Customer Reviews

1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate (Chess lovers' library)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have started a collection of books on checkmates, tactics and traps. These are some of the very important things to study. When it comes to checkmate books "1001 Brilliant ways to checkmate" has one very strong point. It has LOTS of checkmate problems containing almost every important type of checkmate idea there is.
There are some weak points. It has poor binding as after a short period the pages begin to come apart in hunks! Be prepared for this. There are some problems which have better moves, so there are some mistakes. Better organized checkmate books are "Art of the Checkmate", "How to Beat your Dad at chess" and as books to learn some neat checkmates in the openings, "Winning Chess Traps for Juniors" and "Winning Chess Traps". The pages haven't fallen apart in any of these books that I own. Maybe the publisher will realize this and do a better job on their next printing to fix the binding problem. When done, add one star!!

After reading a basic book on checkmate patterns like "The Art of Checkmate" or "How to Beat Your Dad at Chess" you will want to get a workbook with lots of problems to work on to sharpen your skills. Checkmating is one of the important patterns along with learning general tactics where I recommeend the companion book, "1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations" and for opening traps and opening tactics, "Chess Traps for Juniors". With all of these books you will have a balanced approach to learning all about tactics!

Pattern recognition is a very important skill in chess both for attack and defense. This book drills in this very matter testing your ability to recognize a pattern and to calculate the variations leading to checkmate.

I solved each and every puzzle in this book and I can honestly say that the skills gathered were put to the test almost inmediately: I was engineering simple checkmates and executing them over the board after reading the book.

Objectively speaking the problems range of difficulty varies a lot. Some of the problems are as simple as calculating a mate in one while others require you to find a ten moves solution. Is this good? Sure it is! A plain diagram with the words "white (or black) to move" not telling you how long is your path to victory is in my opinion the best way to train tactics. [In fact, I would say that Reinfeld should not even divide the material in themes like queen sacrifice, attack to the uncastled king, etc.]

A single pass over Reinfeld's problems is just not enough and the book demands a second or even third "reading." Why? Because it will save time and suffering in actual games...

In any case I wholeheartedly recommend this book

This is a must have for any tournament chess player. It helps your visualization of chess moves and patterns for creating a checkmate.

It is easier than the 1001 combinations book because you know the goal is to get the king checkmated.

The 1001 combinations book was too hard for me until I went through a lot of the checkmate book. The reason is that you don't know which piece you are trying to make a combination on.

However, after going through this checkmate book, the combination book is much easier now.

My advice--start with the checkmates then move on to the combinations book. However, if you are already good >1600-1700, then maybe start in directly with the combinations, since they might be more realistic positions. (However, the books are cheap by chess book standards so get them both...)

There are several problems with this book other than it falls apart the first time you open it. The book is aranged by chapters according to the type of mate (bank rank mate, queen mate, rook mate ect). The problem with this mates in two are mixed with mates in ten. So you never know the diifuculty of the current problem your trying to solve. The diagrams are very unclear they happen to be the old drawn out stlye so its hard to tell the diiference between black and white pieces. Another thing that may be a problem for some people the answers are in DESCRPTIVE NOTATION. The only good thing about this book it does contain alot of puzzles 1001 not bad for the price. Other puzzle books I rccomend.
MORE CHESSERSIZES CHEKMATE /BRUCE PANDOLFINI
HOW TO FORCE CHECKMATE/ FRED REINFELD
202 SURPRISING CHECKMATES/ WILSON ALBERTSON

I really believe that this book is excellent. It sharpens your tactical ability by providing puzzles to solve. The best thing that I like about this book is that Reinfeld doesn't tell you what to do! No useless crap, just puzzles and solutions in the back. He gives basic outlines in each chapter (attacking the castled position etc.), but besides that you're on your own. I would recommend that anyone wishing to improve tactical ability buy this book. I would however not recommend this to complete beginners, some solutions are difficult and may contain tactics not known to a beginner. First buy Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics. The only problem with the book is the antiquated descriptive notation, it's easy to learn however I found it sometimes annoying.

I felt obligated to write a review when the pages started falling out in the first 5 minutes of study. There are plenty of other quality puzzle books out there with solid binding. Dont buy this book!!

