Hello everyone!
This is Davorin Kuljasevic, a Croatian Grandmaster, chess author, and coach. My first two books ‘Beyond Material’ and ‘How to Study Chess on Your Own’ have already been featured on this blog, and today, I’d like to give a preview of my newest book, ‘The How to Study Chess on Your Own Workbook, Volume 2.’
This workbook is the second of the three-volume series that allows players of various levels to test their skills in three major areas of the game: tactics, middlegame, and endgame. I designed this volume specifically for players in the 1500-1800 Elo range, although a broader 1200-2000 Elo reader base could have a go at it. In other words, it is a training book for club players.
As its name suggests, the workbook material follows training methods previously introduced in my book ‘How to Study Chess on Your Own.’ That means I provided a more varied study schedule instead of giving generic puzzles for solving. The exercises will often require deeper reflection and a more analytical approach than you might be used to. These include blindfold chess exercises to improve your visualization, ‘Find a hidden tactic’ exercises to sharpen your tactical awareness, ‘Find the Best Move’ middlegame and endgame exercises, and more.
The introductory chapter, ‘Typical Mistakes of Club Players,’ is the book’s backbone. There, you will find examples of the most common calculation/tactical, positional, and endgame errors players at this level make. Let me show you a few typical cases:
Tactics Example
⬜️ Rappazzo, J (1766)
⬛️ Scherler, J (1962)
ch-SUI U16 rapid 2016
White shouldn’t have problems converting his material advantage since he controls the a-file and at least one of black queenside pawns is likely to fall. However, he managed to throw the game in one move with
25.Ra8 ?? He missed that afterInstead, a little prophylaxis25.g3was called for. After25…Nd526.Ra5 +−followed by Rfa1, White should have a technical job of converting the advantage. 25…Nh3+26.Kh1 his opponent has 26…Nxf2+ ! White resigned in Rappazzo,J (1766)-Scherler,J (1962), Switzerland U16 (rapid), 2023, in the view of 27.Rxf2Qc1+ with a back-rank mate. Many such blunders happen in winning positions because of what Alexander Kotov used to call ‘dulled sense of danger’. When we are ahead on material or have a dominant position, we often subconsciously relax and lower our guard, leaving the opponent for dead. However, experienced players know that it is exactly in such situations that one should double their caution and always scan for the opponent’s resources, as the wounded lion is the most dangerous one.
Middlegame Examples
⬜️ Zhou, Ivan (1615)
⬛️ Katz, Stewart (1632)
San Jose 2023
In this position, Black controls more space and has a wide choice of options. Katz decided to offer a queen trade with
28…Ng7 ?? His intention to simplify matters will quickly backfire because the e4-pawn, which was the pride of his position in the middlegame, will become an easy pray for the white pieces in the endgame. Black would have kept his positional trumps with a simple move like 28…Qd5 and if 29.Nd2 then 29…Nh6 = followed by …Nf7 and maybe …f5 give him a pleasant position. That said, this position could also fall under a ‘Find a hidden tactic’ section since Black missed a nice tactic 28…Qxa2 ! ∓ Black wins a pawn with this move since 29.Qxf5 ? is refuted by 29…exf3 ! Back-rank alert! 30.Rxe8Qa1+ with an inevitable mate. The key tactical trigger for this one is the ‘exposed king’ due to the poor position of the white bishop which blocks his ‘luft-square’. 29.Qxe6+ Rxe6 30.Nd2 f5 Black was counting on this move to provide him with a solid kingside majority in the endgame. However, he missed the simple retort 31.g4 ! which undermines the e-pawn. It is lost, and so is the game. The culprit was the wrong queen-trade decision. 31…f4 32.Rxe4 +− 1–0
⬜️ Alloui-Cros, Baptiste (2131)
⬛️ Brown, Joshua (1844)
Australia 2019
