Raymond Keene - Böcker

Ray Keene selects and annotates his most interesting games against such giants as Anatoly Karpov, Mikhail Botvinik, Mikhail Tal, Jan Timman, John Nunn, Tony Miles and Svetozar Gligoric. Originally published as a private limited edition.

In 2018 the World Chess Championship was contested between the champion, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen and the American, Fabiano Caruana. This book, co-authored by two leading chess journalists, features extensive and detailed analysis of all games in the match, biographies and interviews with both players and a history of the world chess championship.

Leonid Stein?s brilliant chess career, cut tragically short in 1973, included overwhelming victories against the world?s leading grandmasters, Stein not only stormed to an incredible total of 3 first prizes (out of 4 attempts) in the USSR Championships, but also won what were arguably the two strongest tournaments of all time, (Moscow 1967 and Moscow 1971)

The Nimzo-Indian Defence is one of Black's most dynamic ways of countering 1 d4. From the outset of the game Black seeks to create pawn weaknesses in his opponent's position to be exploited in the middlegame. Usually this involves renouncing the bishop pair, typically leading to positions in which both sides have clear strategic objectives, where the outcome is decided by the skills of the two players in executing these plans.

The Nimsowitsch/Larsen attack ( 1 b3) is one of the most interesting and most flexible opening systems in which the theory has not yet fully crystallised. It is, therefore, an ideal choice for the player wishing to avoid sharp theoretical duels in the opening and preferring to throw his opponent on his own resources at an early stage.

Moscow, in the autumn of 1984, was the setting for a clash between two of the all-time greats of chess: defending champion Anatoly Karpov, the most deadly tournament player in the history of the game, and Gary Kasparov, the 21 year old from Baku who would become the youngest ever World Champion were he to overthrow his rival. This gruelling test of contrasting character, style and sheer physical reserves roused a wave of media interest and thrust chess into the forefront of public attention.

The King's Indian is noted as a dynamic counter-attacking defence par excellence. This book describes the key strategies for both sides in the main lines such as the Fianchetto variation, the Petrosian system, the Samisch/ Four Pawns attack and Averbakh. Analysis is backed up with verbal explanation making this book an ideal introduction for those wishing to take up or face the King's Indian in competitive situations.

The first part of a full explanation of one of the most important defences to the Queen's pawn in contemporary chess. It has been a favourite of Fischer, Kasparov, Karpov, Petrosian and Botvinnik, to name but a few of the greats who have employed it. This book - unlike many rivals - concentrates on full games with notes explaining strategies that will never go out of fashion.

A companion volume to Two Opening Repertoires for White: Volume 1, this book details some more aggressive strategies in the opening for White again based on the key move 1d4! Together the two volumes give ambitious White players a complete arsenal of choice against all Black defences. The companion volume is Two Opening Repertoires for White: Volume 1: Keeping control with White

The history of the World Chess Championship continues in this volume with the epic struggles between Botvinnik, Bronstein, Smyslov, Tal and Petrosian, via the brief but spectacular advent of Bobby Fischer, and on to the modern superstars Karpov and Kasparov. All games from the matches are annotated and this book with its companion volume, World Chess Championship: Steinitz to Alekhine, forms a valuable addition to the library of any chess enthusiast who wishes to possess a complete collection of games played at the very highest level.

In early 1985 Florencio Campomanes - the now disgraced former president of FIDE, the World Chess Federation - halted the World Title challenge from Garry Kasparov "without result", thus forcing a rematch in the autumn of that same year. This book recounts Kasparov's determined fresh assault on the world title which made him at age 22 the youngest champion in the history of the game.

This book recounts the third of the five chapters in the half-decade long rivalry which erupted between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. In the eyes of many this conflict symbolised the clash between the Brezhnev-inspired forces of reaction in the old USSR and the new Gorbachev/Yeltsin-driven imperatives of perestroika and glasnost which ultimately led to the collapse of the creaking Soviet empire.

