Van Delft has created a unique thematic structure for all types of positional sacrifices. He shows the early historical examples, explains which long-term goals are typical for each fundamental theme and presents lots of instructive modern examples. He then concentrates on those sacrifices that have become standard features of positional play. Solving the exercises he has added will further enhance your skills. Playing a positional sacrifice will always require courage. Merijn van Delft takes you by the hand and not only teaches the essential technical know-how, he also helps you to recognize the opportunities when to take the plunge. Mastering Positional Sacrifices is bound to become a modern-day classic.

This work shows a healthy distrust of accepted methods to get better at chess. It teaches that winning games does not depend on ticking off a to-do list when looking at a position on the board. It presents club and internet chess players with loads of much-needed no-nonsense training material. In this provocative, entertaining and highly instructive book, Hendriks shows how you can travel light on the road to chess improvement!

Vincent Moret now provides a complete, ready-to-go chess opening repertoire for Black. It consists of a sound set of lines that do not outdate rapidly, do not require memorization and are easy to digest for beginners and post-beginners.

Experienced French chess trainer Vincent Moret provides a complete, ready-to-go chess opening repertoire for White with a sound set of lines that do not outdate rapidly, do not require memorization and are easy to digest for beginning players and other amateurs.

The way a beginner develops into a strong chess player closely resembles the progress of the game of chess itself. This popular idea is the reason why many renowned chess instructors such as former World Champions Garry Kasparov and Max Euwe, emphasize the importance of studying the history of chess. Willy Hendriks agrees that there is much to be learned from the pioneers of our game. He challenges, however, the conventional view on what the stages in the advancement of chess actually have been. Among the various articles of faith that Hendriks questions is Wilhelm Steinitz's reputation as the discoverer of the laws of positional chess. In The Origin of Good Moves Hendriks undertakes a groundbreaking investigative journey into the history of chess. He explains what actually happened, creates fresh perspectives, finds new heroes, and reveals the real driving force behind improvement in chess: evolution. This thought-provoking book is full of beautiful and instructive ‘new’ material from the old days. With plenty of exercises, the reader is invited to put themselves in the shoes of the old masters. Never before has the study of the history of chess been so entertaining and rewarding.

Renowned German chess trainers Erik Zude and Jörg Hickl have created an ideal club player’s repertoire for Black. This compact manual presents a set of lines that is conveniently limited in scope, yet varied, solid and complete. The core repertoire is based on lines that the authors have successfully played at (grand)master level for decades: the Antoshin variation of the Philidor Defence against 1.e4 and the Old-Indian Defence against 1.d4. There is only a limited number of plans, ideas and structures that you need to learn, and very few forcing variations.​

Renowned chess coach Vladimir Tukmakov presents more than 100 practical ways that masters and grandmasters have used to push beyond the limits of calculation and take a deliberate risk. He shows how to trick your opponent into believing your bluff.

In this book Ivan Sokolov presents a set of practical tools that will help you to master the art of sacrifice.

Sie spielen schon lange und leidenschaftlich gern Schach? Oder Sie wagen die ersten Schritte auf dem Schachbrett? Dann studieren Sie dieses Buch gründlich. Als Anfänger erspart es Ihnen unnötige Umwege zum richtigen Schachverständnis! Als erfahrener Amateur wird sich Ihr Blick auf die 64 Felder womöglich fundamental verändern! Denn viele Amateure verfangen sich leider schon frühzeitig in falschen Denkmustern, welche sie dann oft ein ganzes Schachleben lang begleiten. Wer aus dieser Sackgasse nicht hinausfindet, erleidet stets nur herbe Niederlagen und schmerzhafte Rückschläge. Dann hilft es auch wenig, wahllos Bücher zu studieren oder Unterricht zu nehmen. Vielmehr müssen die Weichen des strategischen Denkens neu gestellt werden. Auf den richtigen Weg führt Sie der Autor mit seiner Theorie von den „Störungen des Gleichgewichts“, die zwar gering an Zahl, jedoch überraschend allgegenwärtig sind. Geleitet von dieser Theorie erlernen Sie, wie man im Mittelspiel einen plausiblen Plan entwickelt und konsequent verfolgt. Währenddessen bleibt Silman stets ein strenger Lehrmeister, der sich gelegentlich selbst mit harscher Kritik nicht zurückhält, der jedoch auch nie müde wird zu rekapitulieren, was seinen Schülern nicht auf Anhieb gelingen mag. Immer wieder üben Sie das Erkennen vorhandener Störungen, der wichtigsten Grundlage des konzeptionellen Schachspielens, bis Sie allmählich von einem gewöhnlichen Amateur oder Klubspieler zu einem starken Turnierspieler reifen. Der Internationale Meister Jeremy Silman ist ein Schachlehrer von Weltklasse und zugleich Autor und erfolgreicher Spieler. Er gewann das American Open, das National Open und das U.S. Open. Die englischsprachige Originalausgabe von Schach, aber richtig! (The Amateur’s Mind) ist eines der meistgekauften Schachbücher der Gegenwart.

Spend more study time on what’s really decisive in your games! The average chess player spends too much time on studying opening theory. In his day, World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker argued that improving amateurs should spend about 5% of their study time on openings. These days club players are probably closer to 80%, often focusing on opening lines that are popular among grandmasters. Club players shouldn’t slavishly copy the choices of grandmasters. GMs need to squeeze every drop of advantage from the opening and therefore play highly complex lines that require large amounts of memorization. The main objective for club players should be to emerge from the opening with a reasonable position, from which you can simply play chess and pit your own tactical and positional understanding against that of your opponent. Gerard Welling and Steve Giddins recommend the Old Indian-Hanham Philidor set-up as a basis for both Black and White. They provide ideas and strategies that can be learned in the shortest possible time, require the bare minimum of maintenance and updating, and lead to rock-solid positions that you will know how to handle. By adopting a similar set-up for both colours, with similar plans and techniques, you will further reduce study time. Side-stepping Mainline Theory will help you to focus on what is really decisive in the vast majority of non-grandmaster games: tactics, positional understanding and endgame technique.

Books on chess exercises are usually about tactics. But in most of the positions that you think about during a game, there is no tactical solution. What you are doing most of the time is trying to find a way to improve your position or weaken your opponent’s, by applying strategic rules. Experienced chess trainer Emmanuel Bricard has created a practical exercise manual with carefully selected and tested training positions that teach you how to develop the right plan.

Award-winning author Charles Hertan has revisited the gold mine of Judit Polgar’s games and selected her best and most instructive tactics. They are arranged by theme and presented with helpful explanations and lots of practical advice. You will be inspired by her clever traps, stunning sacrifices and cunning endgame tricks. You will learn from her tactical vision, calculating skills and counter-intuitive ideas. Strike Like Judit is a riveting guide that will help you win more games as you will find killer moves more easily and more quickly.