Club players also make big mistakes of the other kind – not trading the queens when they should. The most common reason for that is that they are insecure in their endgame skills and they lean toward something more familiar (the middlegame) instead. It is largely an emotional decision, with an objective evaluation of both the middlegame and the endgame sorely missing. We have a good example here. Black could force a queen trade with 10…Qxc3, but he wanted to keep pieces on the board instead, and played
10…Qa5 ?It’s difficult to find a strong logic in this decision since Black is underdeveloped and has much less space. These things matter a lot in the middlegame, but not so much in the endgame.On top of that, with10…Qxc3+11.bxc3Bxc112.Rxc1Nd7 =he would damage White’s pawn structure, creating potential targets for the endgame (like the a2-pawn, doubled c-pawns, or a4 and c4 squares). White space advantage and a lead in development wouldn’t matter all that much here because Black would have more than enough time to mobilize his pieces in the absence of queens.11.Nge2Bg412.O-OBb4The course that Black chose on move 10 forces him to play several moves with already developed pieces, which slows down his development even more.13.Qf4Qg514.Qg3Be6
Black finally realizes he should trade the queens, but it is too late. White has a choice now, and, understandably, he declines with15.Qf2 !He has a clear positional advantage since all his pieces are developed and coordinated, and he controls more space.15…Nd716.Nf4Bf717.Nd1 !Alloui-Cros starts a strong knight maneuver.17…Ba518.Ne3O-O ?Black collapses very quickly,, although his position isn’t enviable even after the necessary move18…g619.Bc4 +−This is positionally lost for Black he can at least try to resist.19.h4Qh620.Nf5The queen is trapped, so Black resigned. The final position is the perfect proof of why Black had to trade the queens when he had a chance.1–0
Endgame Example
⬜️ Guo, David1663
⬛️ Lee, Alexandre KM1650
Canberra 2023
This type of rook endgame (a-pawn with the rook in front of it) is covered in virtually every endgame book. The best way to remember it is as one of the few exceptions to the general (Tarrasch) rule that the rooks belong behind passed pawns. It was exactly this rule that the young player with black pieces relied on to play
48…Ra4 ?thinking it should draw.However, Black needs to attack the a-pawn from the side instead, with48…Rf5+ !49.Kc6Kg7 !This is called the Vancura defense. The rook is more flexible here than on the a-file because it can give side checks infinitely, for example50.Ra8Rf6+51.Kb7Rf7+and the white king cannot hide. If it runs toward the rook:52.Kc6Rf6+53.Kd5Rf5+54.Ke4then we simply keep contact with the a-pawn54…Rb5 !55.a6Rb6 !unless White goes56.a7when we have to switch to the standard behind-the-pawn defense56…Ra6 !56…Rb7 ??doesn’t work anymore due to57.Rg8+ −+57.Kd5Ra1 =The key difference compared to the position with the white pawn on a6 (as it happened later in the game) is that here White doesn’t have the a7-square to hide from the checks.49.Kc6Ra150.Kb7 ?White runs his king toward the pawn too early.He should have improved his rook and pawn first with50.Ra7+followed by a5-a6. Black would have two possible defenses, although both fail. The active one with50…Ke6and the passive one:50…Kg651.Ra8Kg752.a6Ra253.Kb7Rb2+54.Ka7 +−which transposes to the game.51.a6Rc1+52.Kb7Kd653.Kb8 !(the only move, but enough to win as the black king cannot cross over to the c-file)53…Ra154.Rh7 !Rb1+54…Rxa655.Rh6+ +−55.Rb7 +−50…Kg7 ?Black makes a mistake in turn. He was confident in the traditional behind-the-pawn defense, which only works with the white pawn on a7.He would have held an easy draw had he moved his king toward the pawn50…Ke751.Ra8Kd7White is too slow to make way for the pawn now. After52.a6Rb1+53.Ka7Kc7 =his king is boxed in, and we have an elementary draw.51.Ra8Ra252.a6Ra153.Ka7 !
