This Week at ChessCafe.com: Gambits

To make sure you receive these e-mails in your Inbox (and not a junk folder), please add "info@chesscafe.com" to your address book or safe sender list. This week's coupon code is "hardwood10". See below for details... Sale ends Tuesday, August 24, 2010. Enjoy great savings on these select products and more: ChessCafe Special Carryall Combo ChessCafe Special Deluxe Combo  International Ebonized Deluxe Combo International Rosewood Superior Combo  International Sheesham Carryall Combo International Sheesham Deluxe Combo  This Week at ChessCafe.com Endgame Corner Learn from the classics! Novice Nook Playing quick games can foster bad thinking habits. Arbiter's Notebook Can a player resign the game after it is finished? Being Alexei Shirov Get inside the mind of Alexei Shirov. Gambits An excerpt from Mastering the Chess Openings, Vol. 4. Thinking about Thinking Each and every one of us can become a champion in our own way. Gender Gap A gender divide in the ultimate sport of the mind. Book Notes In chess the Caro-Kann opening is one of Black's most reliable answers to 1.e4. It is a regular favorite of elite players, who know that computer-aided preparation now threatens the sharpest lines of the Sicilian or Ruy Lopez (at the very least with a forced draw). The Caro-Kann is less susceptible to such forcing lines - Black sets out to equalize in the opening, and win the game later. Grandmaster Lars Schandorff reveals a bulletproof chess opening repertoire and lucidly explains how Black should play the middle and endgame. Lars Schandorff is a chess grandmaster from Denmark who is renowned for his opening preparation. His first book for Quality Chess, Playing the Queen's Gambit, received superb reviews. Grandmaster Repertoire 7: The Caro-Kann is also available in hardcover. Calculate Like a Grandmaster is a penetrating study of the attacking methods of the most aggressive chess players of the modern era-from 1960s world champion Mikhail Tal to Magnus Carlsen, teenage leader of today's new wave of deadly attackers. The attacking style is a good choice for any chess competitor, but especially for less advanced players, who will relish the fireworks it produces. The first book from one of the UK's leading grandmasters, this unique guide is illustrated with a wealth of examples from top-level games.    To celebrate our new wood set combos, we are pleased to offer ChessCafe.com customers the opportunity to save an extra $9.95 off our already low price on the Pressed Hardwood Box. Simply add the item to your shopping cart and, during the checkout process, enter the coupon code "hardwood10" (without the quotes) to receive an additional $9.95 discount! This offer expires August 24, 2010 or while supplies last. Weekly Puzzle Quote of the Week White to Move/Solution Below The best way to the goal is always the simplest way! Mark Dvoretsky Secrets of Creative Thinking Reviews in Brief Secrets of Creative Thinking by Mark Dvoretsky and Artur Yusupov Secrets of Creative Thinking is the fifth and final volume of the "School of Future Champions" series by Dvoretsky and Yusupov, and displays the technical quality of all books published by Edition Olms. I've bought the German language texts Olms puts out and never have been disappointed in one of their books. Certainly you can't (or shouldn't??) play chess without thinking. Critical thinking is essential to playing chess well, to understanding what assumptions on your part and your opponent's part could fail. But creative thinking is a step beyond that and is the ability to do envision how to do something in an innovative and often striking, perhaps beautiful, way. This can be a slashing attack, a tenaciously brilliant defense, or even a piece sacrifice for long-term compensation. The ability to do that often is the province of the greatest masters, and something we all hope to at least do a few times in our playing careers. Initial learning in all things, including chess, requires an emphasis on retention of knowledge - in chess, studying openings and mating patterns for example - but mere retention of knowledge may make for a semi-competent technician, but not an individual ready to make new contributions. Just as the "three Rs" are important for basic literacy, independent or critical thinking is essential for success beyond a basic technical level. Read the full review here. New Catalog Additions 1-877-91-CHESS 8/18 The Cutting Edge 1: The Open Sicilian 1 8/17 The Alterman Gambit Guide: White Gambits 8/16 Soviet Chess Strategy 8/16 Soviet Chess Strategy (Hardcover) 8/15 Boost your Chess 2: Beyond the Basics 8/15 Boost your Chess 2: Beyond the Basics (Hardcover) 8/14 Grandmaster Repertoire 7: The Caro-Kann 8/14 Grandmaster Repertoire 7: The Caro-Kann (Hardcover) 8/13 Calculate Like a Grandmaster 8/12 Killer Dutch (restock) 8/12 Botvinnik's Best Games, Volume 1, 1925-1941 (restock) 8/12 Chess Biography of Marcel Duchamp, Vol. Two (restock) 8/11 Grandmaster Repertoire 6: The Sicilian Defence 8/11 Grandmaster Repertoire 6: The Sicilian Defence (Hardcover) 8/10 Fighting the Ruy Lopez (Ebook) 8/10 Play the Nimzo-Indian (Ebook) 8/10 Mastering the Opening (Ebook) 8/8 Opening for White according to Anand, Vol. 13 8/7 New In Chess, 2010/4 8/7 New In Chess, 2010/3 8/6 The Smith-Morra Gambit (DVD) 8/6 ChessBase Magazine #136 Extra (DVD) 8/5 Play the London System 8/4 ChessBase Magazine #137 (DVD) 8/3 Ftacnik: 1.d4, A Classical Repertoire for White (DVD) 8/2 Botvinnik - Petrosian, 1963 8/1 Play the Najdorf Sicilian 8/1 Leningrad System (restock) 7/31 Secrets of Opening Surprises, Vol. 12 7/31 My Most Memorable Games (restock) 7/30 10 Great Ways to Get Better at Chess 7/29 Attack on the King I (restock) 7/29 Attack on the King II (restock) 7/21 Learn Chess 7/20 Emanuel Lasker: Second World Chess Champion Puzzle Answer: 17.g4! Bxg4 18.h4! Black has no defence. Forintos-Zedek, Imperia, 1991 (Source: Secrets of Creative Thinking) Copyright 2010 BrainGamz, Inc. All Rights Reserved. PO Box 1201, Harwich, MA 02645