9How to learn strategy? Can it be
learned? It can be, of course. And these volumes are the perfect guide to learn
(or, more precisely, to learn to understand) strategy.

Our idea is to throw light on all the strategic
concepts in these volumes. To help you navigate more simply, we have divided all
the material into two volumes. This first one is exploring the elements of
strategy, explaining typical and essential principles in detail. The second one
is about pawn structures. Of course, structures

themselves actually mean nothing without recognizing patterns and principles
from the elements (because pawn structures are used to determine the values of
pieces, for instance). That is why volume two can be considered as an advanced
level of strategy. Generally, examples will be based on material adopted from
volume one and upgraded.

Volume one is divided into nine
chapters and the titles suggest the topic explained in detail. Examples are arranged
from less to more complex and I recommend that the reader not skip examples
inside the chapters. Moreover, I would ask the reader to go through the
chapters in the order in which they are presented in the book, because the most
important topics come first. For instance, centralization is the leading
principle and it must be kept in mind while working on other topics!