Müller: Positional play

Autor: Müller, Karsten
Verlag: Beyer
Erscheinungsjahr: 2016
Sprache: German
Buchumschlag: hardcover
Seiten: 354

Positional play is fundamentally different from combination play, which aims to quickly gain material or achieve checkmate through tactical maneuvers. Positional play, on the other hand, aims to gradually improve the position until it is ready for a decisive blow. With this step-by-step strategy, it is usually not possible to calculate or evaluate the moves precisely. In addition, there is often a choice between various healthy continuations, which requires the player to make a difficult decision. This decision can usually only be made on the basis of a deep understanding of positional play, sometimes simply intuitively from a feeling for position, which must first be developed and acquired through several years of playing practice.

This work aims to improve the player's skills in positional play, sharpen positional awareness and help develop a feeling for the right strategic decisions. To this end, the author presents a large number of carefully selected, instructive practice and test tasks. The reader is encouraged to study these intensively and work out the solutions given later in the book (often continued until the end of the game). Numerous motifs associated with positional play are addressed: bad bishops, domination, undermining, prophylaxis, blockade, positional quality sacrifices, color complex weaknesses, etc. This training program is certainly aimed at advanced players who already have a solid basic knowledge. Anyone who has completed this training seriously will be noticeably better equipped to fight on the board when confronted with positional problems, the solution of which is essential for successful game play.

Grandmaster Dr. Karsten Müller was born in Hamburg in 1970. He studied mathematics and received his doctorate in 2002. Karsten Müller has been playing for Hamburger SK in the Bundesliga since 1988 and won the Grandmaster title in 1998. The globally recognized endgame expert was named “Trainer of the Year” by the German Chess Federation in 2007.

354 pages, hardcover, with bookmark