"Build Up Your Chess: The Fundamentals is the first in a series for players who want to build their skills on a solid foundation. In 24 chapters he sets out to cover the basics: simple tactics, openings, fundamental endgames, calculation of variations and the rudiments of positional chess. Each chapter starts with the introduction of a theme followed by progressively more difficult examples and finally exercises to solve with detailed solutions. Such an approach has been

seen before but never as well done. [...] This book will be very helpful for almost all players below 2200 who learned how to play chess outside the former Soviet Union. With very few exceptions such players have fundamental gaps in their knowledge. A player rated 2000 will likely whip through this book quite quickly but every so often they are going to find positions that they do not know the answer to. Better to learn at home what the positions are than over the board!

Highly Recommended 5/5"

John Donaldson - Chess Today

004 Key to symbols used

005 Preface

006 Introduction

008 1 Mating motifs

018 2 Mating motifs 2

030 3 Basic opening principles

044 4 Simple pawn endings

054 5 Double check

064 6 The value of the pieces

074 7 The discovered attack

082 8 Centralizing the pieces

092 9 Mate in two moves

100 10 The opposition

110 11 The pin

120 12 The double attack

128 13 Realizing a material advantage

138 14 Open files and outposts

148 15 Combinations

156 16 Queen against pawn

164 17 Stalemate motifs

172 18 Forced variations

182 19 Combinations involving promotion

192 20 Weak points

202 21 Pawn combinations

212 22 The wrong bishop

222 23 Smothered mate

232 24 Gambits

244 Final test

252 Appendices

252 Index of composers and analysts

254 Index of games

262 Recommended books