Alburt Lev, Parr Larry. Secrets of the Russian Chess Masters. Volume 2. Beyond the Basics

New York, London : W.W. Norton & Company, 2003. — 228 p. — ISBN 0-393-32451-6.Russia's dominance in modern chess was founded on a uniquely successful program of chess instruction. Now this program has been streamlined and adapted for American readers in this series of books that will help readers develop, step by step, from beginner status to expert level. From the first lesson on, Secrets of the Russian Chess Masters - Beyond the_Basics Volume 2: incorporates easy-to-follow strategic concepts. Far more effective than any other system of instruction, this step-by-step grounding in the principles of intermediate chess strategy will help you build your skills to the tournament levels with intensive work on all facets of the game: openings, midgames, and endgames.Volume 2 (about the first 100 pages) starts mainly with more detailed Tactics and many helpful Diagrams. There are up to 3 diagrams on one page with the answers & explanations on the opposite page or just below the diagrams, no searching for answers. The last half of the book is mainly about Openings. There about 20 openings he explains and many have an accompanying Master Games ( Reti, Fischer, Tal ) which are easy to follow. I also like that he gives some specific Opening recommendations. Thus, this book explains Advanced Tactics and will prepare you for a more advanced Opening Book. Lev also gives a list of all the Chess Champions starting 1745 (A. Philidor) to 1997 (G. Kasparov).