Small Steps to Giant Improvement: Master Pawn Play in Chess [Paperback]

The correct use of the pawns is one of the most difficult aspects of chess strategy, but GM Sam Shankland breaks down the principles of Pawn Play to basic, easily understandable guidelines every chess player should know. He starts with extremely simple examples, but then lifts the level, showing how grandmasters could have made better decisions by using the books guidelines.In chess you cannot take your move back, but you can always return a misplaced piece to its former square at the cost of some time. Pawns on the other hand can never move backwards, making pawn moves truly permanent decisions. This irreversibility makes Pawn Play among the most difficult aspects of chess strategy, which is one reason few books have been written about this topic  and some that have are almost incomprehensible. Double Olympiad gold medalist Sam Shankland has gone the other way  breaking down the principles of Pawn Play to basic, easily understandable guidelines every chess player should know.Sam Shankland is a Grandmaster and permanent member of the US national chess team, winning an Individual Gold Medal in 2014 and Team Gold in 2016. In 2015 and 2017 he played Board 1 for the US team at the World Team Championship.