AWARDED: ChessCafe 2009 Book of the Year!
These are some of the comments posted by ChessCafe voters:
 -- "My only vote goes to Herman Grooten's masterpiece, a class of its own" 
 -- "It's superb and I think Nimzo might now rest in peace. It's the new standard of middlegame strategy for all club players!"

SHORTLISTED: The Guardian 2009 Chess Book of the Year

Every club player knows the problem: the opening has ended, and now what?

First find the right plan, then the good moves will follow!

With this book, International Master Herman Grooten presents to amateur players a complete and structured course on:

Herman Grooten, is an International Master and a chess coach with over 25 years of experience. Quite a few of his pupils have gone on to become grandmasters, among them Loek van Wely and Jan Werle.

From the foreword by Jan Timman:
"A highly instructive book for readers who want to improve their chess skills."

Jan van de Mortel, Chess Education Partners, Chicago IL:
“One of my three favorite chess teaching books. Grooten supplies nice examples and great explanation in a very structured way.”

Gary Lane, Australian Chess Magazine:
"This book will certainly improve your middlegame and boost your results."

KARL Chess Magazine:
"The entire presentation is extremely well done (..) A fantastic and challenging book for ambitious and advanced club players." 

Pete Tamburro, ChessLife:
"Chess coaches will have a quality supply of superb examples and explanations, and self-motivated students will benefit immensely if they are over, say, 1800 in strength."

Elburg Chess Reviews:
"It is not easy to find a better book on chess strategy!"

Martin Rieger, Europa Rochade:
"Extremely interesting and instructional lectures on the themes: positional elements, positional judgements, and finding the right plan (..) A fantastic book for chess training."

Joe Petrolito, Australasian Chess Magazine:
"An excellent teaching tool with over 400 pages of clear instruction."

Marshtower Chess Reviews:
"The depth is very impressive, with lucidity and thoroughness going hand in hand."

Paul Motwani, The Scotsman:
"Excellent (..) Literally hundreds of instructive examples."

German Federation for Correspondence Chess:
"A good basis for chess coaches to teach beginners systematically the principles of chess strategy (..) And an expert course for self study, as well."

Steve Goldberg, ChessCafe:
"An outstanding positional primer."