But apart from being “the chess guy”, Nikolaos also has a profound interest in (business) philosophy and ethics. A couple of weeks ago, he reached out to me and expressed his interest in writing a guest post on the topic of ethical behavior within the chess world.  Since I have written about similar topics in the past, I thought it was an important and challenging topic, and since I had several positive interactions with Nikolaos in the past, I gladly accepted his offer. 

Once he delivered his work, I knew it was the right decision. Because the article in front of you was one of the most interesting and enlightening pieces of writing I have seen from someone within the chess world. ¹ Apart from teaching me a lot about ethics and philosophy, it has also made me re-examine how I approach complex moral issues and made me realize they can be approached from many different angles.

I do hope you will find it as enlightening and interesting as I did. Or at the very least, that you will learn something new about giants such as Plato, Kant, or Aristotle.

And now, without further ado, I give it to Nikolaos.

Introduction

The Motivation For This Article

A typical day for a chess fan on Twitter these days seems to go like this:

• Start scrolling
• Read a few tweets about the new drama of the day
• Become angry with the person who tweeted something controversial or with those who criticized them
• Repeat the same cycle the next day…

I am certainly not the first one to notice it. The chess world is in a permanent state of controversy. The usual suspects these days are Hans Niemann, one of the biggest prospects of US chess right now, and the former world champion Vladimir Kramnik. But these controversies often involve a cast of characters ranging from Women Grandmaster Dina Belenkaya to the GOAT (?) Magnus Carlsen himself.

As these dramas unfold, everyone forms an instant opinion on who is right and who is wrong. But unsurprisingly, these opinions clash, with people found on both sides of the argument, disagreeing on the fundamental ethics of the situation. 

Even when they agree, they may have different reasons for their judgments. The next day, when a similar situation arises, the same individuals might evaluate the case differently, based on personal preferences and biases.

Chess fans are not unique in this regard. It is a common occurrence in every aspect of social life, both on social media and out of them (what some people call, real life). Think about the last time you found yourself among relatives, discussing politics, and you’ll know what I mean…

However, what sets chess players apart is their capacity to understand this: Ethics are similar to chess openings!

Over the centuries, a huge body of theory has been developed in a branch of philosophy called Ethics. In the same way we study a book or a course and learn the intricacies of the Spanish or Italian opening, we can study philosophy and ethics. We can use the tools that great thinkers have developed to analyze a chess drama and evaluate, similarly to Stockfish, who is right or wrong. 

Ethics, along with another branch of philosophy called aesthetics, is often referred to as ‘value theory’ because it helps assess the value of how good or bad something is.

Imagine something like this:

Imagine being able to evaluate the above argument in terms of “centipawns” with an engine called Ethicsfish. Please email me if you want to invest in creating such an engine!

So, I decided to write this article to discuss the analytical tools that ethical theories like consequentialism, deontological ethics, contractarianism, and virtue theory can offer us.

We’ll see specific examples and analyze them with the help of these tools, like a grandmaster scrutinizing a complex position, and see how they might offer clarity amidst the chaos.

The goal of this article is twofold. Primarily, I aim to inspire you to examine moral issues from diverse perspectives. As is often the case with philosophy, the process of studying how great minds approached and analyzed a particular topic can be intellectually gratifying. However, at the end of the day, we can adopt the frameworks or aspects that resonate most with us. So, I invite you to open your mind, analyze moral dilemmas through the lenses of different ethical theories, and ultimately retain what makes the most sense to you.

My second goal is a bit riskier and more challenging. Still, I want to accept the invitation from my editor to attempt to provide you with a formula, an algorithm of sorts, that you can employ when analyzing real-life moral dilemmas.

Of course, in the modern ongoing discussion between philosophers, many (and much more sophisticated) such formulas get created. But, I think that it will be instructive to see an amateur philosopher like me, trying to construct one. It will be a similar experience to watching someone streaming their chess games online. The games are not perfect, but you can see the struggle of someone who possibly is a bit ahead of their audience in terms of knowledge and experience. 

Thinking about Ethics – Enter Metaethics!

Before we start the discussion on ethics – the branch of philosophy that studies what is right and wrong behavior, let’s take a minute to talk about metaethics, the study of the very foundations of morality itself (yes, it’s going to be that kind of journey…).

Among those without academic training in ethics ², the most common metaethical view is the belief that there are moral facts, more or less the same way there are scientific facts.

In this view, some things are just wrong, and others are indisputably right. That’s what the gut intuition of most of us tells us. That’s how we understand the world since we were kids.

However, that’s one of the easiest things to argue against. If there were just moral facts, where would they come from? Maybe that’s an easy answer if you are a religious person, but it is a subject of constant debate. ³

Can we test and falsify these moral facts as we do with scientific facts? And, regarding scientific facts, we can arrive at some consensus. Why can’t we do the same with ethics? ⁴

But, if there are no moral facts, what does this mean? Could two moral views be correct at the same time? And what are they based on? Our feelings? ⁵ Our reason? Our social environment?

This is often called the “Grounding Problem” in Ethics. We need some rule, some assumption, something to hold on to, on which we can build our ethical theory. That’s what thinkers have done for thousands of years now. So, each of the theories, the analytical tools we’ll talk about, has a foundation. If you don’t accept this foundation, the whole theory collapses. ⁶

So, let’s dive into the ethical theories…

Four Big Ethical Theories

Consequentialism – The Sicilian Defense

• Foundation: What matters is the outcomes of actions.
• Why similar to the Sicilian: In the Sicilian, we tend to have complex positions where the consequences of every move must be carefully calculated.

Consequentialism is an ethical theory that evaluates actions based on their consequences. Nothing is right or wrong on its own, and intention doesn’t matter. All that matters is the outcomes. It is a simple theory to understand, and incredibly practical.  

Consequentialism is becoming the dominant framework in domains like public policy and business management today. ⁷ It is very convenient to link it with finance and economic indicators and measure its results.

If you feel that your government is frequently making ethically wrong decisions, not caring about certain groups of people, for example, that’s because most administrations today adopt a consequentialist perspective. But, be careful. This doesn’t mean that you are always right, thinking that an administration is wrong. It might be the case of missing the whole picture, and not understanding the overall consequences. ⁸

This theory is often associated (or confused) with utilitarianism, a specific form of consequentialism that says the right action is the one that maximizes happiness for most people (or minimizes the pain). The idea of measuring things based on pleasure and pain is called hedonism.

So, consequentialism + hedonism = utilitarianism. ⁹

Consequentialism’s main critiques point out that the theory may lead to ignoring the rights or well-being of some for the benefit of the many.

But on the personal level, there is another, at least, equally serious issue. In complex situations, it is very difficult to assess the implications of an action. We simply don’t have access to the full picture, no matter how hard we try.

To understand this theory, let’s look at it through the lens of a famous philosophical dilemma: the trolley problem.

The trolley problem and consequentialism

The basic scenario of the trolley problem is that a runaway trolley is heading toward five people who are tied to the tracks, and the only way to save them is to divert the trolley to another track where one person is tied.

You are the one who can pull a lever that will switch the trolley to the other track, killing one person but saving five. Would you do it?

The theory requires that you pull the lever. You kill one person to save five. 

But, doesn’t this mean that you are choosing to take the life of an innocent person? After all, it’s not your fault that the situation is so terrible. You shouldn’t have to get blood on your hands to try and fix it. Right?

So, you see that consequentialism is a very demanding moral theory. We live in a world where sometimes people do terrible things. And, if we’re the ones who are there, and we can do something to make things better, we must. Even if that means getting our hands dirty.

But, things are not always that simple. What if this one person we decided to kill is important, let’s say an influential scientist, or has a family and kids that will suffer from this loss, while the five people are old and sick with no relatives left? In this case, wouldn’t the consequences be worse if we switched the trolley to that one person? How could we know? ¹⁰

The trolley problem sounds too abstract and hypothetical? Let’s try to take a step further and apply the principles of consequentialism to a real-life example from the chess world.

Kramnik and the cheating problem in chess 

Should Kramnik point out potential cheaters, risking some false positives?¹¹

A consequentialist will argue that such an important figure has so much power in the community that he can change things for the better. And even if some people get negatively affected, we should judge his actions based on the overall outcome and if that will be positive, for example, if the cheating problem in chess gets reduced or solved. ¹²

As you can see, that’s much more difficult for an individual to do than say a big organization like chess.com or FIDE. As mentioned above, it is very difficult for an individual to assess the implications of an action in a highly complex situation. A big organization might be able to do a more informed measurement of these outcomes.

Deontological Ethics – The Nimzo Indian Defense 

• Foundation: Moral rules derived from reason which we should feel a duty to follow. 
• Why Nimzo-Indian: Logical, principled, where the moves are guided by sound reasoning.

When you ask someone why they think a certain decision or action is bad, you might expect a profound answer. But often, you’ll get a “because it’s… bad.” And if you feel that that’s a lame answer, according to deontological ethics, it’s not!

“Deontological” comes from the Greek word “deon,” meaning obligation. It’s a branch of ethics that’s all about duty and rules. It insists that you should always do what’s right, no matter the consequences.

But where does this sense of obligation come from? If you believe in God, then this question has an easy answer. That’s what it is called “Divine Command Theory”. However, philosophers have been poking holes in this theory since ancient times. ¹³

Consequently, even theologians found ‘Divine Command Theory’ lacking, leading them to develop alternatives such as Aquinas’s Natural Law Theory. ¹⁴ This theory has become the foundation of Catholic Ethics to this day.

But, deontological theories based on divine or natural definitions of right and wrong are way older than that, even older than philosophy itself. Take Homer’s epics, for instance, where doing the right thing was all about bravery and heroism, and about keeping the cosmic balance—a central theme in many ancient cultures. 

The issue here is that philosophy is essentially humanity’s noble quest to solve problems using reason and logic, rather than relying on faith or superstition. So, we’re focusing on ethical systems grounded in reason here. And surprisingly, ethical systems that are based on the “obligation of doing the right thing” that are purely based on reason, are a much more recent development.

Typically, deontological ethics is connected with one name: Immanuel Kant. And I have to admit that despite my best efforts, I don’t understand Kant. So, take the following with a pinch of salt—I might be missing the mark. ¹⁵

Obligations based on reason

Kant was all about morality being rooted in reason and reason alone. Not feelings, not preferences, not cultural backgrounds, and certainly not divine memos. He believed that an action is morally sound only if it’s done out of duty, not self-interest or for any potential outcomes.

He laid down his moral laws, the “categorical imperatives,” which are like the universal rules everyone should follow, no matter their wishes or situations.

Two of the most famous such laws, in the way I understand them, are:

“Live by the rule that you’d be okay with everyone else following too.” ¹⁶

Consider a chess game where using an engine will give you an edge. But, what if everyone did the same? The game would be ruined. According to Kant, that’s why cheating at chess is a no-go. 

That’s a very practical way to understand if something is right or wrong. That’s typically one of the lessons on morality we learned from our parents and teachers during childhood. ¹⁷ 

“Always treat people as valuable in themselves, not just as tools to get what you want.” ¹⁸

This means seeing yourself and others as individuals with worth and dignity, not just as a means to your ends. ¹⁹

Kant also defined what gives human beings dignity. And that’s autonomy.  Think about it this way. What happens when we lie to someone? We’re messing with someone’s ability to decide based on truth. Or because we want to use someone to do something for us. Intentions are a central part of deontological ethics. The reason we do something, matters.

I didn’t use the example of lying out of an accident. Kant was famously rigid in his stance against lying, arguing that it is never morally acceptable, even in situations where lying might prevent harm. 

The catch with deontological ethics is this: if you stick to the rules without weighing the consequences, you could inadvertently cause more harm than good. It’s a common critique that such unwavering commitment to rules, regardless of the outcome, can sometimes lead to results that clash with our innate sense of morality. 

Are pre-arranged draws in chess immoral? 

Are pre-arranged draws in chess immoral? To answer this, we can apply Kant’s categorical imperatives to see if such actions hold up morally.

First Imperative: “Live by the rule that you’d be okay with everyone else following too.”

If every player pre-arranged draws, the essence of competition would vanish, rendering a chess tournament meaningless. It’s pretty clear that if such behavior were universal, it would undermine the very nature of the sport.

Second Imperative: “Always treat people as valuable in themselves, not just as tools to get what you want.”

That’s a bit tougher to apply, but one possible way to think of it is that pre-arranging a draw could be seen as using the opponent merely as a means to an end. That’s securing a favorable outcome without the genuine effort of play. It doesn’t matter if both sides do it for the same reason. The reason is bad, so the action is immoral.

This fails to respect the dignity and autonomy of both players as rational agents capable of competing.

In conclusion, pre-arranged draws in chess seem to fail Kant’s moral test on both counts. They disrupt the integrity of the game and treat participants not as autonomous individuals but as tools for achieving a predetermined result. Therefore, from a Kantian perspective, pre-arranged draws could indeed be considered immoral.

Still, many chess players don’t think of it this way. I think that the next ethical theory may explain this phenomenon.

Contractarianism – The Slow Italian Game 

• Foundation: It’s based on an unspoken social contract that dictates moral conduct.
• Why Slow Italian:  It’s like this slow-paced Italian opening where players agree not to launch into early attacks, following instead established opening principles for developing and castling early.

People often think of contractarianism as a political idea, but it’s also useful when talking about ethics. 

It suggests that everyone in society has an unspoken agreement to follow the rules. This may refer to laws, customs, or traditions that guide their interactions.

Take the handshake before a game as an example. Expecting a handshake before a chess game is a tradition that goes beyond the official rules. It’s been a sign of good sportsmanship for ages, showing respect for the game and the opponent. If someone refuses to shake hands, it’s seen as disrespectful and leaves a sour feeling among players. 

However, contractarianism isn’t without its critics. It’s been pointed out that it fails to account for societal evolution. If we always follow tradition, and that’s what is considered the right thing to do, then how can societies become better? 

The social “contract” is believed to benefit the members of the society it serves, but as societies evolve, these agreements may become outdated. Yet, there’s often a sense of obligation to adhere to them.

When Kramnik had to justify why top-level players don’t think that pre-arranged draws are a bad thing, that’s what he came up with:

This is contractarianism. Top-level players have agreed that this is accepted behavior. Everyone has done this from time to time and expects everyone else to do this from time to time as well. 

Kramnik linked to the following article, where opinions on the matter are collected from top-GMs. For example, Grischuk offered another contractarian perspective:

“I don’t see an issue with them, honestly […] It’s part of chess culture for a century at least”. 

By now, you can see how different theories may attach a different moral value to an action. 

• For a contractarian, pre-arranged draws are acceptable.
• For a Kantian, that’s completely unacceptable.
• A consequentialist might evaluate them on a case-by-case basis. For example, a pre-arranged draw in a critical match could be deemed unethical, but the same action between two hobbyists at a local tournament might be considered harmless.

Contractarian thought fundamentally examines the reciprocal relationship and obligations between the individual and the community they are part of.

On one hand, by living within and benefiting from an organized community, individuals are expected to uphold certain moral duties and responsibilities as their part of the social contract. ²⁰

On the other hand, this social contract is a two-way street – just as individuals have duties to the community, the community itself has a profound moral obligation to respect the fundamental rights, and dignity of each individual member.

So, we should choose. Who comes first? The individual, or the community? Luckily, most philosophers agree on that. The guarantying of inviolable individual rights should come first.

Virtue Theory – The Ruy Lopez 

• Foundation: Developing good character traits
• Why the Ruy: Like the Ruy Lopez, virtue theory is a classic. It’s been around since the start of philosophical thinking, but it still is trendy and influential. 

Let’s say a friend asks you for help. What would you do?

• From a consequentialist view, you’d want to think about the possible results of helping them. If assisting is unlikely to cause harm and could lead to good outcomes, then you should probably help.
• Taking a deontological approach, you might be guided by the moral principle of treating others how you would want to be treated yourself, meaning helping your friend in need.

On the other hand, a virtue ethicist would think that helping a friend is the obvious thing to do. It is a matter of compassion and generosity. Why should we make any calculations?  

From a virtue ethics perspective, the primary consideration is not the consequences of the action or adhering to a moral rule, but what an action says about one’s character.

Just like you don’t think about breathing or playing the first moves of your favorite opening, try to be a person who does good things without having to think hard about it.

Virtue ethics is just a different way to see things. And, as we’ll see, this can solve many practical problems.

Consequentialism, deontological ethics and virtue theory

For the most part, consequentialism, deontological ethics, and virtue theory agree on what’s right or wrong. They may not agree on the “why” and the “how you get there”, but for any reasonably simple real-life situation, choosing just one of these theories to guide your thinking, will be enough.  Also, each one of these theories does consider what is foundational for another one, just not as something central.

For example, in the Kantian approach, there is space to consider outcomes, as there is space to consider individual rights for a consequentialist. Just, these considerations are not the central part, the foundations of these theories.

Most discussions in the academic sphere on ethics today revolve around the “outcome vs obligation” question, and what is the right mix. But in some other disciplines, virtue theory is the central topic of discussion. Some notable examples are psychology, education, and business. ²¹

As Kant is the main person who we should always mention when we discuss deontological ethics, for Virtue Theory, this person is Aristotle, who taught what we will discuss below around 350 BCE, or about 2,400 years ago. 

Aristotle and virtue theory

First of all, why should we work daily to develop our character? According to Aristotle, that’s how we reach the state of “eudaimonia” (well-being). For the philosophers of Aristotle’s time ²², answering the question “how to live a happy life” had a central part in their thinking. They believed that people with good character are not only good about themselves but for everyone around them. So, there was a strong link between personal development and how this affects the society. ²³ 

Aristotle thought that human beings have a natural tendency to develop virtues²⁴  that help them achieve eudaimonia. He classified them. The “cardinal virtues” that everyone should develop, are prudence, justice, temperance, and courage. You can choose to develop more,  those that make the most sense for you, but these four, are a must.

According to Aristotle, having the virtue of something sits at the middle end of two extremes which he called “vices”: one of excess and one of deficiency. 

For example, the virtue of courage is a mean between rashness (excess) and cowardice (deficiency). ²⁵

Socrates, before Aristotle, taught that virtue is a form of knowledge and that ignorance is the cause of wrongdoing. According to Socrates, when someone behaves immorally, he is doing it out of ignorance. He/she isn’t educated enough. So, instead of punishing this individual, they need to go back and learn what is good and bad. 

Aristotle disagreed with the idea of virtue = knowledge. He believed that becoming a virtuous person isn’t about reading books, but it means practice. To do rather than know.

He also suggested observing. To find “good influencers”. Those who have developed these virtues, and follow them as examples.

Discovering Your Values

Aristotle’s teachings are still relevant today. But, besides these basic virtues, we should create and use our own “ethical compass” by identifying our own set of virtues, or what we usually call them today: values. These values act as a personal guide, helping us when faced with moral dilemmas. And as Aristotle said, just defining them, isn’t enough. We need to work daily to develop them and live by them.

To identify your core values, reflect on moments when you felt particularly proud or ashamed. These feelings can reveal what truly matters to you.

Following Aristotle’s advice, consider the qualities of people you admire. Their guiding principles can help shape your own set of values.

Start by writing a comprehensive list. Initially, it’s okay for this list to be extensive. Gradually narrow it down to the 3-5 values that feel most authentic to you.

Once you’ve made your list, consult with trusted individuals, like friends or family. See if they associate these values with you when you share your list. If they don’t, it’s time to reassess. Are these values a true reflection of who you are? Why might others not perceive them in you?

This method is widely used in business management training ²⁶ and by marketers when they’re defining a brand’s identity.

Companies need to set their values as well. I have learned through experience as a manager, that you cannot anticipate anything that can happen during the communication with a client, or inside a team. Companies have “standard operating procedures” (known as SOPs), but always something happens that gets you out of the normal procedure. What should you do then? This is when the company’s values come to the rescue! ²⁷

Put simply, when things are unclear, following your values will guarantee that you will not mess up. Things might end up badly, but you’ll know that you did the best you could. From an ethical point of view, you did the right thing.  ²⁸

An Ethical Guide For Chess Players

So far in this article, I have described the analytical tools with which each of the different ethical theories described above provides us. I have also shown how these tools can be applied to analyze deep and complex issues and how different ethical theories can have different viewpoints regarding the morality of a specific issue.

In the final part of the article, I would like to try to go a step further and build upon these tools/theories to create an algorithm for the potential “EthicFish” engine, which would enable us to analyze and evaluate complex moral issues. And then apply that very same algorithm to a concrete, real-life example that caused a lot of controversy at the time.

Theoretical Framework: Nikos’ Step-By-Step Guide To Ethics

Step 1: Consequentialist Consideration

First, carefully consider the potential consequences of your action or decision on all those who may be affected. Strive to maximize overall well-being, minimize harm, and promote the greater good. 

However, if the outcomes are unclear or too difficult to predict, move to the next step.

Step 2: Deontological Principles

Apply the test of universalizability – could the reasons behind your action be willed as a universal law? Additionally, respect the autonomy, rights, and dignity of all persons involved. 

If these Kantian principles do not provide a clear resolution, proceed to the next part.

Step 3: Social Norms and Traditions

Examine relevant laws, cultural traditions, and established practices pertaining to the ethical dilemma. 

If this exploration still does not yield a satisfactory solution, advance to the final step.

Part 4: Personal Virtues and Values

Ultimately, draw upon your virtues, and values to guide your decision. Strive to act with integrity, compassion, and courage. If needed, seek advice from individuals you regard as morally exemplary.

Practical Application: How do female chess influencers promote chess?

