Chess Secrets is a series of books which uncover the mysteries of the
most important aspects of chess, such as strategy, attack, defence,
opening play, endgames, off-board preparation and mental attitude. In
each book the author chooses and deeply studies a number of great
players who have excelled in such aspects of the game, greatly
influenced their peers and inspired all of us. In Giants of Innovation,
Craig Pritchett selects five chess legends whose play exemplifies
outstandingly innovative attributes. Wilhelm Steinitz established the
essential ground-rules for modern positional chess. Emanuel Lasker
pioneered a new kind of total all-out battling chess. Mikhail Botvinnik
taught us how to prepare and successfully play an entire range of
complex modern opening systems. Viktor Korchnoi set particularly high
standards in the art of defence and counter-attack. Vassily Ivanchuk, a
modern byword for ingenuity and surprise, excels by constant creation.
In Great Chess Romantics, Craig Pritchett selects five players, whose
chess artistry expresses a deeply personal commitment to the discovery
and revelation of great new truths and beauty on the chessboard.
Anderssen defined romanticism's inherently dramatic and correct
combinational core. Chigorin championed this essence in splendid
opposition to an emerging new classical consensus. Réti revealed the
extraordinary power of new flank openings. Larsen confounded the overly
sober, scientific Soviet schoolÌ at innumerable turns. In the computer
age, Morozevich constantly discovers new depths to chess, while simply
oozing exquisite strokes in his best games.
