While studying the opening courses, The GM's Openings Laboratory and The GM's Openings Laboratory 2, students sent me their questions. I've prepared a detailed answer to every query.
Advance your opening play to the level of Masters and Grandmasters! Learn the general principles of opening play. Get a powerful opening repertoire.
What determines your WIN/LOSS in a chess game? Whether or not you win or lose is determined by your opening preparation, your middlegame skills, and your endgame technique. At the same time, the opening phase is MORE important because if you don't play it well, you will lose sooner than you can demonstrate your middlegame/endgame skills.
How do you play an opening properly? In order to play the opening properly, a lot of people believe that...
Do you want to win chess games before they even begin? Then this chess course was designed for you.
It will give you a complete opening repertoire on the GM's level and will make your pre-game preparation extremely effective. There is no guarantee that you will always win, but with this course your chances are guaranteed higher.
In modern chess, computers have made opening preparation a very powerful and even decisive factor. Strong players spend most of their training time on opening analysis. There are serious reasons for doing that. Every chess player can recollect the following situation: ...
This is a 10" x 10" chess board (square size is 1 1/4"). The overall size of the silicone sheet is 10 1/4". There is no alphanumeric notation on the border. (If you do need it simply take a Sharpie and add it yourself.)
The primary advantage of this small roll up chess board is mobility. The no-memory-effect silicone material allows you to roll it tightly, fold it, or just squeeze it together anyway you like, and still have the board open flat and stay flat instantly. The problem with vinyl boards is that they tend to roll up by themselves particularly if stored for longer time in a rolled...
This ebook is a study of the classic Italian card games: Scopa, Quindici, Briscola, and Tresette. The author's interest in playing cards dates back to childhood, his grandparents, his family … they loved to play cards; so does he.
In addition to rules, you will find beginner to advanced playing strategies and Ferri's method for secretly signaling your partner as to what cards you hold. This is based on the system he learned from one of his early influences - the great John Scarne.
In addition to be being one of the greatest manipulator of playing cards and perhaps the greatest card mechanic of...
Cranium Conundrums is an ebook of 66 logic puzzles with two convenient features, which are rarely found in other books of puzzles: ranked by difficulty, a clue.
Difficulty: Every puzzle comes with a difficulty measured in time. It estimates the time an average person would need to solve the puzzle. This is a great way to select which puzzles you want to work on. Of course, the difficulty measure will only be accurate on average. If you are a savvy puzzle solver you will probably find the solution faster. If this is your first book of puzzles you will probably need to schedule a bit more time...
Le volume II, le système d’enchères américain intermédiaire, effectue la transition aux méthodes modernes incluant les ouvertures à deux faibles. Il enseigne toutes les notions du « standard » américain d’une façon qui intègre ses formes variées. Ne vous méprenez pas sur le terme « intermédiaire ». Plusieurs joueurs de duplicata croient avoir atteint ce niveau lorsqu’ils ne peuvent plus jouer dans les parties novices. Ce n’est pas le cas. Le niveau « intermédiaire », tel que défini par les auteurs, peut qualifier certains joueurs ne possédant aucun point de maître...
La série américaine de Bridge
La série américaine de bridge est un ensemble de cours successifs sur les enchères. Elle est adaptée à l’apprentissage autodidacte ou de classe sous la supervision d’un enseignant de bridge professionnel. Les volumes I à III incluent des notions de jeu de déclarant et de défense qui sont reliées aux niveaux d’enchères enseignés dans chaque livre. Le volume IV est réservé aux vrais experts ; par conséquent, les leçons de jeu de déclarant et de défense n’ont pas été incluses car cela serait une insulte. La série complète nécessite...
The Scandinavian: A Complete Chess Opening Repertoire Against 1.e4 is a chess ebook targeting the whole range from beginners up to masters.
The Scandinavian Defense is favored by a large number of grandmasters and has often been employed as a surprise weapon by a number of high-class players. Indian Grandmaster and World Champion Viswanathan Anand used it against Garry Kasparov in their 1995 PCA World Championship match. Anand managed to equalize out of the opening, but he faltered later on.
Perhaps the greatest exponent of the Scandinavian was Australian Grandmaster Ian Rogers, who used it to rock...
One of the finest chess books ever written, now in the revised algebraic edition. The author expounds both the basic principles and the most complex forms of attack on the king.
[Note: This ebook is in ChessBase format. You will need ChessBase, the free version ChessBase Light, or any other chess software which can read the CBV format (Fritz, Shredder, Junior). Remember that ChessBase and ChessBase Light do export to PGN.]
1st edtion 1998
Following on from the success of his Rubik Remembered DVD, this is Mark’s brand new ebook: Rubik Notes.
The Notes contain Mark’s full solution for Rubik’s Cube (His version of the Layer Method, originally devised by Rubik-Guru David Singmaster. You can achieve solve times below one minute with this method.) and are fully colour-illustrated to make learning as direct as possible. The solution is completely self-contained and you don’t need to own the Rubik Remembered DVD or indeed anything else to learn to solve Rubik’s Cube – everything is right here in the Notes.
