London Chess Classic UPDATE w/Results

One of the best tournaments for web viewing will be starting up this Saturday in England.  The London Chess Classic is in its fourth year and draws the worlds strongest players.  This year you have Magnus Carlsen (Top rated in the World), Vishy Anand (World Champion), Vladmir Kramnik (former World Champion), Levon Aronian (2nd highest rated in the world), Hikaru Nakamura (US Champion), Judith Polgar (Top rated woman in the world), Luke McShane (2nd highest rated UK Player), Gawain Jones (current UK Champion) and Michael Adams (UK highest Rated Player).

What I think makes this event great is the live video coverage.  In past years, the games are analyzed during the round by top UK GMs and IMs as well as the player that has the rest day and isn't playing.  After games are over, the players stop by and go through their games.  Usually the commentary is educational AND entertaining.

The web site is:

londonchessclassic.com

First round starts at 6am Pacific Standard Time on Saturday, December 1st.  If you happen to be awake, go to the site and click on the "Live Commentary" link to watch the games in progress and listen to the commentary.

Here is a video from IM Andrew Martin with a preview of the event:




UPDATE: The tournament finished this morning with the clear winner being Magnus Carlsen.  Not only did he win the tournament, in doing so he has broken Gary Kasparov's rating records and is now the highest rated player ever!  Former World Champion Vladmir Kramnik took clear 2nd.

Here is a final Cross-Table of the event.  Click to enlarge.

Chess Life Article on East Bay Open

Thanks to some help from Ted Castro, our article about the East Bay Open is now on Chess Life Online. Here is the link:

http://www.uschess.org/content/view/11982/688

East Bay Open 2012 Games PGN File

With a little work and some help from Michael D'Alfonsi, all the games scores that were turned in at the East Bay Open have been entered in and a PGN file generated.  All together there are 60 games in the PGN file. You can download it here:

East Bay Open GAMES

As was pointed out by one of our members, this type of file isn't particularly liked by all, so below are five more of the most interesting games submitted that you can view here on the site.  Enjoy!

Three Games from East Bay Open

I am steadily working through the score sheets from the tournament in my spare time and will eventually post a .pgn file of all the games that were turned in and legible.  Until then, here are three games to hold everyone over.

Sevillano Wins First East Bay Open

Over Veterans Day Weekend, ninety-seven chess players from beginners to masters competed in the inaugural East Bay Open Chess Tournament.  The players traveled from as far away as Las Vegas, NV, San Diego and  Eureka to compete in the event held in Concord, CA at the Crowne Plaza and sponsored by the Contra Costa Chess Club.  The event was divided into four sections by skill level with thirty players including nine masters competing in the top section.  The tournament included five rounds played over three days with each game potentially taking up to five hours to complete.

The event kicked off with a visit from Concord Mayor Ron Leone.  The Mayor welcomed everyone to the event and on behalf of the City Council presented the Contra Costa Chess Club with a proclamation naming Nov  9th-11th "Contra Costa Chess Club East Bay Open Tournament Days".

After five rounds of play, the clear winner of the top section was top seed Grandmaster Enrico Sevillano from Tehachapi, CA.  He scored four and a half points out of five to take home the $1000 first place prize.  Grandmaster Sevillano has been on a tear through Northern California in the last three weeks sharing first in the National G/30 Championship, winning the National G/60 Championship (both held in Pleasanton, CA), winning the Auburn Power Open and now winning the East Bay Open.

During the tournament, a crew was doing a documentary on one of the players, Frederic Lawrence Dutter.  Mr. Dutter is an expert level player but has not played in a tournament in well over ten years.  The documentary is following his comeback to the game.  During the tournament he started off strong with two points in his first two games but then struggled in his remaining games.  

The other three sections of the tournament had clear winners as well.  Taking first in the Under 2000 rating section was Alexander Mariano with four and a half points out of five points.   The Under 1600 section was won by local chess coach Nenad Zagorac and the Under 1200 Section was won by Darmawan Ali Effendi.  (A complete list of winners may be found at the end of the article.)

