Miniatures in the Queen's Indian Defense


Book Description

Miniatures in the Queen’s Indian: 4.g3 The subject of this book is the Fianchetto Variation of the Queen’s Indian Defense, which arises after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3. Its purpose is to entertain and educate you. The entertainment consists of 100 main games all of which are 25 moves or less. In addition to the main games, you will find miniatures included in the notes, along with many other complete games. The education part involves solving tactical puzzles, reasoning your way to the right move, spotting combinations and studying the theory associated with these lines. While the theoretical coverage may not necessarily be as deep as in opening monographs or repertoire books, there’s usually more than enough to give you a good understanding of the particular line, making it easier for you to incorporate it into your opening repertoire. We have also tried to include some key alternatives with analysis to give you an idea of other possibilities for both sides. As for the games, they are typically between players with a rating of at least 2350 and in fact are often stronger. However, we have made some exceptions to this guiding principle when a lower-rated player beats a player rated above the magical 2350 number. So that the performances of the players may be evaluated better, their ELO ratings have been included. The Queen’s Indian as a whole has been played consistently since its invention by Aron Nimzowitsch in the early years of the 20th century and it remains a very popular opening at all levels. While its foundation is solid, things can quickly become very sharp and heavy on theory, particularly when Black plays 4...Ba6. We hope you enjoy this second volume in the “Miniatures” series... Every chess player dreams of winning quickly and beautifully in his favorite opening. Carsten Hansen’s new “Miniatures” Series shows you how to do that, divided by opening! A novel and entertaining approach. But as they say – wait, there is more! It’s in the nature of chess that miniatures can only be won following mistakes by the opponent. The books can also show you which early mistakes to avoid so that you don’t lose quickly and beautifully in your favorite opening. Get the volumes with your openings and use them as preparation for your next tournament! – Grandmaster Lars Bo Hansen




Catastrophes & Tactics in the Chess Opening - Volume 1: Indian Defenses


Book Description

WINNING FAST IS FUN! This book is a collection of games played by the best players in the world in which either White or Black wins in 15 moves or less either a result of brilliant chess tactics, an accumulation of mistakes or blunders. Through the study of the games in this volume, you will improve your: Opening play Opening repertoire Tactical vision Tactical ability. The chess opening variations in this volume are all the variations of the Indian Defenses such as: 1) The King's Indian Defense 2) The Grünfeld Indian Defense 3) The Queen's Indian Defense 4) The Nimzo-Indian Defense 5) The Catalan Opening 6) The Blumenfeld Gambit 7) The Bogo-Indian Defense




Marvelous Modern Miniatures


Book Description

50% Tactics – 50% Opening Book – 100% Enjoyment! Enter the world of chess miniatures where games are decided in 20 moves or less! Marvelous Modern Miniatures features the largest collection of miniatures chess games played in the last half-century. Over 500 pages of cut and thrust! Although every player is rated at least 2100, the overwhelming majority are strong masters or grandmasters. You will follow them as they do battle with tactical fireworks raging around them. The surprising depth of the annotations (each one of the 2,020 games has meaningful comments) turns this book into a virtual course on tactics. Looking for traps and pitfalls in your favorite openings? You’ll probably find them here. Marvelous Modern Miniatures will improve your tactical skills and alertness and sharpen your opening play. As a bonus, the entire collection is immensely enjoyable!




