The three-times World Chess Solving Champion distils the most useful middlegame concepts and knowledge into 100 lessons that everyone can understand.

Following on from his successful Understanding Chess Endgames John Nunn turns his attention to the middlegame - the phase of the chess battle where most games are decided, yet the one that has received the least systematic treatment from chess writers. With the outstanding clarity for which he is famous, Nunn breaks down complex problems into bite-sized pieces.

In the case of attacking play, we are shown how to decide where to attack, and the specific methods that can be used to pursue the enemy king. Positional play is described in terms of the major structural issues, and how the pieces work around and with the pawns. Nunn explains how to assess when certain pieces are better than others, and how we can make use of this understanding at the board. Readers will never be short of a plan, whatever type of position arises.

Each lesson features two inspiring examples from modern chess, annotated honestly and with a keen focus on the main instructive points. Both sides' ideas are emphasized, so we get a clear picture of the ways to disrupt typical plans as well as how to form them.

Dr John Nunn is one of the best-respected figures in world chess. He was among the world's leading grandmasters for nearly twenty years, winning four gold medals in chess Olympiads and finishing sixth overall in the World Cup in 1989. He is a much-acclaimed writer, whose works have won 'Book of the Year' awards in several countries. In 2004, 2007 and 2010, Nunn was crowned World Chess Solving Champion, ahead of many former champions.

Content:
006 Symbols

007 Introduction

009 Myths of the Middlegame

016 Interconnectedness

021 Material Imbalances 024 1) Advantage of the Exchange

026 2) Rook vs Two Minor Pieces

028 3) Piece for Three Pawns

030 4) Queen vs Rook and Minor Piece

032 5) Queen vs Two Rooks

034 6) Queen vs Three Minor Pieces

036 7) Queen vs Two Minor Pieces

038 8) Playing with an Extra Pawn

040 9) Playing with a Pawn Less

042 10) Bishop vs Knight (1)

044 11) Bishop vs Knight (2)

046 12) The Two Bishops

048 Strategy

050 13) Creating a Plan

052 14) When You Can't Think of a Plan

054 15) Central Pawns

056 16) Improving Piece Position

058 17) Space Advantage

060 18) Manoeuvring

062 19) Liquidating to an Endgame

064 20) Using the Whole Board

066 21) The Minority Attack

068 22) Inferior Positions

070 Activity

072 23) The Curse of Passivity

074 24) The Initiative

076 25) Open Files

078 26) The Seventh Rank

080 27) Outposts

082 28) The Dominant Knight

084 29) Misplaced Piece

086 30) Good and Bad Bishops

088 31) When a Bad Bishop is Good

090 32) Opening Lines

092 33) Positional Pawn Sacrifices

094 34) Liberating Moves

096 35) Positional Exchange Sacrifices

098 36) Other Positional Sacrifices

100 Attacking Play 102 37) King in the Centre

104 38) The Bxh7+ Sacrifice (1)

106 39) The Bxh7+ Sacrifice (2)

108 40) Disaster on g7

110 41) The Bxh6 Sacrifice

112 42) The Weak f7-Square

114 43) The Nd5 Sacrifice in the Sicilian

116 44) The Bxe6 Sacrifice in the Sicilian

118 45) The Nf5 Sacrifice in the Sicilian

120 46) ...Rxc3 in the Sicilian

122 47) Castling on Opposite Sides

124 48) The Rook-Lift

126 49) Advancing Pawns against the Enemy King

128 50) Bringing up the Reserves

130 51) Excluding Defensive Pieces

132 52) Opening Files against the King

134 53) Attack against the Fianchetto

136 54) The Deadly Long Diagonal

138 55) Marginal Sacrifices

140 56) Breakthrough to the King

142 57) The All-Out Attack

144 58) Surprise Moves

146 Defensive Play 148 59) The Risks of Attacking

150 60) Exchanging Attacking Pieces

152 61) Avoiding Weaknesses

154 62) The Defensive Sacrifice

156 63) Coolness under Fire

158 64) Running with the King

160 65) Counter-Attack

162 66) Don't Panic!

164 Pawn-Structure 166 67) Isolated Pawns

168 68) The IQP

170 69) Hanging Pawns

172 70) Doubled Pawns

174 71) Two Bishops vs Doubled Pawns

176 72) Backward Pawns

178 73) Pawn-Islands

180 74) Weak Colour Complex

182 75) The Central Passed Pawn

184 76) Queenside and Kingside Majorities

186 77) Pawn Breakthrough

188 78) Pawn-Chains

190 79) Pawn-Chains and Space Advantages

192 80) Sacrificial Demolition of Pawn-Chains

194 Typical Central Pawn-Formations 196 81) The Open Centre

198 82) The Open e-File Centre

200 83) Closed Ruy Lopez Structure

202 84) French Winawer Structure

204 85) Sicilian Scheveningen Structure

206 86) Sicilian Najdorf Structure

208 87) Caro-Kann Structure

210 88) Sämisch King's Indian Structure

212 89) Benoni Structure

214 Typical Mistakes

216 90) Falling into Traps

218 91) Underestimating an Attack

220 92) Overestimating an Attack

222 93) Missing a Tactical Defence

224 94) Overvaluing a Material Advantage

226 95) Overvaluing the Two Bishops

228 96) Automatically Accepting Sacrifices

230 97) Lack of Alertness

232 98) Allowing a Swindle

234 99) Losing the Thread

236 100) Giving Up

238 Index of Games