The Break - Learn From Schlechter, Botvinnik and Kramnik

A break is generally an unexpected or sacrificial pawn move that can serve multiple purposes, including, but not limited to:

• Opening up files or diagonals


• Directly attacking opponent's king


• Gaining space


• Freeing up a square (e.g. as an outpost for a knight)


• Undermining opponent's pawn structure/chain


• Creating a passed pawn

Inspiration for this book came from reading Vladimir Kramnik's collection of games, which featured a special section on the pawn breakthroughs. Later studying the games of Mikhail Botvinnik, Carl Schlechter, the author also spotted their great ability to play with the pawns. In the book, the chapters are presented starting with Schlechter and ending with Kramnik, to reflect the development of chess thought.

Sacrificial pawn breaks are very common in chess and happen in a wide variety of positions, from sharp opening theoretical positions - to seemingly calm endgames. The challenge in writing this book was not in finding examples, but rather in constraining from adding more and more illustrative games. That means that once you study this topic, you should be able to frequently use the acquired skills in many of your tournament games, making this knowledge of great value for a practical player.

The book is filled with dozens of training questions so that before seeing the move played by the grandmaster - the reader can practice their skill and come up with an answer on their own. To see the solution to a position - just go to the next page in your e-reader.