Neil McDonald

Chess is the art that expresses the science of logic. Mikhail Botvinnik Grandmaster Neil McDonald explains every single move made by White and Black in 30 striking tactical or strategical games played over the last quarter century. These games have been carefully chosen for their consistent logical thread, thereby providing the reader with prime instruction in the art of conceiving appropriate plans and attacks and carrying them out to their natural conclusion. Watching games unfold in this way will be both an education and inspiration to readers who can then try to play in the same purposeful way in their own games – with a corresponding increase in their playing strength.

From the First Move to the Last

Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking

Chess Secrets is a series of books which uncover the mysteries of the most important aspects of chess: strategy, attack, opening play and gambits, classical play, endgames and preparation. In each book the author studies a number of great players from chess history who have excelled in a particular field of the game and who have undeniably influenced those who have followed. In The Giants of Power Play, Neil McDonald selects five players who have excelled in the field of ‘power play’ – the art of putting opponents under constant pressure. The methods of doing so are numerous, including gaining rapid development in return for material to build up an initiative, preparing powerful opening ideas in advance, or even developing completely new opening systems. McDonald examines the contributions made by each player, their differences in approach and style, and from Morphy to Topalov, how they followed in each other’s footsteps. A study of this book will help you to enhance your skills in one of the most crucial elements of the game. *An entertaining and instructive guide to power play*Learn from the greats of the game*Discover how famous chess minds work

The Giants of Power Play

Chess Secrets:

The King's Gambit is the most daring and dangerous opening. White throws caution to the wind, and Black must know what he is doing to avoid early defeat. The King's Gambit was all the rage in the 19th century, but has an enduring popularity throughout the chess world. Remarkably, it is once more the focus of the top grandmaster attention, for example when Nigel Short played it three times in a row against the world's best at the Madrid 1997 tournament.

A modern view of a swashbuckling opening

The King's Gambit

A leading chess coach explains exactly how you can study the game in order to specifically improve your play.

Coach Yourself

Neil McDonald examines in depth the many variations of the King's Indian Attack. He outlines White's most promising options and Black's best defences, and provides answers to all the key questions.

King's Indian Attack: Move by Move

As we progress as chess players we quickly learn a set of guidelines which help us to formulate plans, develop typical strategies and recognize key tactics. However, chess is not an easy game, with fixed ‘rules’ that can be applied to every single position. In fact, blindly following such rules proves to be counterproductive and prevents a player from moving on to the next level, whereas knowing when to ‘break’ these rules is precisely the skill which separates the best from the rest. In this instructive and entertaining book, Grandmaster Neil McDonald studies in depth the key components of successful rule-breaking in chess. Drawing upon his own experience and using examples from modern grandmaster chess, McDonald examines how to avoid stereotypical thinking, how to exploit typical thinking patterns, and how to confuse and beat opponents with surprising ideas. *Improve your chess strategy and creativity *Recognize and exploit typical thinking processes *Check your progress with rule-breaking exercises

A Modern Look at Chess Strategy

Break the Rules!

Mysteries of The Cathar Country, is a look into the Histories and Mysteries of the Languedoc. Including the Cathars, Rennes-le-Chateau, the Knights Templar, the Nazi connection, Sacred Geometry and the Priory of Sion. Neil McDonald has been visiting and running tours to the Cathar Country for some years and is an expert in the rich, diverse and fascinating history of the area, including the Cathars and the story of Berenger Sauniere and Rennes-le-Chateau. It is with this background that the book is presented and to provide the reader with a comprehensive journey through this wonderful area of Southern France, which has received so much interest worldwide in recent years. Neil has brought all the mysteries of the Languedoc together in one single volume, for the first time.

Mysteries of The Cathar Country

This book provides tremendously useful information for chess enthusiasts who want to improve their defensive technique.

Dynamic Defence

In this easy-to-read pocket-sized guide, Grandmaster Neil McDonald concentrates on the fundamentals of middlegame play in chess. He provides simply enough material so that readers can enter this part of the game with the knowledge and confidence required.

Concise Chess Middlegames

Aprenda aperturas : el Gambito de Dama

Glenn Flear

Alexander Der Raetsky

Alexander Raestsky

Maxim Chetverik

Three classic titles from the Everyman Chess Starting Out Series in one volume. Starting Out: Queen's Gambit Accepted by Alexander Raetsky and Maxim Chetverik; Starting Out: Queen's Gambit Declined by Neil McDonald; Starting: Slav Semi Slav by Glenn Flear. The Queen's Gambit Accepted (QGA) is Black's simplest way of dealing with one of White's most fashionable openings, the Queen's Gambit. Black grabs the gambit pawn and thus refuses to succumb to the passive positions so typical of the Queen's Gambit Declined. This direct and uncompromising way of playing gives rise to dynamic positions where both sides have excellent chances to play for the win. It's no surprise that the QGA has attracted many high-class advocates, including Garry Kasparov and Vishy Anand. The Queen's Gambit Declined is an opening of great historical importance and Black's fundamental answer to 1 d4. From the very first move Black obtains a firm foothold in the centre, something that White finds extremely hard to undermine. Indeed, Black often bases his entire strategy around this control. The soundness of the Queen's Gambit Declined has never been in question, and its supporters at the highest level include a long list of Grandmasters headed by Kasparov, Kramnik, Karpov and Short, as well as many World Champions from the past. The very closely linked Slav and Semi-Slav Defences are two of the most popular and combative openings that Black can play against the Queen's Gambit. They have provided the battleground for thousands of exciting encounters between the world's chess elite, including Garry Kasparov, Vishy Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexei Shirov and Alexander Morozevich. Players of all levels are attracted to the Slav and the Semi-Slav because they are solid, dependable defences that do, however, promise abundant possibilities for dynamic counterplay.

A Complete Guide to Queen's Gambit Play

Damien Parer was without doubt Australia s greatest war photographer. He helped create the Anzac legend and many, many of our iconic war images are his photographs. He served his apprenticeship as a stills photographer on the famous Chauvel film, Forty Thousand Horsemen, and was appointed Official Photographer covering the Australian fighting in the early days of World War II in Greece and Syria, and Tobruk. His most famous documentary is Kokoda Front Line!, made during the darkest days of the campaign in mid-1942 (it went on to win Australia s first Academy Award). His photographs and films brought the war home to Australians and are now an integral part of our military history. He died in action shot by Japanese machine gun fire, as he filmed an American advance on Peleliu. This is a colourful and authoritative story of a great Australian and includes many of his most iconic photographs.

Kokoda Front Line

Grandmaster Neil McDonald examines one of the most important openings of all, the Ruy Lopez. He shares his experience and knowledge, and continually challenges the reader to answer probing questions, thereby encouraging the learning and practising of vital opening skills.

Move by Move

The Ruy Lopez

This book on attacking play is designed to aid practical play by focusing on typical attacking themes that crop up consistently in chess.

The Subtle Art of Winning Brilliantly

Attack!

This book is a further addition to Everyman's best-selling Starting Out series, which has been acclaimed for its original approach to tackling chess openings. Neil McDonald goes back to the basics of the Queen's Gambit Declined, introducing the key moves and ideas, and taking care to explain the reasoning behind them ? something that is often neglected or taken for granted in other texts.

Neil McDonald

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