Elk and Ruby Publishing House

Over 150 great chess books. Chess Journalists of America Book of the Year winner 2025, ECF Book of the Year winner 2021, short-listed by ECF and FIDE many times

[Elk and Ruby Publishing House @ilan_ruby]

Elk and Ruby publishes The Art of Living: Memories of Two Chess Friends by Jan Timman and Hans Böhm

***Jan Timman’s parting gift to the chess world!***

Two friends look back in the autumn of their lives. Both began as promising chess players and went on to achieve success at home and abroad. As young men, they travelled the world together, sharing a host of adventures, some of them decidedly bizarre. Grandmaster Jan Timman made chess his life’s calling, rising in 1982 to number two in the world behind his great rival Anatoly Karpov. International Master Hans Böhm took a different path, using chess as a springboard for a successful career in the media.
Timman’s achievements at the chessboard gained even greater prominence through the efforts of his friend, who brought them to a wider public on television and radio and in newspapers and magazines. Together they look back on the Flower Power era, the Cold War period with the World Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, and the rise of the chess computer. Along the way, they revisit their own ambitions and adventures, their encounters with remarkable people, their many triumphs – and their occasional failures.
Together, Timman and Böhm helped bring chess to a mass audience through playful public appearances, numerous books, television courses, and even an LP and chess songs. In these autobiographical recollections, they look back on lives that were turbulent, productive and, above all, adventurous. Ten of Timman’s memorable games and ten of his own studies complement their story, while ten people who played an important role at different stages of their lives contribute recollections of their own.
At the same time, the reader is treated to a panorama of post-war Dutch chess history and the extraordinary efforts of the federation, sponsors and wider chess community to mount a credible challenge to Soviet and then Russian domination of the game, while building a grassroots movement that introduced chess to a new generation of youngsters – a bygone age that will never return.
***
Grandmaster Jan Timman (1951–2026) devoted his life to chess. He was a frequent contender in world championship cycles, and for decades remained one of the leading figures in international chess. The author of more than thirty books, he won the 2017 ECF Book of the Year Award for Timman’s Titans, his celebrated portrait of ten World Champions.
International Master Hans Böhm (b. 1950) is one of the Netherlands’ best-known chess personalities and promoters. His television programmes and radio appearances, books, lectures and other activities have helped popularise the game for generations. For many years he has been a chess columnist for De Telegraaf.
This book is available in both black and white paperback and hardback editions and in full-colour hardback.
The full-colour hardback edition can be ordered from the Elk and Ruby website or your favourite chess book shop, while the black and white paperback and hardback editions are available from the same sellers plus Amazon. The electronic versions of this book, on Kindle (already available) and Forward Chess (forthcoming), are also full-colour.
Extract: https://t.co/5VUtToo7PL
Buy now: https://t.co/5s66yCWxSY

[Elk and Ruby Publishing House @ilan_ruby]

@Ilyajunior1 @GMJuditPolgar We are old enough to remember you and Judit analyzing in the foyer at Hastings 92/93. Judit speaking to you in Russian, you answering in English.

[David Llada ♞ @davidllada]

Flash sale of Sergey Voronkov's books on Forward Chess, with a whopping 50% off!

This offer includes the first volume of “Alexander Alekhine - Russian Sphinx” and all three volumes of “Masterpieces and Dramas of the Soviet Championships”.

https://t.co/ybBDKADWDl

[Elk and Ruby Publishing House @ilan_ruby]

Flash sale of Sergey Voronkov's books on @ForwardChess !!
The first volume of Alexander Alekhine - Russian Sphinx and all three volumes of Masterpieces and Dramas of the Soviet Championships at shockingly low prices - a whopping 50% off!!
Hurry before the plug is pulled!!
https://t.co/WPhFfnYLSd

[Luis Fernández Siles @capakhine]

Elk and Ruby continúa traduciendo al español libros muy buenos. Este, en concreto, es muy práctico.

[Elk and Ruby Publishing House @ilan_ruby]

