Daily bite-sized puzzles to improve your tactical ability

*365 Steps to Tactical Mastery* offers a practical, tactic-centered approach to improving your chess game. Instead of spending countless hours studying, this book delivers bite-sized lessons and tasks that you can complete daily to enhance your skills over the course of a year. 

The fundamental purpose of Black’s aggressive and provocative move with the d-pawn is to create immediate central tension and to exploit the latent power of the queen on her starting square. Remember Lasker’s observation: “Black’s idea is to make use of the great fighting power of the queen in the opening”. 

All the lines presented in this book are very old, some even dating back to medieval times! Lots of things were known about these systems before chess engines started to become very strong, but now we have completely new ideas from not only a tactical, but also positional, point of view on positions that have simply resurfaced in recent times. The rebirth of these lines has become so popular that during my work on this book I was amazed to see such a level of popularity. To make this book readable I broke some positions into smaller files wherever I could. In all my books I try to present at least the basics of many openings and lines: the problem is that basic knowledge about openings is growing even bigger, and it is not an easy job to comprehend and assimilate all that material. That’s why I have also tried in this book to be as concise as possible. After all, reading a book should not only be an aesthetic/interesting endeavour, but also a practical/useful thing at the same time.

In 1904, the American chess player Frank James Marshall was at the top of his game. He had won several tournaments in a row, including the prestigious event in Cambridge Springs 1904, ahead of the reigning world champion Dr. Emanuel Lasker.

Master the Catalan, an Opening that stands the test of time and style

♟️ Strategic Depth – Offers rich, long-term positional play with strong central control.

♖ Top-Level Endorsement – Played by elite grandmasters like Kramnik, Carlsen, and Giri.

🔒 Solid and Safe – Builds a strong, stable structure with minimal risk in the opening phase.

🧠 Outplay Opponents – Ideal for players who enjoy quiet pressure and deep middlegame plans.

🎯 Target Black’s Weaknesses – Constant pressure on Black’s queenside and long diagonal (g2–a8).

♜ Flexible System – Effective against multiple defenses (1…d5, 1…Nf6), allowing transpositions.

🧩 Easy to Learn, Hard to Crack – Concepts-driven rather than theory-heavy; great for building a repertoire.

Challenge the French Defense with the Exchange Variation

Simplify the position early

Maintain central tension

Use piece activity to exploit symmetrical structures

Create imbalances

The Carlsbad Pawn Structure is one of the most important and instructive pawn structures in chess. It commonly arises from the Queen’s Gambit Declined, Exchange Slav, and other 1. d4 openings, offering a wealth of strategic ideas for both sides. This structure has been studied extensively by many world champions, including Capablanca, Karpov, and Petrosian, due to its rich positional themes.

Beauty in chess manifests itself in different ways. For chess players who are not sophisticated enough, one of the leading aesthetic criteria is probably the value of the offered piece. An experienced player will primarily value the originality and purity of the idea.

The primary goal of this work is not to recount a story or to acknowledge the creative efforts of a friend, although those are satisfying perks I allow myself. This is a theoretical book about a chess variation that (it could not be otherwise) 

A Solid and Reliable Opening: The Petrov’s Defense

The Petrov’s Defense (also known as the Russian Defense) is an underrated gem in classical chess, offering solid play and excellent counterattacking opportunities. While it might not enjoy the same spotlight as the Ruy Lopez or Sicilian Defense, it’s a highly respected opening for players who seek consistency, strategic depth, and resilience.

Bird’s Opening is currently in that ‘goldilocks’ zone of the great arbitrages in life. The majority of chess players have dismissed it overlooking its inherent value and this allows for adopters of the Bird to take advantage of this asymmetry. As of this writing, it is played 9% of the time in online databases and this drops to 2% (!) in the master’s database of OTB games. 

All chess players know that they need to study tactics, calculation, endgames, and openings, but when it comes to defense, far too many wait until they're under pressure. The truth is that more games are lost because of defensive mistakes than strategic ones.

Dan Heisman has been teaching chess for over 50 years and has been doing so full-time since 1996. He therefore knows very well what kind of advice actually helps players improve. This book is a distillation of that advice.

Swedish chess legend Ulf Andersson was a positional genius with a crystal-clear style. In his prime, in the 1970s and 80s, he rose to the number 4 spot of the FIDE world rankings because he almost never lost a game and kept scoring wins from quiet positions.

