---
product_id: 8940352
title: "New Art of Defence in Chess"
price: "€ 42.70"
currency: EUR
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.gr/products/8940352-new-art-of-defence-in-chess
store_origin: GR
region: Greece
---

# 228 pages of expert chess defense insights 123 annotated games with critical defensive moments Updated 2014 edition with 75+ post-1974 games New Art of Defence in Chess

**Price:** € 42.70
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

## Summary

> ♟️ Defend like a Grandmaster — Outsmart, Outlast, Outplay!

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** New Art of Defence in Chess
- **How much does it cost?** € 42.70 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Currently out of stock
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.gr](https://www.desertcart.gr/products/8940352-new-art-of-defence-in-chess)

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## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
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## Key Features

- • **Concise & Practical:** Focused, no-fluff analysis designed for competitive players and serious students alike.
- • **Grandmaster Insights:** Benefit from Andrew Soltis’ expert annotations and clear, engaging commentary.
- • **Balanced Game Coverage:** Explore middle game and queenless endgame scenarios for comprehensive defense skills.
- • **Modern & Classic Games:** Study 123 games featuring legends like Fischer, Karpov, Anand, and Carlsen.
- • **Master the Art of Defense:** Learn 11 proven defensive stratagems to turn the tide in tough positions.

## Overview

New Art of Defence in Chess by Andrew Soltis is a 228-page, 2014 updated edition featuring 123 carefully annotated games focused on defensive techniques. It offers practical, concise insights into middle game and endgame defense, enriched by examples from top chess legends. Ideal for competitive players seeking to sharpen their defensive skills with proven strategies and grandmaster-level commentary.

## Description

New Art of Defence in Chess [Soltis, Andrew] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. New Art of Defence in Chess

Review: Great practical treatise for chess student and competetive player alike... - Andrew Soltis is among America's best known and widely read chess writers; my only other acquaintance with his works is the excellent 'Younger School of Soviet Chess' which quickly became a favourite. New Art of Defence in Chess is a revised and updated version of the original 1974 edition. This latest offering (published 2014) contains approximately 123 games 75 of which are dated post '74 so these games are new and did not appear in the original publication (?) The games themselves are rarely given in full; rather the critical junctures are annotated to provide the best illustrative examples of defensive technique. Most examples are drawn from middle game positions introduced along with their opening moves, although the book also contains a good number of Queenless positions one might place in the category of endgame tableau. All in all a balanced presentation of compromised positions drawn from various stages of play with lots of sound instruction on how to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. The most pleasurable aspect of this book is that Soltis keeps a tight reign on the material, the topic is how to defend difficult chess positions and the author never strays from the subject. The reader's attention is seldom, if ever, indulged in superfluous details. As already mentioned there are some 123 games, plus a scattering of supplementary examples dotted throughout the ten chapters. The range of data is gratifyingly wide and includes such things as: Risk Management; Coolness Under Fire; Counter Sacrifice... and much more. Chapter four, titled Weapons of Defence, lists eleven independent stratagems used by the protagonists to dig themselves out of a hole. The accompanying game analysis is concise rather than exhaustive yet provides enough insight for the reader to understand what is going on. There is no player index, but as one might expect, the game selection includes top names representative of past and present generations: Keres; Flohr; Stein; Petrosian; Fischer; Karpov; Anand; Kramnik; Carlsen... to name but a few. Soltis' annotated text is particularly readable and one can discern the invaluable insight of the Grandmaster at every turn, making this an enjoyable and stimulating read. Each chapter is broken up into manageable sub-sections introduced by an explanatory heading and the author's engaging comments. The layout is especially appealing in that there's plenty of white space, main notation is in bold algebraic with sub-text well spaced and easily recognizable; diagrams are sufficient and intelligently placed to navigate alternative lines of play. I cannot imagine any chess enthusiast finding this a difficult book to get through, on the contrary, quite the opposite. Its instructive value is plainly evident for all but the most advanced practitioners and by this I mean titled players, NM's and upward, but this last matter is always a difficult and subjective issue to judge. Batsford publishing has a renown pedigree when it comes to producing quality chess books, New Art of Defence in Chess will surely take its place among them.
Review: For the right rating, it’s game changing - Practically speaking, better than the original More emphasis on counterattack and aggression I do miss the stabilizing, neutralizing, and slippery style shown the original Just my taste

## Features

- Author: Andrew Soltis
- Pages: 228
- Publication Years: 2014

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #2,929,723 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #913 in Board Games (Books) #1,048 in Chess (Books) #39,650 in Crafts & Hobbies (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.3 out of 5 stars 40 Reviews |

