Almost every improving player has asked some version of the question this book is named for — and, as the author notes in his preface, almost none get a satisfying answer. Davorin Kuljasevic, a grandmaster who shifted from playing to full-time coaching, found that when students put him on the spot he could offer only a few quick tips. This book is his attempt to finally answer the question properly.
The result is not a collection of exercises but a method. Across nine chapters, Kuljasevic builds the reader toward a single practical outcome: your own structured, personalised study plan. He starts with mindset — the difference between studying with the right and wrong frame of mind — then moves through fifteen concrete study methods, how to identify your priorities, and how to choose resources appropriate to your level rather than copying what works for someone hundreds of points stronger.
Separate chapters then tackle how to actually study each phase: openings in genuine depth, tactical training, endgames, and a system for organising middlegame knowledge. The book closes by pulling everything into an actionable plan you can follow week to week.
The emphasis throughout is on independence. Kuljasevic’s goal is not to be a crutch but to make you self-sufficient — able to diagnose your own weaknesses and design your own training long after you finish the book. Suitable for everyone from ambitious club players to professionals, and rich in tables, checklists, and worked examples viewed from unusual angles.
Four hundred years ago, an Italian chess master, Gioachino Greco, discovered an extraordinary bishop sacrifice on h7 that often leads to checkmate or a significant material advantage. More amazing still, he recorded the idea! This book chronicles the history of that idea, what many have come to call the Classic Bishop sacrifice, from its discovery and formative years through its remarkably complex uses in modern chess. During the past century, several annotators have attempted to explain the circumstances under which the sacrifice works, and when it doesnt. Edwards reviews their efforts and, in a spectacular ninth chapter, provides a modern classification. His taxonomy of the sacrifice is comprehensive and full of pleasant surprises for beginners and even accomplished masters. This book represents a thematic approach to chess tactics and strategy. Careful readers will suddenly discover that they are able, quickly and accurately, to see 5-10 moves or more ahead in these lines. Here you will find hundreds of carefully annotated games. Learn from brilliant moves and strategies; and take full advantage of others instructive mistakes.
Lasker’s Manual of Chess is one of the greatest chess books ever written. The fact that it was first published almost 85 years ago has diminished neither its relevance nor significance in today’s modern chess world. This new edition takes Lasker’s legendary classic and puts it in a form more congenial to 21st-century readers. What is different in this edition? The English version of the Manual had remained, even through numerous reprints, virtually unchanged since it first appeared almost 85 years ago. In this new edition figurine algebraic notation is used, now standard throughout most of the world, instead of descriptive notation. The chapter on descriptive has been replaced with one explaining algebraic. Some of Lasker’s more awkward or archaic wordings and grammar – English was not his first language – have been improved or modernized, though this has been done sparingly. Besides more diagrams (the old edition was woefully stingy with them), the main additional features here are: 1) Photos of Lasker and some of his major contemporaries. 2) “Lasker Lore” – brief notes highlighting important events in his career, and portraying something of the man and his era. 3) Computer-checked analysis. Virtually every move and position has been subjected to computer analysis. Even with so fine a chess mind as Lasker’s, the occasional mistake or improvement was found. For minor items, brief comments have been added in italics directly in the text. However, sometimes the new analysis required longer discussion, and sometimes even warranted revision of Lasker’s original text. To minimize disruptions, such notes have all been placed in an appendix at the back, the text to which they correspond being indicated by superscripted numbers within the main body of the book. In cases where the original text was changed, the endnote shows Lasker’s original analysis, and gives the reasons it was modified. In cases where the original text was left intact, the endnote gives a correction or improvement.· This is one of the finest books ever written on the art and science of chess. Read it, learn, and enjoy.
Street Smart Chess is an expert guide to scoring more points at the chessboard. When does it pay off to play hard for a win? Or safe for a draw? And how do you adapt your playing style accordingly? GM Axel Smith answers these questions, and more, by using a world-class player as a model for each chapter. Learn how Magnus Carlsen grinds out wins from level positions; how David Navara beats lower-rated opponents, and how Baskaran Adhiban beats higher-rated ones! Or serve-and-volley in the opening like Peter Heine Nielsen. Playing well is a good start in chess, but you also need to be Street Smart.
