The aim of this book is to look into how players find good chess ideas. Amatzia Avni, a psychologist by profession, pursues this goal by means of short and focused Interviews of top players and analysts, discussing specific games and compositions of theirs. Avni has been careful to allow his interviewees to convey their own thoughts, rather than direct their answers to comply with any pre-existing theories. Once we have heard from the grandmasters, Avni discusses the essence of what was said, and provides some insights and recommendations. The positions chosen are ones where the player has a vivid recollection of how events developed, and has something valuable to say. Some unfamiliar positions are also presented, to see how the players react when they encounter a new Situation. The interviewees include famous grandmasters Boris Gelfand, Ilia Smirin and Lev Psakhis.

List of Content

004 Symbols

005 Acknowledgements

006 Introduction

010 Part 1: Interviews

012 1 GM Lev Psakhis

023 2 GM Alon Greenfeld

033 3 Gady Costeff

042 4 GM Yona Kosashvili

053 5 GM Alik Gershon

063 6 IM Alexander Mikhalevsky

073 7 GM Gadi Rechlis

083 8 GM Boris Gelfand

095 9 OferComay

104 10 GM Zvulon Gofshtein

113 11 GMDovZifroni

123 12 GMIliaSmirin

133 Part 2: Discussion

134 13 The Thinking of GMs

144 14 A System for Problem-Solving

150 15 The Grand-Plan Approach

153 16 The Dilemma of an Impasse

158 17 The Attraction of Beautiful Ideas

161 18 Serendipity

164 19 Pros and Cons of Expertise

167 20 Yes, They are Different

170 21 Critical Success Factors

171 References

174 Index of Players

176 Index of Composers and Analysts

176 Index of Openings