To see how we can use the ethical guide described above in practice, let’s try to apply it to a real-life example. The following post on X by WGM Dina Belenkaya caused a lot of controversy at the time when it was posted and became a topic of many debates:

Should female chess influencers promote this type of content? Do they do it for the clicks and to get FanHouse subs, or to promote female chess players’ empowerment? Or we shouldn’t care, as they have the right to do whatever they want?

Let us use our ethical formula, to see if we can get an answer.

Step 1: Consequentialist Consideration

This type of content brings eyeballs to female chess. The above post had more than 600k impressions. That’s a positive. But, some female chess players didn’t feel well with it. Please remember, that if they were right to feel offended, or not, doesn’t matter at this point. What we know, is that a significant number of women didn’t like this content and expressed it openly.

Do we know if this post brought financial benefits to those involved? Directly, possibly yes, and that should be counted as a positive. Do we know if this had any measurable effects, positive or negative on the community of female players? That is much more difficult to judge. 

Different people will weigh differently the balance of the outcomes. I do think that the most significant element here is the number of people that saw the post, and the number of people that liked it (which was also big). 

But, even though I feel that so far we are on the positive side, let’s move on to the next step to see if this will offer us a different perspective.

Step 2: Deontological Principles

To apply Kant’s principles to this promotional post, we should ask:

• Would it be acceptable for all influencers to promote content in the same manner?
• Are the influencers respecting the autonomy, rights, and dignity of themselves and others? 
• Are they treating themselves and their audience as ends in themselves, not merely as a means to gain followers or subscriptions?

Different people can argue about the answers to these questions. But, I accepted the risk of offering my point of view, so I’ll not back up now. 

I will say that for the first two questions, it is a clear “yes” for me.

But, for the third question, it feels to me that the answer is that the influencers involved, seem to want to use their post as a way to gain paid subscriptions. The reason I think this observation is fair is that the message has 1 photo and 2 sentences. One of the sentences is about following the influencers on their FanHouse profile.  This consists of 50% of the message they communicated.

If the message contained other elements, I would be less certain, but as things stand, I cannot but consider that the Kantian consideration makes this post fall somewhat on the negative side. 

However, we still don’t have clarity. Let’s continue then to the next step.

Step 3: Social Norms and Traditions

For this step, this is what we should consider:

• Legal Framework. I do believe that there is nothing wrong here.
• Cultural Expectations. What are the cultural attitudes towards the portrayal of women in media and sports within the community where the content is being shared? 
• Industry Practices. What are the common practices within the chess community and the broader field of influencer marketing? Does the content adhere to or deviate from these established practices?

The contractarian perspective doesn’t strongly oppose the influencers’ approach, although it’s unusual to see prominent female chess players in such attire. While this is more common in other sports, society today isn’t generally shocked by women in lingerie. 

We’ll now consider the final step to see if it helps us reach a clearer conclusion.

Part 4: Personal Virtues and Values

For those who follow me on social media, you likely have an idea of the things that are important to me. I greatly value providing meaningful content to my audience, whether that’s sharing knowledge or practical advice. While I don’t oppose lighter, entertaining posts, I take issue with content that aims to draw attention to individuals solely based on their physical appearance rather than conveying a broader, positive message or highlighting a worthy cause.

“Girls do it better than Messi and Ronaldo” feels like a lost opportunity to me to highlight a bigger message about the multifaceted talents and creative power of women beyond just physical comparisons or objectification.  

So, ultimately, this post left a bitter taste in my mouth, but I have to admit that when I analyzed this with the help of all the tools presented here, my opinion became less strong. The above tools forced me to see different angles, and even consider at some point changing my opinion from a negative, to a positive one (although, never strongly positive). 

I hope that you were able to find the same exercise as useful and enlightening as it was for me.

Conclusion

That was a lengthy article covering many ethical concepts and examples. If you made it this far, congratulations!

As you saw, I personally lean more towards a consequentialist/utilitarian approach because “providing value” is one of my guiding principles. But I also recognize the importance of moral obligations, as well as how traditions significantly inform many people’s decisions.

Aristotle’s idea that shaping an ethical character is a constant, daily effort resonates with me. The tools examined here have helped me in this ongoing pursuit. Hopefully, they’ll aid you as well.

Lastly, I presented an amateur attempt to create a formula by combining core elements from different ethical theories into “Nikos Ethics.” I am not unhappy with what I came up with but don’t take that seriously. What you can do instead, is follow modern philosophers, and study their frameworks. Developing new approaches by synthesizing fundamental theories is central to modern ethics discussions.

See you on X, Facebook or LinkedIn when the next chess drama unfolds!

The post An Ethical Guide For Chess Players appeared first on Chessentials.

On February 26th, 2024, one of the biggest, proudest moments of my professional life (so far) happened – the publication of the Chessable course Gustafsson’s Aggressive 1.e4 – Part 1, which I co-authored with none other but the renowned Grandmaster, commentator and opening theoretician, GM Jan Gustafsson.

To celebrate this moment and my part when it comes to the marketing of the course, I have decided to write an article in which I will talk about how the course came to be and what kind of lines and “style” a prospective student should expect out of it.

I hope you will enjoy it and find it useful.

Gustafsson’s Aggressive 1.e4 – Part 1

Basic Information About The Course?

Gustafsson’s Aggressive 1.e4 is a repertoire aimed at providing you with an overall 1.e4 repertoire. In the first part of this repertoire, we will be covering everything apart from the French, Caro-Kann, and the Sicilian. In other words, we are covering 1.e4 e5 complex and everything else Black can throw at us after 1.e4.

The course consists of:

• 579 Lines/Variations available to the user to “train”
• 59 Informational Variations
• 37 Annotated Model Games
• 166 Tactical and Strategic Puzzles
• 285.175 Words
• 20 hours and 28 minutes of video, presented by GM Jan Gustafsson

Which Lines Are Recommended In The Course?

A) After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 the Italian with 3.Bc4 will be our choice

and now:

A1) After 3…Bc5, we will be going for the sharp Dubov Italian after 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.b4!?

A2) After 3…Nf6, we will be going for what I – for some reason – called the Three Knights Variation with 4.Ng5, when the principled line in the absolute mainline is 4…d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5 c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Qf3!?

B) After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 we will be going for 3.d4. In the absolute main line of the system after 3…Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5 Nd7 6.Nxd7 Bxd7 Jan has decided to recommend the move 7.Nd2!?, which was used by Magnus in his World Chess Championship against Ian Nepomniachtchi. And Jan was a member of Magnus’ team!

C) After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Be7, Jan has decided to go for the move 6.g3!?, which doesn’t look so aggressive at first, but can quickly lead to wild stuff after 6….d5 7.e5 Ng4 8.Bg2!?. Otherwise, we will want to secure a stable space advantage and slowly suffocate Black.

D) In the Philidor Hanham after 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7, Jan has come up with a rare move 5.a4!?, seizing space on the queenside immediately. Once again, the idea is to suffocate Black. And if they play 5…a5 we go 6.g4!? and claim we are getting a better version of the 5.g4!? Gambit with the moves a4 and a5 included.

E) Against the Scandinavian Defence, we will be going for the absolute main variation with 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 and play principled chess, since White has a good chance of seizing the initiative and fighting for the advantage without necessarily trying to sacrifice a pawn or do something crazy at all costs.

F) Against the Alekhine Defence, we have decided to go for the maximalist approach with the Four Pawns Attack, arising after 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.c4 Nb6 4.d4 d6 5.f4! This line is not very challenging, but also quite practical, since it significantly reduces Black’s options compared to the other variations of the Alekhine.

G) Against the Pirc/Modern, Jan has decided to go for the not-so-aggressive-looking Classical Variation after 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 at first glance, this setup doesn’t fit into the repertoire with the word ‘Aggressive’ in the title. But it is a rather practical choice because it allows us to play it against both Pirc and Modern move orders. Besides, this setup still has a lot of ‘aggressive’ potential due to the possibility of advancing the e-pawn rather quickly. For example, one of the main variations of the Pirc complex arises after 4…Bg7 5.Be2 O-O 6. O-O c6 7.Re1 Nbd7 8.e5 Ng4 9.e6 where we once again sacrifice a pawn for long-term compensation, fully in the spirit of this repertoire.

I) Finally, the last two chapters deal with all the other 1st moves Black can throw at us after 1.e4, such as 1…Nc6, 1…b6, 1…a6 and many others. In these last two chapters, we didn’t try to reinvent the wheel but occupied the center and tried to play principled chess.

(Do note that all the other moves after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4, as well nonsense such as 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5?! or 1. e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5?! are also all covered)

What Is The Philosophy/Style Of The Course?

As the title of the course suggests and the lines above demonstrate, throughout this repertoire, Jan has tried to suggest combative and aggressive lines where White tries to pose immediate problems to the opponent and fight for the initiative from the get-go. Often, we should be willing to sacrifice at least one pawn to achieve our aims.

However, there are also places (most notably the Three Knights chapters) where we are the ones willing to grab some material and then fend off our opponent’s initiative. Although the positions are again crazy-looking and highly tactical, as the following example demonstrates:

The general idea was to avoid playing strategical positions and “typical” structures as often as possible, but rather to prefer a more concrete, move-by-move approach. The idea is to get our opponent into a position where the better-prepared player has better chances – and we hope that it will be us after going through the material in this repertoire.

Of course, as much as we try, it is not completely possible to avoid playing quieter positions and typical structures. Most notably in the Scandinavian chapters, where one often gets the structure where White has the pawn on d4 and the opponent has the pawns on e6 and c6 (albeit usually a good version). Some positional variations can also be seen in the Pirc, Open Philidor, and Philidor Hanham chapters, but we don’t necessarily mind entering a positional variation if it is considered to be better for White.

Can I Expect To Obtain A Won Position Directly Out Of The Opening?

Depends on the opening we are talking about. One very important thing to mention is that our approach in the 1.e4 e5 mainlines was different than the approach in the rest of the course.

Against other openings, White is objectively able to fight for the advantage. In most cases (most notably the Scandinavian and Alekhine) we have tried to maximize our chances and go for the most principled and aggressive setup. But even in the Pirc and the Philidor, where we have opted for a more practical and fresh approach, we have tried to be as ambitious as possible and objectively fight for the advantage, instead of just “getting a game”. Against all of these openings, Jan has been able to demonstrate a path toward an advantage. Although one could debate

However, in the 1.e4 e5 complex, it is objectively very difficult to fight for the advantage in the mainlines – especially in aggressive ones. Therefore, Jan was trying to come up with variations that are aggressive, lesser-known, and not total nonsense. The verdict is that both The Dubov Italian and the main variation of the Three Knights with 8.Qf3!? are comparatively fresh, challenging, venomous – and objectively not that bad for White.

Of course, we are not claiming that White has an objective advantage in these lines. But the same can be said about any variation in the 1.e4 e5 complex. The good thing is – even in the worst-case scenario where Black finds all the best possible moves, we are not seriously risking to be worse. Our hope when playing these lines is that most of our opponents will not be that well-prepared and able to find the best moves.

True, such an aggressive way of playing does entail a certain degree of risk, because even if we reach an “objectively equal” position, it might still be a rather difficult one to handle for both sides. But we figured this degree of risk is acceptable and something we are willing to live with.

How This Course Came To Be?

When this repertoire was first announced, I am sure many of you were wondering: ‘How on Earth did a schmock like you get to collaborate with someone like Jan?’ To be completely honest, I am still in disbelief. But to explain how exactly this collaboration came to be, let me take you on a brief stroll down memory lane.

For a long time, I have had an idea to do a very specific opening repertoire for the White pieces. However, back in 2021 (or was it 2022?), when I was still working for Chessable in the capacity of the Publishing Manager, I received an email from Jan where he pitched that very same idea. Given his stature and the fact that specific repertoire fits rather nicely with the ‘Chicken Chess’ brand, I figured my ideas of executing it myself were not very likely to materialize, so I more or less gave up on that idea.

However, by mid 2023 a lot of water under the bridge has passed. And still, there was no news about Jan’s new repertoire/return to Chessable. I had the suspicion that Jan might find the writing part of course production challenging, so I figured I might ask if he would be interested in ‘joining forces’ and collaborating on this project. In June 2023, I reached out to our mutual ‘acquaintance’ Mr. Dodgy, and pitched the idea. Fortunately, the response was positive and after the ‘summer break’ we agreed to collaborate on a repertoire together.

True, the final topic of the repertoire was not the one we initially envisioned. But we still put our hearts and minds into this project that has been in the works since October 2023.

How Was The Work Between You and Jan Divided?

One common question people have when they see a project that includes the collaboration of two (or more) is: ‘I wonder how the work on this project was exactly divided?’. In the case of this repertoire, the answer to this question is comparatively straightforward.

Jan was responsible for the analytical portion of the work. That includes choosing the variations, doing the analysis, and providing me with files featuring this analysis. My input in this domain was restricted to double-checking the databases and doing my best to ensure, say, that the moves relevant at the lower levels (according to the lichess database), are also covered.

As for my part, I was primarily responsible for writing all the annotations in this course. As well as anything related to the course design, such as organizing the material in chapters or deciding which lines to present as trainables and which to include as clickables. I did all the work on the non-filmed chapters (such as selecting and annotating the Model Games) independently.

Conclusion

I hope this article provides you with a good introduction/overview of this repertoire. If you are interested but are still unsure about whether the course is for you – you can also check the Free Short & Sweet version on the course on Chessable.

Looking forward to seeing you inside the courses :).

The post I Published A Course With Jan Gustafsson! appeared first on Chessentials.

Given that literally every article I have ever read about blogging – especially back in 2016 – recommended implementing and maintaining your own mailing list, ever since I first founded chessentials.com, I have included the possibility to sign up for my newsletter and receive regular emails from yours truly directly in your inbox.

Alas, as time went by, I realized writing and sending regular emails is much more difficult, complicated, and demanding than it initially sounds. In the last six years, I have been sending the Chessentails newsletter on a very irregular basis. I have tried implementing several formats and schedules, but ultimately, they would all dwindle down, and eventually, a long period of me not sending a single email would follow.

Yet, despite all the irregularities and lack of schedule, over time, my mailing list kept growing and somehow got to over 900 subscribers. Thus, when I decided to quit my job at Chessable on the 1^st of April 2022 and embark on my own journey as a chess freelancer, I realized it constitutes a very valuable asset and that trying to revitalize it in some shape or form is probably a very good idea.

Thus, after a long period of tinkering and procrastination, I am finally happy to announce the return of the Chessentials Newsletter in a different shape and form – this time with a brand new title “Month in Chess(entials)”. As the title suggests, I have decided to turn this newsletter into a monthly update post from yours truly, which will be divided into two parts.

In the first part, I will talk about the events that happened in the chess world in the previous month. The primary focus will be on the chess tournaments and events that I followed, but I will also discuss all the other relevant chess news that I find interesting/worth mentioning.

The second part of the newsletter will have a more personal note, as I will talk about what has been going on in my own chess life in the previous month. I will use the opportunity to mention the content I produced and the projects I am working on, but I will also discuss the chess content I consumed (chess books, podcasts, youtube videos, etc.) and the training methods I am using to improve my own game.

My hope/idea is that this newsletter will, thus, strike a nice balance between being self-promotional and informative and that it will provide the reader with a very nice overview of what has been going on in the chess world and with the author of these lines in the previous month.

I genuinely hope you will enjoy it!

MONTH IN CHESS

CHESS TOURNAMENTS AND EVENTS I FOLLOWED

Even though January is usually regarded as a cold and depressing month during which you get back to reality after the Christmas holidays and start realizing your New Year’s resolutions were probably way too ambitious, it is a very good month for chess fans due to the fact that the annual Tata Steel Chess tournament – one of the biggest, oldest and most prestigious tournaments (arguably even more prestigious than Mr. Dodgy Invitational) in the world – is held.

Tata Steel Chess Masters

The 2023 edition of Tata Steel Chess arguably gathered even more attention/interest than usual. First of all, it was the first super-strong, elite classical chess tournament to be held in quite some time. Secondly – even though Tata Steel tournaments are famous for their very interesting and “mixed” fields, this year the lineup of all tournament groups – but especially of the strongest – the Masters’ group – was spectacular even by Tata Steel’s high standards.

The field consisting of the combination of the best players of the world (Carlsen, Giri, Caruana, Aronian, Ding) and virtually all of the strongest young players out there (Abdusattorov, Keymer, Erigaisi, Praggnanadhaa) guaranteed not only a ridiculously high average rating, but also the first-ever clash of the “newer” generation against the “old” veterans in this classical tournament format.

The course of the tournament itself definitely didn’t fail to live to the very high pre-tournament expectations as it turned out to be one of the most memorable, interesting, and dramatic editions of Tata Steel Chess Masters I can remember. It is hard to fully convey how good and exciting the tournament was within a newsletter format, but allow me to mention some of the key and most memorable moments:

• Anish Giri beating Magnus Carlsen for the first time since 2011
• Nodirbek Abdusattorov beating Carlsen in their first-ever classical encounter
• Magnus getting back in the tournament and being a serious contender for first place despite suffering two defeats in a row for the first time since Norway Chess 2015
• Vincent Keymer failing to win back-to-back won rook endgames in his games against Abdusattorov and Van Foreest, respectively, prompting Mr. Dodgy to come up with this tweet

Mr. Dodgy – as brilliant as always

• Jorden van Foreest having a bad tournament, but then almost beating Anish Giri in the penultimate round
• Nodirbek Abdusattorov leading the tournament the entire way, being undefeated until the last round and then losing to the very same Jorden van Foreest, allowing Anish Giri to overtake him

Thus, after considerable drama, Anish Giri managed to finally win the tournament on his home turf, with Nodirbek Abdusattorov, unfortunately, ending up in a shared second place with Magnus Carlsen – who almost managed to achieve a comeback of epic proportions.

Image source: Tata Steel Chess Official Website

Tata Steel Chess Challengers

Even though the Challengers group of Tata Steel Chess (formerly known as the “B” group) is usually overshadowed by the Masters’ group (to an extent that the official broadcast of chess.com – very disappointingly – failed at all to cover the games from it), that doesn’t mean it is any less interesting to follow.

Due to the fact that the organizers have the same philosophy of inviting a very diverse and interesting field AND the fact that the average level is lower than in the Masters’ group, the games are very interesting, exciting, and quite often – decisive, and the course of the tournament was no less interesting.

For me personally, the group was even more interesting as the organizers invited a very promising and talented 16-year-old Dutch IM Eline Roebers, whom I incidentally signed as a player for the Croatia Bulldogs team competing in the Pro Chess League just a couple of days before the event. As a manager, but also as her fan, I followed her games with great interest and rooted for her in this super-strong and stacked field.

As for the tournament itself, in the end, it was won very convincingly by GM Alexander Donchenko from Germany – who ended up a point ahead of the nearest competitor, GM Mustafa Yilmaz from Turkey.

Image source: Tata Steel Chess Official Website

Even though the final result seems very convincing, for the most part, the tournament was a three-way race between Donchenko, Yilmaz, and Velimir Ivić, a young GM from Serbia who only got invited as a last-minute substitute. In order to demonstrate how close the race was, let me just say that after 9 rounds, Yilmaz was actually leading the tournament with 6.5/9, while Donchenko and Ivić were at 6/9.

The 10^th round turned out to be quite crucial. Ivić lost a dramatic game against Supi where he had a much better, arguably even won position at some point and then went on to collapse in the last 3 rounds. Yilmaz slowed down and made 3 draws in the last 4 games, while Donchenko scored a huge win against Max Warmerdam and went on to win all of his remaining games (!!).

Thus, Donchenko will get the opportunity to play in the Masters group in 2024. This will be his second appearance after he got invited as the last-minute substitute in the 2021 edition of the tournament.

Tata Steel Chess Amateurs

Last but not least – I also spent some time looking at the games from the “lowest” section of the Tata Steel Chess tournament – the Amateurs section. This group is basically what was formerly known as the “C” group of the tournament – the winner gets the right to participate in the Tata Steel Chess Challengers the following year.

There were several reasons why I found this group particularly interesting. First of all, if you haven’t figured it out by now – I really love chess, and checking chess games from different tournaments is one of my favorite hobbies. I often feel there is too little attention to these “lesser” events that still feature extremely strong players and very interesting and exciting games.

Furthermore, my interest in this group was sparked because I was actually familiar with some of the names that participated in it. In my most recent tournament in Groningen 2022, I played against Dutch IM Nico Zwirs and 13-year-old FM Arthur de Winter, while I have also interacted via Twitter with the young Bosnian FM Sanjin Culum. This personal touch made it even more interesting to follow the tournament and their games.

The group itself was won by Belgian IM Stefan Beukema in quite a remarkable way. After starting with 0.5/2, he went on to score a remarkable 6.5 in his remaining 7 games – including the clutch win in the final round over Mark Van der Werf.

Stefan, will, therefore, get the opportunity to participate in the Challengers Group in 2024.

Image source: Tata Steel Chess Official Website

Rabac Open and Bošnjaci Open

Apart from Tata Steel Chess, at the beginning of the month, I also followed two local chess tournaments here in Croatia that are traditionally held in the first week of January – Rabac Open and Bošnjaci Open tournaments. Since I played in Groningen at the end of 2022, I didn’t feel like participating in any of these tournaments myself, but since many of my friends and people I know played, I of course followed the results and rooted for them along the way.

Even though following these events is fun and interesting, my mood was very much spoiled when I saw how many quick draws are being made – and also when I heard stories about entire games being pre-arranged. I even wrote an entire Twitter thread about the case of a father of a young girl paying her opponent not to show up before the last-round game so that she could win the first women’s prize.

