"Pawn Book Championship"- Which chess books about pawn play are the most instructive?

This week’s Perpetual Chess is the much anticipated “Pawn Book Championship” with popular adult improver Neal Bruce. Neal learned chess from scratch after the age of 40, and has been consistently studying and using flashcards to improve his skills in the last handful of years. In the past year, Neal has turned his attention to better understanding pawn play and positional chess, and he has read 6 (!) different books in order to facilitate better chess understanding. We Perpetual Chess listeners are very fortunate that Neal has offered to do a podcast crowning the “champion” of the pawn books, and has also agreed to give his honest assessment of the other books. When not working on his chess game, Neal is the Chief Product Officer of a software startup and a father of 3, so we greatly appreciate his taking the time for this large project. Please read on for more details and relevant links.
0:00-
The transcript of episode 237 with GM Vladimir Kramnik is here
If you would like to subscribe to the Perpetual Chess Patreon page, you can do so here.
4:00- Other podcasts to hear Neal Bruce:
Book Recap 6- Woodpecker Method and Rapid Chess Improvement
Book Recap 11- Winning Chess Strategies
How to Chess with Neal Bruce
Dojo Talks #24 with Neal Bruce
5:00-
Which books are entrants in Neal’s “Pawn Book Championship,” and how and why did he choose them?
Small Steps to Giant Improvement by GM Sam Shankland (Most appropriate for those 1700-2400 FIDE)
Small Steps 2 Success by GM Sam Shankland (Most appropriate for those 1800-2400 FIDE)
Pawn Structure Chess by GM Andy Soltis (Most appropriate for those 1500-2200 FIDE)
Chess Structures by GM Mauricio Flores Rios (Most appropriate for those 1500-2200 FIDE)
The Power of Pawns by GM Jorg Hickl’s (Most appropriate for those 1200-2000)
Pawn Power by IM Hans Kmoch (Not recommended for any rating range)
20:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com! Check out their latest offerings here.
New Chess Courses Online - For All Levels in all - Chessable.com
Also be sure to subscribe to the How to Chess podcast, more info here:
howtochess.com/
20:30- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessmood.com
They offer a huge library of instructive videos. You can hear GM Avetik Grigoryan on Episode 192 of Perpetual Chess. Be sure to subscribe to their KZbin channel here.
21:30- We discuss Hans Kmoch Pawn Power
28:30- GM Andy Soltis’s Pawn Structure Chess
32:00- We discuss GM Sam Shankland’s Small Steps 2 Success
www.qualityche...
Mentioned: New in Chess Magazine
38:30- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Aimchess.com. Check out their site, and if you decide to subscribe use the code Perpetual30 to save 30%.
39:00- We discuss Small Steps to Giant Improvement
Free sample from Quality Chess here:
www.qualityche...
43:00- We discuss The Power of Pawns by Jorg Hickl.
Link with free sample from New in Chess Books here:
www.newinchess...
47:00- We discuss Chess Structures
Free sample from Quality Chess here:
www.qualityche...
51:00- In what order would Neal recommend that you read these books?
Mentioned:
Interview with Magnus Carlsen on Wolfgang Wee Uncut-
• Magnus Carlsen | Sjak...
58:30- What lessons did Neal learn from these readings? What books are next for him?
Mentioned: Mastering Chess Strategy, Mastering Positional Sacrifices, Silman’s Reassess Your Chess Workbook, Practical Chess Exercises, Zurich 1953, New York 1924, Judit Polgar’s How I Beat Fischer’s Record, Book Recap #7 with Jen Shahade
1:04:00- Thanks so much to Neal for undertaking this massive project and sharing his findings with the chess community! You can keep up with Neal on Twitter here:
/ nealbrucebc

[@anikdeyshaon6126]

Summary: from best to worst 1. Chess Structures 2. The power of pawns 3. Small steps to giant improvement 4. Small steps 2 5. Pawn structure chess 6. Pawn power in chess.

