Test Your Chess IQ: First Challenge (Bk. 1) [Paperback]

August Livshitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1997

A chess handbook which contains over 450 test positions and a course on how to develop combinational skills, based on the recognition of key themes.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Is the ability to make combinations something you are born with or can it be acquired by practice? Russian chess trainer Livshitz, who has had extensive experience teaching a wide range of players from novices to masters, presents here a course for developing your combinational skill, based on the recognition of tactical motifs. As you work your way through this carefully graced series of tests, themes such as 'diversion,' 'interference,' 'X-Ray,' and many more will become an integral part of your chess armoury, to be employed in your own games. Solving these positions will not only provide many hours of pleasure but will also enable you to test - and improve! - your chess IQ. This is book two in a three-volume series, carefully graduated in order of difficulty. Move on to: 'Test Your Chess IQ: Master Challenge' and 'Test Your Chess IQ: Grandmaster Challenge.' (6 3/4' X 9 3/4', 124 pages, illustrations)

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: Everyman Chess; 1st edition (May 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1857441397
• ISBN-13: 978-1857441390
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #967,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent tactics workbook for intermediate players, February 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Test Your Chess IQ: First Challenge (Bk. 1) (Paperback)

This is an excellent book to test and refine your tactical ability. It is probably best suited to players rated between 1500 - 1900 USCF who have already studied a beginning primer on the subject.

Basically the book consists of 56 tests, each containing 8 practice problems. Each section focuses on a particular tactical theme and is timed. You are given a score based upon the total time used and the number of problems correctly solved.

The author recommends tackling one or two tests per week. (An average test of 8 problems requires approximately 35 - 55 minutes to complete).

After a large number of tests have been taken you can estimate your chess rating based upon your test scores. The author provides a reference table to equate scores to aproximate ratings. (I found the model fairly accurately reflects my current rating as oppossed to some other books I have tried).

I have been pleased to see my average score slowly, but steadily improve over the last few months of working on these tests.

Bottom line is this - for most chess players tactics are the most important element of the game to focus on. You would be hard pressed to find a book that is better organized than this!

I am looking forward to completing this book very soon so I can go on and tackle the next volume in the series - "Test your Chess IQ - Master Challenge".

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Tactical Work, June 3, 2005

By 

Nicholas T. Lesniak "Chess Addict" (Charleston, SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Test Your Chess IQ: First Challenge (Bk. 1) (Paperback)

This is the first book in the "Test your Chess IQ" series. That in no way means that this book is easy. If you aren't at least about 1500 or so, this book will be way too much for you. Make sure that you read Seiriwan's Winning Chess Tactics and work through both of Reinfeld's 1001 books before tackling this one.

The book consists of dozens of 8-problem tests, spanned across two pages each with the solutions on the next page(to discourage cheating, which I like). The book covers a wide number of themes, and in many cases progresses in difficulty as you work through a motif. For example the first test in Double Attack will be fairly easy, but the next test will take considerably more work.

The author provides a table in the back for you to record your progress. I immediately copied this(so as to have a 'clean copy' incase I want to go through this again, and I'm sure I will). In the beginning of the book the author provides instructions on how to score your answers, and approximately what rating they correspond to.

The best way to go through these puzzles is to do one a week, making sure to use all or most of the time given to solve the puzzles(remember, you have to find all the reasonable defenses for the losing side, not just the first move or one particular winning line).

Don't be discouraged if you struggle with it in the very beginning. You'll be amazed by how quickly you begin to see things and your percentage scores will rise. A nice thing about this book is that most of the problems were taken from real games, proof that these sort of combinations DO happen and you need to be able to see them when they do.

The book is thin but large enough that it folds open easily and is written in descriptive notation. Almost all of the analysis I've done on problems has been accurate(only his move is best), except for one problem where my move was a little better according to Fritz.

All in all this is an outstanding and challenging introduction to advanced tactics. Go through the books I mentioned above first, but make sure that this book is in your hands afterwards.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on tactics, with accurate ratings predictions, July 14, 2003

By 

C. Dunn "independent thinker" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Test Your Chess IQ: First Challenge (Bk. 1) (Paperback)

Wow. I'm impressed. You can learn a lot of chess with this book, and if you honestly grade and time yourself, you'll get a realistic picture of where you stand.

These puzzles are not easy. They take about 5 minutes each, and you'll have to put in that much time if you want your rating to be indicated accurately. This is NOT for tactics training, even though you will learn from it. You need to be VERY GOOD at tactics before you attempt these; otherwise, you'll get NOTHING correct. You'd be wise to go through Lev Alburt's Chess Training Pocket Book at least once before tackling these.

If you're 1500, you could start this book, but don't rush through it. Do one 8-problem test per week and monitor your progress through the year. (There are 56 tests.)

Each test is prefaced with the sort of tactics you will be looking for, and some of the puzzles are very similar within a test. This is intentional. The authors want you to LEARN, but without making things too obvious.

I have noticed minor typos in the answers, but no actual errors, which is quite rare for a puzzle book. The font, diagram size, printing, and layout are all excellent. The original games are named in the answers, rather than in the problems, to avoid distraction. Remember: These tests are timed!

Highly recommended. But if you're below 1500 USCF, caveat emptor! You don't want to ruin the future value of this book by cheating and looking at all the answers now!