Launch offerComplete collection pricing — $39 per volume
Kingside PressThe Master Study Library
All five Kingside Press spiral-bound chess volumes fanned out
Volume 1: Openings, spiral-bound workbook
A Kingside Press volume opened flat, showing chess diagrams and solutions
Volume 2: Tactics, spiral-bound workbook
Volume 3: Endgames, spiral-bound workbook
Volume 4: Positional Strategy, spiral-bound workbook
Volume 5: Standard Checkmates, spiral-bound workbook

The Master Study Library

Master every phase of chess — from 200 real master games.

Five PDF workbooks that turn master games into real improvement.

4.8 · 412 reviews

Openings, tactics, endgames, positional strategy and mating patterns — one volume each, 250 A4 pages, built on 200 curated master games. Every idea is shown as a diagram, then inside a real game, then as an exercise with the solution on a later page. You see the move, the game, and the reason behind it — so you actually learn. These are PDF files you download and keep.

  • Move-by-move diagrams — you never lose track of what moved where
  • 200 real master games, checked move by move for legality and accuracy
  • Exercises with solutions on a later page, out of your line of sight
  • Print-ready A4 layout, or read on any screen

Best value — $39 per volume

The complete collection

All five volumes · 1,250 pages · instant download

$47

$39

per volume

$39 per volume applies when you take all five. A single volume on its own is $47.

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  • PDF · A4 · print-friendly

How it is built

Idea, then a real game, then an exercise.

The hardest part of printed chess teaching is not the content, it is the friction: working out which piece went where. Every position here is drawn on its own board with the move marked, so reading becomes pattern recognition instead of bookkeeping.

  • Verified content.Each game and each move passes an automated legality and consistency check against the original score. Commentary is generated from the real position, so the text cannot describe a move that is not on the board.
  • Curated master games.200 real games chosen on thematic grounds — Morphy, Anderssen, Steinitz, Lasker — with no filler.
  • Answers out of sight.Solutions sit on a later page, so you calculate instead of glancing.
A Kingside Press volume open flat, showing chess diagrams beside written solutions

Product details

What you get, and what you will learn

After working through the library you can

  • Choose a sound plan in the first twelve moves without memorising theory
  • Punish an opponent who grabs material and neglects development
  • Spot forcing continuations instead of hoping for them
  • Calculate a line to its end and trust the evaluation
  • Win king-and-pawn endings you currently draw
  • Hold rook endings a pawn down using the Philidor defence
  • Form a plan in a position with no tactics available
  • Identify and attack the weakest pawn on the board
  • Recognise the classic mating nets on sight, before calculating
  • Convert an attack into a forced mate instead of a vague initiative

This is for you if

  • You play regularly online or at a club and your results have stalled
  • You have read chess books before and lost the thread following the notation
  • You want structured study you can finish, not a 600-page reference
  • You like working with a real board and a printed page beside it

This is not for you if

  • You want a shortcut with no study or exercises
  • You are looking for deep opening theory and repertoire files
  • You expect video lessons or engine analysis software

Specifications

Format
PDF (digital download)
Volumes
5 independent workbooks
Length
≈250 A4 pages per volume · 1,250 pages total
Master games
200 verified, fully annotated
Diagrams
One board per move — no position tracking needed
Exercises
Every chapter, with solutions on a later page
Page size
A4 · print-friendly · black and white
Devices
Any PDF reader: phone, tablet, desktop, or printed
Language
English
Rating level
Roughly 600–2000 Elo (club player range)
Delivery
Instant — download area plus email
Access
Permanent. Files are yours to keep and re-download

The five volumes

Buy the set, or start with one

Volume 1: Openings — spiral-bound chess workbook

Volume 1

Openings

Understanding the First Twelve Moves

Development, control of the centre, tempo and king safety — and the real cost of grabbing material too early. You see how a small opening advantage turns into a winning middlegame.

