How can one determine if a piece is weak or strong? Or if a square is weak or strong? These are the principal questions that grandmaster and trainer Drazen Marovic addresses in this important book. By discussing carefully chosen games and positions, Marovic explains how to recognize good and bad features of positions, and how to make use of one's advantages and exploit the opponent's weaknesses. Themes that crop up repeatedly include 'weaknesses' that are unexploitable (and therefore are not weaknesses at all), surrendering certain squares in order to gain more important squares, and material sacrifices to exploit major weaknesses. * Strength and weakness on files and diagonals * Vulnerabilities on the first and second ranks * Static weakness and attack * Characteristics of the pieces * Outposts Drazen Marovic is a grandmaster from Croatia, who has won medals as both player and trainer for various national teams. His pupils include Bojan Kurajica, World Under-20 Champion in 1965, and Al Modiahki of Qatar, the first Arabian grandmaster. Marovic has a wealth of experience as a writer, editor and television commentator on chess. He is currently the trainer of the Croatian national team. This is his third book for Gambit. His two previous books discussed various aspects of pawn play, and have been warmly received by the chess-playing public.

Opening preparation is useful, but understanding the middlegame is much more important. This book, an improved edition of a Russian classic, teaches amateur chess players 45 extremely effective skills in a crystal-clear manner. Quite a few of the ideas presented here will surprise the reader, because they offer solutions for problems the club player is only subconsciously aware. How do you activate your rook pawn? How do you prevent your opponent from opening a file? How do you restrict the efficacy of your opponents pieces? Which rook belongs on the c-, d- or e-file? What is the best way to exchange a piece? How do you castle artificially? In most cases the techniques are easy to understand and memorize. Bronznik and Terekhin do not burden the reader with deep analysis and only present those variations that are really necessary to get the point. There is a special training section at the end of the book where you can test your skills. ,

This is the fourth in the series of phenomenally successful training manuals by the world's leading trainer and his star pupil. By instilling players with an understanding of persistent positional features, they stress the features of positional play most relevant to the practical struggle, assuring over-the-board success. Beginner

Every club player knows the problem: the opening has ended, and now what? With this new edition of his award winning book, International Master Herman Grooten presents to amateur players a complete and structured course on how to recognize key characteristics in all types of positions and how to make use of those characteristics to choose the right plan. His teachings are based on the famous “Elements” of Wilhelm Steinitz, but Grooten has significantly expanded and updated the work of the first World Champion. He supplies many modern examples, tested in his own practice as a coach of talented youngsters. In Chess Strategy for Club Players you will learn the basic elements of positional understanding: pawn structure, piece placement, lead in development, open files, weaknesses, space advantage and king safety. You will master the art of converting a temporary plus into other, more permanent advantages. The author also explains what to do when, in a given position, the basic principles seem to point in different directions. Each chapter of this fundamental primer ends with a set of highly instructive exercises. This new 3rd edition has, besides various corrections and improvements, a new introduction and a brand-new chapter called ‘Total Control’ with new exercises.

Though first expounded by Nimzowitsch, Mark Dvoretsky and his pupil have brilliantly developed the strategy of prophylaxis. This hands-on guide explains all of the details and uses of the prophylaxis concept. Specifically, the art of positional play is explained in terms of planning, maneuvering, studying typical positions, and using deep strategy in grandmaster games.

The first section of [this] book discusses classical themes, such as pawn majorities, the centre and structural weaknesses. Watson then moves on to discuss new concepts, including the willingness of modern players to accept backward pawns in return for dynamic play, the idea of a good 'bad' bishop, knights finding useful roles at the edge of the board, and the exchange of sacrifice ideas that became prevalent with the post-war Soviet world champions. ..." --

"A chess Olympic Gold Medal winner explains how you can dramatically improve your chess results"--Cover.

In chess, sacrificing material is the most dramatic way to try to seize the advantage. Most sacrifices have a forcing aim in mind, but most profound of all are positional sacrifices where the end is impossible to foresee and thus fine judgment, understanding and intuition are required. Such sacrifices are usually a mystery to average players, but acclaimed author and grandmaster Mihai Suba explains the secrets of this technique in entertaining fashion.

Gain the advantage over your opponent with easy-to-remember strategies from one of the worlds top chess players! Strategy is the ultimate secret weapon for championship players around the world. Drawing on his considerable experience in tournament play, International Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan shows you how to apply flexible strategic principles to every part of your game. Using Seirawan's simple and effective planning and analysis techniques, you'll enter each game with confidence and energy, ready to play forcefully and intelligently the way you need to play so you can win every time! Learn to: Knock your opponent off balance with bold opening moves * Formulate an overall game strategy before the middle game * Interpret the motivation behind your opponents every move * Position yourself for a winning endgame * Diagrams throughout the book illustrate game positions, and you'll meet historys greatest chess strategieslearning from them move by move! Whether for reference during practice games or simply for pleasure reading,WINNING CHESS STRATEGIES is an information packed resource you'll turn to again and again