Chess College is a new series of books to take intermediate players to new levels of chess understanding. New ideas are introduced and immediately illustrated by a number of entertaining and instructive examples, many drawn from the author's own practice. Volume 2: Pawn Play discusses aspects of pawn play that are vital to successful chess, such as: Semi-open File, Isolated Pawn, Doubled Pawns, Backward Pawn, Hanging Pawns, Pawn Majority, Pawn Minority, Central Break. By drawing extensively upon his own games, Grivas is able to explain exactly what was going on over the board, and avoids the pitfall of providing overfamiliar, clichéd examples. This is part of a three-volume series that provides a wealth of instruction on many aspects of chess middlegames.

Grandmaster Efstratios Grivas lives in Athens and is also a Senior FIDE Trainer, International Arbiter and Organizer. He has represented his country on a great many occasions, winning an individual gold medal at the 1989 European Team Championship and an individual silver medal at the 1998 Olympiad. He is a Greek federal trainer and an experienced writer.

Gambit books by Grivas: A Complete Guide to the Grivas Sicilian, Beating the Fianchetto Defences, Chess College 1: Strategy, Chess College 2: Pawn Play, Chess College 3: Technique, Modern Chess Planning.

Download a pdf file with a sample from the book.

"...well-written and highly instructive" - PHL Hughes, Chess Post

"Trainers will find the three books a tailor made course to guide their students through the fundamentals of proper middlegame play. Highly recommended." - John Donaldson, Silman's website

"...the experienced author covers numerous important themes relating to Strategy, Pawn Play, and Technique. He does this in a very lucid manner with the aid of many highly instructive illustrative games." - GM Paul Motwani, The Scotsman

"...Grivas also handles here the important physical and psychological factors and the great teacher from Greece provides the reader with a wealth of instructive information." - John Elburg, chessbooks.nl

"Greek grandmaster Efstratios Grivas clearly has seen the demand for solid instruction, and aims to satisfy it with his three-volume set." - Cecil Rosner, Winnipeg Free Press

"Grivas's style does seem to be very reader-friendly and this series would an agreeable option for players (perhaps in the 1500-2000 range) who want to do some repair work on the basics of their chess technique." - John Saunders, British Chess Magazine

"...most of the positions will be new to the reader - certainly not a case of old wine in new bottles." - Alan Sutton, En Passant