"In order to reach higher levels of chess there is an inceasing need to understand more about pawn structure, and appropriate oppening choices can play an invaluable part in this process." (GM Nigel Davies)

<Mauricio Flores Ríos: Chess Structures - A Grandmaster Guide> (Quality Chess, Expected release February 2015)

"The pawn structure is the most important factor to determine the nature of a game; therefore, studying model games classified by structure allows the reader to acquire reliable strategic knowledge much more easily. 'Chess Structures – A Grandmaster Guide' is an excellent selection of model games. By studying the 140 games and fragments in this book, the reader will learn many of the most important plans, patterns and ideas in chess." (From GM Axel Bachmann's Foreword)

According to the author, the best (and least ambiguous) way to classify chess positions is based on their pawn structure. This book is divided into twenty-four chapters, which discuss the most interesting and common structures in modern practice (d4 and ...d5 Family, Open Sicilian, Benoni, King's Indian, French and various other structures) and typical plans for White and Black (specific to these structures).

Flores Rios: " My aim is to provide an easy-to-understand strategic guide to the most frequently-occurring classes of positions in chess. These positions encompass a wide variety of openings and middlegames, which are present in the vast majority of all chess games. I hope my readers will find this book to be a practical and, most importantly, an accessible guide to learning how these specific positions should be conducted."

GM Mauricio Flores Ríos was Chilean champion in 2005 and 2007 and played for Chile in three Chess Olympiads (2006, 2012 and 2014). He combines his career as a chess player and trainer with his PhD studies in Mathematics at the University of Minnesota.

An excerpt from the book can be found here:

536 pages!

Of New in Chess, Everyman and Quality I like the production values and layout of Quality the best. It is a very impressive looking volume, indeed.

Of course Persson focuses on the Tiger Modern/Robatsch with ...a6 but it does have a good chapter on the Hippo.

He has added a chapter on the Austrian Pirc as a 'secondary' line for black. I am interested to see what is new against the Averbakh but he does still recommend ...e5 lines.

How much of it is new versus the 2005 Tiger's Modern? It appears analysis and game-wise quite a bit. But the text in many places has been copied word-for-word from the earlier tome.

http://www.asigc.it/teoria/uon/uon....

33 issues of Unorthodox Openings Newsletter in .pdf (English). *Seems* safe, I downloaded all of them and I am still here.

I am on sabbatical from CG.com for awhile - but wanted to let you know I received my copy of THE KILLER SICILIAN. (Took almost three weeks!)

Definitely Five Stars!

I've only spent an hour with it so far but its an *awesome* tome! I like the layout very well; easy to follow, good flow, historical context. Your 'voice' is great, too. I feel like you're right here lecturing to me.

I'll do a review on Amazon in the next week or two and perhaps catch up with you on ChessPublishing.

Thank you SO MUCH for your support and compliments. I'm glad you like the book so far - after working on it for so long, literally nothing can make me happier at this point!

I hope that as you delve further into it and spend more time with it you feel the same. An Amazon review would be wonderful - those help a lot of course!

Do catch up on ChessPub if you'd like, I'm checking it about 400 times a day, both because I enjoy chatting there and because I like to be prompt with those were kind enough to spend their time and money on my book. Cheers,

-Tony

Risk & Bluff in Chess by GM Vladimir Tukmakov

My friend's 12-year old son wants to pick up chess. He knows how to move the pieces, but that's pretty much all he knows. He needs to learn from zero, even rook and king vs king mate.

I want to buy him a book or two of chess for beginners. Any recommendations?

Reinfeld's Chess for Young People is still good although I think the 'basics' are better taught one-on-one, in person. Obviously many online resources such as ChessAcademy.

When I taught kids back in the 1970s I always started them with endgames and an endgame book. I used the old Horowitz. Before they could play a game I made sure they could do the basic mates up to K + B +B/K.

Of course easier said then done - they don't want to learn chess to play endgames. :) Still, I've always believed endgames were a (relatively) digestable paradigm of the game - visualization, calculation, pattern recognition, planning and strategy. I think teaching visualization very early is a big deal - being able to at least see the board, basic piece movements...

