Tactics Time! 1001 Chess Tactics from the Games of Everyday Chess Players (Tactics Time Chess Tactics Books Book 1) Kindle Edition

While the puzzles are great, in the ebook the links to play-through games are all broken and point to nonexistent pages. It is also hard simply to read on Kindle, as the chessboard diagrams are too small to see unless you enlarge them, and when you enlarge them, you cannot look at the chessboard diagrams without clicking several times to switch between the board and the accompanying caption. Morever, the book also uses a nonstandard, nondescriptive notation for moves that takes quite a bit of getting used to, for anyone who has played chess for awhile: The notation is Cartesian and includes cryptic Millenial hyperbole, e.g. "Qe8!!" rather than dispassionate and descriptive notation such as "Q-K8". Buy it, but in paper format rather than Kindle format, and expect to spend a lot of time writing out the moves in the book's margins, using standard notation, cross-checking your understanding of the moves against various Millenial blogs, such as Wikipedia, that list the kids' preferred notation.

This is THE best tactics book for anyone who's stuck in class player hell.I am one of those very class players, and have done TONS and TONS of tactics over several years, in many formats. Literally 5000+ problems on ChessTempo rated to my ability, most of the Reinfeld books, Polgar, etc. I've known from when I started chess that for class players, tactics dominate performance, so I've worked hard on it.Still, I hit a plateau pretty quickly in my playing that I couldn't break thru, and it was a fairly low plateau, like a 1400 UCSF player. While I could solve some master-level problems with 7-10 moves, I'd fall more than uncommonly to simple 2 movers that I'd just missed. Furthermore, I would just get annihilated in 5 minute blitz. It was as if none of those hard-earned tactics skills I'd practiced came into play, despite the fact I was losing on blunders and missing key tactics in nearly every game.This book is the cure. I really think the key is that these are from CLASS PLAYER games, so these tactics are extremely, extremely common in blitz and class tournament play. I am not even exaggerating when I say that I bought this on a whim because I just wanted something on my Kindle to read without an internet connection, and was horrified (in a good way) when I revisited chess.com after solving 400 of these problems over 3 days, and seeing my rating rise by a full 75 points. To put it in perspective, I only gained 50 points in the entire last 2 years while studying for hours consistently on chesstempo and other resources. It's now been 2 weeks with this book and I'm still improving, and am now 150points higher than where I was 2 weeks ago, a level I thought was impossible because I was studying tactics so hard even before this book. And the crazy part is that I'm not even working super hard mentally - it's doesn't take that much brainpower to solve and resolve 2-3 movers, unlike 8-movers which requires painful concentration every time so much so that you get fatigued and want to stop.Most of these problems don't seem particularly hard either - I got 80% of them right on my first try, and thought this book would be too easy. Turns out that the rapidity of seeing even the ones you know, plus mastering that last 20%, yields huge dividends for class level. Because they're straightforward, you can really burn the patterns into your brain so you don't even need to think - they are just recognized. Still, it won't be a waste of money for the typical class player - there are 'fair' number of more complex problems, even 6-10 movers in sublines that will require tons of concentration if you want to really get the whole problem.I know this sounds too good to be true, and you're thinking 'tactics are tactics, the harder the better', but I'm now convinced that it's crucially important to not only master tactics, but master BASIC tactics. It doesn't matter if you can solve 80% of 8-movers if you're still missing 10% of 2-3 movers - you'll lose every time to an opponent who only misses 5% of 2 movers even if they can't solve anything harder. This almost certainly explains why I didn't get any better for years despite doing 'everything right by studying tactics' - turns out I was studying tactics that were probably too hard for my playing level, and I wasn't burning in the basic patterns so it doesn't even require any thought.If you're going to spend time studying chess and you're one of those like me stuck in class player hell and not improving, you really, really have to get this book. Stop wasting your time on grandmaster-game problems that you'll never encounter, or falling to cheap shots that you can't defend against in blitz because they're so cheap that no other books have problems like that.

I wish this sort of book had been available when I was a kid, I wasted so much time studying openings, and to a lesser extent endgames, but my tactical vision trailed my positional play by light years. Solving Chess Problems never helped me much as how often does a chess problem look anything like a real position from a game. Tactics Time provides positions taken from real games of club players; as such it presents the reader with positions not unlike the positions that might well arise in ones own games. The 303 Series does much the same but for a higher level club player; Tactics Time fit my skill level much better. Very happy with this book.