[@razznote7586]

Pawn Power in Chess is highly under estimated. I think it is about your actual determination and interest in Chess. I read it from cover to cover almost 3x, (though at the 3rd time I just went to the annotated games, as I am quite familiar with the first part already). I was about 1400-1500 when I started reading it and now at about 1800. This is the first time that I deeply understand real chess. Chess Structures and Shankland books are also good but Pawn Power is the better intermediate level introductory pawn book (should be, though it is not that reader friendly). I think it is just that the lingo or jargon that turned off a lot of people, but if you are able to go over it and really understand it and is able to go over the rest of the book, and really really understand and absorb it. You will know that it is a real gem of a book! Based on my experience, it really helped a lot. But you also need to check out the other pawn books to have a more well rounded knowledge of the different pawn positions. Anyway, its sad to have this bad vibe for this good of a book.

[@b.1565]

1800 FIDE?

[@masterpiecehero]

26:57 That was genius, he is talking about the more space you get when you push your pawns the more freedom your pieces get to move, at the same time you take away space from your opponents pieces

[@Grandcapi]

Chess Structures is a great book. Plans for white and black depending on the pawn structure and openings. I have all the books depicted above and this one is the best in my opinion. Understanding Pawn Play in Chess, by Marovic is very interesting because he compares classic games with so called modern ones. By the way, all of Marovic's books are great.

[@TheBigGuppy]

I read Pawn Power in Chess. I didn't like it 45 years ago. At the time I learned most my pawn play from Ludek Pachman''s Modern Chess Strategy. Not sure how well Pachman aged. It was an important book to me but I'm older than dirt. LOL

[@MrSupernova111]

I fully agree with the Power of Pawns. I love this book! Recently, I tried several books to improve my positional understanding including some on this list and the only book that I can confidently say that provides a great overview of pawn theory is Power of Pawns. The book is very concise and to the point. It doesn't go too deep into theory so I would say its a great primer. Lots of other books like Shankland's books assume you already have a foundation and its not always clear how to use the content in your own games. I'm rated over 2k on all formats online on both chesscom and lichess.

[@b.1565]

Hopefully chess structures will get a videoupdate at chessable. It would be much more helpful for a lot of players than the 500th opening course on chessable..

[@milankotevski1663]

I very much liked the book called Winning Pawn Structures by Alexender Baburin. In my humble opinion that book is a hidden gem.

[@paulgottlieb]

Great book, but with a fairly narrow focus. Probably better suited for higher rated players

[@brianwhiterman8438]

I’m so glad I stumbled upon this video. Thank You very much for it. Very very helpful ! 👍🏽

[@ajarnray4115]

Neal Bruce must be the hardest working adult improver around in the chessworld. This man keeps amazing me how he can go over all these games in such a short time. Awesome podcast Ben as always two thumbs up.

[@angel_machariel]

Interesting topic but this show contains way too much padding.

[@user-hp2jd1lh1u]

I despise "Pawn Power In Chess". Tried to read it 3 times over the years, hated it, and put it down each time. Kmoch created an idiotic weird language for this book, and it drives you nuts. Pawn Structure Chess (by Soltis) helped me defeat a Class A player in my next game. Shankland's writing style in "Small Steps To Giant Improvement" is immensely enjoyable. I also have Hickl's book (Power Of Pawns), and Rios' book (Chess Structures), and they're certainly outstanding. I study Chess Structures together with Pawn Structure Chess and find it very beneficial to get both author's take on the same structures.

[@perpetualchesspodcast9143]

Lol, well said about Kmoch's book.

[@kaibigan7084]

Another informative video. Thanks

[@firerook]

Do you recommend reading "The power of pawns" with the physical book or with chessable?

[@nomoreblitz]

If it's worth studying deeply & drilling into memory, then both!

[@odysseas573]

I cannot hear anything. Is it my computer's fault or is anybody else having the same issue

[@perpetualchesspodcast9143]

Its your computers fault, sound works for me :)

[@VaSavoir2007]

It sounds fine to me, but I'm listening to this on headphones. That generally helps with any such difficulties, and the more so the better quality the headphones.