Chess Pattern Recognition for Beginners

Recognizing patterns early, often before they crop up, is one of the most effective ways to improve your chess.

Pattern recognition is one of the most important mechanisms of chess improvement. It helps you to quickly grasp the essence of a position on the board and find the most promising continuation.

Learn the standard sacrifices to win games

In his instant classics Improve Your Chess Pattern Recognition (2014) and Train Your Chess Pattern Recognition (2016) International Master Arthur van de Oudeweetering presented building blocks for experienced club players which often involved notable exceptions to a set of fundamental guidelines. To appreciate these courses you had to know these basic principles.

Chess Pattern Recognition for Beginners provides this knowledge. It teaches the most important patterns you need to know in order to develop and mobilize your pieces, maneuver your pawns into positions of strength, put pressure on your opponent, attack the enemy king, and execute standard sacrifices to get the initiative.

Ambitious beginners and post-beginners who study this book will soon experience a significant improvement in their results.

Arthur van de Oudeweetering (1966) is an International Master and an experienced chess trainer from the Netherlands.

This is a terrific book. It excellently teaches the strong and weak points of pieces and pawns, and will help every chess player. The examples are highly entertaining and I couldn’t stop working with the book.

International Master Dirk Schuh, Rochade Europa Magazine

Is primarily a teaching book which aims to increase club players (not beginners) understanding of middlegame themes. Any club player between 1600 to 2200 can't help but get something out of this book.

International Master John Donaldson

As I became more engrossed in glancing through the pages I quickly found myself heading downstairs to my basement chess laboratory to sit down at a table with a board and set.

Chris Wainscott, On the Road to Chess Master

The author writes with a lightness of touch. His style is sympatico and not without a dash of humour (I liked the nod to Motörhead in chapter 20) and his simple and concise explanations show that he obviously wants his readers to understand and benefit from his work. Another key element in the teaching/learning process lies in anticipating the pupil’s questions, and Van de Oudeweetering does a good job of this too.

Ian Marks, ChessScotland.com

Chess Pattern Recognition for Beginners convinces me just as its predecessors did. This book provides both training and fun, that’s why I can warmly recommend it.

Uwe Bekemann, German Correspondence Chess Federation