GAMBIT CHESS BOOKS
Founded 1997 by chess masters and grandmasters •
over 2 million books sold • 200 titles published • Print &
Electronic formats • Translations into 14 languages
Gambit is the world’s
pre-eminent chess book publishing company, founded in 1997 and run for the
past 25 years by a team of chess masters and grandmasters.
The company
publishes chess books in three formats:
• Print – the traditional paper format! Buy from
bookshops & online booksellers
• Kindle (electronic editions) – buy
from Amazon
• Chess Studio App (electronic editions) – buy from Google &
Apple
Latest updates
13th March 2023 – Some of our titles have become out of stock or difficult to obtain in certain territories (especially the UK and Europe).
We have addressed this issue and made over 40 hard-to-get titles, both English and German-language, easily available from Amazon. There are too many to list here so please go to the individual book pages for availability information.
13th March 2023 – It’s been some time since the last update, but we
haven’t been idle at Gambit. We have reissued a wide range of
backlist books which are now all available direct from Amazon. These
are The Gambit Book of Instructive Chess Puzzles,
A Course in Chess Tactics,
50 Ways to Win at Chess,
365 Ways to Checkmate,
Elements of Chess Strategy,
How Chess Games are Won and Lost,
Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces,
Chess Explained: The English Opening,
101 Chess Questions Answered,
King’s Indian and Grünfeld: Fianchetto Lines,
Play the Najdorf Sicilian,
Chess Explained: The Modern Benoni.
12. Januar 2023 – Sechs deutschsprachige Bücher werden
erstmals im Kindle-Format zur Verfügung gestellt.
101 Angriffsideen
im Schach,
Geheimnisse der Schachintuition,
Jon
Speelmans Buch der Schachaufgaben,
Entscheidungsfindung am Schachbrett,
Wie man Glück im
Schach hat und
Lektionen zur
Schachstrategie können ab sofort bei amazon.de vorbestellt
werden.
30. Dezember 2022 – Viele unserer Kindle-Bücher haben eine
attraktive neue Funktion, bei der jedes Diagramm mit einem
Lichess-Brett verlinkt ist, so dass Sie alle Lichess-Funktionen
nutzen können, wie z. B. eine Analyse-Engine, Stellungssuche usw.
Diese Funktion wurde nun zu einigen unserer deutschen Kindle-Titel
hinzugefügt. Weitere Einzelheiten finden Sie auf
dieser Seite.
22nd December 2022 – Gambit have released another five backlist titles in
Kindle format for the first time:
101 Attacking
Ideas in Chess,
Secrets of Chess
Intuition,
Creative Chess Strategy,
Winning Unorthodox
Openings
and Chess
Highlights of the 20th Century.
They are now all available from Amazon. These five Kindle titles
include an exciting new feature in which each diagram links to a
Lichess board allowing you to use all the Lichess features, such as
an analysis engine, position search and so on. See our
dedicated page for more details.
7th December 2022 – For Apple users of our app Chess Studio 2, the
compatability issues with iOS16 have been solved. See our
dedicated app page for more
details.
10. November 2022 – Fünf deutsche Bücher werden im Printformat neu aufgelegt
und sind bei Amazon erhältlich. Diese sind
Das
Verständnis der Schachendspiele,
Erstürmung der
Barrikaden, Moderne
Schachanalyse,
Geheimnisse moderner Schacheröffnungen Band 3 und
Schachstrategie in
Aktion.
8th October 2022 – The expanded edition of
Solving in Style,
originally available only in electronic format, is now also
available in print form direct from Amazon here
or from your national Amazon store.
8th October 2022 – A further batch of five Gambit reissued titles are now available
from Amazon:
A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire - new enlarged edition,
Decision-Making at the Chessboard,
Beating the
Fianchetto Defences,
Chess
Explained: The Main-Line Slav and
The Gambit
Guide to the Benko Gambit.
17th September 2022 – Five more Gambit reissued titles are now available
from Amazon: Chess
Self-Improvement,
The
Queen’s Gambit and Catalan for Black,
Chess Recipes from the Grandmaster’s Kitchen,
Chess
Explained: The Meran Semi-Slav and
The Sicilian Sozin.
10th September 2022 – A further batch of five Gambit reissued titles are now available
from Amazon:
Grandmaster Secrets: Counter-Attack!,
Chess Explained: the Taimanov Sicilian,
The French: Tarrasch Variation,
Chess Champion from China and
The English Attack.
