Customer Reviews

Practical Chess Exercises: 600 Lessons from Tactics to Strategy

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

If you're a class level player, and are only going to buy one more chess book for the rest of your life, it simply has to be this one. Buy this book in any event and treasure it. It's the problem book we didn't know we needed.

Now, if you've read my other chess and checker book reviews you'll know that I'm not prone to empty praise and the type of hyperbola espoused in the paragraph above. But plain and simple, this book is every bit as good as I imply.

What is it? It's 600 problems, six to a page, with solutions sketched (not detailed) on the facing page (which you need to keep covered with a sheet of note paper sized to fit the book). The problems are not the usual themed and rated tactics collection; they are a completely randomized assortment of REAL LIFE positions, many drawn from amateur games. They range from easy to hard, tactical to positional, opening to endgame, and attack to defense. But what is so great about the collection is that you are given not a single hint as to type, theme, or difficulty (until you look at the solution, wherein all is revealed). This simulates tournament play conditions exactly.

Yes, with this book you are completely on your own and as the introduction points out, you are going to have to think for yourself, just as you do in real play. The intro also recommends taking about 30 minutes per page of six problems, but I'll suggest another way of using, and reusing, this book.

I am going through the book in several passes. On my first pass, I take as long as I want on each problem (within reason). I'm not using a clock, but I'm coming up with a plan and then a set of moves in 15 minutes or less; some of the easy problems with a tactical solution require little time; some of the complex ones require much more time. If convenient, I set up the problem on a board, with the side to move facing me (better, I think, than solving 'upside down' from a diagram), though the book's portable size lends itself to solving at odd moments in odd places as well. After I work out my solution I compare it with the book's solution, being careful not to reveal any other solutions on the facing page; I reconcile my answer with the "right" answer, if they are different. Then, at that point or later, I use the computer (Hiarcs in this case) to explore other avenues, if the problem so warrants.

On your first pass I do advise you to do the same and not skip this latter computer step; it adds immensely to your learning and to the value of the problem, even if it does require additional effort.

On my second pass, which is still to come, I plan to limit my time strictly to five minutes per problem. Hopefully the themes will "ring a bell" at that point. I also intend a third pass where I am hoping for sight recognition and will allow just one minute per problem.

How much improvement can you--- or I--- expect from study of 600 varied and realistic positions? While I don't have numbers to back it up yet, I suspect it will be in the region of 200 rating points, maybe even more, as truly learning this many practical positions has got to be of great value.

What other book can offer this much? Opening books will teach you some things, analysis books will teach you more; but learning to play positions corresponds in a one to one manner with actual tournament play. This unique collection is doing a lot for me and I bet it will for you too.

I have been away from chess for quite some time, in fact, I haven't played it seriously since the 5th and 6th grade. Now that I'm in graduate school, and I need something to "sharpen my mind" after lots of reading and writing, I have turned to chess to hopefully exercise the "other part" of my brain (whether the "chess" part of the brain is the same as the reading and writing part of it, I don't know, this is why I'm in history not science).

This is the first book that I have ever bought concerning chess puzzles, and I must say I am very impressed. Cheng mixes in puzzles of different difficulty levels and simply asks you to make the best move. He doesn't tell you if there is a two move checkmate, or if you are looking for a winning fork, you simply have to study the board and make the best choice. This choice can be anything from creating a space advantage, to an outpost for your Knight, to a fork, to a consolidation of your position, to preventing your opponent from mating you, etc. All you know is that you are either black or white and you must make the best move. I sincerely hope that Cheng comes out with another such book very soon. I am only 80 puzzles into it, and I would definitely consider buying another such book with this format. No hints, no themes, no # of moves to checkmate, simply make the best move. It's brilliant!