"We talk a lot about defence in chess but rarely try to break this major notion down into elements that constitute it and, importantly, that we can systematically learn. This book does exactly that. It is suitable for players of all levels aiming to improve their game. It may be especially appropriate for coaches because of its systematized character." - GM Adrian Mikhalchishin
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.
Which opening does better in practice: the wild, “unsound” and “refuted” Latvian Gambit (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 f5) or the solid Philidor Defense (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6)? As James Schuyler points out, referring to the definitive Megabase, the Latvian Gambit scores higher. How can such a discredited opening (and the same story is repeated with other “unsound” openings) do so well? The point is that playing like this throws the opponent off balance, makes them anxious and induces mistakes. Even the very best players recognize the value of discomforting the opponent. Historically, Emanuel Lasker was the master of this approach and his modern day equivalent is world champion Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen frequently employs offbeat openings and his opponents invariably fail to counter them correctly. This is the key theme of this book. Schuyler covers all phases of the game and discusses other vital subjects such as harassment, material imbalance, time management, surprise moves, unusual ideas, provocative play, maneuvers and recovering from bad positions.
Grandmaster Igor Zaitsev ranks as one of the most creative chess minds ever in the history of the royal game. This is his book of secrets and methods, his remarkable life’s work. Zaitsev unearthed astonishing ideas which even giants of the game had overlooked. World champions Tigran Petrosian and Anatoly Karpov insisted on Zaitsev’s analytical help in their matches, wanting to be first to play his profound discoveries, such as the famous Zaitsev Variation of the Ruy Lopez. Zaitsev was himself a tournament champion. With his sharp, combinative style, he won dozens of “Most Beautiful Game” awards. Many of these games provide context for his lessons. But Zaitsev is even more than a renowned coach and competitor. Part analyst, part champion, part chess philosopher, and part chess poet, he reveals the underlying logic and beauty of chess in a way no one else has ever done. In his eye-opening title chapter, “Attacking the Strongpoint,” Zaitsev makes explicitly clear a common strategic element never formalized until this book. Often overlooked by amateurs and even GMs, the idea can lead to winning tactics in many games! Backed up by top-level games, Zaitsev also provides deep-level explanations about: Combinations and Piece Harmony; Strategy and Structure; Learning from the Cycle of Chess Epochs; The Role of Reason and Judgment; The Chess Law of Conservation of Energy; Strategy: Evolution vs. Revolution, Recognizing a Favorable Structure. As you read Zaitsev, you’ll often find yourself thinking, “Ah, now I get it!” The volume is topped off by supplemental games, a complete autobiography by Zaitsev, a special foreword by world champion Garry Kasparov, as well as tributes and memories from world champion Anatoly Karpov and famed coach Mark Dvoretsky.
Grandmaster and renowned chess trainer Michal Krasenkow presents a treasure chest of puzzles designed to stretch the minds of all players. Imagination and calculation are two of the most important qualities of a chess player, and they are qualities which, with purposeful practice, can be developed significantly. As you analyse and solve more and more positions, your brain functions more efficiently, you are able to recognize and master additional tactical methods and patterns, and it becomes increasingly easier to solve similar types of positions. The exercises in this book are a 'collection of jewels' that Krasenkow has picked up during his career as a chess player, commentator and trainer. Solutions to the puzzles are often hidden, spectacular and unexpected, and are specifically designed to improve imagination and calculation. Many of the puzzles are taken from Krasenkow's own games, and this allows him to give the reader a unique psychological insight as to how and why solutions were or were not found during battle.
Do you instinctively know what to do in every type of chess position or are you often uncertain about how to proceed? Wouldn't it be really useful to know the best chess strategies and to recognise when they should be used? IIn this book Sam Collins examines key games from both the classical and modern eras. He analyses the major strategic ideas that have stood the test of time and notes their considerable influence on his own games. Studying classic examples from great players allows us to create a personal library of standard ideas. This helps us recognize key positions, making it easier to determine the most effective ways to attack and defend. Crucially, it helps us find the right path much more quickly than we would by relying on calculation alone.
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