Techniques of Positional Play by GM Peter Heine Nielsen

The Soviet Chess School Of Strategy,
In A Single Hands-On Course?

When the game reaches unfamiliar territory — when the tactics and forcing moves don’t work — this step-by-step playbook of 45 positional methods will give you the upper-hand in chess.

It’s called Techniques of Positional Play by renowned Russian trainer, FIDE Master Anatoli Terekhin.

It distills over 100 years of Soviet chess mastery — the very same which produced 9 classical world champions — into 45 essential techniques which build up your position until it almost wins itself.

Co-author International Master Valeri Broznik polished Terekhin’s original work, and translated it to English…

While Grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen cast modern light onto this classic.

Through 22 hours of video, the 9-time world championship-winning coach examines the techniques — especially how they evolved through the years.

Fans consistently rate Techniques of Positional Play among the top 5 best puzzle books ever. Hit streamers Andrea Botez and WGM Dina Belenkaya even hail it as…

The Chess Book on Strategy
Every Russian Kid Has Studied

That’s because it skips the abstract explanations — and focuses on concrete, step-by-step training to improve your chess.

If you need to push a pawn to create breathing space…

Move the queen in a specific way to connect the rooks…

Or maintain contact with a square while maneuvering, Terekhin will tell you exactly how it’s done. So that the technique consistently produces the desired effect.

And you’re getting 45 of these point-generating techniques!

You’ll be shown how to elevate every piece to peak performance, while preventing the opponent from doing the same:

🧠 You’ll use the pendulum maneuver to misplace an enemy piece before developing yours to its ideal square.

🧠 Zigzag your bad bishop… to force its exchange for the opponent’s good one.

🧠 Arrange your heavy artillery in a Smyslov formation to win the fight for the open file.

The Smyslov Formation:
Chapter 5 explains why this exact setup
works best and how to get it

🧠 And carry out fearless king walks to avoid incoming danger, or start a pawn storm yourself.

You’ll also turn those slow-moving pawns into high-impact players on the board. For example:

🧠 You’ll deny open lines from the opponent with the padlock.

🧠 Dismantle incomplete, complete, and extended pawn triangles to take over the queenside — or weave a mating net on the kingside.

Driving a wedge through Black’s extended
pawn triangle forces checkmate

🧠 And that rook pawn everyone underestimates? You’ll transform it into a dangerous potential passer that sets up brilliant endgame combinations…

🧠 A defensive wave-breaker to keep hostile pawns at bay…

🧠 Or a file-opening spearhead leading the charge into enemy lines!

You’ll also be shown different techniques developed by legendary chess players through trial and error — so you can swipe them to shortcut your positional mastery:

🧠 You’ll leave overprotective enemy units in a tangle with Dvoretsky’s superfluous pieces.

🧠 Wake up “sleeping” minor pieces, and focus their firepower on the enemy kingside with the Boleslavsky regrouping.

The Boleslavsky Regrouping energizes
passive minor pieces and drums up
a dangerous kingside initiative

🧠 And if you have a dominant position, but not a breakthrough in sight? Then pop a pill of Botvinnik’s prescription to create invasion points for your pieces.

Now back to the original question:

Does Techniques of Positional Play truly capture the most essential strategic lessons of the Soviet chess school?

Sign up for the course to find out.