The entire thread about this case can be found on my Twitter

I genuinely find all these “off-the-board” machinations – which are, unfortunately quite common in the Croatian Chess Circuit – extremely disgusting and harmful to the game and I will not stop talking about them and against them until they become much less prominent – or non-existent at all.

CHESS GAMES THAT DELIGHTED ME

Now, as you would expect from a month during which Tata Steel was played – it was full of fascinating and interesting chess games that are well worth remembering.

It is hard to do justice to all these wonderful players by trying to single out just a few of the games, but below, you will find some of the games that delighted me the most in the month of January 2023.

Pechac – Tabatabei

A crazy game in which White played the King’s Gambit, Black blundered a piece on move 7 and then went on to win nevertheless.

Caruana – Maghsoodloo

A crazy game in which Caruana was significantly worse, then managed to equalize and then Maghsoodlo decided to go for a brave king walk (which Caruana later described in a podcast as “completely crazy”), ending up in a losing position, which Caruana did not convert.

Carlsen – Praggnanandhaa

One of the crucial games of the tournament, played in the penultimate, 12^th round. Carlsen obtained a very promising position, but then missed one detail and allowed a heroic defense by Prag. Had Carlsen won this game, he would have had very reasonable chances to catch Giri and Nodirbek in the last round and force the playoff.

Giri – Gukesh

In my opinion, Giri’s best game in the tournament, featuring a very strong piece of preparation and a devastating attack.

 Van Foreest – Giri

Another crucial game, also played in the penultimate round. After a brave and remarkable piece of preparation, Van Foreest had Giri on the ropes, but failed to convert the position. As it usually goes – in order to win a tournament of this caliber, you have to have at least a little bit of luck.

Roebers – L’Ami

A big upset win in the Challengers group and the biggest win of Eline’s career so far. You can find this game analyzed in a separate video and article devoted to Eline’s best games.

 Vasiukov – Rantanen

As will be mentioned later in this newsletter, the first book I read in 2023 was devoted to GM Evgeny Vasiukov and his best games. The following attacking masterpiece is definitely one of the most memorable games from this book and fully deserves to be included on this list:

OTHER CHESS NEWS

Before I started writing this specific newsletter, I was under the impression that January 2023 was a relatively uneventful month and that not that much was happening in the chess world, apart from Tata Steel.

However, once I started revisiting the events of the past month, I realized that is not entirely the case and that there were quite some news and stories worth mentioning. The overview of the most important ones/ones that sparked my interests – together with my unsolicited opinions – can be found below.

Sara Khadeem defects to Spain

In the latest case of Iranian chess players leaving their native country – the leading Iranian player and one of the strongest female players in the world, IM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Sara Khadem) defected from her come country and settled in Spain after refusing to wear a headscarf/hijab at the 2022 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship.

This constitutes a serious violation of the Iranian law that would make Sara’s well-being seriously endangered were she to return. Thus, she joins a long list of Iranian chess players, (such as Alireza Firouzja, Elshan Moradiabadi, and Dorsha Derakshani, to name a few), leaving their home country.

Given that the Iranian chess federation is also forcing their players to forfeit their chess games against Israeli players, it is quite remarkable that FIDE is not reacting in any way and silently watching as these events unfold.

Which makes the following piece of news even more ironic. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Shohret Bayat and FIDE double standards

While we are talking about Iranian chess players – Shohret Bayat is one of the leading chess arbiters/officials who got a lot of media attention some two years ago for the very same reason Sara Khadem is getting attention today. During the Women’s World Chess Championship 2020, Shohreh refused to wear hijab in public and was forced to leave Iran and never return.

Alas, in 2023, Shohreh got into the center of media attention for a very different and very unfortunate reason. After wearing a Ukrainian-themed outfit and a T-shirt with the title “Women, Life, Freedom” as an arbiter in official FIDE events, she got reprimanded by FIDE for not adhering to the arbiter dress code and her entire future as the FIDE official is, as of yet, unclear.

This is quite remarkable in so many ways. First of all, according to Shohreh – there aren’t any official regulations that would prescribe the dress code for arbiters in official FIDE events – so she technically wasn’t in violation of anything.

But even if she was – isn’t it a tiny bit hypocritical to reprimand an arbiter who has to LEAVE her home country due to POLITICAL reasons, for wearing the clothing with POLITICAL messages, while it is so very clear that FIDE is still very heavily under the POLITICAL influence and while FIDE is refusing to do anything about the POLITICAL influence of the Iranian chess federation?

Gens una sumus, my ass!

Do better, FIDE!

(If you want a more in-depth account of the entire topic, I can only recommend you this deep dive posted on the lichess blog)

The host of the Ding-Nepo World Championship announced

While we are at FIDE and politics – in January, the venue and the conditions for the upcoming Ding-Nepomniachtchi were finally announced. Prior to the announcement, there were many voiced expressing their concern/indignation that the venue is not known 3 months before the match, while after the announcement, the venue and the source of the funding were also under the microscope.

But all these things aside, it is nice to see that the match will happen after all and that the prize fund is very substantial and worthy of such a prestigious chess event!

Champions Chess Tour and Global Chess Championship Merge

While we are talking about big chess events – in the aftermath of Chesscom’s merger with the PlayMagnus group, in the mid of January the new season of the Champions Chess Tour, was announced. The event is basically a merged version of PlayMagnus’ Champions Chess Tour and Chesscom’s Global Chess Championship, with a ludicrously huge prize fund (2 million USD – exactly the same as the World Chess Championship) and equally ludicrously complicated format (which I still struggle to completely understand).

One nice and welcome change compared to the Champions Chess Tour is the addition of the Open Qualifiers, which enable any grandmasters to participate and reach one of the main six events (in line with the Global Chess Championship and in sharp contrast with the original tour that was invitation-only). However, for me personally, it is hard to get excited about a tour that has so many rapid events, as the likelihood of all of them blending into a single mass is very high.

While I definitely like the fact that Chesscom is organizing all these events (how could I not, given that I manage a Pro Chess League team) and makes earning money more accessible to a wide array of players, I am not 100% sure how much I like the fact that these long-winded online events are now becoming a new norm and overshadowing over-the-board events.

I think the recent lack of classical chess tournaments is a direct consequence of such a trend and I feel it is already too late to reverse it. But I guess we will see what exactly the future holds.

Mittens The Chess Bot?

While we are at chesscom and announcements – at the very beginning of the year, on 2^nd of January, Chesscom announced the addition of the new set of cat-themed chess bots to their collection of chess bots that the visitors of the website can challenge to a game of chess. I don’t think anyone envisioned that one of these bots, called “Mittens” featured a “cute” cat photo, and an extremely high playing strength more than sufficient to beat the best players in the world and definitely not corresponding to her nominal rating of “1 ELO”.

Mittens, the chess bot that conquered the chess world

Throughout January, Mittens would quickly conquer the chess world and become a viral chess phenomenon. Before you knew it, everybody was posting competing who would first beat Mittens, Youtube videos with Mittens in the title and Mittens on the thumbnail were getting millions of views, a separate Twitter account for Mittens was created and the bot even made it to the non-chess publications.

Even though it was obvious that the whole story is primarily a very transparent and highly successful marketing plot, it was all pretty confusing and shocking when you consider what Mittens is at its core – a super powerful chess engine with a “disguised” chess playing strength and a stock photo of a cat.

It made me realize how gullible an average person on the Internet is and how easy it is to sell a “narrative” today with very little to no substance – especially if you also mobilize an entire army of content creators and influencers. And while I don’t think promoting a chess engine is necessarily that harmful, I do find it quite problematic that a very similar method is used to promote other, much more suspect products, such as the Play-to-Earn NFT-based chess playing platform the Immortal Game (In general, this method of creating hype and using influencers to sell a “narrative” without a substance is very characteristic of NFT/crypto world. I can definitely recommend the following Youtube video/documentary by James Jani for more details on the topic).

The New Chess Boom?

 In hindsight, the popularity of Mittens seemed to be the consequence (or the cause, depending on whom you ask) of the so-called New Chess Boom – a big surge of interest in chess that surpasses even the Queen’s Gambit Declined/Netflix boom.  Apart from chess clips and videos receiving an enormous amount of views and some youtubers reporting ridiculous numbers in terms of monthly subscribers gained,  throughout January chess.com repeatedly kept having issues with their servers due to the unprecedented increase in the number of daily visitors and newly registered users.

An image many visitors of chess.com kept seeing throughout January as chess.com kept having server issues due to the record traffic

What was the cause of such a big and relatively sudden chess boom? Chess.com tried to provide some reasoning in a blog post they published on their website, which was then later analyzed in a separate  Gotham Chess video.

And while a lot of the reasoning was self-aggrandizing at best and–  frankly – quite ridiculous at worst (what on Earth does the acquisition of the PlayMagnus group by Chess.com have with the chess boom is beyond me), there definitely seems to be some truth in the argument that we might be experiencing the delayed effect of chess receiving a lot of the media attention due to the Niemann cheating scandal, the Ludwig Chessboxing event and arguably even Messi – Ronaldo photoshoot, which also caused a snowball effect when it comes to Youtube/Social media algorithms starting to pick up on that popularity and recommend such content to their users.

How long it will last and where it will all lead remains to be seen!

MONTH IN CHESSENTIALS

 Now, even though the majority of the New Year’s Resolutions don’t make it until the second week of the year and even though I had Tata Steel to follow, the month of January turned out to be extremely busy (and hopefully productive) on my front. By some miracle, I managed to start quite a few “old” projects I have been procrastinating on ever since I first decided to become a chess freelancer and some “newer” projects – such as the Pro Chess League – also appeared on the scene and started pressing me with their deadlines.

Here are some of the things I have been working on over the course of the past month!

WHAT I WROTE?

I started the year by writing a big article about the best chess books I have read in 2022, reviewing a total of 20 chess books in quite some depth. Even though the article took me much more than I anticipated and turned out way longer than it should have been, the reception was much more positive and engaging than I expected. It was quite heartening to see that the chess book reading is not yet a completely forgotten sport despite the rise of the digital tools.

Alas, due to all the other obligations (or more precisely – due to me watching too much Tata Steel instead of doing some work), this would turn out to be the only “chess” article I would write in the entire month. It is a bit of a pity as I am starting to realize more and more writing might be my favourite form of expression + I have quite a few ideas for future articles.

I do hope to start writing more in the upcoming months, although it is very tricky to find a balance between different things you can do as a self-employed chess “entrepreneur”.

Which kinda leads me to the next point.

WHAT I FILMED?

This newsletter was not the only thing that I decided to “bring from the dead” in January 2023. After a long period of procrastination, at the beginning of this year I finally decided to revive my old Youtube channel and started posting videos on a fairly regular basis.

So far, I have posted 14 videos. For the moment, the content is relatively varied – from chess opening videos via historical games from the Steinitz-Zukertort World Chess Championship Match, to videos covering my own games and beautiful chess studies. I even made one “educational” chess video titled Typical Mistakes on the Amateur Level and I would definitely love to do more on that front – just like on many other fronts (I would very much like to do more chess sketches and “Funny chess videos” with a much higher production value) – in the future.

Now with that being said, even though I have been seriously doing Youtube only for a month, I have already started experiencing some serious doubts in regard to whether I should be doing it. Here are some of my thoughts in regard to why:

• Even though I am aware that you should not really pay attention to your numbers, even though I know no success comes overnight, and even though I don’t even aim to become the biggest chess Youtuber in the universe, seeing that your videos get 2-digit views or 3-digit views at most can be quite discouraging.

• Even though my Youtube videos are not necessarily the most professional or high-production videos out there, a lot of time goes into creating them (scripting, filming, editing). Especially since I aim to provide the viewer with the lichess study with the annotated material covered in the video (which is something I hoped would distinguish me on the market, but so far it hasn’t been the case). There are days when I wonder whether the time and effort are worth it and whether I would be better off devoting my energy somewhere else.

• I am aware I am not the most talented presenter out there and I often wonder whether someone with my “prerequisites” should venture into Youtube to begin with. I am aware one’s presentation skills and camera presence can be improved through practice, but even though I read a lot about the topic, I often feel that my improvement in that domain is minimal. Additionally, there are certain aspects, such as intonation, voice sound and accent, over which I feel have very little control (and hiring, say, a voice coach or going to acting lessons seems like a bit of an overkill, at least at this early stage).

• As for the things I do have control over – I am aware that I am maybe not playing the Youtube game in the best manner in the terms of video length (my videos are surely too long), video descriptions, titles, and thumbnails (even though I don’t necessarily think they are the worst out there), etc. At first, I didn’t think that not playing this game is such a big deal, but many recent posts, including the one by the popular OG chess Youtuber ChessNetwork have made me realize that playing this game might be more important than ever before.

• However, I am not even sure I want to play the Youtube game, given that Youtube is actively pushing short content in order to compete with TikTok (apparently they will soon start monetizing Shorts) and given that I genuinely think TikTok as a platform and short content are an extremely negative trend that shortens our attention spans even further. This represents a huge clash with my personal beliefs and values and I don’t think I can ever go against them.

I really hope this will not come across as me whining or someone who is expecting quick success being jaded, but rather as an objective outlook on the situation. For the moment, I am fortunately still enjoying the process of creating Youtube content too much to just give it away, but I guess we will see what the future holds.

Fortunately, I seem to have enough projects/endeavors to keep me going anyway! This leads me to the next point!

PRO CHESS LEAGUE 2023

One of the reasons why I was so busy throughout January is the Pro Chess League – an online team competition organized by chess.com – which is returning in February 2023, after a three-year-long hiatus. Given that the team Croatia Bulldogs which I manage was invited to participate in this competition, that chesscom is trying to bring the whole competition to the next level, and that I am managing the team as a chess freelancer for the first time, I decided to embark on the whole task much more seriously and professionally than in the past.

This meant that a lot of work was to be done behind the scenes before the competition even begins. Some of the things related to the competition I have been doing in January (and not only in January) are as follows:

• Contacting the (potential) players and signing them for the team
• Preparing the contracts and making sure everything is clean from the legal standpoint
• Revamping and updating the Croatia Bulldogs team website
• Preparing and designing the visuals for the website/social media
• Preparing and editing the official promo trailer for the team
• Creating additional content such as Meet The Bulldogs videos/articles, introducing the players prior to the season

So far, everything seems to be going according to plan and I am fully ready and excited for the start of the season – which will happen in the 3^rd week of February.

100 REPERTOIRES: ALEKHINE DEFENCE

Last but not least, after the release of my latest Chessable course titled Stomp The Sicilian: The Maroczy Bind, I agreed to do another one in the first half of 2023, this time on the topic of the Alekhine Defence.

Given that my Chessable courses are currently my main source of income and that I have an impending deadline to meet, I had to get started on this project, too, and get it going.  Alas, in contrast to doing Youtube or creating video trailers, here I am much more familiar with the process and the requirements, although that doesn’t negate the fact that creating a Chessable course is a very time-consuming and challenging task – especially if you want to do it as thoroughly and deeply as possible.

One of the hardest part about creating a Chessable repertoire is annotating the position in great detail – and I am trying me best to be as thorough and elaborate as possible. As you can tell from the length of the article, writing too much is not a particular problem for me, though.

Now, even though the work is difficult and tedious at times, I always find working on Chessable courses very interesting and rewarding – especially since I know that it will ultimately have direct benefits for my own chess, even if it is not a 100% substitute for the actual chess training.

This leads me to the next point.

HOW I TRAINED?

Due to the busy working schedule, the fact that one also wants to have life and like, hang out with friends AND the fact that I played a classical tournament at the end of December (after which I definitely needed a break), in January I worked much less and less frequently on my own chess than usual. In the first part of the month, I barely did any work at all and only in the second half did I slowly got back into it.

However, that is not to say that I didn’t do any work whatsoever. Apart from working on the Chessable repertoire as mentioned above, I did spend some time analyzing my games from the most recent tournament (using the methodology I will definitely describe in the future video/article, so stay tuned for that).

Then, I also managed to keep the habit of solving the weekly chess exercises in the form of the Killer Chess Homework provided by a renowned chess coach GM Jacob Aagard via the Killer Chess Training platform. I am really enjoying the process of trying to solve these very hard exercises as they force me to actually focus deeply and go “into the zone” – which I think is the most important feature of every high-quality chess training/improvement method.

(An excerpt from one of the Killer Chess Homeworks with my solutions and quick feedback from GM Jacob Aagard. I will write more about the Killer Chess Training platform in the future, so stay tuned)

Toward the end of the month, I managed to get into the habit of clicking on Chessable and doing some work on my openings again. And while this may seem like a lot already, the total amount of work was definitely less compared to an average month where I usually devote around an hour EVERY day working on my game.

On the other hand, even though I have been somewhat slacking in the domain of chess training, I have managed to stay consistent in the domain of chess book reading.

This brings me to the next point!

WHICH (CHESS) BOOKS I READ?

Even though I read 20 chess books throughout 2022, at the beginning of 2023 I realized I still have quite a few chess books on my bookshelves that I have purchased somewhere in the past, yet never even opened (as befits every self-respectable chess book enthusiast).

Thus, almost immediately at the beginning of 2023, I got down to business by immersing myself in a fascinating book about the relatively lesser-known Russian Grandmaster Evgeny Vasiukov, titled Evgeny Vasiukov, The Champion of Moscow, written by Kasparov’s former chess coach Alexander Nikitin.

Before I got the book, I didn’t know much about Vasiukov’s style and games, but he was a very interesting player, who was a very interesting opening analyst, finding long-forgotten ideas in well-known systems or using rare systems whatsoever (anyone who is into the King’s Indian Attack should study his games).

He was also a very creative and refined attacker who was extremely dangerous when he had the initiative. It was a big pleasure to go over his games and see some fine attacking gems and remarkable combinations.

After finishing that one, I switched to the book titled Old Wine in A New Bottles by Mihail Marin. It is essentially a collection of Marin’s articles on different tactical and strategic chess topics. So far, my impressions are mostly positive, but I am only halfway through the book, so I will refrain from giving the final verdict for now.

As for the non-chess book, I recently finished Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Slum, a very heartbreaking and difficult read based on a true story, depicting life in a slum in Mumbai. Currently, I am reading a fantastic book titled The Future of Capitalism.

WHAT (CHESS) CONTENT I CONSUMED?

Even though January has been an extremely busy month full of obligations on all fronts, my consumption of (chess) content didn’t suffer as much as some other areas of my life (which may have something to do with the fact that some creators took well-deserved breaks at the start of the year and the fact I often procastrinated and dealt with my anxiety and Youtube doubts precisely by consuming some content). Providing the full-list of the content I consumed would be probably way too long for this newsletter (or several newsletters, for that matter). But some of the most interesting podcast episodes I listened to, videos I watched and articles I read are, as follows:

• Episodes nr. 38 and nr. 39 of the Chicken Chess Podcast, featuring an on-site report from the Tata Steel tournament and a lot of insights into the behind-the-scenes of such a prestigious tournament
• Episode nr.21 of the C-Squared Podcast, featuring some very remarkable insights by GM Fabiano Caruana on the Mittens Phenomenon, but more importantly – on the future and viability of the classical chess
• This insightful article by FM Nate Solon about the Woodpecker Method. Even though I often don’t agree with Nate’s viewpoints/propositions (in particular with his views on classical chess), his writing is extremely good and thought-provoking. And this article is not an exception.
• This fantastic article by John Hartmann about the Carlsen-Niemann cheating affair. A very reasonable and balanced take well worth your time.
• This great video by Chessbase India/Sagar Shah, featuring GM Anish Giri discussing his triumph at the Tata Steel Chess 2023. Apart from the pure game analysis, I found the first 30-min of the video where Giri talks about his career, psychology, and off-the-board matters very inspiring, insightful and interesting.
• This hilarious video by GM Oleksandr Bortnyk very vividly demonstrates the difficulties of playing 2 chess games in a single day
• This great episode of the 64: A Chess Podcast with GM Evgenij Miroschenko, featuring some very remarkable and honest observations about the world of chess and about the Russian-Ukriane conflict
• Last but not least – even though this is technically not chess content, I will sneak it here nevertheless. I can wholeheartedly recommend you this video by gaming/speedrunning youtuber Karl Jobst about the famous con-man and established gaming cheater Billy Mitchel. Some people have heard about Billy from the documentary King of Kong and I think it is worth spreading the word that he is not a gaming legend, but merely a disgraced conman.

CONCLUSION

This brings me to the conclusion of the first-ever Month in Chess(entials) newsletter. It would be really great to hear what you think about this new format, so feel free to either leave a comment on the blog or reach out to me at continents.obp@gmail.com.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, you can consider subscribing to get it directly delivered to your inbox – the forms can be found everywhere on this blog. It would mean the world to me if you shared it with someone you know or if you simply followed and checked some of my other work/content!

I am very happy and excited to try out this new format and to get into the habit of keeping in touch with my readers on a more regular basis.

Until next month!

Vjeko

The post Tata Steel, Chess Boom and Pro Chess League || Month In Chess(entials) #1 appeared first on Chessentials.

