Hellsten and the Language of Positional Chess
It’s easy to look back at your games and find dazzling tactical shots. A moment of brilliance is like fireworks against the night sky. Tactics feel tangible and are easier to spot. It’s hardly a surprise given how often our chess training includes puzzle books, apps, and other tools.
But can you easily find the last positional masterpiece you played? For most, outplaying their opponent in the positional realm is not as easy. Brilliance here is more subtle and is often part of a long-term enterprise, like seeing a sculptor carve something grandiose in marble.
One could say that chess players tend to be fluent in the language of tactics, whereas positional play seems to be a much harder language to learn.
From Wilhelm Steinitz to Aron Nimzowitsch, and from Mikhail Botvinnik to the duo Mark Dvoretsky-Artur Yusupov, some brilliant chess thinkers have done their part to systematize positional knowledge and teach us this language.
In more recent years, the Swedish Grandmaster Johan Hellsten has positioned himself as one of the most influential authors on chess strategy books. With his four-volume “Mastering” series in MoveTrainer format (Mastering Opening Strategy, Mastering Endgame Strategy, Mastering Chess Defense, and the quintessential Mastering Chess Strategy) Hellsten has become a fan-favorite and with good reason.
Hellsten’s Methodology
For the Swedish champion, positional fluency can only be achieved by means of practicing strategic themes in the way we would practice with tactics: through observing and practicing, and practicing a lot.
So, he goes for the trusted two-step process of learning through model games and reinforcing the knowledge with exercises thereafter. Hellsten uses this structure throughout the Mastering series.
The author is keen on showing us how the best choices are shaped by long-term considerations rather than short-term mirages. It is by observing how advanced players intentionally improve the coordination of their pieces, or weaken the opponent’s pawn structure, that students start to find and make sense of positional patterns.
First, he lays the foundation for key positional concepts like prophylaxis and complementary ideas such as provocation and restriction. Then, Hellsten offers plenty of carefully selected exercises for the student to practice what they have learned. These exercises are progressively structured as well.
Mastering Chess Strategy
But what truly sets apart Hellsten’s Mastering series is the thoroughness with which he crafted each of the volumes. There is a treasure trove of themes. These volumes are so comprehensive, they are as close as we can get to modern handbooks of positional patterns.
For instance, in Mastering Chess Strategy (the flagship course), he dedicates a section to the improvement of each piece. Then, he extensively explores piece play themes such as exchanges, realization of advantage, facilitating attack and defense, and reducing enemy activity. What follows is pawn play, space advantage, and ultimately more complex topics such as prophylaxis and its derivatives: restriction and provocation.
All in all, there are 800 exercises in the MoveTrainer version–more than in the book. Still, each one comes with a thorough explanation of the solution. Hellsten, who is a full-time coach based nowadays in Ecuador, is no stranger to explaining concepts in very instructive ways.
The books-turned-Chessable courses have received rave reviews on our platform. Another esteemed author and coach, IM Andras Toth, has sung praises about Mastering Chess Strategy describing it as “an absolute masterpiece. This is a must-have book for everyone who wants to get better at chess in general and understand strategic, positional chess.”
Hellsten’s courses on sale!
If, like most chess players, you could use some help with learning the language of positional play, check out Johan Hellsten’s courses–all of which are on sale for a limited time!
Visit his Chessable Author page.
