This nearly classic teaching and training work by three renowned Russian chess masters originated from a companion volume to a Soviet TV chess course. It addresses the three phases of a chess game in separate chapters, each written by one of the three authors as an expert. Mikhail Judovich discusses the opening theory after a historical overview, presenting the most important openings with a brief introduction while emphasizing the general principles of opening play. In the second chapter, Alexander Kotov covers the positional and combinational play of the middlegame phase, while the third part explains the theory and practice of endgames by Yuri Averbakh. Now in its 7th edition, this work is aimed at advanced chess players and is well-suited for both chess courses and self-study. The exercises sprinkled throughout all chapters are quite challenging, so the reader should not shy away from independent thinking and intensive analysis. But without that, one cannot succeed in chess anyway! Mikhail Judovich (1911-1987), a Russian master and author, was considered a leading theorist of his time. He received the IM title in 1950 and became a correspondence chess IM (1961) and GM (1973). Alexander Kotov (1913-1981) was among the best players in the USSR during the 1950s, receiving the GM title in 1950. He authored several significant chess books. Yuri Averbakh (*1922), awarded the GM title in 1952, is currently the oldest living chess grandmaster and was a World Championship candidate in 1953. He was at times an official of the Soviet Chess Federation and is a chess historian, editor, and author of several standard works on endgame theory.