Disclaimer 2: Given that the following article turned out to be much longer than I expected. Even though it is still easy to navigate to the specific part of it due to the Table of Content, I have nevertheless decided to post every review as a separate article. The links can be found below:

• Think Like A Super GM by Phillip Hurtado and Michael Adams
• How to Play Equal Positions by Vassilios Kotronias
• 100 Endgame Patterns You Must know by Jesus De La Villa
• The Art of Attacking Chess by Zenon Franco
• The Life and Games of Vassily Smyslov by Andrey Terekhov
• Mating the Castled King by Danny Gormally
• Chessays: Travels Through the World of Chess by Howard Burton
• Endgame Strategy by Mikhail Shereshevsky
• Understanding The Grünfeld by Jonathan Rowson
• Attacking Manual Part 1: Basic Principles by Jacob Aagard
• Sacrifice and Initiative by Ivan Sokolov
• World Chess Championship 1948 by Paul Keres
• Mastering The Sicilian by Danny Kopec
• Your Opponent Is Overrated by James Schuyler
• Chess Queens by Jennifer Shahade
• How To Outprepare Your Opponent by Jeroen Bosch
• Coaching The Chess Stars by Vladimir Tukmakov
• Coaching Kasparov by Alexander Nikitin (Parts 1 and 2)
• Vera Menchik: A Biography by Robert Tanner

INTRODUCTION

2022 was a great year for chess book lovers. I can’t recall when was the last time so many renowned titles were published in the same year. It is crazy to think that books such as Think Like A Super GM, Improve Your Chess Calculation, Evaluate Like a Grandmaster and 100 Endgame Patterns You Must Know were all published in the last 12 months. ¹ I have a feeling I have been excited about a new release every few weeks and that I bought more books than ever before.

On the other hand, when I was first assembling this list, I realized that, despite my praise for the 2022 chess book publishing industry, only a few titles on the list are actually from 2022. ² Also, I have a feeling I actually read way less this year than usual. This is maybe not so apparent in the domain of chess books given that I read a total of 20, which is only 4 books less compared to 2020 when I last made a  yearly list similar to this one. But if we are talking about non-chess books, my annual numbers are way lower compared to the peak of 42 books I reached back in 2019.

But that is now beside the point. When we are talking about the chess books one potential reason for the absence of the brand new 2022 titles is my focus on books that I considered important for my own chess development. On the list, you will notice quite a few books devoted to the topic of attack, dynamic play, and initiative, for example – an area of the game in which I felt my game was seriously lacking. Since no new books – to the extent of my knowledge – on this very difficult and niche topic were published in 2022, I had to resort to some of the „classics”.

This focus on the training aspect is also reflected in how I approached reading chess books. This year, I actually made a conscious effort to read books from cover to cover – which involved solving all the puzzles and exercises (provided the book had any). This – together with my general focus on chess training, opening work, and puzzle solving slowed down my reading quite a bit. If I were to stretch it, it is arguably one of the reasons why I didn’t get to all the shiny new titles I purchased throughout the year. ³

To be completely frank, I think this focus on training and improvement was actually a bit counterproductive. There were definitely periods where I felt burnt out on chess – especially since I decided to go full-time on it this year. It is very hard to be „on” all the time and to constantly put pressure on yourself and I am very prone to doing this to myself, given that this is what I wrote in the aforementioned article from 2019:

„Since I have some problems with being constantly productive and doing something “useful”, I have problems with permitting myself to enjoy things in life. I don’t think it is a good sign when it starts manifesting itself in an activity such as reading”

These burnout periods also reduced my motivation to read chess books – especially BECAUSE I often managed to turn reading chess books into another stepping stone on my road to improvement, instead of a leisure and fun activity. This is definitely something I would urge the reader to be aware of. I will certainly try to find a better balance between „useful” and „fun” chess books ⁴ in the future.

But okay, I have diverted you with my philosophical ramblings long enough. Let’s get back to the main topic of the article and dive deep into the list of Best Chess Books I Read in 2022.

7 BEST CHESS BOOKS I READ IN 2022

Phillip Hurtado and Michael Adams: Think Like A Super GM

What is the book about?

In 1946, Dutch psychologist Adriaan de Groot – who was also a chess master who played for the Netherlands at two Chess Olympiads – published his landmark thesis titled Het denken van het schaker, which was in 1965 translated under the title of Thought and choice in chess. The thesis summarized the results of a series of experiments de Groot consisting of giving a set of predetermined positions to players of various levels – from amateur to master.

The participants in the experiment were instructed to try and solve the positions and to express their thought process aloud, which was then being recorded for the purposes of the experiment. The goal of the experiment was to shed some light on the thinking process of a chess player – and also what parameters distinguish the thinking process of weaker players compared to the thinking process of stronger players.

Think Like A Super GM came to life as the result of the collaboration between Phillip Hurtado, a statistician, engineer and physicist, and amateur chess player who came up with the book idea – and GM Michael Adams, the best English player of the last two decades, who was asked by Hurtado to be one of the participants and then got involved in the capacity of the co-author.

The book is essentially an attempt to replicate de Groot’s experiment in 2022. Hurtado gave a total of 48 puzzles ⁵ to players of different playing strengths, ranging from unrated to 2700 ⁶ and had them record their thought process as they were solving it. These puzzles with participant notes are then provided in the book, together with solutions and Hurtado’s and Adams’ insights and comments.

The puzzles were mostly taken from Hurtado’s (and sometimes Adams’) games and are varying in theme and difficulty. They also come with a unique scoring system, allowing the reader to score points for each individual puzzle and collect them as they go through the puzzles.

It is, therefore, possible, to test yourself as you go through the book, compare your solutions and thought process with the solutions and the thought process of weaker and stronger players, and learn a lot about the thinking process in chess.

Why do I love this book?

It is hard to understate how great this book really is. The core idea, of course, is unique enough to make the book stand apart on the market. But everything related to the execution of the core idea was done so perfectly that I genuinely consider Think Like a Super GM one of those groundbreaking books that will be talked about for decades to come.

I found it extremely interesting to try and solve puzzles, track my scoring and compare my solutions with the solutions of other players. It was much more engaging and interesting compared to solving your average set of puzzles in an average book – being able to see the thoughts of other players provided me with immediate and very useful feedback and helped me detect the flaws in my own thinking process for those puzzles that I got wrong ⁷ Hurtado and Adams’ comments – both at the end of each puzzle, as well as the end of the book – very also quite insightful, profound, and interesting. I genuinely think this book does a good job of shedding a light on the thinking process in chess – but also helping you improve your own thinking process along the way.

Another thing I really liked about the book are the puzzles themselves. Given that this is a Quality Chess book, I was a bit worried some of the harder puzzles might be a bit too hardcore. But that was definitely not the case – I found most of the positions – even those with difficulty 9 or 10 – to be more than solvable for someone of my level. Even when I didn’t get the puzzle right ⁸ I rarely got the feeling of: „Okay, who cares, that solution is way above my head“ – a sentiment that is sometimes encountered in practice, especially if we are talking about Quality Chess books.

The presentation and the structure of the book are also logical and quite neatly done. The only complaint I have ⁹ is that the analysis given in the solutions to the puzzles sometimes goes to obscure lengths. However, since the book forces you to spend some time thinking about the position before looking for a solution – and since you also have the opportunity to read the thoughts of human solvers before reaching the engine analysis part, I didn’t find it as bothersome or annoying as with some other books.

To conclude, due to its novel concept, fascinating insights, and great puzzle selection, Think Like a Super GM is one of the best chess books I have ever read. If I had to pick only one book from the 2022 list, I would probably pick it and I can only wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone!

Vassilios Kotronias: How To Play Equal Positions

What is the book about?

As the title suggests, the book How To Play Equal Positions, written by the Greek Grandmaster Vassilios Kotronias and published by the publishing company Chess Stars ¹⁰ is devoted to the topic of playing equal positions. Over the course of six chapters and 200 pages, the author discusses several sub-topics related to the main topic, such as:

• How to handle the positions where there is no clear plan available
• When to bail on and when to play on
• Fear of exchanges in equal or close-to-equal positions
• The dangers of overpressing

To put it simply – the book is aimed at helping the reader handle situations where the computer would give the eternal „0.0“ evaluation, yet where there is a lot more chess to be played. ¹¹

Why do I love this book?

Even though it was published back in 2020, I somehow became aware of the existence of this book somewhere in 2022. Given that earlier that year I crossed 2200 for the first time, the title of the book interested me very much as I realized I am forced to play an equal position with increasing frequency. ¹² Thus, even though I wasn’t particularly familiar with Kotronias as an author, I decided to buy the book. And boy, oh, boy – it turned out to be one of the best purchases I have ever made in my entire life.

There is one and only one reason why – text. This book features some of the most thorough, informative, and detailed annotations I have ever seen in the chess book. The author goes to unprecedented lengths to explain the concepts and to shed light on the players’ thinking process during the games. Not only is virtually every single move of every single game followed up with a wall of text, but the author also writes A LOT in between games, summarizing the lessons that were covered in the previous game or introducing new concepts that will be examined in the next game/set of games.

This tendency is apparent from the very beginning of the book. One quick look at pages 6 and 7 of the book will serve as the best evidence:

To be completely honest, I would be full of praise for any chess book with such a heavy focus on textual explanations. But the fact that this one is devoted to such a very complex and convoluted topic makes it extremely good and useful.

It is not only about the quantity of the text, though, but also about the quality. How To Play Equal Positions features some of the most insightful, clear, and compelling explanations of important chess concepts I have ever seen in a chess book. Throughout the book, the author touches on a number of chess-related topics such as playing on a move-by-move basis, pressuring your opponent, posing practical problems, using psychology as a weapon, playing with or without a plan, etc – and explains them in an absolutely masterful way. I remember I was particularly impressed with his thoughts on how and when to evaluate certain positions:

Since many of these concepts are highly useful in all sorts of positions, not just equal positions, I genuinely think this book helps you improve your overall chess skills and thinking process and not just equal positions. And even if it is maybe not the most suitable for absolute beginners and lower-rated players who struggle with tactical issues, I think it is a must-read for any ambitious club player who wants to seriously improve his positional skill, thinking process, and general chess understanding.

Because to my mind, it is one of the most remarkable chess books ever written and I can only wholeheartedly recommend it!

Jesus De La Villa: 100 Endgame Patterns You Must Know

What is the book about?

After the big success of his first book titled 100 Endgames You Must Know, ¹³ the Spanish Grandmaster and coach Jesus de La Villa made a grand return in 2022 with another book on the topic of endgame, titled 100 Endgame Patterns You Must Know. ¹⁴

As the title suggests, the focus of the book is endgame patterns. Over the course of 16 chapters, the reader gets acquainted with some of the most important patterns/principles of endgame play, such as blockade, triangulation, distant passed pawns, reserve tempi, lateral defense, zonal defense, barrier, bad bishops, bad knights and many others. The division of the chapters is done on the basis of the piece composition – every chapter is devoted to a different composition (e.g. Rook endings or Knight vs Bishop) and then a set of patterns relevant to that exact piece composition is studied.

100 Endgame Patterns was envisioned as a follow-up/complementary book to 100 Endgames. While the latter primarily focuses on the most important theoretical positions, the 100 Endgame Patterns has a significantly more practical flavor.

The idea is that the two books in combination will provide the reader with a complete toolkit required to play the final phase of the game more successfully.

Why do I love this book?

Even though I am not the biggest fan of the modern tendency to oversimplify and „dumb down“ everything possible in every possible field of human endeavor, I do feel chess endgames are one of the areas where the simplification – especially for educational purposes – is very much necessary. Even though I definitely see the value in books such as The Dvoretsky Manual, I do feel the majority of the chess audience requires something a bit more comprehensible – especially at the beginning of the journey in the magical world of the endgames.

I am, therefore, a big fan of the concept introduced by a book such as 100 Endgames You Must Know. As a matter of fact, back in the day when I first read it, I felt the number of „essential“ positions could have been reduced even further, as I found the majority of these presented in the book mostly irrelevant for the practical play. ¹⁵

Thus, when 100 Endgame Patterns You Must Know, I immediately got myself a copy ¹⁶ and in 2022, I read it with great joy and interest.

First and foremost – I really liked the way this book was structured and organized. I think dividing the patterns on the basis of the piece composition is very clever and clear from a pedagogical standpoint. It is not a coincidence that another great endgame book I often recommend to people – Understanding Chess Endgames by GM John Nunn – adopts a very similar approach. ¹⁷

Second of all, I really liked the selection of examples presented in the book. I felt the choice was much more relevant and useful compared to the 100 Endgames. The majority of examples I have also seen for the very first time. ¹⁸ They were also quite varying in difficulty – some of them were very obvious for a player of my level, but some of them I found very challenging and insightful. I felt this variety provides a lot of value to players of different playing levels ¹⁹

Last but not least, I really like the way this book was edited and typeset. The abundance of diagrams makes it possible to read even without the board – especially since the majority of the examples/patterns are relatively short. This is usually the case with the majority of New In Chess Books ²⁰, although there are some notable exceptions ²¹

It is true that some of the explanations could be more „verbose“ and thorough and that certain examples feature long variations proving the evaluation of the initial position in the Aagard/Dvoretsky style:

 but these instances are few and far between and don’t spoil the general impression of the book.

As for the level – I do think that the book has a lot to offer to players in the range of, say, 1500(1700?)-2300 FIDE. I wouldn’t probably recommend it as your very first endgame book, ²², but I do think it is suitable to be the second or the third.

It is hard to say whether it is better or worse than, say, Understanding Chess Endgames, but I would definitely recommend it before 100 Endgames You Must Know or Shereshevsky’s Endgame Strategy. To say nothing about Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual.

All in all, a very enjoyable, well-structured, and well-written book and a very welcome addition to the chess literature!

The Art of Attacking Chess: Zenon Franco

What is the book about?

The year 2022 was one of the most successful years for me as a chess player. For the first time in years, I broke the 2200 ELO rating barrier again and even managed to reach my peak rating of 2250. ²³

Still, since I hope this is not yet my peak performance, I am always looking for things to improve. And one trend I noticed while analyzing my most recent games – both on my own and with my coach – is my tendency to play very positional, controlled, „old men“ chess.

Therefore, in order to diversify my style and to make it more universal, in 2022 I embarked on the project of reading quite a few books focusing on the more dynamic, attacking element of our beloved game. Among other books, The Art of Attacking Chess by Paraguayan GM Zenon Franco was recommended to me by my coach. And it turned out to be one of the best recommendations for a chess book I have received.

As its title suggests, the topic of the book is attacking chess. Over the course of 6 chapters and 33 annotated model games, the author examines several very important and typical themes related to attacking play, such as:

• The King in the Centre
• Opposite-Side Castling
• Same-Side Castling

Thus, in contrast to some other books on attacking play such as The Art of Attack ²⁴ or, say, Mating The Castled King, which have a heavy focus on concrete patterns and techniques that can be utilized when finishing the attack, The Art of Attacking Chess focuses more on the preparation and build-up leading to these final blows. ²⁵ As the author himself emphasizes in the Introduction:

„ Referring to Alekhine’s extraordinary play, Spielmann once wrote, „ I can comprehend Alekhine combinations well enough, but where he gets his attacking chances from and how he infuses life into the very opening – that is beyond me.“ Achieving the positions where combinations are possible is indeed the most difficult task. In this book we shall not only see games with brilliant conclusions but also examine the different stages in the creation of these finishes.“

Why do I love this book?

Good question! In contrast to some other books on this list that delighted me with a particular aspect, say a novel book idea, freshness in the writing style, or absurd amounts of text, ²⁶ The Art of Attack In Chess doesn’t have anything that immediately stands out about it. The reason why I love it is much more mundane and simple – it is simply a very good chess book that gets all ²⁷ fundamentals just about right.

Let’s start with the structure and the organization of the material. The way the book is divided is very reasonable and sensible – and the topics that are covered seem very important and very relevant for practical play. ²⁸ Every chess player is bound to find themselves in a position where the opponent has a king in the center or where the kings are castled on opposite sides. I also liked how the author provided the reader with a set of exercises related to the given topic after every chapter.

And even though some of these topics are covered in other books, I can’t recall when was the last time when it was done in such an elegant and logical fashion.

Another thing I really liked about the book are the games themselves. They are, first and foremost, very exciting and interesting, while at the same time retaining that instructive component that is important for a chess book. The author does a good job of illustrating several important sub-topics within the main topic and often references earlier games when analyzing the current one.

One thing I also like about the book is its objectivity. The author doesn’t tell us to attack at all costs, but tries to teach us under which circumstances is the attack well-timed, and under which it is premature. There are quite a few examples demonstrating the latter. I particularly enjoyed Game 21 from the chapter on Exploiting Temporary Advantages:

The amount and the style of textual explanations is also much higher than in your average chess book. ²⁹ This is especially apparent in the introduction to every game, where the author foreshadows the important theme/several themes that the game illustrates – and also in the conclusion to every game where the author summarizes the lessons we can extract from it. Again – nothing extraordinary or out-of-this-world. But very solid and more than sufficient.

The analysis of the games, on the other hand, is the only issue I have with this book, due to its protracted nature. There are quite a few places in the book where the author embarks on lengthy explorations that take 10+ moves. And even though one could make an argument it is necessary for a book dealing with such a complex topic chess, more often than not I felt it was overdone. Especially since there are quite a few places where these analytical escapades are done very early in the opening – for example on move 8 of the game 23 on pages 131 and 132 of the book:

It is true that The Art of Attacking Chess contains more diagrams and better-placed diagrams than your average chess book. But due to the prolonged nature of the analysis, it is still impossible to fully follow the book without the use of the board – or to follow the subvariations in your head when going through the main line on the board.

Alas, in regard to this, I have a very clear bias – if I like the book in general, I will not have that many problems with the fact I need to use the board to read it. But if I don’t like it, then all the other aspects of the book will be more bothersome, as well.

Fortunately, The Art of Attacking Chess is the case of the former. I don’t think that these editing limitations are sufficient to negate the fantastic and instructive content that the book contains and I can only wholeheartedly recommend it!

Andrey Terekhov: The Life And Games Of Vasily Smyslov, Volume I, The Early Years, 1921-1948

What is the book about?

As the title suggests, the book is devoted to the earlier, arguably lesser-known, part of Vasily Smyslov’s career, covering the 1921-1948 period over the course of 10 separate chapters. Every chapter is split into two parts, the first one covering the events and telling the story and the second one featuring Smyslov’s games from the given period. The book concludes with a special chapter about Nadezda Andreevna (Smyslov’s wife) and even features two specialized chapters – one about Smyslov’s System in the Grünfeld defense, and one about Smyslov’s Endgames (specially prepared by a renowned endgame specialist Karsten Müller).

Why do I love this book?

I first got acquainted with the name of the Russian Fide Master, ICCF International Master, and owner of the Ph.D. in Computer Science, Andrey Terekhov, on Twitter, when someone shared an article he wrote for chess 24 about the early years of Vasily Smyslov.

I was thoroughly impressed by all aspects of the article, but especially with the amount of research that was poured into the article, evident from the abundance of historical resources referenced throughout the article. When I realized this article is only an excerpt and that Andrey is writing a full book devoted to Smyslov’s Life and Games, I was immediately excited. When the first part, titled The Life and Games Of Vasily Smyslov, Volume I, The Early Years, 1921-1948 came out, it was, thus, a no-brainer for me to purchase it. ³⁰

In my mind, this book sets a gold standard when it comes to chess historical/biographical books. The amount of research and historical references is almost unprecedented. Almost on every other page, there are quotes taken from old magazines ³¹, newspapers, and other books and publications. Just like in his articles, Andrey Terekhov doesn’t make any claim without substantiation and one can only imagine how much time and effort was put into the research and compilation of all these historical sources.

On the other hand, despite the abundance of historical sources, the book is not dry or boring to read by any means. Just like in his articles, Andrey manages to weave the historic data with his masterful writing and storytelling to create a very compelling, interesting, and not-too-difficult-to-read narrative.

To be fair, the fact that the entire 1921-1948 era is extremely interesting not only from the chess perspective but from a general historical perspective, probably didn’t hurt. Maybe it is just me, but I can never read enough stories from these old Soviet times – especially if they are connected to chess. I find learning that Smyslov was a big celebrity who had genuine „groupies“ from whom he received regular letters, realizing that he was a part of the aviation squad during World War II, or just reading about chess life in the Soviet era in 1940-1945 endlessly fascinating.

As for the chess aspect of the book, it is also of very high quality. The games are carefully selected and thoroughly annotated, with a lot of annotations and meaningful textual explanations. True, the author does heavily rely on the engine ³² and there are certain instances where the engine analysis is prevalent and may be overly prolonged, but these instances are few and far between.

Now, the aspect I didn’t like as much as the very decision to split the chapters into two parts. The problem is that in the first part of the chapter, the author often references key games in the context of a specific tournament – but then they are provided in the second part of the chapter. This means that the reader often has to scroll back and forth between the two parts of the same chapter to connect the game to the specific moment in the specific tournament.

Another aspect of the book that I didn’t find as enjoyable is related to the amount and layout of diagrams provided with each game. Even though the analysis is mostly not that hardcore and prolonged, it is still not possible to read the book entirely without the board. There are even pages where not a single diagram is provided:

Another minor trifle I have with this book ³³ are not-so-ideal line breaks, as there are quite a few instances where a sentence/variation starts on one page and ends on another page, making the reading process even more difficult.

But all these issues are not major enough to spoil the overall impression of the book and to overshadow the tremendous effort, research thought, and love that went into the writing of this book.

There is a reason why it got the FIDE Book of the Year 2021 award and why the foreword was written by none other but the legendary Russian Grandmaster Peter Svidler.

I can only wholeheartedly recommend it – especially to those with a marked interest in chess history and Soviet times.

Danny Gormally: Mating The Castled King

What is the book about?

As I mentioned earlier in my review of The Art of Attacking Chess ³⁴, in 2022 I spent quite some time reading books on the topic of attacking and dynamics. Among other titles, another one I enjoyed this year is another Quality Chess book written by the British Grandmaster Danny Gormally and titled Mating The Castled King. Since I was already familiar with Danny’s work through my work on Chessable, ³⁵ I was aware of his style and his gift for writing. Thus, when my coach also suggested I check this book, I gladly dived deep into it.

