Customer Reviews

Chess Tactics for Champions: A step-by-step guide to using tactics and combinations the Polgar way

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent tactics book for the "advanced beginner" or even low-end "intermediate" chess player who wants a good general book on important tactical themes. In my personal opinion I fee tactics books and opening chess trap books are the two best ways to improve your tactical abilities all around. Improve pattern recognition! The key to doing well from beginner to intermediate ability!

This book has excellent clarity and the example positions are carefully selected which is why this is a 5 star book for it's intended audience.

Amazon.com shows a suggested book with the one you are looking at. This has helped me get my dad to buy several good books on chess. After getting and really liking "Winning Chess Traps for Juniors" (five stars and great) it had this book suggested and I got it (five stars and great). I want to thank thes authors for writing such great books on tactics and chess traps (actually books along the same line in many ways) and amazon.com for making good referrals!!!!

This is an excellent book on tactics by Susan Polgar. The teaching method is simple: after giving a few examples of the particular tactic in question, including one from her own games, Susan then tells the student to complete 25-50 exercises of varying difficulty. Each revolves around the tactic highlghted in the chapter. It's the same teaching method an old Latin instructor used to drill verb conjugations into our heads: repetition and practice. Eventually, the subject (whether the third conjugation or chess tactics) becomes almost a reflex action. With that goal in mind, I think she has succeeded marvellously.

The only drawback to the book in my opinion is the shortness of the prose sections; I would have preferred a bit more explanation. But, perhaps that's the point: after some quick examples, what you need is practice and training, not more lecture. Still, I would pair this book with Seirawan's "Winning Chess Tactics," which has more explanations, as a perfect 1-2 combination for learning tactics.

This is one of the more "attractive" chess books I've ever seen. The information in this book is pretty good. Nothing groundbreaking..(Pins, Zugs, Draws, Skewers, etc.) Thus, you can find the same themes in other books. But, the major plus about this book is that it is simply "pleasing to the eyes!" Very easy to read. The words and illustrations are cute. That is a bonus, because you can get tired of studying these type of books...

This book doesn't offer much more than your typical tactics puzzle book; but if you have you buy a puzzle book, you will not go wrong with this one. Besides the usual organization into chapters such as Forks and Double Attacks, Deflection, Discovery, Double Check, Skewers, Trapping, Decoys, Intermediate Moves, Pawn Promotion, Back-Rank Problems, Attacking the King, Mate in 2, Mate in 3, Mate in 4, etc., Polgar and Truong offer some extra chapters such as Sibling Positions, Traps and Counter Traps, and Famous Combinations that make this book unique to the tactics puzzle genre. In the Siblings chapter, we are introduced to postions that have very small differences, but differences that are big enough to make a huge difference in the evaluation and move selection. This is good practice for the beginning student (it also forces you to appreciate positional subtleties). The Traps and Counter Traps chapter also forces the appreciation of subtleties, because one transposition of moves could mean losing a won ballgame. The Famous Combos chapter rounds out the book with a set of classic combos every aspiring chess student should study at least once.

Each chapter has about twenty-five puzzles, ranging in difficulty. The positions are not as difficult as Reinfeld's 1001 books, but they are hard enough for training purposes, and work well for the student. I went through this book when I was rated in the low 1800s, and the positions kept me alert. I didn't get bored.

The typos and mistakes are minimul. I noticed one or two positions that didn't correspond with their intended solutions, but it was only one or two. they didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the book.

This is a perfect book for intermediate players, especially younger people between 800-1600. There're many instructional chapters that can't be found in any other book on tactics. A very well written book! I would rate this as one of the top 5 books on tactics of all time. The layout is also very easy for the eyes.

The first book I read was World Champion's Guide to Chess. I learned a lot from it. This is an excellent follow up to that one. The format is very similar. There're plenty of excellent examples. Just about any tactical motif is in the book. I think this book is good for anyone from about 700-1400.

Susan Polgar is a Grandmaster, winner of 4 Women's World Championships, a gender barrier breaker, a Chess Ambassador, and World Record Simul holder. Her sisters Judit and Sofia were trained by their father and his methods produced the strongest women players in history. So how does this benefit you?

If you are a beginner to intermediate player [<1600 rating] then this book is for you. It will teach you countless tactical themes from offense to defense. This method works! This book is far superior to Bobby Fischer teaches chess in that there are more diagrams, more themes, and a lot more very important subjects. This, with the plethora of examples, makes this the book to get.

Remember, chess is 99% tactics, so practicing all the puzzles over and over will improve your ability to see tactics and not drop pieces to them. I cannot recommend this book enough for those wanting to get serious about their chess.

I have been playing in chess tournaments for many years and have seen, read and used many books on tactics.

I have yet to come across any book that even comes close to Chess Tactics for Champions that has all of these important tactical motifs. There're many good parts:

1. Ease of understanding of the material presented through a logical step-by-step (in more than twenty lessons) sensible approach.

2. Comprehensiveness. This book has a lot of materials. It is jammed packed with everything an intermediate players would need to know when it comes to tactics.

3. This is a good book for both children who are at an age that they can read right on up to and including adults. I recommend it for parents who want their children (or even adults) to get better.

RECOMMENDED? Absolutely!

This is an excellent book to improve your chess. I am a chess novice, I know how to move the pieces, but I can use all the help I can get. I find most tactical books are either too hard or too easy. This one finds the right balance with the problems progressively harder as each section progresses. It is one of the few chess books I was able to read from cover to cover without scratching my head trying to follow endless variations.

The best part occurred not while reading the book, but over the board. I was playing a match online, and I spotted a forced mate in 3 in the middle game when my opponent blundered!! Woo! Hoo! Let me tell you, I was stoked.

After studying this book, I went from about 1000 against ChessMaster 10 to about 1400 in about 4 months. This brings me to a key point I studied the book. I worked through each problem in the book. Then I worked through it again and again. I worked though the book 6 times. The book became progressively easier to work though, so do not get discouraged. This book will improve your game.