How and when to break the rules in chess. Two great books from the
Everyman Chess Library, Play Unconventional Chess and Win by Noam A.
Manellla and Zeev Zohar and Break the Rules! A Modern Look at Chess
Strategy by Neil McDonald, brought together in one volume. The computer
has changed the way top players think about chess. The silicon mind has
no psychological barriers. It is "willing" to check moves that most
humans, including top players, consider absurd and reject instantly.
Thus this brave, new computer era inevitably leads to a reassessment of
old axioms, principles and evaluations. In Play Unconventional Chess,
the reader will discover the incredible power unconventional moves can
have. These moves contradict the most fundamental principles of the "old
chess", and yet most of them played by leading grandmasters. At first
sight these moves look so strange that the reader can not avoid asking,
"Was this grandmaster was inspired or drunk?" The answer will definitely
surprise you. As we progress as chess players we quickly learn a set of
guidelines which help us to formulate plans, develop typical strategies
and recognize key tactics. However, chess is not an easy game, with
fixed 'rules' that can be applied to every single position. In fact,
blindly following such rules proves to be counterproductive and prevents
a player from moving on to the next level, whereas knowing when to
'break' these rules is precisely the skill which separates the best from
the rest. In Break the Rules!, Grandmaster Neil McDonald studies in
depth the key components of successful rule-breaking in chess. Drawing
upon his own experience and using illuminating examples from modern
grandmaster chess, McDonald examines how to avoid stereotypical
thinking, how to exploit typical thinking patterns, and how to confuse
and beat opponents with surprising ideas.