After the conclusion of the event, a Speed Chess Tournament was held.  In speed chess, each player has only five minutes for all the moves of their game.  If they run out of time, they lose their game.  This side event attracted seventeen players and was won by International Master Ray Kaufman.  Fide Master Ronald Cusi took clear second place.

The event was sponsored by the Contra Costa Chess Club (www.ccchess.com) with John Michael Treshler playing the role of chief organizer.  The tournament was run by chief tournament director Scott Mason assisted by Pete Klein and John Harris.  The success of the event was quite a group effort with many members of the club (and others) playing and helping encourage others to play in the event.  In particular, we would like to thank the efforts of John Sefton, Jeff Mc Cann, Stewart Spada, Trevor Stearman, Ted Castro, Emmanuel Perez and Salman Azhar along with the chief organizer and tournament directors for making the event a success.

The Contra Costa Chess Club meets twice a week and encourages players of all levels to attend and have fun.  On Thursday nights it meets in Clayton, CA at the Starbucks at Clayton Rd. and Yagnacio Valley Rd starting at 6:15pm and on Monday Nights it meets in Walnut Creek, CA downtown at Cafe La Scala starting around 7pm.

EAST BAY OPEN PRIZE WINNERS

Open Section
1st - GM Enrico Sevillano
2nd-3rd - IM Ray Kaufman and NM Hyak Manvelyan
4th-5th - IM Ricardo De Guzman and NM Jimmy Heiserman
U2200 - Kevin Davidson and Andy Applebaum

U2000 Section
1st - Alexander Mariano
2nd-3rd - Valeriy Timofeyev and Anthony Zhou
4th - Yuan Wang
1st U1800 - Audrey Zhao
2nd U1800 tie - Sameer Vijay and Pete Klein

U1600 Section
1st - Nenad Zagorac
2nd - Chenyi Zhao
3rd - Rishith Susarla
4th tie - Chinguun Bayaraa, Bill Kelley Jr, Justin Tan, Jason Shuhe Zhang, and David Chi Ralston
U1400 tie - Andrew McGloin and Scott Cameron

U1200 Section
1st - Darmawan Ali Effendi
2nd - Louis Law
3rd-4th tie - Jack McFadin, Fred Tabisaura, Arthur Boudreault, Jared Zurlo and Rob Clem

East Bay Open Speed Chess Results

After the main tournament was over, 17 players slugged it out in an unrated Speed Chess Tournament (G/5).  The speed chess event was 5 rounds with two games against each player.

The winner of the event was IM Ray Kaufman taking clear first and the prize of $60.  Clear second was FM Ronald Cusi winning $30.

The under 1900 prize was a three way split between Stewart Spada, Micahel J Wang and Bayaraa Bekhtur each winning $10.  The U1500 prize was won by Darmawan Ali Effendi taking home $30.

The crosstable for the event may be found in the results tab.

Special thanks to Pete Klein for directing!

Random Pictures from East Bay Open

Here are some pictures from the East Bay Open over the last weekend.  If you happened to take any, feel free to submit and I will add on to this post with them.  Click on any picture to enlarge.

The Mayor of Concord, Ron Leone

Off and running on Saturday Morning

Proclamation from the Mayor, Ron Leone, and City Council of Concord

Room from another view

GM Enrico Sevillano vs. NM Jimmy Heiserman

Under 1600 Section Winner Nenad Zagorac with Organizer John Michael Treshler and TD Scott Mason

The U1200 Section enjoying their participation medals

Tournament Winner Grandmaster Enrico Sevillano receiving check from Organizer John Michael Treshler

U1200 Section Winner Darmawan Ali Effendi with Tournament Director Scott Mason

Local players Rob Clem and Jack McFadin picking up their winnings from Organizer John Michael Treshler

Again, if you happened to take some pictures from the event, we would appreciate your forwarding them on to us for us to share.