## Images

![New Art of Defence in Chess - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71t+oDW2CxL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great practical treatise for chess student and competetive player alike...
*by R***S on January 18, 2019*

Andrew Soltis is among America's best known and widely read chess writers; my only other acquaintance with his works is the excellent 'Younger School of Soviet Chess' which quickly became a favourite. New Art of Defence in Chess is a revised and updated version of the original 1974 edition. This latest offering (published 2014) contains approximately 123 games 75 of which are dated post '74 so these games are new and did not appear in the original publication (?) The games themselves are rarely given in full; rather the critical junctures are annotated to provide the best illustrative examples of defensive technique. Most examples are drawn from middle game positions introduced along with their opening moves, although the book also contains a good number of Queenless positions one might place in the category of endgame tableau. All in all a balanced presentation of compromised positions drawn from various stages of play with lots of sound instruction on how to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. The most pleasurable aspect of this book is that Soltis keeps a tight reign on the material, the topic is how to defend difficult chess positions and the author never strays from the subject. The reader's attention is seldom, if ever, indulged in superfluous details. As already mentioned there are some 123 games, plus a scattering of supplementary examples dotted throughout the ten chapters. The range of data is gratifyingly wide and includes such things as: Risk Management; Coolness Under Fire; Counter Sacrifice... and much more. Chapter four, titled Weapons of Defence, lists eleven independent stratagems used by the protagonists to dig themselves out of a hole. The accompanying game analysis is concise rather than exhaustive yet provides enough insight for the reader to understand what is going on. There is no player index, but as one might expect, the game selection includes top names representative of past and present generations: Keres; Flohr; Stein; Petrosian; Fischer; Karpov; Anand; Kramnik; Carlsen... to name but a few. Soltis' annotated text is particularly readable and one can discern the invaluable insight of the Grandmaster at every turn, making this an enjoyable and stimulating read. Each chapter is broken up into manageable sub-sections introduced by an explanatory heading and the author's engaging comments. The layout is especially appealing in that there's plenty of white space, main notation is in bold algebraic with sub-text well spaced and easily recognizable; diagrams are sufficient and intelligently placed to navigate alternative lines of play. I cannot imagine any chess enthusiast finding this a difficult book to get through, on the contrary, quite the opposite. Its instructive value is plainly evident for all but the most advanced practitioners and by this I mean titled players, NM's and upward, but this last matter is always a difficult and subjective issue to judge. Batsford publishing has a renown pedigree when it comes to producing quality chess books, New Art of Defence in Chess will surely take its place among them.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ For the right rating, it’s game changing
*by A***S on June 13, 2025*

Practically speaking, better than the original More emphasis on counterattack and aggression I do miss the stabilizing, neutralizing, and slippery style shown the original Just my taste

### ⭐⭐⭐ Nice revision of the original book, not really "New" defence, and a bad Kindle edition to boot.
*by C***E on October 9, 2016*

I own both this book and the original "The Art of Defense in Chess". I found Soltis' assessment that the actual practice of defense in chess has shifted in the interim to be accurate; it's clearly evident from comparing the games of, say, Petrosian in the 1960's, to the games of Anand in the 2000's. The original edition was published in 1986. You'd expect the new edition to draw heavily on new material and leave behind the old games of the 1st edition behind (after using a few as a baseline). After all, there wouldn't be a need for a new edition unless things had changed in the way the game is played, as the title implies. But most of the chapters in the book (Chapter 7, Risk, is the main exception) have _more old games_ (pre-1990) than _new_. If this is an exposition on the "New Defence", why are the illustrations of "new defence" ideas being made with games from 1903? It's not clear that this is a step forward from Soltis' original in terms of the actual theory of defence. I enjoyed the book and found it useful. It's well-organized and the ideas are easily understood and retained. But I'm not left with the impression it's worth replacing the original book. A note on publishing chess in e-book format: I found the Kindle edition miserably difficult to read, because the typesetting uses figurine notation, and the characters are outline-only, not solid. Fortunately, no other chess book I've bought in e-book format does this (and for good reason). This transparent appearance (and their size) makes them _very_ difficult to interpret, unless you're willing to hold your tablet less than 12" from your face, or use a font size that's so big there can't be more than 10 words on a line (which I find too disruptive for rapid reading). In addition, the diagrams are not crisp at all, they're fuzzy, as if they'd been scanned from a printed page. You might think it's a defect with Kindle, but my edition of Fundamental Chess Openings, published by Gambit Press, has diagrams that look like they're in HD by comparison. So, the book is good, but not a necessary replacement for the original, and _don't buy the Kindle edition_ unless you have 20/15 eyesight and want it tested.

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*Product available on Desertcart Greece*
*Store origin: GR*
*Last updated: 2026-03-08*