Beyond Material

In order to win a game of chess you very often have to sacrifice material. Gathering the courage to do so while accurately assessing the potential benefits is a real challenge. The big question is always: what’s my compensation?

Generations of chess players grew up with the idea that a sacrifice was correct if the material was swiftly returned, with interest. Almost by reflex, they spent lots of time counting, quantifying the static value of their pieces. But is that really the best way to determine the correctness of a sacrifice?

In this book, Grandmaster Davorin Kuljasevic teaches you how to look beyond the material balance when you evaluate positions. With loads of instructive examples he shows how the actual value of your pieces fluctuates during the game, depending on many non-material factors. Some of those factors are space-related, such as mobility, harmony, outposts, structures, files and diagonals. Other factors are related to time, and to the way the moves unfold: tempo, initiative, a threat, an attack.

Modern chess players need to be able to suppress their need for immediate gratification. In order to gain the upper hand you often have to live with uncertain compensation. With many fascinating examples, Kuljasevic teaches you the essential skill of taking calculated risks. After studying Beyond Material, winning games by sacrificing material will become second nature to you.

Davorin Kuljasevic is an International Grandmaster born in Croatia. He graduated from Texas Tech University and played in USCL 2007 and 2008 for Dallas Destiny, the team that became US champion in both these years. He is an experienced coach and a winner of many tournaments.

Reviews

Stjepan Tomić (chessreads.com)
“A difficult book for ambitious and advanced players. The topic it covers, the correlation between material, time, and space, is advanced, and the examples Davorin has used to illustrate it are advanced too. It had taken me a month to go through it properly. It was hard and exhausting. I’m a positional player in nature, very averse to dynamics, so I had to get outside of my comfort zone in order to change my thinking and switch from positional, materialistic mindset to trying to mimic Shirov or Tal. A great resource. If you’re around or above 2000 FIDE, use Beyond Material to greatly improve your understanding of dynamics.”
(full review)

IM John Donaldson
“A fascinating effort that deserves a wide audience. One of the best books I have read this year.”

Miguel Ararat (Gainesville Chess Training)
“This book will take intermediate players to a new dimension of chess understanding and practical performance. As you read Beyond Material it feels as if Kuljasevic was next to you as a coach. The examples in the book are not geared to impress you, but to help you to become a better chess player. This book does a great service to players with a positional oriented solid style. The author shows how to grow to a more dynamic/flexible approach to chess.”

Ian Marks (Chess Schotland)
“An enjoyable and thought-provoking read, quite different from more ‘normal’ chess book fare. It’s a super piece of work, and an excellent take on a neglected area of the game.”

Sean Marsh (CHESS Monthly)
“I like the author’s style. There is enough material here to keep even the keenest of chess students busy for some time and it definitely has the potential to change the way a player thinks. A very good book. It provides a plethora of excellent material, which is both entertaining and instructive, while remaining fully accessible to club players.”

Florian Jacobs (Max Euwe Center Amsterdam)
“Interesting, well thought-out and pleasantly written. A book with a clever structure, richly illustrated with game examples and analysis, which I highly recommend to all serious tournament players.”