10th September 2022 – Gambit have released another five backlist titles in
Kindle format for the first time:
The System: A World Champion’s Approach to Chess,
Elements of Chess Strategy,
50 Ways to Win at Chess,
Jon Speelman’s Chess Puzzle Book and
Chess Endings Made Simple.
They are all available from Amazon.
11th August 2022 – A further batch of Gambit reissued titles is now available
from Amazon: Winning
Chess Explained,
How to Play Dynamic
Chess,
Chess
Explained: The Classical Sicilian,
French: Advance
and Other Lines and
Grandmaster Secrets: Winning Quickly at Chess.
7th August 2022 – Gambit have released two backlist titles in app format for the first time:
Chess Endgame Training
and Secrets
of Chess Endgame Strategy. They are both available on the Gambit
Chess Studio 2 app for Apple (iOS) and Android.
28th July 2022 – Gambit have released five more backlist titles in
Kindle format for the first time:
How to Defend in Chess,
Improve Your Attacking Chess,
Chess Self-Improvement,
Chess Recipes from the Grandmaster’s Kitchen and
101 Chess Questions Answered.
They are all available from Amazon.
24th July 2022 – Two Gambit editions are newly released in printed
format. Göran Forslund’s Problem Chess is published for the first
time in print, and is a wide-ranging and entertaining introduction
to chess problems. A ‘remastered’ edition of Graham Burgess’s The
Slav, featuring hundreds of revisions and expansions to the analysis
and many extra diagrams, is also available. Both books are available
direct from Amazon, as well as on Gambit’s Chess Studio app.
9th July 2022 – Our new title
Understanding Pawn
Endgames (Valentin Bogdanov) is now available in all formats,
app (on the Apple and Google stores), Kindle and finally print
direct from Amazon here
or from your national Amazon store.
30 de mayo de 2022 – Tres libros se reeditan en forma impresa y ahora están disponibles
en Amazon: Los secretos de la estrategia moderna en ajedrez
,
El camino hacia el progreso en ajedrez
y Aprende ajedrez
30 de mayo de 2022 – También en Kindle: Los secretos de la estrategia moderna en ajedrez
,
El camino hacia el progreso en ajedrez
y Aprende ajedrez
26th May 2022 – Gambit are releasing five more backlist titles in Kindle
format for the first time:
The Most Valuable
Skills in Chess,
World Champion
at the Third Attempt,
Decision-Making
at the Chessboard,
How to be Lucky in Chess and
Foundations of Chess
Strategy. They are all available from Amazon.
26th May 2022 – For several years
Secrets of Grandmaster
Chess has only been available in electronic format. Now Gambit has
reissued this award-winning title in print format, using a larger B5
page size and including many extra diagrams. It is available direct
from Amazon.
26th May 2022 – A further batch of Gambit reissued titles is now available
from Amazon: 50 Essential
Chess Lessons,
Chess Explained:
The Queen’s Indian,
Chess Explained: The
French, 101 Chess Endgame
Tips,
Improve Your Chess - by Learning from the Champions and
Jon Speelman’s
Chess Puzzle Book.
10th May 2022 – Two more Gambit titles have been reissued and are now
available from Amazon:
Understanding Your Chess and
The Taimanov Sicilian.
10. Mai 2022 – Drei deutsche Bücher werden im Printformat neu aufgelegt
und sind bei Amazon erhältlich. Diese sind
Geheimnisse
der Bauernführung im Schach,
Schach
konkret: der klassische Sizilianer und
Schachtraining
für angehende Champions.
5th May 2022 – Five backlist Gambit titles have been issued in Kindle
format for the first time:
Understanding the Grünfeld,
The Art of Attacking
Chess, Secrets
of Chess Endgame Strategy,
Chess Endgame Training
and
Improve Your Chess - by Learning from the Champions.
7th April 2022 – The sixteenth batch of Gambit reissued titles is now
available from Amazon:
The Ultimate
Chess Strategy Book volume 1,
Play the Sicilian Dragon,
A Complete
Guide to the Grivas Sicilian,
Play the 2 c3 Sicilian
and How to be Lucky in
Chess.
4th April 2022 – A further batch of Gambit titles have been reissued
in print format and are available from Amazon:
Lessons in Chess Strategy,
Play the Classical Dutch,
The Most
Amazing Chess Moves of All Time,
Play the 4 f3 Nimzo-Indian
and The Ruy Lopez:
A Guide for Black.
21st March 2022 – A fourteenth batch of Gambit titles have been reissued
in print format and are available from Amazon:
Beat the Grandmasters,
101 Winning Chess
Strategies, Modern Chess
Planning,
Creative Chess
Opening Preparation and
Chess
Explained: The Queen’s Gambit Declined.