Article about East Bay Open

The Concord Patch has posted an article about the tournament:

http://concord-ca.patch.com/articles/concord-hosts-east-bay-open-chess-tournament

We are excited to get some local press for the event!  Special thanks to John H. for getting the information and pictures to the Patch!

Over the next few days, as time permits, we will be posting pictures, a summary and games from the event.  Final standings and prizes may be found now in the "Pairings/Results" tab.

My Chess Battle with Grandmaster Walter Browne

Game Info:
White: Mason, S - 2009 USCF Rating
Black: GM Browne, W - 2501 USCF Rating
Game played at the G/30 National Championship in Pleasanton,CA on 10-27-2012.
Opening: B33 - Sicilian Defense, Sveshnikov Variation
Result: 0-1

This was my first tournament game ever against a Grandmaster.  Of course I lost, but it was fun none the less and a great honor to get to play a legend such as Grandmaster Browne.  Enjoy!

If you have any games you would like analyzed or posted, please send them in!

National G/30 and G/60 Championships

It was a great weekend for chess!  Bay Area Chess hosted the National G/30 and G/60 Championships in Pleasanton over this last weekend.  It was a great turnout with two Grandmasters and numerous International Masters playing in the event.  It was a four way tie for first place in the G/30 Championship between GM Walter Browne, GM Enrico Sevillano, IM Cyrus Lakdawala and NM John Cline.  The G/60 Championship was won outright by GM Enrico Sevillano.

Personally, both events went decently for me (translation: I picked up rating points from both events but no money).  Below are two games of mine from the event.  The first is a long win over a 2318 rated National Master in the G/30 and the second is my last round win in the G/60 that includes a queen sacrifice for mate.  I did have the pleasure of playing against GM Walter Browne in the G/30 (I lost the game).  I will be making a video for that game and put it in a different post. Here are the games:

Funny...

For those that play chess in any of the Bay Area tournaments, you are probably familiar with Samuel Sevian (currently a FM with one IM norm).  This is a video I found on YouTube that was taken a few years back where he wins a speed game off IM Greg Shahade.  The video is mildly funny for the commentary (since you can't really follow the game).  Enjoy!

Game from French Championship

This last Saturday during our extra session, many of us had the chance to go look at this game from the French Championship. In the game, Black missed a little threat by White to trap his queen.  Mike was so unhappy with Black's error that he wants to invite him to our tournament to play in his section.  :)  Here is the game:

Nice Finish!

Here is a great game by one of our members.  It was played online and ends with a nice combination.

Thanks to John S. for sharing this with us.

Kings Gambit Analysis

A couple of the club members have been playing some games and doing some analysis in the Kings Gambit. No discussion is really complete without reading Bobby Fischer's famous article "A Bust to the King's Gambit" that he wrote in 1961 and was originally published in American Chess Quarterly.  For those that would like to read it, here is a link the the article:

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/bust.pdf

Thank you to Pete K. for tracking down this great article and providing the link.

A Short Cute Game

Typically I don't like to post "crushes" of lower rated players, but this one was kinda cute in my moderately biased opinion.  :)  It was played in an online tournament on chess.com.  It is difficult to know the age or real skill level of the Black player.  Enjoy!

Chess Video: Game Z. Polgar - Weir 1986

Game Info:
White: IM Polgar, Z 
Black: Weir, J - 1585 USCF Rating 
Game played in a Simultaneous Exhibition in Bakersfield, CA in 1986.  
Opening: A44 - Semi Benoni
Result: 1-0

A very fun short game from a Simul given by Z Polgar back in her IM days.  Enjoy! 

