The English firm Gambit, made up of GM John Nunn, GM Murray Chandler and FM Graham Burgess, has led a revolution in chess book publishing. The past few years the company has produced more than 75 books covering all aspects of the game. The titles have been of consistently high quality both in content and physical production. The majority of their titles are noted for their emphasis on improving the reader’s game. Most of the books have plenty of practical exercises for the student to test what he or she has learned. One would think that Gambit would have long ago run out of original topics for new books, but such has not been the case. One key to keeping the lines freshness has been a steady stream of new authors, many of whom have made their publishing debut with Gambit.

CHESS ENDINGS MADE SIMPLE by Ian Snape is a relatively slender but quite useful work on a neglected phase of the game. Snape’s book, which consists of 91 pages of explanations of essential endings, followed by another fifty or so pages of practical exercises, aims not to overwhelm the student. Snape selected what he feels are the most important endgames and nothing more. His idea is this is the core knowledge that the aspiring student needs to master. If you’re looking for an encyclopedic work, then FUNDAMENTAL CHESS ENDINGS by Mueller and Lamprecht (click to see reviews of this book by Donaldson and Bauer), also by Gambit, is the way to go, but I think this book is more than enough for most players below 2200. If you would like to see a review of CHESS ENDINGS MADE SIMPLE by Bauer, click HERE.

ESSENTIAL CHESS SACRIFICES by David LeMoir is a modern successor to Vladimir Vukovic’s groundbreaking THE ART OF ATTACK IN CHESS (click to see Watson’s review of the Vukovic book). Mr. LeMoir, who has authored two other books for Gambit, may not be as well known as some of the other writers for this publishing house, but he is quickly making a reputation for himself. His newest book is a methodical look at different sacrifices. The material is set up schematically with chapters devoted to different themes, like sacrifices on e6, Nf5 and Nd5 in the Sicilian, Bxh7+, etc. Mr. LeMoir does a good job of describing the conditions that make these sacrifices work successfully. There is plenty of prose to explain the ideas, as well as many exercises to test what the student has learned. The examples are a mixture of classics from the past, as well as new examples. It was nice to see the game Filatov-Mayer from Philadelphia 2000 included as a new example of the double Bishop sacrifice on h7 and g7, as NM Filatov recently passed away.

The final two offerings by Gambit, CHESS STRATEGY IN ACTION by John Watson (click to see Bauer’s review) and SECRETS OF CHESS DEFENSE by Mihail Marin are both exceptional books and I can give them my strongest recommendation without reservation. Those who enjoyed Watson’s ground breaking SECRETS OF MODERN CHESS STRATEGY (click to see Silman’s review of the Watson classic) are in for another treat. Volume one saw Watson advocate his theory that today’s top players practice “rule independence.” Old chessnuts like “the player with the two Bishops wants to open the position while the owner of the Knight pair wants to keep it close” are often wrong. Watson pointed out that typically the possessor of the two Bishops had to lose time to acquire them; that it was often in the interest of the player with the two knights to open the game to exploit his temporary lead in development. CHESS STRATEGY IN ACTION continues along the same vein with the old maxim “a knight on the rim is dim” in for a new look. After reading this book you may start to think that playing g4 is a requirement for being a strong Grandmaster these days! One word of caution, while CHESS STRATEGY IN ACTION is a wonderful book, it is wise to recall the words that Viktor Korchnoi has uttered at more than one young buck on the way up, “before you break the rules, you must first learn them.” CHESS STRATEGY IN ACTION is wonderful reading for those over 2200, but non-Masters should first read Beim’s LESSONS IN CHESS STRATEGY (Click to see a review of Beim’s book by Donaldson).

The author of SECRETS OF CHESS DEFENSE may not be that familiar to the general chess public, but he will be once this book receives well-deserved acclaim. Romanian GM Mihai Marin has written a wonderful book that is not only educational but also funny. Amazingly no translator is credited. Either Marin is completely at home writing in English or editor Burgess has done an outstanding job preserving the author’s voice as he relates anecdotes from his days playing on the Romanian national team.

SECRETS OF CHESS DEFENSE covers many subjects that have been poorly dealt with in the chess literature including Two Minor Pieces for a Rook and the Economy of Resources in Defense. Reading this book one cannot help but appreciate that Marin possesses a high level of chess culture.

My advice is buy Watson and Marin’s books and call in sick to work for a couple weeks!