Those interested in purchasing this book should be aware of 1) its intended audience; 2) just what readers will and won't be getting. In my opinion, the intended (or, if you will, the right) audience ranges from beginners to casual players rated up to, at the highest, 1200. What you're getting here is, as another reviewer said, not training in tactics, and certainly not training in calculation of variations, but a large collection of examples that teach quick sight recognition of very simple, very common tactical themes. The solutions are 1, 2, and only very occasionally 3 moves deep, and generally there are no variations, only simple single-line answers. Of course, many games at many levels are decided by failing to see such simple patterns, so regular practice on them can be valuable, even for a player beyond the beginner level.

I've done the first seven puzzles, and found some challenging. I might be rated lower than 1200; I have no accurate idea. The website and email subscription (referenced in the book) no longer exist (or are differently located). In the paperback book, the diagrams were SMALL(for my 71-year-old eyes), making it more necessary to "set it up" on a real chess board. Be careful when examining answers in the back, to avoid accidentally seeing additional answers! Many(?) of his answers seem brief, do not fully explore resulting positions; some opponent responses could be improved. In exploring each position with a chess-playing friend, my friend and I found many (except forced checkmates) positions interesting (and time-consuming) to play to a conclusion (each of us taking one side, but sometimes sharing to obtain BEST responses). However, a review ("The Happy Meal of Tactics Books") questions the book's worth, both explaining why, and suggesting alternatives. The criticism that the puzzles are not arranged by increasing difficulty "hit home." The criticism that the book does not address (in any organized fashion) "learning to calculate accurately", seems well-founded.

Firstly this book is a dream to read on kindle for iPad. I have mine set to scroll continuously and it works great for this format.I like that the aim of the puzzle isn’t stated and that the situations are all from real games. Most of the puzzles are reasonably easy to resolve but there are some tricky ones in there. I like that a lot are simply grabbing hanging pieces which occurs so often in real games, especially short ones.Looking forward to vol2 and I hope Tim brings out more. We need these more straightforward tactic puzzles rather than those that take ages to work out. Thank you Tim and Anthea.

Do you read tons of books with detailed analysis but still lose games by missing relatively simple tactics? If so, you are one of the 99 percent who will never make master level but still want to improve. This book is for you and will help you recognise patterns which come up in everyday games - those situations where you just know that there has to be a good move but you can't quite work it out. The book is well laid out with puzzle/solution format rather than solutions at the back and black-to-move puzzles are shown from black's perspective (why do some show them from white's perspective?). A minor criticism is that some of the positions are so clearly won that there is more than one winning move but only one is given. Works excellently in kindle format and an absolute bargain. I intend to reread in the near future.

A great set of puzzles ranging from very easy to pretty difficult to solve but all exhibiting valuable chess tactics, some too readily missed. A worthwhile addition to any collection. The links to replay the games and try out new ideas are also invaluable.

I have been a fan of Tim's 'Tactics Time' newsletter for years now, and always enjoy receiving it and digesting the contents. I've only just bought a Kindle though, and it was a while before I realised 'Hey all of Tim's tactics can go on here'. Slow brain you see, my rating only hovers around 1450-1500. No exaggeration though, I did the first seventeen exercises and then wiped the floor with a 1675 on Chessbase. Might not be the book, but you never know. I give four stars because although it's billed as error free I found in mistake in tactic #17 (should read Ne3). Statistically this means there are probably quite a few other errors too. But it's amazing to have all these tactics in your pocket and try one when you have a spare thirty seconds. Also, can't believe that at the time of writing there are only 14 reviews!

I like this book. It has been well planned to take maximum advantage of the Kindle format. I have played through it myself and learned from it. Many of the problems are easy but they are from real game situations and needed to be seen and sometimes weren't. I run a junior chess club and I have seen these sorts of mistakes ie missing simple opportunities for gaining advantage, numerous times. I am also a member of a league club and these same omissions crop up from time to time in mine and other members games. I think they wil be less frequent in mine now because I have learned to recognise the conditions for the tactical opportunities to occur. No doubt the book will get described as being too easy but I know alot of players who would benefit from reading it. Very good value for money.