In this autobiographical chess manual, Edward Lasker traces his successful chess career from his early interest in the game as a boy in Germany through more than 50 years of tournament play. No chess enthusiast can fail to be entertaines as this chess master and winner of five world capital championships describes the giants of the chess world whom he met and played against in tournament after tournament in the major cities of the Americas and Europe. Included are amusing anecdotes and first-hand impressions of many of the great players who have now become legendary figures, plus record of the hints given him by his intimate friends Dr. Emanuel Lasker, José Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine.

Within the second and third decades of this century the most controversial topics in chess were the novel theories of Aron Nimzovich, the stormy petrel of the chess world. It seemed to many that Nimzovich was trying to demolish the classical Steinitz-Tarrasch chess system on purely irrational grounds, for many of his moves seemed arbitraty and even ridiculous. Yet, using his system, Nimzovich won game after game, and when Nimzovich cam to be rated among the top three or four players in the world, the ridicule that had greet his system changed to serious questions. It is now recognized that hypermodern chess, as Nimzovich's ideas came to be called, is an integral part of the chess configuration, broadening and deeping chess enormously.

Every player knows that the middle game is the least understood part of chess. Unlike the specific moves and responses of the opening, or the end game's indicated strategies for given pieces, the middle game takes the player into uncharted waters and tests his abilities to the outmost. Beginning and intermediate players in need of a trustworthy guide would do well to consider this classic book. Its clarity and solid theory make it one of the best guides available.

Nimzovich was the man who revolutionized modern chess. Disregarding many of the most strongly entrenched analyses of the past, he approached the game with new insights and evolved many positional studies based on unusual and deceptived principles. He was, as is true of most innovators, met with a solid wall of opposition by the advocates of traditional play until it became obvious that Nimzovich was winning and winning brilliantly against the finest exponents of the older style. Since then his play has been acknowledged to be among the very finest of this century and its influence of chess theory can hardly be exaggerated.

Here is a highly engaging book for the chess enthusiast who likes to read about the game as well as play it. The author is one of his century's leading chess masters, and he writes about the game with the same zest, grace, and skill he has always shown in playing it. As a lover of the game for its own stake, Mr. Lasker has incisive comments on such matters as whether chess is a defensible usage of one's time, whether it develops skills that are applicable to life, the importance of understanding basic principles of chess play rather than memorizing sets of moves, chess as a form of art, qualities are indispensable to a good chess player.

Emanuel Lasker was probably the greatest chess player of modern times. Certainly no man has ever held the world championship longer -- 28 years -- or kept his powers so long. In his sixties, Lasker began what amounted to a fresh career in chess by playing his first serious game in ten years, and defeating the man who was the following year to become himself world champions : Max Euwe. The secret behind his extraordinary abilities may perhaps be found in Lasker's wide knowledge of every phase of the game, and his ability to be independant of schools or fashions. This knowledge is reflected in the "Manual of Chess", making it one of the great studies of the game, acclaimed by the chess world almost from the day it appeared. The book is one of the most thorough studies ever written, and though its main appeal is to the intermediate to skilled player, it begins its explanations at a level which can be understood by the beginner. Lasker analyzes basic methods of gaining advantages, exchange value of pieces, combinations, position play, the aestehetics of chess, and almost every other important aspect of the game. He examines dozens of differents openings, including the Petroff Defense, the Hungarian Defense, King's Bishop, Ponziani, Guoco Piano, and Four Knighs' Game. He constantly illustrates his discussions with games played by the great modern masters. Lasker is always delightful reading, revealing a mind as quick to entertain and philosophize as it is to explain.

With this book, all one needs to know are the fundamental rules of chess and ordinary chess notation in order to gain a thorought understanding of the all-important opening game in its many variations. Simply, clearly, and with keen appreciation of the amateur's usual limitations. Internation Grandmaster Znosko-Borovsky explains the importance of rapid development of the pieces, occupation of the center, the relation of the opening to the general plan of the player, and the significiance of control of the center.

Unanimement reconnu comme l'une des nouvelles parmi les plus terrifiantes de la littérature du genre, ce classique retrace l'horrible transformation de deux innocents enfants en monstres d'hypocrisie et de mensonge. Tout commence quand une nouvelle gouvernante arrive dans la maison pour prendre soin de Miles, dix ans et sa soeur Flora, huit ans. Au début, tout semble normal mais rapidement, la terreur s'installe par l'apparition de fantômes qui terrifient la nouvelle venue. Tout le personnel est d'ailleurs certain que les enfants, même s'ils le nient farouchement, entretiennent un rapport malsain avec les apparitions...

What, really, is a chess combination? It is a maneuver generally employing surprise and a sacrifice, in which pieces work together to bring about a sudden advantage. it is perhaps the most aesthetically satisfying and successful technique in the game. Some players beliebe that the combination is a spontaneous creation with no guiding laws ; the possibility springs up in the minde like a flash of genius. In this classic work, however, Znosko-Borovsky proves that combinations can be studied.