No one is entitled to having a style in chess. We tend to think of Tal as a tactical genius, Petrosian as a master defender, Karpov as the strategic mastermind, but those epithets are misleading at best. Petrosian was a tactical genius, so was Karpov, Tal knew how to defend extremely well. Every top Grandmaster is good at every stage and every aspect of the game. Styles only exist in chess books. In Lessons on Uncompromising Play, David Navara teaches us how to become good at what could earn us the epithet “attacking genius”, or “merciless game converter”. Think of more absurd titles yourselves. This book addresses the key questions of chess: how to win, how to seize the initiative, how to convert when you’re better, how to defend when worse, how to attack, how to handle dynamics, and how to win on demand or in equal positions.

The way Lessons on Uncompromising Play is divided, and what it covers, makes it very hard to pinpoint one main topic the book is about. It’s about making correct decisions based on what the position requires.

Every chapter is based on Navara’s own games. Each game, explaining the principle or idea covered in the chapter, is annotated in great detail. Navara’s ideas, and the logic behind his moves, are illustrated in detail, giving the reader the reasoning behind every decision, and why alternatives were inferior or unplayable. Having a 2700 player explain his thinking in such a way is invaluable, even for “normal” Grandmasters. Along with Michael Adams’ Think like a Super GM, this may be the only book I’ve come across which I suspect may be extremely useful for people above 2500 FIDE. And yet, I was able to understand it perfectly, and had no trouble following Navara’s reasoning.

What I struggle with most is dynamic positions, developing and maintaining the initiative, converting positions, and defending actively. Because of these deficits, I have lost maaaaany games. So it felt as if Navara had written Lessons on Uncompromising Play specifically for me. I was recently asked by Ben Johnson during our interview about my favorite chess books. I found myself talking about this book for 10 minutes. It really left me breathless.

If you are an advanced player, and you want to go beyond simple concepts when it comes to dynamic play, read Lessons on Uncompromising Play. It’s a remarkably useful and unique book written by a unique guy.