Oleg Pervakov (born in 1960 in the city of Kirov) is widely recognized as Russia’s greatest living chess composer. He has composed nearly 500 studies and he has won the individual chess composition world championship three times: in 2004-2006, 2007-2009 and 2013-2015. In this book, Sergei Tkachenko, a member of the Ukrainian team that won the 5th World Chess Composition Tournament in 1997 and which came second in 2000, 2004, 2013, and 2017, has selected 100 of Oleg Pervakov’s best studies. The selection is quite varied – from elegant short studies with six moves to romantic grotesques with many pieces on board and over 30 moves to the solution. Yet what all of these studies have in common is spectacular play by both sides. And watch out: they are tough! That said, Oleg’s compositions are never boring. You may buy this collection of studies to test your endgame tactical abilities, to improve your endgame understanding, or simply to appreciate chess in all its beauty. Unlike previous studies books compiled by Sergei Tkachenko this book is not pocket-sized due to its longer solutions. "If you're brave enough to solve them, then it will certainly improve your calculation. If you're just lazy like me then you'll have an even better time playing through them! 5 stars!" - Grandmaster Matthew Sadler, New In Chess magazine, September 2019 "In this book, there is a short biography of Pervakov and some text on why the author have chosen to feature Pervakov in this book. It turns out, they have some history together and have known each for nearly 30 years. Moving on from that, we get to the meat of the book which are the 100 studies along with their annotated solutions. These studies are far from trivial little things, they are difficult, sometimes hopelessly difficult. It is not without reason that they are called "industrial strength" on the cover - they will test even hard-core solvers. The solutions are detailed and annotated, frequently using several diagrams between the starting position and the ultimate conclusion of the study. For those who are interested in improving their game, calculation skills and being amazed at seeing the cream of the crop when it comes to study composition, then this book is a very good place to start." - FM Carsten Hansen, American Chess Magazine No. 9, March 2019 "[Tkachenko's] analysis of studies in this book is precise and presentation lucid. He has found many astonishing and beautiful lines that otherwise would not be known." - Prof. Nagesh Havanur, ChessBase website, 6 May 2019 "His studies aren't easy, but they are accessible - both intellectually and aesthetically. When you see the solutions (if you didn't solve it yourself) they will make sense to you. They're not like, say, some of the monster tablebase endings computers have worked out to a win in several hundred moves, where nothing makes any discernible sense until the very end. You'll get it. And the beautiful moves are beautiful for all the usual reasons we love endgame studies and great combinations." - FIDE Master Dennis Monokroussos, The Chess Mind blog, July 2019 Sergei Tkachenko (born in 1963, near Odessa, Ukraine) is a member of the Ukrainian team that won the 5th World Chess Composition Tournament in 1997 and which came second in 2000, 2004, 2013, and 2017. He has won the studies section of the Ukrainian Chess Composition Championship six times and has won prizes, many of them for first place, in over 100 international chess composition tournaments. Sergei coaches the Ukrainian chess composition team. He is also the press secretary of the Chess Composition Committee of the Ukrainian Chess Federation. Sergei is an award-winning author who has written 18 chess books (in Russian), including compositions and on historical themes. He is deputy chief editor of a Ukrainian chess composition magazine called Problemist of Ukraine and has a regular studies column on the ChessPro website. Sergei is a member of the Ukrainian Union of Journalists. He is a historian and archivist, as well as being a mechanical engineering graduate.