Great chess master shares his secrets, including basic methods of gaining advantages, exchange value of pieces, openings, combinations, position play, aesthetics, and other important maneuvers. More than 300 diagrams.

The Blue Book of Chess is a book about chess by a chess master Howard Staunton intended for teaching the rudiments of the game of chess, and giving an analysis of all the recognized openings. The main goal was to simplify a great variety and the delicate distinctions of the openings, showing such moves as are recognized to be the best. At each opening, the student of the game is presented with the variations made by experienced players in accordance with circumstances. The book is illustrated with a great variety of actually played games by numerous chess masters in order to make the understanding the subject easier.

This book portrays British chess life in the nineteenth century through biographical studies of ten players who shaped the modern game. From Captain Evans, inventor of the famous gambit, to Isidor Gunsberg, England's first challenger for the world championship, personal narratives are blended with game annotations to reassess players' achievements and character. The author has combined deep reading in primary sources with genealogical research to reveal new facts and correct previous misunderstandings. Major chapters on Howard Staunton and William Steinitz, in particular, highlight the tensions between Englishmen and immigrants, amateurs and professionals. The contrasting long careers of Henry Bird and Joseph Blackburne provide a thread of continuity. The lives of several other important figures in Victorian chess are also presented. More than 160 games (with diagrams), several annotated in detail, and 50 photographs and line drawings are included. Appendices provide career records for all ten; there are extensive notes, a bibliography and indexes.

This book is designed to immediately improve your game. Eric Schiller, a legendary teacher of bright young stars and champions, shows you in seven lessons that cover every aspect of the game how to rethink the moves you make and become a winning player. The book includes more than 55 key game situations, and is packed with diagrams and insightful callouts so that every page brings you one step closer to being a master! Chess is a game of mistakes; if you can cut down on them, your game will get much stronger. This unique approach shows the mistakes Schiller has made in his own games at each stage of chess development from early scholastic challenges to professional encounters with grandmasters to illustrate the types of errors typically made in real games. In each case, you'll learn how such errors could have been avoided. You'll also see how professional players fall prey to the same problems as amateurs! Featuring instructive lessons in the opening, basic tactics, basic strategy, middlegame, endgame and lesssons learned.