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Issue #84 Welcome to the USCFSales.com weekly newsletter. You can keep up-to-date with new product releases, read reviews of selected products, and follow the latest news from the U.S. Chess Federation. Plus, try your hand at solving our weekly puzzle. Enjoy!  New at Chess Life Online The U.S. Chess School met for the second time this summer from August 12-16 at the Dean Chess Academy in New Jersey. Joel Benjamin was the coach, check out highlights from the lessons and a quiz. Also, Sergey Erenburg won the New England masters with 7.5/9. The other big winners were Parker Zhao and Victor Kaminski, who both picked up IM norms. Check out game highlights and a huge photo gallery. Book Notes  The Chess Training Pocket Book II gives you the knowledge and training you need to become a master-strength player. It will test, train, and sharpen your thinking skills. Each carefully chosen position offers a crucial building block in your chess knowledge. The new ChessCafe.com Cap is a 100% brushed cotton twill cap. The distinctive ChessCafe.com Knight Logo is embroidered on the front in gold. Featuring a Tri-Glide buckle back strap, one size fits all, and the band fits neatly out of sight after adjusting.
Chess Mazes are designed to develop your visualization skills. In Chess Mazes 2, Bruce Alberston presents 216 new maze puzzles.
In the ChessCafe Puzzle Book 2, German grandmaster Dr. Karsten Mueller will help you develop your strategic chess playing skills.
Reviews in Brief |  Pawn Sacrifice
Tim Taylor In Pawn Sacrifice, IM Tim Taylor attempts to categorize “every type of pawn sacrifice.” He focuses on those played in the middlegame “and, rarely, the ending,” and he limits the material to “real” sacrifices. He writes, “What interests me ... are the courageous, imaginative sacrifices that involve risk and have no clear result. This, to me, is really playing chess.” The material is divided into the following categories: king attack, line opening, development, deflecting, pawn cracker, obstruction, preventive, two bishops, vacating, charge up, endings, and confusion. A further chapter, “You Don’t Have to be a Master,” presents one of his wife’s games; here he notes “just because you have a rating under 2200 doesn’t mean you can’t sacrifice pawns!” Taylor also addresses what he calls “the fear of Fritz,” wherein a player sees the possibility of a speculative attack, but refrains from it because the computer will later prove it to be incorrect or “unapproved.” He writes, “When I look at some of the top players’ games these days, I often feel as though the joy has gone out of chess ... The advent of chess machines has made many people leery of the speculative sacrifice in general.” However, he also sees “a direct correlation between chess strength and the ability (and willingness!) to sacrifice material.” As they say, fortune favors the brave, so follow your instincts “and boldly sacrifice when the feeling is right, you will win a lot more games - and have a lot more fun as well.” | | |
| | | |  100 Endgames You Must Know
Jesus de Villa In the introduction de la Villa shares a story that many players can relate to. As an improving youngster he often read about the futility of studying openings, and the necessity of studying endgames; yet his first book on the endgame, Levenfish & Smyslov’s Rook Endings, was “as excellent as it [was] boring.” Thus, he “found it extremely difficult to get beyond the first one or two chapters.” He notes that the tendency to neglect the endgame may be even more pronounced today given the faster time controls. However, he discovered that the number of endgames with “practical relevance” were quite limited, and that it was necessary to keep one’s endgame knowledge on equal par with one’s tactical mastery or else many half or full points would be lost. Therefore, he developed a multi-stage approach where a player’s endgame knowledge keeps pace with their overall playing level. First, “it is enough to master the basic checkmates ... and to know which material relations are winning or not.” Next it’s necessary to become familiar with the Philidor and Lucena positions, as well as some ideas in pawn and opposite-colored bishop endings. He writes that this should be enough until one reaches 1900-2000. It is at this level when it becomes necessary to acquire an exact knowledge of specific theoretical endings, and it is to this subject that the book is devoted. De la Villa “has tried to summarize the most useful positions” and to reduce them to a number that could be handled by a practical player. His criteria for inclusion were endings that are frequently encountered in practice, can be subject to clear analysis, and that contain ideas that can be applied to similar positions. He writes that the book is not meant to be an encyclopedia, but a “practical tool which allows the reader to improve his knowledge of the theoretical endgames most likely to arise in an actual game,” and that the material contained herein should serve players until they reach 2400 level. He does include an introductory section of basic endings, but notes that he expects most readers will be advanced enough to skip this part. So if you can’t pass the basic test in chapter two, it would be necessary to read chapter one. Ninety-one endgames then follow in the remaining chapters, followed by a final test, an appendix devoted to fortresses and a bibliography. Also, many sections end with a conclusion or a summary of ideas. | | |
| New Catalog Additions 8/13: Chess Training Pocket Book II
8/8: Dangerous Weapons: The Benoni and Benko
8/7: Starting Out: The Modern
8/6: DGT960 Game Timer
8/2: New ChessCafe.com Cap
8/1: August Competition Special
8/1: August Scholastic Special
7/31: New In Chess Yearbook #87
7/30: Roman’s Lab, Volume 58: Taking Advantage of Common Endgame Mistakes
7/29: Roman’s Lab, Vol. 57: Roman vs. Rybka
7/25: 100 Endgames You Must Know
7/20: ChessCafe Puzzle Book 2
7/20: ChessCafe Puzzle Book 2 (Book + CD)
7/20: ChessCafe Puzzle Books 1 & 2 (2 books)
7/20: ChessCafe Puzzle Books 1 & 2 (2 books + 2 CDs)
7/19: Chess Mazes 2
7/19: Chess Mazes 1 & 2 (2 books)
| Weekly Puzzle | | Quote of the Week | | 
White to Move/Solution Below | | To know why you play a move is essential. Jesus de la Villa,
100 Endgames You Must Know |
Monthly Specials August 2008  | For the August Competition Special, we are pleased to offer the DGT Kramnik Gift Set for the incredible USCF member price of $89.95! - a savings of $70.00! The set features Golden Sheesham Chess Pieces with Drawstring Bag, Folding Wooden Walnut & Maple Chess Board, DGT Easy Plus Clock and a special CD with 120 Kramnik games, all in an attractive gift box.
|  | For the August Scholastic Special, we are pleased to offer Pandolfini’s Chess Complete for the incredible USCF member price of $9.95! - a savings of $7.00! Pandolfini has created the chess bible for players of all levels. He has covered every aspect of the game, from chessboard and pieces, to history and strategy. These Specials of the Month are good from August 1 - August 31, 2008. Orders may be placed online, by mail or by phone. These Specials of the Month may be withdrawn at any time and are good only while supplies last. |
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Puzzle Answer: 1.Kd6! d3 2.Kc5 Ke3 3.Kc4 d2 4.Kc3 1-0 (Source: 100 Endgames You Must Know) |
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