The Art of Chess Combination (Dover Chess) [Paperback]

Eugene Znosko-Borovsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 17, 2010 | Series: Dover Chess

Among the most satisfying and successful chess maneuvers, the combination usually involves surprise and sacrifice to achieve a sudden advantage. This essential work explains principles, varieties, and techniques, plus the ideas behind them. Examples from the games of master players provide helpful illustrations. Suitable for players at all levels. 200 diagrams.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications; Enlarged edition edition (June 17, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486205835
• ISBN-13: 978-0486205830
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #438,402 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful book but buy Spielmann instead for a true classic, July 14, 2003

By 

Hasselgren Johan (Uppsala Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Chess Combination (Dover Chess) (Paperback)

This is a quite good minor classic. Znosko-Borovsky discusses several themes, such as the standard bishop sacrifice on h7 and combinations against the king in the center. A great number of examples are to the point and I was delighted by the examples from Alekhine and Capa. There is clearly something of value for most of us here.
But, in some cases the connection between examples and examples and text are not very clear. There are also a some instances of "... and white/black wins" where the continuation is not too obvious. With my modest rating (ICC Standard c.2000, handle: johanh) I also found a few examples where white/black does in fact not have a clear win at all and may even be lost if the opponent had defended properly. On the other hand it is always a good excercise trying to prove an author wrong. No-one is perfect and that's the beauty of chess!
Spielmann's The Art of Sacrifice in Chess is better though - simpler language, complete games and a more dynamic approach (structure vs. the initiative, sacrifices that win material/ lead to mate vs. sacrifices to obtain the initiative or an attack without being able to calculate to the end, etc.). I found Spielmann's book much more charming, revealing and also modern even though it was printed several years before Z-B's book.

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good old time book on tactics, September 18, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Art of Chess Combination (Dover Chess) (Paperback)

Really, all combinatiions involve some type of tactics. And, and combination in particular involves piece capturing. For the novice or mid-level chess player knowledge of all tactics at all phases of the game (books on traps cover tactics in the openings - important to know, books on checkmates cover yet another type of tactic) - all important to know. Though an old book, using descriptive chess notation (which is akward for many), this is still a worthwhile book to consider. The ideas are clearly pointed out and will be helpful for improving your game! Just because a book was written many years ago does not necessarily mean that it will not be very useful!

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Classifies combinations by themes. Descriptive notation., May 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Art of Chess Combination (Dover Chess) (Paperback)

Attempts to break down tactical patterns according to theme so the reader may recognize these patterns in his or her own games. Lots of text to go along with positions and variations (given in descriptive notation). Slightly more advanced than Reinfeld/Chernev's Winning Chess. Probably best used as an adjunct to one of those books filled with thousands of tactical problems. Like all Dover paperbacks, exceptional quality.