If you have any games you would like analyzed or posted, please send them in! (e-mail address is in the "Contact Us" tab)

Chess Olympiad Begins

For those that are not aware of it, every two years FIDE (International Chess Federation) puts on a Chess Olympiad.  This is not associated with the normal Olympics (not yet anyway).   Each country fields a team of 5 players.  Only 4 can play each round.  Today was the first round.

This year there are 158 teams playing in the open section and 124 teams in the women's section.  Both US teams are off to a great start with 4-0 wins over their opponents (The men played Jordan and the Women played New Zealand).  Both teams were ranked 5th overall by average rating going into the tournament.

The US Teams are:

    

Here is the web site for the tournament.  On there you can view games, pairings and results. Each morning as the round is underway you can also watch a video with analysis of the games in progress.

http://www.chessolympiadistanbul.com/

UPDATE: In the open section, the USA men finished in 5th place.  It was a big win for the nations of the former Soviet Union.  Taking Gold was Armenia, Russia took Silver and Ukraine Bronze.  China was in 4th place showing how strong that countries players have become.

In the Women's tournament, USA placed 10th.  Taking Gold was Russia, China Silver and Ukraine Bronze.

Andreiken wins Russian Championship

Russia is still the country with the largest number of chess masters in the world.  (2nd is Germany)  They recently held their national championship.  After the "normal" tournament was done, there were 6 Grandmasters tied for first.  There was a rapid playoff and the winner was Grandmaster Dmitry Andreikin.  Below is his most exciting win where he shows how to demolish the Caro-Kann.  The fireworks start on move 18 and his opponent resigned 5 moves later.  Enjoy the game:

"Thrilling" Dragon from Great Britain Championship

The Great Britain Championship recently concluded.  It was won by Grandmaster Gawain Jones who tied with Grandmaster Stephen Gordon with 9 points out of 11 rounds.  GM Jones won the playoff match 2-0 thereby winning the title.

This is a video by International Master Andrew Martin of GM Jones 11th Round game.  The game was played in the Sicilian Dragon and GM Jones had Black against FM Dave Ledger.



Special thanks to John H. for passing along the YouTube channel with this video.  There are many other great videos on this channel.  Here is the link if you would like to watch some of the others:

www.youtube.com/user/YMChessMaster

Game from Biel Grandmaster Tournament

There is a strong Grandmaster Tournament going on currently in Biel, Switzerland. The tournament includes the world's highest ranked player, Magnus Carlsen, and current U.S. Champion Hikaru Nakamura.

As of slightly over the halfway mark of the tournament, the tournament is led by Wang Hao from China. He has won all of his games except for one (see below). You can see the current standings and live games on the tournament site:

www.bielchessfestival.ch

Besides the Grandmaster Tournament, there is also a Masters Tournament going on along side it. Grandmaster Sam Shankland, originally from Orinda, is playing in it and after 6 rounds is on 4.5 points, a half point behind the leaders.

The below video is a game from the Grandmaster tournament. It is between the world's highest rated player Magnus Carlsen and the tournament leader Wang Hao. It is a unique opportunity to see the analysis and thinking of the world's top player. Enjoy!

UPDATE: The Grandmaster Tournament was ultimately won by Want Hao from China, just barely edging out Magnus Carlsen by one point.  Carlsen did manage to beat Hao in both the games they played against each other.

In the Master Tournament, which included 30 Grandmasters in a field of 111 participants, Sam Shankland ended with 7.5/11, a half point behind the winners group (tying for 4th-12th).  The winner was Igor Kurnosov from Russia.

Kevin K. does well at People's Tournament

Congratulations to Kevin K. for his great result at the recent People's Tournament playing in Pleasanton. Kevin scored three points out of five rounds which put him in a tie for 6th to 8th place in the overall tournament. For his efforts, Kevin picked up 13 rating points moving his rating to 2119!

Great job Kevin!

King's Gambit Game

Hi all,

One of our members, Dave W. that runs the Pink Elephant Chess Podcast, won a battle against the Internet Chess Club's 3000+ rated computer. He made a chess video of the game with his notes.

