Practical Chess Beauty
"I spent a decade pressuring Afek to write this book." - GM Jacob Aagaard
Our BOOK OF THE WEEK is Practical Chess Beauty by Yochanan Afek.
Practical Chess Beauty is a book on endgame studies organized by tactical themes.
In each of the chapters, Yochanan starts by giving several lightly annotated examples of tactics to illustrate a theme, then ends with some composed studies on the same tactical theme.
In the studies, there are no irrelevant elements, every piece placement has been carefully chosen to allow the combination. The aesthetic element of piece harmony and combination has been prioritized, so this is likely to be one of the most enjoyable chess books you will ever read. Due to the increased enjoyment, you are more likely to remember the material and therefore studying this book should be a highly effective method of improving your tactics. Practical Chess Beauty has been given virtually universal praise and no negative reviews anywhere, you can be confident in the content quality. The author is a composition grandmaster and was accepted as a Quality Chess book for a reason.
"This book is exceptional. Yochanan breaks down numerous important patterns and concepts, and offers examples that would be suitable for players in the Elo range 800-2800" - GM Emil Sutovsky
Here is one of the studies.
Practical Chess Beauty can normally be purchased on our website for $23.99 but with our coupon BEAUTY you can buy it for only $17.99 through January 8, 2020.
"It is a lengthy work full of ideas and beauty." - GM Jan Timman
"Chess training has advanced by leaps and bounds the past two decades and one of the biggest takeaways has been the need for active training that engages the student. Solving endgame studies is an excellent way to do this as it simultaneously improves one’s endgame understanding, understanding of piece efficiency and calculating ability not to mention developing an appreciation for chess aesthetics. Afek’s latest book, Practical Chess Beauty, is the product of a life’s work and promises months of absorbing study material." - IM John Donaldson
"Afek has succeeded in his intention to show the beautiful artistic aspects of chess... And not only that: it also turns out to be an excellent training tool... I knew Afek could compose nice studies; he showed me regularly at tournaments. But I did not know that he had made so many, where each one is even more beautiful than the next." - IM Herman Grooten
"Beauty is abundant in the hundreds of gems of studies and game fragments by the author, ordered by many terms from practical chess, such as zwischenzugs, perpetual check and underpromotion... Although it is a separate discipline from playing, the club player can still experience many hours of enjoyment and learning." - Bab Wilders
"... there is no doubt in my mind that everybody, either player or composer, who loves 'chess beauty' will enjoy this book very much. It reads like a page-turner novel. Highly recommended!" - Harold van der Heijden
"This is one of these books that there should be many more of! The author LOVES chess, and that is clearly evident from nearly every page. Several times, I caught myself thinking: where does all this creativity come from? ... The book is phenomenally entertaining, enlightening, mind-blowing and mind-boggling." - Carsten Hansen
"Afek has written other books but you could call this his Magnum Opus" - Johan Hut
"This is, in my opinion, a must-have book, one of a kind." - Frederic Friedel