I was pleased to become acquainted with the endgame chess workbook by the young creative duo from Serbia. Endgame technique is often a stumbling block not only for beginner chess players but also for experienced professionals.

Many decently strong players aspire to become an international master. They see very clearly that the grandmaster title is most likely beyond them but the IM title is one they feel they could achieve, if only...

Winning a pawn is a common occurrence in chess, but many players have no idea what to do with an extra pawn, aside from the vague notion of “exchange pieces and win the endgame”. Grandmaster Sam Shankland knows better – and after reading this book, you will too.

A pawn is the smallest unit of material in chess, but a well-executed pawn sacrifice can yield huge rewards. Still, many players shy away from such possibilities when they are uncertain of the consequences.

Mikhail Botvinnik is widely regarded as one of the greatest chess players of all time, in the same league as Magnus Carlsen, Bobby Fischer, and Garry Kasparov. Botvinnik was born in 1911 and died in 1995. He is known as The Patriarch, or the father of the Soviet School of Chess. He was World Chess Champion from 1948 until 1963, with two short interruptions, and later mentored other world champions Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik.

This new book by Mikhail Shereshevsky, one of the most respected chess trainers in the world, is about a very important but little-explored topic: associative thinking. How can a modern chess student avoid drowning in the flood of information? The answer is to stop mechanically memorizing moves and turn on your curiosity. Try to create a vivid image of the technique you are studying and remember it as an association!

Tiviakov's Unbeatable Strategies: Searching for the Right Move

Grandmaster Sergei Tiviakov once remained unbeaten in a streak of 110 consecutive professional chess games. Who could be a better guide to help you find the right move in any chess position than Tiviakov? His style was polished in the famous Russian chess school and hardened by his vast experience in hundreds of strong tournaments.

Книгу можно рассматривать, как три в одном: во-первых, это сборник разнообразных, но, часто типовых ловушек, встречающихся, как в дебюте, так и в середине игры и в эндшпиле. Во-вторых, эта книга – учебник по тактике, т.к. ловушки почти всегда основываются на хитроумных тактических ударах. 

В своей книге гроссмейстер и опытный тренер Александр Галкин не только попытался структурировать некоторые типы шахматных окончаний с нестандартным соотношением материала на доске, но и предложил свою методологию понимания основных особенностей подобных эндшпилей. 

Книга гроссмейстера и опытного тренера Александра Галкина посвящена сильнейшей фигуре на шахматной доске – ферзю. На примере эпизодов из партий современных гроссмейстеров (подавляющее большинство партий относится к 2020-2023 годам) и своей гроссмейстерской практики автор пытается обобщить, а где-то даже и уточнить методологию понимания и разыгрывания ферзевых окончаний, а также иных типов эндшпилей с наличием ферзей (ферзя) на доске. 

Книга гроссмейстера и опытного тренера Александра Галкина является заключительным звеном в серии публикаций автора, направленных на изучение классического эндшпиля на примерах партий современных гроссмейстеров.

Новая работа заслуженного тренера, автора бестселлеров «Стратегия эндшпиля» и «С молодежью – в эндшпиль», посвящена очень важной и в то же время малоисследованной теме – ассоциативному мышлению. Как современному шахматисту не утонуть в льющихся со всех сторон потоках информации? Опытный наставник советует: остановить механическое заучивание, включить любопытство, придумать яркий образ к изучаемому приему и запомнить его как ассоциацию.

Material imbalances are a fundamental part of almost every chess game, yet have not received much attention in chess literature. In this illuminating book, GM Mauricio Flores Rios breaks down this universal topic into categories such as bishop vs knight, opposite-coloured bishops, possessing and playing against the bishop pair, and various scenarios with a queen or rook being traded for a number of pieces. With well-chosen examples, insightful commentary and exercises to test your newfound understanding of all types of material imbalance, this book is an essential tool for chess improvement.

One of the sharpest lines to meet 1 d4 is the Modern Benoni (1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 e6 4 Nc3 exd5 5 cxd5 d6). The hallmark of this opening is that Black makes the positional concession of allowing White a central majority and in return hopes for counterchances via active piece play. However, there are many other weird and wonderful ways to handle these "Benoni structures" as the very experienced chess coach and author Andrew Martin demonstrates in this highly engaging book.

Chess theory ebbs and flows. Lines that have been discarded for decades suddenly become all the rage and everyone starts playing them. A case in point are queenside openings where White plays Bf4. For years these had been the chess equivalent of flared trousers but in recent times they have been reinvented and even the best players in the world are now sporting them.