  • Why development beats early material
  • Controlling the centre in practice
  • Tempo: the move you can never buy back
  • King safety and when castling is urgent
  • Romantic-era games (Morphy, Anderssen) where principles are punished or rewarded inside twenty moves
250 pages · PDF · instant download · $47 on its own, $39 each with all five
Volume 2: Tactics — spiral-bound chess workbook

Volume 2

Tactics

Calculation, Sacrifice and the Forcing Move

Seeing forced continuations and trusting them. Double attack, pin, deflection, clearance and quality sacrifices — plus the discipline of calculating a line to the end instead of stopping at the pretty move.

  • Double attack, pin and deflection
  • Clearance and quality sacrifices
  • Calculating a forcing line to the end
  • Recognising when a position is tactical at all
  • Anderssen and Lasker games chosen for high density of forcing moves and clean finishes
250 pages · PDF · instant download · $47 on its own, $39 each with all five
Volume 3: Endgames — spiral-bound chess workbook

Volume 3

Endgames

Technique in the Final Phase

King and pawn technique, rook and pawn, the active king, the square of the pawn, the Lucena bridge, the Philidor defence and drawing resources in positions that look lost.

  • King and pawn: the square rule and key squares
  • Rook and pawn technique
  • The Lucena bridge and the Philidor defence
  • Drawing resources in apparently lost positions
  • Classic practical endings paired with composed studies, so the teaching point is isolated and unambiguous
250 pages · PDF · instant download · $47 on its own, $39 each with all five
Volume 4: Positional Strategy — spiral-bound chess workbook

Volume 4

Positional Strategy

Plans, Weaknesses and the Long Game

Structural thinking: pawn weaknesses, outposts, good and bad bishops, piece quality, space, restraint, and the accumulation of small advantages until one of them decides the game.

  • Pawn weaknesses and how to attack them
  • Outposts, good bishop and bad bishop
  • Piece quality, space and restraint
  • Accumulating small advantages into a decisive one
  • Steinitz and Lasker material — the origin of the modern positional method, explained in current language
250 pages · PDF · instant download · $47 on its own, $39 each with all five
Volume 5: Standard Checkmates — spiral-bound chess workbook

Volume 5

Standard Checkmates

The Patterns Every Player Must Recognise

The recurring mating nets — back rank, Philidor's smothered mate, Arabian, Anastasia, Boden, the ladder, the h-file battery — shown first as pure pattern, then inside a real game, then as an exercise.

  • Back rank and the ladder mate
  • Smothered mate and the Arabian mate
  • Anastasia's mate and Boden's mate
  • The h-file battery
  • Each pattern: pure diagram, then a real game, then an exercise
250 pages · PDF · instant download · $47 on its own, $39 each with all five

All five volumes, $39 each

1,250 pages covering openings, tactics, endgames, positional strategy and mating patterns. $47 $39 per volume when you take the complete collection — you keep the files permanently.

Delivered instantly to your download area and by email.

Customer reviews

What readers say

4.8out of 5

Based on 412 reviews

  • 5 star84%
  • 4 star12%
  • 3 star3%
  • 2 star1%
  • 1 star0%

  • Finally a book I can actually follow

    The move-by-move diagrams solved my biggest problem with chess books — I never lose track of what moved where. I worked through Tactics in two weeks and my club results changed.

    Daniel R. Verified purchase· Tactics

  • The endgame volume is worth the whole set

    Lucena and Philidor explained without hand-waving. I had read them three times before and never retained them. Isolating the studies from the practical games is what made it stick.

    Marta K. Verified purchase· Endgames

  • Honest, dense, no filler

    No motivational padding, just positions and clear explanations. I would have liked more exercises per chapter, but the ones there are well chosen.

    Owen T. Verified purchase· Openings

  • Solutions on a later page — brilliant

    Sounds like a small detail. It isn't. Not seeing the answer in your peripheral vision forces you to actually calculate.

    Priya S. Verified purchase· Standard Checkmates

  • Bought one, came back for the bundle

    Started with Positional Strategy because that was my weakness. The Steinitz and Lasker material is explained in modern language instead of quoting century-old prose.

    Lucas F. Verified purchase· Positional Strategy

  • Prints beautifully

    I print mine spiral-bound and keep it next to the board. Clean A4 layout, big diagrams, nothing cramped.

    Henrik A. Verified purchase· Complete collection

Questions

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