This book recounts the fourth and penultimate chapter in the half-decade long rivalry which erupted between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. In the eyes of many this conflict symbolised the clash between the Brezhnev-inspired forces of reaction in the old USSR and the new Gorbachev/Yeltsin-driven imperatives which ultimately led to the collapse of the creaking Soviet empire.

The 1978 world chess championship in the Philippines was the most riotous of modern times. Pitting the soviet defector Korchnoi against the golden boy of the soviet establishment - Karpov - the players were not just content to hammer each other over the chess board; they also enlisted such weird assistants as the parapsychologist Dr Vladimir Zukhar and orange-robed gurus from the Ananda Marga sect. The dramatis personae were completed by President Marcos, his shoe-collecting First Lady Imelda and a gaggle of shady characters from the KGB. Grandmaster Ray Keene was Korchnoi's chief second during this wild chess extravaganza and this book tells the inside story of one of the most exotic chess competitions ever staged.

In 1981 - World Champion now for 6 years - Anatoly Karpov had reached the height of his powers. He was a master of sharp modern opening systems, thought swiftly and acted decisively. His play was virtually error free. Facing this juggernaut the veteran Viktor Korchnoi pulled out the final stops for his ultimate chess challenge to become champion. In vain. Karpov brushed aside his efforts to secure one of the easiest victories ever achieved at chess summit level. As in 1978 Korchnoi produced his orange robed Ananda Marga gurus to help him chant for victory - but in the sober atmosphere of the Italo-german mountains-rather than the exotic and heady surroundings of the far eastern Philippines-the antics of Korchnoi's suppporters had little effect. Karpov emerged as a seemingly unbeatable colossus. Now guaranteed a reign of at least 9 years Karpov had already exceeded the championship performance of Capablanca and was threatening to surpass the exploits of such mighty champions as Steinitz, Lasker, Alekhine and Botvinnik.

Compiled by three grandmasters and two international masters this scholarly treatise explains in depth the thinking behind a defence that has been a favourite of champions such as Capablanca, Botvinnik, Petrosian and Karpov. Even Kasparov has been known to use the Caro Kann on occasion, for example in one case to defeat Mikhail Tal.

With FIDE (the World Chess Federation) claiming that its Tournament in Libya - in fact, little more than a rapidplay open - was the world title clincher, this match for the Classical World Chess Championship would confirm one of the two mental matadors -Kramnik or Leko - as the legitimate heir of Steinitz, Alekhine, Fischer and Kasparov. Peter Leko, the Hungarian Grandmaster, qualified from the Dortmund Candidates' Tournament in 2002 to meet Vladimir Kramnik from Moscow, who had unseated Garry Kasparov in London 2000. Although both contenders were noted for their solidity, the clash turned out to be a sporting classic, as Kramnik poured every ounce of energy into the last games in an effort to rescue his title.

Inspired by both Daniel Defoe's 'A Journal of the Plague Year' (1722) and 'The King', an anthology of the witty and provocative chess columns of the Dutch Grandmaster, Jan Hein Donner, Ray Keene here collects his thoughts and writings on the year 2020 - both in chess and the wider world. His reflections include the impact of Covid-19 on the popularity of chess, the remarkable influence of the Netflix series 'The Queen's Gambit', the growing army of teenage Grandmasters, the online pivot of chess competition and the emergence of chess entrepreneurs, such as World Champion Magnus Carlsen and Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura.. Like Donner, Ray uses chess as a metaphor for observations on art, culture and civilisation.

A new edition of Ray Keene and Barry Martin's lucid presentation of how to start on the stimulating path of playing chess. It features: a clear explanation of the legal moves for each piece; a straightforward guide to special rules, such as castling and en passant; and a discussion of how to begin - basic openings - and how to finish - endgames. There is also an updated gallery of chess 'heroes' past and present, a section on the Golden Rules of chess mastery, and - to reinforce the important ideas - a selection of puzzles (with solutions) to test progress and understanding.