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PRACTICAL CHESS OPENINGS (Martyn Kravtsiv)
544 pages (248 mm by 172 mm)
£27.50/$34.95/€34,95

Chess opening theory has changed out of all recognition in the 21st century, yet chess literature has been slow to catch up with this. Martyn Kravtsiv, a grandmaster and trainer of the same generation as Magnus Carlsen, is here to redress the balance.
This huge book fully takes on board new developments. The most space is devoted to lines that are popular today, and that deep computer analysis suggests have the brightest futures. If an opening cannot be recommended, Kravtsiv explains why with the minimum of variations. He identifies openings more suitable for rapid chess, and what type of work is needed from readers who are interested in playing each opening. Nothing in this book is dictated by the paradigms of older opening works. 

ROOK ENDGAMES FROM MORPHY TO CARLSEN (Valentin Bogdanov)
304 pages (248 mm by 172 mm)
softback: £22.50/$29.95/€26,95
hardback: £27.50/$35.00/€32,50

We shall see that even the best players make a surprising number of errors in rook endings. By emphasizing the most common themes and areas where players go astray, Bogdanov helps us determine which parts of those technical endgame manuals that are sitting on our shelves are most worth thumbing through. This book can also simply be enjoyed as a stroll through chess history – you will be amazed how many key turning-points occurred in rook endgames!
The players featured in this book include all 17 official world champions, the 3 ‘uncrowned kings’ who preceded them, and a selection of 8 other outstanding players. There are 384 examples in total. The book is completed with a selection of 68 exercise positions, and detailed indexes of themes and players.

400 CHESS STRATEGY PUZZLES (Martyn Kravtsiv)
208 pages (248 mm by 172 mm)
£18.50/$24.95/€22,50

“I noticed that most of the students [at the Lviv chess school] were pretty good at calculating variations and finding tactical ideas. But when I gave them a strategic exercise they became a little confused. ... I realized that few good books of a suitable level with strategic exercises have been published.” – Martyn Kravtsiv
This book aims to fill the gap. After tackling the exercises, you will have a greater understanding of which piece needs to be exchanged, whether to advance a pawn or leave it where it is, along with a variety of other strategic questions involving outposts, open lines, structures and where to attack.

1001 DEADLY CHESS PUZZLES (James Rizzitano)
304 pages (248 mm by 172 mm)
£22.50/$28.50/€26,95

This is a true tactics assault course, where you will learn by solving: the lessons are contained in the puzzles themselves, and taught by your own effort in solving them. The first four chapters include a test section, where the positions are a little simpler, to check what you have learned. They are also designed as revision exercises, to return to periodically after you have finished reading the book.
Rizzitano’s puzzles are not just a case of ‘spot the tactic and move on’. That isn’t good training for practical play, where you have no idea if a tactic works until you have analysed it carefully. In some cases it is better to reject the idea and play a quiet move, while many puzzles require a good defensive move. Decision-making skills are vital in competitive chess. And you will definitely need them right away for the book’s final chapters, ‘Advanced Puzzles’ and ‘Deadly Puzzles’. Full solutions are provided.

SECRETS OF QUEEN ENDGAMES (Ferenc Berkes and Tibor Karolyi)
384 pages (248 mm by 172 mm)
£22.50/$29.95/€26,95

Queen endgames can seem unfathomably complicated. Computers have provided complete information for some of the basic queen and pawn endings, but human understanding has proved elusive.
In this groundbreaking work, two Hungarian authors have gone to extraordinary lengths to explain strategies and methods in queen endgames. Rather than a random series of checks, we can now understand king and queen triangulations that gradually bring the pieces to the squares they need to be to engineer the killer tactic that completes the process. Berkes and Karolyi have devised guidelines that help us judge what we need to aim for, and provided a broad set of tools to help us achieve these goals.

UNDERSTANDING PAWN ENDGAMES (Valentin Bogdanov)
160 pages (248 mm by 172 mm)
£14.99/$19.95/€18,90

Understanding the endgame is fundamental to playing good chess, and at its heart lie positions where just kings and pawns remain on the board. Even when a pawn ending is not actually reached, the players must often assess ones that could arise from an exchange of pieces. Experienced Ukrainian trainer Bogdanov examines a wealth of pawn endings where strong players made significant errors and draws lessons and rules of thumb from them.While we are enjoying the entertaining material in this book, we are painlessly absorbing endgame principles and improving our intuitive decision-making skills. We learn how to calculate and identify key positional elements, and appreciate the beautiful tactics and paradoxical ideas that are unique to the world of pawns.