Here is the link to watch the chess video of the game. Just click on the image to watch it.

http://pechesscast.blogspot.com/2010/02/chess-terminators.html

Robert H. wins recent Berkeley Chess School Friday Night Marathon

Congratulations to Robert H., who won the most recently concluded Friday Night Marathon at the Berkeley Chess School. For those that are not familiar with it, the Berkeley Chess School (located a few blocks north of UC Berkeley) runs a rated event with one round each Friday night. A full tournament is 6 rounds. Robert scored 5.5 out of 6 to win the event by a full point. His only draw was against Master Robin Cunningham.

Robert regularly shows up at both the Clayton and Walnut Creek clubs and usually trounces all comers. Here is what he felt was one of his best games from the Berkeley event with some notes he provided.

Game from Philadelphia International

At the club this last Thursday, a few of us went over a game from the recently concluded Philadelphia International. This tournament runs just prior to the World Open and give some of America's up and coming players a chance to try for norms towards the International Master and Grandmaster titles.

This game is the final round game by the tournament winner, GM Abhijeet Gupta from India. In it his opponent, IM Dean Ippolito from New Jersey has a tough time in the main line Queens Gambit. One of the main challenges for Black in the Queens Gambit is solving the problem of his queens bishop. It typically, as in this game, gets trapped behind its own pawns and hampers development of the queen rook as well. If your opponent gets all his pieces into play, it is almost like playing a piece or two down.

Enjoy the game!

Contra Costa Members do well at Berkeley Open

It was a good weekend for a few of our members that played in the Berkeley Open over the weekend. The tournament was held at the Berkeley Chess School a few blocks north of the US Berkeley campus. It was 4 rounds over Saturday and Sunday with about 70 players competing in 3 sections.

Scott M. went 4-0 to win the A-B player section and win $240. This pushed his rating over the 2000 mark! (see one of his games below)

Pete K. went 3-1 in the A-B section and tied with one other person for the top under 1800 prize. He won $147.50 and picked up 64 rating points!

Robert H. played in the Open section and scored 50%. It should be noted that he played at the Bay Area Chess Summer Open in Milpitas a few weeks back and took clear 2nd in that tournament!

Great job guys!

Here is one of Scott's games from the event:

Chess Video: Game John H - Nelson

Game Info:
White: Harris, J - 1596 USCF Rating
Black: Neslon, C - 1544 USCF Rating
Casual game played on 3/11/10 at the Mechanics Institute with a time control of 30/90, SD/30.
Opening: C45 - Scotch Game, Mieses Variation
Result: 1-0

This was a solid performance by White with a Bishop Sacrifice on f7 for good compensation. Black walked into a quick mate and resigned on move 14. Enjoy!

If you have any games you would like analyzed or posted, please send them in! (e-mail address is in the "Contact Us" tab)

Exciting Game from Tal Memorial 2012

Below is an exciting game where GM Luke McShane from England won a great game playing Black against GM Levon Aronian, the currently number 2 ranked player in the world. In the final position, Black is forcing mate in a few more moves.


For other games from the event, you can see the final standings and replay the games at chessgames.com

UPDATE: With two rounds to go, there were 5 players tied for first. In the penultimate round, Fabiano Caruana from Italy pulled into sole lead with a win over former World Champion Vladmir Kramnik only to lose in the final round to world number two ranked Levon Aronian. This allowed Magnus Carlsen to win the tournament outright with a win in his final game. Magnus was the only player to go undefeated throughout the tournament.

CHESS CLUB's Sad News: Rudy Passed Away

Hi Everyone . . .

Last Thursday, during our regular club session, we received the terribly sad news that our dear friend and chess enthusiast Rudy Thorwirth passed away.