After that we went to Chernev's Winning Chess and Logical Chess. Then I let them have-at-it, play a few games. These days I *might* use something besides Logical Chess as I've long ago concluded it gives an unrealistic view of the game.

(Updated)

'*' My suggestions for a basic French library.

Aagaard/Nitrlis - Playing the French

Berg - Grandmaster Repertoire 14: The French Defence *

Berg – Grandmaster Repertoire 15: French Defence *

Berg –Grandmaster Repertoire 16: French Defence *

Bickford/Salome - Advance Variation of the French Defense - (Syzygy 2)

Bickford - Advance Variation of the French Defense 1 - (Syzygy 3)

Bickford - Advance Variation of the French Defense 2 - Syzygy 3)

Bickford - Milner-Barry Gambit - Bickford (Syzygy 4, Unpublished)

Bickford - The Ram (Syzygy 1) *

Chess Charts - French Defence: A Statistical Analysis

Chess Digest - French Defense

Collins - The French Advance 2007

Collins – French Advance 2015 *

Dempsey - French Winawer: Alekhine Gambit

Drasko - French Defence: Black is Good

Eades: Remember the MacCutcheon

Eingorn/Bogdanov - Chess Explained: The French

Emms - The French Tarrasch

Euwe: Theory of the Chess Openings: French Defence

Evans - French Defence

Forintos - Play the Advance French

Giddins - French Winawer: Move by Move *

Gikountintas -- Trends in the Advance French 2

Gligoric/Uhlmann - The French Defence *

Gligoric - French Defense: RHM Survey

Grefe/Silman - French Defense for Black

Gufeld/Stetsko - The Classical French

Gufeld - The Modern French Tarrasch

Harding - Four Gambits to Beat the French

Harding - French: MacCutcheon and Advance Lines

Harding/Heidenfeld - French: Classical Lines

Horton - French Defence 1

Jacobs - Trends in the Classical French 1

Jacobs - Starting Out: The French

Johansson - The Fascinating Reti Gambit

Kalinin - Teach Yourself Chess: French Defence

Keene/Taulbut - French Defence: Tarrasch Variation

Kennedy/Sheffield - The Marshall Gambit in the French

Khalifman - Openings for White According to Anand 7

Khalifman - Openings for White According to Anand 8

Kosten - French Advance

Kovacevic - Trends in the French Winawer 2

Kugilowski - Developments in the French 1986-1987

Kuligowski - Encyclopedia of Chess Games: French Defence

Lalic – Trends in the French Classical 2

Lane - Beating the French

Lakdawala - The Classical French: Move-by-Move *

Langrock – French Defense: The Solid Rubinstein Variation

Larzelere - Tchigorin's Attack

Lonsdale - French Defence - the Kingston Defence

Luccioni - French Defence: Tarrasch Variation 3. ...a6

Lutes - French Defense: McCutcheon Variation *

Maksimovic -- The Modern French: Complete Guide for Black *

Martin/Lalic - Trends in the French Tarrasch 1, 2 - Martic/Lalic

Martin - Trends in the Advance French 1 - Martin

Martin - Developments in the French 1984-1985

Martin - The French Winawer: A Line for Black

McDonald - Trends in the French Winawer 1 –

McDonald - French Winawer: Main Lines (Batsford)

McDonald - French Winawer (Everyman)

McDonald – Mastering the French *

Mieses - Franzosische Partie

Minev - French Defense: New and Forgotten Ideas

Minev - French Defense: New and Forgotten Ideas 2

Moles - French Winawer: Auxiliary Lines

Moskalenko - The Wonderful Winawer *

Moskalenko - The Flexible French *

Moskalenko – The Even More Flexible French *

(Continued)

