Good books on the indeterminate stage of chess between openings and endings are rare Ambitious players wanting a practical guide to the middle game will find that Ludek Pachmans great trilogy, which is completed with this volume, stands in a class of its own In each of these books the need for understanding is emphasized: there are too many variations for any memory to store The player must understand the basic principles involved and the typical positions or maneuvers that can arise Ludek Pachmans examples will augment his experience and should facilitate finer judgments as to the types of position to aim for, how to plan for them and in the allocation of priorities But games also need to be viewed as an entity, and for this reason the author has concentrated on teaching by means of whole games Ludek Pachman, the West German and former Czechoslovak Grandmaster, has taken part in international chess since 1945 The present work is a substantial revision of a series of books that first appeared in Czech It has been translated from the German by the English International Master, John Littlewood