Rudy had a lot of energy and was quite active, with several interests that included chess, tennis, dancing, piano playing, stocks and bonds, the internet, long walks . . . and probably lots more that we don't realize . . . . . not bad for an 82-year old who died doing perhaps one of his favorite things, walking around the Lafayette Reservoir (on May 21, 2012). I understand Rudy was alone and had a heart attack during his walk, and that he never regained consciousness.

Rudy will be remembered by many in the chess club for his enthusiasm for the game, and for his friendship that he extended immediately with such good humor and gentleness with everyone he would meet. Along with John S., Stewart, and Hossam, Rudy helped establish the Contra Costa Chess Club as a going concern when it was still quite new as a USCF affiliate club at its Starbucks venue. He will be dearly missed, that is for certain.

Thank you to John S. for providing the picture of Rudy.

-- Mike T.

Exciting game from recent US Championship

Last night at the club we looked at the following game from the recent US Championship. The championship was won by GM Hikaru Nakamura, however this game features a win by GM Robert Hess playing black against GM Gregory Kaidanov. It is an exciting tactical battle where Hess sacrificed his queen on move 20 for three pieces. He co-ordinates his pieces very well and in the end is forcing the win of at least an exchange. Enjoy!

Chess Video: Game Mason-McCann

Game Info:
White: Mason, S - 1980 USCF Rating
Black: McCann, J - 2033 USCF Rating
Casual game played on 5/21/12 with no clock
Opening: A88 - Dutch Defense
Result: 0-1

This was a wild tactical battle with both sides getting in some good moves. It concludes with a queen sacrifice for mate. Enjoy!

If you have any games you would like analyzed or posted, please send them in!

Chess Video: Mason, S-Holmes, G

Here is my first attempt at a chess video! Please comment and let me know if you would like more of this type of content.

Game Info:
White: Mason, S - 1980 USCF Rating
Black: Holmes, G - 1886 USCF Rating
Tournament: Columbia, SC G/20 Quick Chess Quad played on 5/17/12
Opening: B36 - Accerated Dragon Maroczy Bind
Result: 1-0

Recently I was traveling for work and had a free evening so I found a quick chess tournament about 60 miles away. I tied for first in the quad and won a net sum of $3 for my efforts (and lost 10 rating points). Enjoy the game!

Anand-Gelfand, World Championship Game 8

Perhaps we should put some chess on the chess site too! By request, for those that have not seen it yet, Game 8 of the World Chess Championship that is currently going on in Moscow between World Champion Vishy Anand and challenger Boris Gelfand. Gelfand made a miscalculation getting his queen trapped and ended up resigning on move 17! It is one of the shortest decisive games in World Chess Championship history.

UPDATE: As of this morning (5-30-12), the match was won by Anand, retaining the title of World Champion. The first 12 games ended with a tie score of 6-6 (one win each and 10 draws). The match was then decided by a 4 game playoff match of quick time control chess (approximately G/30). Anand won the second game of the quick chess match when Gelfand made a mistake in a drawn ending under time pressure. Anand drew the other three games to win the playoff 2.5 pts-1.5 pts.

Chess Books For Sale

If you are looking for some great deals on chess books, one of our members that runs the Pink Elephant Chess Podcast has many on his site for sale. Here is a partial list:

Kasparov My Great Predecessors: Prices are 50% 0ff this series
Pt 1 $35
Pt 2 $35
Pt 3 $30
Pt 4 $35

Dvoretsky Series
School of Chess Excellence #1(Paperback) PE's Price $12.00 List Price $26.60
School of Chess Excellence #2: Tactical Play (Paperback) PE's Price $12.00 List Price $26.60-$35
School of Chess Excellence #3(Paperback)PE's Price $12.00 List Price $26.60 School of Chess Excellence #4: Opening Developments PE's Price $12.00 Amazon $23.10/List Price $35
List Price for all 4 vol. $103
Buy all 4 volumes for a bigger savings $42.00

