One of the most challenging tasks in a chess game is to find the correct strategy. It is far easy to attack too randomly, to miss a vital opportunity, or even choose the wrong plan altogether. These are all mistakes frequently seen by even quite strong players. Your Chess Battle Plan focuses on how Magnus Carlsen and other great masters decide on the best strategy in a position and then find the right ways to implement it. Clear advice shows you how to hone in on the most relevant features of a position in order to decide what your general plan needs to be. Factors that are addressed include when to exchange pieces, when to make long-range manoeuvres, when to offer sacrifices and how to identify and focus on key squares. Your Chess Battle Plan will get you thinking along the right strategic lines and using your pieces and pawns in a much more efficient and skilful manner. * A complete self-improvement programme. * Advice to evaluate the current level of planning in your own games. * Utilizes a structured approach, making the most of your study time.

• One of the world's greatest chess players reveals the secrets of how he plans his play • Packed with invaluable information on how to mobilise your forces, avoid threats and win the game • Illustrated with a wealth of annotated examples from the author's own games The legendary Anatoly Karpov has won over 250 Grandmaster tournaments, many more than any other player in chess history, and his games are characterised by his gradually and patiently pushing an opponent back to the wall, before finally finishing him off with a deadly blow. In this unique book, aimed at ordinary club players, Karpov gives a wealth of tips on how to incorporate this dramatic style of play into your own repertoire, through careful planning and evaluation of positions: looking at the fire-power of your forces, being aware of threats to your own king and how to safeguard it, and careful control of open lines. As he says himself: 'Finding the right plan is the key to success'. Warmily and accessibly written, but with Karpov's usual air of authority, this book makes you feel like you are spending an evening with the man himself, and will help you to absorb a little bit of the Karpov magic.

Every club player knows the problem: the opening has ended, and now what? With this new edition of his award winning 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 and 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 and king safety. You will master the art of converting a temporary plus into other, more permanent 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. This new 3rd edition has, besides various corrections and improvements, a new introduction and a brand-new chapter called ‘Total Control’ with new exercises.

If you want to improve at chess, you must know the characteristics of typical pawn formations. Understanding the pawn structure is a key tool when you are evaluating a position on the board. One simple pawn move can ruin your position or win the game. Post-beginners should know the basic essentials of chess structures and that is what this modern training manual focuses on. Experienced chess teacher Grandmaster Jörg Hickl helps you to recognize the important characteristics of pawn structures, learn how you can and should develop your pieces, identify how you can improve your position and develop a plan of action. This book provides common sense guidance and Jörg Hickl uses practical examples to explain typical structures, strategies and plans. His tips and exercises are both highly enjoyable and to the point.

Gain the advantage over your opponent with easy-to-remember strategies from one of the worlds top chess players! Strategy is the ultimate secret weapon for championship players around the world. Drawing on his considerable experience in tournament play, International Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan shows you how to apply flexible strategic principles to every part of your game. Using Seirawan's simple and effective planning and analysis techniques, you'll enter each game with confidence and energy, ready to play forcefully and intelligently the way you need to play so you can win every time! Learn to: Knock your opponent off balance with bold opening moves * Formulate an overall game strategy before the middle game * Interpret the motivation behind your opponents every move * Position yourself for a winning endgame * Diagrams throughout the book illustrate game positions, and you'll meet historys greatest chess strategieslearning from them move by move! Whether for reference during practice games or simply for pleasure reading,WINNING CHESS STRATEGIES is an information packed resource you'll turn to again and again

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.

A leading chess coach explains exactly how you can study the game in order to specifically improve your play.