Unbeatable! The Art of Defense

Jan Werle

Sample pages (pdf)

From the author:

"The topic of defense requires a comprehensive analysis from different angles in order to give the chess player under pressure useful guidelines during a game. Of course, the technical part is a matter of finding challenging, new and interesting positions. I was struggling with describing the emotions that we have during the game, how they influence our decision-making process and what we can do about that. Hence, I tried the best I could to define the issues the defender encounters during a stressful game. Finally I am confidently sharing with you the lessons that I learned from sport psychologists and literature, and my experience as a player over 30 years."

"I realize that this book will not cover all open wounds, nevertheless my aim to write a manual about defense which can help us defenders enduring the hardest difficulties in practice, seems to be achieved. Personally speaking this book helped me as a defender to approach a worse position in a much more objective way, optimally use all of my defensive resources available, both psychologically and technically, to set - even under the most dire circumstances - pitfalls, while keeping my nerves under control."

Jan Werle is a Grandmaster, professional chess coach and author. He reached his peak rating of 2607 by winning the EU Championship in Liverpool. He achieved a tournament rating of 2743 at the Gibralter Masters in 2020, finishing 8th.

Published 2021, softback, 344 pages.