcoming failure, and more. He peels back the beguiling logic of chess to reveal the timeless wisdom underneath. This exhilarating tour ranges from learning how to love our mistakes to considering why people are like trees; from the mysteries of parenting to the beauty of technical details, to the endgame of death. Throughout, chess emerges as a powerful and accessible metaphor for the thrills and setbacks that fill our daily lives with meaning and beauty.