Improve Your Chess Tactics: 700 Practical Lessons & Exercises

I bought this book expecting to get 700 pure tactics. No read the titles again ... it only has about 150 tactics and the rest 650 exercises. Someone say what's wrong. What's wrong is I don't need exercises. I trying to LEARN the tactics .. then after I learn the tactics I can create my own puzzles. I knew chess didn't have 700 tactics and the ones in this book I already know.1. You don't need exercises, once you learn the concept of the tactics you straight. It's like Maths once I know how to add I don't need to work out 700 sums. I already know the concept of adding.2. I also angry because the coordinates are on none of the puzzles. That caused a delay .. I had to count the letters and numbers or write them in .. in order to follow what he was showing me.3. In chess it's difficult to understand if you write too much of what's going on, on paper. If there was a way for me to just see those chess positions play out in real-time would be real sweet but you have to do everything manually or in your head and that was time consuming, chess books like this are old ..I wish these chess positions were all in PGN form because I still had to leave the book and put about 200 of these puzzles into the chess engine to see what happens. That took foreverSo I'm like this was okay.

Me? Typical background for a 50+year old ... rated ~2199 30 years ago and ~1999 now. No time for extended study chess or tournaments. Play maybe one otb tournament every year or two so face the age-old question of how to best prepare for a big summer time tournament given rust.Well I agree that tactics is the key. Five years ago I won an amateur section by going through Reinfields 1000 combinations' book (took me over six months). I picked this book up as I aim for another summer tournament three months from now. As for what I look for in a book on tactics, it is something for 30 minutes of practice/study during my commute on the train, and puzzles/positions not too profound or basic.At the time of this post, I've finished most of the book except for the examination --- I have a favorably opinion of this book. Do have to mention that I have picked up other books on tactics ( Chess Cafe Puzzle book, Charles Hertan's book, among several others ) but did not finish those. So my approval barmoter is completing a book from cover to cover --- and like many chess players, I don't complete many chess books.The format of the book has annotated examples exempfying the tactical theme in each chapter, followed by solve-it-yourself positions, and lastly, a section for the final examination. As for the level of difficulty ... the positions were never too basic, and got progressively more challenging. The author took care in selecting the positions ... first few positions are the obivious "look for the theme, look for the king, look for check" kind, but then it got more realistic with positions requiring quiet moves, and then as positions having holes and defenders' resistance.Again, enjoy the book so far and give it a high score.Given my preferred reading pace, might take one-to-two months to finish.Cheers,

I am a big collector of puzzle books, and I am not the type that like to sit there and memorize opening lines. I like playing blitz games and puzzle books seem to work well for me and blitz. Ok so back to the book. I like puzzles books and order this one to add to my collection. What I liked is they are based on real games. The puzzles are set by topic, deflection,. etc. etc etc. like many other books, but there is an exam section where you are not given the topic and have to find it your self. So its an intermediate level book. so If youdo well with tactical themes then this is a nice transition into more difficult puzzles. You get the themed section as a warm up and then the exam section. This is a nice book for anyone in the 1500 to 1900 level. Or anyone wanting to review for a tournament but not interested in studying opening. If you are newwer to chess are easier books to start with, but if your an intermediate level player this book will help get you to an advance level. I have to advance level book one good and one bad, but this book will get you to an advance level if you go over the puzzles.

This is one of those very good books that could have been better. While I like it, I was disappointed by a couple of things. The instructional content is a bit thin, with rather sparse explanations, and a too brief instructional section. Secondly, the examples are largely taken from games played decades ago, which suggests to me that the author has revived old material rather than written a fresh work. But basic tactics don't change, so the material, which is well chosen, is still valuable. Many, but strangely, not all major tactical themes are covered. There is an extensive 'examination' of over 300 puzzles, with no clue as to the type of tactical theme to be used. This more closely approximates actual play, and thus is a good way of reinforcing the lessons learned in the instructional section. Recommended with the above reservations.

