The most significant difference between a grandmaster and a club player is not simply that the grandmaster calculates more accurately, but rather that he sees more deeply. This book invites you beneath the surface, where you can learn to navigate the depths of chess. Jan Markos shows how a strong player perceives chess, which features of a position he focuses on, and how he thinks at the board.

The author’s philosophy is that understanding chess brings pure happiness, and he would like to share this happiness with you.

Jan Markos is a grandmaster and former European Under-16 Champion. He has won the Slovakian Championship twice and played for Slovakia at six Olympiads. He lives in Bratislava with his wife and two children.

In his new book, GM Jan Markos focuses on important, yet often neglected, aspects of chess. He deals with this interesting and difficult topic excellently, making fine use of his chess and teaching abilities. The book is highly readable and belongs among the best chess books I have read in recent years. Although the book is intended to be read by amateurs, even grandmasters will find it interesting and useful. If you want to learn more about chess and don’t mind thinking independently, this is the book for you.
GM David Navara

Preface

Invitation to the World under the Surface When I was 15 years old, I played for the first time at the Chess Olympiad, representing Slovakia. It was held in Istanbul, and I can still remember the bustle of the markets, the morning calls from minarets, and the dishes full of dill.

However, what most stuck in my mind were encounters with the best players in the world. When I had a day off, or whenever I had finished my game, I spent long hours standing above chess boards, over which were leaning Ivanchuk, Gelfand, Adams, Korchnoi or Svidler. And I was happiest when I could see them analysing. Around the table with the chess board,
there always gathered a crowd of people, holding their breath while watching how the soul of the position was revealed under the hands of the super-grandmasters. Those players could see much deeper and more sharply than all of us. They could see a direction where we were lost. They could see a deep sea full of colourful fish and coral, where we saw only the glistening surface.

It was then I learned that the significant difference between a club player and a professional is not that the grandmaster can see much further, or that he calculates much more accurately or faster. This might all be true, but the significant difference can be found elsewhere. Grandmasters can see deeper. And this book invites you to study the depth of chess. It invites you beneath the surface. I would like to show you how a strong player perceives chess, what he focuses on, and how he thinks about a position. Understanding is pure happiness, and I would like to share this happiness with you.

I write mostly about phenomena I haven’t seen discussed in chess literature before, but which
I consider to be important. These phenomena also require new terminology, new words. That’s why you are going to read about a magnetic skin made of pawns, bishops as billiard balls, and a freezer for storing tactical motifs. I was looking for metaphors that would be as precise as possible, and that would be easy to remember. At the end of the book, there is a glossary of these new
expressions.

Even though this book is not about trivial topics, I did my best to explain them as simply as
possible. It is intended for the general chess public – for players who work hard to improve their game, but also for those who play only for pleasure. Chess coaches might especially profit from this book, as they can use its chapters as teaching material for training sessions or lectures.

I wanted to make the text readable even without a chess board, while travelling to work, or on vacation at the seaside. Therefore, in this book there are many diagrams and lots of words, but only a few variations. If a specific line leading to victory is missing, it is not because of negligence, but because I would like to invite readers to find it themselves, to work on the position on their own. All of the moves and evaluations are, of course, computer-tested.

Many of the examples in the book are from my first-hand experience. Not that I think that my games are better than those of other chess players. The reason is practical: finding a good example is difficult and, moreover, I know my games the best. Other examples come from games played by world-class players, or from games in which I was personally involved, as a teammate or as a coach. A small portion of the examples come from computer chess.

The book is divided into seven parts. The first is about general laws that apply to the chess board. In the second part, we will gradually get to know pawns, knights, bishops, rooks and queens,
and we will talk about their special characteristics. The third part is dedicated to peculiarities of time in chess. In the fourth part, we will examine together how to find the best move as often as possible. The fifth part is about openings, the sixth about computers. And, finally, the seventh part is about the beauty of chess.

This book would never have come into existence without the many hours that I spent training my students. They were the ones on whom I tested the thoughts contained in the book, checking whether they are comprehensible and beneficial. Thank you, Anna, Jakub, Vaclav, Marek, Jan, Stefan, Juraj, Van and everyone else, for your willingness to experiment and enter uncharted
territories!