Improve Your Chess Pattern Recognition

Pattern recognition is one of the most important mechanisms of chess improvement.

Realizing that the position on the board has similarities with something you have seen before helps you to quickly grasp the essence of that position and find the most promising continuation.

Improve Your Chess Pattern Recognition takes middlegame strategy courses up a level by supplying a wealth of essential, yet easy-to-remember building blocks for your chess knowledge.

Spot strategic motifs

In 40 short, well-defined and practical chapters, experienced chess trainer Arthur van de Oudeweetering presents hundreds of examples of surprising middlegame themes. To test your understanding he provides exercises for every chapter.

Key concepts like the power of a knight on f5 versus a castled king ('The Killer Knight') are tackled, but IM Oudeweetering also introduces lesser-known ideas that deserve study such as the all-reaching Octopus (a white knight on d6). 

After working with this course, an increasing number of positions, pawn structures and piece placements will automatically activate your chess knowledge. As a result, you will find the right move more often and more quickly!

Repetition is the 'mother of learning'

IM Oudeweetering's unique New in Chess course has been adapted specially for Chessable because our format is ideal for it.

IM Oudeweetering emphasises the need to learn his collection of key middlegame motifs by repetition, which he describes as the "mother of learning". And what better way than with MoveTrainer®?

Try our version of this fascinating course and supercharge your strategy learning.

Arthur van de Oudeweetering (1966) is an International Master and a chess trainer from the Netherlands. He has written regular columns for chess news websites ChessVibes and Chess.com and is a frequent contributor to the New In Chess Yearbooks.

You can download a pgn-file with all games from the book via this link.

James Rizzitano, ChessCafe:
"Many of the chapter titles are very helpful for remembering the theme (..) IM van de Oudeweetering has done a good job identifying and classifying instructive middlegame positions by theme. Club players rated between 1600-2200 will benefit from this book and master level players (2200 and up) are also likely to pick up some new ideas by carefully reviewing the material."

Uwe Bekemann, German Correspondence Chess Federation:
"Very practical and perfect for self-study. The book is written in an entertaining way, working with it is a joy (..) Suitable for beginners as well."

Dennis Monokroussos, The Chess Mind:
"I think it's an excellent book, and while it's not systematic in a way that would turn it into a primer on positional play, there is no question but that this will improve the positional understanding of many club players. I'd highly recommend this to players rated around 1400 to 2100, and I think even masters can (and will) learn something from this book as well."

Grandmaster Ian Rogers, Four-time Champion of Australia: "Once the reader has started applying these patterns in their own games, they will find that the post-opening phase of the game becomes easier and they will more often build up a strong position."

IM Gary Lane, Chess Moves Magazine:
"Every improving player will learn a lot from this book."

Max Euwe Centre, Amsterdam:
"Perfect for chess trainers who wish to teach their pupils themes in a way that is easy to remember."

CHESS Magazine:
"The experienced Dutch IM, analyst and coach helps us to realize which positions are worth remembering. Nowadays the term 'building blocks' should be familiar to most readers and they form the core of Van de Oudeweetering's book."