The Chess Combat Simulator is an exciting way to enhance your chess playing skills. You are invited to play a 'real' chess game against a Grandmaster - the difference is that the game has been played before. You can score points for each move, and at the end of each game you can rate your own performance. Don't be afraid if your move differs from the Grandmaster's choice: alternative moves are analysed and rated accordingly.

The world's most famous chess coach Mark Dvoretsky once said: "Training is more effective, the more successfully the atmosphere of a real tournament game is imitated". Working with The Chess Combat Simulator will make you a better player because it creates exactly the right situation for a tough chess fight. The games will increase your understanding of a wide variety of opening and middle game positions. So, move by move you pick a Grandmaster's brain to become a better player!

Preface

How should you train and improve your chess results? While the urgency of this question may vary depending upon whether you are a beginning chess player, an aspiring junior, a club player or a sea­soned professional, the question itself will be familiar to all chess players. Traditional and accepted forms of chess training in­clude the solving of tactical exercises, ana­lysing your own games (preferably with an experienced trainer), analysing the games of strong players, studying (theoretical) endgame positions, and so on and so forth. If done in a proper and serious way all these forms will be beneficial.

Yet, these methods are also artificial to some extent - you are given the assign­ment to mate in four moves, you calculate, and yes it works! But how often did some­one tell you to mate in four during a chess game? Similarly, analysing games in the comfort of your home (or chess club), perhaps even with some computer soft­ware humming in the background, is a far cry from the tournament hall where you have to find the best move in a tense situa­tion against a real-life opponent. Indeed, it is not for nothing that the world's most fa­mous chess trainer Mark Dvoretsky has noted that: 'Training is more effective, the more successfully the atmosphere of a real tournament game is imitated.'

The Chess Combat Simulator aims to rec­reate the circumstances of a real chess game. In this book you will find 50 in­structive games. Your task is to find the best move. This may be the start of a strategical operation, the beginning of a combination, a pawn sacrifice to open files, an intermediate move, a move to complete your development, or simply the recapturing of material. You don't have a clue, just like in a real tournament game.

This type of 'solitaire chess' is not new. In die Netherlands, for example, mere was a series of such books co-authored by Max Euwe. From the 50 games in this book some 40 games were previously published in a different format in the periodical of die Dutch Chess Federation: Schaakmagazine. The origin of this book may be traced to the festivities celebrating the first decade of the Max Euwe Centre in 1996 when I was asked by the editor-in-chief of Schaak­magazine if I wanted to write a column along the lines of Euwe's books. This may explain why there are two games played by Euwe in The Chess Combat Simulator. Still, the vast majority of the selected games was played in die period 1996-2006. A period very much dominated by Garry Kasparov who features in six games.

More important than your perfor­mance in each of these 50 Combats is your actual performance in a club or tournament game. It is my firm convic­tion that you will significantly increase your chess-playing skills by working through the games in The Chess Combat Simulator.

Jeroen Bosch Nijmegen, October 2006

Content:
007 Preface

008 How to Use this Book

Round 1

010 Combat 1 - Kasparov-Shirov

015 Combat 2 - Kramnik-Naiditsch

019 Combat 3 - Grischuk-Kotsur

024 Combat 4 - Akopian-Onischuk

029 Combat 5 - Wiersma-Sokolov

034 Combat 6 - Motylev-Iskusnikh

038 Combat 7 - Euwe-Kotov

043 Combat 8 - Van den Doel-Sosonko

048 Combat 9 - Beliavsky-Kovchan

053 Combat 10 - Van Wely-Sokolov

058 Your Round 1 Performance

Round 2

059 Combat 11 - Nielsen-Karjakin

063 Combat 12 - Ivanov-Filippov

068 Combat 13 - Karpov-Lautier

073 Combat 14 - Timman-Bosch

078 Combat 15 - Ponomariov-Kramnik

084 Combat 16 - Kasparov-Vallejo

090 Combat 17 - Khalifman-Marin

095 Combat 18 - Glek-Frog

098 Combat 19 - Adams-Kasimdzhanov

103 Combat 20 - Van Wely-Delemarre

108 Your Round 2 Performance

Round 3

109 Combat 21 - Hodgson-Sukharisingh

113 Combat 22 - Movsesian-Borriss

117 Combat 23 - Ponomariov-Kramnik

122 Combat 24 - Kasparov-Morozevich

128 Combat 25 - Malakhov-Dvoiris

133 Combat 26 - Kasparov-Kasimdzhanov

138 Combat 27 - Ljubojevic-Smeets

143 Combat 28 - Van Haastert-Glek

148 Combat 29 - Dreev-Vallejo

153 Combat 30 - Kramnik-Sokolov

159 Your Round 3 Performance

Round 4

160 Combat 31 - Euwe-Capablanca

166 Combat 32 - Tiviakov-Kulaots

172 Combat 33 - Ibragimov-Tate

176 Combat 34 - Lputian-Kasparov

180 Combat 35 - Luther-McShane

185 Combat 36 - Lupulescu-Timoschenko

190 Combat 37 - Nijboer-Bosboom

195 Combat 38 - Nikolic-Van der Sterren

200 Combat 39 - Onischuk-Hertneck

204 Combat 40 - Polgar-Zviagintsev

209 Your Round 4 Performance

Round 5

210 Combat 41 - Khalifman-Polgar

215 Combat 42 - Sadvakasov-Van Wely

220 Combat 43 - Conquest-A. Sokolov

224 Combat 44 - Topalov-Adams

231 Combat 45 - Sakaev-Kasparov

236 Combat 46 - Topalov-Kamsky

241 Combat 47 - Vaganian-Meins

246 Combat 48 - Lagowski-Potapov

250 Combat 49 - Dautov-Patriarca

255 Combat 50 - Anand-Timman

260 Your Round 5 Performance

261 Your Performance

262 Index of Openings