The Chess Scalpel

The idea behind this
book is for you to ‘play’ as in a real game, and it is my job to ensure
you have a pleasant time while training. I suggest you take at least an
hour and a half for each game and as your coach I will indicate when to
guess the moves. Sometimes there will be suggestions — including tricky
ones — to measure your concentration level. The ideas behind the moves
are always explained.

The games have been
chosen according to my personal liking and commentaries are based on
those by the players themselves, which is a great help in understanding
what indeed happened. In some games you will have to guess moves for the
losing side too. Indeed, I expect that as you proceed you will become
familiar with the question of Mark Dvoretsky: “What could my opponent
play?”. Importance has also been given to the practical aspect, which
doesn’t always coincide with the suggestions off ered by the engines as
best. This is to make it more like ‘a real game’.