Product Description
This book contains a biorgraphy of Vladimir Kranmik, his 30 games with commentary as well as 100 ones with no commentary in the period from 1991-1995. ... Read more

Product Description
Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Vladimir Kramnik, Judit Polgár, Hou Yifan, Wang Yue, Susan Polgar, Veselin Topalov, Bu Xiangzhi, Teimour Radjabov, Levon Aronian, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Valentina Golubenko, Peter Leko, Jeff Sarwer, Alexei Shirov, Ruslan Ponomariov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Pendyala Harikrishna, Étienne Bacrot, Ronen Har-Zvi, Sergey Karjakin, Ildikó Mádl, Luke Mcshane, Viktorija Čmilytė, Vladimir Akopian, Yu Yangyi, Gabriel Sargissian, Peter Svidler, Vera Nebolsina, Shen Yang, Almira Skripchenko, Natalia Zhukova, Xu Yuanyuan, Zhu Chen, Jon Arnason, Sofia Polgar, Paul Motwani, Alisa Galliamova, Julio Granda, Anna Muzychuk, Zhao Xue, Antoaneta Stefanova, Joël Lautier, Koneru Humpy, Alexey Dreev, Boris Avrukh, Rusudan Goletiani, Evgeny Bareev, Nana Dzagnidze, Kateryna Lahno, Alex Lenderman, Dmitry Jakovenko, Robert Kempiński, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Francisco Vallejo Pons, Marsel Efroimski, Maxim Rodshtein, Konstantin Sakaev, Mirjana Marić, Elisabeth Pähtz, Deysi Cori, Radosław Wojtaszek, Tan Zhongyi, Vladimir Malakhov, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Sergei Tiviakov, le Quang Liem, Valery Salov, Ilya Gurevich, Ivan Šarić, Corina Peptan, Ivana Maria Furtado, Alexander Areshchenko, Dronavalli Harika, Zahar Efimenko, Tea Bosboom-Lanchava, Iweta Rajlich, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Zviad Izoria, Zoltán Almási, Borki Predojević, Jolanta Zawadzka, Hannes Stefansson, Lara Stock, Atousa Pourkashian, Nino Khurtsidze, Kamil Mitoń, Srinath Narayanan, Ahmed Adly, Alexander Riazantsev, Daniel Naroditsky, Rafael Leitão, Nicholas Pert, Soumya Swaminathan, Sahaj Grover, Laura Rogule. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Hou Yifan (Chinese: ; pinyin: Hóu Yìfán ·)) (born February 27, 1994, in Xinghua, Taizhou, Jiangsu, China) is a Chinese chess prodigy, who in 2008, became the youngest ever female in history ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=4498970 ... Read more

Product Description

Combinations have long been considered the most creative aspect of chess. From the vast sea of chess games a thousand combinations have been chosen: the most artistic, elegant, and famous. Yet chess tactics are not only for aesthetic enjoyment : they help win games.

 This book will expand your chess horizons and help you to

• See how chess combinations have evolved over the last 1,000 years
• Learn to recognize tactical patterns from real-life examples
• Improve your chances of finishing off your opponent with a tactical blow
• Find combinations missed by Grandmasters

 Chess Gems is certain to sharpen your knowledge of both tactics and chess history.

Customer Reviews (5)

Great chess book on tactics
I have several books on chess tactics. I bounce back and forth from book to book so I won't get bored with any one book. This book is probably in my top 3 as far as tactics go. Very well worth having in your chess library

Excellent Book...!!
Excellent book! What is great about this is the fact that it often shows the "from square" along with the "to square" of the moves that were made....A must have chess book!

Not Good For Kindle
I have been picking up chess again, and have been working on my tactics. This book has strong reviews, but unfortunately it is not properly formatted for kindle.

Board displays are too small and grainy, and the annotations are terrible.

Get "Practical Chess Exercises: 600 Lessons from Tactics to Strategy" instead.

Libro muy bueno
Este libro me gusto mucho porque trata de combinaciones de todos los tiempos y hace referencia a juegos desde napoleon, la edad media hasta nuestros dias, hay combinaciones faciles y otras no tanto la verdad es agradable y un placer leer lo recomiendo.

