In the ending of the advantage of a single "insignifiant" pawn can frequently prove decisive, as that pawn inexorably pushes forward and is finally able to reach the last rank and transform itself into a queen. Despite this basic fact of chess that any beginner knows, pawn, endgames are usually played very badly. The present work, already established as a classic in its Russian edition, is by far the most complete work on pawn endgames ever published. Containing no less than 911 examples, it will prove invaluable both to the student of chess and to the practical player. In both match and tournament games there is usually an adjournment at about the time that the ending is reached. It is then that any player without the most authoritative reference work puts himseld at a great disadvantage and is in danger of throwing away both half and whole points. Pawn Endings could solve a player's adjournment problems.

"Les pions sont l'âme des échecs", et tout particulièrement dans les finales de parties dont l'objectif principal est la conversion de pion en dame. Pourtant Les Finales de Pions ont longtemps été des exemples de parties célèbres et c'est I. MAIZELIS qui a su ériger les finales de pions en théorie, avec des règles pour en faciliter le développement pratique.

L'auteur fut l'un des plus brillants joueurs allemands d'entre les deux guerres. Il combattit toujours en faveur de l'imagination et du risque contre le jeu scientifique et académique qui menaçait alors de dessécher complètement les Echecs. Parmi les nombreux ouvrages qu'il écrivit, Combinaisons mériterait de devenir la bible du joueur tactique. Avec autant de simplicité que d'humour, Kurt Richter passe ici une revue de détail de la combinaison, cet instant merveilleux où l'esprit aveugle la matière et réalise des tours de forces qui marquent ce jeu du sceau de l'art le plus pur. Après l'étude des mats, il se penche de plus près sur chaque pièce, mettant en lumière ses caractéristiques et la façon d'en tirer le meilleur parti. Un dernier chapitre examine les fautes les plus courantes. Un des mérites, et non des moindres, de Kurt Richter est d'avoir illustré ses propos par des positions originales, en évitant le rabâchage des combinaisons archi-connues prises en exemple par tous les manuels.

Knight Endings is the fifth volume to appear of Averbakh's great classic series on the endgame. The original Russian edition quickly established a world-wide reputation -- these are the endgame books that Fischer had sent to him during his world championship match. The English translation has been updated and is by far the most complete work on knight endgames ever published. Every one of the 267 examples has its own diagram. In both matches and tournaments, games are often adjourned at the moment that the ending is reached. It is then that any played without the most authoritative work to refer to puts himself at a great disadvantage and is in danger of throwing away both half and whole points.

Grivory Levenfisch, the international and Soviet grandmaster, was one of the key Russian chess-teachers responsible for the current Soviet supremacy ; he was USSR champion in 1937. Ex-world Champion Vasily Smyslov, who has revised and added to the original work, is still one of the world's leading grandmasters and amongst the greatest endgame players of all time.

Bishop v. Knight Endings is the third volume to appear of Averbak'hs great classic series on the endgame. The original Russian edition quickly established a world-wide reputation - these are the endgame books that Fischer had sent to him during his world championship match. The English translation has been updated and is by far the most complete work on bishop v. knighte endgames ever published. Every one of the 325 examples has its own diagram. In both matches and tournaments, games are often adjourned at the moment that the ending is reached. It is then that any player without the most authoritative work to refer puts himseld at a great disadvantage and is in danger of throwing away both half and whole points.

In a series of twelve 'lessons', grandmaster O'Kelly shows you how you can improve your play to become an expert. Grandmater Alberic O'Kelly de Galway is a renowned chess teacher. At the chessboard he has had many tournament victories. He is the author of a number of books on chess, inclusing Assess Your Chess Fast. This is a correspondance course in book form. The material was devised to meet the needs of grandmaster O'Kelly's students. This is almost a guarantee of quick progress and increase in strength to the eager pupil who wishes to improve his chess. The result of your progress, however, depends on your own efforts; but do no hurry and rush, do not run before you can walk.

"The games of Capablanca," says Mr Golombek, "have serenity, a lucid crystal clarity, a type of model perfection present in no other master ... This simplicity of perfection was the product of supreme art. Playing through a Capablanca game and fully understanding it after close study constitues a liberal education in the art of chess. For this reason, I have found it necessary to annotate the games as exhaustively as was within my power. With Capablanca every move is significant and his games will reward the closest study by the freshness and clear beauty of the conceptions they contain... Has any other player the chess world has yet seen produced such a mass of games impregnated by that inner logical harmony that to my mind consitutes the essential quality of the great game of chess?"

When Viktor Korchnoi lost by the narrowest of margins to Anatoly Karpov in Baguio City in 1978, many experts thought it would be his last attempt at the World Championship. However, at the age of 50, he again fought his way through several bitter clashed to earn the right to challenge for a crown he has so eagerly sought since defecting from the USSR in 1976. The failure of this attempts to obtain the release of his wife and son would obviously affect his play for this match and yet he has smashed through previous encounters with Petrosian and Poluhayevsky spurred on by this hatred for the soviet regime. Karpov, at 30, becam World Champion when Bobby Fischer refused to defend his title in 1975, and has been one of the most active and successful World Champions ever, winning almost every top level tournament in which he has played. Grandmaster Raymond Keene is uniquely placed to write this gripping account of the "revenge" match in Merano. He was Korchnoi's second at the last World Championship match but his relationship with the challenger soured amid bitter altercations about gurus, and the sinister Soviet parapsychologist Zukhar which caused his subsequent resignation. He now provides the answer to Anti-Chess, Korchnoi's own embittered account of the previous match.