Elk and Ruby publica 111 Crímenes y Castigos en el Medio Juego por Alexander Galkin y Anastasia Travkina
La mayoría de las partidas de ajedrez terminan en el medio juego. Por lo tanto, para lograr buenos resultados, hay que jugar bien en esta etapa de la partida. Este libro sobre el medio juego, escrito en conjunto por el Gran Maestro Alexander Galkin, quien fue nombrado Entrenador Infantil del Año por la Federación Rusa de Ajedrez en 2016, y la Maestra Internacional Anastasia Travkina, ofrece una gran cantidad de conocimientos prácticos. La inmensa mayoría de los libros sobre táctica y estrategia en el medio juego contienen una selección de posiciones y ejercicios en los que se pide al estudiante que encuentre una combinación táctica, lleve a cabo un ataque contra el rey enemigo o elija el enfoque posicional adecuado basándose en ciertas “reglas”. Sin embargo, no se presta demasiada atención al error cometido por uno de los jugadores que dio lugar a la posición crítica en la que se hizo posible la combinación, el ataque decisivo o la mejora posicional.
En este libro, dirigido a jugadores con un cierto nivel ajedrecístico y experiencia competitiva (1900-2300 o jóvenes en rápida progresión), los autores presentan un enfoque más amplio para desarrollar las habilidades tácticas y posicionales del medio juego que necesita un jugador de ajedrez fuerte. Específicamente, presentan 111 posiciones de partidas de grandes maestros jugadas en 2019, entre los que se incluyen jugadores de la élite mundial como Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Ding Liren, Anish Giri, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Daniil Dubov, Wesley So, Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian, y Wang Hao, en las posiciones, primero se explica el error cometido por uno de los jugadores al subestimar el contrajuego de su rival y, a continuación, se analiza cómo se desarrolló la partida hasta que se aplicó el castigo por ese error. Entonces, se regresa a la posición inicial para mostrar la continuación correcta o la más prometedora. Por lo tanto, el texto está estructurado de tal manera que cada reto contiene el diagrama inicial dos veces – antes de las jugadas de la partida real y, a continuación, en la página siguiente, antes de la solución.
Hay numerosos aspectos que un ajedrecista debe tener presentes durante el medio juego, y los autores han concebido este libro para abordar los errores típicos del medio juego: sacrificios incorrectos, crear amenazas imaginarias, defensas imaginarias contra las amenazas, captura de peones, ¿dar jaque o ganar material? – ¿qué es mejor?, evaluación incorrecta de los cambios en la estructura de peones, falta de atención al tomar decisiones, sustituir la estrategia por la táctica y tomar decisiones posicionales incorrectas.
El estudio de estos fragmentos clave de partidas de grandes maestros ayudará al jugador a desarrollar su enfoque del medio juego. En primer lugar, el alumno analiza por qué una jugada o una serie de jugadas de uno de los rivales fue errónea. ¿Qué contrajuego del rival subestimó el jugador que cometió el error? En segundo lugar, con esta respuesta en mente, el alumno puede revisar la posición para intentar averiguar cuál es la mejor jugada. Si el alumno trabaja con un entrenador, este debería, en primer lugar, preparar la posición en el tablero, mostrar la jugada errónea que se realizó y pedir al alumno que encuentre la refutación a esa mala jugada. Una vez que el alumno haya encontrado la refutación, el entrenador deberá volver a colocar la posición crítica y pedirle que encuentre la continuación más fuerte para el jugador que cometió el error inicial. Esto puede suponer una o más jugadas, dependiendo de la posición. Naturalmente, en el caso del autoaprendizaje, el alumno puede cambiar su enfoque, ya sea intentando descubrir la refutación al error, tapando el texto posterior, o simplemente estudiando las jugadas de la partida antes de intentar encontrar la mejor continuación, que se detalla en la página siguiente junto con el diagrama inicial.
Extracto: https://t.co/imeNrmzVrJ
Comprar: https://t.co/IfS9rY6M9m

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

Myron Netrebka from Dnipro, Ukraine, is the new World Chess Champion among boys under 9.

Myron scored 9.5 points out of 11 at the World Youth Chess Championship in Roquetas de Mar, Spain, taking gold.

He is the only medalist from Ukraine at the event. Last year he also claimed the world blitz title in the under-8 category.

[Elk and Ruby Publishing House @ilan_ruby]

@MisterPVG In-house

[Elk and Ruby Publishing House @ilan_ruby]

Elk and Ruby publishes Capablanca the Great Minimalist – Volume II: 1919-1928 by Cyrus Lakdawala
José Raúl Capablanca (1888-1942, World Champion 1921-1927) had a way of posting his pieces on exactly the perfect squares at the perfect time. For his opponents, it almost felt as if Capa’s pieces had a gift for condescension, since they had no need to look for opportunity. Opportunity instead came to them. The position’s optimal plan would magically and instantaneously arrange itself into coherent order within Capa’s chess mind.
Capablanca raised the bar on strategic understanding by at least one full generation. Only a handful of players in chess history were a generation ahead in strategic understanding: Morphy, Steinitz, Capablanca, Fischer, Karpov and Carlsen. The subject of this book and series is the third player on the list. While Capablanca was a player of his time, so advanced were his strategic ideas that he was simultaneously a person of our time as well.
There has never been a chess player who played blemish-free chess, yet some came close. At its best, Capa’s play appears free from obstacles of any kind. To players of that engine-free era, it sometimes felt as if Capablanca played perfect chess. The first time Emanuel Lasker met Capablanca and played blitz against him, he remarked that to his eyes, Capa never appeared to make a mistake.
Beginners often believe that quiet positions and endings are dead, lifeless realms. Play through Capablanca’s games and we see that they teem with life and possibility, since Capa saw hidden meanings in positions where his rivals were blind. He was especially deadly in quiet positions, since he had the unique ability to kill without seeming to strike a blow. By the time his opponents realized the danger, it was often too late to save themselves.
Few of us associate Capablanca with tactics, but maybe we should. He was one of the most tactically aware players of his era, rivaling both Lasker and Alekhine in this metric. Capa’s specialty was short-range combinations, which he almost never missed.
The present volume, number II, contains 107 freshly annotated games and fragments incorporating 103 exercises. It covers Capablanca’s world championship matches against Emanuel Lasker and Alexander Alekhine, famous tournaments including Hastings 1919, London 1922, New York 1924, Moscow 1925, New York 1927, and Bad Kissingen, Budapest and Berlin 1928 among others, as well as a host of other high-quality games. Other great opponents included Euwe, Bogoljubov, Maroczy, Nimzowitsch, Spielmann, Tarrasch, Rubenstein, Reti, Marshall, Edward Lasker, Tartakower, Thomas and Yates.

