Search results for ""Author Al Lawrence""

Chess For the Gifted and Busy cuts through the mysteries of strategy and tactics to show you just what you need to know and delivers all the essential knowledge.

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Master the ancient art of chess, the game of kings. Learn the key techniques and classic moves of the chess masters, including basic and advanced tactics, combinations, sacrifices, and pawn structures. Over 300 examples demonstrate attacking and defensive strategies for the opening, middle, and end phases of the game.

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Three Days with Bobby Fischer and Other Chess Essays: How to Meet Champions & Choose Your Openings is a chess book you can sit back comfortably in your armchair and just read. Or, when you feel like getting the pieces out of the box and learning from some great games, tactics and strategiesthat's all here as well. Nearly everyone with an interest in chess shares the same two questions: What were the great champions like? How can I choose opening moves that give me a good game? Chess Hall-of-Famer and three-time US Champion Lev Alburt teams up with World Chess Hall of Fame Executive Director and Chess Journalist of the Year Award winner Al Lawrence to answer these questions and tell the intriguing, inspiring and sometimes downright bizarre behind-the-scenes stories of the chess greats and near-greats, and how, above all else, they were men of their times. Steinitz, who codified the rules of good playbefore going berserk Lasker, the chessboard Freudian who wielded psychological weapons Capablanca, dashingly handsome and to whom everything came easy Alekhine, a dsiplaced person who gave up drink to win Under-rated Euwe, the last amateur to become world champion Botvinnik, who refrained from sex to preserve his phosphorus Smyslov, an amateur opera singer who brought chess and artist' touch Tal, whose gaze and red-hot sacrifices wilted even the toughest wills Petrosian, who through chess became a paradoxa Soviet bourgeois Spassky, irreverent attacker who bowed to enigmatic Bobby Fischer Karpov, the positional boa constrictor of the board Kasparov, the char8smatic boxer-chess-player who's still at the top. And many more great players of the past and present who never made it to the very top, but nevertheless left their indelible mark on the game.

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Chess is a refreshing pastime for most players, and an all-encompassing obsession for a few. And yet much of chess literature—heavy on notation, low on useful illustrations, frustrating for the beginner—is directed at those already in the know. Knack Chess for Everyone provides an alternative: a clear, understandable, and fun entry into chess that doesn't ignore the complexities and challenges. Photographs of actual game boards, often paired with a diagram, represent the perspective of the player looking at the pieces. The book clearly explains the rules of play and movement of pieces, and then gradually introduces various tactics and strategies.

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Chess Rules of Thumb gives you the winning principles of chess in clear, short statements. Three-time US Champion Lev Alburt and World Chess Hall of Fame Curator Al Lawrence have put together three centuries of insights from the masters. Fun to browse or to read from cover-to-cover, it's a book that all chess playersfrom beginners to grandmasterslwiull enjoy for a lifetime. Like life, chess has its rules. The difference that your parents probably didn't tell you about chess. Never cross the street before looking both ways. Never discuss portable explosives in the airport security line. Never overthrow the cut-off man. Never download email from someone you don't know. Never take the queen's knight pawn. Save hours of head-scratching and uncertainty in your own games and understand why the masters make the moves they do: The worst square for a White knight is b.2. With rook vs. two knights, exchanging queens is worth a pawn. Never capture the b.2 pawn with the queen. Rooks united on the seventh are blind pigs. The winner is the one who commits the next-to-last mistake. Backed up with diagrams and illustrations to help you remember key principles, a glossary of essential chess terms and a rundown on all major openings, Chess Rules of Thumb will improve your chess play. And it's great fun to read! Never buy a chess book that isn't fun!

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Chess Training Pocket Book II is a sequel to the best-selling Chess Training Pocket Book: 300 Most Important Positions and Ideas. In the same tradition, this follow-up volume will save you years of hit-and-miss reading and sporadic improvement because it gathers together for you the crucial, game-winning knowledge in one easy-to-carry book. It will test, train, and sharpen your thinking skills. Each carefully chosen position offers a crucial building block in your chess knowledge.

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