The artificial intelligence system, created by DeepMind, had been fed nothing but the rules of the Royal Game when it beat the world’s strongest chess engine in a prolonged match. The selection of ten games published in December 2017 created a worldwide sensation: how was it possible to play in such a brilliant and risky style and not lose a single game against an opponent of superhuman strength?For Game Changer, Matthew Sadler and Natasha Regan investigated more than two thousand previously unpublished games by AlphaZero. They also had unparalleled access to its team of developers and were offered a unique look ‘under the bonnet’ to grasp the depth and breadth of AlphaZero’s search. Sadler and Regan reveal its thinking process and tell the story of the human motivation and the techniques that created AlphaZero.Game Changer also presents a collection of lucidly explained chess games of astonishing quality. Both professionals and club players will improve their game by studying AlphaZero’s stunning discoveries in every field that matters: opening preparation, piece mobility, initiative, attacking techniques, long-term sacrifices and much more.The story of AlphaZero has a wider impact. Game Changer offers intriguing insights into the opportunities and horizons of Artificial Intelligence. Not just in solving games, but in providing solutions for a wide variety of challenges in society.With a foreword by former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov and an introduction by DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis.Matthew Sadler (1974) is a Grandmaster who twice won the British Championship and was awarded an individual Gold Medal at the 1996 Olympiad. He has authored several highly acclaimed books on chess and has been writing the famous ‘Sadler on Books’ column for New In Chess magazine for many years. Natasha Regan is a Women’s International Master from England who achieved a degree in mathematics from Cambridge University. Matthew Sadler and Natasha Regan won the English Chess Federation 2016 Book of the Award for their book Chess for Life.

    The first authoritative English translation from the Russian, this volume was written by one of the leading competitors. Its perceptive coverage includes games by Smyslov, Keres, Reshevsky, Petrosian and 11 others. Algebraic notation. 352 diagrams.

    Each mating motif is carefully and simply explained, and several illustrative examples are given. A final test enables the reader to grade his pattern recognition abilities, and the last chapter explains what to do if your Dad is Garry Kasparov. Fun, instructive - and guaranteed to improve your game.

    But they weren’t there to protest. They were there to watch the World Chess Championship between Norway's Magnus Carlsen and Russia's Sergey Karjakin—what by the time it was over would be front-page news and thought by many the greatest finish in chess history. The story lines were riveting. The championship hadn’t been hosted in New York City, the de facto world capital of the sport, in more than two decades. With both Carlsen and Karjakin just 25 years old, the tournament organizers were billing it as a battle of the millennials—the first time the championship had been waged among the generation that grew up playing chess primarily against computers. And perhaps most intriguing were all the geopolitical connections to the match. Originally from Crimea, Karjakin had recently repatriated to Russia under the direct assistance of Putin. Carlsen, meanwhile, had expressed admiration for Donald Trump, and his first move of the tournament he played with a smirk what's called a Trompowsky Attack. Then there was the Russian leader of the World Chess Federation being barred from attending due to US sanctions, and chess fanatic and Trump adviser Peter Thiel being called on to make the honorary first move in sudden death. That the tournament required sudden death was a shock. Oddsmakers had given Carlsen, the defending champion, an 80% chance of winning. It would take everything he had to retain his title. In doing so, he would firmly make his case to be considered the greatest player chess has ever seen. Author Brin-Jonathan Butler was granted unique access to the two-and-half-week tournament and watched every move. In The Grandmaster, he aims to do for Magnus Carlsen what Norman Mailer did for Muhammed Ali in The Fight, John McPhee did for Arthur Ashe in Levels of the Game, and David Foster Wallace did for Roger Federer in his famous New York Times Magazine profile. Butler captures one of the world’s greatest sportsmen at the height of their powers, and attempts to decipher the secret to that greatness.

    The progressively more difficult puzzles include a double murder.

    But there are so many complicated variations -- how can you memorize them all?You can't -- and you don't have to! If you understand the basic goals of the opening you're playing, you will know which moves fit logically into its overall scheme. This classic, best-selling volume, now completely reset in modern algebraic notation, explains everything you need to know to play the opening sensibly and successfully.Reuben Fine, an International Grandmaster, is one of the world's top players and a leading theoretician of chess. He is the author of over half a dozen books, including the definitive Basic Chess Endings.

    Twenty years later, it remains a bestseller in the field and one of the best practical training manuals available.