Best book on tactics!
Back in the summer of 2007 I worked through the Russian edition of this book (even though I don't read Russian). I was very impressed with the collection of chess problems. Now that it has been translated into English, I'm going to work through the book again. The author works through the whole history of chess to present the best combinations from each period. The chapters are:
(1) According to the Rules of Shatranj, 9th to 15th centuries;
(2) From Lucena to Greco, 15th to 17th centuries;
(3) From Stamma to Philidor, 18th century;
(4) From Napoleon to Staunton, 1800-1850;
(5) Anderssen and Morphy, 1851-1860;
(6) First Unofficial World Championship Match, 1861-1870;
(7) Zukertort and Chigorin, 1871-1880;
(8) Steinitz -- the First World Champion, 1881-1890;
(9) Lasker and Pillsbury, 1891-1900;
(10) Matches of the Second World Champion, 1901-1920;
(11) Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, 1921-1940;
(12) Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, 1941-1960;
(13) Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer, 1961-1980; and
(14) Karpov-Kasparov, 1981-2000.

... Read more

Product Description
In 2000, in London, Vladimir Kramnik caused a sensation by dethroning Garry Kasparov as the reigning world chess champion. Kramnik defended his title successfully in 2004 against Peter Leko. In 2006 in Elista (the capital of the Caucasian republic Kalmykia) Kramnik defeated Veselin Topalov in a match that caused a worldwide scandal because of the accusations of fraud by the Topalov team.This is the inside story written by two confidants and seconds of Vladimir Kramnik. The match strategy, the secrets, the threats, the stress: all twists and turns of top level chess in the pressure cooker of a championship match are revealed in a truly unique document. All the games in all three matches are instructively annotated. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A truly fantastic and deep match book
This book covers, in perhaps unprecedented depth, Kramnik's matches starting with Kasparov and through to Leko and Topalov. The standout is the commentary by Bareev who was present as one of Kramnik's seconds for the first two matches, and brings fantastic insights into the whole gamut of playing a world championship match (including the need for a good cook). The at times complex material is done with a lot of humour. For example, in commenting on what the players could have learned from previous world championship matches it is suggested that the great Petrosian did not know how to handle positions with an isolated pawn (versus Spassky in 1969)! Another example at Kasparov's expense is what is referred to as the 'blunder of the century'. In terms of excellent match books, I can only compare this with Kasparov's excellent two volumes on his matches with Karpov and Tal's book on his first match with Botvinnik (often rated as one of the best chess works ever written). The games are very well explained, as is the background to the battle and selection of opening, and represents a book that you will return to often, and learn more each time. This includes the large number of fighting draws (especially in the matches with Kasparov and of course with Leko) which are made very interesting and entertaining. While written for strong players, I believe that everyone can draw value from this work as you can skim the surface or do a deep dive into each game as you want. The book is very well bound and presented by New in Chess (just like their fantastic magazine) and deserves a place in any keen player's library who wants to know more about modern chess.

Excellent read
From London to Elista: The Inside Story of the World Chess Championship Matches That Vladimir Kramnik Won Against Garry Kasparov, Peter Leko and Vesilin Topalov I found the book to read easily and the material with analysis is very strong.

From London to Elista: The Inside Story of the World Chess Championship Matches That Vladimir Kramnik Won Against Garry Kasparov
After I have seen this book I must say that it is a "must" that anyone should have. It is shameful that somebody that wants to become the undisputed world champion, tries to win it by means that do not belong to the sport. To accuse someone and to have no proof at all of anything, it is only show of seomone who is not capable of getting anything via normal ways.
Definitely Kramnik won "EVERY SINGLE POINT" on the chess board. I have seen the San Luis 2005 book, and I would say, that yes it might have some points in which Topalov could have worked on his own before computers were well developed. But, to try to win a WCC match by no sportive means. That's something else!. NO EXCUSE for that!!!
I really like the book!

A book that brings joy...
If you are a typical chess amateur like me who loves to read chess books more for the anecdotes, and sort of wishes that the games and analysis would somehow automatically permeate through to my consciousness, then you will love this book.

The stories and accounts are fascinating, Ilya Luvitov in particular asks some very sharp and direct questions and this brings out the best of Bareev. And snippets in between from thoughts of Kramnik and Lautier and the occassional quip from an Kasparov interview keep making the book more colorful.

The games are full of diagrams and there is both sufficient text commentary that you dont need to setup a board and also there is enough analysis to keep one busy if one did get the pieces out !

A book not to be missed, unique amongst all chess books in the way it captures the very heart of the human element of competitive endeavour.

