An old Soviet quip has it that Western amateurs “play the opening like grandmasters, the middlegame like experts, and the endgame like beginners.” Soviet-trained players would fearlessly steer the game toward the final phase, confident of their superior endgame skill. Ilya Rabinovich’s Russian Endgame Manual is a major reason for this. Rabinovich raises the beginner’s understanding of the endgame to a sophisticated level, starting with elementary checkmates and then moving on to the principles for handling complex endgames and advanced concepts in king-and-pawn endings, such as the theory of corresponding squares. The author pays special attention to frequently neglected endgame themes such as rook vs. pawns, rook vs. a minor piece, and queen vs. rook. First published in 1927 and updated in 1938, this classic work – featuring more than four hundred instructive endings and over three hundred exercises for self-study – served a generation of players at the height of the Soviet School’s dominance. Mongoose Press now makes it available to the English-speaking public for the first time.
Solid knowledge of pawn structures is crucial for any player as these structures often influence the nature of the game by dictating piece placement and shaping strategic decisions. In this indispensable guide, Mauricio Flores Rios thoroughly studies and analyzes the 28 most common pawn structures in chess practice.
The author has carefully selected and organized model games showing each structure’s main ideas and plans, arising from various openings. The readers will enhance their strategic vision and learn what pitfalls to avoid. They will also be able to test their newfound knowledge with 50 engaging positional exercises, complete with detailed solutions.
This book is excellent for Intermediate-advanced players looking to deepen their understanding of chess strategy and improve positional play. Even players unfamiliar with certain openings will find immense value in studying these pawn formations and significantly improve their positional understanding.
This ebook is a part of Bundle: Pawn Play Bundle
TACTICS TRAINER AVAILABLE!
Improving chess tactics is crucial for many reasons including calculation skills, pattern recognition, decision-making speed, broader board vision and awareness, and confidence. The Woodpecker Method, authored by GM Axel Smith and GM Hans Tikkanen, is an innovative tactics training approach that focuses on developing these skills through repetitive and structured practice.
The book is organized around solving over 1,100 tactical puzzles, advancing from beginner to intermediate and advanced levels. This systematic approach ensures that players can progressively build and reinforce their tactical knowledge and “re-program” their unconscious mind. They will notice a significant improvement in their games as a result.
Enhance your positional understanding in chess and sharpen your endgame skills with Johnathan Hawkins’s book, Amateur to IM. In this informative work, the author shares invaluable insights learned from his transformative journey from an average tournament player to the cusp of securing the Grandmaster title. He explores foundational concepts and key areas for focused study of the endgame.
Through in-depth analysis and practical exercises, players are guided toward enhancing their proficiency and developing a deeper understanding of crucial endgame elements. This will enable them to outplay opponents with weaknesses in this area and strengthen their overall game, paving the way to victory.
By studying Hawkins’ insights and approach, readers can replicate his strategies and adopt his mindset and methodologies that will lead to tangible improvements in chess.
Mastering the endgame is a fundamental aspect of chess proficiency, and Jesús de la Villa’s 100 Endgames You Must Know is an invaluable resource for achieving that milestone. The author has taken the 100 most frequently encountered endgames and broken them down into concise, easy-to-digest concepts. His clear explanations focus on building a deep understanding of the material rather than relying on rote memorization.
By the end of studying and practicing the exercises in this book, you will significantly enhance your endgame skills, be able to navigate your games toward favorable endgame positions, and improve your performance.
The book is highly regarded among players ranging from intermediate enthusiasts to grandmasters because of its exceptional clarity, practical content, and comprehensive coverage. It also has a companion volume, The 100 Endgames You Must Know Workbook, which provides additional exercises that reinforce the covered concepts.
Who says that you can’t learn from the games of amateurs? With approximately 99.5% of U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) members being amateurs (rated under 2200), there is much wisdom to be gained from studying their games. In fact, learning from amateurs' typical mistakes can often be more informative and relevant than learning from the subtle errors of grandmasters.
In this book, a renowned chess instructor, Dan Heisman, presents 30 games played by intermediate-level players, offering a rich variety of lessons in competitive play for all amateur chess enthusiasts.
A key focus of this book is time management, with many games time-stamped to showcase how long it took the players to make their moves. By analyzing the players' decision-making processes, Heisman provides valuable insights into the pitfalls of playing too fast or too slowly, helping readers avoid similar mistakes in their own games.
Additionally, the book emphasizes the importance of recognizing critical positions and making informed decisions, further enhancing players' strategic vision.
For amateur players seeking to enhance their chess skills, The World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book is a valuable resource to gain insights from fellow enthusiasts and take their gameplay to new heights.
