The back catalogue of New In Chess magazine is a fabulous source of chess instruction. For more than three decades every issue has been full of detailed and highly enlightening annotations by the world’s best players of their own best games. Acclaimed chess author Steve Giddins is firmly convinced that for the average player, the study of well-annotated master games is the best way to learn the skills that really matter. Therefore he has revisited the New In Chess vault and assembled the clearest and most didactic examples. 'The New in Chess Book of Improvement' is a treasure trove of study material and has chapters on attack and defense, sacrifices, material imbalances, pawn structures, endgames and various positional themes. Giddins’ selection includes masterclasses by no fewer than eight World Champions: Tal, Smyslov, Karpov, Kramnik, Anand, Topalov Carlsen and Kasparov. But also chess legends such as Larsen, Kortchnoi, Timman, Ivanchuk, Short, Aronian and Shirov. Together they represent an exciting picture of modern top level chess. They also provide the high standard of instructional material that today’s club player, much stronger than his equivalent 25 or more years ago, needs.

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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.

Written by Barry Hymer and Peter Wells, Chess Improvement: It's all in the mindset is an engaging and instructive guide that sets out how the application of growth mindset principles can accelerate chess improvement. With Tim Kett and insights from Michael Adams, David Howell, Harriet Hunt, Gawain Jones, Luke McShane, Matthew Sadler and Nigel Short. Foreword by Henrik Carlsen, father of world champion Magnus Carlsen. Twenty-first-century knowledge about skills development and expertise requires us to keep such mystical notions as fixed 'talent' in perspective, and to emphasise instead the dynamic and malleable nature of these concepts. Nowhere is this more apparent than in chess, where many gifted players fall prey to plausible but self-defeating beliefs and practices - and thereby fail to achieve the levels their 'natural' abilities predicted. Happily, however, the reverse can be true too; through learned dispositions such as grit, risk-taking, strategic thinking and a capacity for sheer hard work, players of apparently modest abilities can achieve impressive results. Blending theory, practice and the distinct but complementary skills of two authors - one an academic (and amateur chess player) and the other a highly regarded England Chess Olympiad coach (and grandmaster) - Chess Improvement is an invaluable resource for any aspirational chess player or coach/parent of a chess player. Barry and Peter draw on interviews conducted with members of England's medal-winning elite squad of players and provide a template for chess improvement rooted in the practical wisdom of experienced chess players and coaches. They also include practical illustrative descriptions from the games and chess careers of both developing and leading players, and pull together themes and suggestions in a way which encourages readers to create their own trajectories for chess improvement.