GeneM wrote on 12/14/14 at 05:14:43:


I remember that one.  Not a bad game, eh?  Commons (an American IM) annotated it in Chess Life (the USCF magazine).  One bit:  "Frankly, I was rather hoping that Peev would continue to follow my game against Najdorf (even though I lost), because I wanted another chance to prove my opinion that White has a winning attack after 19. f5!".

Thanks Chk, what you say makes a lot of sense. I enjoy complicated asymmetrical positions and play them almost exclusively, i should learn how to deal with the more boring simple positions as you say. I talked to the best player at my local club (2300) and he said he shares my distaste of such positions, but if I wanted to learn more I should start analyzing them and practice playing them against the computer. 

I think I will practice playing these kind of positions a lot more when I reach master, along with other chess openings. As for now i will stick to my normal repertoire but the specific line that was bothering me I will play. He and I went over it and it turned out there was a way to increase pressure while avoiding trades.

Thanks Alias although i already read the books i was looking to buy 3 years ago .

My proposition will be not to avoid such positions. Where you stand right now, playing such positions (not only studying them, but playing them also) may be the most productive way to improve.

It will make you stronger in simple positions, long grind downs, long defensive play in a slightly inferior position, technical chess, etc.

Since you recognise this as a potential weakness in your play, it makes sense to work on this as a priority. imo you do not need to change your whole rep, just a few lines may do the trick if they can get you exposed every now and then to these symmetrical positions.

I will leave book recommendations to others, as none comes to mind right now.

up and comer wrote on 06/06/11 at 04:36:13:

I would guess that most 2200 players are pretty familiar with all of the main concepts in Pawn Structure Chess.

I would suggest

• Studying the chapters on your own openings carefully
• Reading the chapters on other openings for pleasure; read the textual explanations but don't worry about studying every move.

Knowing the ideas associated with the other openings will enable you to appreciate master games in those openings more, and is knowledge you'll want to acquire at some point anyway.

Sounds like I should be selling my copies of these books...

Thanks Kyle. I hadn't thought of checking with the library to see if they had the books, and I didn't know Marovic had a follow up book. Will definitely look into both.

"Pawn Structure Chess" is one of my favorites too; I think I studied it when I was in the 1800s, and felt it was very helpful.  You might try interlibrary loan.

The other book of that sort which I would be most inclined to recommend to you is Marovic's followup "Dynamic Pawn Play in Chess."  

I am also "on the same page" as ErictheRed in his other comments. 

Hey everyone, while this isn't urgent since I'm currently engaged studying a very hard endgame book, I was looking to get the best books I could on pawn structure. I already have two books I have not studied, Pawn Power In Chess By Hans Kmoch and Understanding Pawn Play In Chess by Drazen Marovic, which I have heard very good things about. However when setting my sights on this subject I saw four books that seemed like the books to get. The first two I already own, but I do not have Pawn Structure Chess by Andrew Soltis, and Winning Pawn Structures by Alexander Baburin. I looked them up on line and Soltis book Pawn Structure Chess is going for 46-80$  , which while over the top I can still buy, and Baburin's book going for around 175$  . So my questions are 

1. Are there any books with basically the same ideas Baburin has that are actually in print, or that are being sold used for a reasonable price? 
2. If I wait long enough will there a reprint of the book so that I can buy it at a reasonable price? 
3. What order should I read these books in for maximum benefit, keeping in mind I might not get Baburin's book?
4. And finally these were just the top four books I came up with using my own limited time and searching ability. Are there any books you would say are better than, or cover something different than the books mentioned above?

I should add I have a number of books on strategy by Dvoretsky I have yet to go over. So they might contain all I need to know about pawn structure. I don't know.



As far as tactics books goes, I am currently using 303 tricky chess tactics and 1001 winning chess sacrifices and combinations although I have 2-3 other similar "303" tactics books I don't find as helpful. I find the majority of 303 tricky chess tactics very easy, but it seems to keep me sharp, and I have been rereading it as much as I can. I am aiming to get to the point where I can just go through it in one sitting, or about an hour. The 1001 winning chess sacrifices and combinations book is a lot harder and I have gone through it just once and about half of it on a reread. I am also planning to go over it to the point where I just have the puzzles down cold like I do in the other book. I have to say tactics is my main strength, and I definitely feel stronger than my rating at tactics (1816 uscf), seeing as it's how I've been winning the majority of my games. 
So my questions is, are there any stronger puzzle books on tactics that you could recommend to me? 

I'm just not very good at, and I don't particularly like working with computers, so I'm not looking for computer tactical problem compilations or programs. I would much prefer a book alternative.