PERFECT YOUR CHESS (Andrei Volokitin & Vladimir
Grabinsky)
160 pages (248 mm by 172
mm).
£15.99/$28.95/€21,60
Andrei Volokitin is one of a rare breed of players:
he achieved a ranking in the world's top 20 while still a teenager, playing
dynamic and often brilliant chess. Although we cannot all aspire to emulate his
achievements, there is much that we can learn from his training methods, his
games and his general approach to chess. These topics are the subject of this
book, written in collaboration with his trainer.
The core material of the book is 369 positions where the
reader is given a task or asked a question. These tasks resemble those that
players regularly face over the board, and are especially useful from a
training viewpoint. Sometimes we are told we need to find a combination, but
often the task is simply to decide on a move. It is for us to determine whether
to play quietly or stake everything on a sacrificial attack!
The examples are all from recent years, and so even the most
zealous reader of chess literature will have seen few of them previously. Many
of the positions are from Volokitin's own games, so we get the 'inside story'
on some truly spectacular chess. We are also presented with fine examples from
Grabinsky's training files, carefully collected and graded over the years for
their instructive merit. The commentaries and detailed solutions explain the
key issues in each position, and also convey the authors' philosophy of chess
and their love for the game.
Grandmaster Andrei Volokitin was born in 1986 in
Lvov. In 2004, he won the Ukrainian Championship and was a member of the team
that won the Chess Olympiad in Calvia. In the January 2005 rating list he was,
at age 18, placed in the world's top 20 for the first time. He has won many
prizes in junior championships and major international events.
International Master Vladimir Grabinsky is the coach
of the Ukrainian youth team. In addition to Volokitin, his pupils include
several other players who have achieved international titles at an early
age.
Download a pdf file with a
sample from the book.
"The volume is a workbook in the best sense. Ambitious
players, who don't shrink from hard work, will find new and deeper insights,
which will enrich their own play." - Richard Brömel, Rochade
Europa
" I would highly recommend this book for anyone looking for
practice in calculation, as well as any player looking for deeper explanation
about what factors to follow when making decisions or evaluations in
calculating. This book does a good job in those areas. The cover graphic is
quite delightful: a pawn equipped with ice axes climbing a mountain, an obvious
characterization which is very charming." - Bill McGeary,
www.chessville.com
"This is not your normal book of chess positions, where you
simply respond to the tip that there is a mate in four or a winning
combination. … The author asks either no questions and you have to make a
move, or asks difficult questions such as 'look for a way for black to retain
equality.' I guarantee … readers of all strengths will have hours of fun
and frustration in trying to solve the problems. … It is bound to improve
your game as your understanding of tactics and combinations progresses." -
Carl Portman, Defence Focus
"The material is split into:
1. Make a Move, where the
instruction is simply to find the best move. This is designed to develop
intuition and imagination in chess.
2. Find the Win, where the instruction
is to find a forced variation leading to a win. This is intended to test
combinative vision and the calculation of variations.
3. Answer a Question,
where the instruction is to find the answer to a concrete problem. This is
intended to develop positional understanding.
Make no mistake, these are
non-trivial positions. After moving from the FM to the IM level positions, Keti
[Arakhamia-Grant, IM] suggested it was like the change from a pleasant walk in
the springtime to starting to climb a mountain in winter. I'm not going to ask
when she reaches the GM level puzzles. Some examples are extraordinarily
beautiful just for the enjoyment of playing through so this book is strongly
recommended to all." - Jonathan Grant, Scottish Chess
"369 demanding puzzles, intelligently collected from current
material. The solutions are deeply and entertainingly explained." - Dr. Erik
Rausch, Rochade Europa
"The highlight of this genre" - Harald Keilhack,
Schach
"A delightful selection of puzzles" - IM Gary Lane, Chess
Moves
"A word about the authors. Andrei Volokitin is only 21 but
he has already accomplished a lot, most significantly playing board three for
the gold medal winning Ukrainian Olympic team at Calvia in 2004 - his score of
8.5 from 12 earning him a 2771 performance rating. His co-author, IM Vladimir
Grabinsky, is probably only known in the Ukraine but I became acquainted with
him this summer while playing in a round robin in Edmonton. One day I had the
opportunity to ask the top-seed, 21-year-old GM Valery Aveskulov, how it was
that the Ukraine produced so many great young talents. I had already factored
in a tradition of excellence, government and private support, and an
economically challenging environment in which being a chess professional did
not look so bad, but Valery added one more key ingredient - good coaching. One
of the best he said was IM Grabinsky of Lvov and then rattled off a list of
teenage IMs and GMs over 2500 on a rapid course toward 2600. Perfect Your
Chess is geared towards this level and many of the young talents Aveskulov
mentioned have gone through this material which relies on the games of
Volokitin and others. ... If you think you can solve ten exercises in half an
hour forget it. Try one or two. Even if you fail, take heart, Volokitin and
Grabinsky offer detailed explanations that add to the learning experience. ...
Highly recommended." - IM John Donaldson,
www.jeremysilman.com
"The authors obviously have an eye for beauty in chess, and
have preserved many combinations that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.
Highly recommended for players rated 2000+ who want to improve their
calculation." - James Vigus, BCM
"I am determined to solve this excellent training book from
cover to cover…" - GM Jonathan Rowson, New-in-Chess
"All the best opening preparation is useless if your brain
can't spot combinations, key lines and the best moves in complex positions. The
authors of a new book have addressed this issue by producing a unique guide to
exercising the brain and enhancing chess vision. ... There have been similar
books before, but this one has some unique characteristics. I especially like
the last section, which asks a specific question for each position, and really
challenges the reader to think critically. ... Few books can offer instructive
material to both average club players and masters, but this is one of them.
Some of the positions have stumped some of the top players in the world in
tournament conditions. If you are serious about improving your chess and
enhancing your critical thinking, get this book." - Cecil Rosnser, Winnipeg
Free Press
"Another book, useful to serious tournament players, comes
from Andrei Volokitin, for a brief time in 2005 the world's top-rated junior,
and his coach, Vladimir Grabinsky. Their work Perfect Your Chess, issued
by Gambit Publications, is a wonderful training book with nearly 370 positions
from recent years, including 69 of Volokitin's gems. It provides a rare glimpse
into a workshop of one of the world's most talented young grandmasters." -
GM Lubomir Kavalek, Washington
Post
"Perfect Your Chess is one of the best chessbooks
that has come into my hands in recent years." - Martin Rieger,
www.freechess.info
"I have not played through all 369 positions (the authors
advise tackling only about 5-6 positions a day) but those that I have tackled
randomly throughout the book have proved to be quite testing. This is as it
should be, as there is no point in spending good money on a mass of easy
positions from which little can be learnt. If you like books of this genre I
recommend that you give this one a try, as it will provide not just hours or
days, but several weeks of fun (or hard work, depending on your point of
view!)" - Alan Sutton, En Passant |
