Often chess literature for amateur enthusiasts is written by experts who are remote from the concerns, fears and realistic aspirations of club players. Whether they are members of physical organisations or, increasingly, subscribers to clubs of the virtual variety on the Internet, these readers need instruction which neither talks down to them, nor aims above their heads, with reams of telephone directory move print-outs. Such an audience is now numbered globally in hundreds of millions. They are the audience for this book.

Both authors have focused their chess careers at club and...