Dana Mackenzie celebrates the joy of chess - the ordinary, everyday chess we amateurs play. For this book, he has selected forty of his favorite posts from his award-winning chess blog, including a diverse mix of stories, philosophical musings, chess improvement tips, and game analysis.

Books on how to improve your results over the board have been written before but in these changing times when chess has propelled onto the public consciousness, an update is badly needed. Grandmaster Daniel Gormally uses his 25+ years of experience to take the readers through the fires of the tournament cauldron, while illustrating some of his battles with the best players in England.

Few books have dealt with the topic of exchanges in chess, leaving this important part of chess strategy a mystery to most. In Mastering Chess Exchanges, grandmasters Aagaard and Castellanos break down the topic into crystal-clear themes, including piece preferences, tension, weaknesses, colour complexes, king safety and endgames, illustrating the concepts with illuminating examples. Then the reader is given a chance to turn understanding into skill, with 365 instructive exercises, featuring a novel, multiple-choice format designed to focus attention on possible exchanges.

When Learn from the Legends was published in 2004, the book became an instant classic and Mihail Marin became known as one of the world’s finest chess authors. 

The Accelerated Dragon (1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 g6) has attracted the attention of many creative players. In the past these included Tigran Petrosian and Bent Larsen while modern aficionados include the dominant player of the era, Magnus Carlsen, as well as Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, Vassily Ivanchuk, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and many others.

When deciding upon a repertoire to meet 1 d4, those players whose natural inclination is to be aggressive have a difficult decision. There are plenty of outright counter-attacking tries such as the Benko Gambit, the King's Indian Defence and the Modern Benoni. However, such openings are generally considered borderline unsound at the higher levels. On the other hand the safe options such as the Queen's Gambit Declined and Queen's Gambit Accepted make it difficult to create middlegame complications. So, what to do?

Chess Informant 162 “Manoeuvre!!” presents:

World Championship Match Ding – Gukesh, analysis by GM Ivan Ivanisevic

European Individual Chess Championship, analysis by GM Milos Perunovic

The Budapest Gambit, theoretical survey by GM Vasilios Kotronias

The King’s Gambit, 5.h3 Variation by GM K. Szabo

The Wandering King, instructive lecture by GM Michael Prusikin

Thankless Tasks, studies by GM Steffen Nielsen

Roger’s Reminiscences, Kasparov’s first trip to the West by GM Ian Rogers

A story of a Chess Prodigy – Roman Shogdzhiev

Traditional sections:

Correspondence Chess

The best game and most important theoretical novelty from the previous Volume

Endgames

Combinations

200 games according to ECO Codes.

The periodical that pros use with pleasure is at the same time a must have publication for all serious chess students!

A full Black repertoire grounded in answering 1…e6 against any move!

The answer against 1. d4 is the Stonewall, while the answer against 1. e4 is the French. The repertoire is geared towards all levels due to its flexibility. The Stonewall Dutch is a defense that nowadays has a dodgy reputation, but this is ungrounded. It is true that Black willingly creates a bad bishop, but I have both improved on modern theory, as well as offer some odd-looking, interesting, and innovative new ways to play this once renowned (and soon-to-be renowned!) defense. A defense that powerhouses such as Viktor Korchnoi used to play a lot is not being scrapped and thrown into the bin, as much as people nowadays believe it should, but rather shall be revitalized and spring to life anew.

Nikola Sedlak is a renowned chess player known for his expertise in the London System. He is a grandmaster from Serbia who has been considered one of the strongest players in the country for many years. Sedlak is also a well-known chess trainer and author, who wrote several books on the London System and other chess openings.

This book aims to give you a wealth of self-study knowledge about handling different types of endings that occur frequently but on which there is not much literature analyzing recent games. Imbalanced material endgames involving rooks are a key focus of the book, covering three-fifths of the material, and all endings in the book feature at least one rook. The vast majority of games are taken from the last few years, including many from 2021-2022. Like the author’s previous endgame book published with Elk and Ruby, 101 Endgame Crimes and Punishments (2020), this one is aimed at strong tournament players (1900-2300 Elo) and fast improving juniors.

Are you ready to shock your opponent on move 3?

The Reti Opening is a dynamic opening invented by Richard Reti more than a century ago. It has since been featured in the repertoires of countless grandmasters and world champions, including Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Garry Kasparov, Tigran Petrosian, Vassily Smyslov, and many others.