Negi – Grandmaster Repertoire: 1. e4 Against French, Caro-Kann

Nesis - Tactics in the French

Nijboer – Tactics in the Chess Openings 3: French Defence

Nikolic - French: Advance Variation

Papa - The Papa Gambit in the French

Pederson - The Main Line French 3, Nc3

Pederson - French: Tarrasch Variation

Pederson - French Advance and Other Lines

Psakhis - Advance and Other Anti-French Variations *

Psakhis - French 3. Nd2 *

Psakhis - French - 3. Nc3, Bb4 *

Psakhis - French - Steinitz, Classical and Other Systems *

Psakhis - The Complete French *

Richmond - French Defence: Tarrasch Variation

Sawyer - Alapin French

Schwarz - Franzosische Verteidigung *

Schiller - French Winawer: Poisoned Pawn Variation (1988)

Schiller – French Winawer: Poisoned Pawn (2015) *

Schiller - Tarrasch French: Guimard Variation

Schiller - Tarrasch French: Guimard Variation (2011) *

Sheffield - Marsshall Gambit in the French

Short - The French Defense *

Soltis - Beating the French Defense with the Advance Variation

Soltis - The Fighting French *

Stone - French - 100 Examples from Recent Play 1981-1982

Suetin - French Defense

Sveshnikov - French Defence Advance Variation 1

Sveshnikov - French Defence Advance Variation 2

Tiemann - Die Franzosiche Vertideigung 1

Tiemann - Die Franzosiche Vertideigung 2

Tiviakov - The French Defence 3. Nd2 A Complete Repertoire for White

Tzermiadianos - How to Beat the French Defence: The Essential Guide to the Tarrasch *

Uhlmann - Winning with the French *

Vitugov - French Defense - A Complete Black Repertoire

Vitugov - The French Defense Reloaded

Wall - 500 French Miniatures *

Wall - 500 French Miniatures II *

Watson - Dangerous Weapons: The French

Watson - Play the French, 1st edition *

Watson - Play the French, 2nd edition *

Watson - Play the French, 3rd edition *

Watson - Play the French, 4th edition *

Williams - Attacking Chess: The French

Winters - The French Defense: Tarrasch Variation

Yevseev - Fighting the French: A New Concept

Zeuthen/Jarinaes - French Poisoned Pawn

For those of you living in the 21st century there are also quite a few French DVDs. The Foxy series of three vids The French Defense Reworked, Polgar’s Mastering the French series of three, ChessLectures series of six and Killer French, two parts, come to mind.

There's <Mikhail Chigorin - selected games> by Efim Bogoljubov (B.T. Batsford, London, Caissa Books Publishing, 1987) English intro, with 240 games, figurine annotations

I'd guess there are some good books in Russian, too.

<parisattack> O!M!G! thanks again for your great compilations, and in particular this one!!

Bareev - C05-06: French Defence (Informator)

Korchnoi - C18-19: French Defence (Informator)

The first deals with The Tarrasch 3. ... Nf6 4. e5

<Mr V> A book in Russian by Yudovich - I don't think there is a 'Black' Chigorin but not sure...

<whiteshark> You're welcome. I hope to update the others then work on the Sicilian and King's Indian. (I've done a few Sicilians but nothing comprehensive.)

There are 115 books in your list + 2 from PMD

Here are (my) additional 7 books (all in German)

Ripperger - Das Milner Barry Gambit

<Kindermann/Dirr - Französisch Winawer (7.Qg4 0-0)> - the reference

Slotnik - Französische Verteidigung (1982)

Nikolaiczuk - Gezielte Mittelspielstrategie - 100x Französisch

Nikolaiczuk - Gezielte Mittelspielstrategie - 100x Französisch II

Winckelmann - Das Winckelmann-Reimer-Gambit 1

Winckelmann - Das Winckelmann-Reimer-Gambit 2

There's also 3 book series from Korchnoi/Kalinin (Strolls with the French Defence) in Russian:

http://www.amazon.com/Mikhail-Chigo...

The format is entirely languageless, and the variations are exhaustive. I found them good to take to tournaments ... but for those who like their moves to be accompanied by a modicum of explanation, I'd probably recommend Watson's book.

<French Defence: Mainline Winawer>

and,

<Mainline Winawer: Modern and Auxiliary Lines>