Customer Reviews

Chess Gems: 1,000 Combinations You Should Know

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

 

 

Back in the summer of 2007 I worked through the Russian edition of this book (even though I don't read Russian). I was very impressed with the collection of chess problems. Now that it has been translated into English, I'm going to work through the book again. The author works through the whole history of chess to present the best combinations from each period. The chapters are:
(1) According to the Rules of Shatranj, 9th to 15th centuries;
(2) From Lucena to Greco, 15th to 17th centuries;
(3) From Stamma to Philidor, 18th century;
(4) From Napoleon to Staunton, 1800-1850;
(5) Anderssen and Morphy, 1851-1860;
(6) First Unofficial World Championship Match, 1861-1870;
(7) Zukertort and Chigorin, 1871-1880;
(8) Steinitz -- the First World Champion, 1881-1890;
(9) Lasker and Pillsbury, 1891-1900;
(10) Matches of the Second World Champion, 1901-1920;
(11) Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, 1921-1940;
(12) Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, 1941-1960;
(13) Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer, 1961-1980; and
(14) Karpov-Kasparov, 1981-2000.

I have several books on chess tactics. I bounce back and forth from book to book so I won't get bored with any one book. This book is probably in my top 3 as far as tactics go. Very well worth having in your chess library

I downloaded the sample of this book, and the diagrams were very small, and the figurine notation didn't have enough contrast to read easily. I suggest switching to straight algebraic notation and diagrams at least twice as big. If the publisher needs examples, look at Minev's book on Rook Endings, or the 2nd and 3rd versions of Muller's ChessCafe Puzzle books (the 1st version has small diagrams... but they fixed this in book 2 and 3). Chess books on the Kindle need readable diagrams and clear easy to read notation... this book doesn't have it at this time.

Excellent book! What is great about this is the fact that it often shows the "from square" along with the "to square" of the moves that were made....A must have chess book!

Este libro me gusto mucho porque trata de combinaciones de todos los tiempos y hace referencia a juegos desde napoleon, la edad media hasta nuestros dias, hay combinaciones faciles y otras no tanto la verdad es agradable y un placer leer lo recomiendo.

I have been picking up chess again, and have been working on my tactics. This book has strong reviews, but unfortunately it is not properly formatted for kindle.

Board displays are too small and grainy, and the annotations are terrible.

Get "Practical Chess Exercises: 600 Lessons from Tactics to Strategy" instead.