How to use this book

1. Have a good look at every position and try to understand what is going on behind the scenes. Compare the king positions, piece placements, pawn structure, material parity, etc., before beginning your analysis.

2. Before we start analysing any move, we should make a list of reasonable looking moves and only then begin analysing them.

3. Sometimes I will suggest some moves apart from the main line to analyse for instructional purposes.

4. Do not move the pieces on the board while working on your calculation skills. We should try to visualise the variations in our mind until the next diagram, which becomes the new starting point, and carry on the same way forward. You can also try to play through the whole analysis in your mind if you can!

5. Multiple moves at times lead to the same evaluation: in such cases, I will try to give all instructive variations for training purposes. What one sees, another may not. If you are curious enough, try to work through both variations!

6. Hide the moves in the book with an opaque object. In this way, the training becomes more effective by finding the moves by yourself, rather than reading them from the book without making any attempt to analyse the position.

7. You will be given small tasks throughout the book with the amount of time given to analyse the position. Try not to look at the solution before you analyse it well on your own.

8. Think about the amount of time suggested. If you need more time to analyse, please take more time where necessary.

9. I will be using the word he/him to denote a person, more for simplicity than anything else.

10. I have divided the material into five categories:

Level 1 = Elo rating 1200-1600

Level 2 = 1600-2000

Level 3 = 2000-2400

Level 4 = 2400-2600

Level 5 = 2600 & above

The above is, of course, a general indication, and players with better calculation skills will be able to solve positions above their rating level. Similarly, some players could struggle to solve positions belonging to their rating level if their current calculation skills are not in good shape.

If you wish to gain more!

1. Once you have arrived at any conclusions in your analysis, try to go through the analysis you have just made and look for any possible mistakes. Writing down your analysis is also acceptable. Not writing down your analysis is also fine, so do what is comfortable for you.

2. Checking your analysis, finding mistakes and correcting them is the best way to improve your analytical skills.

3. This book aims to expose you to many exciting positions where we will face various problems. The way we face them and solve them is a good source of information about how our mind works.

4. After completing and checking our analysis, we should compare our conclusions with the book’s analysis. Whenever our findings have some flaws, do not get disheartened. Getting disheartened is not the point of working to improve our chess skills. The mistakes we make should make us more curious about ourselves. They should enable us to make the necessary corrections in our priorities and thinking process. The ability to change oneself is the basis for effective learning. If we stick to our viewpoint too firmly, we miss the opportunity to evolve and grow.

5. It is essential for the work we do to translate into improvement in our analytical and problem-solving skills. For that to happen effectively, my suggestions are:

• Do not move the pieces while solving or analysing a position;

• Try to find good defensive resources for your opponent as well;

• Finding the first few moves is not enough; try to find the complete solution wherever possible;

• The solution we come up with eventually should be correct;

• Do all the above with efficient use of time/effort/energy.

6. Start with appropriate positions for your level and try to apply the guidelines given in point 7. Then progressively move to more challenging parts.

7. I have given the positions in this book to most of my students in the past. They try to analyse these positions without moving the pieces on a chessboard from the initial position until the end. Of course, I guide them in the right direction during this process without giving too many clues.

8. If you can find a helper, ask them to keep the book’s initial position on the chessboard. You should then use the time suggested in the book to think, come up with your analysis and present it to your helper. He will compare your conclusions with the analysis given in the book. If there is any mistake in your findings, he can tell you. Sometimes he can point out the exact moment where you made a mistake. Then you can try again to find the correct analysis. Such a manner of training will be a time-consuming and slow process. But we will learn the importance of being responsible for our analysis and the need to be good at it.

9. The positions are chosen mainly for the instructive value they offer in the form of the moves/ideas that were played or in some cases the moves/ideas that were not found during the game. If a player missed an important concept, that does not reflect in any way on the strength of the player. We all make mistakes, and miss things occasionally. I thank all the players and composers who have been a source of material for this book.

10. In many places, some could get the feeling that there is an overdose of variations. I have seen in my experience as a coach that it is possible to analyse deep variations even for lower-rated players. When they learn to see more variations in less time with fewer mistakes, their playing strength increases phenomenally in a short time. I have seen 1800-rated players analyse Level 4 positions without moving pieces on the board (with clues and suggestions provided by me at the right time in the process though).