Insight from the champions side of chessboard
First I want to clarify and say that this book deserves its good reputation, and its high selling volume since it first came out is justified. One can enjoy penetrating into thinking process of the skilled chess professionals who had been interviewed from the Kramnik camp, as well as read excripts from the other GMs cited from different sources.
Sheer amount of psychology involved into pre-game preparation is puzzling, and drive one to continuously read it. Concreatly, I was more interested into reading details of pre-game preparation process and post-mortem reactions, than of analysis of the games played. Fortunatelly, analysis material of the games is significantly lighter that that of the "San Luis 2005" book, but still it wouldnt mind if some more textual explanation had been added into it, especially at late opening phase mortals nowdays are hard to grasp.
From historical perspective this is the book to have on your chess shelf to cover world championship matches starting from 2000 and leading to final unification match in 2006.
Recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
1] Mikhail Tal Games 1949 - 1962; 2] Mikhail Tal Games 1963 - 1972; 3] Mikhail Tal Games 1973 - 1981; 4] Mikhail Tal Games 1982 - 1992 * 4 Volumes, over 2700+ Games * ANNOTATIONS by 5 SUPER GMS ... Read more

Product Description
Mikhail Tal I-III (2017 Games) 3 Chess Books * Mikhail Tal I: 1949-1962; Mikhail Tal II: 1963-1972; Mikhail Tal III: 1973-1982 - ... Read more

Product Description
Since he arrived on the chess scene in 1992 at the age of 16, Vladimir Kramnik has been tipped as a future World Chamption. Here, he annotates 100 of his best games, and talks about his life and unusual childhood.Amazon.com Review
Vladimir Kramnik is something of an anomaly in the chessworld, a top-seeded grandmaster who has refused to devote all hisenergy to the game. "By nature, I am not ambitious," hesays. Nevertheless, the Russian-born prodigy has managed to float tothe top of the chess world, ranked just behind champion Garry Kasparovat the turn of the millennium.

The subtitle to Kramnik's book is "My Life and Games," but there is,in fact, little distinction between the two; the game has dominatedKramnik's life from the age of 5. By age 16, he was playing on theworld chess scene, and at age 25, in 2000, he is one of the fewplayers who can regularly hold his own against Kasparov.

Kramnik reads less like a traditional autobiography than atranscript of 50-plus games from his career. They include key matcheswith Kasparov, Karpov, Anand, Topalov, Ivanchuk, Shirov, and othergreats, stretching back to 1984. Colorful biographical tidbits appearbetween games, offering glimpses of Kramnik's life outside chess--welearn he's a lousy cook, suffers insomnia from the pressure of thegame, and tries to stay philosophical about winning and losing. Butmost revealing are the interior dialogues that accompany his matches;they are deeply annotated.Kramnik explains exactly what was runningthrough his head as he pushed a pawn or sacrificed a queen at keypoints, and it's a marvel to watch his mind at work. His comments arenever boastful and even betray a self-effacing wit--a refreshingchange in a profession known for its outsize egos. Chess enthusiastsshould find plenty to occupy them in Kramnik and would do wellto take a page from his playbook. --Demian McLean ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Great book, too much annoying flattery by Damsky
This is a very good book; obviously, there are very few people who have the credentials to offer criticism of the quality of Kramnik's analysis.My beef with this book is the obvious sucking up to Kramnik by Damsky.He spews all sorts of praise on Kramnik, as if he is the biggest genius and best human being the world has ever known.Some flattery is probably expected; Kramnik is, after all, one of the strongest players in history.However, Damsky goes way overboard, and it takes away from the overall quality of the book.If you can get past his fawning praise (and you should), then you will learn from Kramnik's annotations.But Damsky's sucking up is hard to ignore.

Totaly dissatisfied with this book
I have a lot of game-collections/biography chess books in my library, considering the best ones Life & Games of Mikhail Tal and I Play Against Pieces by Svetozar Gligoric but, belive it or not, this Kramnik one is the worst I have encountered with. Every game is tipically anotated as quick fix for some second rate chess magazine, without any wish for explaining itself or its background to the reader. And authors own biography is just short of unexistent, although it is known that he had a rich life chesswise, before going on top (working in famous Botvinnik chess school, playing junior games against famous oponents of today etc.) Its a shame, and I hope that updated version would be much frendlier and filled with important games played in last five years, and with extended biography.

A must have
This book is a fantastic book and for once i have to disagree with Goldsby about a book . This book is divided into 2 parts,the first by damsky and the second by kramnik. The first part i admit doesnt have much anotations, but has alot of games. The second part is by kramnik, it has his best games FULLY! analysed. It is a phenomanal book and even the young 13 year old GM who drew to kasparov rated this book as one of his favourites. If your looking for a games collection book this is for you. However you must understand if you are looking for an agrresive repetoir as white i recommend shirovs book fire on baard as that deals more with e4 then nf3/d4 or c4. However as black the two books are much the same both players play the botvinnik, the meran and sveshnikov (which is in fashioin currently, most probably due to kramniks addtions to the opening.) DO not make a mistake andnot buy this book as i almost did, or you'll be jeoulous of the next person who does!

