Elk and Ruby publica 111 Crímenes y Castigos en el Medio Juego por Alexander Galkin y Anastasia Travkina La mayoría de las partidas de ajedrez terminan en el medio juego. Por lo tanto, para lograr buenos resultados, hay que jugar bien en esta etapa de la partida. Este libro sobre el medio juego, escrito en conjunto por el Gran Maestro Alexander Galkin, quien fue nombrado Entrenador Infantil del Año por la Federación Rusa de Ajedrez en 2016, y la Maestra Internacional Anastasia Travkina, ofrece una gran cantidad de conocimientos prácticos. La inmensa mayoría de los libros sobre táctica y estrategia en el medio juego contienen una selección de posiciones y ejercicios en los que se pide al estudiante que encuentre una combinación táctica, lleve a cabo un ataque contra el rey enemigo o elija el enfoque posicional adecuado basándose en ciertas “reglas”. Sin embargo, no se presta demasiada atención al error cometido por uno de los jugadores que dio lugar a la posición crítica en la que se hizo posible la combinación, el ataque decisivo o la mejora posicional. En este libro, dirigido a jugadores con un cierto nivel ajedrecístico y experiencia competitiva (1900-2300 o jóvenes en rápida progresión), los autores presentan un enfoque más amplio para desarrollar las habilidades tácticas y posicionales del medio juego que necesita un jugador de ajedrez fuerte. Específicamente, presentan 111 posiciones de partidas de grandes maestros jugadas en 2019, entre los que se incluyen jugadores de la élite mundial como Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Ding Liren, Anish Giri, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Daniil Dubov, Wesley So, Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian, y Wang Hao, en las posiciones, primero se explica el error cometido por uno de los jugadores al subestimar el contrajuego de su rival y, a continuación, se analiza cómo se desarrolló la partida hasta que se aplicó el castigo por ese error. Entonces, se regresa a la posición inicial para mostrar la continuación correcta o la más prometedora. Por lo tanto, el texto está estructurado de tal manera que cada reto contiene el diagrama inicial dos veces – antes de las jugadas de la partida real y, a continuación, en la página siguiente, antes de la solución. Hay numerosos aspectos que un ajedrecista debe tener presentes durante el medio juego, y los autores han concebido este libro para abordar los errores típicos del medio juego: sacrificios incorrectos, crear amenazas imaginarias, defensas imaginarias contra las amenazas, captura de peones, ¿dar jaque o ganar material? – ¿qué es mejor?, evaluación incorrecta de los cambios en la estructura de peones, falta de atención al tomar decisiones, sustituir la estrategia por la táctica y tomar decisiones posicionales incorrectas. El estudio de estos fragmentos clave de partidas de grandes maestros ayudará al jugador a desarrollar su enfoque del medio juego. En primer lugar, el alumno analiza por qué una jugada o una serie de jugadas de uno de los rivales fue errónea. ¿Qué contrajuego del rival subestimó el jugador que cometió el error? En segundo lugar, con esta respuesta en mente, el alumno puede revisar la posición para intentar averiguar cuál es la mejor jugada. Si el alumno trabaja con un entrenador, este debería, en primer lugar, preparar la posición en el tablero, mostrar la jugada errónea que se realizó y pedir al alumno que encuentre la refutación a esa mala jugada. Una vez que el alumno haya encontrado la refutación, el entrenador deberá volver a colocar la posición crítica y pedirle que encuentre la continuación más fuerte para el jugador que cometió el error inicial. Esto puede suponer una o más jugadas, dependiendo de la posición. Naturalmente, en el caso del autoaprendizaje, el alumno puede cambiar su enfoque, ya sea intentando descubrir la refutación al error, tapando el texto posterior, o simplemente estudiando las jugadas de la partida antes de intentar encontrar la mejor continuación, que se detalla en la página siguiente junto con el diagrama inicial. Extracto: dropbox.com/scl/fi/durg70kk5… Comprar: amazon.es/dp/1918791082

Elk and Ruby publishes The Art of Living: Memories of Two Chess Friends by Jan Timman and Hans Böhm ***Jan Timman’s parting gift to the chess world!*** Two friends look back in the autumn of their lives. Both began as promising chess players and went on to achieve success at home and abroad. As young men, they travelled the world together, sharing a host of adventures, some of them decidedly bizarre. Grandmaster Jan Timman made chess his life’s calling, rising in 1982 to number two in the world behind his great rival Anatoly Karpov. International Master Hans Böhm took a different path, using chess as a springboard for a successful career in the media. Timman’s achievements at the chessboard gained even greater prominence through the efforts of his friend, who brought them to a wider public on television and radio and in newspapers and magazines. Together they look back on the Flower Power era, the Cold War period with the World Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, and the rise of the chess computer. Along the way, they revisit their own ambitions and adventures, their encounters with remarkable people, their many triumphs – and their occasional