As its title suggests, the book heavily focuses on the topic of giving mate to the opponent’s king. After the first, introductory chapter, we dive straight into the largest chapter of the book, consisting of 160 examples where the goal is to deliver the checkmate to the enemy king.

The examples are divided into 20 subchapters, on the basis of different motifs/piece configurations and are presented in the exercise–solution form. At the beginning of each subchapter, the position diagrams are provided as puzzles – and only later in the chapter is each separate position discussed and analyzed. Even though the motifs (say, such as Greek Gift) are relatively well-known, the exercises are not always that trivial and I very much liked such a presentation, as it forced me to try and solve them before searching for the solution. ³⁶

Now, if this was all there was to this book, I would have probably still regarded it quite highly, but I probably wouldn’t have included it on the list of the best books I read in 2022. However, Mating The Castled King is not only a checkmating but also very much an attacking manual. Because chapters 3-6, or more than half of the book, are devoted to attacking play. More precisely, to classical attacking techniques: attacking with the pieces and attacking with the pawns.

Apart from teaching us WHEN an attack with the pieces or the pawns should work, the author does his best to also explain WHAT the typical attacking methods are. The second half of the book has a very heavy emphasis on pattern recognition as the author writes in great detail about typical piece sacrifices, typical pawn breaks, methods of opening the enemy king in situations with opposite side castling, and much more.

Last but not least, the final chapter provides the reader with additional 12 exercises, prompting them to test the knowledge and check to which extent they have internalized the lessons from the earlier parts of the book.

Why do I love this book?

There are several reasons I am very fond of this book. First of all, I think Gormally is a very talented writer with an engaging writing style. Not only are his explanations elaborate and very thorough, but they are also accompanied by a healthy dose of self-deprecation and a dent of typical British irony, which appeals greatly to yours truly and makes the prose very enjoyable to read.

Secondly, I really like the book’s logical and crystal-clear structure and content. I think the author has found a very fundamental and instructive way of presenting material related to attacking chess. I think it is educational to have a section devoted to attacking patterns and then a section devoted to some attacking techniques. I think such a way of approaching the topic of attacking chess is quite didactic and very suitable for someone newer to the game.

That is not to say that the book is aimed at beginners or that it doesn’t have anything to offer to stronger players. Even in the section devoted to mating patterns, the puzzles provided are of varying difficulty – some of them I got instantly, while some of them presented a much greater challenge. None of them were as hardcore, as say, the puzzles in Aagard books, but they can definitely be regarded as too easy.

I would, therefore, not recommend the book to total beginners. ³⁷ I would recommend it to someone who is not a complete beginner and who has potentially acquired some basic knowledge of mating patterns via a book like The Art of The Checkmate or The Checkmate Patterns Manual ³⁸

Thus, if you are someone who fits this description, or someone who doesn’t care that much if the book is „NoT aBsOlUtElY sUiTaBlE fOr ThEiR lEvEl AnD oPtImAl FoR iMpRoVeMeNt“ and are just looking for a well-written, high-quality book, I can wholeheartedly recommend this one.

P.S. This book is also available on Chessable ³⁹

Howard Burton: Chessays -Travels Through the World Of Chess

What is the book about?

Howard Burton is an independent filmmaker, author, and founder of The Ideas Roadshow, which describes itself as „an award-winning multimedia initiative dedicated to harnessing the benefits of modern technology to explore ideas across the arts and sciences through thoughtful and seriously-entertaining documentary films, books and podcasts.“ In simpler terms – a multimedia initiative that publishes books and movies produced and authored by Howard on a variety of topics from different fields, based on a series of conversations Howard conducts with experts from these same fields.

And his own research and observations.

In March 2020, Howard started working on a documentary film on the topic of chess, titled Through The Mirror Of Chess: A Cultural Exploration. By his own admission, he initially expected it wouldn’t be such a lengthy and encompassing project, but then the pandemic and the chess boom happened, and he got more and more immersed and ended up accompanying the movie with a book about the chess world titled Chessays: Travels Through the World Of Chess.

As the title suggests, the book consists of a series of essays – 8 to be exact – giving Howard’s thoughts on a variety of topics from the chess world, as follows:

• Chess history and chess historians
• Is chess a waste of time? What activities are not regarded as a waste of time?
• The cultural status of chess. Should it be regarded as a sport? If yes, under what circumstances?
• FIDE
• The eternal question of gender, sexism, male bias, female-only tournaments, and competitions
• Are chess skills transferable to other domains
• Chess as a vehicle for societal changes?
• Chess in relation to technology and artificial intelligence

In contrast to the majority of the chess books on this list, ⁴⁰ this book doesn’t contain any chess moves and diagrams. It is a purely subjective, personal ⁴¹ account of the chess world from the perspective of an outsider.

Why do I love this book?

In the second half of 2022, I got contacted by Howard’s partner Irena, who mentioned he is working on a four-part documentary series about the world of chess and also writing a book. She asked me whether I would be interested in reading and reviewing the book, as well as the movie. ⁴² Despite my initial skepticism caused by me being a staunch chess elitist, ⁴³ I decided to keep an open mind and read the book at the end of 2022. ⁴⁴

It turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever done since Chessays turned out to be one of the most profound, interesting, entertaining, humorous, and thought-provoking books I have ever read. Not only if we are talking about chess books, but about books in general.

It is hard to even begin to explain how and why this book is so good. I absolutely love every aspect of it, but for the sake of this article, I have singled out five characteristics that delighted me.

• Opinionation

If you have ever read any of my other articles ⁴⁵ or my Twitter, you might have noticed that I am a very opinionated person and that I love shoving them wherever and whenever possible.

Part of being opinionated is very dismissive of other people’s opinions, at least when you don’t agree with them or consider them dumb. In the aftermath of the Great Chess Boom caused by the pandemic/The Queen’s Gambit, we have seen all sorts of newcomers ⁴⁶ express all sorts of stupid opinions about many things related to chess.  ⁴⁷ Thus, when I realized that the main purpose of this book was for the author to share his opinions with a broad public (which is announced in the very introduction of the book), I was immediately intrigued and eager to find out more.

To be fair, my eagerness was very much based on my willingness to read the author’s arguments and then laugh them off. Since I didn’t do my research properly, I expected to read a superficial, half-informed account of the chess world based on a few newspaper headlines, Youtube videos, and clips from GMHikaru’s stream.

Oh boy, was I wrong. The book not only turned out to be superficial and half-informed – it turned out to be one of the most informed, meticulous, and well-researched I have ever read.

This leads me to the next point.

• Deep insights and knowledge about the chess world

One thing I didn’t immediately realize before I started reading the book is that Howard Burton is a very intelligent, meticulous, and thorough individual – which is not surprising given that, apart from his writing and filmmaking credentials, he also holds a Ph.D. in physics.

Pretty much from the very first chapter of the book devoted to chess history and chess historians, it was quite apparent that Howard has done his research and immersed himself very deeply in the chess world. Not only does he display quite big erudition related to the origins of the chess game and early publications – but already as early as page 10 he already mentions the name of the renowned chess historian Edward Winter – the founder of the website chesshistory.com – and pretty correctly recognizes his trustworthiness and credibility. ⁴⁸

The fact that the author has done the research and is well-versed in the chess world keeps being apparent throughout the book. References are made to famous streamers, Youtubers, FIDE officials, players, historical figures, initiative leaders, and many others. Whether we are talking about Jerry from the Chessexplained Youtube channel, Arkadij Dvorkovitch or Pontus Carlsson, you can be sure that Howard has heard about them – and in many cases interacted with them.

Thus, irrespective of whether you agree or disagree with his opinions, ⁴⁹ claiming that they are baseless and uninformed would definitely be unjust!

• No filter in writing

Now, considering Howard’s academic background ⁵⁰ , you might expect the writing to be…well… very academic, dry and correct.

Not only is that not the case, but the writing is completely on the opposite side of the spectrum. One thing I really like about Chessays is the fact that Howard has absolutely no filter. If there is an opinion/point to be made, Howard will make it very directly and succinctly, without beating behind the bush or caring whether someone might get offended in the process.

One of the favorite groups Howard likes to insult is chess players themselves. As early as page six, we get the taste of what is to come:

Slightly later, on page 28, we get another round, but this time we share the burden with the respected citizens of the United States of America:

I think by this point, it has become clear that, if Howard thinks someone deserves to be called an „idiot“, you can be sure he will let you know, irrespective of what their name or status within the chess world is. And while calling Nigel Short an „idiot“ might not be very revolutionary:

expressing very harsh, yet well-founded and reasonable criticism of Garry Kasparov is not something you have the opportunity to read every day:

Of course, some people might be immediately put off by this „Talebian“ language, ⁵¹ but I honestly find this candid and open writing style endlessly entertaining and refreshing in the era where everyone is treading so carefully and trying oh-so-hard to be politically correct at all times.

Especially since I felt that Howard is very masterfully balancing the thin edge between being funny and being purely offensive and is never really crossing it. I personally found not only these „offensive“ remarks but the book as a whole absolutely hilarious.

This brings me to the next point.

• Humour/writing style

As you might have figured from the screenshots I shared above and the general tone of the review so far – I think Chessays are absolutely hilarious. Howard strikes me as a person who doesn’t take anything – including himself – too seriously and I find his sharp remarks insightful and witty at the same time. I remember I was endlessly entertained by his comment in regard to chess historians which can be found on page 13 of the book:

One trait of Howard’s writing that reinforces the feeling of humour and jovial tone is the use of the footnotes throughout the book. As you might have figured out from reading this article, I am very fond of trying to make pitiful humoristic attempts in footnotes – and Chessays use this technique all over the place. As can be seen from the screenshots above, the majority of humorous and snarky remarks are actually hidden within the footnotes. And at a certain point in the book, the author intentionally mocks himself for that tendency:

Of course, if it were only about insults and humour, this book probably wouldn’t be nearly as good as it is. However, as it usually happens – people with the innate ability to be extremely funny are often the people who have the innate ability to be extremely intelligent and profound.

This leads me to the final part of this review.

• Profound and original ideas, thoughts, and observations

From what I have written so far, you might get the impression that this book is a semi-serious, half-baked attempt to write a humoristic piece about the chess world and insult as many chess players as possible in the process and that the author doesn’t really care for the chess world as a whole.

Nothing of the sort.

Through Chessays, the author elaborates on what he thinks are some of the burning problems of the chess world that prevents its further growth and limit its potential – and tries to propose concrete solutions for solving these problems.

I can’t recall when was the last time I encountered so many profound and original ideas and potential solutions regarding some very concrete issues we are facing as a chess world. The most interesting proposal was for the chess players to find a separate organization under the auspices of FIDE:

and for the female players to do the same, very much how it is done in tennis with the existence of the ATP and WTA:

This model proposes FIDE to be more of a regulatory body, rather than an organizational body with the central power. Definitely, a profound concept that is worth exploring further.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Throughout the book, Howard comes up with very profound ideas and observations about a myriad of other issues, but this article would very quickly get way too long if we started to explore all of them very deeply. ⁵²

I think it is much easier for you to read the book. I can only wholeheartedly recommend it and you will definitely not regret it!

13 OTHER CHESS BOOK REVIEWS

Mikhail Shereshevsky: Endgame Strategy

Even though I have obviously heard about this famous endgame book and even though former collaborator on Chessentials Bruno Pavčević once reviewed it for this blog, it wasn’t until 2022 that I finally decided to actually check it out. Purely by coincidence, I did it at the beginning of the year, before the new and revised edition was published by New In Chess later in the year (and also on Chessable with the video presentation by GM Sam Shankland).

Endgame Strategy is a famous book devoted, well, to the strategy in the endgame. ⁵³ In contrast to some other endgame books which cover different types of endgames in terms of pieces (Rook Endgames, Minor Piece Endgames, Queen Endgames, etc.), Endgame Strategy takes a slightly different route and approaches the endgame from the standpoint of endgame principles.

Over the course of 13 chapters, the author covers typical endgame principles such as the Centralization of the King, „Do Not Hurry” or The Principle Of Two Weaknesses. ⁵⁴ Every chapter is supplemented with a series of examples (usually somewhere between 5-10, depending on the chapter) devoted to the topic at hand. The majority of examples are game fragments, although occasionally, the authors provide the readers with full games.

For the most part, the examples are really well-selected and highly instructive. The book is full of games by old champions such as Capablanca and Lasker and Soviet masters of the 1950s and 1960s, often featuring positions that might have as well arisen in one of our own games.There is definitely a tremendous value in setting these positions up, thinking about them, and playing through them while following the explanations.

With that being said, there were a few instances where the selection of examples caused me to raise an eyebrow. For example, take a look at the opening example of the 5th chapter of the book, devoted to the „Don’t Hurry” principle. I felt this is a very strange choice for the opening example of a very counterintuitive and difficult theme – not only because I think it is not the best demonstration of the „Don’t Hurry” principle – but also because the author’s analysis of this example is significantly flawed.

This brings me to the main problem with this book – the weakness of the game analysis. It is true that the mistakes in the analysis of the book originally published in 1981 are to be expected, but in my mind, in the Endgame Strategy, this reaches epic proportions. There are so many positions like the one given in the diagram above where the author totally misses the evaluation of the position.

I tried ignoring this aspect of the book as much as possible and simply play through the examples to get the feeling for these endgame positions. But in situations like this when the entire evaluation of the position was off the mark and when I had a zillion of questions even before I entered the position in Chessbase and turned on the silicon friend, I personally found them very bothersome.

Especially since I felt that the author of the book could have done a much better job when it comes to annotating the examples and stopping to explain some key points. Sure, at the beginning ⁵⁵ of each example, a lengthy elaboration of the position on the board and how to apply the principle of interest is present, but once the moves start floating, I have found the commentary rather sparse. Very often in the book, there are long series of moves left without any text whatsoever. Maybe the most egregious example is featured on page 46 of the book:

I felt it would have been much more beneficial if the authors cut some examples earlier and used that space to add some more positions – or additional diagrams. Because the distribution and the number of diagrams in the book make it very difficult to read it without the use of the board.

In combination with the previously mentioned issues, this resulted in me basically entering every single example in Chessbase and clicking through it while simultaneously going through the text, which was – quite frankly – a tedious and frustrating experience, which kinda diminishes the point of reading a chess book, to begin with.

Thus, after going through the book I can’t avoid the feeling that it is one of those classic books that is nowadays somewhat outdated and quite overhyped. You might make an argument that 2200+ players are maybe not the target audience, but while I did find it quite superficial for my needs – I also feel it is quite complex and difficult for the players on the relatively lower end of the spectrum.

I honestly don’t know how many of these issues were corrected in the revised edition. But if I were to recommend a book on the topic of endgame strategy, I would probably recommend something like Understanding Chess Endgame by GM John Nunn ⁵⁶ to lower-rated players or the renowned Mastering Endgame Strategy by GM Johan Hellsten to higher-rated players. I also think books such as 100 Endgames You Must Know and 100 Endgame Patterns You Must Know offer you a greater value for the buck while being immensely less frustrating and confusing to read. ⁵⁷

Jonathan Rowson: Understanding the Grunfeld

As some of you might know, somewhere in March 2021, I decided it is finally time to ditch my beloved Modern and start playing some proper openings. When Peter Svidler released his Chessable course in April 2021, I took it as a sign from above and decided to pick the Grünfeld as my main weapon against 1.d4.

However, despite spending a large part of 2021 clicking through the course and even scoring some nice victories with Svidler’s lines in January 2022 ⁵⁸ I realized I still don’t fully feel the resulting Grünfeld positions and that I mix up my move orders way too often. ⁵⁹ Thus, at the suggestion of my coach, I decided to pick up a Grünfeld resource that would be more oriented toward understanding. Thus, the book titled Understanding the Grünfeld, written by a renowned author and philosopher GM Jonathan Rowson (whose book Moves That Matter I rated very highly back in 2019) seemed like a very logical choice

Understanding the Grünfeld, is essentially, a Grünfeld repertoire book. Out of the total 14 chapters, approximately 11.5 have a heavy theoretical flavour. If we disregard early deviations, Londons, and Tromps, this book covers it all – from rare 3rd moves to main variations of the Grünfeld.

Alas, as expected from an opening book written in 1999 – a lot of the material presented in it is quite outdated. Many ⁶⁰ lines proposed by the author are not the best from the standpoint of the modern theory – while some of them are just outright unplayable. From a purely theoretical perspective, the book simply doesn’t stand the test of time. ⁶¹

The value of this book is primarily contained in the 2.5 non-theoretical chapters – as well as parts of theoretical chapters – where the author talks about key Grünfeld ideas, motifs, and concepts such as dealing with the passed d-pawn or handling the typical Grünfeld endgames. Whereas concrete lines are constantly changing, the fundamental ideas behind any opening are very much permanent – especially if we are talking about the lower-rating levels. In these chapters/chapter fragments, the author really does try his best to help you understand the Grünfeld, as opposed to purely trying to memorize it.

Since I am also a big fan of Rowson’s introspective, evocative and elaborate writing style, it is not surprising that this book did appeal to me despite its theoretical deficiencies. Since it has a huge number of Model Games, I think there is a lot of value in playing through them and in treating it as a non-opening book.

Although I will admit it is probably not the most efficient way to go about learning the opening as complex and theoretical as Grünfeld.

Jacob Aagard: Attacking Manual 1: Basic Principles

If anyone out there is not familiar with the name of GM Jacob Aagaard, he is a Scottish Grandmaster of Danish origin with a peak FIDE rating of 2542. However, rather than for his playing achievements ⁶² he is much better known nowadays due to his work as a chess trainer, chess writer, book editor and publisher.

He is one of the main coaches of the American superstar and former US Champion GM Sam Shankland ⁶³, the founder of the platform Killer Chess Training and also the founder of the Quality Chess book publisher (who published the aforementioned book Think Like A Super GM, among a myriad of other high-quality titles).

Aagaard is also a very prolific chess writer, who has written more than 20 books since 1998. However, it is not only about quantity – his books are well-known and highly regarded due to their very high quality. Almost any stronger chess player will be familiar with at least one of Aagard’s titles and it is not really surprising a number of his publications have received multiple awards.

Aagaard has written books on different topics. But since I was focusing on improving my attacking play in 2022, I decided to start with the first part of the two-series book devoted to this very topic, titled Attacking Manual 1: Basic Principles.

As the title suggests, the book focuses on what Aagaard considers to be the basic principles of attacking play, as follows:

• Chapter 1: Bring All Your Toys to the Nursery Party – a chapter about including every single piece into the attack
• Chapter 2: Don’t Lose Your Breath – a chapter about momentum and maintaining it throughout the attack
• Chapter 3: Add some Colour To Your Play – a chapter about attacking the weakened colour complexes around the king
• Chapter 4: Size Matters – a chapter about sacrificing the material in order to keep the attack going
• Chapter 5: Hit ’em where it hurts – a chapter about attacking your opponent on their weakest point/square
• Chapter 6: Chewing on granite – a chapter about attacking your opponent on their strongest point/square ⁶⁴
• Chapter 7: Evolution/Revolution – a novel concept I have never stumbled upon prior to reading this book. Evolution is, very simplistically, a concept of building up the position and revolution is the concept of changing the nature of the position. ⁶⁵

In the final two chapters, the author provides us with fifteen great attacking games and with a set of 50 positions we can solve as exercises, or use as starting positions for training games.

Every chapter consists of a series of deeply annotated and analyzed games. And when I say deeply – I really mean it. Attacking Manual – just like many other Aagaard works – is one of the most deeply annotated books I have ever seen. The number of textual explanations are quite astounding, irrespective of whether we are talking about explanations of concepts at the beginning of each chapter, annotations to the games themselves, or chunks of texts between the games in each chapter, which often talk deeply about the concept studied, while often digressing into other chess-related topics.

One additional aspect I really like about this book is simply – how it looks. As mentioned earlier, one of the things I really like about Quality Chess books is their outline, editing, and structure. I am simply very much a fan of how their books look visually – from font, text outline, diagram size, diagram placement, etc. In general, I do think their books are very pleasurable and enjoyable to read.

So much about the good sides. Alas, one of the big issues I have with this book is its sheer complexity. As mentioned earlier, the level of its depth is astounding, both in terms of the textual explanations and in terms of computer analysis provided. However, while it is definitely desirable in terms of the former, I am not 100% sure if it is desirable when we are talking about the latter. There are quite a few places within the book where the analysis of the subvariations goes on for 15+ moves long, for example on page 211:

I understand how it is very necessary to check everything thoroughly with the modern engines when you are a chess book author in the 21st century, but I am not 100% sure whether it is beneficial to have a major chunk of that analysis presented in a book – especially a book with the title „Manual” with the clear educational/pedagogical purpose.

I understand that such an approach is quite characteristic of all of Aagaard’s books ⁶⁶ and that it was also endorsed by another great trainer Mark Dvoretsky, but I have personally never enjoyed having a long-computer analysis presented in books and usually don’t bother checking it in greater detail anyway.

The other way in which the complexity manifests itself is the material itself, which is very complex and difficult in itself. Even though the concepts themselves are explained extremely clearly and are simple to grasp, the games provided are definitely NOT. The material is definitely not aimed at lower-rated players and even I have a feeling a lot of it went way above my head.

Of course, in a world constantly pushing for oversimplification and where people are more and more seeking to have everything spoonfed to them, it is refreshing to have a school of thought that insists that the most reliable path toward chess improvement is deep thinking and immersing yourself in the difficult material. ⁶⁷

However, it can be very tricky to balance between making things too difficult and too easy and I do feel that Aagaard sometimes errs on the side of making things too difficult. ⁶⁸

Thus, while I do respect the enormous effort that goes into Aagaard’s books and do genuinely think they are high-quality and excellent for higher-rated players, I definitely wouldn’t recommend them to anyone rated, say, below 2000 FIDE.

