http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Build-up-Your-Chess-1-exceprt.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708103321/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review699.pdf
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Build-up-your-chess-2-excerpt.pdf
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Build-up-Your-Chess-3-exceprt.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708103659/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review778.pdf
http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Boost-Your-Chess-1-77p3744.htm
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Boost-Your-Chess-1-excerpt.pdf
http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Boost-Your-Chess-2-77p3745.htm
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/BoostYourChess2-excerpt.pdf
http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Boost-Your-Chess-3-77p3746.htm
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/BoostYourChess3.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708103149/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review834.pdf
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Chess-Evolution-1-excerpt.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708085817/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review843.pdf
http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Chess-Evolution-2-77p3643.htm
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Chess_Evolution_2-excerpt.pdf
http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Chess-Evolution-3-Mastery-77p3753.htm
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Chess_Evolution_3-excerpt.pdf
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/QandAwithArturYusupovQualityChessAugust2013.pdf
https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Revision&Exam1-excerpt.pdf
I just completed “Build Up Your Chess 1”, the first of Yusupov’s 9 book series. For those not familiar with it, this book has 24 chapters, each on a different topic. The general areas covered are tactics, endgames, openings, strategy, positional play, and calculating variations. Yusupov jumps around among those areas, so you get variety as you work through the book.
Each chapter contains a few pages with a minimum of text and several well annotated examples of the chapter’s topic. This is followed by a 12 position test. In the explanation part of the chapter, you are expected to set up the position on a real board and do your best to figure it out before looking at the explanation. For the test, you again set up the position on a board and you write down your analysis. When you check your answers, you play through all the moves of the answer, again on a real board.
My primary thoughts on the book:
1. This book forces you to work hard. The explanation section of each chapter does not show you how to solve the test problems. Rather, it takes you to the level of understanding where you should be able to figure out the solutions. You have to apply your knowledge in new ways, just as you would in a real game.
2. As a near 1800 USCF player, I found some of the material quite difficult. Many chapters, especially on tactics, contained a lot of familiar stuff. But even there I learned something new in every chapter. Due to the difficulty level, I would not recommend this book to anyone rated much below 1700.
3. Although only two chapters are specifically addressed to calculating variations, in a sense the whole book is aimed at teaching that art. You are expected to provide analysis for every test problem in every chapter. This, I believe, is the greatest strength of the book. It forces a concrete approach to chess, and that is an absolute necessity for improvement.
My next effort is Pachman’s “Complete Chess Strategy”, after which I will eagerly return to Yusupov for “Boost Your Chess 1”.