Our Price: £ 15.99 (only UK)

Publisher: Gambit, 2008
Edition: Paperback large
Pages: 208
Language: English

The opening is reaching its end, and we must make a pivotal decision: what shall our middlegame strategy be? Do we seek an active plan to profit from our strengths and highlight the opponent's weaknesses? Or do we adopt prophylaxis, attending to our own position's shortcomings and hindering the opponent's plans? Alternatively, are there any ready-made plans that we know from other games that can be tailored to fit our position?

The authors present 90 'multi-choice' tests where the reader faces this task. In detailed solutions, they explain the best solution, and why other possibilities are less convincing. We develop a feel for how the decision is made, while painlessly building our 'repertoire' of plans in typical positions.

All the examples in this book arise from Queen's Pawn or Flank Openings, and are arranged by opening and level of difficulty. Many are drawn from games by virtuoso strategists such as Karpov and Petrosian. In all cases, the game is annotated in full, so we see the consequences of the critical decision, while also appreciating the finer points of some of the most instructive games in chess history.

Grandmaster Alfonso Romero comes from Spain and was runner-up in the 1984/5 European Junior Championship. He has represented his country in several Olympiads, winning an individual bronze medal at the 2002 event.

Amador Gonzalez de la Nava is a FIDE Master. He is also from Spain, and is a chess teacher and writer.