Ivan Sokolov: Sacrifice and Initative: Seize the Moment to Get the Advantage

Continuing with the theme of studying attacking and dynamic play, somewhere in the second half of 2022, at the recommendation of my coach, I also grabbed a copy of the book Sacrifice and Initiative by a well-known former player and another renowned author and coach, GM Ivan Sokolov. ⁶⁹

As the title suggests, the book deals with the topics of Sacrifice and Initiative in chess and is divided into two parts. The initial 7 chapters are devoted to the latter, ⁷⁰ while the subsequent 9 chapters deals with the former:

Just like the chapters in the Attacking Manual, every chapter of Sacrifice and Initiative consists of a series of annotated and analyzed games devoted to a certain topic. The selection of the games is again the book’s strong suit, as they very vividly illustrate the concept of the chapter, apart from being quite exciting and interesting. Especially in the first half, Sokolov has done an extremely good job of breaking down such a complex concept such as the initiative into smaller chunks and illustrating them with well-selected games. In that regard, the book was definitely an eye-opener in many ways.

I also think the book did a good job of mentioning important principles at various places – most notably at the beginning of each chapter, but also throughout the games themselves. I especially liked how every chapter was concluded with a small „Tips” window, summarizing the lessons and important principles that have been demonstrated throughout the chapter:

On the other hand, if we disregard the explanation of various principles related to attacking play and handling the initiative, I felt the games themselves left a lot to be desired in terms of their presentation. In contrast to the Attacking Manual which is full of text at every corner, Sacrifice and Initiative is much more lacking in that regard.

First of all, in quite a few places – especially in the subvariations – there are streams of analysis with trees of variations and without a single explanation. Even in the main text of certain games, the author assigns annotation symbols (?, !) to certain moves without explaining why they are so good (or so bad).

Furthermore, even at places where there is textual commentary, the book is full of generic and common chess phrases such as „with compensation”, „This is a blunder”, and „Was the only move” that fail to dig deeper and answer the eternal question bothering club chess players worldwide – WHY.

Mind you, this problem – which was labeled as „Grandmasteritis” in certain circles within the chess community⁷¹ – is not at all new, unique, or restricted to this particular book. ⁷² Yet, it is nevertheless very frustrating to read a book on very complex topics such as Initiative and Sacrifice ⁷³ and constantly ask yourself questions about certain continuations that might have seemed obvious to the author, but that definitely doesn’t seem obvious to yours truly.

Another thing that bothered me somewhat in regard to this book is its overlay/editing. In contrast to the majority of other New In Chess titles, here it is definitely not up to the task, with diagrams being way too small and too few, with text having breaks from one page to another, and with new games starting at the very end of a certain page, and so on.

Thus, for me, Sacrifice and Initiative can be regarded as a diamond in the rough. The topic is extremely interesting and insufficiently covered in the chess literature and the material selection is excellent, which makes it a good choice for higher-rated players who don’t mind doing a lot of work on their own. However, due to the book’s issues and the fact the topic is quite complex, I wouldn’t recommend it to a wider chess audience.

Paul Keres: World Chess Championship 1948

In 1948, after the death of Alexander Alekhine left the chess throne vacant, a historic World Championship tournament was organized to determine his successor and the next world champion. Paul Keres, one of the strongest players never to become a World Champion, was one of the participants (together with Max Euwe, Vasily Smyslov, Samuel Reshevsky, and the ultimate winner, Mikhail Botvinnik). After the tournament, Keres spent several months analyzing the games and writing the tournament book. ⁷⁴

Thus, this book features Keres’ round-by-round analysis and commentary of every single game played in that tournament. I found the level and amount of annotations quite remarkable. Almost every few moves, Keres offers his unique insights and opinions about different types of positions. Apart from the opportunity to hear the thoughts of such a legend of the game, I also found some of these comments quite instructive. Especially when they are referring to positional concepts or strategical themes, as I feel the difference in pure elementary understanding of the game between the old masters and modern grandmasters is not as pronounced as, say, opening knowledge or calculation ability.

Sure, as with almost all old books – the accuracy of analysis does not fully stand the test of time and the all-seeing-eye of the chess engines. But somehow, I didn’t find this aspect so bothersome with this book as, say, with Endgame Strategy. Maybe it is my bias for Keres, maybe it is the fact that this book is much more densely annotated or maybe I consider the accuracy of analysis more important in a book that is supposed to be an instructive manual and not a game collection.

The aspect of the book that didn’t appeal to me as much was the absence of any actual non-chess content, such as behind-the-scenes events, Keres’ own impressions and struggles, his experience with preparation, his impression of other players, etc. It is very understandable he wasn’t really willing to express too many opinions given the entire political climate and the context of the times, but I feel it is a great pity that the book lacks a little bit more personality. ⁷⁵

Another drawback of Keres’ books is the usual problem of chess books – lack of diagrams which makes it very difficult to read the book without the board. This lack of diagrams is especially bothersome given that the book has extremely large font and margins, due to which a single game often spans across multiple pages. For example, take a look at pages 199-200 of the book:

Last but not least – I am not really sure how instructive this book is purely from the „chess improvement” perspective. I do feel it might have something to offer to players up to a certain rating level, but in general, I regard it as a primarily historic, rather than instructive, work.

Thus, if you are looking for a nice game collection written by one of the strongest players of the time, this book might be for you!

Danny Kopec: Mastering The Sicilian

Somewhere at the beginning of 2021, I decided to do significant work on my opening repertoire. Aside from adding Grünfeld against 1.d4, I also decided to expand my repertoire against 1.e4 and stop playing the Modern exclusively. Apart from returning to my old love Alekhine, I also figured I might want to add a real, healthy opening to the mix. An opening that is more mainstream, yet still leads to the combative play. Thus, picking up 1…c5 was a natural choice – especially since Sicilian structures can also often be reached via the Modern move order.

However, similarly, as with Grünfeld, I realized that I should probably study some middlegames and typical games instead of solely clicking through the lines in Chessbase/Movetrainer. And even though I did get the impression that the Sicilian structures are much better covered in the chess literature than the Grünfeld structures, ⁷⁶ I was still happy when my coach recommended the book Mastering The Sicilian by American International Master Danny Kopec and I promptly got down to reading it.

Mastering the Sicilian is basically a book on Sicilian Structures. In the first 5 chapters, the author covers some of the most common Sicilian structures out there, as follows:

• The Scheveningen Structure
• The Dragon Structure
• The Rauzer Structure
• The Boleslavsky Structure
• The Kan Structure

The final two chapters are devoted to rare Sicilians and provide some insight into systems such as Closed Sicilian, Grand Prix, etc. Thus, even though this book is aimed at Sicilian players, it is not necessary for a Sicilian player to read every chapter, but only that refer to structures related to the variation of the Sicilian you play. Thus, if you are a Dragon player, you can probably only focus on the second and the seventh chapter of the book and ignore the rest.

As you might have figured out by now, this book is not a theoretical manual, but rather a middlegame book. Every chapter starts with a relatively detailed elaboration of the structure at hand and consists of a set of model games featuring that very structure displaying a variety of possible plans and ideas for both sides.

As a matter of fact, I think this emphasis on typical plans and ideas is the best thing about this book. Before every game, the author provides the reader with the so-called „Mastery Lesson” box, outlining the most important and instructive moments, maneuvers, and themes for every single game.

I think such a streamlined approach is absolutely necessary for a „structure-oriented” book. It is not a coincidence that the aforementioned Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide implements a very similar approach.

As for the annotations and the analysis of the games themselves, they leave a lot to be desired. The commentary is very sparse, both in terms of density (how many moves are actually annotated) and the number of words used. Most commentary resorts to the typical „XYZ is equal” grandmaster remarks or to the standard „let me give a long variation with a lot of moves and no explanations to prove a point”. Since I knew from the very start I want to focus on ideas and play through a bunch of games without necessarily being concerned by the accuracy of the analysis, I didn’t even bother to check it too thoroughly, but one does get the impression that the book was scraped hastily, somewhat lazily and without too much attention to details.

This haste is especially apparent if we consider the general size of the book (only ~130 pages), the fact that the sixth chapter devoted to rare 2nd moves is only 3 pages long, or if we consider the visual design of the book. The distribution of the diagram, the outline of the elements on pages, and the general visual identity of the book are simply atrocious and I can’t be left wondering where on Earth was the editorial input in regard to these matters?

Thus, even though the book features a nice collection of games and contains instructive lessons for a Sicilian player, it leaves a lot to be desired. It is definitely not sufficient in itself to help you „Master the Sicilian”. ⁷⁷

If I were to rate it, I would hardly give it more than, say, 3 stars out of 5. Even though you might find a lot of value in it if you are a Sicilian player just starting your journey through the 1.e4 c5 waters, I think you are better off buying another designated Sicilian book (say, Starting Out: The Sicilian) or another book featuring the Sicilian structure (such as the aforementioned Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide).

James Schuyler: Your Opponent Is Overrated

In episode 148 of the „King Of The Chess Podcasts” – The Perpetual Chess Podcast, an old friend of the blog and a renowned Chessable author Kamil Plichta mentioned that the book Your Opponent Is Overrated is one of his favorite chess books of all time. Ever since it has been on my wishlist, and this year I finally got around to reading it.

This book is all about the psychology of chess and how to use it to your advantage to force your opponent to make a mistake (which is why the subtitle of the book is A Practical Guide To Inducing Errors). Over the course of 17 chapters, FM James Schuyler talks about different topics such as how to make your opponent uncomfortable straight out of the opening, how to handle lost positions, how to prepare tactical ideas in a manner where your opponent is likely to miss them, how to play in „provocative” manner, about the controversial topic of „using the clock to your advantage” and much more.

The goal of the book is, basically, to provide you with ideas, tools, and a mindset that will help you become a more successful practical player. It is definitely a very fresh book dealing with topics that are rarely covered in chess literature. ⁷⁸ I do genuinely believe every chess player would benefit from learning how to be more resilient in lost positions ⁷⁹ or not being too much attached to the objective value of the chess opening – even in a classical game. ⁸⁰ I feel players with limited/no OTB experience would particularly benefit from reading this book as it can teach them techniques and concepts that are usually learned mainly through experience.

On the other hand, I do want to emphasize that, in my opinion, there is the danger of overestimating the value of the psychological approach to the game. I do feel such an approach can sometimes make you overconfident and lose your objectivity. And even though the author does occasionally tackle this conundrum and even devotes an entire chapter to the concept of „overpressing”, I do feel it is necessary to keep an open mind and take everything written „cum grano salis”.

I, for one, would say that having an opening like Latvian Gambit as one of your main weapons against 1.e4 and employing it against master-level opposition in classical games in 2022 does fall in the „overstepping the risk” category. I feel that the author very often goes to extremes where moderation is required in order to illustrate a certain concept and that it might give some wrong ideas to the (inexperienced) reader.

But leaving that aside, Your Opponent Is Overrated is definitely a very fresh and original book that I would recommend every chess player to read at least once during their career.

Jennifer Shahade: Chess Queens: The True Story of a Chess Champion and the Greatest Female Players of All Time

WGM Jennifer Shahade, the current Women’s Program Director of the US Chess Federation is probably one of the biggest ambassadors of our game and advocates for female inclusivity and dignity within the chess world. ⁸¹ Some older readers might remember that her very first book titled Chess Bitch: Women In The Ultimate Intellectual Sport, devoted to great female chess players of the past (and present) was featured and reviewed in my previous post on the list of best chess books I read back in 2020.

Chess Queens is WGM Shahade’s latest publication and is a follow-up to the Chess Bitch devoted to the very same topic. In the book, WGM Shahade talks in great detail about great female chess players of the past (and present) – from the early trailblazers such as Vera Menchik and Sonja Graf, via great Soviet and Georgian players of the 1950s-1980s period, to more modern heroines such as the Polgar sisters or great female Chinese players of the last 30 years. In selected chapters, she also talks about her own experience as a female in the chess world, the challenges she had to endure, and the sexism she had to face.

Just like Chess Bitch, the content of this book is excellent. In a world where too little is written from the female perspective and about female chess players, books such as this one are not only fresh and interesting but also very necessary. Reading about the fates of these great chess players, hearing about the challenges and difficulties they had to endure, and realizing female chess players have to think about things most male players never even consider will hopefully more male players aware of all these issues and more sympathetic toward the „female issue” in chess. ⁸²

However, due to the big overlap in topics between Chess Queens and Chess Bitch, a lot of people were wondering – what are the differences between the two books? Is Chess Queens a completely new work completely independent of Chess Bitch, or more of an update and revision of the existing book?

This question was discussed in some detail before Chess Queens was released and the general messaging was that this book is an updated and revised, 2022 edition of Chess Bitch. This was confirmed by Jen herself in episode 269 of the Perpetual Chess, where she described in great detail how and why Chess Queens happened to be. The similarity with the previous book is clearly emphasized in the Introductory chapter:

but it is also very obvious if one takes a look at the chapter distribution of both books:

(The table of contents of Chess Bitch can be seen on the left, while the table of contents of Chess Queens can be seen on the right)

I felt this fact could have been emphasized more clearly in marketing texts on the websites of different publishers. For example, the product description on Amazon.com or on Ichess.net don’t mention Chess Bitch at all, while a book review on Chessbase also doesn’t make it very clear given that it states that:

„After “Chess Bitch” she has now published another book on women’s chess, “Chess Queens”.”

The only place where I have seen Chess Bitch clearly mentioned and referenced is on the New In Chess website, where it is stated that:

„Jennifer’s previous books include Chess Bitch (now updated and reissued as Chess Queens)”

It is true that this info is presented in the section dedicated to the author and not the book itself, but at least it is present – which is what can’t be said about the author information on Amazon:

As for the content – I haven’t really done a detailed page-by-page analysis to compare the differences. I recognized places where the book was updated, e.g. sections of the book mentioning new and relevant studies from more recent years or the chapter „Chinese Style” that does talk about Hou Yifan – the 2nd best female player ever who wasn’t even around back in 2005 when Chess Bitch was first published.

But I also recognized many parts/paragraphs that are absolutely identical to paragraphs/parts also present in Chess Bitch. Overall, while I was reading Chess Queens I had a very strong feeling of deja vu and didn’t really have a feeling I am reading a fundamentally different book.

(The opening chapter from the Chess Bitch (on the left) compared to the opening chapter from the Chess Queens (on the right) )

Therefore, if you have read Chess Bitch in the past, I wouldn’t recommend you to also dive deep into Chess Queens, as I don’t feel the fundamental difference between the books is sufficient to justify spending the money anew.

But if you haven’t read any of the two, I can only wholeheartedly recommend Chess Queens, because all the points I made in my review of Chess Bitch about the value, relevance, and importance of the book still stand.

Jeroen Bosch: How To Outprepare Your Opponent – A Complete Guide to Successful Chess Opening Preparation

As mentioned previously, 2022 was really a great year for chess books, during which an unprecedented number of interesting and fresh books were published.

One book of particular interest to the author of these lines was the book titled How To Outprepare Your Opponent, written by Jeroen Bosch and published by New In Chess in June 2022.

For those of you who are not familiar with Jeroen Bosch, he is a strong International Master who is very well regarded as a theoretician and opening specialist. He has been the coach of the Dutch national female team and is also a long-standing contributor to the New In Chess Magazine where he has been writing a column titled Secrets of Opening Surprises (SOS).

Thus, when I heard he is writing a book on the topic of opening preparation, I was very excited and knew I would very likely buy the book at the first opportunity. ⁸³

So, how does one go about writing about the opening preparation? After the somewhat introductory chapter about the tactics in the opening, Bosch examines a number of extremely important practical topics related to the openings and opening preparation. He also tries to answer/discuss some „eternal” questions every tournament player is either constantly pondering, or not pondering enough at all.

Over the course of the ten chapters, some of the topics that are considered are:

• Importance of move-orders and transpositions in your opening play/opening preparation
• Value of novelties and dangers of overestimating them
• Preparing for a specific opponent
• Understanding that not all positions where the engine gives „0.00” are necessarily equal
• Are gambits playable in the 21st century? How to determine whether they are and how to decide when to employ them?
• The benefits of playing the mainlines compared to playing the sidelines

The penultimate chapter of the book tries to demonstrate all the previously discussed concepts and topics on a concrete example of Magnus Carlsen – a player whom Jeroen Bosch considers a model opening player due to his versatility and capability to choose an ideal opening variation for a very specific opponent. Finally, the book concludes with a FAQ-type chapter where the author tries to pose and answer all the questions that were left unposed and unanswered throughout the book.

I have personally found the book extremely useful and fascinating. Due to the serious work on my opening repertoire throughout 2021 and 2022, as well as returning to the classical tournament chess, ⁸⁴ I started intuitively grasping some of the issues related to the opening preparation, as well as having some major doubts on how to approach every individual game. ⁸⁵ With that in mind, the timing of the book was quite ideal for me, as it allowed me to reinforce my intuitive conclusions, answer some questions and clean up some doubts.

Of course, not every chapter was of equal use/interest to me. But due to Jeroen’s expertise, enthusiasm, and very interesting writing, I read the book from cover to cover and hopefully extracted some value.

Now, with that being said, I do feel the player of my level/profile is an ideal target audience for this book. I wouldn’t recommend a book on opening preparation to lower-rated players. I do feel a certain level of knowledge and experience is required to fully grasp the lessons/materials provided in this book. Besides, I believe many lower-rated players focus too much time on openings anyway and I am really not sure whether they would benefit from a book that specializes even further within this niche.

Thus, while I do believe this book is extremely valuable and insightful, I would heartily recommend it to, say, players above the 2000 level. ⁸⁶ Of course, if you are lower rated yet still enjoy reading about openings/unconventional chess books, by all means, do purchase it.

But from the purely improvement/utility viewpoint, I do believe an average club player can get more value for the invested money by choosing something else.

Vladimir Tukmakov: Coaching The Chess Stars

In the last couple of years, the chess market has seen quite a few books featuring famous trainers, seconds, and coaches writing about their coaching/training experience with even more famous chess players.

Due to my great interest in chess history and my fascination with the chess culture, stories, and „behind-the-scenes“, I think I am very much the perfect target audience for these books. After reading the book Anand Files by FM Michiel Abeln back in 2020, ⁸⁷ I purchased a few similar titles. And in 2022, I finally got to actually read three of them – including Coaching The Chess Stars, written by the renowned Russian player and coach Vladimir Tukmakov and published by Thinkers Publishing.

For those of you who are not familiar with Tukmakov ⁸⁸ – in the 1970s and 1980s, he was a renowned Grandmaster and an accomplished player. ⁸⁹ Nowadays, he is better known as a very renowned chess coach and a chess book author. He has been the captain of the Ukrainian, Azeri, and Dutch national teams and has individually worked with some of the top players of the current generation, such as Anish Giri ⁹⁰ and Wesley So. He has also written 6 chess books since 2012.

In Coaching the Chess Stars, Tukmakov talks about his aforementioned experiences. In the first part of the book, he focuses on his role as the captain of the different national teams and SOCAR Chess Club ⁹¹, while in the second part, he talks about his development and experience as a chess coach.

Given the credentials and stature of the author and the high profile of his students, I had very high expectations from this book and I dived deep into it with a lot of enthusiasm. Alas, as I was turning the pages, this enthusiasm was surely being substituted with disappointment that lingered and persisted until the end of my reading experience.

There are many problems I have with this book. First and foremost – its structure and organization are very confusing and illogical. In the opening part of the book, Tukmakov first writes about how he got the offer to coach the national Ukrainian team in 2004 and only in the later part of the book how he developed as a coach in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. This makes the storytelling in the book inconsistent and leaves it to the reader to connect the dots. In my mind, that was a very poor editorial decision as I feel it would have been much more compelling and logical from the narrative perspective to reverse the order and present his coaching career in chronological order.

This probably wouldn’t have been as bothersome if the content of the book itself was detailed, thorough, and full of context about different episodes, events, and games. Unfortunately, this is also not the book’s strongest suit as I felt that author’s insights often left a lot to be desired.

The book more reads like a report about different events and tournaments where the author had a captaining/coaching role rather than his in-depth, personal account of what was actually happening during these events and tournaments. You will read a lot about the results of the Socar team or about the games Anish Giri won and lost, but very little about the events happening between the tournament games, the training methods the author used with these remarkable players, what they did when a bad result happened, what were some difficulties and obstacles in their cooperation, etc.

This paragraph on the 2015 Wijk aan Zee tournament is quite typical in this regard:

Just like another Thinkers Publishing book My magical Years With Topalov, ⁹²  the whole thing is written very much in the „We went to place A and the result was B“. Such an approach is in very sharp contrast to a book like The Anand Files which digs incredibly deep into the „behind-the-scenes“ of Anand’s World Championship Matches and did a great job of talking about the participants’ emotions, difficulties, challenges, and general emotional state. This leaves the impression that the whole writing and editing approach was shallow and superficial. ⁹³

And all these don’t even mention the standard issues that are present in almost any Thinkers Publishing book I own. In general, I find the general look of their books far less visually appealing than, say, New In Chess or Quality Chess Books (in terms of font, diagram size, the general page format, etc.).

But while that may be highly subjective, the amount and placement of the diagrams are objectively just bad and makes it absolutely impossible to read the book without the use of the physical board. Quite often, the games state in the middle of a page, and weird page breaks in the middle of the analysis force the reader to go back and forth to the previous page to follow what is actually going on.