MODERN CHESS OPENING REPERTOIRE FOR WHITE (James Rizzitano)
176 pages (248 mm by 172 mm)
£15.99/$22.95/€21,45

James Rizzitano’s goal in this book is to provide you with a one-volume, theoretically sound, dynamic opening repertoire beginning with 1 e4. Studying the choices of the current top players, he identifies the secrets of their success and incorporates them in his choice of lines to recommend. The analysis is supported by detailed work with the current top computer engines. While serious work on chess openings confirms the basic truth that White can’t simply force a large advantage from the start position, we can greatly narrow Black’s path to safety, and tilt the practical struggle in our favour. To have a chance of half a point, our opponents will need to solve difficult tactical and strategic problems deep into the middlegame.

MAGNUS CARLSEN’S MOST INSTRUCTIVE GAMES (Martyn Kravtsiv)
176 pages (248 mm by 172 mm)
£16.99/$21.95/€22,75

Magnus Carlsen is the greatest chess player of the 21st century. His tactical wizardry, strategic inventiveness, technical expertise and legendary fighting spirit put him head and shoulders above all other players. They also make his games tremendously instructive. In each game Kravtsiv picks out a key point – the Magnus Moment – where Carlsen demonstrates the special insight that sets him apart from other players. The bulk of the book addresses the fight for advantage and initiative in the middlegame, but there are also chapters focusing on opening ideas, endgame play and human factors.

WIN WITH THE CARO-KANN (Johnsen and Hansen)
240 pages (248 mm by 172 mm)
£18.99/$24.95/€25,45

The Caro-Kann is a rare beast among chess openings. While respected as a sound and safe way to start the game, it also avoids symmetry or simplification. Two Norwegian opening experts provide a set of options that take full advantage of this flexibility. In the main line, you are given a choice between the 4...Bf5 and the 5...exf6 systems – but both strictly in their modern dynamic forms!
The other recommended systems for Black are also aggressive and very much the ‘21st-century Caro-Kann’. It’s 3...c5 against the Advance, in which Hansen is also an outstanding specialist. The Panov Attack is answered with ...g6 lines – strategically ideal, and nowadays backed up by amazing modern computer analysis. This extremely up-to-date book has an innovative structure, with ‘lessons’, model games and theory ‘magnifiers’.

DESERT ISLAND CHESS PUZZLE OMNIBUS (So, Adams, Nunn and Burgess)
320 pages (210 mm by 145 mm)
£18.99/$24.95/€25,45

If you had to choose a single luxury chess item to take to a desert island, then how about this – a superb selection of 400 puzzles to solve? Each author has carefully chosen 100 original positions, graded by difficulty and theme into four sections of 25.

• Wesley So presents 100 puzzles from his own recent games, many from elite events. They range from easily-overlooked but straightforward ideas to moves of great depth.
• Michael Adams offers positions from his files that have inspired him over the years, and includes a section of ‘warm-ups’.
• John Nunn challenges you to find beautiful tactics in recent games and studies, as well as some of his own career highlights.
• Graham Burgess has scoured his work over the years for hidden unpublished gems, and includes themed sections on opening tactics and defensive ideas.

THE CHESS ENDGAME EXERCISE BOOK (John Nunn)
192 pages (248 mm by 172 mm)
£17.99/$22.95/€24,30

Everyone knows they should work on their endgame play. So many hard-earned advantages are squandered in ‘simple’ endings... But it’s tough finding a way to study endings that doesn’t send you to sleep and that helps you actually remember and apply what you have learnt. All major types of endgame are covered, together with a wide-ranging chapter on endgame tactics. Examples are drawn from recent practice or from little-known studies. The emphasis is on understanding and applying endgame principles and rules of thumb. You will learn by experience, but always backed up by Nunn’s expert guidance to ensure that the lessons you take away from the book are correct and useful.

600 MODERN CHESS PUZZLES (Martyn Kravtsiv)
192 pages (248 mm by 172 mm)
£17.50/$21.95/€23,50

Written along similar lines to Gambit’s earlier Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book, this new work presents 600 puzzles, mostly from the last two years, that are chosen for instructive value and maximum training benefit. To ensure that few will be familiar to readers, Kravtsiv has deliberately chosen positions from obscure games or from analysis. If you find the right answers, it will be because you worked them out yourself! The solutions feature plenty of verbal explanations of the key points, and cover most of the logical but incorrect answers. The book is completed with a set of ‘no clues’ tests, and an index of themes that will be useful to coaches and those looking to focus on specific aspects of tactics – or just seeking extra clues!

