Customer Reviews

Excelling at Combinational Play: Learn to Identify and Exploit Tactical Chances

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

 

 

While it is true this book is essentially a book of 500 combinations there are a couple interesting aspects to it that previous reviewers have overlooked.
1) All combinations come from "Sicilian" openings and list ECO in the answers...while for the beginning player this might not matter, it is worthwhile to study patterns and ideas from openings that you play.
2) The problems have been checked to insure there are no ambiguous alternate answers....which is a common problem in chess tactic books...nothing worse than banging your head against a problem where your idea is equally legitimate or better. Lishvits's Test your chess comes to mind....
Aagaard has an enjoyable writing style, and aims to an audience somewhere between Silman and his excellent primers on strategy, and Dvoretsky and his world class books.

In addition to the other reviews, it is also important to note that the positions come from actual games (though you probably guessed that since they are all from the Sicilian) and that they are from recent praxis. This may seem a small point, but taking only from recent ECO lines increases the possibility of seeing similar tactics in your own games. There is less chance of the tactic coming from a busted or unfashionable line.

It also seems unfair to trash Aagaard's work simply because it is "another puzzle book." One doesn't throw away a Stephen King novel because it is just another horror story. Rather you should judge the work on its merit within the genre. It is a well researched and useful tactics book and will increase your tactical ability. Feel free to grab other works like Reinfield and Polgar's puzzle books, but don't overlook this collection, especially if you like to play the Sicilian.

Many puzzle books struggle with accuracy issues, either in that there are many possible solutions, or that the posted solution actually has a refutation. This book on the other hand has been throughly error checked, and is of a higher quality then most of the puzzle books that I have used.

If you happen to be an e4 player, you will meet the Sicilian about half the time, and if the Sicilian is your response to e4 you will be playing it about half the time with the black pieces. In this case roughly 50% of your games will be played in this opening, so it is natural to study tactics that occur in these lines.

The only warning that I will add is that these problems are difficult. If you are looking for a puzzle book that you can move through quickly this is not it. I am rated approximately 1800 FIDE, and many of these problems took me 30 minutes or more to solve.

The previous reviewer is correct; the book is merely a collection of combinations problems taken from master play. A plethora of such books already exist, and there is nothing in Aagaard's book to distinguish it from the competition.