This chess book is pretty good to train your tactics. First of all, I'm not saying this is a bad book, but I don't have that much time except for the summer so I only did like 5 a day when it wasn't the summer. After a few problems it gets hard for me and each puzzle takes about 10-20 minutes.I did some puzzles from this book to prepare for a chess tournament, and I did pretty well in the tournament. But, as I stated before it takes too long unless you are like 1700+ in rating. I still think this is a pretty good book and I enjoyed doing the tactics.

A very nice book on advanced Chess tactics... however, it would be greatly improved if there were page breaks between the disagrams and the answers!! Without the page breaks, it is too easy to run your eye over the answers while studying the problem. For an example of a well done book, take a look at "Tactics Time" by Tim Brennan. The problems are more basic and better for the average player, but the layout with the page breaks... that is the real improvement... also slightly bigger diagrams in Brennan's are appreciated.

I see this book as useful for all chess folk up to around FIDE 2300 rating. It's well organised, with clear diagrams, clear commentary and occasional flashes of humour.When we start out at chess we typically get our enjoyment from tactics: forks, pins, skewers, combinations, sacrificial attacks on the opponent's king. As we progress we get to encounter positional concepts: weak pawns, weak squares, good bishops vs bad bishops, knight outposts, prophylactic moves. We are now arriving at a deeper understanding of the royal game - and may even start to see tactics as a bit vulgar and best avoided as far as possible. But in fact there is always an interplay between the positional and the tactical - both are important. This book can help get one's tactical abilities and awareness up to speed.Over 700 positions are given - either for discussion/exploration or as an exercise for the reader. The early chapters of the book explore different themes, e.g. "deflection", "eliminating defenders", "pinning and unpinning", "miracle saves" and so on. Then we have an Examination chapter comprising some 350 test positions. A minor criticism - the order of the positions in the Examination could be more random; exercises exploring a single theme tend to get grouped together.Five positions to whet the appetite:#107white: king on c1, queen on c4, bishop on g2, knight on f3, pawns on a4, b3, c2, g3 and h2black: king on b7, queen on c8, rook on h8, bishop on c6, pawns on a5, b6, c7, d6, g6 and h7white to play and win#258white: king on h1, rook on b5, pawns on a2, b2, b3, and g2black: king on g6, pawns on a7 and f2white to play and win#428white: king on f2, rook on a1, bishops on c1 and d1, knight on d2, pawns on a2, b2, c3, c6, d4, f3 and g2black: king on g8, rook on e8, bishops on d3 and h2, knight on f6, pawns on a6, b5, c7, f7, g7 and h7black to play and win#507white: king on f2, queen on h5, rooks on f5 and h6, bishops on c1 and c2, pawns on a2, c3, e3, e5 and h3black: king on g8, queen on c7, rooks on d8 and f8, knights on c5 and g6, pawns on a6, b5, c4, f7 and g7white to play and win#733white: king on e6, queen on g6, bishop on f7, pawn on f5black: king on h8, rook on d8, bishop on g5, pawns on c2, f6 and h6white to play and win

The chess content of the book is very good and I would rate 5 stars if not for the poor quality diagrams which are fairly small, piddly and smudgy compared to other chess books. I was able to use the book but I had to hold it close to my face and really focus in order to see (not even to calculate) what is going on in the positions.For example, books by a different publisher, Quality Chess, have excellent good-sized, razor-sharp images for the diagrams. These diagrams are simply substandard. Up your game New In Chess! I wouldn't buy any books from this publisher if all their chess books are like this.

Printed on quality paper with very clear diagrams - this is just the best book on tactics for the average club player who wants to get better! Love the format - examples then tests and later in the book the answers! Examples from real play - shows that even the masters are human. The author's passion for chess shines through. If you are looking for a comprehensive introduction to the beauty of the chess combination this has to be the book.

Thank you. Very fast delivery.

Excellent tactics book for the keen club player looking to improve.Just have to have the ebook version downloaded onto my Kindle tablet.