As a strong chess enthusiast, I can tell you that the two most important things that a chess player needs to study in order to properly improve are tactics and endgames. Books on endgames are usually extremely dull and filled with variations, and in truth, endgame study is probably best done by setting up complex endgame positions from grandmaster games that showcased strong endgame talent(Capablanca and Lasker's games for sure).

Tactics, on the other hand, are a matter of repitition. The aspiring chess student must go over a litany of examples of tactical brilliance if they are to start seeing it, and using it in their own games. Fred Reinfeld's two masterpieces: 1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate, and 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations are without a doubt the greatest tactical teaching tools for anyone over 1200 strength(strong beginner). Since this review is for the former of the books I'll talk about that one, but it is important to remember that practicing tactical combinations is just as important as mating ideas, so I highly recommend getting both 1001 books.

In this book, Reinfeld breaks down the problems into a number of topics. You might think that it makes the problems too easy to solve if you know which device you're to use in order to get the solution, and sometimes it does, but to be honest, many of the problems are challenging enough that even knowing that you have to use a queen sacrifice or pawn promotion to get the answer, you still have to search a while to find it. A nice feature of breaking down the problems by mating idea is that if you find yourself struggling in one area you can really focus on those problems until you get a better feel for them. In this respect, you learn quickly what your weaknesses are tactically and can try and fix them.

The book is compact, and features six problems per page. Despite what others have said about the book having squares that are too dark or pages falling out, all I can say is that I've never had any problems seeing the diagrams and my pages are in nice and tight. Perhaps these people should spend the extra dollar or two to buy a new or better used copy instead of one from the 1970s that's falling apart.

I would recommend starting with 12 problems a day, change topics each day, and then when you start getting better at them, try 18, then 24, and so on. Also, I encourage people to write down their answers for problems on a sheet of paper and not look at the solutions in the back for about a week. Believe me, there's a sense of satisfaction in finally getting a problem correct all on your own without any cues or cheating involved. Also, I encourage readers to do as much as they can with the book WITHOUT setting the position up on a board or using a pencil or pen on the book. Learning to move pieces in your mind is crucial to tactical learning. For some problems this may be unavoidable, though, and you should find that setting the problem up makes it much easier to solve.

Descriptive notation is not a deal breaker. When I first started studying chess books I hated it, but it takes a very short time to learn, and many of the best chess books are written in it. Also, books written in descriptive notation are MUCH cheaper than newer books of equal or lesser quality, and are of course cheaper then reprints with algebraic notation. Imagine being able to buy three chess classics for the price of one classic reprinted with new notation. Think of it as learning a second language and enjoy the pennies saved.

This book and its companion, 1001 Chess Sacrifices and Combinations, are excellent tools for intermediate players to use to sharpen their eye for combinations. This book is nothing more than page after page of diagrams of chess positions from real games that contain a forced checkmate. Like a math book, the answers are in the back in case one cannot solve the mate. The aspiring player cannot help but learn from the repetitive practice solving these mates. The book is not without its problems: A few of the diagrams are printed a little dark; a couple answers are incorrect (the corresponding diagram is probably incomplete); and, the problems are not arranged in any order of difficulty -- a mate in ten is often followed by a mate in two. Some beginning players are also disconcerted by the fact that there is little or no instruction provided in the introductions to the chapters. For them I would strongly recommend Renaud & Kahn's The Art of the Checkmate and Seirawan & Silman's Winning Chess Tactics as prerequisites to tackling 1001BWTC. My guess is that a class C or D player could easily pick up a 100 rating points in strength after reading these three books consecutively.

As a USCF 1267 rated player, I have found this book opened up my mind to tactical ideas I need to advance in chess. The examples used by the author range from very simple to complex, offering the reader a myriad of levels of difficulty.

When I review the games I play, I try to review some of the tactical ideas presented in the book. In short order, I find many examples where I could have played stronger.

The text is also ideal right before a tournament or a rated game, as a warm-up. It is much more valuable to me than a five minute speed game before a serious rated game.

I fully recommend this book and give it 5 stars.

Scott gru-Bell USCF ID#12738508