GET TO KNOW YOUR CHESS TROOPS – Part 1

EVERYTHING ABOUT THE KING by IM Boroljub Zlatanovic

250 pages, year 2024

SERIES INTRODUCTION

There are many various concepts and approaches to creating chess books. Chess strategy books have, more or less, well-known structure and contents. Writers work on “elements, principles, concepts... The chapter titles are more or less known in advance. I suggest an alternative concept. I will try to explain how to use your pieces and how to handle situations with the same pieces in your opponent’s camp!

Not once I heard statements like: “He doesn’t know how to play with minor pieces, or “He always stays with a bad bishop”, or “He is bad in rook endgames” etc. That conclusion motivated me to focus on such peculiar problems and to explain everything related to a concrete chess piece.

EVERYTHING ABOUT THE KING

The first volume is dedicated to the most important piece – the king. Some principles are well known: in the opening we should castle as soon as possible to secure the king and give freedom to other pieces. In the middlegame we should attack the opponent’s king if he is not safe to mate and win, in the endgame we are well-advised to activate our own king in order to have one more piece in action... There are many exceptions or modifications of these principles and there are many other less common principles.

I am sure that you will learn a lot while reading this book that and you will enjoy some interesting games. The material is divided in six chapters. In the first chapter our story will be about the importance of having an active king in the endgame. The next three chapters are about launching and organizing attacks on our opponent’s unsafe king (king in the center, attacks with castling on the same side and on the opposite sides). The fifth chapter is about king evacuation, a concept of great value both in defense and attack! The final chapter focuses on art and beauty in chess and you will see brave kings in action and some risky walks performed across the whole board!

I have no doubt that the mix of well known, unknown and fresh examples will be interesting to you, dear reader.

Boroljub Zlatanovic

From the Foreword by GM Dragoljub Jacimovic

In the myriad of chess games, huge databases, and with the modern chess engines one needs to have the correct feeling about the game and knowledge to single out what is most memorable and beautiful. To guide the reader through the labyrinth of chess beauty, where each piece plays a significant role, and at the same time leave him amazed, is this book in your hands, which will remain a guide for other authors when they try to write something similar.

This book should grace the chess library of every chess player and chess lover!