This ebook is a part of Bundle: Dan Heisman's Books
This book carries a foreword by Viswanathan Anand — a fitting endorsement, since its author, Ramesh RB, is one of the most successful coaches in the world and has guided a generation of India’s grandmasters from their first steps to the elite. The subject is the skill that most directly decides games: calculation.
Ramesh’s premise is honest. Calculation is hard work; you cannot fall back on feeling or intuition, and improving at it means training deliberately. His method is to set up a position and solve it without moving the pieces, and the book supplies exactly the right exercises to build that muscle.
What sets it apart is the coach’s eye for why players go wrong. Across chapters on dynamic versus static positions, the analytical process, forcing moves, and — unusually — the common mistakes players actually make while calculating, Ramesh targets the specific misconceptions that cause good players to miss the best move, even when it is the opposite of what intuition suggests. A chapter on improving through studies and one of broader coaching advice round out the book.
GM Daniel Naroditsky describes sensing “a seismic shift” in his calculation after a month of training with Ramesh. The hundreds of exercises here are demanding and span every level, from club player to aspiring master.
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.
(WEBSTORE SPECIAL - You can purchase the book on our webstore and access it from all your Forward Chess apps. Pull down to refresh the "Books" tab in your mobile apps).
The most hated cliché in chess is: And the rest is a matter of technique. In A Matter of Endgame Technique Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard deals with one of the few things chessplayers hate even more – losing a winning position. No serious chessplayer is new to the misery of spoiling hours of hard work in a few minutes...
A Matter of Endgame Technique offers the second-best happiness – the misfortune of others – as well as deep explanation of the underlying patterns of how and why we misplay winning endgames. At just under 900 pages, this book is actually six books in one, explaining the technical and practical areas of chess endgames plainly, simply and deeply. Endgame theory is well covered elsewhere; this book is all about technique and devoid of material to memorise.
Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard won the British Championship at his first and only attempt. Aagaard has won more awards than any other chess author, and is co-founder of Quality Chess and the online academy killerchesstraining.com.
Aagaard’s students have won school tournaments, national titles, FM, IM and GM titles, international opens, the US Championship, the World Cup, the Candidates Tournament and Olympiad medals of all denominations.
Every chess player faces an opening dilemma: big main lines are complicated and time-consuming to learn, while easy-to-learn sidelines usually suffer from other defects. Finding the best of both worlds has been an impossible dream – until now!
Reimagining 1.e4 offers the Holy Grail of a simple, easy-to-learn White repertoire, which packs a punch against all of Black’s main defences. In some lines, White unleashes a surprise as early as move 3. In others, White follows the known paths for a little longer, but only when there are big rewards to justify a modest effort.
During a game, the same hard questions keep recurring: who stands better, should I release the central tension, how do I improve my worst-placed piece? This expanded edition of the classic Best Lessons of a Chess Coach is built around learning to answer them — by sitting in on the classroom of one of America’s most respected teachers.
Sunil Weeramantry organises the material thematically rather than by opening. The twelve core lessons are grouped under four ideas that underpin strong play: outpost squares, weak squares, the initiative, and piece coordination and control. Each lesson is taught through a single deeply annotated game, so a concept is absorbed in the context of a real fight rather than as an abstract rule.
What gives the book its character is the mix of sources. Weeramantry teaches both immortal classics — Morphy, Steinitz, Alekhine, Fischer — and his own tournament games, and the difference matters: with the masters you reason alongside them, while with his own games he conveys the genuine tension, disappointment, and satisfaction of the player who lived them. Dozens of further illustrative games, running right up to modern engine encounters, extend each theme.
The cumulative effect is a working toolkit for the aspiring player. Best suited to intermediate players ready to think in terms of plans and ideas rather than memorised lines.
The Woodpecker Method 2: Positional Play
Unlock Your Chess Potential with the Ultimate Training Regimen
From the acclaimed authors of The Woodpecker Method comes the highly anticipated sequel that promises to take your chess skills to the next level. Dive into The Woodpecker Method 2: Positional Play, a comprehensive training guide designed to transform your positional understanding and tactical prowess through rigorous and repetitive practice.
Inside This Book:
Why This Book?
Author Insight:
Building on the groundbreaking success of The Woodpecker Method, this sequel delves deeper into the world of positional chess, offering insights from the games of legendary World Champions. Through structured exercises and detailed analysis, The Woodpecker Method 2: Positional Play is your go-to resource for mastering the complexities of the game.
Take your chess training to the next level with The Woodpecker Method 2: Positional Play. Embrace the challenge, refine your skills, and become the player you've always aspired to be.
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