If however...
Volume III, The Advanced American Bidding System presumes a complete understanding and skill with all of the material in Volume II. However, some of the Volume II material is repeated for intended redundancy, since the authors suspect that many folks who shouldn't be attempting to study Volume III will do so anyway. After all, "I'm a Life Master, I must be Advanced." The authors suggest that anyone not comfortable playing in Flight A at an ACBL regional or national tournament, or the World Bridge Federation (WBF) or other governing body equivalent thereof avoid purchase and study of Volume III until they have...
Volume II, The Intermediate American Bidding System, makes the transition to modern methods including weak two openings. It teaches all of the pieces of "Standard" American in a way that integrates all of the varied forms of same. Don't be thrown by the term "intermediate." Many duplicate players think that they have reached that level when they can no longer play in novice games. Not so. "Intermediate," as defined by the authors, can vary from folks with zero ACBL masterpoints to 2500 masterpoints. It's not the points that count, it's the skill level.
1st edition 1998; 186 pages.
The American Bridge Series is designed as a sequential set of bidding courses, suitable for self-study or classroom-style study under the guidance of a professional bridge teacher. Volumes I through III include declarer play and defense skills as they relate to the bidding skills taught in each text. Volume IV is reserved for true experts; thus, declarer play and defense lessons would be an insult and are not included. The entire series takes about five years of study and practice to complete.
Volume I, The Basic American Bidding System, was written for beginners and for social players who...
The 3rd international chess tournament in Monte Carlo was held from 10th February to 17th March 1903. World champion Lasker did not take part; he had just taken up residence in St. Louis, USA, as assistant professor of mathematics. Because of various disputes with the tournament management, Gunsberg, Janowski and Tschigorin had been disqualified.
Playing were the Hungarian Maroczy, the winner of the 1902 Monte Carlo tournament; the American champions Marshall and Pillsbury; the Viennese Marco, Schlechter and Wolf; the Englishmen Mason and Teichmann; Albin, Moreau and Taubenhaus from Paris;...
From the introduction:
Charles Goren was right. As early as the mid-1950s he was urging bridge players to avoid getting caught up in all the trendy new bidding systems with their myriad confounding conventions. Eventually, even the great Goren was dragged screaming and kicking into the new age of scientific bidding, allowing that things like the Blackwood ace-asking convention and the artificial 2C Stayman bid to check for a 4-4 major suit fit after a 1NT opening bid could be useful at times. But in fighting against complications to our great game of contract bridge, Charles Goren was...
"I will sum up your Knight's Tour routine as follows, IT IS BRILLIANT!" - David Burmeister
In the late 1980s I developed a method for the Knight's Tour which allows a spectator a truly free choice for the starting square and ending square of opposite color (same color start and end is mathematically impossible).
This manuscript describes in detail this method. The method attempts to minimize memorization and teaches you a system to derive a proper complete tour on the spot. The method is so flexible that you can find several different tours for one pair of start and end points. Of...
From an old description:
Ajeeb, who recently completed a tour across the United States, meeting all state champions and whose record remains undefeated, is now at the Steel Pier, Atlantic City, meeting all comers at checkers.
Ajeeb's wizardry at chess and checkers is world renowned, and its secret mechanism has baffled mankind since 1769, the year in which it was devised.
During its career, this marvelous automaton has humbled in chess not only the masters of the world, but the greatest soldier of them all - Napoleon Bonaparte.
Ajeeb's mysterious mechanism, its uncanny ability to...
This ebook includes 114 very practical tips on a variety of subjects with practical, easy to digest examples.
Included in this compilation are all 13 issues of the extremely rare John Scarne's Newsletter as well as the ebook Three Card Monte which was not written by Scarne, but he provided all the contents for it.
How to win at Poker, Gin, Pinochle, Blackjack and many other games.
Scarne on Cards is not only a fundamental reference and rule ebook; it is a dependable guide for anyone who wants to avoid being victimized by cheating and sharp practice, and for anyone who wants to play a better game and thereby improve his chances of winning.
"John Scarne is to games what Dr. Einstein is to advanced physics." - John Lardner, in Newsweek
"John Scarne is the most expert exponent of wonderful card effects and table work that I have ever seen in my life." - Nate Leipzig
"John Scarne's one-man expose...
Here is the most complete, most authoritative reference ebook on games available. Just about every game you can think of - in all, more than 1000 games and their variations - is described, together with the latest rules and easy-to-follow instructions. And to add to your enjoyment, here are hundreds of play-to-win tips from John Scarne, the famous authority on games and gambling.
In the more than 600 double-column, oversize pages you will find many old favorites as well as newly invented games including gambling games, variations of solitaire, social games, board games, and parlor games to...
This encyclopedia is the essential, all-inclusive guide to card playing. Here is everything you ever wanted to know about the histories and variations of the world's most popular card games: