Strategic Chess Exercises

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. Experienced chess trainer Emmanuel Bricard has created a practical exercise manual with carefully selected training positions. This book is for you if you want to know what to do if there is no tactical solution, improve your understanding of chess strategy, learn how to apply strategic principles in concrete positions, gain time on the clock by having to calculate fewer variations and learn how to accumulate advantages in various types of positions. The level of difficulty of the exercises varies as this manual is intended for a wide range of club players. After working with Strategic Chess Exercises you will spend less time on finding better plans, and outplay your opponents more often!

"This book is a training and improvement program for amateur chess players"--Introduction.

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

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. This book is for you if you want to: know what to do if there is no tactical solution improve your understanding of chess strategy learn how to apply strategic principles in concrete positions gain time on the clock by having to calculate fewer variations learn how to accumulate advantages in various types of positions be inspired by great examples of strategy. The level of difficulty of the exercises varies as this manual is intended for a wide range of club players. The majority of the exercises are middlegame positions, but additionally there is a large section of endgame tests as well. After working with Strategic Chess Exercises you will spend less time on finding better plans, and outplay your opponents more often!

This new 3rd edition has, besides various corrections and improvements, a new introduction and a brand-new chapter called ‘Total Control’. In this 35-page chapter Grooten adds the final instructive brick to his formidable, yet very accessible, building: inspired by Tigran Petrosian’s playing style he explains amateurs how to exploit small advantages. With a new set of exercises. ---- Every club player knows the problem: the opening has ended, and now what? First find the right plan, then the good moves will follow! With this book, International Master Herman Grooten presents to amateur players a complete and structured course on: how to recognize key characteristics in all types of positions how to make use of those characteristics to choose the right plan His teachings are based on the famous "Elements" of Wilhelm Steinitz, but Grooten has significantly expanded and updated the work of the first World Champion. He supplies many modern examples, tested in his own practice as a coach of talented youngsters. In Chess Strategy for Club Players you will learn the basic elements of positional understanding: -- pawn structure -- piece placement -- lead in development -- open files -- weaknesses -- space advantage -- king safety -- exploiting small advantages. The author also explains what to do when, in a given position, the basic principles seem to point in different directions. Each chapter of this fundamental primer ends with a set of highly instructive exercises.

In this enlarged edition of a modern classic (first published in 1991) on the battle of chess ideas, grandmaster Mihai Suba developed the concept of ?dynamic potential? in modern chess strategy. In improving your position on the board the old strategy principles often lead to conflicting conclusions. Suba takes another view on the meaning of, for example, ?bad positions? and ?quiet moves?, and uses a light touch to explain his ideas. With many entertaining and instructive examples the author explores ?the accumulation of potential? as the modern way to get the advantage. A thought-provoking and yet very practical guide.

Masterclasses by Kasparov, Carlsen, Tal, Anand, Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Smyslov, Larsen, Karpov and many others For more than three decades, every issue of New In Chess magazine has been full of detailed and highly enlightening annotations by the world’s best players of their own best games. Because studying well-annotated master games is the best way to learn the skills that really matter, acclaimed chess author Steve Giddins has revisited the New In Chess vault and assembled the clearest and most didactic examples. Giddins’ selection includes masterclasses by no fewer than eight World Champions: Kasparov, Tal, Smyslov, Karpov, Kramnik, Topalov, Anand and Carlsen. But also chess legends such as Larsen, Kortchnoi, Timman, Ivanchuk, Short, Aronian and Shirov have contributed. The New In Chess Book of Chess Improvement is a treasure trove of study material and has chapters on attack and defence, sacrifices, material imbalances, pawn structures, endgames and various positional themes. It provides the high standard of instructional material that today’s club player, much stronger than his equivalent 25 or more years ago, needs.