Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide – Book Review

If you’ve ever reached a middlegame and frozen, unsure of what to do next, Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide is the book you didn’t know you desperately needed. Mauricio Flores Rios takes the chaos of pawn chains, isolated pawns, and central tension and turns them into a clear, actionable framework for practical play.

Author: Mauricio Flores Rios
Publisher: Quality Chess
Level: Intermediate–Advanced
Pages: 464

What This Book Is

Unlike your typical GM repertoire books that dive into endless opening theory, this guide focuses on pawn structures — the skeletal framework of any chess position. Rios identifies 28 common structures, organizes them into six “families” based on opening types, and walks you through the main plans for both sides.

The families are:

1. d4 / …d5 – Classic Queen’s Gambit and Slav structures
2. Open Sicilian – Najdorf, Hedgehog, and Maroczy setups
3. Benoni – Asymmetric and Symmetric structures
4. King’s Indian – All the main KID structures
5. French – Tarrasch, Winawer, and related chains
6. Miscellaneous – Panov, Scheveningen, Benko, and others

Each chapter explains the goals of White and Black, shows model games, and highlights the plans, pitfalls, and piece maneuvers that make or break the position. There are 50 exercises at the end, with full solutions, so you can immediately test and internalize the concepts.

Why It’s Different

Here’s the key difference: most books tell you what to do in theory. Rios shows you why it works, and how to apply it in practical games. For example:

• The Isolated Queen Pawn (IQP) is terrifying for beginners — “should I attack? defend? trade?” Rios breaks it down: White builds activity, Black seeks exchanges to neutralize threats. Suddenly, the IQP isn’t mysterious anymore.
• The Carlsbad / Minority Attack structure: You see exactly how space advantage, piece placement, and pawn breaks interact. You don’t just memorize moves — you understand the logic behind them.
• Transformations between structures: many positions evolve from one pawn formation into another. Rios highlights these transitions, so you’re never caught off guard in the middlegame.

The book also avoids overcomplicated tactics that obscure strategic ideas. You’ll rarely see convoluted 20-move combinations — instead, the emphasis is on planning, evaluation, and decision-making, which is exactly what beginners-to-intermediate players often struggle with.

Reddit readers have also chimed in:

“I finally understand the IQP. I used to panic every time I had it. Now I can plan my attacks confidently.” – u/ChessNewbie42

“The model games are pure gold. Seeing plans in action is way better than just memorizing moves.” – u/GMFan88

“Honestly, I thought this book was for advanced players only, but even my 1600-rated friends found it super practical.” – u/PawnPusher77

These voices highlight what many readers feel: it’s a book that actually teaches you how to think in chess, not just memorize.

Who This Book Is For

If you’re an intermediate player frustrated with reaching middlegames and not knowing what to do, this book is for you. Even advanced players can gain clarity on familiar structures — learning to recognize patterns faster and with confidence.

It’s less about memorizing openings, and more about building your positional intuition. Every chapter gives you practical tools to decide which pawn breaks to play, which files to control, and how to align your pieces.

Key Takeaways

• Pawn structures dictate plans: The nature of the middlegame is largely determined before you even finish your opening.
• Model games reinforce learning: Each chapter is supported with carefully chosen games that show plans in action.
• Exercises turn theory into practice: The 50 end-of-book exercises make it possible to internalize these ideas immediately.
• Strategic clarity beats memorization: Knowing why a plan works is more powerful than memorizing moves.

Minor Drawbacks

• Nimzo-Indian structures are underrepresented. But as many reviewers note, there are just too many variations to cover in one volume — and most ideas still transfer across related structures.
• Some examples assume familiarity with common middlegame concepts, so true beginners may need a foundation in general strategy first.

Bottom Line

Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide isn’t a flashy opening book — it’s a practical manual for improving your middlegame. Spend time with it, understand the structures, and your piece activity, pawn breaks, and overall positional sense will improve dramatically.

If your games often stall after the opening, or you struggle to pick plans confidently, this book is an investment in your chess thinking. After reading it, you’ll look at pawn chains not as obstacles, but as opportunities.

Rating: ★★★★★ 4.9/5

👉 Ready to master pawn structures and middlegame plans? Grab Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide on Amazon here (affiliate link) or get it from Forward Chess. Buying through these links supports this site at no extra cost to you.