Weapons of Chess: An Omnibus of Chess Strategies

With Weapons of Chess, National Master and highly acclaimed teacher Bruce Pandolfini brings us the most accessible and easy-to-use chess strategy book ever.
Written for beginning and intermediate players, Weapons of Chess is the first encyclopedia of chess strategies that doesn't rely on the usual baffling chess notation. There are no symbolic chess moves, no charts or sequences in chess notation: every move is explained in words.
Arranged alphabetically for easy use and based mainly on pawn formation, the incredibly detailed and thorough entries in this book talk a player through dozens of common strategic dilemmas, such as "doubled pawn," "bishops vs. knights," and "hanging pawn pair." Diagrams illustrate the terms, first showing the basic position and then strategically moving to more complicated versions of it. Players will learn how to formulate plans once they have reached a middlegame, enabling them to make wiser strategic decisions after the first few moves of the game.
Designed for use as a ready reference during actual practice games, and usable without a chess board, Weapons of Chess is a unique and invaluable resource for any developing chess player.

CONTENTS

Introduction

A Word on Chess Notation

Related Section Index

Advantage

Analysis

Anti-Positional Move

Backward Pawn

Bad Bishop

The Bind

Bishops of Opposite Color

Blockade

Blocked Center

Breakthrough Combination

Calculating Variations: How to Do It in Your Head

Doubled Pawns

Doubled Rooks

Exchanging Pieces

Fianchetto

Fixed Pawns

Good Knight

Isolated Pawn

Isolated d-pawn

Isolated d-pawn: Advancing It

Isolated d-pawn: Drawbacks

Isolated d-pawn: Strength

Isolated Pawn Couple

Knight Corral

Minor Exchange

Minority Attack

Opening a File

Outside Passed Pawn

Oversights

Passed Pawn

Pawn Centers

Pawn Chain

Pawn Majority

Positional Chess

Protected Passed Pawn

Two Bishops

Visualization

Weakness

Additional Concept Glossary

Index