Grandmaster versus Amateur

Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard won the British Chess Championship at his first and only attempt. He has received the Guardian, ECF and ChessCafe Book of the Year awards and the FIDE Senior Trainer title. John Shaw is a grandmaster and one half of Quality Chess. He has been Scottish Champion three times.

"One of the nicest features of the book is that the amateur often becomes the star of the show, and not only when he scores a half-point or full-point upset… [They] are profiled and humanized, celebrated as individuals and chess lovers in their own right.The book may help the amateurs who read it: there are around 35 full, well-annotated games and some additional fragments too. There's plenty of advice too, but the best reason to buy it is as a celebration of the game we all love, and of most – if not, ultimately, all – of the people who play it. As the great Mikhail Tal once commented, "We are all amateurs." -- Dennis Monokroussos, Chess Today