More Dvoretsky Books
Opening Preparation (Paperback) PE's Price $15.00 List Price $25.39
Attack & Defense (Paperback) PE's Price $15.00 List Price $40.00

C.J.S. Purdy
#1 Search for Chess Perfection $45.00 PE's Price $20.00 + Shipping Condition NEW
#2 Extreme Chess" World Championships 1935, 1937, 1972 $49.00/ $75.00 PE's Price $20.00
#3 Guide to Good Chess $33.00 PE's $18.00
#4 How Purty Won $10.00 New HB Ed Discriptive $10.00
#5 Action Chess: Purdy's 24 Hours Opening Repertoire $37.00 PE's Price $20.00
#6 How Fischer Won

BIO's
Spassky: 100 Best Games (Bernard Cafferty) Hard Bound: Descriptive Notation [Condition Good]
Best Games of Boris Spassky (Andrew Soltis) Hard Bound: Descriptive Notation [Condition like new]
Chess Star's Series Tal: 4 Vols (complete) $60.00

Tournament Books
Bronstein's 1953 Zurich Hardcover w/Jacket 1st Edition

Openings
Ideas behind the Chess Openings GM Fine
The Opening Game in Chess - GM Ludek Pachman
How to Open a Chess Game
Mastering the Chess Openings Vol 1 & 2
Modern Chess Opening Theory - GM Suetin
Plan like a Grandmaster - GM Suetin
(X) Lastly Mastering the Endgame Volume 1 & 2 IM Shereshevsky (Types of Endgames that lead from given openings)

Strategy and Tactics
Chess Fundamentals - Wch. GM Capablanca
A Primer of Chess - Wch. GM Capablanca
Laskers Manual
The Middlegame in Chess - GM Pachman
Point Count Chess
The Middle Game in Chess - GM Fine
Chess Strategy For the Tournament Player -GM Alburt
Complete Chess Strategy - GM Pachman
How to Play the Middlegame in Chess Littlewood
The Middle game in Chess - Znosko Borovsky
The Art of the Middle Game -GM's Keres and Kotov
New Ideas in Chess - GM Evans
Positional Chess Handbook - Gelfer
Art of chess Combination - Znosko Borovsky
The Art of Checkmate - Renaud and Khan
Combinations in the Middlegame - Bondarevsky
Chess Tactics - GM Kotov
Combination Challenge - Hays and Hall
The Inner Game of Chess - GM Soltis
The Art of Combination - Blokh
Chess Middle Game Combinations
Attack With Tal
Modern Chess Tactics
Attack and Defense in Chess Tactics
The Art of Attack - Vukovic
The Chess Sacrifice - Vukovic
Think Like a Grandmaster - GM Kotov
Play Like a Grandmaster - GM Kotov
Train Like a Grandmaster - GM Kotov
Pawns in Action - Sokolsky
Pawn Power In Chess - Kmoch
Pawn Structure Chess - GM Soltis
Understanding Pawn Play in Chess - Marovic
Chess Middlegame Planning - Romanovsky
Judgement and Planning - Wch. Dr. Max Euwe
Planning in Chess - GM Flesch
How to Choose a Chess Move - GM Soltis
Three Steps to Chess Mastery - GM Suetin
A Contemporary Approach to The Middle Game - GM Suetin
Secrets of Positional Chess - Marovic
The MiddleGame Book 1 & 2 - Wch. Dr. Max Euwe
Art of the Sacrifice Spielman
Middlegames - Laszlo Polgar RARE!

Endgame
Chess Endings for the Practical Player - Pachman
The Endings in Modern Theory and Practice
Endgame Strategy - Shereshevsky
Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual
Pal Benko's Endgame Laboratory

To purchase any of these books, please go to the Pink Elephant Chess Podcast Store

Article About Walnut Creek Chess Club

Here is a link to a great article written in the Walnut Creek Patch about the group that meets at Cafe La Scala on Monday Nights:

Poisoned Pawns & Fianchettoes on North Main