EDUCAÇAO FÍSICA PROFESSOR WILLIAM PEREIRA: ChessCafe.com Weekly Newsletter, July 29

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Issue #15
July 29 - August 4

Welcome to the ChessCafe.com weekly newsletter. You can keep up-to-date with new product releases, read reviews of selected products, and follow the latest postings at ChessCafe.com. Plus, try your hand at solving our weekly puzzle. Enjoy!

Here & There

One of a Kind
The new edition of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice has 237 games along with more than 100 photographs, as well as offering a cleaner, more readable layout. Reviewer Steve Golberg finds “this book isn’t only about chess. It’s about the life and experiences of David Bronstein.”

Fabiano
In the latest Video Spotlight, GM Susan Polgar interviews rising star Fabiano Caruana at the Dresden Olympiad.

Linked In
The links page at ChessCafe.com is constantly being updated, so be sure to check it for sites of interest. If your site or blog links to us, let us know so we can add you to the list!

99-cent Sale
There are only a few days left in our July 99¢ Sale, so don’t delay. When these items are sold out, they are gone for good! Plus, enjoy free UPS Ground Shipping on all domestic US orders of $75 or more!

Book Notes

The fourth edition of ECO E is back in stock. This thoroughly revised and updated 672-page edition contains the games, analysis and assessments from leading grandmasters and brings an additional 144 pages of brand new material.

The newest title in the Grandmaster Secrets series, Counterattack!, is the “logical complement” to Franco’s previous work, The Art of Attacking Chess. He writes “that it is as important to defend and counterattack with dexterity as it is to attack with precision.”

This month you can enjoy tremendous discounts on a great selection of books, software and sets. Some for as low as 99 cents!! Plus, enjoy free UPS Ground Shipping on all domestic US orders of $75 or more!*

Reviews in Brief

Counterattack!
by Zenon Franco

This newest title in the Grandmaster Secrets series is the “logical complement” to Franco’s previous work, The Art of Attacking Chess. He writes “that it is important to defend and counterattack with dexterity as it is to attack with precision.” He singles out Petrosian, Lasker, and Korchnoi as players who are strongly associated with tenacious defense and vigorous counterattack.

The seven chapters are as follows:

Lasker, the Master of Defence and Counterattack
Refuting Premature Attacks
Fighting Blow by Blow
Regrouping
Prophylactic Thinking
Simplification
Three Memorable Struggles

The games in each chapter serve to illustrate a strategic topic, and each game is prefaced by a brief introduction. In addition supplementary games are provided to further explain a key theme or idea, and a conclusion is given that reviews the lessons to be learned from each game. There are also about sixty exercises for the reader to solve.

Franco notes that he has examined the analysis by the players, as well as checked everything with the best computer programs. However, he writes that his goal is not tactical flawlessness, but “rather to explain the processes of defense and counterattack, and so to help the reader become more successful in handling these key aspects of chess skill.”

The Closed Sicilian
by Nigel Davies

On this DVD, Nigel Davies introduces the viewer to the Closed Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 followed by 3.g3) through a series of eighteen illustrative games. He describes it as an excellent choice of opening for those who wish to avoid the mass of theory in the Open Sicilian. Practitioners of this opening have included world champions Vassily Smyslov and Boris Spassky, who played it extensively, and Anatoly Karpov and Emanuel Lasker, who employed it less frequently. It can also be seen in the repertoires of grandmasters Michael Adams and Nigel Short, as well as Davies himself.

Davies explains that White quietly builds a flexible, secure central fortification before determining on which side of the board to expand. Since the opening develops slowly, the pieces tend to come into conflict in the middlegame and because of this general understanding is often of greater importance than knowledge of variations. He also notes that this solid setup allows for a lot of originality from White. Davies describes it as an opening that can be played for life, with a minimum amount of extra study once you've learned it.

The presentation is fluid, clear, and direct. It caters to White, but Davies does point out the best methods of defense for Black. He also indicates that a bonus feature of the opening is that it can be played as black with reversed colors against 1.c4. In addition, he examines White's second move alternatives, such as 2.d3, 2.Na3, and 2.g3. The running time is 4.5 hours.

No additional software is needed to run the DVD. The system requirements are Pentium-Processor at 300 MHz or higher, 64 MB RAM, Windows XP/Vista, DVD drive, etc. The DVD also contains the whole training course in audio-format for Pocket Fritz 3.

New Catalog Additions

7/29: Counterattack!
7/10: Foxy Openings Volumes 84-88 (DVD)
7/10: Foxy Openings Volume 88: Endgames Self-Training Easily Explained (DVD)
7/10: Foxy Openings Volume 87: Attack/Defense/Space/Time (DVD)
7/10: Foxy Openings Volume 86: Dynamics of Strategy (DVD)
7/10: Foxy Openings Volume 85: Essential Chess Tactics Easily Explained (DVD)
7/10: Foxy Openings Volume 84: The Basic Principles, Checkmates and Elements (DVD)
7/9: Beating the Sicilian Defense: Chameleon Variation
7/8: AVRO 1938
7/3: The Luneburg Variation (Damaged)
6/30: Top TNT, Vol. 3 (CD)
6/29: Chess Informant #104 (Book)
6/29: Chess Informant #104 (CD)
6/29: Chess Informant #104 (Book + CD)