Drazen Marovic's book UNDERSTANDING PAWN PLAY IN CHESS (click to see Donaldson's review of this book) was a solid if rather standard exposition of various pawn structures and schemes. His DYNAMIC PAWN PLAY IN CHESS (click to see Donaldson's and Watson's reviews of this book) took a new approach to the center and to some difficult-to-describe active strategies that arise from various pawn configurations. I found the book enlightening and original, with plenty for the master as well as the less advanced player to chew on.

Marovic's new book SECRETS OF POSITIONAL CHESS is competent and well enough written, yet seems to me less instructive on a few accounts. Like UNDERSTANDING PAWN PLAY IN CHESS, it sticks with well-known themes; however, the presentation switches between things that are standard fare (probably even dull for some experienced readers) and those that are very complex and entertaining but only indirectly related to the subject at hand. So although the book will be of use to those needing a refresher on basic positional ideas, which seems to be the goal, it might also intimidate or confuse them.

In Part 1, Marovic discusses weak and strong squares, files and diagonals, weaknesses on the first two ranks, and outposts. Part 2, much longer, takes each piece individually and discusses their strengths and weaknesses. He uses a good mix of games ranging from the very famous to the lesser known; most of the latter from modern contests. To me, too many of the examples are either obvious or so tactically dependent that I'm not convinced they demonstrate much about positional play. Admittedly this wasn't my impression throughout, but I did find problems as I jumped around in the book. Looking at the chapter about queens, for example, I couldn't quite see why several of the examples concerned issues related to the queen more than the other pieces. By way of example, look at:

V Kramnik - S Lputian
ÊDebrecen, 1992
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 c6 7.Qc2 Nbd7 8.h3 a6 9.Rd1 h6 10.a3 dxc4 11.Bxc4 Nd5 12.0-0 Nxf4 13.exf4 Qc7 14.Ne5 Nf6 15.Ba2 Bd7 16.Bb1 Be8

Play continued 17.d5! Rd8 18.Rfe1 Kh8 19.dxe6 Rxd1 20.Rxd1 fxe6 21.Ne4 g6 22.Nc5 Bxc5 23.Qxc5 Rg8 24.Ba2 Kg7 25.Bxe6 Rf8 26.Nd7, 1-0.

Marovic explains that "The d5 square, an apparently impregnable post, turns out to be vulnerable because tactical circumstances make it so." The only queen-related point that Marovic makes is that the bishop-queen battery on the b1-h7 diagonal is the "key element" that makes this work. So what's the positional lesson: to line up your queen and bishop against the opposing king? To look for tactical tricks? It's not clear.

A game Leko-Khalifman, New Dehli 2000 (page 121) is a further example in the "queen" chapter in which rooks play by far the most important role:

44.Rb1? Marovic talks about relative king safety and then says: "Forcing the black king into the open by 44.Rxg5 Rbxb2 45.Rg8+ Kxh7 does not seem to promise anything because the doubled rooks can protect the king on the second rank." The game continued: 44...a3 45.Qxa3 Qxa3 46.bxa3 Rxb1+ 47.Kxb1 Rc4 48.Rxg5 Kxh7 49.Rg4 eventually leading to a draw.

Then Marovic says: "However, in spite of appearances, analysis demonstrates that 44.Rxg5! Rbxb2 45.Rg8+ Kxh7 would not have been in vain, but one crucial move had to be found 46.Rb8!! ..." He goes on to describe how 46...Rxb8 47.Qxe6+ wins and (remarkably) 46...Rxa2+ 47.Kb1 Rh2 loses to 48.Rf3!. Does this illustrate any positional (or other) quality regarding queens? The example is wonderful and I love things like this; but it shows what I mean about entertaining complexity taking precedence over positional lessons.

On the positive side, many traditional middlegame themes are well presented, including things like the exploitation of doubled pawns, the roles of the minor pieces including good and bad bishops, active rooks in endgames, outposts, how to attack weaknesses, and more. Although there are some advanced and entertainingly complex examples sprinkled throughout, I think that the greater part of the book is most appropriate for lower players and only wish that it was more consistently clear in its presentation of examples.