Build Up Your Chess, Volumes 1, 2 & 3, by Artur Yusupov, 852pp. (Quality Chess, 2009)
Build up your Chess with Artur Yusupov is for chess players who want to build their skills on solid foundations.
In 2003 Yusupov began a three-year training program in his chess academy. This program was later taken over, in a different form, by the Chess Tigers University. As Yusupov himself writes in the introduction, "...the overwhelmingly positive comments of my students encouraged me to rework this programme in the form of a series of books". The reader will receive the necessary basic knowledge in six areas of the game - tactics, positional play, strategy, the calculation of variations, the opening and the endgame.
Volume 1: The Fundamentals consists of 24 lessons with a certain theme. Each lesson has a general explanation of the theme (for example 'the pin' or 'stalemate motifs') with a number of examples. In the second part of the lesson students have to solve 12 exercises on the theme.
Yusupov himself again in the introduction: "This manual is intended for the many club players who unfortunately receive nu support in attempts to master our complicated sport. In ths way it's intended as a substitute for a trainer...".
Volume 2: Beyond the Basics, sets off on the road to mastery. Yusupov guides the reader towards a higher level of chess understanding using carefully selected positions and advice. This new understanding is then tested by a series of exercises.
A substantial and methodical course in which study material is being introduced of progressing difficulty. If you never had a chess coach, then here is your chance to experience the way Soviet coaches used to drill their pupils - without feeling their breath in your neck. Extremely good practical study and exercise material.
Volume 3: The Mastery, we arrive at our final destination. Yusupov guides the reader towards a higher level of chess understanding using carefully selected positions and advice. This new understanding is then tested by a series of puzzles.