That’s the key idea for White in such endgames. On a7, his king is finally safe from checks, so he can freely improve his rook.53…Kh754.Rb8 !Guo executes the winning rook-and-king ‘box’ maneuver.54…Ra255.Rb6Rg256.Ka8Rg8+57.Rb8Rg258.a7Rg159.Rb6Rg8+60.Kb7Rg7+61.Ka6Rg862.Rb8 +−Textbook conversion by White. Now all he needs to do is run his king toward the opponent’s rooks to stop the side checks.62…Rg6+63.Kb5Rg5+64.Kc4Rg4+65.Kd5Rg5+66.Ke4Rg4+67.Kf5Ra468.a8=QRxa869.Rxa8Kg770.Ra7+Kh671.Rf7Kh572.Rh7#1–0
The training exercises I designed for this Workbook aim to address these and other typical shortcomings of club players, as shown in the table below.
This workbook volume emphasizes visualization training more than the previous one. That is because many club players cannot always see chess positions in their minds accurately, particularly in longer or more complex lines. Therefore, I added 20 ‘Dynamic visualization’ exercises, such as the following one, into the mix.
Dynamic Visualization Example
A notable feature of the Workbook is that virtually all material comes from club players’ games. This way, I wanted to avoid a somewhat absurd yet fairly common situation in chess books where a club player has to calculate a line or find an idea a grandmaster missed in their game. Instead, if you are not a chess professional, in this Workbook, you will solve exercises appropriate for your current level.
I’ve aimed for this training material to be instructive just as much as to serve the readers’ practical needs. Therefore, I provide insights that could help you solve the tasks and learn in the process. In the Visualization chapter, I introduce the essential concepts of status change and moving parts. In the Tactics Training chapter, you will discover the importance of tactical triggers and a proper analytical technique to become a sharper tactician and calculator. Finally, I explain particular positional, strategic, or technical decisions in the Middlegame and Endgame Training chapters and sum up salient points as Middlegame and Endgame lessons. Here are a couple of examples:
Piece Trade Decision Example
⬜️ Piece trade decision example
Should White trade the queens or not? Whether to trade the queen or not is one of the most important decisions in a chess game. Several strategic factors should be considered: 1. King safety and attacking potential (assuming the queen trade is declined) 2. The active role of the king in the endgame (assuming the queen trade is accepted) 3. Positional weaknesses (usually become more problematic in the endgame) 4. Activity of your and opponent’s pieces in the middlegame vs. the endgame As I hinted earlier, club players typically err on the side of accepting piece trades, and they seem to have a soft spot for trading queens in particular. The most common reason behind this inclination is that they prefer to simplify the position if they don’t see any obvious drawback or danger to it. Once they see the queen trade is okay (not making their position obviously worse), they usually skip the step of comparing it to the alternative. Keeping queens typically leads to ”more complicated” positions than without the queens, but it can also give you better chances. This example is a case in point. In the game, White didn’t see anything wrong with the endgame after
24.Qxd8 ?!(one point)Had he given more consideration to declining the queen trade offer with24.Qc2 !(two points; or 24.Qe1!? with a similar idea, also earning full credit), he could have realized that the middlegame is more promising for White than the endgame. For starters, White wins a tempo on the queen. After24…Qe8which is relatively better than the alternatives because it covers the g6-pawn, White has a choice of promising plans.25.f4kick-starts the action on the kingside and looks quite dangerous for Black.Alternatively,25.Rb1 !? ±prepares the b4-break, with the initiative on the queenside.25…Ng425…Nc6 ?!leads to a terrible position for Black after26.e5 +−as the g7-bishop gets shut out and White starts attacking on the light squares with Qe4, Bd3, etc. (see point 1 above).25…Bh6is safely met by26.g3 ±26.Bxg4hxg427.Rf1 ±