Buy here: https://t.co/VudE4le9qy
Extract: https://t.co/ttHnmFEmxF

[Luis Fernández Siles @capakhine]

Uno de los libros más interesantes y originales de este año. Se publicó primero en holandés y muchos estábamos esperando que apareciera en inglés. ¡Ha llegado el momento!

[Elk and Ruby Publishing House @ilan_ruby]

Still some copies left!

[Elk and Ruby Publishing House @ilan_ruby]

Elk and Ruby publishes The Art of Living: Memories of Two Chess Friends by Jan Timman and Hans Böhm

***Jan Timman’s parting gift to the chess world!***

Two friends look back in the autumn of their lives. Both began as promising chess players and went on to achieve success at home and abroad. As young men, they travelled the world together, sharing a host of adventures, some of them decidedly bizarre. Grandmaster Jan Timman made chess his life’s calling, rising in 1982 to number two in the world behind his great rival Anatoly Karpov. International Master Hans Böhm took a different path, using chess as a springboard for a successful career in the media.
Timman’s achievements at the chessboard gained even greater prominence through the efforts of his friend, who brought them to a wider public on television and radio and in newspapers and magazines. Together they look back on the Flower Power era, the Cold War period with the World Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, and the rise of the chess computer. Along the way, they revisit their own ambitions and adventures, their encounters with remarkable people, their many triumphs – and their occasional failures.
Together, Timman and Böhm helped bring chess to a mass audience through playful public appearances, numerous books, television courses, and even an LP and chess songs. In these autobiographical recollections, they look back on lives that were turbulent, productive and, above all, adventurous. Ten of Timman’s memorable games and ten of his own studies complement their story, while ten people who played an important role at different stages of their lives contribute recollections of their own.
At the same time, the reader is treated to a panorama of post-war Dutch chess history and the extraordinary efforts of the federation, sponsors and wider chess community to mount a credible challenge to Soviet and then Russian domination of the game, while building a grassroots movement that introduced chess to a new generation of youngsters – a bygone age that will never return.
***
Grandmaster Jan Timman (1951–2026) devoted his life to chess. He was a frequent contender in world championship cycles, and for decades remained one of the leading figures in international chess. The author of more than thirty books, he won the 2017 ECF Book of the Year Award for Timman’s Titans, his celebrated portrait of ten World Champions.
International Master Hans Böhm (b. 1950) is one of the Netherlands’ best-known chess personalities and promoters. His television programmes and radio appearances, books, lectures and other activities have helped popularise the game for generations. For many years he has been a chess columnist for De Telegraaf.
This book is available in both black and white paperback and hardback editions and in full-colour hardback.
The full-colour hardback edition can be ordered from the Elk and Ruby website or your favourite chess book shop, while the black and white paperback and hardback editions are available from the same sellers plus Amazon. The electronic versions of this book, on Kindle (already available) and Forward Chess (forthcoming), are also full-colour.
Extract: https://t.co/5VUtToo7PL
Buy now: https://t.co/5s66yCWxSY

[Mr. PVG / Paras V. Gudka @MisterPVG]

Interesting documentary by King Takes King on whether @chesscom is/was a monopoly, with some juicy gossip about @TakeTakeTakeApp taking them on and the consequences thereof:

https://t.co/j58SH754o4

[Luis Fernández Siles @capakhine]

🙌 Many of us were looking forward to this new release appearing in English.

[Olimpiu Di Luppi @olimpiuurcan]

"I recently came across a letter from Victor Korchnoi in response to fan mail which I sent him during the 1978 world chess championship match. I never expected a personal response, so it was a great and pleasant surprise." https://t.co/AoATE4vyvv

[Peter Heine Nielsen @PHChess]

Dear FIDE President @turlov

You promised to follow International law and the CAS verdict, yet you allow the FIDE Rated Russian 🇷🇺 Rapid Championship to proceed, despite participant from Illegally occupied Crimea 🇺🇦 and Luhansk 🇺🇦

Why do you not take any action?
@iocmedia

[Elk and Ruby Publishing House @ilan_ruby]

@TarjeiJS No, but you call somebody else the country's "most infamous criminal" 🤷‍♂️