15th March 2022 – Another batch of Gambit titles have been reissued
in print format and are available from Amazon:
Modern Chess Analysis,
The Gambit
Guide to the Modern Benoni,
Creative Chess Strategy,
The Queen’s Indian
and Chess Endings Made
Simple.
8. März 2022 – Wir haben eine preisgünstigere Taschenbuchausgabe
unseres Bestsellers Schach für
Kinder herausgegeben. Sie kann direkt bei amazon.de
gekauft werden.
5th March 2022 – A twelfth batch of Gambit titles have been reissued
in print format and are available from Amazon:
Secrets of Chess Intuition,
Secrets of Chess
Transformations,
Essential Chess Sacrifices,
Chess Explained:
The Nimzo-Indian and
The Grandmaster’s Mind.
26th February 2022 – Yet another batch of Gambit titles have been reissued
in print format and are available from Amazon:
The System,
The Gambit
Guide to the Torre Attack,
Understanding
the Leningrad Dutch,
Chess Explained:
The c3 Sicilian and
How to Crush
Your Chess Opponents.
20th February 2022 – A tenth batch of Gambit titles have been reissued
in print format and are available from Amazon:
Test Your Chess,
Foundations of Chess
Strategy, Secrets
of Positional Chess,
Chess Training
for Budding Champions and
The Cambridge Springs.
14th February 2022 – A ninth batch of Gambit titles have been reissued
in print format and are available from Amazon:
How to Defend in Chess,
Chess Endgame Training,
Mastering the Najdorf,
Improve Your Attacking
Chess and
The Quickest
Chess Victories of All Time.
10th February 2022 – A further batch of Gambit titles have been reissued
in print format and are available from Amazon:
Storming the Barricades,
Secrets of Attacking
Chess, Secrets
of Chess Endgame Strategy,
101 Attacking Ideas
in Chess and
An Explosive Chess Opening Repertoire for Black.
This website is updated regularly and is for information
only. Gambit does not run a direct sales service.
Please contact one
of the many chess bookselling specialists worldwide that stock the full
range of Gambit books.
PUBLISHED |
Understanding the endgame is fundamental to playing good chess,
and at its heart lie positions where just kings and pawns remain
on the board. Even when a pawn ending is not actually reached,
the players must often assess ones that could arise from an
exchange of pieces. Experienced Ukrainian trainer Bogdanov
examines a wealth of pawn endings where strong players made
significant errors and draws lessons and rules of thumb from
them.While we are enjoying the entertaining material in this
book, we are painlessly absorbing endgame principles and
improving our intuitive decision-making skills. We learn how
to calculate and identify key positional elements, and
appreciate the beautiful tactics and paradoxical ideas that are
unique to the world of pawns.
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PUBLISHED |
James Rizzitano’s goal in this book is to provide you with
a one-volume, theoretically sound, dynamic opening repertoire beginning
with 1 e4. Studying the choices of the current top players, he identifies
the secrets of their success and incorporates them in his choice
of lines to recommend. The analysis is supported by detailed work
with the current top computer engines. While serious work on chess
openings confirms the basic truth that White can’t simply
force a large advantage from the start position, we can greatly
narrow Black’s path to safety, and tilt the practical struggle
in our favour. To have a chance of half a point, our opponents will
need to solve difficult tactical and strategic problems deep into
the middlegame.
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PUBLISHED |
Magnus Carlsen is the greatest chess player of the 21st century.
His tactical wizardry, strategic inventiveness, technical expertise
and legendary fighting spirit put him head and shoulders above all
other players. They also make his games tremendously instructive.
In each game Kravtsiv picks out a key point – the Magnus
Moment – where Carlsen demonstrates the special insight that
sets him apart from other players. The bulk of the book addresses
the fight for advantage and initiative in the middlegame, but there
are also chapters focusing on opening ideas, endgame play and human
factors.
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PUBLISHED |
The Caro-Kann is a rare beast among chess openings. While respected
as a sound and safe way to start the game, it also avoids symmetry
or simplification. Two Norwegian opening experts provide a set of
options that take full advantage of this flexibility. In the main
line, you are given a choice between the 4...Bf5 and the 5...exf6
systems – but both strictly in their modern dynamic forms!
The other recommended systems for Black are also aggressive and
very much the ‘21st-century Caro-Kann’. It’s 3...c5 against the
Advance, in which Hansen is also an outstanding specialist. The
Panov Attack is answered with ...g6 lines – strategically ideal,
and nowadays backed up by amazing modern computer analysis. This
extremely up-to-date book has an innovative structure, with ‘lessons’,
model games and theory ‘magnifiers’.
