The Positional Chess Patterns Manual - IM Alex Astaneh

Strategy course by IM Alex Astaneh
Includes video and PGN

Language: English
Lectures: 41
Total Running Time: 24 hours 19 minutes

From the course:

Tactics Flow From A Superior Position — Here’s How To Create One Using These 8 “Root” Positional Themes

Are you strong in tactics but rarely get the chance to show it? Let 3-time Irish champion Alex Astaneh fix that! His manual helps you create winning chances for yourself, and realize the rating gains from your tactics training… Because it teaches you how to steadily improve your position, until it’s ripe for a combination!

Imagine being so in-tune with the chess board...

As soon as your pawns reach the 5th rank, you come up with 4 ways to attack with your space advantage.

Instead of stressing whether to keep a bishop or knight, you scan the board for a certain type of square. Then BAM! The correct minor piece imbalance reveals itself.

And when examining a promising but uncertain sacrifice, you weigh its Expected Value (EV) against other options, and arrive at the ideal move based on its risks and rewards.

That's you, inside The Positional Chess Patterns Manual by International Master Alex Astaneh.

Astaneh won the Irish championship 3 times and represented Ireland in 4 Olympiads — before becoming a FIDE trainer in 2020.

After several years of coaching, he notices a trend which stunts the growth of amateur players.

They spend 100s of hours training their puzzle-solving and tactics-finding skills. But their ability to set up one through positional play? Almost never!

So they become strong tacticians, who must wait for oversights to even have a shot at winning.

In The Positional Chess Patterns Manual, Astaneh bridges the gap by…

Analyzing 10,000 Games For Positional “Swing Points”

Moments when the evaluation bar veers to one side — not because of a tactic, but because of a positional mistake. Similar to the ones you encounter at 1500-2000 FIDE or 1500-2400 online.

Astaneh categorizes these swing points into 8 “root” positional themes present in every chess game.

From weak squares, outposts, space and central control, piece play, open files… to pawn and endgame play.

Each of these themes can tip the balance to your favor. And Astaneh shows you how to do just that, through 67 positional patterns and over 25 hours of video.

Discover:

🎯 How to create “convergence zones.” So your pieces can reach the critical part of the board double time!

🎯 This rule on chapter 3 which ensures your space advantage stays advantageous.

🎯 How to setup “power outposts” for your knight or bishop. So even if it’s exchanged off, your pressure stays on.

🎯 Astaneh’s 5-point checklist for identifying weak squares and the best targets to attack.

🎯 The 5 scenarios when an exchange sacrifice more than pays for itself.

🎯 7th rank invasion tactics which pin the opponent against the edge of the board.

🎯 How to unleash a wave of pawn breaks to activate your pieces, destroy the enemy pawn structure… and ultimately hunt down their king!

🎯 Endgame schemas that paint a “reference image” of the winning plan.

Plus many more.

To cement your newfound positional IQ, Astaneh also serves 280 MoveTrainer exercises — plus a final test of mixed themes to match real game conditions.

There’s no need for you to struggle finding the right continuation, nor play at the mercy of the opponent’s oversight. Not when you can take charge and build a superior position, from which tactics flow.