Imagine you are a club player who has been given the opportunity to talk at length with a famous grandmaster. How would you make the most of this opportunity?

Club players are unaware of the subtleties in Grandmaster chess. Great players can analyze chess at a depth that is unfathomable to amateurs. However, having reached such a high level can make it difficult to understand what is lacking in the mind of the amateur.

Lessons with a Grandmaster bridges this gap between grandmaster and amateur through a series of conversations between teacher, the renowned Grandmaster Boris Gulko, and student Dr. Joel R. Sneed, a professor of psychology and amateur chess player.

The lessons are based on Gulko's own battles against fellow grandmasters, and there is particular focus on strategy, tactics and the role of psychology in chess competition.

• Learn from the chess games of Boris Gulko
• Typical questions you would ask a Grandmaster - answered!
• Improve your understanding of chess strategy and psychology

Lessons with a Grandmaster II focuses on dynamic chess, developing chess imagination, the capacity to take risks, the ability to simultaneously attack and defend, and perhaps above all, the ability to visualize the chess board and calculate combinations in sharp positions.

• Improve your tactical play and visualization

Boris Gulko is one of the most distinguished Grandmasters in the chess world. He's a former Soviet Champion and has also won the US Championship twice since his immigration in 1986, making him the only chess player ever to have held both the American and Soviet championship titles.

Dr. Joel R. Sneed is a professor of psychology at Queens College of the City University of New York, an amateur chess enthusiast and student of Boris Gulko's.

UPDATE: Since working on this book Dr. Sneed has gained 200 rating points and tied for 1st place in the Marshall Chess Club Under 2000 tournament with 4 out of 5 and a performance rating of 2100!

His rating before the book was 1613 and now his rating is 1813. He also earned his first norm for the 1st category title.

John D. Warth, ChessCafe.com on Volume I:
"This title is destined to be a classic (..)"

Paul Kane - Manchester Chess Federation on Volume I:
"It's impossible to recommend this book highly enough. Ten out of ten."