Especially since the analysis of the majority of the games follows the good old „Granmateritis“ approach of „as little text, but as many computer variations as possible“. Even when there is text, more often than not it features some of the good old chess catchphrases such as „The only way!, Equally bad!, !The position is won“, and „XYZ is more accurate! to name a few. Phrases that fill in the space, but that provide the reader with very little substance in terms of actually explaining what is happening.

For example, take a look at the analysis of game number 27 between Anish Giri and Mateusz Bartel:

I feel all these issues reflect the poor editorial standards of the Thinkers’ Publishing house. ⁹⁴ It is a pity this is the case given that their books generally have very interesting topics and a lot of potential. I can only hope they will step up their game in the future.

All in all, if you are a hardcore fan of Vladimir Tukmakov or Anish Giri, I guess I could recommend you to buy this book. But if you are looking for a nice game collection or a book devoted to a certain area of chess coaching/chess culture, I would definitely recommend you to stay away from this one as there are so many better books out there. ⁹⁵

2 stars!

Alexander Nikitin: Coaching Kasparov, Year by Year and Move by Move Volume 1: The Whizz-Kid (1973-1981) and Volume 2: The Assassin (1982-1990)

As mentioned in my review of Coaching The Chess Stars, after reading The Anand Files, I very much realized I am the ideal target audience for books where experienced coaches/trainers write about their experience while working with talented (young) players. When I learned somewhere in 2022 that the publishing house Elk and Ruby ⁹⁶ published a two-part book written by Alexander Nikitin – former coach of Garry Kasparov, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I bought them almost immediately. ⁹⁷

The first book covers Kasparov’s childhood years (1973-1981), while the second book is devoted to his later years (1982-1990) during which he played five World Chess Championship matches against Anatoly Karpov – but also became increasingly engaged as a chess politician.

Both books are organized in a very similar manner. Just like The Life and Games of Vassily Smyslov, the initial part of the book consists purely of the prose, while the chess games are isolated from the rest of the prose and provided at the end of the book in the form of a separate, „Selected Games“ chapters.

As I mentioned in the review of Andrey Terekhov’s masterpiece – I am personally not a big fan of this editorial decision as I feel it interrupts the continuity and the flow, given that the games are often very much referenced in the text (and vice versa). Although for some reason, I wasn’t that much bothered with it in the case of Coaching Kasparov, as I didn’t find myself scrolling back and forth as with the Life and Games of Vassily Smyslov.

As for the content of the book, I found it – unsurprisingly – fascinating and extremely interesting. Nikitin is very elaborate and transparent in his writing and talks in great detail about Garry’s life and career and how it got intertwined with his own. There are numerous episodes depicting Nikitin own’s relationship with Garry, Garry’s relationship with Botvinnik, the role of Klara Kasparovna ⁹⁸ and her influence on her son, the role of the Soviet authorities and the general political climate at a time, behind-the-scenes events during Karpov-Kasparov matches, and much more.

Another thing I really liked about Nikitin is his directness and firm belief in his own opinions. There are several places where he doesn’t hesitate to criticize Kasparov – especially in the second book – when Kasparov got older, became the World Champion, and got more politically involved, as this was also the time when his relationship with Nikitin started deteriorating. In several places, he also mentions very openly how he thinks the influence of Klara Kasparovna was negative and affected Kasparov’s preparations for different tournaments. As I mentioned in my review of Chessays – such candid and open writing is becoming a dying sport, therefore it is very refreshing to see.

Another thing that was really interesting to read was Nikitin’s overall insights and thoughts. Throughout the book, Nikiting very much provides us with his coaching philosophy and approach, talks in great detail about what the training sessions with Garry looked like, and touches on different non-chess aspects of being a chess professional. Through that, he provides us with glimpses of his broader life philosophy and formulates some very profound ideas. I remember I was particularly impressed with his thoughts on the so-called „celebrity disease“ – the conceit arising from being successful in a certain field. When refering to reasons for Kasparov’s underperformance in a certain tournament, Nikitin writes that:

„ The rapid accumulation of his [Kasparov’s] sporting achievements had led him to overestimate his abilities and place in the chess hierarchy, as well as his position in society… The recipe for treating celebrity disease is well known – to nurture objectivity in everything and to avoid thinking everybody else is a nobody just because they play chess than you. Not to believe that the GM title isa measure of intelligence or life wisdom. Alas, much of such treatment depends not on the doctor, but on the patient. It’s particularly hard to treat this disease among young people.“ ⁹⁹

Nikitin’s profoundness and candidness are also apparent once you get to the actual games. In contrast to Coaching the Chess Stars which gives minimum background info before each individual encounter, Coaching Kasparov provides the reader with a TON of info – especially once the book starts covering the games from Kasparov – Karpov matches: ¹⁰⁰

The games themselves are very fascinating and interesting  – especially in Part 1 of the book which covers the games from Kasparov’s youth. Not only was I less familiar with these compared to the games from Kasparov – Karpov matches – but they are also full of youthful energy and very spectacular. I have heard several people say that young Kasparov is their favourite player, and after going through some of the masterpieces, I can wholeheartedly agree. There are so many examples to choose from, but this training game he played against Elmar Magerramov is definitely one of my favourites:

The analysis of the games is also much better compared to your average chess book and features quite some annotations. Sure, there are places where the author goes a little bit too deep with the engine and the number of diagrams could definitely be improved. But on average, I wasn’t bothered with this aspect at all – especially since the rest of the book was so interesting.

What I had a slight problem with was Nikitin’s bias and lack of objectivity in the second part of the book. I felt that Nikitin is extremely subjective on the topic of Kasparov – Karpov matches due to his lifelong issues with Karpov and his backers, which made the whole thing read like a personal vendetta against Karpov rather than an objective report. ¹⁰¹

In general, I found part 1 of Coaching Kasparov more compelling and interesting than part 2, mainly because I was not as familiar with Kasparov’s youth to the very same extent as with his later years.

But irrespective of that, both volumes of Coaching Kasparov are an absolute must-read – especially for any lover of chess history, culture and stories.

Robert B. Tanner: Vera Menchik – A Biography of the First Women’s World Chess Champion, with 350 games

Last but not least, one of the last books I have read in 2022 was a book devoted to the life of the first female World Chess Champion – Vera Menchik.

Before we get to the actual book, allow me to make a small digression and talk a bit about how and why I decided to get it in the first place. In the past, I have written about the History of the World Chess Championship in great detail in the past, but it was a list of articles devoted primarily to the Male/Classical Championship. Logically, somewhere toward the end of 2022, I realized it might be a very cool idea to also write about the history of the Women’s Chess Championship – not only because I agree with the sentiment that ignoring it is one of the confirmation of the male bias, but also because I genuinely think the lives and games of female chess players and early trailblazers are as equally fascinating, rich and sometimes tragic as those of their male counterparts.

Alas, during my preliminary research of the early Women’s World Chess Championships, I immediately encountered a problem I could never imagine existed – I was unable to locate full games/game scores from the Women’s World Chess Championship tournaments held in the 1920s and 1930s.

This was actually quite shocking – after all, these games were played in the 20th century. But no amount of googling, researching and inquiring on the Internet could actually help me solve this problem. Therefore, given that the winner of all these championships was the legendary female player Vera Menchik, in order to circumvent the problem I actually decided to buy this beautiful ¹⁰² Macfarland book devoted to her life and games.

This book is divided into two parts. The first 40 pages are devoted to Vera Menchik’s life, covering the period from her early days and life in Russia, to her tragic and premature death in London during WWII. The remaining 260 (!!) pages provide the reader with 350 of her games, as well as some other historical titbits such as her obituaries written by different personas, as well as her articles on different chess topics.

The biographical part is extremely deeply and thoroughly researched and quite frankly – fascinating to read. Even though I was already familiar with some details of Vera Menchik’s life after reading Chess Bitch/Chess Queens, this book still provided a lot of unique details about her early days, her parents, her activities in London, how she sustained her living, her rise to the top, etc. Her life story is quite inconceivable and remarkable and I feel she doesn’t deserve enough praise/recognition in the chess circles for being a trailblazer.

Apart from these historical insights, the main value of the book consists of the most complete record of Vera Menchik’s games up to date. As mentioned earlier, gaining access to her games – especially from the Women’s World Chess Championships in the 1920s and 1930s is not a straightforward task. And while even this book doesn’t provide you with a full account (e.g. games from the 1927 Women’s World Chess Championship are notably absent and seemingly lost forever), it still does a more than good job in filling in most of the other gaps.¹⁰³

Thus, if you are looking at a reliable and accurate historical resource about the life and games of the very first Women’s Chess Champion, look no further, as I don’t think there is currently a better resource out there than Vera Menchik – A Biography of the First Women’s World Chess Champion, with 350 games.

The post Best Chess Books 2022: 7 Great Chess Books I Read in 2022 (And Another 13 Books Reviews) appeared first on Chessentials.

Introduction

2020 has been a very strange year in many regards. The global pandemic has affected multiple aspects of our lives. When it comes to books and reading, my habits have been no exception.

On one hand, I read a total of 24 chess books – 6 more than the previous year.

On the other hand, I have read only 21 non-chess books – a whooping 21 less (50% less) than in 2019.

There are several possible explanations I tried to use to rationalize this:

• Chess books are more demanding and time-consuming to read than non-chess books so they take a lot of time
• I used to read a lot while traveling to work via public transport. Once I started working remotely, I lost that habit.
• Being forced to stay home in the middle of a global pandemic and having no set obligations/lack of routine actually lead to me READING less, despite apparently having more time

Even though there is truth in all these claims, I am pretty convinced that the 3rd one was the major factor. I have read numerous articles of people claiming they had so many projects and plans they finally hoped to tackle when things started shutting down, only to experience a total lack of motivation when it comes to executing them.

This doesn’t necessarily only refer to reading. Music producers, artists, designers, writers, and even some chess players experienced the same effect, without clearly understanding what is happening. I think it is easy to underestimate the extent of the trauma we are all currently going through and how much it affects the tiniest details in our lives.

Of course, that is not to say my switch to working from home presented a challenge in itself. It is also a fact my habits and lifestyle haven’t quite been on point irrespective of the pandemic and that there is a lot of room for improvement.

But okay, that long digression aside, I did actually manage to increase the number of chess books I read compared to the last year. Out of those 24, I have singled out 10 titles that made the deepest impression on me and used them to assemble a list of best chess books 2020 and continue the tradition of yearly book write-ups for the second year in a row.

You can find the list below.

Hope you will enjoy it and find it useful.

Best Chess Books 2020: My Favourite Books I Read in 2020

Michiel Abeln – The Anand Files

What is the book about?

The Anand Files is a fascinating dive into the behind-the-scenes events of three World Championship matches of Indian superstar Viswanathan Anand – against Vladirmir Kramnik in 2008, against Veselin Topalov in 2010 and against Boris Gelfand in 2012.

After spending 7 years (!) interviewing Anand’s seconds, analyzing games and weaving the pieces of the puzzle together, Abeln offers us an unique perspective into the process of preparing, conducting and ultimately winning the World Championship match.

Why have I included it on this list?

First of all, the book covers an important period of the modern chess history I haven’t yet seen  documented in a single volume previously. It is not only account of the actual events that unfolded over the board, but also an account important off-the-board scenes. I found out¹ that Magnus Carlsen played training games with Anand before the matches, that Anish Giri visited the camp, that Kramnik basically acted as Anand’s second during Anand’s match against Topalov, that Kasparov phoned and offered his help, etc.

But the book is much more than an ordinary „Historical account“. The aspect where it really shines and where Abeln’s years of research and writing have its tell is the characterization of the main protagonists of these matches. The book dissects how a World Championship Team functions before and during a World Championship match to almost ridiculous detail – how does the process of analyzing an opening work, how is the work organized, how many hours it entails, how many sleepless nights are there, what do the members eat, when do they eat, the dynamic between the team members, the atmosphere in the camp after losses.

And much more!

By taking the reader every single game of each of the three matches, Abeln exposes all the fears, doubts, tension and drama Anand’s team had to undergo and demonstrates that the human factor plays a crucial role– even when it comes to chess preparation.

When you also add that fact that chess content is of the highest quality and that Abeln basically presents us with a great deal of Anand’s preparation for the match and the fact that all profit made from the book sale goes to a charity, there really aren’t many reasons not to buy this book :).

Barry Hymer and Peter Wells: Chess Improvement: It’s All In The Mindset

What is it about?

The book Chess Improvement: It’s All In The Mindset tackles the difficult and somewhat controversial topic of chess improvement.² The core premise of the book is that the most important chess improvement tool is having what psychologists call the Growth Mindset.

Throughout 7 chapters, the authors tackle 7 key concepts related to developing and maintaining the Growth Mindset, such as motivation, the role of challenge, deliberate practice, dealing with failure, the social aspect of chess improvement, etc.

What makes this book stand apart from all the other literature on the similar topic ³ is that it is heavily science-based. Every chapter is split in two segments – in the first part dr. Barry Hymer ⁴ focuses on the theoretical foundation and in the second half, GM Peter Wells focuses on practical aspect and tries to convey how there theoretical concepts apply to various aspects of chess – mainly by sharing his own stories and real-life stories from other top Grandmasters from England.

Why have I included it on this list?

I first heard about this book when Chessable’s CEO David Kramaley recommended it and offered to send it to every Chessable’s team member.

Even though the topic of chess improvement has always been something I have regarded with an (un)healthy dose of cynicism and sarcasm, I was fortunately self-aware enough to realize I have a tendency to behave as an ignorant stubborn asshole way too often and that I could definitely more knowledge and reading on the topic, so I applied to get my own copy of the book as well. ⁵

I am very glad I decided to do so. I don’t recall when was the last time I stumbled upon a book that completely blew my mind and heavily influenced and changed my way of thinking.

First of all, there was a lot I didn’t know/wasn’t aware of the purely theoretical aspect.

Secondly, I liked the way Wells and Hymer write and explain scientific concepts. Even though the book does involve a lot of scientific terminology and quotes a fair share of scientific studies, it is very approachable, readable, clear and concise.

But lastly and, more importantly, the books’ practical value can’t be overestimated. It is full of useful information and practical tips for chess players, improvers, coaches and parents. I have started implementing some of its tips in my own training and coaching and was able to see the results almost instantly. ⁶

If you don’t know  what is the best way of providing your child feedback as a parent, nurturing his/her love for the game, how is your attitude toward rating and losing typical of fixed mindset and what can you to develop growth mindset in you and people you tutor, you will find guidelines or straightforward answers inside.

I honestly think this is a revolutionary work. Even if certain things are „self-understandable“ ⁷ the simple fact that someone points them out so clearly and concisely is already a revelation in itself.

I would definitely recommend everyone (especially overly-ambitious parents and coaches) to get themselves a copy of this book.

I can only conclude this short review by inserting David’s quote with which I agree 100%:

„The distillation of the key lessons that learning science has for us has the potential to have a greater impact on chess than AlphaZero.

A seminal work.“

David Navara: My Chess World

What is it about?

The book is a compilation of blog posts by Czech nr. 1, Grandmaster David Navara, in which he gives an account of his (tournament) life and provides a selection of his best/most interesting games starting from 2001 and ending in 2019.

Why have I included it on this list?

GM David Navara has established himself as one of the nicest and kindest grandmasters at the elite level.  ⁸ When his book came out earlier this year, it raised a lot of noise so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and see whether the hype is justified.

As you might have guessed by now, I was not disappointed at all. In the context of game collections, there are two things that are very important to me:

• How interesting/extensive/elaborate the stories and „non-annotation“ parts of the books are to read
• Whether the games themselves are well-annotated and explained or they contain a forest of computer variations with very little to zero textual explanations

David Navara is a perfect example of a book that scores 10/10 in both of these categories. David is a very passionate and enthusiastic writer who not only provides us with a very detailed and personal account of every tournament and every game but also goes out of his way to annotate his games and make them very approachable for an average club player ⁹

I thoroughly enjoyed David’s glimpse into the life and regiment of a tournament player, his stories and his very open and direct way of expressing himself in a beautiful, almost poetic writing style.

Highly recommended.

Positional Decision Making by GM Boris Gelfand

What is it about?

The book is the first in the series of books written by former World Championship Challenger and one of the strongest players of the last couple of decades, Israeli GM Boris Gelfand.

Throughout the series, Gelfand – with the help of his „ghost-writer“ GM Jacob Aagard of Quality Chess tries to cover different aspects of the chess game (Dynamic Decision Making, Technical Decision making) and increase the reader’s understanding by trying to explain how a strong player thinks.

The foundation of this book is Positional play and this book is basically a collection of annotated games, mostly played by Gelfand himself and his idol – Akiba Rubinstein. From the preface of the book:

„I am past the youthful need to prove to others that I understand chess, and ready to explain how chess is understood instead. So we have focused on how I think about chess, in the hope that it will help aspiring young players to improve, as well as bring joy to chess fans who simply want to enjoy the game more. And the cornerstone of my thought process was laid down by my role model, Akiba Rubinstein.“ ~ Boris Gelfand

Why have I included it on this list?

I first became aware of the book during the Legends of Chess tournament. During their Q&A sessions, several strong players ¹⁰ highly recommended Gelfand’s books. I also saw them recommended in other sources so I decided to order a copy and give it a try.

I haven’t regretted this decision ever since. There is a reason why this book got so much praise – it is absolutely incredible. Some of the things I like about Positional Decision making in chess are:

• Everything said about Navara’s book above is true here – Gelfand writes A LOT of text, gives a lot of context about each game and provides us with extensive and elaborate annotations.
• I don’t recall when was the last time I stumbled upon chess material so instructive. Gelfand wasn’t joking in the preface he wanted to convey his thinking process. He somehow manages to make games player on 2700 level easy and understandable to me without completely dumbing them down (when reading the book, I fully understood how he is able to play like that and never got any false hopes I am able to play like that, which I think is a difficult sweet-spot to find).
• Gelfand is very frank, direct and entertaining in his writing. I absolutely loved how he frequently dismisses computer chess engines and mocks „engine“ warriors among Internet kibitzers in a very genuine and hilarious manner.
• Gelfand’s enormous enthusiasm and love for the game is apparent on every page of the book. The amount of respect he pays his opponents, old masters, like Rubinstein and to the game as a whole is enormous.

I have purchased three subsequent books Gelfand (and GM Jacob Aagard) wrote and can’t wait to dive deep into them in 2021.

I can highly recommend you, the reader, to start doing the same :).

P.S. I have a confession to make. I have purchased and read a physical copy of this book, even though it is available on Chessable. I hope it won’t come up during my next performance reviews, but in case it does, I want you Chessable guys to know…

… that I am sorry!

The Complete Chess Swindler: David Smerdon

What is it about?

In a world full of opening, middlegame, strategy and endgame books, it is very rare to stumble on a book that deviates from the „norm“ and covers an uncommon and fresh topic in a witty and convincing manner.

The Complete Chess Swindler is one such book. In chess,  „swindling your opponent“ usually means winning (or drawing) a completely losing position and is often dismissed as pure „luck“ and/or „gamble“. In his book, the author of the famous „Smerdon’s Scandinavian“ tries to demonstrate that there is much more to being a successful „swindler“ than being a lucker.

Through an abundance of examples, Smerdon tries to make an extensive study of the topic and detect key psychological and chess-related factors that cause people to fall for swindles and traits that make certain players very successful at swindling.

Smerdon also provides the reader with key lessons based on those observations that should help the reader become more successful at swindling. Smerdon claims it is a skill that can be trained and improved, not a matter of pure luck or accident.

Why have I included it on this list?

Because it is witty, uncommon, refreshing and abundant with entertaining and never-before-seen examples of chess players swindling their opponents in almost unbelievable situations.

Whether we are talking about unexpected stalemates, cunning traps, perpetual checks, fortresses or just surprising and beautiful tactics, this book has it all. When you combine this chess aspect with Smerdon’s entertaining way of writing, his pop culture references and the general „tongue-in-cheek“style present in the book, I can’t see how you can go wrong with buying this book.

P.S. Not only is this book also available on Chessable – I have actually “read” it ¹¹ in its entirety on the platform.

I hope that it will be enough to redeem myself for the lapsus regarding the previous one!

Jennifer Shahade – Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport

What is the book about?

In Chess Bitch, Jen Shahade takes us through a fascinating journey through the world of female chess and mixes her own experience together with stories with famous (and less famous) female chess players.

The book offers a unique insight in the “behind the chess tournament scenes” and talking about ups and downs of constant traveling, participating in tournaments and trying to strike the balance between fun and professionalism (partying and playing chess).

Jen tackles several important issues related to the position of females in chess, such as:

– Constantly present and widely accept sexism coming in many forms

– Cultural (and other) obstacles that prevent more women from participating (mainly through the lens of the lineage of successful Georgian chess players, stemming from a very traditional society)

– The role of female-only competitions and female-only titles ¹²

– Whether it is a good or bad thing that female chess players get attention partly due to their looks and her thoughts on some female chess players taking advantage of that

Why have I included it on this list?

After reading several great posts by Mr. Greg on the topic of women in chess on his blog at the beginning of 2020, I’ve realized how fallible my thinking process on this subject is and how ignorant and full of prejudices I am despite priding myself of being enlightened and progressive. So, I decided to get enlightened by another member of the Shahade family and read Jen’s book.

This book made me more aware of the extent of obstacles female chess players face, that I have been very ignorant toward the history of female chess players and that there is a lot of merit to the feminist “but you haven’t experienced this as a white male” argument.

The only downside is that the book was written in 2004.  I would be extremely interested to hear your take on the last 15 years and to hear stories about the new generation (Yifan, Goryachkina, Ju Wenjun) and new times!