The resulting position is clearly in White’s favor due to Black’s miserable pawn structure and the latent potential of the kingside attack (something that’s is available to him when he trades the queens). Besides preparing to win the g4-pawn, White can also shut out the bishop with e4-e5 at the right moment, increasing his positional domination. Meanwhile, Black doesn’t have active options to counter this.24…Rfxd8Moreover, he calculated that he wins a pawn with25.Rxd8+Rxd826.Bxc5and he stopped here, concluding White is better with no risk. Sure, he saw with a corner of his eye that Black could play26…Rd2but he didn’t think much of it since27.Kf1protects the bishop safely and White is up a pawn in the endgame, with a bishop pair to boot. However, this turned out to be a superficial evaluation. Black played27…Nc6 !exposing White’s weaknesses on the dark squares (see point 3 above). Moreover, it turns out that the bishop pair advantage is merely a mirage because the light-squared bishop is severely constrained by his own pawn chain. After28.Rd1White would like to start advancing his queenside majority with28.b4but it runs into28…Bb2 !28…Rb2 ! $44
Black keeps his rook very active on the second rank (see point 4 above), which makes it very difficult for White to make progress despite the extra pawn. Black could improve his position with …e5, …Bh6, …Kf7-e6 (see point 2 above), and probably force a trade into the drawish opposite colored bishops endgame with …e5 and …Nd4. MIDDLEGAME LESSON: When evaluating a queen trade, carefully consider the effect it has on the activity of your and, conversely, opponent’s pieces. Your score = ___/2 points
Endgame Analysis Example
⬜️ Endgame analysis example
Black to play. Which move is better: 33…Nc4 or 33…Kf6? The Solution: Despite the extra pawn, Black (to play) needs to tread carefully because the opponent has a dangerous outside passer. The right continuation is
33…Kf6 !using the well-known ‘shouldering’ technique that limits mobility of the opponent’s king. Despite the obvious importance of time in pawn-race endgames, it is well worth it to spend a tempo on this defensive move because it slows down the opponent’s passed pawn considerably. You earn two points for this decision and an extra point for analyzing any of the following lines.33…Nc4 ?would be a mistake (getting no credit) because it allows White to get his king from the edge with34.Kg7threatening to push the h-pawn all the way. However, you get one point for analyzing how this plays out in one of the following lines:34…a5Alternatively, Black can try to stop the pawn with34…Nd635.h5Ne8+but36.Kg6 !ensures that he cannot approach it with his king. White holds a draw after36…a537.h6Nf638.Ne5a439.Nc6+Ke640.Nd8+Ke7 =35.h5a436.h6a312345678abcdefgh
Both pawns are about to promote. But, the ensuing queens endgame is drawish:37.h7a238.h8=Qa1=Q39.Qf8+Kd7 =34.h5Nb535.Kh7There is very little wiggle room for the white king now.35…Nd6 !Black is still in no rush to push his pawns. He wants to immobilize the opponent’s passer first, and the rest will fall in place.36.Kg836.h6is met by36…Nf5 ! −+
completely neutralizing the pawn with the coordinated activity of our king and knight.36…Ne4 !and Black gets a nearly winning position on the account of the following variation:37.h6Kg6 !38.h7Nf6+ −+ENDGAME LESSON: Along with the role of the passed pawn, king’s activity is another fundamental aspect of the endgame that sets it apart from the middlegame. Shouldering is an effective technique that allows us to simultaneously limit the mobility of the opponent’s king while also improving our own. The maximum score for this example is 4 points (maximum 3 points for 33…Kf6 line and maximum 1 points for 33…Nc4 line).
As in Volume 1, you can evaluate your work with the help of the scoring system at the end of each exercise, training set, and chapter. The grading scale at the end of the respective chapters indicates how well you did according to an approximate Elo rating range. For example, a 50-69% score corresponds to 1500-1700 Elo, 70-84% to 1700-1900 Elo, while the excellent 85%+ score means you are probably ready to tackle the 1800-2100 Volume 1 of the Workbook or even the upcoming Volume 3 aimed at 2100+ Elo players!
In my work with club players, I have noticed that they sometimes underestimate the utility of working with skill-building chess exercises. Instead, many prefer to structure their chess training around relatively more passive ways of learning, such as reading chess books, studying opening courses, or doing tactics puzzles on autopilot. ‘The How to Study Chess on Your Own Workbook’ asks you to leave your comfort zone and attempt training methods you may not have tried before. If you would like to work on a broad range of chess skills and reduce mistakes in the key areas of your game, then this is just the book for you!
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