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The Secret of Chess

Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 6:17 am
by Lyudmil Tsvetkov
hello everyone.

Recently I published an innovative book on chess knowledge/chess evaluation,
'The Secret of Chess'.
It pretty much follows the vein of Nimzovich and Kmoch books, but is much more
detailed and advanced, I would dare say.
Chess knowledge patterns and terms have been widely verified with countless
games and analysis sessions, using Stockfish and Komodo chess engines.

The book is available for purchase on my site: http://www.secretofchess.com/
as well as on amazon as ebook and paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074M85CVV

The book contains more than 500 diagrams.
More about it on my site.

I guess this is one purchase you will not regret!

Re: The Secret of Chess

Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 10:51 am
by Angus French
Interesting - and original. Reads - from the extracts provided - like a algorithm for a position evaluation function of a chess engine.

Re: The Secret of Chess

Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2017 5:35 am
by Lyudmil Tsvetkov
Thanks for the interest, Angus!

Indeed, it is suitable for building a chess engine.
But the book can of course be used as a comprehensive guide on
chess knowledge/pattern recognition.

I have always asked myself this question: if this is indeed a ground-breaking work,
with 3 to 5 times more available parameters than what Nimzovich and Kmoch would
have, why it is so unpopular?

I simply can not answer myself that question, but obviously, that is my fate:
to do something of worth and then consistently fail to get the due appreciation.

One certainly should not write ahead of his time...
(most of the people who deicided to do the purchase are talkchess forum members,
who know me and my contributions very well.)

btw., a large portion of Stockfish evaluation, especially its more advanced part,
is due directly to my ideas/contributions.

Re: The Secret of Chess

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2017 8:12 am
by Angus French
Review by David Smerdon here.

Re: The Secret of Chess

Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2017 1:32 pm
by Lyudmil Tsvetkov
Thanks Angus!

I was just going to post about it. :)

One more brief review here by Russell Sherwood of the Welsh Correspondence Chess Association:
https://www.welshccf.org.uk/article/325

Re: The Secret of Chess

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 9:16 am
by Lyudmil Tsvetkov
One more review has appeared, by IM Gerard Welling from the Netherlands:
https://www.chess.com/blog/Swordfish55/ ... t-of-chess

Maybe it is time to buy the book. :)

https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Chess-Lyu ... 1522041400

Re: The Secret of Chess

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2018 10:37 pm
by MJMcCready
Why did you choose such a cliched title? How about: 'The secrets and mysteries of chess that are mysteriously kept secret by mysterious players who play chess together in secret then mysteriously charge money to be paid into secret bank accounts in exchange for their diagrams of the curious mysteries and top secrets of chess?

Re: The Secret of Chess

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:20 pm
by Lyudmil Tsvetkov
One more review is available, by IM Herman Grooten of the Netherlands:
http://www.secretofchess.com/files/1777 ... 0Chess.pdf

So far, we have 4, and, although not all are ecstatic, all are largely positive.
Maybe the bigger number of reviews can help you make up your mind better.

I would be very happy for anyone considering the book, when it is in a slump:
https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Chess-Lyu ... 1522041400

Re: The Secret of Chess

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 9:59 pm
by Michael Farthing
Lyudmil Tsvetkov and James Plaskett could engage in some mutual help and buy each other's book..

Re: The Secret of Chess

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 9:02 am
by Lyudmil Tsvetkov
Thanks for the suggestion, Michael.
Very kind indeed.
I am not certain how one posts pgn replayable games here, but below my first handicap win and first draw over SF 9, maybe someone enjoys such games.





I would be happy, if someone could make the games replayable, I simply don't know how to do it and see no intuitive fen/pgn tags...
Sorry, I am in an awful hurry, thanks for the understanding.

Edit: I found the tags, they are in the full editor

Re: The Secret of Chess

Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 8:54 am
by Lyudmil Tsvetkov
If anyone is interested, 2 more draws against latest SF:





'The Secret of Chess' has lots of concepts, that would be conducive to building fortresses:
- distant neighbour pawns on the 4th rank
- 7 or 8 files closed with pairs of blocked or symmetrical aligned pawns, etc.
So that, I am using the concepts of my own book to draw.
And to win too, but currently I am not in a very good form.

Re: The Secret of Chess

Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 9:41 am
by Roger de Coverly
Lyudmil Tsvetkov wrote:
Thu Feb 08, 2018 8:54 am

So that, I am using the concepts of my own book to draw.
In the second game, the plan of playing f6 and e5 looks obvious. It's an attempted pawn break as described over fifty years ago by Kmoch in his book "Pawn Power in Chess". That doesn't make it any good and perhaps engines aren't programmed with Kmoch's ideas.

Re: The Secret of Chess

Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 8:50 am
by Lyudmil Tsvetkov
Roger de Coverly wrote:
Thu Feb 08, 2018 9:41 am
Lyudmil Tsvetkov wrote:
Thu Feb 08, 2018 8:54 am

So that, I am using the concepts of my own book to draw.
In the second game, the plan of playing f6 and e5 looks obvious. It's an attempted pawn break as described over fifty years ago by Kmoch in his book "Pawn Power in Chess". That doesn't make it any good and perhaps engines aren't programmed with Kmoch's ideas.
Playing f6 and then e5 is impossible, because the white d4 and f4 pawns strongly bind the center.
Besides, after this break, the black d5 pawn becomes weak/undefended and easy target for attack.
If SF did not play the break, then probably it was not realistic. SF usually sees such shallow breaks easily.
On the contrary, SF has the Kmoch lever concept in its code, however, the concrete implementation is mine: in 2014, a patch
based on my idea to give bonuses to levers(pawns attacking opponent pawns) on the 5th and 6th ranks succeeded in SF.
The bonuses are 20 centipawns roughly for the 5th rank and 40 centipawns for the 6th rank.
They have been tuned since then.
So that, Kmoch's very ingenious idea succeeded in SF with my implementation.

Re: The Secret of Chess

Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 8:54 am
by Lyudmil Tsvetkov
I see people here are browsing the games, so 2 more.
With 1. d4 c5! I have only draws against SF, one such:


And one handicap win.



It is fun playing with SF, unfortunately, one can not do that all day long.

Re: The Secret of Chess

Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 10:05 am
by Roger de Coverly


It might not be any good, but a human player, if searching for a win or higher rated or both would be considering a plan of f6 and e5. |That would apply particularly if White was just shuffling. There might be better squares for the Rooks than b8 and e8 so perhaps later rather than immediately.