"THIS BOOK IS A MUST HAVE.
This book is entitle "My Life And Games"

I think everyone who buys this book has to understand the title its not just a book of openings.This book the world champion is telling you more about himself.If you dont like the book its kinda of your own fault.Kramnik is very straight forward about his book.The 80 games that are listed in the book are much more simplier to read than any of kaasparov's books of openings.this is because the moves are listed up and down and are better spaced out!Chess books can be boring but if you want to learn how to play chess read and look at his GAMES.I THINK your wasting your time reading the othr books.If you wanna learn how to play chess you should only get books by kramnik and fischer.It's because the moves are easier to read because its spaced out better and easier on the "eyes"
Kramnik went 80 games without a loss.kasparov has never acomplished that goal ever.

When Kramnik defends his world title next january.If he beats or ties kasparov to retain his title.I think he will make a brand new book of openings.This man beat the most powerful computer ever made "Deep Fritz7".It is better than deep blue by 2 times.Deep blue beat kasparov.The people who true want to understand how to play chess openings.I STRESS you only get KRAMNIK or BOBBY FISCHER'S book.The other books are JUNK AND NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO READ!!!

Good Chess, BUT ...
If you would like to see a book of some of the games of a great player, you may be interested in this book. But a few words of warning first.

#1.) This book came out BEFORE Kramnik won the chess World Championship, so already it is a little dated.

#2.) This is some of the dryest text you may ever see in your life. (Few, if any good stories.) In fact, if you suffer from insomnia, this may be a good book for you. I also get the impression that Kramnik either accepted factually that he was very talented, or he is one of the most conceited individuals on the face of the earth.

#3.) Many of the Soviet books are "ghost-written" by other chess players - trainers, analysts and such. I get the impression that this is what happened here. (A few of the errors in analysis are too basic to have been perpetrated by Kramnik. Indeed, I. Damsky is probably responsible for the majority of this book.)

Having given the above harsh criticisms, you may get the idea that I hate this book. This is simply not the case. I am a Master who makes a great part of his living from teaching chess. I consider it my responsibility to give as an honest review of every chess book as I possibly can. I also feel it my duty to reflect what many of my students and contacts on the Internet have told me about this book.

If you are looking for a book with some of the best annotations by a top player available, this would be a good book for you to choose. (Many of the annotations are gleaned from magazines where Kramnik had a direct hand in reviewing the games.)

What this book lacks in great stories, and perhaps quality, it makes up for in quantity. You get almost 200 deeply annotated games by the current World Champion. You will get one of the most COMPLETE chess educations available in one book by carefully studying ALL of these games. (And I estimate it would take the average player nearly two years to do this!)

Warning: Most of these games are highly technical. Many of my students decribed them as "dry and boring." (In the style of Capablanca and Karpov.) The average player may not have the skill to appreciate just how hard it is to play like this. Careful study of these games will definitely improve your chess.

.... ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Alekhine, Boris Spassky, Tigran Petrosian, Max Euwe, José Raúl Capablanca, Wilhelm Steinitz, Mikhail Botvinnik, Bobby Fischer, Emanuel Lasker, Mikhail Tal, Viswanathan Anand, Vasily Smyslov, Veselin Topalov, Ruslan Ponomariov, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Alexander Khalifman. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 304. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Robert James "Bobby" Fischer (March 9, 1943 January 17, 2008) was the eleventh World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer's achievements are legendary. At 13, he won a brilliancy that became known as the Game of the Century. Starting at age 14, he played in eight United States Championships, winning each by at least a point. At 15½, he became both the youngest Grandmaster and the youngest Candidate for the World Championship up until that time. He won the 1963-64 US championship 11-0, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. In the early 1970s he became the most dominant player in modern historywinning the 1970 Interzonal by a record 3½-point margin and winning 20 consecutive games, including two unprecedented 6-0 sweeps in the Candidates Matches. According to research by Jeff Sonas, in 1971 Fischer had separated himself from the rest of the world by a larger margin of playing skill than any player since the 1870s. He became the first official FIDE world number one rated chessplayer in July 1971, and his 54 total months at number one is the third longest of all-time. In 1972, he wrested the World Championship from Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in a match held in Reykjavík, Iceland that was widely publicized as a Cold War battle. In 1975, Fischer did not defend his title when he could not come to agreem...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=2073557 ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Alekhine, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Botvinnik, Viktor Korchnoi, Vasily Smyslov, Lev Aronin, Ratmir Kholmov, Grigory Levenfish, Gata Kamsky, Nikolai Krogius, Evgeni Vasiukov, Mikhail Chigorin, Alexander Kotov, Igor Vasilyevich Ivanov, Vladimir Alatortsev, Rashid Nezhmetdinov, Viacheslav Ragozin, Boris Verlinsky, Artur Yusupov, Vera Menchik, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Natalia Pogonina, Andrei Sokolov, List of Russian Chess Players, Vadim Zvjaginsev, Leopold Mitrofanov, Mark Dvoretsky, Alexander Morozevich, Gregory Serper, Michał Krasenkow, Yuri Averbakh, Vladimir Simagin, Irina Levitina, Kira Zvorykina, Alexander Khalifman, Sergey Karjakin, Vladimir Liberzon, Vladislav Tkachiev, Alexey Selezniev, Boris Gulko, Vladimir Malaniuk, Peter Romanovsky, Alexey Suetin, Eugene Znosko-Borovsky, Igor Zaitsev, Yelena Dembo, Nukhim Rashkovsky, Nicolas Rossolimo, Viktor Knorre, Leonid Yudasin, Ilya Rabinovich, Vitaly Chekhover, Yuri Balashov, Lev Psakhis, Peter Svidler, Mark Tseitlin, Alexandra Obolentseva, Gregory Kaidanov, Vera Nebolsina, Mark Taimanov, Sergei Rublevsky, Igor Bondarevsky, Alexander Motylev, Alexey Vyzmanavin, Irving Chernev, Tatiana Kosintseva, Peter Petrovich Saburov, Nikolai Grigoriev, Leonid Kubbel, Alexander Petrov, Alexander Grischuk, Igor Glek, Ljuba Kristol, Andrei Kharlov, Samuil Vainshtein, Alisa Galliamova, Sergey Von Freymann, Alexander Tolush, Lyudmila Rudenko, Rustem Dautov, Yakov Estrin, Yury Dokhoian, Boris Kreiman, Alexander Cherepkov, Jacob Murey, Alexei Alekhine, Vladimir Nenarokov, Sergei Makarichev, Vitaly Tseshkovsky, Yuri Razuvayev, Nikolai Riumin, Stepan Levitsky, Anatoly Lein, Victor Kahn, Alexey Dreev, Abram Rabinovich, Alexander Kochyev, Evgeny Bareev, Igor Khenkin, Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky, Ilya Kan, Michael Roiz, Sergey Dolmatov, Dmitry Jakovenko, Emanuel Schiffers, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Sergey Viktorovich Volkov, Semyon Alapin, Elena Do...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=72495 ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Botvinnik, Viktor Korchnoi, Vasily Smyslov, Grigory Levenfish, Nikolai Krogius, Alexander Kotov, Vladimir Alatortsev, Rashid Nezhmetdinov, Viacheslav Ragozin, Artur Yusupov, Isaac Lipnitsky, Leopold Mitrofanov, Mark Dvoretsky, Michał Krasenkow, Yuri Averbakh, Peter Romanovsky, Alexey Suetin, Eugene Znosko-Borovsky, Igor Zaitsev, Vladimir Bagirov, Yuri Balashov, Vitaly Chekhover, Lev Psakhis, Igor Bondarevsky, Nikolai Grigoriev, Alexander Petrov, Igor Glek, Alexander Tolush, Yakov Estrin, Vladimir Nenarokov, Alexey Troitsky, Emanuel Schiffers, Konstantin Sakaev, Leonid Shamkovich, Elisabeth Bykova, Vasily Panov, Nikolay Novotelnov, Grigory Sanakoev, Alexander Baburin, Sergei Shipov. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 259. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (Russian: , pronounced ) (October 31, 1892 March 24, 1946) was the fourth World Chess Champion. He is often considered as one of the greatest chess players ever. By the age of twenty-two, he was already among the strongest chess players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the tournaments in which he played. In 1927, he became the fourth World Chess Champion by defeating Capablanca, widely considered invincible, in what would stand as the longest chess championship match held until 1985. In the early 1930s, Alekhine dominated tournament play and won two top-class tournaments by large margins. He also played first board for France in four Chess Olympiads, winning individual prizes in each. His tournament record became more erratic from the mid-1930s onwards, and alcoholism is often blamed for his decline. Alekhine offered Capablanca a rematch on the same demanding terms that Capablanca had set for him, and n...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=72495 ... Read more