Candidate Moves, A Grandmaster's Method - Christian Bauer (K-5386)

K-5386

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Prior to this one, I had written three books dedicated to chess openings. When I was offered the chance to write a book for Thinkers Publishing, I had no particular idea on what to write about within that area and I wanted to try something (a bit — I am not that foolish!) new. 

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Data sheet

Language versionsEnglish
PublisherThinkers Publishing
Year of Publication1st edition 2018
Pages410
ISBN9789492510242
HardcoverNo
PaperbackYes
DownloadableNo
Width17 cm
Height23.5 cm

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My lazy side prompted me to think that a collection of my games could do the trick, since, based on statistics, among my average of some hundred classical games per year, a certain proportion of them should be of interest. At least I hope.
I found the idea to switch sides. By this, I mean to look at games from White’s perspective and then from Black’s. A rather interesting concept, as things oft en appear quite different, depending on the viewpoint. If one searches for videos showing a joint analysis of elite players, one may oft en see them completely disagree on certain positions, both of them claiming he stood, or would have stood, better here or there. And, more than likely, had the colours been swapped, the very same players would also have preferred “their side”; while the engine found the game more or less balanced from beginning to end :).
There is a famous anecdote involving an ex-World Champion, who would label the same position as better for one side or the other, depending on whether he was conducting the White or Black pieces. The justification being: he knew what to do (the plans) for both sides!
On a more serious note, when playing a game, one can hardly expect to be completely objective. Given one’s personality, a certain player may have a pessimistic or optimistic tendency, oft en find his ideas and decisions justified while they are in fact questionable, or vice versa. Looking at a game from White’s standpoint and then from Black’s, aims, in my view, at diminishing the subjective portion of the analysis, even though one will oft en naturally feel more sympathy for one camp or the other in a given position.
At some points throughout the book, I make some comparisons with betterknown openings, to illustrate where some ideas may have been borrowed from and to facilitate the reader’s pattern recognition. For instance, in Bauer-Valles from chapter 4, the position we reached out of the opening had significant similarities with a certain line from the Trompowsky. I also tried to off er diversity early on in the analysis of these games in order to suit readers of either a solid or a more daring style.
There is, at times, little justification behind some subjective choices. In general, I always try to win. It remains true, however, that decisions made over a chess board by professionals may often be subject to external factors such as prizes, tournament situation or prestige. The result of this is that while I believe my decisions to have been rational, I did not take unconsidered risks to “win at all costs”

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Candidate Moves, A Grandmaster's Method - Christian Bauer (K-5386)

Candidate Moves, A Grandmaster's Method - Christian Bauer (K-5386)

Prior to this one, I had written three books dedicated to chess openings. When I was offered the chance to write a book for Thinkers Publishing, I had no particular idea on what to write about within that area and I wanted to try something (a bit — I am not that foolish!) new. 

Content

005 KEY TO SYMBOLS

007 PREFACE

009 CHAPTER 1. THE INGREDIENTS OF AN EXCHANGE-SACRIFICE
010 Game 1-2. C. Bauer - D. Shengelia (Dresden 2007)
020 Game 3-4. C. Bauer - E. Bacrot (Pau 2012)
032 Game 5-6. C. Bauer - E. Hansen (Linares 2013)
040 Game 7-8. C. Bauer - S. Halkias (Metz 2014)
051 Game 9-10. C. Bauer - V. Burmakin (Cappelle la Grande 2016)
060 Game 11-12. H. Lai - C. Bauer (Maastricht 2016)
072 Game 13-14. S. Beukema - C. Bauer (Maastricht 2016)
084 Game 15-16. M. Admiraal - C. Bauer (Novi Sad 2016)

093 CHAPTER 2. HOW TO HANDLE A TACTICAL MESS
094 Game 1-2. F. Bindrich - C. Bauer (Switzerland 2010)
106 Game 3-4. D. Pavasovic - C. Bauer (Rogaska Slatina 2011)
114 Game 5-6. C. Bauer - M. Godena (Cannes 2014)
122 Game 7-8. A. Donchenko - C. Bauer (Metz 2014)
134 Game 9-10. C. Bauer - D. Howell (Northampton 2017)
143 Game 11-12. C. Bauer - M. Turner (England 2017)

155 CHAPTER 3. KING IN THE CENTER
156 Game 1-2. C. Bauer - J. Gonzalez Garcia (Lugo 2009)
163 Game 3-4. A. Dreev - C. Bauer (Switzerland 2011)
172 Game 5-6. A. David - C. Bauer (Nancy 2012)
181 Game 7-8. C. Bauer - T. Haub (Cappelle la Grande 2012)
187 Game 9-10. C. Sochacki - C. Bauer (Vandoeuvre les Nancy 2015)
193 Game 11-12. Y. Zhou - C. Bauer (Birmingham 2016)
202 Game 13-14. V. Hamitevici - C. Bauer (Novi Sad 2016)
213 Game 15-16. C. Bauer - J.C. Schroeder (Zurich 2016)

223 CHAPTER 4. QUIETER GAMES
223 Game 1-2. C. Bauer - N. Brunner (Nancy 2009)
233 Game 3-4. C. Bauer - A. Alonso Rosell (Cannes 2011)
242 Game 5-6. C. Bauer - O. Kurmann (Switzerland 2011)
251 Game 7-8. A. Naiditsch - C. Bauer (Mulhouse 2011)
260 Game 9-10. C. Bauer - I. Smirin (Porto Carras 2011)
270 Game 11-12. C. Bauer - I. Nepomniachtchi (Porto Carras 2011)
282 Game 13-14. C. Bauer - P. Leko (Eilat 2012)
295 Game 15-16. C. Bauer - M. Valles (Metz 2014)
306 Game 17-18. R. Wojtaszek - C. Bauer (Saint-Quentin 2014)
315 Game 19-20. C. Bauer - M. Brown (Birmingham 2016)
325 Game 21-22. C. Bauer - E. Berg (Maastricht 2016)
334 Game 23-24. T. Gharamian - C. Bauer (Agen 2016)
345 Game 25-26. C. Bauer - R. Edouard (Switzerland 2016)
356 Game 27-28. C. Bauer - D. Semcesen (Novi Sad 2016)
365 Game 29-30. C. Bauer - A. Pijpers (Novi Sad 2016)
374 Game 31-32. J. Chabanon - C. Bauer (Zurich 2016)
383 Game 33-34. C. Bauer - J. Schroeder (Basel 2017)
391 Game 35-36. E. Safarli - C. Bauer (Basel 2017)
399 Game 37-38. K. Toma - C. Bauer (Northampton 2017)

405 CONCLUSION