Mastering Endgame Strategy

Hellsten focuses exclusively on endgame play and covers every type of endgame: pawn, rook, minor piece and queen endgames. He examines many fundamental positions that everyone needs to know, as well as the key themes and characteristics of successful endgame play.

Grandmaster Johan Hellsten is convinced that mastering chess strategy - just like chess tactics - requires practice, practice and yet more practice! This outstanding book is a product of his many years' work as a full-time chess teacher, and is specifically designed as part of a structured training programme to improve strategic thinking. It focuses on a wide range of key subjects and provides a basic foundation for strategic play. Furthermore, in addition to the many examples, there's an abundance of carefully selected exercises which allow readers to monitor their progress and put into practice what they have just learned. Following such a course is an ideal way for players of all standards to improve. Although designed mainly for students, this book is also an excellent resource for chess teachers and trainers. An essential course in chess strategyContains over 400 pages of Grandmaster adviceIncludes more than 350 training exercises

In this widely acclaimed chess classic, Russian trainer Mikhail Shereshevsky explains how to master the most important endgame principles. Where other endgame manuals focus on the basics and theoretical endgames, this book teaches the ‘big ideas’ that will help you find the most promising and most practical moves in any endgame. Even in endgames, it helps to think schematically instead of trying to calculate every move. To maximize your winning chances, this invaluable manual will teach you lessons such as ‘do not hurry’ and ‘centralize your king’ or ‘fight for the initiative’. Endgame Strategy is considered to be one of the most important endgame manuals. In comparison with the 1981 publication, this new edition has been thoroughly revised and the author has added dozens of new and inspiring positions. The book is highly recommended by club players, coaches, and grandmasters alike. ‘I especially read the chapter “Do not hurry!” with pleasure; not just because I agree with what he says, but more importantly because it defines the playing style of Magnus Carlsen,’ said Grandmaster Simen Agdestein, long-time trainer of the Norwegian World Champion.

Grandmaster and renowned chess teacher Johan Hellsten provides an essential foundation of opening strategy and an abundance of carefully selected exercises so that readers can monitor their progress.

A famed writer, speaker, player and international master has created the one and only endgame book chess enthusiasts need as they move up the ladder from beginner to tournament player to possession of the coveted master title.

Grandmaster Alexander Panchenko (1953-2009) was one of the most successful chess trainers in the Soviet Union, and later in Russia. Panchenko ran a legendary chess school that specialised in turning promising players into masters. The secret of his success were his dedication and enthusiasm as a teacher combined with his outstanding training materials. ‘Pancha’ provided his pupils with systematic knowledge, deep understanding and the ability to take practical decisions. Now, Panchenko’s classic Mastering Chess Middlegames is for the first time available in translation, giving club-players around the world access to this unique training method. The book contains a collection of inspiring lessons on the most important middlegame topics: attack, defence, counterplay, realising the advantage, obstructing the plans of your opponent, the battle of the heavy pieces, and much more. In each chapter, Panchenko clearly identifies the various aspects of the topic, formulates easy-to-grasp rules, presents a large number of well-chosen examples and ends with a wealth of practical tests. The brilliance of Alexander Panchenko’s didactic method shines through in this book. It is hard to give better advice for ambitious chess players than to follow this tried-and-tested and highly instructive road towards mastering the chess middlegame.

Young Daniel Naroditsky (1995) has picked the most instructive examples of endgames in which you have to use ideas and plans in order to outplay your opponent. This is not an encyclopaedia nor a manual on endings, which are usually helpful but boring, but a compendium of lively lessons and exercises. The positions that International Master Naroditsky uses should not be memorized, but understood, and his acclaimed didactic skills will take your endgame technique to the next level. Never before have the ideas that decide endings been explained so clearly. With exercise at the end of each chapter.

Bryan Paulsen presents a complete repertoire for White based on 1 Nf3, a flexible move popularized by Kramnik which allows White to enter 1 d4 openings while avoiding some of Black's main defences.