AN IDIOT-PROOF CHESS OPENING REPERTOIRE (Graham Burgess)
192 pages (248 mm by 172 mm)
£17.99/$22.95/€24,30

Ever wanted a complete chess opening repertoire – for White and Black – whose basics can be learned in a week? A strategic low-maintenance repertoire that does not require memorizing of long variations, and yet can frustrate both stronger and weaker opponents?
In this book, award-winning author Graham Burgess has come up with the ultimate simplified repertoire. Avoiding boring or unambitious openings, you will learn how to avoid symmetry and mass exchanges, and reach an unbalanced middlegame.
With Black, the repertoire is based on the Scandinavian plus a carefully crafted hybrid of the Slav and QGA. As White it is the English Opening, often with Botvinnik set-ups.

CHESS ENDGAME WORKBOOK FOR KIDS (John Nunn)
128 pages (230 mm by 178 mm), hardback
£13.99/$16.95/€16,75

This is a book for those who have started to play chess and want to know how to win from good positions and survive bad ones. The endgame is where most games are decided, and knowing all the tricks will dramatically improve your results. Endgame specialist John Nunn has drawn upon his decades of experience to present the ideas that are most important in real games. Step by step he helps you uncover the key points and then add further vital knowledge. Each chapter deals with a particular type of endgame and features dozens of exercises, with solutions that highlight the key points. For each endgame we are given tips on the themes that are most important and the strategies for both sides. The book ends with a series of test papers that enable you to assess your progress and identify the areas that need further work.

CHESS OPENING WORKBOOK FOR KIDS (Graham Burgess)
128 pages (230 mm by 178 mm), hardback
£13.99/$16.95/€16,75

Chess Opening Workbook for Kids is the second in a new series of books that help players gain chess skills by tackling hundreds of carefully chosen exercises. The themes are similar to those in Gambit’s best-selling ‘Chess for Kids’ series, but the focus is on getting hands-on experience. Many positions build on ones given earlier, showing how advanced ideas are normally made up of simpler ones that we can all grasp. Each chapter is focused on a particular theme and features dozens of exercises, with solutions that highlight the main strategic and tactical points. Each chapter offers tips on opening play, such as how to detect weaknesses and poorly-placed pieces. Later chapters address key aspects of opening strategy such as the centre, development and castling. The book ends with a series of seven graded tests where you are given few clues about the themes involved.

CHESS LOGIC IN PRACTICE (Erik Kislik)
240 pages (248 mm by 172 mm)
£19.99/$26.95/€27,00

Chess-players understand that it is vital to play logically, but often lack the methods needed to do so. In this book, renowned trainer Erik Kislik presents a wide range of specific concepts that will help them succeed. These include positional techniques, thinking methods, and modes of play to adopt when either better or worse. Topics include Painfully Slow Moves, Focal Points, Reciprocal Logic, Fighting against Centralized Pieces, When Playing a Bad Move Wins a Good Game and A Chronically Weak King.
Throughout, the discussion is illustrated by a mass of examples from both recent elite chess and the play of Kislik and his students, showing how his themes cut across all levels of chess. After the book’s two main sections – Thinking Concepts and Positional Concepts – comes a section of exercises, again with a strikingly original theme: our task is simply to assess each position. 

CHESS TACTICS WORKBOOK FOR KIDS (John Nunn)
128 pages (230 mm by 178 mm), hardback
£13.99/$16.95/€16,75

This is a book for those who know the rules of chess and are keen to start winning games. The quickest way to improve your chess is to learn tactics. But not just knowing the themes – you need to get used to using them in real positions. Master tactician John Nunn has thoughtfully crafted a course that gives you the basic nuggets of knowledge and immediately invites you to start finding tactical ideas for yourself.
Each chapter introduces a basic theme and features dozens of exercises, with solutions that highlight the key points. In each chapter there are tips on what to look out for to help spot tactical ideas. As the chapters progress, we increasingly see how tactical ideas are combined together, with ideas from previous sections repeatedly appearing as part of a deadly one-two punch. The book ends with a series of six test papers where you are given no clues about the themes involved. 

FOR THE COMPLETE LIST OF GAMBIT BOOKS SEE HERE