Idle Passion


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All the Wrong Moves


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An enthralling journey into the world of chess--a story of heartbreak, obsession, failure, and the hunger for greatness Sasha Chapin is a victim of chess. Like countless amateurs before him--Albert Einstein, Humphrey Bogart, Marcel Duchamp--the game has consumed his life and his mind. First captivated by it as a member of his high school chess club, his passion was rekindled during an accidental encounter with chess hustlers on the streets of Kathmandu. In its aftermath, he forgot how to care about anything else. He played at all hours, for weeks at a time. Like a spurned lover, he tried to move on, but he found the game more seductive the more he resisted it. And so, he thought, if he can't defeat his obsession, he had to succumb to it. All the Wrong Moves traces Chapin's rollicking two-year journey around the globe in search of glory. Along the way, he chronicles the highs and lows of his fixation, driven on this quest by lust, terror, and the elusive possibility of victory. Stylish, inventive, and laugh-out-loud funny, All the Wrong Moves is a celebration of the purity, violence, and beauty of the game.




The Art of Changing the Brain


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Neuroscience tells us that the products of the mind--thought, emotions, artistic creation--are the result of the interactions of the biological brain with our senses and the physical world: in short, that thinking and learning are the products of a biological process.This realization, that learning actually alters the brain by changing the number and strength of synapses, offers a powerful foundation for rethinking teaching practice and one's philosophy of teaching.James Zull invites teachers in higher education or any other setting to accompany him in his exploration of what scientists can tell us about the brain and to discover how this knowledge can influence the practice of teaching. He describes the brain in clear non-technical language and an engaging conversational tone, highlighting its functions and parts and how they interact, and always relating them to the real world of the classroom and his own evolution as a teacher. "The Art of Changing the Brain" is grounded in the practicalities and challenges of creating effective opportunities for deep and lasting learning, and of dealing with students as unique learners.




The Art of Chess


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Capablanca


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Jose Raul Capablanca is renowned for his exquisite positional play and flawless endgame technique. But The Chess Machine was also a master of that other way to deliver mate: the attack on the enemy king.In this groundbreaking work, award-winning chess coach and author Frisco Del Rosario shines a long-overdue light on this neglected aspect of Capablanca's record. He illustrates how the Cuban genius used positional concepts to build up irresistible king hunts, embodying the principles of good play advocated by the unequaled teacher, C.J.S. Purdy. The author also identifies an overlooked checkmate pattern - Capablanca's Mate - that aspiring attackers can add to the standard catalogue in Renaud and Kahn's The Art of the Checkmate. As Del Rosario shows, Capablanca has inspired not only generations of players, but also many of the classics of chess literature.Easy to read but chock-full of advice for study and practical play, Capablanca: A Primer of Checkmate fills a gaping hole in our understanding of the third World Champion.




A Passion for Chess


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Lessons from My Games a Passion for Chess


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This rich book distills the experience gained during one of the most brilliant chess careers of our time - a career that has been distinguished equally in chess play and in chess analysis. Lessons from My Games combines the best of Reuben Fine the famous grandmaster, who has been a top contender in many of the century's greatest tournaments, with the best of Reuben Fine the writer, whose matchless books have been landmarks in chess history. Here are Fine's games with World Champions Capablanca, Alekhine, and Euwe, with Dake, Horowitz. Flohr, Kashdan, Tartakower, Lasker, Botvinnik, Reshevsky, and other masters. Here are scintillating games of ten-second blindfold chess, at which Fine is sensational. And perhaps most important for both the amateur and professional, here in generous profusion are Fine's incisive notes and comments on every game, with searching discussion of alternatives, blunders, brilliancies, and turning points. Here, indeed, are not only. the outstanding games of a great career but the lessons from the games, drawn as only Fine could draw them. All this would be enough, but this book offers something else as well, for enlivening the accounts of the matches and tournaments in which he played are Reuben Fine's personal impressions of his great antagonists. As an observer of human nature, he is entertaining and astute, and he shows how the ability to take a foe's psychological measure can help to win. Reuben Fine has been a member of three U. S. World Championship Teams. He tied for first prize with Keres in the great AVRO tournament of 1938 and has won the U. S. Speed Championship four rimes. Among his famous books are The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings, The Middle Game in Chess, Basic Chess Endings, Practical Chess Openings, and his great and continuing best seller, Chess the Easy Way.




The Best I Saw in Chess


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At the U.S. Championship in 1989, Stuart Rachels seemed bound for the cellar. Ranked last and holding no IM norms, the 20-year-old amateur from Alabama was expected to get waxed by the American top GMs of the day that included Seirawan, Gulko, Dzindzichashvili, deFirmian, Benjamin and Browne. Instead, Rachels pulled off a gigantic upset and became the youngest U.S. Champion since Bobby Fischer. Three years later he retired from competitive chess, but he never stopped following the game. In this wide-ranging, elegantly written, and highly personal memoir, Stuart Rachels passes on his knowledge of chess. Included are his duels against legends such as Kasparov, Anand, Spassky, Ivanchuk, Gelfand and Miles, but the heart of the book is the explanation of chess ideas interwoven with his captivating stories. There are chapters on tactics, endings, blunders, middlegames, cheating incidents, and even on how to combat that rotten opening, the Réti. Rachels offers a complete and entertaining course in chess strategy. At the back are listed 110 principles of play—bits of wisdom that arise naturally in the book’s 24 chapters. Every chess player will find it difficult to put this sparkling book down. As a bonus, it will make you a better player.




Chess Story


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Chess Story, also known as The Royal Game, is the Austrian master Stefan Zweig’s final achievement, completed in Brazilian exile and sent off to his American publisher only days before his suicide in 1942. It is the only story in which Zweig looks at Nazism, and he does so with characteristic emphasis on the psychological. Travelers by ship from New York to Buenos Aires find that on board with them is the world champion of chess, an arrogant and unfriendly man. They come together to try their skills against him and are soundly defeated. Then a mysterious passenger steps forward to advise them and their fortunes change. How he came to possess his extraordinary grasp of the game of chess and at what cost lie at the heart of Zweig’s story. This new translation of Chess Story brings out the work’s unusual mixture of high suspense and poignant reflection.




The Kids' Book of Chess and Chess Set


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A direct, lively introduction to the game that's inspired passion and challenge for over 900 years—for kids ages 8-12. Everything a child needs to learn how to play chess, hone your skills, and become a grandmaster, including a custom-designed chess board and full set of 32 chess pieces! A 96-page book leads kids through the fundamentals of beginning, middle, and end game, and shows winning strategies for offense and defense. Full-color fantasy art captures the energy and excitement of chess's origins—the medieval battlefield. Over 1 million copies in print. For ages 8-12.