Zenon Franco has regularly annotated top-level games for more than a quarter of a century. He has drawn upon this vast experience to present 50 hugely instructive games illustrating a wide variety of chess ideas, reinforced by 13 supplementary games and 45 exercises.

Key themes are illustrated by several games, so that we gain a well-rounded appreciation of the relevant ideas, and develop foresight that will enable us to make the right decisions at the board by anticipating problems before they arise.

Topics include:

• Pawn Sacrifice
• Exchange Sacrifice
• The Art of Manoeuvring
• The Second Weakness
• Permanent vs Temporary Advantages
• Regrouping
• The King's Destiny
• 'Strange' Exchanges
• Denying the Opponent Squares
• The Central Breakthrough

Zenon Franco is a grandmaster from Paraguay who now lives in Spain. He is an experienced chess trainer, his most notable pupil being Francisco Vallejo Pons, now one of the world's top grandmasters, whom he taught from 1995 to 1999.

Content:
006 Symbols

007 Bibliography

08 Foreword

009 1 The Art of Sacrifice

009 1.1 The Pawn Sacrifice

009 1 Grishchuk - Hracek, Bundesliga 2002/3

011 2 Grishchuk - Oral, Reykjavik 2000

014 3 Vallejo Pons - Andersson, Baden-Baden 2004

016 4 Short - Ye Jiangchuan, Taiyuan 2004

020 5 Beliavsky - Strikovic, Cacak 1996

022 6 Vallejo Pons - Cvitan, Plovdiv Echt 2003

025 1.2 The Exchange Sacrifice

025 7 Movsesian - Kasparov, Sarajevo 2000

029 8 Shirov - Kramnik, Linares 1998

032 9 Anand - Sadler, Tilburg 1998

035 10 Adams - Topalov, Wijk aan Zee 2005

038 11 Tseshkovsky - Browne, Manila 1976

040 12 Lautier - Topalov, Elista OL 1998

043 13 Korchnoi - Seirawan, Lugano 1986

046 1.3 Exercises

049 2 Manoeuvring Play

049 2.1 The Art of Manoeuvring

049 14 Karpov - Yusupov, Tilburg 1993

054 15 Anand - Short, Merida 2001

058 16 Smyslov - Romanishin, USSR Ch 1976

060 17 Piket - Smirin, Leon Echt 2001

063 2.2 The Second Weakness

064 18 Vallejo Pons - Tkachev, Biel 2002

066 2.3 Permanent vs Temporary Advantages

067 19 Short - Pogorelov, Gibraltar 2004

070 2.4 Regrouping

070 20 Leko - Beliavsky, Bled OL 2002

072 21 Leko - Short, Wijk aan Zee 2005

075 22 Ivanchuk - Beliavsky, Lvov 2000

078 23 Anand - Yusupov, Wijk aan Zee Ct (3) 1993

082 2.5 The King's Destination

082 24 Cvitan - Estrada Nieto, Aosta 2002

084 25 Navara - McShane, Lausanne 2004

086 26 Korchnoi - Gretarsson, Reykjavik 2003

088 27 Vaganian - Yusupov, Istanbul OL 2000

091 28 Anand - Timman, Wijk aan Zee 2004

094 29 Anand - Dreev, Linares 1997

096 2.6 Exercises

099 3 Simplification

099 3.1 'Strange' Exchanges

100 30 Karpov - Shirov, Biel 1992

102 3.2 The Queen Exchange

104 31 Torre - Ivanchuk, Istanbul OL 2000

107 3.3 Exercises

109 4 Pawns, the Soul of Chess

109 4.1 Surrendering Strong Squares to the Opponent

109 32 Kasparov - Nunn, Lucerne OL 1982

112 33 Fischer - Unzicker, Siegen OL1970

115 34 Karpov - Adorjan, Lucerne Wcht 1989

117 35 Kasparov - Vallejo Pons, Linares 2004

120 36 Piket - Korchnoi, Groningen PCA 1993

122 37 Korchnoi - Ionov, Ohrid Ech 2001

124 38 Karpov -Korchnoi, Dortmund 1994

130 39 Cu. Hansen - Short, Skanderborg 2003

135 40 Timman - Short, El Escorial Ct (3) 1993

139 41 Short - Kozul, Beigrade 1989

141 4.2 Kasparov's Pawn-Centre

141 42 Furman - Panno, Madrid 1973

145 43 I. Sokolov - J. Polgar, Hoogeveen 2003

147 44 Radjabov - Leko, Linares 2003

150 45 Malaniuk - Ehlvest, USSR Ch 1987

153 4.3 The French Pawn-Centre

153 46 Rozentalis - Vallejo Pons, Calvia OL 2004

156 4.4 A Special Centre

156 47 Portisch - Kramnik, Biel IZ1993

159 48 Gulko - Shabalov, Willemstad 2003

162 4.5 The Central Breakthrough

162 49 Kasparov - Ponomariov, Linares 2003

166 50 Bruzon - Topalov, Wijk aan Zee 2005

168 4.6 Exercises

171 Solutions to Exercises

171 Solutions for Chapter 1

175 Solutions for Chapter 2

179 Solutions for Chapter 3

184 Solutions for Chapter 4

189 Index of Games

191 Index of Openings