by Alex Fishbein
Foreword by Artur Yusupov

360 pages
SRP $34.95

September

Excerpt

Your Move Against Father Time! 

We are all familiar with the story. You are getting older, perhaps you forget more, and your chess suffers. Your playing strength diminishes. Players to whom you could give pawn and move a few years ago now defeat or draw you. What can be done?

In this unique book by American Grandmaster Alex Fishbein – the first book dedicated to this topic  – he examines the games of elite players such Korchnoi, Smyslov and others. The author takes a hard look at what they did as they aged, how their approach to the game changed, and how this could benefit you.

As noted by legendary Grandmaster Artur Yusupov in his foreword:

Alex Fishbein begins by asking difficult but necessary questions. Do the methods that shaped us as players continue to serve us as we grow older? If certain skills have not fully developed after decades of play, can they still be improved? And how do we recognize, with honesty and precision, the changes in our own thinking? …

Among the techniques explored here is the “post-postmortem” – a disciplined way of revisiting and critically examining existing analysis, not to absorb it passively, but to challenge it, refine it, and deepen one’s own understanding. In doing so, we train the very faculties – visualization, memory, and concentration – that time seeks to erode.

When you are ready to roll up your sleeves and confront Father Time, you will find the author’s recommendations invaluable. And, by the way, you don’t have to wait until you are collecting Social Security to take advantage of the methodology advocated by the 2025 U.S. Senior Champion. Fighting Father Time? Yes, time to put on the gloves!

About the Author
Grandmaster Alex Fishbein was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1968.  He learned chess from his father, a master-level player, at the age of 4. Alex later studied with the iconic Soviet coach Vladimir Zak, who had previously trained the young Boris Spassky and Viktor Korchnoi. From Zak, Alex came away with the feeling that chess is the most worthwhile endeavor life has to offer, an emotion that guides him to this day.

Fighting Father Time is Fishbein’s most personal work yet, and the theme of dissecting mistakes and rising from their ashes is central to the narrative. That journey culminates in this book with his victory in the 2025 US Senior Championship. Alex's earlier work for Russell Enterprises includes a revision of My System, two opening books, and several endgame projects jointly with German endgame theoretician GM Karsten Müller.