    In The Tao of Chess, the author seamlessly blends the wisdom of a time-honoured spiritual quest for truth with 200 principles that will improve anyone's chess game. By following the author's principles, readers not only come to enjoy the game more, they develop a habit of seeking underlying truth - whether in a chess game or a real-life situation.The Tao of Chess is full of conscise advice, such as:Understanding is more important than memoryFortune favors the braveWhen you see a good move, wait and look for a better moveMistakes tend to come in bunchesTrust your intuition; it's usually rightAuthoritative and easy to follow, this book will turn every reader into a master strategist.

    Now, for the first time, Waitzkin reveals the aggressive tactics and psychological techniques that have propelled him to the forefront of the chess world. His unique introduction to the game combines solid instruction with stories about his personal experiences that capture all the excitement and tension of playing chess at the championship level. Josh Waitzkin's Attacking Chess presents nineteen different offensive strategies, progressing from the most elementary, including forks, pins, skewers, and double threats, to the more advanced and sophisticated moves used by the world's best players. Chapters such as Minor Traps, The Seventh Rank and the Pig, Mating Nets, and Quiet Moves in Attack show how anyone can develop a more aggressive and creative style of play. Each strategy is illustrated with examples taken from actual games Waitzkin has played, described with all the gusto and competitive intensity this young master brings to his craft. You can feel the heat of battle throughout this action-packed manual -- it's guaranteed to entertain and inspire all students of chess who want to learn how to emerge victorious from the black and white jungle.

    What better way could the amateur have of learning to exploit the weak play of fellow amateurs than to study how a master would handle such situations? Selected by former World Chess Champion Max Euwe and Walter Meiden, a typical amateur player, the games point out graphically how the chess master takes advantage of characteristic errors of the amateur.In general, the games have been presented in order of the degree of skill of the amateur. The early games were played against beginners; later games, against "coffeehouse" players of various skill levels; the last games, against amateur "book" players. Each game, with commentary by Dr. Euwe, was chosen to illustrate a specific aspect of chess, from various openings to a number of typical chess situations. By carefully studying these games, the amateur player will learn how to recognize and avoid a variety of weak strategic and tactical moves.Dr. Euwe's helpful and informative commentary on each contest consists of a discussion of significant moves in the game, an analysis of the opening used and explanations of important chess concepts as they arise. Often, he includes a detailed analysis of tactical variations that might have been played as alternatives. The result is an indispensable aid for amateurs seeking to raise the quality of their games as well as a book that can be read with profit by chess players at every level of expertise.

    Its leader, a charismatic and eccentric millionaire/ex--car salesman named Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, is a former chess prodigy and the most recent president of FIDE, the world's controlling chess body. Despite credible allegations of his involvement in drug running, embezzlement, and murder, the impoverished Kalmykian people have rallied around their leader's obsession---chess is played on Kalmykian prime-time television and is compulsory in Kalmykian schools. In addition, Kalmyk women have been known to alter their traditional costumes of pillbox hats and satin gowns to include chessboard-patterned sashes.The Chess Artist is both an intellectual journey and first-rate travel writing dedicated to the love of chess and all of its related oddities, writer and chess enthusiast J. C. Hallman explores the obsessive hold chess exerts on its followers by examining the history and evolution of the game and the people who dedicate their lives to it. Together with his friend Glenn Umstead, an African-American chessmaster who is arguably as chess obsessed as Ilyumzhinov, Hallman tours New York City's legendary chess district, crashes a Princeton Math Department game party, challenges a convicted murderer to a chess match in prison, and travels to Kalmykia, where they are confronted with members of the Russian intelligence service, beautiful translators who may be spies, seven-year-old chess prodigies, and the sad blight of a land struggling toward capitalism.In the tradition of The Professor and the Madman, Longitude, and The Orchid Thief, Hallman transforms an obsessive quest for obscure things into a compulsively readable and entertaining weaving of travelogue, journalism, and chess history.

    Acclaimed by Capablanca, Keres, and other greats.

    Originally published: New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 1955.

    This book will sharpen your tactical vision, deepen your positional understanding, and enrich your knowledge of theoretical positions. It will also strengthen your analytical skills, and instill a sound move selection process. Win more games and increase your enjoyment of chess!

    When Fisher disappeared from public view, Waitzkin's interest waned--until his own son Josh emerged as a chess prodigy.Searching for Bobby Fischer is the story of Fred Waitzkin and his son, from the moment six-year-old Josh first sits down at a chessboard until he competes for the national championship. Drawn into the insular, international network of chess, they must also navigate the difficult waters of their own relationship. All the while, Waitzskin searches for the elusive Bobby Fischer, whose myth still dominates the chess world and profoundly affects Waitzkin's dreams for his son.