Refreshingly, here's a collection of chess puzzles that mixes tactical
problems with strategic ones, plus some on defense and prophylaxis.
The problems themselves are not necessarily harder than the ones you
see elsewhere, but the fact that all these themes are blended together
means that you have to go through your full mental checklist to
evaluate the position and select the appropriate course of action.
Some of the strategy problems, derived from the classics, are really
quite nice. If you've paid your dues in the tactics department and
want to continue your chess training on a broader and more holistic
basis, this book may be just what you need. I have been working
through these exercises myself, and I plan to give selected problems to
my students to analyze and study. There should be more chess training
books written with this philosophy. Dr. Nunn...Yaz...how about it?

I just bought the kindle version of the book. To my utter disappointment, I realized that the Kindle version is completely unusable. The image of the chess puzzle appears as a tiny little square - so I effectively ended up buying a book that has lots of tiny little squares, one on each page.

Obviously no one has bothered to review if the "Kindle Version", to check if it is usable or not.

This book is an outstanding collection of tests on various themes in chess (not only tactics, but also attack, defense, threat identification, counterplay, openings, middlegame, endgame, the thought process, positional play and strategy). The examples are unique here, as John Watson puts it simply in the introduction: "Ray's understanding of the ways in which amateurs oversight that don't occur to the masters who usually write exercise books." This is the key advantage of the collection, which provides very instructive feedback on every test position (running from easy * to very difficult **** regardless of the theme, good for identifying one's weaknesses). The level is about 1600-2000. I hope this approach will become a new popular way to write chess training books for all levels!

This book works out well on the Kindle. A Kindle page shows one puzzle, and the next Kindle page shows the solution. It does not show six puzzles on one page and six solutions on one page like the paper edition. The diagrams are clear and easy to read at the default font size. I am very pleased with the Kindle edition of this book.
I also like the randomness of the puzzle types and difficulty levels. This makes you analyze a real chess position and not just look for the combination you "know" is there. I am 1510 USCF and am happy with the difficulty of the material - so far nothing too easy or so complicated that I can't understand the answer.

Yes, I truly think so, though neither I possess or study chess books on a regular basis. I am just a 1600-1700 ranked player who does not spend much time for studying.
Concept is similar to "How Good is Your Chess" by Larry Evans, but this time you do not have 3 options to chose from. I prize selection of board's positions - they teach! Solutions are well explained and SHORT.
You have about 100 pages (6 puzzles on each), so if you take one page a day or two, pleasure will last about 1/2 a year. The only draw-back is the size of board squares. I wish they were bigger (format/or number of pages should be larger).

I teach chess to a high-school-age group and am starting to use this new book because it was recommended on the Internet Chess Club. I'm only about 40% through it, but so far it's absolutely fantastic! What I like about these exercises is that they are equivalent to a real-world chess experience: you don't know in advance what kind of position you've got. There could be a mate or some positional idea, and you don't know how difficult the problem is. Most books give you a problem and then tell you what to look for. It's challenging!
The exercises aren't for beginners, but not for grandmasters, either. A good book for the average player to advance with.

I purchased this book for my kindle in June 2009. The Kindle Version now displays diagrams but if you purchased this book before November 24, 2009 and you have Kindle version 2.3 (check Kindle settings), then you will need to download the updated version of the book which is available for no additional charge. Contact Amazon Kindle support customer service.

We all know most chess puzzle books -- "White to mate in 3", "Black with a fork", etc. This book has no hints, just six positions on a page, with the color that has the move. Plus, they are not all "to win" positions, sometimes it is the best defensive more, sometimes it is avoid the blunder, etc.

This format makes it very useful for actual chess training, as these are real positions for non-GM games. They are randomized by theme and difficulty, so you never know what is coming next.

Furthermore, the positions are on the left-hand page and the solutions are on the right-hand page. The book is also a very convenient 5.5" x 8.5", so you can fold a standard piece of paper in two, place it between the puzzles and the solutions, and it serves as a shield for the answers as well as a bookmark.

The only problem I have with the book is that the puzzles are numbered from top to bottom on the left column, and then to the right column, rather than reading left to right first, and then down. But this is extremely minor flaw to what is an excellent chess puzzle book.