SECRETS OF CHESS INTUITION (Alexander Beliavsky &
Adrian Mikhalchishin)
176 pages (210 mm by 145
mm).
£13.99/$19.95/€18,90
Intuition is central to all chess decision-making, and an
understanding of its role is vital in improving one's game. Players who try to
calculate everything to a finish are doomed to lose out to those who use their
logical and intuitive abilities in harmony with one another. This book, the
first devoted to the role of intuition in chess, explains how to allow your
intuition to reach its full potential and provides guidance on the types of
positions in which one should rely heavily on intuition, and on those where one
ought to be more analytical.
The two authors, both top-level authors and players, have
drawn examples from modern practice and from the classics, with special
emphasis on players whose intuition has been legendary, such as Mikhail Tal.
The authors devote particular attention to the role of intuition in sacrifices,
whether for attacking, defensive or positional purposes.
Alexander Beliavsky is a famous grandmaster from
Ukraine who now plays for Slovenia. He was World Junior Champion in 1973 and
has been among the world elite for more than twenty years. His play is marked
by excellent theoretical preparation, fighting spirit and a determined
approach.
Adrian Mikhalchishin is also a Ukrainian grandmaster
who is based in Slovenia. He is well known as a writer and researcher, whose
work has covered openings and endgames in addition to middlegame topics.
Download a pdf file with a
sample from the book.
"Beliavsky and Mikhalchishin deserve credit for writing a
pioneering work on a very difficult subject. I don't expect this book to be the
last word on chess intuition or its closely related cousin, chess pattern
recognition, but it's a good first start. Players from 2000 on up to
Grandmaster should find this interesting reading. RECOMMENDED" - John
Donaldson
"How often does a chessbook make you think about the soul of
the game, and what makes a great player great? How often does a chessbook give
you lots of interest to read? How often does such a book also give you an
enormous amount of fascinating examples to entertain, instruct, and ponder? The
fact is I enjoyed SECRETS OF CHESS INTUITION very, very much. There are flaws,
not the least of which is the lack of answers to the questions above. But even
with those cracks in the book's edifice, I still have to applaud the authors
for doing something original, and in forcing us to start a personal dialogue
that may, if we look deep inside ourselves for an answer, help us become far
better players or, at the very least, gain insight into how the 'other half'
thinks." - Jeremy Silman
"Gambit have done it again! Yet another superb offering from
Gambit that I can wholeheartedly recommend to players of all standards" -
John Pugh, CHESS POST, CHECKMATE
"an excellent contribution to chess literature" - CHESSVILLE
"Not much to say about this book except: buy it! ...the
value of such a book is that it helps you to confront such stereotyped
thinking. A really worthwhile and useful book" - GM Matthew Sadler, NEW
IN CHESS
"This book covers a topic that often eludes the average
player, and it is a broad discussion of how intuition can be used in various
aspects of the game. Just about every player, when analyzing with a stronger
player, has come across a point where the stronger player, without much
discussion, declares that he/she 'knows' a move to be the right one. Often it
is hard for the player to articulate just why this is so, and this book seeks
to provide at least an explanation of why this situation exists in certain
kinds of positions. this is an interesting book on a subject that has not
received much coverage to date." Randy Bauer, RANDY'S REVIEWS
"...Beliavsky and Mikhalchishin have delved deep into a
chess player's sub-conscious. How many of us have agonised over which rook to
place on a file, without really knowing why they chose the rook they did! ...a
fascinating work" - Munroe Morrison, OPEN FILE
"I found this a very interesting and stimulating book, a
pleasure to read because of the richness of the chess positions" - Alan
Sutton, EN PASSANT
"The authors convey the importance of absorbing patterns
into our sub-conscious... so that moves can be found intuitively..." - Bab
Wilders, Nederlands Dagblad
"Grandmasters Suetin and Ivanchuk contribute
thought-provoking passages, whilst overall this work should help everyone, from
the level of the average club-player upwards, to at least bring new ideas into
their armoury and to learn to trust their intuition more" - Richard
Palliser
"Their work is brimming full of instructive practical
examples so that all readers who properly absorb the stimulating material will
inevitably benefit enormously from it. That includes a super honing of one's
chess intuition, which cannot fail to take a giant leap after assimilating the
treasure-trove of ideas poured out by the two GM authors." - GM Paul
Motwani, THE SCOTSMAN
" In Secrets of Chess Intuition by Alexander
Beliavsky and Adrian Mikhalchishin, a new, fascinating book issued by Gambit
Publications in London, Tal argues that it is not clear who is taking risks. Is
it the player who sacrifices a piece in a situation where it was possible for
him not to have sacrificed? Or is it the player who accepts the sacrifice in
the hope of holding off the forthcoming attack?" - GM Lubosh Kavalek,
WASHINGTON POST
"...a very interesting and important book. Two very strong
players have taken on the task of researching the topic of intuition in chess.
They use a great number of quotations from top players throughout the history
of modern chess, and illustrate their ideas with a huge number of examples. The
book also includes contributions by Ivanchuk and Suetin. There are eighteen
main chapters, plus a short section of test positions. The book is indexed by
player and opening, and, as usual with GAMBIT books, the quality of the
production is excellent. The translation, which is by Gavin Lock, reads very
well. Verdict: an interesting and valuable addition to the literature; the
numerous positions can be looked at for pleasure or as part of a training
regime." Phil Adams
" The book offers a good selection of varied intuitive
decisions at the board' - E Carl, Rochade |
