In an important and strikingly original self-improvement manual, Jonathan Tisdall draws upon many years of experience as both player and trainer to explain a new approach to chess thinking. His ideas will be especially welcomed by players frustrated with the mechanical and unnatural "candidate moves" and "tree of analysis" approach advocated by many previous texts.

Tisdall's innovative ideas extend to the psychological aspects of chess, and in particular the defence of bad positions. The final sections of the book provide an armoury of mating patterns to be absorbed into the reader's subconscious.

As proof of the effectiveness of his methods, in the course of writing this book, and by using the very techniques he recommends here, Tisdall made a quantum leap in playing strength and achieved his life-long ambition of gaining the prestigious grandmaster title.