The Chess Heroes books are written for older learners, and for teachers of students at beginner/intermediate level. They are based on solid educational principles, teaching one idea at a time, with clear explanations reinforced by puzzles and positions to play out. The pdfs are also available for free download here, but if you can support me by buying the books and providing positive reviews it would be much appreciated.

This is an introductory book for older beginners which teaches the basic principles of chess. It’s suitable for players rated up to about 500.

The first module demonstrates the principle that superior force wins, the second module explains how to win your opponents’ pieces, and the third module shows how to put your pieces on their best squares at the start of the game.

Click here to buy Chess for Heroes on Amazon.

The next four books, for novices (about 500-1000 rating) who have learnt the basics and want to take the game further, are designed to be read in parallel.

You need to be good at finding checkmates to win the game. This book provides practice in finding the most common checkmates, then moving onto harder checkmates.

Then you learn to look ahead to find checkmates, perhaps involving sacrifices, in two, three, four or more moves.

Click here to buy Chess Heroes: Checkmates on Amazon.

If you have more pieces than your opponent you will be more likely to get checkmate. To win pieces against anyone above beginner level you’ll need to learn about tactical ideas such as forks, pins, discovered attacks and deflections. Sometimes you’ll need to use a combination of these ideas, perhaps involving a sacrifice.

This book explains the most common tactical themes, with many puzzles to be solved to reinforce your knowledge.

Click here to buy Chess Heroes: Tactics on Amazon.

One of the most important aspects of chess for players of all levels is how to start the game well: how to put your pieces on good squares on the start of the game.

This book looks at general principles, and at tactical ideas which happen frequently across different openings before moving onto explaining the moves of some of the most popular ways to start a game.

Click here to buy Chess Heroes: Openings on Amazon.

Although not all games reach endings, learning how to play them well is still a vital aspect of your chess education.

Here you learn the basic checkmates, essential pawn ending knowledge and the basic principles of endings with more pieces on the board. The book is enhanced with puzzles to be solved and positions to be played out.

Click here to buy Chess Heroes: Endings on Amazon.

To make the next step forward, to be able to reach adult club standard, the Chess Heroes Project continues with books of puzzles for you to solve and games where you have to guess – or rather work out – the next move. These books are designed for players rated round about 1000-1500.

This is very different from most puzzle books on the market. The puzzles are grouped, not by tactical theme but by the thinking skills you might use to solve them.

Readers will be able to solve puzzles which will help in three ways: avoiding careless mistakes, developing breadth of vision and developing depth of vision. In the final chapter there are no clues: you just have to solve the puzzles.

Click here to buy Chess Heroes: Puzzles Book 1 on Amazon.

This book offers 40 interactive lessons, each comprising a game in which you have to guess the winner’s moves. The games date from the 1620s to the present day, with the players ranging from amateurs to world champions.

Readers who complete all the lessons will learn typical strategy and tactics in the Ruy Lopez, the Sicilian Defence, the Queen’s Gambit and other popular openings.

Click here to buy Chess Heroes: Games Book 1 on Amazon.

Other Chess Heroes books will be following in due course.

My other books:

Chess for Kids teaches chess to young children using a story with humour and cartoons.

The Right Way to Teach Chess to Kids is an essential guide for parents wanting to introduce their children to chess.

Chess for Schools (shortlisted for the 2023 English Chess Federation book of the year award) provides both primary and secondary schools with all the information and resources they need to promote chess successfully.