Some players become good at chess, some very good, while others excel at the game. Jacob Aagaard identifies the key factors in his Excelling at series, that separate the very strong players from the rest.

Excelling at Chess includes chapters on when to calculate, how to evaluate positions, how to study theory, how to study the endgame and when to force the position. Anyone who follows the advice in this book cannot fail to improve their feel for the game.

In Excelling at Chess Calculation, the author tackles the subject matter head on, unravelling the many secrets behind chess calculation and arming the reader with the necessary tools to be able to calculate effectively at the chessboard.

In Excelling at Combinational Play Jacob Aagaard explains how tactical intuition and ability develops and uses pattern recognition to improve the reades tactical ammunition. 
It offers a wealth of exercises and problems to solve accompanied by the full solutions and explanations.

In Excelling at Positional Chess, the author selects many original examples of positional chess, the crème de la crème of those that he uses for training and study. Aagaard also delves deeply into the ideas of positional evaluation and analysis.

In  Excelling at Technical Chess Jacob Aagaard arms the reader with several endgame weapons that every strong technical player has in his toolbox. These include important skills such as schematic thinking, domination, preventing counterplay, building fortresses and utilising zugzwang