Customer Reviews

Chess Exam and Training Guide: Tactics: Rate Yourself and Learn How to Improve (Chess Exams)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is much more than a typical tactics book of finding the best move. The positions really make you think and get deeper into the ideas and plans. The author has a great way of explaining the ideas and analysis of the positions. The layout of the book is really good with nice diagrams. The results from the exam clearly point out your weaknesses and then you know what you need to work on to get better. I found this book to be very enjoyable and I had trouble putting it down after each position I wanted to get more. I highly recommend this book it was very instructive and informative. A must buy!

I loved this book. I could hardly put it down! You do all the problems, and fill out the graphs at the end (no cheating! you have to be honest). Then when you get is a scientific report of your strengths and weaknesses in different areas of chess. It's uncanny how accurrate this is. The best thing is you know where you need to focus your training, and he gives you advice for that. If you are interested in improvement, then this is a must.

This book has really helped me determine which areas I am strong and which I need to improve in. I am a 1550 level player and have been at this level for over a year. I wasn't able to figure our why I could not beat stronger players but after reading this book I am now much clearer.
They have very simple pictures and very easy to read information , unlike lots of chess books out there.
This will help everybody who is looking to got one notch above where they currently are. Lessons in Tactics, counter attacks, strategies, defense are all very well given. Also very easy to follow. I recommend this to everybody who wants to play better chess.

I haven't finished working my way through the test positions yet, however, I've seen enough to reccommend this book to anyone trying to improve their game. The positions are challenging. It enables you to isolate and identify gaps in knowledge so your efforts are more focused. I'd like to see more books like it.

This book really helps to know how good/bad you are in Chess. Everyone will feel that Igor Khmelnitsky invested tremendous effort to make this book. This book comprises 120 questions to assess different levels of your chess knowledge. The good thing about this book is when you go through it and finish your exams and know your scores you will be amazed by the accuracy of the test. With this test and his recommendations everyone can play better chess after this. I found its very useful book even for beginners (like me) to assess their weakness and strength and improve further. Worth of buying it, highly recommended.

This contains an extremely well selected set of 120 questions. Unlike typical "Find the best move" books, the author gives 2 questions for each position and 4 multiple choice answers. None of the problems are simple, and force you to think deeply before answering, looking for every possible resource from both sides. The answer explanations are very instructive as well. You can't go wrong with this book, it will tell you what your stength is and which tactical theme/technique you need to improve.

This is not your ordinary problems book, but feels more like one has an instructor by there side. My rating is 1896 USCF and the book proved this out very accurately. It will find weak parts of your game and than recommend a course of study. Just doing the test is a learning experience, as seeing which positions are important to understand and then after each problem to see how other rated players from 600 to 2800 USCF answered the questions. There are 100 positions with two multiple choice questions, eight options for each problem. The questions are unique in that they lead you but also encourage you to think. I have both books, Test your Tactics and Chess Exam and loved the concept used in the books. Great position selections, I had fun and learned.

This is a very good training book that one can use without the aid of an instructor. It is not an easy book and the self-evaluation ratings are probably more accurate than any I have seen to date. Recommended.

Beginners and Class D, C, B, and A players cannot be properly evaluated or rated using critical positions from complex grandmaster games, let alone composed studies. The problems in this book require lengthy, branching analysis. Worse, because the positions are not quiescent, evaluations have to be done at the end of each forcing line. There are many trick positions where a 'problem' move has to be found. Miss it and an otherwise plausible Move Selection choice becomes wrong. So you get zero. And of course, since your Evaluation is dependent on prior analysis, that's wrong too. Another zero. (Khmelnitsky is a generous man with his zeros. Generally, almost right equals wrong. Equals zero. Or at most one out of ten.)
The final rating table shows this pretty clearly: All the class players (95+% of us) are tightly clumped with low scores, indicating they have no real idea what is going on in these problems. Most of the scoring dispersion is at the Master, International Master, and Grandmaster levels. That is who the book is for. Not for you.
There are appropriate tests and problems for distinguishing the skills of a Beginner from a D player. Or a B player from an A. But not in this book.

As incredible as the author's research has been, I completed his work "Chess Exam" (see reviews) and recorded my estimated ELO rating and purchased the books recommended. I then purchased this book, which is of similar theme where real games are presented with subtle tactical positions and the student responds with his best answers, only to compare them, statistically, to what Grandmasters chose, what masters chose, what experts chose, what club players chose, and what beginners chose, percentage wise.

Incredibly enough: my ELO rating was almost identical (within 10 points) in both books!

The accuracy is enough to give the book 5 stars but the author's talented and easy writing style, along with the useful material and recommendations make these books a must for every chess player's library.