"Geza Maroczy left a strange legacy: the discovery that certain pawn formations can impose a near decisive cramp on one's opponent." Robert James Fischer

Aron Nimzowitsch wrote that studying the middlegame in chess means studying typical positions. Typical positions means typical pawn structures, and studying pawn structures means studying strategy. Middlegame strategy literature is rather poor. We have worked hard trying to provide the best possible material with different colleagues: Isolani Strategy by Alexander Beliavsky/Adrian Mikhalchishin/Oleg Stetsko, Hanging Pawns by Adrian Mikhalchishin, and The Center by Adrian Mikhalchishin/Georg Mohr. Other important books were written by Sergey Shipov, with his two-volume The Complete Hedgehog, and Ivan Sokolov, with his series Chess Middlegame Strategies.

So, here is another try at researching typical plans. The authors, both long-term chess trainers, decided to research ideas that are important in the Maroczy structure for both sides. The Maroczy structure was played by such greats as Bobby Fischer, Tigran Petrosian, Bent Larsen and many others. We would like to present this topic in a slightly different way. Chess players and also trainers usually do not think as deeply as they should in order to achieve better results. We would like to present ideas for both White and Black and this book is written without any bias as to colour.

We hope that our study will help players and readers improve their understanding of chess. The authors do not imagine that our book will cover every aspect of the presented topic. Knowledge about this structure is so important and wide that it is virtually impossible to explain every detail in a single book.

Moreover, there are countless different perspectives on particular problems or procedures in this structure and we could not take into account every one of them. However, we have wished to write a book which would offer a 360-degree view of the Maroczy structure, enable individual study by any aspiring student, and help trainers in their work. Advice from experienced coaches (we have boldly put ourselves into this category) is always welcome for successful chess training. Dear readers, we would like to believe that after you have read this book, you will make your own contribution with your games and analyses to the development of this system…