Chess may be studied as a game of smart moves and clever strategy. Or it may be seen as a game of mistakes. A chess game is, in effect, decided by the failings of one of the players. For the benefit of the improving player, Andrew Soltis reviews the major types of errors in this book. Black-and-white illustrations. International Chess Master Andrew Soltis is the chess columnist for the New York Post. He is the author of many chess books.

Catalog of Chess Mistakes

Humor & Entertainment

Soltis, Andy

Puzzles & Games

David McKay Co.

This insightful survey of the young Soviet chess players during the era when Karpov was on the rise provides many key games that illustrate the style of each competitor.

The younger school of Soviet chess (Bell chess books)

Bell

This thoroughly updated and revised edition of the highly acclaimed 1986 work (detailed analysis--Choice; handsome...clearly written and beautifully produced--Chess Notes; chess history brought alive...entertaining and fascinating--Chess Life) provides a definitive history of all championship events in the United States through 1995. Both the games and the occasions are covered in depth, including biographical details, descriptive settings, anecdotes, tournament drama, unusual games, and grandmaster analysis. Filled with quotations from the winners, losers and many others, this is an authoritative and indispensable volume.

The United States Chess Championship, 1845-1996

McCormick, Gene H.

McFarland Publishing

How does one determine the "best" chess games? What one may see as brilliant, another may see as simply necessary. Like some art lovers, chess fans claim that they know a good game when they see it, and that they know better from good. But "best"? How is this articulated? This book, itself a work of art, is brought together by the use of five criteria: the overall aesthetics (clever and relentless are insufficient qualities); the originality (e.g., not yet another white knight sacrifice in a Sicilian); the level of opposition (the loser played very well); the soundness (i.e., are the moves refutable with perfect play?), accuracy (few of the moves are second-best), and difficulty (the winner overcame major obstacles) of the game; and finally the overall breadth and depth (one wants a series of sparkling ideas, with no dry patches). The 100 best games were taken from an initial field of about 7,000 played from 1900 through 1999 that had already gained some attention in magazines, books and periodicals. Three hundred games were then selected that appeared to have features consistent with the criteria. The 300 games were evaluated with scores-points given for each category of criteria. The games were then ranked, one to 100, by the score they received. No attempt was made to balance the selection according to period, nationality of players or opening. Also included is a chapter on the most overrated games of the twentieth century and one on games that would have made the list if ...  Includes 335 diagrams, an index of players and an index of openings by ECO codes.

The 100 Best Chess Games of the 20th Century, Ranked

History

The best, the worst, the shortest, the oddest, the longest, the most deceitful, the most memorable, the most brilliant, the dumbest--of players, games, matches, tournaments, books, ideas, etc. The lists are replete with background detail and exact facts--this second edition of Soltis's classic 1984 book is altogether an essential part of any chess collection and a browser's delight. The new edition contains 25 percent more lists, games, diagrams and annotations. The majority of lists from the first edition have been updated or expanded--or both.

Chess Lists, 2d ed.

Reference

McFarland Company

The rules of "The Greatest Tournament in Chess History," the $20 million Sheldrake Memorial Tournament, a.k.a. Los Voraces 2019, are: no seconds, no agents, no computers, no entourages, no pagers, no power palms, no phone calls--no outside contact of any kind--as the fourteen greatest chess players in the world gather to compete for money and fame. These geniuses of the game are strange characters--including two Russian world champions solely responsible for article 17.1 of FIDE's Laws of Chess (the "anti-hair-pull rule"), the Rumanian who speaks a "kind of personal Esperanto, using odds and ends of other languages," and a possible member of the Russian mafia--and when the tournament begins with the death of the ninth highest rated player in the world, everyone is under suspicion. This fabulous chess novel is full of game scores and diagrams--some pretty amazing games are played at Los Voraces! It's all told from the point of view of the arbiter, who is quickly drawn from his role as observer to that of target and suspect. By the time the tournament has only five rounds to go, five corpses have been discovered. Just who is the serial killer with a preference for 2700-rated grandmasters? This edition is a revision, with illustrations, of a serialized electronic version run by Hanon Russell on ChessCafe from September 2001 to September 2002.

Los Voraces 2019: A Chess Novel

This thoroughly updated and revised edition of the highly acclaimed 1986 reference work provides a definitive history of all championship events in the United States through 1995. Both the games and the occasions are covered in depth, including biographical details, descriptive settings, anecdotes, tournament drama, unusual games, and grandmaster analysis. Filled with quotations from the winners, losers and many others, this is an authoritative and indispensable volume.

This thoroughly updated and revised edition of the highly acclaimed 1986 reference work provides a definitive history of all championship events in the United States through April, 2011. Both the games and the occasions are covered in depth, including biographical details, descriptive settings, anecdotes, tournament drama, unusual games, and grandmaster analysis. Included in this edition are 13 new tournaments, 40 new diagrams and 13 additional crosstables.

The United States Chess Championship, 1845-2011, 3d ed.

The games of Mikhail Botvinnik, world chess champion from 1948 to 1963, have been studied by players around the world for decades. But little has been written about Botvinnik himself. This book explores his unusual dual career--as a highly regarded scientist as well as the first truly professional chess player--as well as his complex relations with Soviet leaders, including Josef Stalin, his bitter rivalries, and his doomed effort to create the perfect chess-playing computer program. The book has more than 85 games, 127 diagrams, twelve photographs, a chronology of his life and career, a bibliography, an index of openings, an index of opponents, and a general index.

Mikhail Botvinnik: The Life and Games of a World Chess Champion

Biographies & Memoirs

McFarland

Book of the Year-British Chess Federation 
 Frank Marshall (1877-1944) reigned as America's chess champion from 1907 through 1936--the longest stint of anyone in history. A colorful character almost always decked out in an ascot and chewing a cigar, his career coincided with many evolutionary changes in competitive chess. Marshall was a master gamesman. He took up the game of salta, akin to Chinese checkers, and was soon world champion. But more than anything, he loved chess, claiming that after he learned the game at 10 he played every day for the next 57 years. Marshall's life and playing style are fully examined here, including 220 of his games (some never before published) with 190 positional diagrams.

Frank Marshall - US Chess Champion

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Soltis, Andy. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Soltis, Andy

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Soltis, Andy. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Catalog of Chess Mistakes

The younger school of Soviet chess (Bell chess books)

The United States Chess Championship, 1845-1996

The 100 Best Chess Games of the 20th Century, Ranked

Chess Lists, 2d ed.

Los Voraces 2019: A Chess Novel

The United States Chess Championship, 1845-1996

The United States Chess Championship, 1845-2011, 3d ed.

Mikhail Botvinnik: The Life and Games of a World Chess Champion

Frank Marshall - US Chess Champion