Practical Chess Beauty by Yochanan Afek (hardcover)

This Practical Chess Beauty by Yochanan Afek is an English-language hardcover chess book built around studies, practical ideas and the hidden patterns that make a position worth exploring. It is aimed at readers who want to sharpen calculation, recognise tactical motifs more quickly and think more creatively at the board.

Yochanan Afek brings together a carefully chosen collection of his studies and game fragments, showing how solving this kind of material can be both an enjoyable exercise and a useful training method. The book encourages you to sense the potential of the pieces, work through variations with greater precision and notice ideas that are easy to miss in a real game.

What the book covers

Practical Chess Beauty contains hundreds of studies where the key is to spot the idea, calculate accurately and find the non-obvious solution. You can use it as a self-study resource, working through the positions on your own, or read it more slowly as a collection of inventive positions for analysis. Alongside its training value, it also offers the pleasure of engaging with some of the most striking chess ideas.

Afek is an Israeli International Master of practical play and also holds the title of Grandmaster of Chess Composition. His background as a composer, solver, player, organiser, arbiter and trainer gives the book a rare combination of artistic perspective and practical understanding.

Why it appeals to serious chess readers

This is a strong choice for club players, trainers and chess enthusiasts who want to go beyond opening theory and work on creative thinking. Afek’s studies encourage a broader view of the position, helping you recognise motifs such as zwischenzugs, perpetual check and underpromotion while showing how much can be found in apparently simple piece arrangements.

Key details

• Product type: hardcover chess book
• Author: Yochanan Afek
• Language: English
• Content: chess studies and game fragments
• Focus: practical ideas, tactical motifs and endgame themes
• Page count: 464
• Publication date: 28 November 2018
• ISBN: 978-1-78483-075-5