It’s with immense pride that I announce our next title, Learn from the Legends 2, the sequel to one of our earliest books which became known as one of our all-time classics.
Mihail Marin’s reputation as an author speaks for itself, and he was in his element when writing this book. Like the original Legends work, this one serves as a tribute to five of the best players of the past, but with some changes in approach to the subject matter, as Mihail explains in his preface which you can read as part of the excerpt here. In another nod to the original book, we commissioned the same artist to produce five new drawings of the featured heroes.
All five chapters are superbly crafted, but my personal favourites are the chapters on Polugaevsky and Portisch, both of whom Marin faced over the board and got to know personally to a certain extent. The other players featured are Stein, Bronstein and Keres. In all the chapters, I loved the way Mihail highlighted certain distinctive features of our heroes’ play. In the case of Portisch in particular, I gained a totally fresh perspective into the Hungarian legend’s play, and a new appreciation of just how formidable Portisch was in his prime.
I was personally quite heavily involved in this project, including secondary editing duties and collecting, inserting and captioning photos. While the chess content takes centre stage, the photos are an absolute treat, and this book has more of them than any other QC publication. (Except perhaps The Thinkers…)
Finally, we adore the cover artwork by Mariya Yugina, otherwise known as Mihail Marin’s wife. I believe it was close to four years ago when Mihail first sent us an image of this painting, with the idea of using it for the cover of the Legends sequel. John Shaw mentioned that he might be interested in buying the original artwork but didn’t take any immediate action, so a certain colleague of his swooped in and bought it, along with one more of Mariya’s wonderful paintings!
Learn from the Legends 2 is available for preorder in both paperback and hardcover, with a release date of 26 February in chess shops as well as e-publishing platforms.
May I ask if you have any information on how many repertoire books are going to be released this year ? Thank you.
Good evening Andrew,
A little bit off topic, but I had a quick look on the New In Chess site and I’m looking forward to Nigel Davies’ forthcoming Accelerated Dragon book for Popular Chess. I just wanted to ask if the White alternatives on move 2 and 3 will be examined too please? (E.g. Alapin, Closed Sicilian, Grand Prix 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 f4, 2 Nc3 3 Nc6 3 Bb5, etc)
Thank you for your time and assistance.
EDIT: I checked the information again this morning, and it says ‘A full repertoire after 1 e4, so that is my question answered!
Thank you! :0)
Hi,
I was wondering, if you are planning to publish a book on the Kalashnikov, together with coverage on Anti Sicilians. I think it’s a really dynamic opening in the spirit of the Sveshnikov and Tony Rotella has written a really good book on it.
Have a nice day
Stefan
Hello
Maybe you would like Kings Kalashnikov by Daniel King. It is a bit light in some lines, but in general a very good material. He also has a book on the Anti Sicilians. Both are based on chessable courses, very good btw
Good evening Andrew,
I just wanted to ask if there is a confirmed publication date for Davies’ Accelerated Dragon book by Popular Chess please? I am asking as New In Chess shows one date, and Amazon UK also have the book listed at a much later date in the future. I know from experience that Amazon are not good with publication dates of chess books, but on the other hand there have been lots of upcoming titles added to the New In Chess coming soon page and it is not so clear which books are coming and when.
Thank you for your help.
James