Customer Reviews

Test Your Chess I.Q.

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Larry Evans is a great chess personality. No doubt about that. However, he basically took his 'What's the Best Move' theme from 'Chess Life' magazine and slapped 100 of them together. Then somehow got the idea that wow, if I make each problem worth 25 points, that will figure out someone's rating. WRONGO!! Very WRONGO!! Mathematical statistics and such a basic little system this book has are two different beasts altogether. For Evans to even think of such a system equates to rating strength is ridiculous.

However, the good part. The problems themselves he has picked are quite good for training. I try to do two or three tactical puzzles every single day and as the years go by I have tons of these little tactical monsters and Evans' book is fresh with fresh problems I haven't totally worked out yet. Very nice to see the originality and challenging puzzles. So, if you are planning on enjoying solving puzzles and possibly using the practice on your chess tactical skills, by all means buy this book. If you think you are going to predict how strong you are at chess in terms of ratings, sorry. The method used is by some unproven grand scheme and there is very little chance you will have any accurate measurement.

This book has 100 chess problems in it with a choice of three answers. Each correct answer is worth 25 points, you don't get any points for other answers even though they may also be good moves. The points are used to discover what your elo rating is. This book is not for people who are looking for casual chess problems to solve. The problems are very hard.

I went thru this book and finished with improved joy knowing I would have done great against all the grandmasters in this book. Yet I still have a tough time beating the kid at the club who is rated 1100. Any way I would recomend it It a good read and the puzzles are logical. Its not a Kopec when it comes to grading but It will do.