The Semi-Slav is one of the most popular chess openings that Black can play against 1.d4. The Semi-Slav is both sound and ambitious, which makes it a favourite of the chess elite. This book provides expert guidance on how to play this exciting variation. The author clearly explains which lines he recommends for Black and even offers a choice of replies against the main lines.

The Queen's Gambit for the Attacking Player by Graham Burgess

After the immense success of the first two editions, the chess world has been anticipating the next instalment with baited breath... and now the wait is over! Once again this is a fully revised edition of John Watson's classic Play the French, providing Black with a complete repertoire in the French Defence, one of the most strategically and dynamically complex opening systems.

How can one determine if a piece is weak or strong? Or if a square is weak or strong? These are the principal questions that grandmaster and trainer Drazen Marovic addresses in this important book. By discussing carefully-chosen games and positions, Marovic explains how to recognize good and bad features of positions, and how to make use of one's advantages and exploit the opponent's weaknesses.

This book covers standard signaling methods on defense: attitude, count, suit preference, trump suit signals and Smith Echo. It also recommends adoption of a system of honor-card leads that allows a defender to ask his partner specifically to signal either attitude or count, depending on what the opening leader feels will provide more important information.

This book covers declarer's fundamental strategies in notrump contracts and the tactics available for developing extra tricks, lopics covered include hold-up plays, deciding which suit to attack, reading the opening lead, keeping the danger hand off play, combining your chances and exerting pressure on your opponents.

During the play of the hand, declarer and defenders both have opportunities to use the cards they play to conceal their exact holdings from the opposition. It is possible to disrupt defenders' signaling, to mislead the opponents about strength or weakness in a suit, and even to persuade the defense to give you information.

This book contains a comprehensive collection of the shortest decisive games in chess history. It is an indispensable guide to the pitfalls and traps that lurk in every opening system. An ability to punish errors in the opening is an essential aspect of modern opening play. All too often players fail to seize their chances to win a crisp miniature game. The thousands of games featured in this book show how to detect the opponent's errors and take maximum advantage. The text includes an outstanding and comprehensive collection of games won in 13 moves or fewer, as well as explanations of the errors made and how to avoid them

1000 Best Short Games of Chess by Irving Chernev

Hertan develops the reader's skills methodically, thus enabling each tactical lesson to be learned and absorbed properly

Defend to the End! One of the most important skills a chessplayer needs is the ability to defend a position that is under siege. In this third volume in the highly acclaimed, best-selling ChessCafe Puzzle Book series, International Grandmaster Karsten Müller along with International Master Merij van Delft examine and expound upon the vital defensive concepts and techniques used to repulse enemy attacks. Major topics include (1) Principles and methods of defending; (2) Defending against a direct attack on the king; (3) Countering the initiative; (4) Saving the draw; (5) Passive versus active defense; and (6) Use and development of counterplay. Many of the world s greatest players Steinitz, Lasker, Petrosian were famous for their legendary defensive skills. Now International Grandmaster Karsten Müller along with International Master Merijn van Delft will show you how you can Test and Improve Your Defensive Skill.

In Patriotic Games, historian Stephen Pope explores the ways sport was transformed from a mere amusement into a metaphor for American life. Between the 1890s and the 1920s, sport became the most pervasive popular cultural

It has been ten years since video game giant Electronic Arts first released The Sims, the best-selling game that allows its players to create a household and then manage every aspect of daily life within it. And since its debut, gamers young and old have found ways to “mod” The Sims, a practice in which gamers manipulate the computer code of a game, and thereby alter it to add new content and scenarios.