failures. Together, Timman and Böhm helped bring chess to a mass audience through playful public appearances, numerous books, television courses, and even an LP and chess songs. In these autobiographical recollections, they look back on lives that were turbulent, productive and, above all, adventurous. Ten of Timman’s memorable games and ten of his own studies complement their story, while ten people who played an important role at different stages of their lives contribute recollections of their own. At the same time, the reader is treated to a panorama of post-war Dutch chess history and the extraordinary efforts of the federation, sponsors and wider chess community to mount a credible challenge to Soviet and then Russian domination of the game, while building a grassroots movement that introduced chess to a new generation of youngsters – a bygone age that will never return. *** Grandmaster Jan Timman (1951–2026) devoted his life to chess. He was a frequent contender in world championship cycles, and for decades remained one of the leading figures in international chess. The author of more than thirty books, he won the 2017 ECF Book of the Year Award for Timman’s Titans, his celebrated portrait of ten World Champions. International Master Hans Böhm (b. 1950) is one of the Netherlands’ best-known chess personalities and promoters. His television programmes and radio appearances, books, lectures and other activities have helped popularise the game for generations. For many years he has been a chess columnist for De Telegraaf. This book is available in both black and white paperback and hardback editions and in full-colour hardback. The full-colour hardback edition can be ordered from the Elk and Ruby website or your favourite chess book shop, while the black and white paperback and hardback editions are available from the same sellers plus Amazon. The electronic versions of this book, on Kindle (already available) and Forward Chess (forthcoming), are also full-colour. Extract: dropbox.com/scl/fi/ap7bq7ssf… Buy now: elkandruby.com/books/the-art…

Elk and Ruby publishes The Art of Living: Memories of Two Chess Friends by Jan Timman and Hans Böhm ***Jan Timman’s parting gift to the chess world!*** Two friends look back in the autumn of their lives. Both began as promising chess players and went on to achieve success at home and abroad. As young men, they travelled the world together, sharing a host of adventures, some of them decidedly bizarre. Grandmaster Jan Timman made chess his life’s calling, rising in 1982 to number two in the world behind his great rival Anatoly Karpov. International Master Hans Böhm took a different path, using chess as a springboard for a successful career in the media. Timman’s achievements at the chessboard gained even greater prominence through the efforts of his friend, who brought them to a wider public on television and radio and in newspapers and magazines. Together they look back on the Flower Power era, the Cold War period with the World Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, and the rise of the chess computer. Along the way, they revisit their own ambitions and adventures, their encounters with remarkable people, their many triumphs – and their occasional failures. Together, Timman and Böhm helped bring chess to a mass audience through playful public appearances, numerous books, television courses, and even an LP and chess songs. In these autobiographical recollections, they look back on lives that were turbulent, productive and, above all, adventurous. Ten of Timman’s memorable games and ten of his own studies complement their story, while ten people who played an important role at different stages of their lives contribute recollections of their own. At the same time, the reader is treated to a panorama of post-war Dutch chess history and the extraordinary efforts of the federation, sponsors and wider chess community to mount a credible challenge to Soviet and then Russian domination of the game, while building a grassroots movement that introduced chess to a new generation of youngsters – a bygone age that will never return. *** Grandmaster Jan Timman (1951–2026) devoted his life to chess. He was a frequent contender in world championship cycles, and for decades remained one of the leading figures in international chess. The author of more than thirty books, he won the 2017 ECF Book of the Year Award for Timman’s Titans, his celebrated portrait of ten World Champions. International Master Hans Böhm (b. 1950) is one of the Netherlands’ best-known chess personalities and promoters. His television programmes and radio appearances, books, lectures and other activities have helped popularise the game for generations. For many years he has been a chess columnist for De Telegraaf. This book is available in both black and white paperback and hardback editions and in full-colour hardback. The full-colour hardback edition can be ordered from the Elk and Ruby website or your favourite chess book shop, while the black and white paperback and hardback editions are available from the same sellers plus Amazon. The electronic versions of this book, on Kindle (already available) and Forward Chess (forthcoming), are also full-colour. Extract: dropbox.com/scl/fi/ap7bq7ssf… Buy now: elkandruby.com/books/the-art…