Customer Reviews

Chess Training Pocket Book: 300 Most Important Positions and Ideas

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I thought the book was both educational and interesting. I've gone through the book over a dozen times in the last three months as well as using ChessbaseLite to test myself on these same 300 positions. The positions definitely cover a great deal of topics: elementary tactics, endgames, calculation techniques (when to stop), quiet moves, and so on. I've definitely got my money's worth. HOWEVER, I gave the book 3 stars for two reasons. First, I resented the subtitle's "Most Important Positions" - it is a crude marketing gimmick that implies that you're getting something that you aren't going to get elsewhere and that there is something unique in the book's arrangement - there isn't. This is a tactics book and if you already own a few, don't worry that you're missing some "Russian chess secret" contained here. Second, other reviewers have gone way overboard in praising this book as though it were a comprehensive organized chess guide: it isn't. It is a solid tactics book you don't really need if you have a few already.

I'm not a big fan of Lev Alburt's other works, but this particular book is a real gem.

The size, layout, and selection of chess problems is the best I've ever seen. The book does not fall apart after a lot uf use either. I sometimes wonder if some of the other tactical exercize books were designed intentionally to self-destruct.

The book is smaller than average, and easy to carry around. The board size displayed and text solutions are larger than in most puzzle books and easy to see/read.

Many of the problems are common themes that occur over and over in actual games.

Not all the problems have a solution. Some are trick questions, where the apparent solution fails because of a hidden resource. This makes you look at each position more critically.

The problems are not arranged in any particular order. Some puzzle book authors seem to think we want a clue to the solution before trying to solve them (i.e. arranging problems by tactical theme). This is not one of those.

There are many practical endgame problems included, such as the Lucena technique and Philidor defense (rook and pawn vs rook drawing method).

The solutions are on the opposite page of the problems. This is very convenient. I don't have to look in the back of the book for the solution, and the solution is not staring me in the face while I'm trying to solve the problem. It's a perfect placement.

The solutions have a verbal explanation and most include the players involved. If the actual player to move missed the combination, that is also mentioned.

Most players will find these problems challenging and the book is suitable for any chess player of any rating. If you find all these problems simple, then I'd guess you already went through the book before. The correct solution to many of these problems were missed by grandmasters in an actual game.

I gave my copy of this book to a friend who really wanted it. Now I have buy it again.

After working with a number of Pandolfini books (some of which were useful, some of which were not) this was my first experience with Lev Alburt, and it has been a good one. The big question when buying a chess book is "Is it at my ability level?" My tournament rating is in the 1200's. I felt that I've improved as much as I can by playing on the Internet, and needed to LEARN more about chess strategies in order to get better. The examples in this book are perfect for me. My mind is expanded again and again with new chess concepts in this book. I might not see these exact situations in real games, but probably will encounter variations on these themes. The way the book is organized, Alburt shows a picture of a board and lets you think about what you should do. Then he presents the "answer" which is usually 3 to 6 moves long. Not all are fancy checkmates; many are just ways to pick up a knight, for example. Alburt's explanations of why another line of play is not best are kept to a minimum, but when one is needed it's there. I am so glad I bought this book! For players rated 1150 to 1450 this book is ideal.

Content:
Alburt selected 300 positions that represent a sample of most common and important ideas from virtually all areas of the game of Chess. Tactic/Combinations and Strategy, Opening and Middlegame, Standard Endgames and general Endgame ideas, etc.. practically everything is covered in this little book.

Quality:
The book is of very decent quality - both presentation and content. Small format is very convenient for using on the go!

Who will benefit:
Not for beginners, but practically for everyone from 1400 - 2200. Majority of positions are well known, but even chess experts will find some of them challenging. I have kept track of my student's score and can tell you that some positions were missed even by 2400+.

Overall:
I'd like to discourage those who believe that by studding this book and memorizing the 300 positions that Alburt presents, they automatically improve their chess skills. There is very little of comments and annotations, and this book is not structured like a textbook. Yet, I am a big fan of this book and virtually all of my students own a copy. Despite not be able to learn a lot from this book, it is an excellent tool in identifying your weak areas after your have studied chess for awhile. I strongly encourage you to raise your preparation level, work on all areas of chess using other training materials (separate books on each subject - Alburt's Just the Facts, Emms 1000 combinations etc...) and then work on this book. Consider this book as an Chess Intelligence Test, and come prepared. By working through the book and testing your knowledge before you have accumulated any, you will benefit a little and won't be able to use this book later, when you are ready for your Exam. While not enough to replace an evaluation by experienced coach, this book will clearly show on which areas of chess you need to focus first.

Tacky cover, high price and somewhat misleading title deserve criticism, but shouldn't diminish positives of this, otherwise very good book.

Good luck!
Copyrighted by me!

Not a beginner book. Great format. Great selection of positions to learn. But you need to be over 1500 USCF before this book will have value for you. Study simpler tactics first.

Addendum:
My opinion of this book has risen steadily. I enjoy this book, and I am starting to watch for elements of the positions I have seen in it. Multiple readings are valuable, especially if you take the time to see why the key moves work. If a couple of pieces were moved, would the combination still work?

A truly excellent chess book.

This is a very good book of tactical positions. It has the advantage over some of its competitors (depending on your strength) of offering some analysis of its positions in words, and also of presenting the positions without clues to their solution -- if you don't want them (if you do, you can look on the facing page). Unfortunately, the cover of the book is such an embarrassment that one does not want to be seen with it in public. I cut the cover off of my copy, lest observers conclude that I imagine studying chess is a way to get laid.

I had the opportunity to preview this book when I got my local public library to order Lev Alburt's complete training series. It was so good as a tournament trainer that I just bought it on Amazon. This book conveys many tactical and endgame concepts in puzzle form, many taken from famous games, such as Lasker's double bishop sacrifice. On the left hand side of the page are four problems, and on the right hand side are the solutions with explanations that vary in degrees of extensiveness. Alburt recommends to try to solve these problems quickly and don't worry about getting them correct, because the value in the book is repeatedly going over the problems until your recognition of the patterns the problems contain is automatic. I followed Alburt's advice and noticed a decent improvement in my tactical recognition when I played in a tournament in Chicago and on line. The beauty of this book is that it is truly a "pocket book" so that I was able to do puzzles on the bus and other places of leisure while sitting. :) My only quip is that the commentary on problems varies from extensive to none at all and I would like to see a categorization of problems. The price is also slightly on the high end (but in my opinion worth it) for the amount of material provided.

Not all the positions in this book were useful to me, but the ones that were, taught me very important ideas that have dramatically improved my game. Use this book as a springboard for positions from your own games as suggested by the author. The other 5 books are: 1. Chess tactics for students by Bain. 2. Essential chess endings by Silman. 3. How to reassess your chess by Silman. 4. Chess master at any age by Wetzell. 5. The ideas behind the chess openings by Fine. Start with Bain first then use the other 5 in combination. The KEY is to ANALYSE your OWN GAMES using a computer for tactics and a strong human for positional play. Then store the important concepts into chess computer software. Finally, review these concepts so that you know them like the back of your hand. Discipline yourself and good luck!

As a "Class A player" with very limited time for chess I can think of no better practical book for busy chess players who wish to master essential information in as short a period of time as possible. For those of us with careers, famiilies, school and other priorities, this book is formatted so that the on-the-go player can absorb what they need to know to win games. Especially valuable for casual players and anyone below 1800. I cringe every time I see lower rated players miss basic tactical shots and drift in won endgames-master this material and that won't happen to you!!

Very impressive for a short book. Gives the reader a wide range of problems and knowledge quickly. A good book to review to get the rust off your game.