Catastrophes & Tactics in the Chess Opening - Volume 6: Open Sicilians


Book Description

WINNING FAST IS FUN! This book is a collection of games played by the best players in the world in which either White or Black wins in 15 moves or less either a result of brilliant chess tactics, an accumulation of mistakes or blunders. Through the study of the games in this volume, you will improve your opening play, opening repertoire, strategies and tactical ability. The chess opening variations in this volume are all the variations of the Sicilian Defense, such as: 1) The Najdorf Variation 2) The Scheveningen Variation 3) The Dragon & Accelerated Dragon Variations 4) The Classical Variation including the Richter-Rauzer & Sozin Attack 5) The Taimanov, Kan & Paulsen Variations 6) The Sveshnikov & Kalashnikov Variations Short games in chess have always fascinated me; what is it that is causing a player to go so wrong that he or she loses within 15 moves (or 25 moves as in my Chess Miniatures Series)?The games in this book illustrate the making of and punishment of a lot of typical mistakes: Loose pawns & pieces Not calculating far enough Over-burdened pieces Overlooked intermediary moves Misevaluations Not sensing danger And much more of that kind But the names also include a surprising amount of tactics (see the front cover - White to move), sometimes even missed tactical opportunities. I have chosen only from games of players that were rated 2350 and above (or would have rated as such, but it was before the rating system was put in place), because I felt that if mistakes like these can be played by such strong players, then there are lessons to be learned for the majority of the rest us. Further, I sorted away the worst games, such as when one side a piece is threatened and the other side forgets to move a threatened piece, even that happens among strong players. Through the study of the games in this book should help you avoid a lot of mistakes in your own games, help you to take advantage of the mistakes of your opponents and ultimately sharpen your tactics and tactical awareness by answering the prompts to the diagrammed positions. Enjoy!




Catastrophes & Tactics in the Chess Opening - Volume 3: Flank Openings


Book Description

Everybody wants to win fast, preferably straight out of the chess opening. This book is a collection of games played by top players in which either White or Black wins in 15 moves or less either a result of blunders, an accumulation of mistakes or brilliant chess tactics. Through the study of the games in this volume, you will improve your opening play, opening repertoire, strategies and tactical ability. The chess openings covered in this volume are: 1) Minor Flank Openings such as Larsen Attack, Bird Opening, Dunst Opening 2) Reti Opening & King's Indian Attack 3) English Opening - Slav, Dutch, Indian Lines 4) English Opening with 1...e5 5) Symmetrical English After sorting games with the worst mistakes & blunders away, there remains a collection of games showing a catalog of typical mistakes, misunderstandings, misevaluations and how to exploit these: either through simple execution or brilliant chess tactics.




Catastrophes & Tactics in the Chess Opening - Volume 4: Dutch, Benonis & d-pawn Specials


Book Description

WINNING FAST IS FUN! This book is a collection of games played by the best players in the world in which either White or Black wins in 15 moves or less either a result of brilliant chess tactics, an accumulation of mistakes or blunders. Through the study of the games in this volume, you will improve your: Opening play Opening repertoire Tactical vision Tactical ability. The chess opening variations in this volume are split up in the following chapters: 1) Anti-Dutch (1 d4 f5) 2) Dutch Main Lines 3) Benonis - Modern Benoni, Schmid Benoni, Old Benoni & Benko Gambit 4) Trompowsky (1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5) 5) The d-pawn Specials: Anti-Indians - Torre, London, Colle & Other 3rd move options 6) Old Indian 7) Budapest & Fajarowicz Gambits 8) Minor d-pawn Specials




Catastrophes & Tactics in the Chess Opening - Volume 5: Anti-Sicilians


Book Description

WINNING FAST IS FUN! This book is a collection of games played by the best players in the world in which either White or Black wins in 15 moves or less either a result of brilliant chess tactics, an accumulation of mistakes or blunders. Through the study of the games in this volume, you will improve your opening play, opening repertoire, strategies and tactical ability. The chess opening variations in this volume are all the variations of the Sicilian Defense, such as: 1) Alapin Variation 2 c3 2) The Grand Prix Attack 3) The Closed Sicilians 4) The Rossolimo (2...Nc6 3 Bb5) with 3...g65) The Rossolimo Attack with other 3rd Moves6) Moscow Attack (2...d6 3 Bb5+) 5) 2.Nf3 d6 Specialties 6) 2.Nf3 e6 Specialties 9) O'Kelly (2...a6), Ultra-Fianchetto (2...g6) and Nimzowitch (2...Nf6) 10) Other Specialties