But despite this I don’t remember when was the last time I read a book with such interest and I would definitely recommend it to everyone.

Especially to all those angry men in the comment section of the lichess article titled Invisible Pieces: Women in Chess.

David Klass – Grandmaster: A Novel

What is the book about?

Grandmaster: A Novel is a story about a high school boy who joins a chess club and gets invited to a father-and-son tournament, only to discover his father is a grandmaster who hasn’t played chess for more than 30 years (and who never told him that).

Throughout the book, we find out the reasons why he stopped and why he never told his son he was a chess player. The boy then manages to convince him to get back from his retirement and participate in a weekend-long parent-child tournament, where his father has to face his old nemesis and struggle with his ancient doubts and fears.

Why have I included it on this list?

I was very fond of this book.

It is by far my favourite chess novel and I found it much more readable and less pretentious than some other novels I read this year, including the famous Queen’s Gambit by Walter Trevis.

The main reason? The book doesn’t follow the modern „Netflix“ trend of making the main character or the plot as unique and special as possible. The boy Daniel Pratzer is not an alcoholic, orphan, uniquely gifted, depressed – or an outlier. He is also not involved in a grandiose „America vs Russia“ scheme, he doesn’t want to conquer the world.

He just wants to have a more engaged dad and participate in a „simple“ chess tournament. The development of the father-and-son relationship is a leitmotiv that stretches throughout the entire book and is done wonderfully.

I was also absolutely fond of writing – the dialogues are light-hearted and humorous and it is very easy to read and the book can be literally „Digested“ in a single day.

Finally, I liked how the book tracked and touched several other subjects related to growing up as a high schooler and related to the modern-day and age:

• being an outsider in high school and spending time around popular and more successful students
• being confused and shy around girls
• having a working parent who gets too engrossed in work to spend quality time with his children
• the strains and dangers of participating in chess tournaments and of the life of a professional chess player
• that eternal doubt whether your life would have turned out better if you made different decisions

It was really refreshing to read a book in which no special attempts to „sexify“ the characters or the plot were made.

Please Netflix, can you include this one in your catalog, as well?

Sasha Chapin -All the Wrong Moves

What is the book about?

When this book was published it caused quite a stir within the chess community (considering that the author wasn’t particularly well-known in chess circles). ¹³

It is a very fun and entertaining biographical read from the pen of a skilled freelance writer in which he talks about how he got infected with the chess virus somewhat late in his life and how it completely overtook his life for a couple of years.

Why I have included it on this list?

It was really fun and hilarious to read about events every chess player can find relatable. The author writes openly about his struggles and about the effect that the „chess virus“ had on his life in a very entertaining and relatable manner.

From doing an all-night blitz session after which you feel like a degenerate to being completely devastated after loss and feeling completely uneasy when facing young and promising players, we have been there all. Yet, not all of us have the same skill or courage to present it on paper.

Apart from his own struggles, the book also includes a fair share of anecdotes and funny stories that involve other personas from the chess world. Especially noteworthy is appearance of Ben Finegold whom Sasha hired to be his coach for a short period.

When you also consider that Chapin’s writing is beautiful and full of humour ¹⁴ , his impressions of the chess world are well worth reading.

Grigory Levenfish – Soviet Outcast: The Life and Games of Grigory Levenfish (translated by Douglas Griffin)

What is the book about?

Soviet Outcast: The Life and Games of Grigory Levenfish is an autobiographical book by legendary (and somewhat forgotten) Soviet master Grigory Levenfish, translated by the great chess enthusiast David Griffin. ¹⁵

In the book, Levenfish talks about the key tournaments and moments of his career and analyses a number of his own games.

Why have I included it on this list?

It has to be mentioned that this book might not be everybody’s cup of tea. I personally found it incredible because I love reading about chess history – especially about the Soviet-era and long-forgotten Soviet masters, so purchasing this one quickly after it came out was a no brainer for me.

Levenfish is one of my favourite “tragic” heroes of the Soviet era (who got sidelined because of Botvinnik). I found his biography fascinating and the games very interesting, even though some of the evaluations (especially in more complicated positions) were not approved by modern computer engines.

Nevertheless, Levenfish’s annotations are elaborate, instructive and enjoyable and he manages to convey the spirit of times and describe how it was to live and play in the pre-Soviet times – and how to do so as an “outcast”.

A great book and big shoutout to Douglas for all the work he is doing!

David Shenk: The Immortal Game: A History Of Chess

What is the book about?

Quite simply, this is a comprehensive attempt to provide an overview of chess history, beginning from its early origins in ancient Persia, until today.

Why have I included it on this list?

Even though I read a lot about chess and chess history, in 2020 I realized I have never read anything about the overall history of our game and that I have quite a few ‘holes’ in my knowledge in that regard.

That is why, this year, I finally decided to change it and searched for a good book on the history of chess. After some research, I stumbled upon this one.

There are several reasons I am very fond of this book. First of all, David Shenk is very enthusiastic about the game and this enthusiasm is radiating through his writing (especially in the concluding, Coda and Appendix sections of the book).

Secondly, the book is extremely interesting. Even if we disregard the fact I had big ‘holes’ in my knowledge, a lot of what I read was new to me and I really had a feeling the book taught me a lot.

Last but not least – the book was full of sources on every other step, from ancient sources to the 20th-century news articles. It is incredible how much it gives to its credibility when you know that every statement/historic claim can be backed by concrete evidence.

Sure, there are still some sources I found debatable (e.g. when talking about Rubinstein’s mental state, the author refers to Bill Wall’s website. ¹⁶

But despite those minor trifles, I found the book thoroughly enjoyable and would recommend it to everyone – especially to people with affiliation toward the chess history

The post Best Chess Books 2020 appeared first on Chessentials.

Note 2: Other photos used in the interview were supplied by Antonio or taken with permission from his social channels. 

Note 3: This interview was originally published in “Šahovski Glasnik” – the official publication of the Croatian Chess Federation. They have very kindly allowed me to re-publish it on my own blog, as well!

Introduction

Hello everyone!

Even though the second half of 2020 has been very quiet for this blog, I seem to be on a roll with interview lately.

After the recent interview with my colleague Maaike Keetman, today I am happy to announce the return of the interview series. And in quite some style.

Because – as some of you might have figured out from my blatant ripping of my interviewee’s trademark opening words at the very beginning – today we will be talking with none other but my fellow countryman, the owner of the largest Chess Youtube Channel in the world, the famous Agadmator.

For those of you who have never heard of him ¹ Agadmator – better known to Croatian authorities under his real name Antonio Radić – is a chess player from a small town of Križevci in Croatia who currently runs the largest chess Youtube channel in the world (which recently crossed 900k subscribers – at the time of writing²).

Ever since starting the channel back in 2017, Agadmator has been uploading almost daily chess videos and growing his fanbase exponentially. Today he is one of the most recognizable „personas“ within the chess world, whose endeavors have recently extended way beyond Youtube.

In this interview, we will take an opportunity to talk a bit about what’s going on in his life – about the current state of his Youtube Channel, about his other projects such as his Podcast or Manga, about his future plans and about other off-the-channel events.

Please note that we will not talk about how he started to play chess or how and why he decided to start his own Youtube channels, as he has already talked about these topics extensively in a number of previous interviews, some of which can be found in the „References and Further Reading (and Listening)“ section at the end of this interview.

Many thanks to Antonio for taking the time from his busy schedule to do this.

Hope you will enjoy it!

Recent break/heart surgery

Q: Hi Antonio! Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this interview, it is my pleasure and privilege to be able to ask you some questions.

Allow me to start by asking a question or two about your health. ³ Recently, you had undergone a hearth surgery. In a video of yours and in our prior conversations, you mentioned it is a heart valve replacement. From what I have figured, it is a „routine“ surgery, but whenever someone relatively young requires a heart surgery it makes everyone worry. Would you mind sharing which cause requires a heart valve replacement surgery and how did you realize you might need one?

A: In my case, it was a birth defect. My valve never fully developed and I knew it would have to be taken care of one day. When they told me I needed surgery, it wasn’t that big of a surprise.

Q: How did the operation go? Considering the current situation with the COVID, I imagine it is not the best time to get „sick“ in any sense of the word. Did precautionary measures make your stay in the hospital more difficult (was anyone able to visit you, for example?).

A: The actual stay in the hospital was very pleasant and we were not really “bothered” by COVID. We were not allowed to ever leave our floor. But all the tests and examinations leading to the surgery were a bit annoying as I had to get tested every time and they don’t do tests in my hometown so it was always time-consuming.

Q: Judging on your first video after the surgery – posted only three weeks after the video announcing the break due to the surgery – your recovery was very speedy and efficient. How are you feeling right now? Are you already feeling a difference in certain aspects of your physical state (say, in how quickly you get tired) compared to the time before the surgery?

A: My recovery is going much better than I anticipated. Lifting heavy objects aside, I am already doing pretty much everything and feeling much better than I ever did. There is no more constant pressure in my chest, I’m never out of breath and I don’t lose my strength suddenly out of the blue. As soon as my sternum fully heals, I’m hitting the gym, for the first time fully operational. All in all, I am extremely happy with my progress so far.

The current state of Antonio’s Youtube Channel ONLINE EMPIRE

Antonio’s Youtube Channel

Q: Okay, I think that does it with medicine-based questions. Time to switch to more cheerful topics!  After the surgery, you continued going strong with your Youtube channel and you have also recently crossed 900k subscribers. Do you feel proud and amazed every time you hit a new milestone, or has it become „business as usual“ by now?

A: I am happy with every new milestone and with every new subscriber that joins our ancient game. However, nothing compares to the moment when my channel first hit 100k subscribers. To borrow a GOT reference, I felt like that 1 in a 1000 special boys that mastered the dark arts. I was successful at something that involves chess – something I loved more than anything, without being particularly good at actually playing it.

Q: How do you handle such a major community. I imagine you must be bombarded with emails on a daily basis. Do you have someone helping you with that? Do you know some of your subscribers by name?

A: I mostly just tend to my videos and ignore everything else. I try to be active on other social media like Twitter and Instagram, but I mostly just post whatever comes to mind without much planning – nowhere near your daily joke quality content. I tend to it alone, but mostly by ignoring it, it would take up too much of my time.

Don’t get me wrong, I read every e-mail sent to me and enjoy absolutely every interaction with a subscriber, but I realized I simply can’t respond to all of it. Yes, I know most of my early subscribers by name and I’m very happy when I see them after all these years in the chat or the comment section.

Q: The magical number of 1 million subs seems closer than ever. Does that number ever figure in your mind or are you not thinking about those goals? Are you still planning a special Nezhmetdinov petition + agadmator nickname reveal at 1 million subs? Do you have any other surprises in store?

A: I will do a nickname reveal, although that is something I promised when reaching a million subscribers didn’t seem like an actual possibility As for Nezhmetdinov and his GM title, I’m still not sure. I will definitely make something big so even more people hear about him. It’s an important decision with dire consequences and quite possibly way above my pay grade. When the time comes, I will consult some competent people about it.

Q: Do you have any particular future plans/goals for your channel? Do you intend to mix it with the content a bit (say, by doing more instructional videos such as the video about the bishop and knight checkmate?). Or you intend to continue doing your thing and focus more on branching in other directions? ⁴

A: I have some ideas, but things mostly turn out differently so I’m not thinking about that too much. I’m not that big on planning. I’ve always been more of a “Wait and good things will happen” person.

Q: When you first announced you will do a major break due to the heart surgery in the video mentioned above – I realized this is your first major pause from video filming in a number of years.

This ability to always work is often quoted as one of the dangers of being a Youtuber/content creator. In these past years, did you ever feel like you were in danger of getting burnt out? Did it ever happen to you that you woke up and didn’t feel like filming a video? Do you take some precautionary measures to prevent it from happening?

A: The first time I heard big Youtubers speak of the term “burn out”, I thought it was nonsense and just something they were using to get attention. Now I know it’s an actual condition.

I try to do many other things alongside my Youtube “career” and even though I make a video every day, there were days where I skipped making one. I told myself long ago, if I don’t feel like making a video today, I’m not going to. Takes the pressure off.

However, I am still “young” in my Youtube career. Creators that have been doing it for 10 years or more would probably have more to say about this. Ask me again in a few years (if I don’t go mad, that is).

Q: One last Youtube-related question I can’t resist asking :P. It seems to me that you paved the way in a way for many content creators as the number of high-quality chess channels with huge following seems to increase on a daily basis.

The channel „Chess Talk“, is one of those that has risen very quickly to fame. If I am not mistaken, it is currently the 2nd chess channel in the world with more than 700k subs.

My provocative question, therefore, is: Do you ever worry about your „throne“ being shaken? About being overtaken? If that starts to happen, are we going to see the chess version of „Tseries“ vs PewDiePie in the near future?

A: PewDiePie had the help of every major Youtuber and it still wasn’t enough. Some things you can not influence.  It’s nice being on the top, but I am not worried about being dethroned. Different creators cater to different audiences and I am not the one that decides what people enjoy at this moment in time.

When I was starting out, I was amongst the weakest chess players making chess content online but became the biggest chess channel “in the blink of an eye” nevertheless. That is what people needed at the time and they came in large numbers. The same will happen with the next big channel I think and I am very happy for them. I started my channel to promote chess – someone dethroning me means I am doing a good job! ⁵

The Agadmator Podcast

Q: When you first started your channel, you focused mainly on chess game analysis videos and you kept doing it for a few years. However, somewhere in the middle of 2019 ⁶ you announced you will start „branching out“ and doing some other things, such as Agadmator Manga and Agadmator Podcast.

I do hope to talk about these endeavors in turn, but before we get to that, perhaps you can tell us how and when did you start thinking about doing things outside of Youtube (or outside of the „chess game analysis“ domain?).

A: Both the Podcast and the Manga are chess-related so it’s basically just a different medium to promote chess on.

Q: When was the idea for Agadmator Podcast first born? Why did you decide to start a podcast yourself (apart from stealing all Ben Johnson’s listeners, of course)?

A: I got the idea after seeing Lex Fridman’s podcast with Garry Kasparov. I thought it might be a good idea to start one about chess and also a good way for me to meet people who also spend their time promoting chess. Ben is doing an awesome job btw, I had the privilege of being a guest on his podcast. ⁷

Q: It did take quite some time to get the podcast going after the initial announcement – the first episode with Maxime Vachier Lagrave was published „only“ in May 2020? Was it because you wanted to get everything perfect and didn’t rush it or because you always took Podcast a bit more lightly than your Youtube Channel? What are the required steps in starting your own Podcast?

A: First I did some research on what equipment to get. Once I decided and finally bought the equipment, we needed to set everything up. The room had an echo so we needed to take care of that as well. My colleague Tino (the manga artist) helped a lot with that. Researching where and how to upload the episodes also took some time. Once everything was set up, it was time to start inviting guests.

Q: What is the current status of the Podcast? Some time has passed since the last episode with Hikaru and Nakamura. Are there any short-term and/or long-term plans for a release of subsequent episodes?

A: I had a lot of fun talking to MVL and Nakamura, but podcasting is much harder than you would think hahaha. I’m sure it will become more natural to me with time. I already had my third guest planned but my surgery got in the way and it put everything on hold. Once I recover sufficiently, I plan to continue with the podcast, maybe even soon.

The Agadmator Manga/Website

Q: Another major project you have been very enthusiastic about for quite some time is your own Chess Manga, the first chapter of which has been just recently published. If I am not mistaken, that project was in the making for almost a year or so?

How come you decided to do a manga compare to an „ordinary“ comic book? When was this idea first conceived?

A: The idea for the Manga came some 2 years ago but it took us some time to set everything up. Tino and I were talking about it and slowly started getting more serious about it. We have made 1 chapter so far and the second one is soon to be released.

Q: It was probably obvious to you that it is not a project you can undertake on your own, without an entire team of people. How did you go about assembling a team and selecting people for this project?

A: At one point, we were ready and I announced on my channel we needed a writer. Some 400 people applied and we went through all of their applications and asked them to supply a short story to see their writing style. We decided on a writer and a few months later we finally released Chapter One.

The only Manga I ever read was One Punch Man ⁸ but Tino reads a lot of it and that’s why we decided to go with that (Tino is a friend since childhood btw, we grew up as next-door neighbors). I just wanted another way to promote chess alongside my Youtube channel, and this seemed like a great idea. We’ll see how it goes

Q: Even though people can find out who the team members are on your website, perhaps we can give them a shoutout here and say who they are and what do they do? Perhaps it is a nice opportunity to mention who was the person/team who created your website and other people who help you maintain your ONLINE EMPIRE like your Discord mods?

A: Some of them would prefer to remain anonymous for now, we will do the full team reveal soon :).

Q: While we are at it – it was in this positionerino agadmatorino face reveal – when?

A: I don’t think we will ever witness that. I could be wrong, though. He/she is a very mysterious person.

Q: What was the workflow on the manga alike? How difficult it was to align between the team members? Did you let your team do your job or did you personally fulfill the role of a coordinator? Was Zoom often „burning“?

A: We had to do a lot of coordinating in the beginning, but I wanted to be included as little as possible. We set some ground rules and I wanted them to do their thing the best they can without any micromanaging. It was never burning as we didn’t have any deadlines. I hope we never will, but who knows

Q: Last and a little off-topic, but do you have favourite Manga/Anime? Could you at least provide us with your top 3 (apart from Age of Caissa, of course :P).

A: I’m a big fan of Dragon Ball. Watched all of it except Super (I tried, but it’s just sooooo bad). As for some shorter ones, Castelvania and Death Note were really good.

Twitch Streaming and Collabs

Q: On top of everything, you have recently also branched away from Youtube in the world of Twitch and streaming. How did you decide to start streaming on Twitch relatively recently? Was it because in order to diversify a bit from Youtube, or just because you wanted a place where you can display your other passion – old computer games – and interact with people?

A: I wanted to try out Twitch. I never used it before and it’s kind of a pretty big deal online so I wanted to at least know the basics. I decided to stream some chess, but mostly stick to other games. I have gotten much better at Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and even beat the game in one sitting hahahah. If time will allow, I would like to be able to speedrun at least one game.

Q: You were streaming very regularly some 3-4 months ago and even uploaded to your „half-forgotten“ Agadmator’s chess channel, but I don’t recall much activity lately. What is the current status of your Twitch channel and streaming career?

A: Ever since I learned I was to have surgery, I dropped most things to still have time for my chess videos and all the tests I needed to do for the procedure. I will probably get back to it, but I have no idea when.

Q: There were quite a few collaborations with other chess streamers and personalities during that period as well – most notably on the initiative of Samay Raina (who seems to be doing a wonderful job in doing the chess world and people together). How did this initiative come to fruition and can we expect to see more 4-player-chess and Scribble action in the near future?

A: It was fun hanging out with other streamers and I would enjoy more such collaborations in the future, regardless of the content (still haven’t tried Among Us). Sometimes it’s nice to just chill.

Off the board. Future plans and other (non) chess questions

Q: Last, but not least, I would like to do some non-Youtube and non-chess talk in the final bit of the interview.

Despite all the major events and successes, you will most certainly remember 2020 by proposing to your long-term girlfriend Jelena. ⁹ Huge congratulations! Was the proposal a complete surprise for her, or did she SUBTLY HINT that she would like to get a ring before?

A: Nah, it was a complete surprise. I was very sneaky about it. It’d be much better if she said Yes, though..

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Nah, just kidding, she did say yes :).

Q: In one of your videos you also mentioned you are also in the middle of building a house? ¹⁰ From what I have heard from other people, undergoing that process is quite a nightmare? How is the house doing? Are you enduring the battle against Croatian bureaucracy and workers?

A: We spent a lot of time on it but in the end gave up. Something got in the way and we couldn’t continue the house building saga. We did buy a house last month so it’s not all that bad

Q: Damn, I wanted to ask so many more questions, but this is already getting too long. So let me just ask three more. I do recall you mentioning analyzing games for videos isn’t particularly helpful and that you have some plans to try to improve. What is the status of your own chess game at this moment?

A: Basically, non-existent. It’s been a long since I did any work on my own game and I mostly just play bullet for fun with a blitz game here and there. Who knows what the future will bring

Q: I also recall you expressing a wish to organize a big Open tournament in your hometown of Križevci. Once again, now is not the time to organize any sort of events, but just wanted to check – is that idea still in plans for the future?

A: Of course. The First Agadmator Invitational and Open tournaments will happen, but the way things are going in the world, chances are it will be online.

Q: Allow me to wrap things up with a cliche of a question – if you could give one piece of advice to potential content creators and potential Youtubers/Streamers, what would it be?

A: Yes. Be yourself. Answering cliche question with a cliche answer, but it is true. By this I mean: Be the BEST possible version of yourself. If you pretend in your videos, you will only be able to do it for a little while before streaming and making videos becomes too difficult for you and you will either drop it or go mad.

Q: All right, Antonio! Thank you so much for taking the time and pilling through the „deep dark forest where 2+2=5“ of text I left you with. I really enjoyed asking you some of the questions as I wanted to ask them for quite some time and I hope you at least had SOME fun while answering them.

I wish you all the best in both your personal and private life and can’t wait to see what you have in store for the chess world in 2021.

A: Thank you for this amazing interview. I can’t remember the last time I answered so many questions hahaha. Looking forward to your daily jokes! (not a joke)

Be careful with what you wish, it might come true :D. Thanks once again for this amazing interview!

References and further reading (and listening)

Interview with Agadmator on FollowChess

Interview with Agadmator on Chessbase India

Agadmator’s Q&A Video

Agadmator on Quoth The Raven Podcast

Agadmator on Perpetual Chess Podcast

Agadmator’s AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit

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