The Secret Ingredient: To Winning at Chess

Since I deeply enjoyed Jan Markos Under The Surface, I was excited when 'The Secret Ingredient to Winning At Chess' arrived in the mail. This book exceeded my expectations! First, the examples are well chosen and are generally archetypical or thematic. Jan's annotations are to the point while also being fun to read. Jan organized his sections quite effectively, and there is a nice balance between examples and puzzles. The exercises can be quite difficult! As a master, I often spent 15 minutes or longer on a puzzle only to find that I missed the point. GM David Navara adds a nice touch and complements Jan's annotations! It's nice to see two GMs explain a position conceptually after trying to solve it as a puzzle. This book is quite approachable given that there are lots of diagrams - if you wanted, you could read 'The Secret Ingredient' in the bath while still learning a lot. Highly recommended! Club players will enjoy the dense text, aesthetic examples, and annotated games. Experts and masters will especially appreciate the difficult exercises and the opportunity to observe two strong GMs' thought processes. Since this book is more difficult than its prequel, I recommend that club players start with Under The Surface.