Catastrophes & Tactics in the Chess Opening - Volume 7: Minor Semi-Open Games


Book Description

WINNING FAST IS FUN! This book is a collection of games played by the best players in the world in which either White or Black wins in 15 moves or less either a result of brilliant chess tactics, an accumulation of mistakes or blunders. Through the study of the games in this volume, you will improve your: Opening play Opening repertoire Tactical vision Tactical ability.The chess opening variations in this volume are all the variations of the minor Semi-Open Games such as: 1) The Pirc Defence 2) Modern Defenses 2) The King's Fianchetto 3) The Alekhine Defense 4) The Scandinavian Defense 5) Owen's Defense, Nimzowitsch Defense Short games in chess have always fascinated me; what is it that is causing a player to go so wrong that he or she loses within 15 moves (or 25 moves as in my Chess Miniatures Series)?The games in this book illustrate the making of and punishment of a lot of typical mistakes: Loose pawns & pieces Not calculating far enough Over-burdened pieces Overlooked intermediary moves Misevaluations Not sensing danger And much more of that kind But the names also include a surprising amount of tactics (see the front cover - White to move), sometimes even missed tactical opportunities. I have chosen only from games of players that were rated 2350 and above (or would have rated as such, but it was before the rating system was put in place), because I felt that if mistakes like these can be played by such strong players, then there are lessons to be learned for the majority of the rest us. Further, I sorted away the worst games, such as when one side a piece is threatened and the other side forgets to move a threatened piece, even that happens among strong players. Through the study of the games in this book should help you avoid a lot of mistakes in your own games, help you to take advantage of the mistakes of your opponents and ultimately sharpen your tactics and tactical awareness by answering the prompts to the diagrammed positions. Enjoy!




Chess Tactics - Volume 2


Book Description

The follow-up to the internationally bestselling volume 1. Are you ready to seriously improve your game? It has been said that chess is 99% tactics but whether that is an accurate reflection is hard to tell. Nevertheless, it is important. But if you are like most players, you only discover the tactics after you come home and run through your game with a chess engine. So what to do? In the present book, you will be challenged 404 times but unlike most tactics puzzle books you don't know what your objective is: do I need to find a mate, find an opportunity skewer or pin a piece, use a tactical turn to gain a positional advantage and how far do I need to calculate? These questions are you are faced with when you play your own games and therefore this book tries to replicate this position. Your one advantage over the players in the respective positions is that you know that there is supposed to be something in there for you to find. The puzzles vary a lot in difficulty, some are relatively easy, some are incredibly difficult, but most are somewhere in between. However, most of the puzzles are layered so that even when you think the answer is obvious, it is worth looking further because your idea may be the decoy left there for you to get distracted from the actual solution. Working through the puzzles and then carefully play through the thoroughly annotated solutions will help you to up your tactical radar as well as your calculation skills. So if you are up for the challenge, here is the opportunity to take the leap forward. Good luck!




Catastrophes & Tactics in the Chess Opening - Volume 2: 1 d4 d5


Book Description

WIN FAST! Everybody wants to win fast, preferably straight out of the chess opening. This book is a collection of games played by top players in which either White or Black wins in 15 moves or less either a result of blunders, an accumulation of mistakes or brilliant chess tactics. Through the study of the games in this volume, you will improve your opening play, opening repertoire, strategies and tactical ability. The chess openings covered in this volume are: 1) Slav Defense 2) Queen's Gambit Accepted 3) Queen's Gambit - Non-Classical Lines 4) Meran, Semi-Meran & Triangle Set-ups 5) Queen's Gambit - Classical Lines 6) Queen's Gambit - Specialties 7) 1 d4 d5 - d-pawn Specialties After sorting games with the worst mistakes & blunders away, there remains a collection of games showing a catalog of typical mistakes, misunderstandings, misevaluations and how to exploit these: either through simple execution or brilliant chess tactics.