Batsford’s Chess Bible is a landmark, full-colour chess instruction book, ideal for both beginners and more experienced players wanting to improve their game.

The book takes the form of a course, with quick-start guides to help to retain the information you’ve learned and puzzle sections for you to test yourself as you go. To illustrate more advanced strategy and tactics, author Sean Marsh uses world-class chess ‘heroes’, such as Anatoly Karpov and Mikhail Tal, to bring the concepts to life. Essential topics include:

• Pieces and Moves: the very basics, covering the chessboard, notation, the names of the pieces and how they move, plus an overview of chess etiquette.
• What Chess is All About: an exploration of chess culture and history.
• Winning, Drawing and Losing: Covers the various ways of winning at chess, and how games are drawn.
• Six Openings for Life: Coverage of six of the best chess openings, each illustrated by a different 'chess hero'.
• Tactical Weapons: An examination of forks, pins, skewers and other tactical devices, followed by illustrative games from Tactical Hero Mikhail Tal.
• Positional Play: Looks at good and bad positions, plus the art of planning, seen through the games of Positional Hero Tigran Petrosian.
• Human Factors: Typical mistakes and blunders to avoid.

Easy to follow, yet thorough and challenging, this book is an essential companion for all budding chess champions.