Catalogue
James Rizzitano, an experienced international master, has reassessed games from the whole of his career, and in this book presents the lessons from them that will be most relevant to club and tournament players.
A common problem for the typical weekend competitor or club player is that his time available for studying chess is very limited. What should he study? Grandmasters from Botvinnik to Yermolinsky have stressed the importance of reviewing and annotating your own games. Rizzitano shows how by doing that you can gain a greater understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, and drawing upon his own experiences, explains how to shape your approach to chess to make the most of your abilities.
Major topics include:
- Developing a reliable and coherent opening repertoire
- The importance of understanding opening theory rather than simply memorizing it
- Theoretical novelties: finding your own, and facing the opponent's
- Opening selection depending upon the nature of the game and event
- Risk management and 'playing for a win'
- Competing successfully against higher-rated opposition
- Accumulating small advantages: a safe method when the opponent plays for a draw
- The power of the initiative: lighting a fire and keeping it burning
The book contains more than 60 deeply annotated instructive games.
List of Content
5 Symbols
5 Dedication
5 Acknowledgements
6 Bibliography
8 Introduction
10 1 Battling Goliath
10 Opening Selection against Stronger Opponents
10 Gambits
17 International Tournaments vs Swiss-System Events
23 Encounter with a Legend
27 2 Tactical Skirmishes
27 Provocation
27 Rivalry
32 Slugfest
34 Avoiding Tactical Blunders
38 3 Opening Hits
38 Developing an Opening Repertoire
39 Piece Activity
49 Unexpected Moves
63 4 Opening Misses
63 Poor Opening Choices
68 Dubious Opening Ideas
83 5 Opening Wars
83 Four Knights Game Stand-Off
89 Nimzo-Indian Defence Battles
98 6 Power of the Initiative
98 Knight Outposts
103 Patience
112 Intuition
120 7 Accumulating Small Advantages
120 The Grinding Wheel
124 A Question of Style
133 8 Runaway Tactics
133 Exchanging the Wrong Piece
146 Carening Toward Chaos
167 9 Endgame Adventures
167 King and Pawn Endings
169 Knight Endings
170 Bishop Endings
173 Bishop vs Knight Endings
181 Rook Endings
187 Queen Endings
190 Index of Players and Analysts
192 Index of Openings | 
