An International Master's guide to the essential positions and strategies in chess. A great little book of understanding the most important chess positions in the opening of a game, the middle game and the endgame. It cuts to the chase on the most useful positions at all those stages. Perfect for players who want to reach a higher level but don't have time to sit for hours and hours each week in less productive study. Divided into three sections, it comprises section 1, The 50 Most Important Openings (covering 50 openings), section 2. The 150 Most important Middle Game Positions and section 3. The 100 Most important Endgame Positions. For example, the Endgame section has chapters on pawn endings, knightt endings, etc. The Middle game chapters are arranged by positional themes. Each numbered position can be seen as a test yourself quiz (with answers given below the diagrams) to help cement positional understanding. Since it is advisable to repeat the positions from time to time this book can be your life-long companion, enabling you to dramatically increase your positional chess understanding. An essential strategy book by a Swedish International Master.

An International Master's instructive guide to essential tactical strategies and positions in chess. A comprehensive book from the Swedish International Master Thomas Engqvist for understanding the most important tactical chess positions in the opening of a game, the middle game and the endgame. It cuts to the chase on the must useful tactical positions at each stage of the game. Knowing the positions is one thing but this experienced coach shows you how to create them, even out of nothing, in the spirit of Tal and Alekhine. It covers other important facets of tactical play, including calculation (how to calculate with the help of stepping stones), attacking play such as defence and counter attack, and even psychological tactics. Each numbered position can be seen as a test-yourself quiz (with answers given below the diagrams) to help cement tactical understanding. Since it's advisable to revise the positions from time to time, this book can be your life-long companion, enabling you to dramatically increase your tactical chess understanding. The perfect guide for players who want to reach a higher level but don't have time to spend hours every week on less productive study.

This book on tactical play is designed to aid practical play by focusing on typical combinational themes that crop up consistently in chess.

An informative and accessible new book by Thomas Engqvist, the practical follow up to his previous two authoritative chess books: 300 Most Important Chess Positions and 300 Most Important Tactical Chess Positions. Filled with 300 engaging chess exercises and complete solutions in the end of the book, this book will allow you to apply and consolidate your newfound knowledge. The book is divided into four key sections: 75 exercises practising positional ideas in the opening/middlegame 75 exercises covering the endgame 75 tactical exercises in the opening/middlegame 75 tactical endgames. The exercises featured in the book are taken from real game positions from various renowned chess players, including Capablanca and Magnus Carlsen. Word count: 116,000

The upgraded 2024 edition of a modern classic

New and substantially expanded edition of a modern chess classic. By chance, in 2013 publisher New In Chess discovered a previously unnoticed and unpublished extra batch of endgame tactics collected by the legendary Dutch correspondence grandmaster Ger van Perlo (1932-2010). More than 250 fresh examples have been added, making this fourth edition 25% BIGGER than its predecessors. For casual players and club players. Why is it that most amateur chess players love opening and middlegame tactics but hate endgames? Why do you usually look at only a couple of pages in any endgame theory book you see? Sit back, forget about theoretical endgames, and enjoy the entertainment of real life chess in Endgame Tactics! There is no substitute for hard work in getting better at chess, as a wise grandmaster once said. But you always work harder at something you enjoy. Make the first step towards improving your endgame play (and beating more opponents) by learning to love the endgame. Endgames are fun, and the examples from everyday practice in Endgame Tactics prove it. • New (4th) and 25% expanded edition of a best- selling modern classic • More than 1,300 Sparkling Tricks and Traps • WINNER of the ECF Book of the Year Award • WINNER of the ChessCafe Book of the Year Award • Makes regular players discover the fun in endgame

Many club players think that studying chess is all about cramming as much information in their brain as they can. Most textbooks support that notion by stressing the importance of always trying to find the objectively best move. As a result amateur players are spending way too much time worrying about subtleties that are really only relevant for grandmasters. Emanuel Lasker, the second and longest reigning World Chess Champion (27 years!), understood that what a club player needs most of all is common sense: understanding a set of timeless principles. Amateurs shouldn’t waste energy on rote learning but just strive for a good grasp of the basic essentials of attack and defence, tactics, positional play and endgame play endgame play. Chess instruction needs to be efficient because of the limited amount of time that amateur players have available. Superfluous knowledge is often a pitfall. Lasker himself, for that matter, also studied chess considerably less than his contemporary rivals. Gerard Welling and Steve Giddins have created a complete but compact manual based on Lasker’s general approach to chess. It enables the average amateur player to adopt trustworthy openings, reach a sound middlegame and have a basic grasp of endgame technique. Welling and Giddins explain the principles with very carefully selected examples from players of varying levels, some of them from Lasker’s own games. The Lasker Method to Improve in Chess is an efficient toolkit as well as an entertaining guide. After working with it, players will dramatically boost their skills – without carrying the excess baggage that many of their opponents will be struggling with.

Tactics Time 2 presents 1001 fresh and instructive positions that Tim and Anthea have assembled from real amateur chess games, leaving you able to spot relatively simple patterns like a knight fork, an overloaded piece or a weak back rank.

Solving tactical puzzles is one of the most effective ways to improve your chess. This convenient book provides 300 exercises, with instructive points highlighted in the solutions. There is something here for everyone. The puzzles in the first two chapters are based on a clear-cut tactic or checkmate, such as those explained in Gambit's best-sellers How to Beat Your Dad at Chess and Chess Tactics for Kids. The endgame challenges highlight tactics and principles in action. In practice it is vital to defend resiliently and seek counterattacking chances - there is an innovative chapter on these rarely-covered themes as well as puzzles where the reader must decide how to punch home an attack. Later chapters help readers develop a vital skill: the ability to make tough chessboard decisions. Attack, sacrifice, grab material, defend or simplify - it's for you to decide! Principles and guidelines are emphasized, together with common sources of error. The final section of puzzles will prove a stern challenge even for the best players, with the reader exposed to the full complexity of modern chess - with a few helpful hints along the way.

AWARDS: Shortlisted for the Guardian Chess Book of the Year Award Runner-up for the English Chess Federation 2009 Book of the Year Award CHESS Magazine: Best Books of 2009 Back in Print! Ever wondered why grandmasters take only seconds to see what’s really going on in a chess position? It’s all about structures, as Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov explains in this groundbreaking book. ‘Winning Chess Middlegames’ addresses the often ignored but extremely important topic of pawn structures, divided into four main types: doubled pawns, isolated pawns, hanging pawns and pawn majorities. With its highly accessible verbal explanations and deep analyses of top-level games, this book helps you to solve the basic problems of the middlegame: space, tension and initiative. Club players studying this book will:greatly enhance their middlegame skills, develop an accurate feeling as to which particular positions suit their style and acquire new strategic and practical opening knowledge. Ivan Sokolov explains matters profoundly, honestly and objectively including lots of inside stories from top-level chess, neither sparing his colleague grandmasters nor himself in his comments. With a foreword by British Grandmaster Michael Adams.