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White King and Red Queen: How the Cold War Was Fought on the Chessboard
Daniel Johnson -- journalist, editor, scholar, and chess enthusiast who once played Garry Kasparov to a draw in a simultaneous exhibition -- is the perfect guide to one of history's most remarkable periods, when chess matches were front-page news and captured the world's imagination. The Cold War played out in many areas: geopolitical alliances, military coalitions, cat-and-mouse espionage, the arms race, proxy wars -- and chess. An essential pastime of Russian intellectuals and revolutionaries, and later adopted by the Communists as a symbol of Soviet power, chess was inextricably linked to the rise and fall of the "evil empire." This original narrative history recounts in gripping detail the singular part the Immortal Game played in the Cold War. From chess's role in the Russian Revolution -- Marx, Lenin, and Trotsky were all avid players -- to the 1945 radio match when the Soviets crushed the Americans, prompting Stalin's telegram "Well done lads!"; to the epic contest between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in 1972 at the height of détente, when Kissinger told Fischer to "go over there and beat the Russians"; to the collapse of the Soviet Union itself, White King and Red Queen takes us on a fascinating tour of the Cold War's checkered landscape..
Price: $13.00
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Beginning Chess: Over 300 Elementary Problems for Players New to the Game
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Flexible French: Strategic Explanations & Surprise Weapons for Dynamic Players
The French Defence is one of the most popular chess openings for players of all levels. Many of its lines, however, are over-played, over-explored, and thus over-loaded with academic theory."Flexible French" provides readers with a refreshing break from the well-trodden paths, presenting a selection of unusual, ambitious, and engaging but very playable ideas. Well known as a champion of anti-dogmatic chess, Grandmaster Viktor Moskalenko has selected some radical but practical variations on these ideas for both Black and White.This book presents radical and ambitious, yet highly playable variations on one of the most popular openings in chess..
Price: $15.39
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The Queen's Gambit: A Novel
Eight year-old orphan Beth Harmon is quiet, sullen, and by all appearances unremarkable. That is until she plays her first game of chess. Her senses grow sharper, her thinking clearer, and for the first time in her life she feels herself fully in control By the age of sixteen, she’s competing for the U.S. Open championship. But as she hones her skills on the professional circuit, the stakes get higher, her isolation grows more frightening, and the thought of escape becomes all the more tempting. Engaging and fast-paced, The Queen’s Gambit speeds to a conclusion as elegant and satisfying as a mate in four. .
Price: $6.04
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How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom
One of the most highly regarded strategists of our time teaches us how the tools that made him a world chess champion can make us more successful in business and in life. Garry Kasparov was the highest-rated chess player in the world for over twenty years and is widely considered the greatest player that ever lived. In How Life Imitates Chess Kasparov distills the lessons he learned over a lifetime as a Grandmaster to offer a primer on successful decision-making: how to evaluate opportunities, anticipate the future, devise winning strategies. He relates in a lively, original way all the fundamentals, from the nuts and bolts of strategy, evaluation, and preparation to the subtler, more human arts of developing a personal style and using memory, intuition, imagination and even fantasy. Kasparov takes us through the great matches of his career, including legendary duels against both man (Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov) and machine (IBM chess supercomputer Deep Blue), enhancing the lessons of his many experiences with examples from politics, literature, sports and military history.  With candor, wisdom, and humor, Kasparov recounts his victories and his blunders, both from his years as a world-class competitor as well as his new life as a political leader in Russia. An inspiring book that combines unique strategic insight with personal memoir, How Life Imitates Chess is a glimpse inside the mind of one of today’s greatest and most innovative thinkers. .
Price: $9.98
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The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence
Josh Waitzkin knows what it means to be at the top of his game. A public figure since winning his first National Chess Championship at the age of nine, Waitzkin was catapulted into a media whirlwind as a teenager when his father's book Searching for Bobby Fischer was made into a major motion picture. After dominating the scholastic chess world for ten years, Waitzkin expanded his horizons, taking on the martial art Tai Chi Chuan and ultimately earning the title of World Champion. How was he able to reach the pinnacle of two disciplines that on the surface seem so different? "I've come to realize that what I am best at is not Tai Chi, and it is not chess," he says. "What I am best at is the art of learning." In his riveting new book, The Art of Learning, Waitzkin tells his remarkable story of personal achievement and shares the principles of learning and performance that have propelled him to the top -- twice. With a narrative that combines heart-stopping martial arts wars and tense chess face-offs with life lessons that speak to all of us, The Art of Learning takes readers through Waitzkin's unique journey to excellence. He explains in clear detail how a well-thought-out, principled approach to learning is what separates success from failure. Waitzkin believes that achievement, even at the championship level, is a function of a lifestyle that fuels a creative, resilient growth process. Rather than focusing on climactic wins, Waitzkin reveals the inner workings of his everyday method, from systematically triggering intuitive breakthroughs, to honing techniques into states of remarkable potency, to mastering the art of performance psychology. Through his own example, Waitzkin explains how to embrace defeat and make mistakes work for you. Does your opponent make you angry? Waitzkin describes how to channel emotions into creative fuel. As he explains it, obstacles are not obstacles but challenges to overcome, to spur the growth process by turning weaknesses into strengths. He illustrates the exact routines that he has used in all of his competitions, whether mental or physical, so that you too can achieve your peak performance zone in any competitive or professional circumstance. In stories ranging from his early years taking on chess hustlers as a seven year old in New York City's Washington Square Park, to dealing with the pressures of having a film made about his life, to International Chess Championships in India, Hungary, and Brazil, to gripping battles against powerhouse fighters in Taiwan in the Push Hands World Championships, The Art of Learning encapsulates an extraordinary competitor's life lessons in a page-turning narrative..
Price: $3.95
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Winning Chess Traps: Opening Tactics for the Advanced Beginner and Intermediate Player
In Winning Chess Traps nationally-renowned chess coach Robert M. Snyder takes his Chess for Everyone book a step further by covering sixty-four additional opening traps. Traps arranged by opening to help students improve knowledge of the most important openings.
Traps contain important tactical themes designed to improve pattern recognition.
Challengea at various points to find the best move.
Written for the beginner to intermediate player.
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Price: $11.93
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100 Endgames You Must Know: Vital Lessons for Every Chess Player
Most players tend to neglect the endgame, many even dodge the endgame by taking extreme risks in the middlegame, simply because they feel uncertain about the final phase. But time limits have shortened, and the endgame has to be played fast. A solid basic knowledge is vital. There are, contrary to what most amateurs believe, relatively few endgames one must know. Here the 100 endgames are presented that: show up most frequently in practice are easy to learn contain ideas and concepts useful in more difficult positions. This book is not an encyclopedia, but a practical tool to learn the basics of endgame theory..
Price: $15.00
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Searching for Bobby Fischer: The Father of a Prodigy Observes the World of Chess
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