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PUBLISHED |
If you had to choose a single luxury chess item to take to a
desert island, then how about this – a superb selection of 400 puzzles
to solve? Each author has carefully chosen 100 original positions,
graded by difficulty and theme into four sections of 25.
- Wesley So presents 100 puzzles from his
own recent games, many from elite events. They range from easily-overlooked
but straightforward ideas to moves of great depth.
- Michael Adams offers positions from his
files that have inspired him over the years, and includes a
section of ‘warm-ups’.
- John Nunn challenges you to find beautiful
tactics in recent games and studies, as well as some of his
own career highlights.
- Graham Burgess has scoured his work over
the years for hidden unpublished gems, and includes themed sections
on opening tactics and defensive ideas.
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PUBLISHED |
Everyone knows they should work on their endgame play. So many
hard-earned advantages are squandered in ‘simple’ endings...
But it’s tough finding a way to study endings that doesn’t
send you to sleep and that helps you actually remember and apply
what you have learnt. All major types of endgame are covered, together
with a wide-ranging chapter on endgame tactics. Examples are drawn
from recent practice or from little-known studies. The emphasis
is on understanding and applying endgame principles and rules of
thumb. You will learn by experience, but always backed up by Nunn’s
expert guidance to ensure that the lessons you take away from the
book are correct and useful.
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PUBLISHED |
Written along similar lines to Gambit’s earlier Ultimate
Chess Puzzle Book, this new work presents 600 puzzles, mostly
from the last two years, that are chosen for instructive value and
maximum training benefit. To ensure that few will be familiar to
readers, Kravtsiv has deliberately chosen positions from obscure
games or from analysis. If you find the right answers, it will be
because you worked them out yourself! The solutions feature plenty
of verbal explanations of the key points, and cover most of the
logical but incorrect answers. The book is completed with a set
of ‘no clues’ tests, and an index of themes that will
be useful to coaches and those looking to focus on specific aspects
of tactics – or just seeking extra clues!
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PUBLISHED |
Ever wanted a complete chess opening repertoire – for White
and Black – whose basics can be learned in a week? A strategic
low-maintenance repertoire that does not require memorizing of long
variations, and yet can frustrate both stronger and weaker opponents?
In this book, award-winning author Graham Burgess
has come up with the ultimate simplified repertoire. Avoiding boring
or unambitious openings, you will learn how to avoid symmetry and
mass exchanges, and reach an unbalanced middlegame.
With Black, the repertoire is based on the Scandinavian plus a carefully
crafted hybrid of the Slav and QGA. As White it is the English Opening,
often with Botvinnik set-ups.
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PUBLISHED |
This is a book for those who have started to play chess and want
to know how to win from good positions and survive bad ones. The
endgame is where most games are decided, and knowing all the tricks
will dramatically improve your results. Endgame specialist John
Nunn has drawn upon his decades of experience to present the
ideas that are most important in real games. Step by step he helps
you uncover the key points and then add further vital knowledge.
Each chapter deals with a particular type of endgame and features
dozens of exercises, with solutions that highlight the key points.
For each endgame we are given tips on the themes that are most important
and the strategies for both sides. The book ends with a series of
test papers that enable you to assess your progress and identify
the areas that need further work.
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PUBLISHED |
Chess Opening Workbook for Kids is the second in a new
series of books that help players gain chess skills by tackling
hundreds of carefully chosen exercises. The themes are similar to
those in Gambit’s best-selling ‘Chess for Kids’
series, but the focus is on getting hands-on experience. Many positions
build on ones given earlier, showing how advanced ideas are normally
made up of simpler ones that we can all grasp. Each chapter is focused
on a particular theme and features dozens of exercises, with solutions
that highlight the main strategic and tactical points. Each chapter
offers tips on opening play, such as how to detect weaknesses and
poorly-placed pieces. Later chapters address key aspects of opening
strategy such as the centre, development and castling. The book
ends with a series of seven graded tests where you are given few
clues about the themes involved.
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PUBLISHED |
Chess-players understand that it is vital to play logically,
but often lack the methods needed to do so. In this book, renowned
trainer Erik Kislik presents a wide range of specific concepts
that will help them succeed. These include positional techniques,
thinking methods, and modes of play to adopt when either better
or worse. Topics include Painfully Slow Moves, Focal Points, Reciprocal
Logic, Fighting against Centralized Pieces, When Playing a Bad Move
Wins a Good Game and A Chronically Weak King.
