Grandmaster Preparation: Strategic Play

"Strategic Play" is the sequel to Aagaard's excellent book "Positional Play". As usual for the GM Preparation series, chapters are organized by theme. The chapter starts with some well annotated examples with critical moments emphasized. Then the reader is given dozens of exercises (123 total plus occasional exercises as warm ups or during chapter content) on the theme to solve for himself. These examples are almost always critical moments in GM games, the difficulty level is high enough that it shouldn't be unusual to hear Aagaard say that the 2700+ GM playing the game misplayed the position. Aagaard's annotations are very high quality and on more than one occasion 2+ pages were used to annotate the answer to a single puzzle. The annotations have a healthy mix between words and variations and the main purpose is generally to force readers to notice and crucial and recurring elements of the position. I found both "Positional Play" and "Strategic Play" to be very difficult (it was not usual for me to score 50% or less on a 6-puzzle set, spending at least 1 hour trying to solve the 6 puzzles), but very effective. Retesting myself, I found that I had a very high rate of retention (generally 75-100%) of the key ideas in the puzzles, and judging by my results in both OTB and online games, "Positional Play" and "Strategic Play" seems to have transformed my understanding of statics in chess and caused a leap forward in ability. I now have a theoretical foundation for understanding much of the elements and am better prepared to recognize these key features in games that I study and play. It's worth mentioning that statics and dynamics are both covered, dynamic methods of obtaining static advantages (or justifying statically ideal moves) are common and there are even two chapters out of 5 that heavily focus on dynamics (the "Dynamics" and "Fighting the Tide" chapters). To get the most out of this book, I recommend readers to go take the solving period seriously and allow up to 15 minutes per puzzle if needed. When going through the annotations, go through the source game (find it in a database) to get context and go through every sub-variation. It's also worth checking the engine at depth 20+ for alternatives, and if possible, consciously connect the alternatives (as well as the book solutions of course) to various principles (or the three questions as mentioned in the beginning of this book and Positional Play) that Aagaard mentions. Of course you should analyze until you understand the book solution and the engine alternatives. Judging by the difficulty, I believe the main target audience is 2300+ FIDE, though players as low as USCF expert can benefit from this book, provided that they are willing to work hard. For players below 2000 USCF, I recommend starting with "Positional Play". As usual, Aagaard sets the standard for an ideal 5-star chess book. Highly recommended.

Good

HIgh class work for an advanced player. Excercises are challenging, so they make you think and learn, if you take the time to work them through. Educational touch is great!