Chess Lessons

Vladimir Popov is a distinguished Russian chess coach whose two most celebrated pupils, Nadezhda and Tatiana Kosintseva, are both in the top 5 of women's chess.

• Introduction; Errors Due to Lack of Knowledge; Evaluating the Position; Planning; Piece Play; Pawn Play; Co-ordination of Pieces & Pawns; Arranging & Altering the Pawn Structure; Exchanging; Transition to the Endgame; Asymmetrical Exchanges; Prophylaxis; Monitoring Counter-Threats; Too Much Calculation; Calculation Neglected or Cut Short; Spotting Aggressive Sorties; Detecting Ideas; Blow & Counter-Blow; Obvious Moves & Reflex Answers; Deep Calculation; Enterprise; Hard Work Pays Off!

"In the Russian school of chess (the English school of chess is more difficult to define unless holding weekend tournaments in educational establishments counts) such accidents would be carefully eliminated with rigorous training programmes, and this technique is detailed in a book entitled Chess Lessons by Vladimir Popov. The author follows several of his pupils, the best-known of whom are the Kosintseva sisters, currently ranked numbers four and five on the female rating list, showing the training positions on which he has tested them and relevant fragments from their games. This kind of book can be rather heavy going, but this interplay has a certain charm and is cheering when his students make plenty of mistakes as well." -- GM Michael Adams, The Telegraph