Most chess games of beginners and post-beginners are decided by fairly straightforward tactics. Anyone who wants to progress beyond this level and become a strong club player or a candidate master, needs to understand that somewhat mysterious-looking resource, the positional sacrifice.
International Master Merijn van Delft has studied and loved positional sacrifices for as long as he can remember. This non-forcing tool is not just a surprising and highly effective way of creating a decisive advantage during a game. Positional sacrifices are also instruments of superior beauty.
Van Delft has created a unique thematic structure for all types of positional sacrifices. He shows the early historical examples, explains which long-term goals are typical for each fundamental theme and presents lots of instructive modern examples. He then concentrates on those sacrifices that have become standard features of positional play. Solving the exercises he has added will further enhance your skills.
Playing a positional sacrifice will always require courage. Merijn van Delft takes you by the hand and not only teaches the essential technical know-how, he also helps you to recognize the opportunities when to take the plunge. Mastering Positional Sacrifices is bound to become a modern-day classic.
"Most chess players are too materialistic. So Merjin van Delft masterfully discusses a vital topic to bring your chess to the next level. It is very valuable that he has included exercises to test your new skills directly."
"The question of when to sacrifice material is never easy but here is a practical guide. The intended audience is above beginner and I would say any club player would benefit from the author's passion for the subject. The themes that are covered involves things like exchange sacrifices where the aim to not to win material but dominate certain squares, boost an attack and other positional ideas. Van Delft expertly expands on the subject to make it sound extremely interesting and as a potential way to improve your rating overnight. I really like the book because it offers insight with excellent examples and enough explanation to enable the reader to improve. This will have a major impact on your positional progress."
"The material has been carefully selected and structured, with conclusions at the end of each part. There are many fascinating games, and I saw examples I was familiar with as well as a lot of new and unknown material. This book is a testimony to the author's enthusiasm, his professionalism and his passion for chess. Recommended!"
"One gem of a book. The book is broken down into four parts. Fundamental themes, Typical positional sacrifices, Testing the limits, and Training material. Each of these sections is further broken down into chapters covering items such as opening files, pawn structure, color complexes, pawn and exchange sacs which arise from particular openings, etc. One nice thing about this book is that it's new enough to include examples from Leela and AlphaZero. Another excellent feature is the inclusion of 48 positions used as exercises."
