Sokolov, I. Winning Chess Middlegames, an essential guide to pawn structures, NIC, 2nd edition, 2010, 286 p NIEUW, vaste boekenprijs

Shortlisted for the Guardian Chess Book of the Year Award

Runner-up for the English Chess Federation 2009 Book of the Year Award

Honourable Mention, CHESS Magazine Best Books of 2009

Ever wondered why grandmasters take only seconds to see what's really going on in a chess position? It's all about structures, as Ivan Sokolov explains in this groundbreaking book.

Winning Chess Middlegames addresses the often ignored but extremely important topic of pawn structures, divided into 4 main types: doubled pawns, isolated pawns, hanging pawns and pawn majorities.

With its highly accessible verbal explanations and deep analyses of top-level games, this book helps you to solve the basic problems of the middlegame: space, tension and inititative.

Club players studying Winning Chess Middlegames will:

-- greatly enhance their middlegame skills

-- develop an accurate feeling as to which particular positions suit their style

-- acquire new strategic and practical opening knowledge

Ivan Sokolov explains matters profoundly, honestly and objectively, and includes lots of inside stories from top-level chess, neither sparing his collegue grandmasters nor himself in his comments.