{"id":4585,"date":"2026-07-15T11:13:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T11:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/?p=4585"},"modified":"2026-07-21T23:18:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T23:18:49","slug":"book-review-attacking-strategies-for-club-players-michael-prusikin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/book-review-attacking-strategies-for-club-players-michael-prusikin\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Attacking Strategies for Club Players by Michael Prusikin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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What is the core focus of Attacking Strategies for Club Players?<\/h3>\n

Attacking Strategies for Club Players<\/a>, authored by GM Michael Prusikin (published by New in Chess), teaches the strategic requirements for a successful attack on the king rather than basic attacking motifs. Across 15 thematic chapters covering pawn storms, battering rams, obstructive sacrifices, and the knight on f5, it uses 89 annotated games to show players rated 1500 to 2300 how to recognize when an attack is justified and how to conduct it, finishing with a chapter of exercises and full solutions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Book Review of Attacking Strategies for Club Players by GM Michael Prusikin<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n \u201cI used to attack because it was the only thing I knew. Now I attack because I know it works best.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u2013 Garry Kasparov\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s no secret that most club players love to attack. They want to win a flashy game with lots of sacrifices, preferably at least a queen, and checkmate their opponent in the grand style of Morphy or Tal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As former FIDE world champion Alexander Khalifman writes in the Forword:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\u201cThe attack on the king is one of the most attractive elements of the game of chess. The attack itself and the combinations and material sacrifices that often go hand in hand with it provide broad scope for demonstrating imagination and strengthens the belief in the inexhaustible wealth of ideas concealed within the 64 squares. Classical players regard it as the best evidence for the victory of intellect over material and I see no reason to contradict them.\u201d<\/em>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Khalifman also writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\u201cI came to the conclusion that Vukovic had already said everything there was to say about attacking the king, and had exhausted the topic. After reading the present book I realised I was wrong: the topic is truly inexhaustible and its treatment was far from over with the publication of Vukovic\u2019s work.\u201d<\/em>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hence, since attacking skills are essential, and that the subject is inexhaustible according to Khalifman, it\u2019s not surprising that many books continue to be written on the subject, with varying levels of exposition and target audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prusikin introduces his book as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\u201cThe theme of this book is not basic attacking motifs. I assume you are already familiar with these or I would recommend that, if so inclined, you read the classic The Art of Attack by Vladimir Vukovic<\/a> or its modern counterpart Essential Chess Sacrifices<\/b> by David LeMoir.

\nIn this book we shall address the strategic requirements for a successful attack on the king and some lesser-known attacking motifs, though no less relevant in practice. I hope this will be both interesting and useful for players with an Elo rating between 1500 and 2300.\u201d<\/em>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The suggested Elo range shows that the book is aimed at the level of average club players up to the FIDE Master level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What’s Inside – Forward Chess ebook<\/p>\n

15 thematic chapters plus exercises · 192 pages<\/p>\n \n

Attacking Themes<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Prerequisites and rules for attacking the kingp. 13<\/span><\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> King in the centrep. 15<\/span><\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> Obstructive sacrificesp. 30<\/span><\/p>\n

4.<\/strong> Attacking the king without the queenp. 38<\/span><\/p>\n

5.<\/strong> Pawn storm with opposite-side castlingp. 48<\/span><\/p>\n

6.<\/strong> Pawn storm with same-side castlingp. 60<\/span><\/p>\n

7.<\/strong> The Steinitz ‘battering ram’: the h-pawn against a fianchettop. 70<\/span><\/p>\n

8.<\/strong> The Alekhine ‘battering ram’: destroying king protection with the g-pawnp. 83<\/span><\/p>\n

9.<\/strong> The nail in the coffinp. 90<\/span><\/p>\n

10.<\/strong> Doubled g-pawnsp. 96<\/span><\/p>\n

11.<\/strong> Using pieces to attack the castled positionp. 103<\/span><\/p>\n

12.<\/strong> The Grand Prix Attackp. 113<\/span><\/p>\n

13.<\/strong> The Chigorin ‘outrider’: the knight on f5p. 126<\/span><\/p>\n

14.<\/strong> Long bishop on b2p. 134<\/span><\/p>\n

15.<\/strong> Interferencep. 143<\/span><\/p>\n

16.<\/strong> Breakthrough on the strong pointp. 147<\/span><\/p>\n \n

Test Yourself<\/p>\n

17.<\/strong> Test your attacking skillsp. 153<\/span><\/p>\n

18.<\/strong> Solutionsp. 163<\/span><\/p>\n \n

Rounded out by a foreword by former FIDE World Champion Alexander Khalifman, an introduction, an Index of Names, and a Bibliography.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Table of Contents above shows that the book covers the standard attacking themes together with some unusual themes. The author also introduces some unusual descriptive terms such as the \u201cSteinitz battering ram\u201d and the \u201cChigorin outrider\u201d in the book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first chapter discusses the essential conditions required for an attack to be possible and some tips for conducting the attack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
For example, the author lists four essential conditions for an attack:\n<\/div>\n
    \n
  • Lead in development\/uncastled opposing king<\/li>\n
  • Space advantage on the side of the board where the opposing king is located<\/li>\n
  • Few defensive pieces around our opponent\u2019s king<\/li>\n
  • Lack of\/weakened pawn protection for the king<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Chapters 2 \u2013 16 cover the various themes of attacking in chess. Each chapter starts with a brief introduction to the contents of the chapter, and the remainder of the chapter uses illustrative games to explain the theory. The chapters cover all areas of the game. There are 89 illustrative games in the book, including some played by the author. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The final chapter presents 50 exercises for the reader to solve, and complete solutions are provided. The exercises include mainly tactical positions, but some strategic examples are also included. An interesting twist is the inclusion of one exercise where a tempting attacking move is a blunder and loses. Readers are not told which exercise this is, which adds to the challenge! The exercises are given in ascending order of difficulty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Prusikin\u2019s commentary is clear and concise, and he manages to explain the ideas in the illustrative games very well. While he has of course used chess engines to help with the analysis, he doesn\u2019t go overboard with computer-based variations, in keeping with the target audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Two examples from the book are given below, with annotations from the book. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n

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