Throughout, the
discussion is illustrated by a mass of examples from both recent
elite chess and the play of Kislik and his students, showing how
his themes cut across all levels of chess. After the book’s
two main sections – Thinking Concepts and Positional
Concepts – comes a section of exercises, again with a
strikingly original theme: our task is simply to assess each position.
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PUBLISHED |
This is a book for those who know the rules of chess and are
keen to start winning games. The quickest way to improve your chess
is to learn tactics. But not just knowing the themes – you
need to get used to using them in real positions. Master tactician
John Nunn has thoughtfully crafted a course that gives you
the basic nuggets of knowledge and immediately invites you to start
finding tactical ideas for yourself.
Each chapter introduces
a basic theme and features dozens of exercises, with solutions that
highlight the key points. In each chapter there are tips on what
to look out for to help spot tactical ideas. As the chapters progress,
we increasingly see how tactical ideas are combined together, with
ideas from previous sections repeatedly appearing as part of a deadly
one-two punch. The book ends with a series of six test papers where
you are given no clues about the themes involved.
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PUBLISHED |
Here is a repertoire of opening lines based on 1 e4 that are
slightly off the beaten track, but full of practical sting and cunning
traps for unwary opponents. All are based on rapid, healthy development,
central control and play against the enemy king. You go straight
from the opening into a sharp, little-explored middlegame where
you will be better prepared than your opponent.
This new edition brings the repertoire completely up to date. The
basic choice of main lines is unchanged, but each move has been
re-examined and new ideas from practice and analysis incorporated
at every turn.
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PUBLISHED |
Chess Opening Traps for Kids is a serious course on how
to play the opening, illustrated with memorable and entertaining
examples. By focusing on 100 key themes, Graham Burgess explains
how to use opening tricks to our advantage. Every opening features
hidden dangers for both players, so we need to avoid pitfalls while
making full use of tactics to achieve the opening goals of purposeful
development and central control.
Award-winning author Graham
Burgess has written 25 chess books, ranging from general guides
to works on specific openings. He is a FIDE Master and a former
champion of the Danish region of Funen. In 1994 he set a world record
for marathon blitz chess playing.
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PUBLISHED |
Is chess a logical game? What constitutes an advantage in chess?
How can we set problems and create psychologically difficult situations
for the opponent? These are big questions, and Erik Kislik tackles
them and others head-on in this thought-provoking, thoroughly modern,
and original work.
As the trainer of players ranging from high-level
grandmasters to average club-players, Kislik is very strong on providing
practical guidance on topics such as how best to use chess software,
choosing hardware, getting psychologically ready for a game and
preparing for specific opponents.
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PUBLISHED |
The Open Games (those beginning 1 e4 e5) are now more topical
than ever, featuring in a high proportion of elite-level games.
This new user-friendly guide offers players of all levels a carefully
worked-out repertoire, taking into account this wealth of new material.
It provides a full repertoire for Black with 1 e4 e5 when White
avoids the Ruy Lopez. Making extensive use of modern computer engines,
Johnsen has overturned ancient assessments and found new paths that
breathe fresh life into positions long thought to be resolved.
The lines he recommends, while sound, nevertheless give Black plenty
of chances to seize the initiative.
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PUBLISHED |
These 125 opening surprises land like bombshells in the apparent
calm of standard openings and disorientate your opponents as they
grapple with original problems. This book is a treasure-trove of
unusual ideas at an early stage of the opening, each with a firm
logical foundation, yet running against the grain of conventional
play. Each idea has quick-strike potential and is supported by enough
concrete analysis to enable you to try it with confidence.
For this new edition, Burgess has thoroughly revised and expanded
the original content with a great many new verdicts and additional
analysis and ideas. Every single move has been re-examined and checked
against current theory. The brand-new sections mostly deal with
ideas that were unknown before 2016 or 2017.
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PUBLISHED |
This book provides a systematic course in chess tactics and hundreds
of exercises to sharpen and measure your skills. With Antonio Gude’s
assistance, you will understand how the pieces work, so you can
carry out your strategic plans and launch devastating attacks. And
even in those games where things go wrong, you will always be ready
to pounce when given the chance. The book is packed with entertaining
and inspiring examples, brought to life with information and stories
about some of the more notable figures in chess history.
This is a companion volume to Gude’s much-acclaimed
Fundamental Checkmates.
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FOR THE COMPLETE LIST OF GAMBIT BOOKS SEE
HERE
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PUBLICATIONS
