Want to know exactly how strong you've become? This is the course designed specifically to test you to the limit.
GM Jacob Aagaard's renowned six-part Grandmaster Preparation course, the Association of Chess Professionals Book of the Year 2013, is now on Chessable with MoveTrainer®.
And make no mistake, it is not for the shy, retiring wallflowers of the chess world: this is a course for those who are hell-bent on improving.
If pushing on from 2000 Fide is your aim, and perhaps even a title, this is the course for you.
Aagaard's ultimate test
GM Aagaard offers you practical advice and an effective training plan to think differently and make decisions far more efficiently.
In Calculation thinking methods such as Candidates, Combinations, Prophylaxis, Comparison, Elimination, Intermediate Moves, Imagination and Traps are explained to the reader.
The course culminates in a series of carefully-selected tests "to bang your head against until it bleeds".
"I recommend having the first aid kit at hand," GM Aagaard adds. And he is not joking.
As Boris Gelfand says in the foreword: "There is no shortcut to the grandmaster title, but there is a well-known route that many people have walked over the years. Jacob offers to guide you on part of this journey and I hope you will take him up on the offer."
Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard won the British Championship at his first and only attempt. He has received the Guardian, ECF and ChessCafe Book of the Year awards and the FIDE Senior Trainer title.
His training material is used by amateurs and grandmasters alike.
The reviews
The Grandmaster Preparation series is aimed at ambitious players and it has been almost universally praised.
"I have used Calculation in work with my students. It is very valuable and I am very happy I bought it." – GM Artur Yusupov
"The best three chess books: Kasparov's books of best games, The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, and Calculation by Jacob Aagaard" - GM Timur Gareyev, Chess Monthly 2016
"I really like Jacob Aagaard's books; I always recommend them and use them myself." – GM Viktor Bologan
"In November 2012 I had 2 very poor results in a row. I found that on the whole my calculation was by far the biggest cause for my failures - I was outcalculated by my 2000 opponent in round 1 of my first event, and went from a +9 position to slightly worse over the course of 4 moves. I flat out hung a piece to a basic tactic the next event on move 9. It was clear that I had not been working on my calculation enough, so I decided to try Jacob Aagaard's 'Grandmaster Preparation: Calculation'. Sure enough, I started to calculate like my old self again in no time, and in my next 2 tournaments I got through the first rounds without issue and scored an undefeated 4.5/6 against GMs, including one of the best attacking wins of my life." – GM Sam Shankland
"Congratulations on another amazing book." – GM Y. Shulman