Positional Decision Making in Chess by Boris Gelfand

Positional Decision Making in Chess by Boris Gelfand

Published in 2015 by Quality Chess, "Positional Decision Making in Chess" by Grandmaster Boris Gelfand (co-authored with GM Jacob Aagaard) is an elite-level masterpiece. It went on to win the prestigious English Chess Federation (ECF) Book of the Year award.

While authors like Jeremy Silman break down positional play into highly structured dictionaries for expanding intermediate minds, Gelfand offers something vastly rarer: a completely transparent look inside the mind of a World Championship Challenger. He explains the high-level intuition, structural calculations, and macro-planning required to execute world-class positional chess.

The Core Philosophy: Deep Intuition Backed by Classical Education

Boris Gelfand is widely respected as one of the last standard-bearers of the classical Soviet Chess School. His core philosophy is that positional mastery is born from studying the classics.

Gelfand argues that modern players rely far too heavily on computer engine evaluation scores ($+0.4$, $-0.2$, etc.) without understanding the underlying strategic patterns. He demonstrates that if you deeply study the strategic masterpieces of past legends—like Akiba Rubinstein, Tigran Petrosian, and Anatoly Karpov—your brain will naturally build a repository of visual intuition. When you look at a messy middlegame, you won't need to waste time calculating random variations; your intuition will instantly guide you toward the correct strategic structure.

Language: English.

Genre: Chess Book.

Binding: সেলাই করা বাইন্ডিং

Quality: Premium Quality Books.

Printing: High Quality Printing.

Paper: Eye Friendly paper (Cream White)

Cover: Matt cover (Paperback).