After you have learned the rules of chess and developed some tactical abilities, how do you go from there? You are now ready to tackle basic issues of strategy, but what is the best way to improve and win more games? Of course, you have to train. But chess training only makes sense if it fits your level of play and if it is structured in an accessible way. Experienced chess trainer Yaroslav Srokovski has developed a practical, well-structured, compact first course in positional understanding. You will learn two fundamental skills: how to assess a position on the board and how to decide which long-term objectives you should aim for in what sort of positions. In 12 chapters Srokovksi teaches you things like: how to handle your pawns, what weak squares and strong squares are, bad pieces and good pieces, why it is important if your king is in the middle or not, why and how to get an open line, the problem of knight against bishop, what piece coordination means and why everyone talks about the bishop pair. This course, which includes many exercises, is tried and tested and ideally suited to bring post-beginners at their next level.

Written by a Grand Master, this guide isolates basic elements and illustrates them through Master and Grand Master games, breaking down the mystique of strategy into easy-to-understand ideas.

'If you want to improve at chess, you must know the characteristics of typical pawn formations. Understanding the pawn structure is a key tool when you are evaluating a position on the board. One simple pawn move can ruin your position or win the game. Post-beginners should know the basic essentials of chess structures and that is what this modern training manual focuses on. Experienced chess teacher Jörg Hickl helps you to: - Assess the strengths and weaknesses of pawn structures - Recognize strategic patterns - Identify how you can improve your position - Develop a plan of action The Power of Pawns provides common sense guidance and Jörg Hickl uses practical examples to explain typical structures, strategies and plans. His tips and exercises are both highly enjoyable and to the point.

Chess is 99% tactics. If this celebrated observation is true for the master, how much more so for beginners and casual players! If you want to win more games, nothing works better than training combinations. There are two types of books on tactics, those that introduce the concepts followed by some examples, and workbooks that contain numerous exercises. Chess masters and trainers Franco Masetti and Roberto Messa have done both: they explain the basic tactical ideas AND provide an enormous amount of exercises for each different theme. Masetti and Messa have created a great first tactics book. It teaches you how to: ¯ identify weak spots in the position of your opponent ¯ recognize patterns of combinations ¯ visualize tricks. 1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners can also be used as a course text book, because only the most didactically productive exercises have been used.

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.

Offers a guide to important chess techniques and principles to help players develop the skills needed to beat opponents, from the basics of play to specific tactics and strategies, as well as a look at the world of competitive chess.

This entertaining and instructive book uses the author's own tried and tested training methods and is ideal for any player in the 100-160 BCF (1400-1900 ELO/USCF) grading range.