Best Play: A New Method to Find the Strongest Move

This Best Play: A New Method to Find the Strongest Move is a chess book for players who want a practical way to choose the strongest move in a given position. Written by Alexander Shashin, it presents a structured method for evaluating a position through material, mobility, safety and space, so you can turn assessment into a clear plan at the board.

The book opens with a foreword by Alexander Morozevich. Rather than stopping at theory, it builds a coherent way of thinking about chess that can be applied in quiet strategic positions as well as in unclear, dynamic situations.

Shashin’s method in practice

At the heart of the book is a disciplined approach to decision-making. Shashin breaks a position down into key elements and compares them for both sides using mathematical proportions. The result is not just an answer to the question of what to play, but a better understanding of why a particular plan makes sense and how to reach similar conclusions in your own games.

This makes the book especially useful for players who want a more systematic way to analyse positions instead of relying on intuition alone. It shows how to translate positional evaluation into concrete decisions at the board.

What’s inside

Shashin illustrates the method with games by three world champions whose styles were very different: Mikhail Tal, José Raúl Capablanca and Tigran Petrosian. That gives the reader a wide range of positions and plans to study, while the explanations are supported by both the author’s experience and computer analysis.

The book includes about 125 advanced examples and 125 exercises with solutions. That makes it suitable not only for reading, but also for active training. It is a strong choice for anyone who wants to work on positional evaluation and decision-making, rather than simply browse finished variations.

Why choose this book?

Best Play combines theory, practical examples and training material in one volume. It is more than an analysis manual: it offers a broader way of understanding the character of a position and choosing moves that fit its demands. For ambitious players, it is a valuable book for self-study, positional training and deeper chess analysis.

Key details

• Product type: chess book
• Author: Alexander Shashin
• Foreword: Alexander Morozevich
• Method: evaluates positions through material, mobility, safety and space
• Examples: games by Mikhail Tal, José Raúl Capablanca and Tigran Petrosian
• Exercises: about 125 advanced examples and 125 exercises with solutions
• Approach: combines theory, practical examples and computer analysis