Quality Chess Blog

Congratulations from everyone at Quality Chess to GM Gawain Jones, the new European Blitz Champion! The event was held on-line for obvious reasons, with Gawain topping a stellar field, including beating GM David Navara in the semi-final and GM Alexei Shirov in the final.

Gawain is of course the author of two superb books on the Dragon. And Gawain will be back as a Quality Chess author in 2021 when we publish his 1.e4 repertoire books – his recommended variations are dangerous but not the biggest-theory main lines, so we are calling it the 1.e4 Coffeehouse Repertoire. No publication date is fixed, but somewhere in the first half of the year.

This seems as good a place as any to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We are happy to announce that one of our favourite authors, GM Mihail Marin, is writing a book for Quality Chess about the legendary player Bent Larsen. So we have a great author, fascinating topic, ideas for the cover based on a specially-commissioned painting, but we have one problem – we can’t decide on a title.

We have been playing with ideas based on Larsen’s characteristics: optimism, creativity, fighting spirit, and so many more. Titles such as:
“The Lethal Optimist”
“The Warrior Optimist”
“The Fighting Optimist”
“The Immortal Optimist”
“The Eternal Optimist”
One of us even suggested:
“Hell-Bent on Winning”

So what do you think? Do you like any of the above? Any better ideas? New ideas are welcome – it certainly does not have to be based on any of the above.

If we use your suggested title, we will mention you on page 2 of the book, and send you a free copy of the book you helped to name.

Quality Chess has just published The Exhilarating Elephant Gambit. In that connection, Killer Chess Training is organizing an Elephant theme tournament on lichess on Sunday. It is open to all to join.

We are continuing our free-fourth-book offer – if you buy three books or more and live in the normal European Union zone (as defined by UPS – for example, they exclude some islands and remote areas) we will send you an extra book free.

The previous default option on the free book was The Secret Life of Bad Bishops. For December and January we will switch the default option to CHESS BEHIND BARS. But if you already have that book, or would prefer a different free book, then send us an email to salesgroup@qualitychess.co.uk with your order, asking to have it replaced with one of the following titles:

ATTACKING THE SPANISH
CARLSEN’S ASSAULT ON THE THRONE
CHAMPIONS OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM
CUTTING EDGE 1: THE OPEN SICILIAN
CUTTING EDGE 2: SICILIAN NAJDORF 6.Be3
GRANDMASTER BATTLE MANUAL
GRANDMASTER VERSUS AMATEUR
LUTHER’S CHESS REFORMATION
REGGIO EMILIA 2007/2008
THE ALTERMAN GAMBIT GUIDE – WHITE GAMBITS
THE ALTERMAN GAMBIT GUIDE – BLACK GAMBITS VOLUME 1
THE ALTERMAN GAMBIT GUIDE – BLACK GAMBITS VOLUME 2
THE SECRET LIFE OF BAD BISHOPS
SAN LUIS 2005

Two new books are at the printer, and expected to be published on November 25th.

Sicilian Warfare by Ilya Smirin is a follow-up to the author’s warmly-received King’s Indian Warfare. Brilliant games and world-class insight into 1.e4 c5. You can read an excerpt here.

The Exhilarating Elephant Gambit by Jakob Aabling-Thomsen and Michael Agermose Jensen. Lively, detailed and enthusiastic coverage of 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5!?. You can read an excerpt here.

We are continuing our free-fourth-book offer – if you buy three books or more and live in the normal European Union zone (as defined by UPS – for example, they exclude some islands and remote areas) we will send you an extra book free. This seems like a fine time for a reminder that we will publish three new titles on September 30th.

Please note that if you buy a Special Offer and are in the EU zone, we will add one free book. For example, if a European buys the Special Offer on our award-winning Grandmaster Preparation series, then we would send the 6 hardcovers, plus one free extra book.

The previous default option on the free book was Luther’s Chess Reformation. For the last few days of September and for October and November we will switch the default option to THE SECRET LIFE OF BAD BISHOPS. But if you already have that book, or would prefer a different free book, then send us an email to salesgroup@qualitychess.co.uk with your order, asking to have it replaced with one of the following titles:

ATTACKING THE SPANISH
CARLSEN’S ASSAULT ON THE THRONE
CHAMPIONS OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM
CHESS BEHIND BARS
CUTTING EDGE 1: THE OPEN SICILIAN
CUTTING EDGE 2: SICILIAN NAJDORF 6.Be3
GRANDMASTER BATTLE MANUAL
GRANDMASTER VERSUS AMATEUR
LUTHER’S CHESS REFORMATION
REGGIO EMILIA 2007/2008
THE ALTERMAN GAMBIT GUIDE – WHITE GAMBITS
THE ALTERMAN GAMBIT GUIDE – BLACK GAMBITS VOLUME 1
THE ALTERMAN GAMBIT GUIDE – BLACK GAMBITS VOLUME 2
SAN LUIS 2005

On September 30 we will publish the next two volumes in Boris Gelfand’s celebrated Decision Making series. They are Technical Decision Making in Chess and Decision Making in Major Piece Endings. Excerpts of both books are now available – there is the Technical excerpt and the Major Piece excerpt.

On the same date, we will also publish Negi’s 1.e4 vs Minor Defences and you can also see its excerpt.

The fifth volume in Parimarjan Negi’s superb 1.e4 series will be published on September 30th – 1.e4 vs Minor Defences You can try a brief taste of Negi’s new work with the excerpt. As the title suggests, Negi deals with the Alekhine, Scandinavian, Pirc and Modern Defences, plus various lesser options.

September 30th is also the day when we publish Boris Gelfand’s next two books – Technical Decision Making in Chess and Decision Making in Major Piece Endings. Excerpts of those two books are just a few days away.