Can You Be a Positional Chess Genius [Paperback]

Angus Dunnington (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2002 | Series: Everyman Chess

International Master and experienced chess teacher Angus Dunnington has carefully assembled an abundance of positional chess puzzles to test players of all levels.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Test your positional chess expertise with a quiz book with a difference! International Master and experienced chess teacher Angus Dunnington has carefully assembled an abundance of positional chess puzzles to test players of all levels. At the beginning of each chapter the puzzles are relatively easy, worth five points for a correct solution. However as you move on they become more and more difficult, soon becoming worth ten points and eventually 15. If you get stuck, do not despair as help is at hand! You can 'ask a grandmaster' to obtain the guidance you need to help solve the puzzles. However, use this option carefully, as it will cost you some of your hard-earned points. You can also obtain points for finding the basic idea of the solution without necessarily working out all the refinements. Either on your own or with friends, this book will provide hours of brain-teasing enjoyment. (6 x 9, 144 pages, diagrams)

About the Author

Angus Dunnington is an experienced international master who is renowned for his clear and positional style of play. Dunnington is also a successful chess teacher, who has coached many of Britain¿s top junior players.
Earlier works of his include Attacking with 1 d4 and Mastering the Opening.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Everyman Chess; 1st edition (August 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1857442644
• ISBN-13: 978-1857442649
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,325,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book!, September 26, 2004

By 

Damon Slye - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Can You Be a Positional Chess Genius (Paperback)

This is without a doubt my favorite chess book! The heart of this book is ten tests of fifteen puzzles each. Each test is divided into 5 easy, 5 intermediate, and 5 difficult problems. This helps you to guage how much effort you should put into each problem.

I find that puzzle books are the most effective, practical, way to improve my playing strength.

The solution to each problem is crisp and clear. After pondering one of his problems, when I finally see the answer, it's like a light-bulb is turned on. "Aha! Yes, clearly that's the best move!" When this happens, I feel I've truly learned something that will stay with me, and benefit me later when I'm actually playing a game.

The book is nicely printed, with large diagrams so that you have the choice to either set up the position on a board, or to solve them directly from the book-- very convenient when travelling or otherwise away from home.

The author has obviously picked the problems very carefully, and scored the possible solutions diligently; so that the learning experience for the reader is greatly enhanced.

After I worked through this book, I felt that my playing strength improved about 100 rating points. I think the level of this book is useful for players in the 1700-2300 range (for reference, I fall into the middle of this range).

I loved this book!! Kudos to Angus Dunnington for a fine work.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the better positional puzzle books, April 19, 2007

By 

Chess amateur - See all my reviews

This review is from: Can You Be a Positional Chess Genius (Paperback)

There are very few good positional chess puzzle book on the market, but this is definitely one of the better. Unfortunately this book (as many other chess problem books) presents chess problems in all levels of difficulty (I think this is related to market, cost and economy for each chess-publishing house).

In Angus's there are 3 levels of difficulty and chess players who manage to solve chess problems at level 1 (among 1600 in rating), may not at all be able to solve problems at level 3 (2300-2400 in rating). So a player rated around 1700 may only benefit 50% from this book. This book is perhaps an expensive book for a player at this rating level.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More Assessment than Instruction, December 20, 2008

By 

E. M. Hodge "Cuindless" (Virginia Beach, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Can You Be a Positional Chess Genius (Paperback)

"Can you be a Positional Chess Genius" by International Master Angus Dunnington is an intersting selection of positional puzzles arranged in a test format complete with a scoring system. In all, there are 12 tests of 15 puzzles each for a total of 180 puzzles. Each test is arranged from easy to difficult, with themore difficult puzzles being worth the most points. After the puzzles, there's a section called "Ask a Grandmaster", which will give the reader hints as to the solution of the puzzle at the cost of some points. Then there's solutions, and that's it.

The book is almost absurdly thin. When I first got it, I couldn't help but think, "That's it?" There's a lot crammed into this concise work, though, and Dunnington doesn't waste time with flowery text or overly long descriptions of positional/strategic theory. It's puzzle after puzzle after puzzle, then hints, then solutions.

For this reason, I consider the book to be more of an assessment than an actual instruction. It is best used to determine where you stand in your understanding of positional play and where to go from there. I would have liked more content and description, but all in all it was an acceptable book to study.