Test Your Chess [Paperback]

Steffen Pedersen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2000

This book offers a variety of entertaining and thought-provoking exercises in fundamental chess skills. It will help players of all standards to identify strengths and pinpoint areas of their play that need their attention. The first half of the book tests the player's ability in each part of the game. Opening Exercises test the player's ability to develop harmoniously and to find creative solutions in the first part of the game. The middlegame section assesses the player's proficiency at making decisions relating to attack and defense, prophylactic thinking and finding the correct plan. The endgame challenges focus on the basic essential knowledge that often decides real-life games. The second half of the book is comprised of "How Good Is Your Chess" exercises, where the reader is asked to follow one side through a complete game, trying to guess each move as if playing a real game. Points are awarded according to accuracy of the reader's decisions. Full, detailed solutions are given to all exercises.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Steffen Pedersen is a young international master from Denmark. He scored a grandmaster norm when he was 16, and played in several World and European junior championships. In 1988 he was joint winer of the Hampstead Grandmaster tournament, and achieved another Grandmaster norm at the Aars get2net Cup in 1999. He has written several highly-regarded opening books, with subjects including the Dutch Defense, Sicilian Scheveningen, Benko Gambit and the Semi-Slav.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Gambit Publications (December 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1901983358
• ISBN-13: 978-1901983357
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,912,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Difficult Book: Are You Prepared? Motivated?, February 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Test Your Chess (Paperback)

This book is divided into two parts: the first contains problems covering the opening (11 positions), middlegame (12 positions), and endgame (18 positions) and the second consists of 16 self-test games (similar to How Good is Your Chess or Solitaire Chess from Chess Life).

The problems are very difficult, maybe too difficult for most players. For comparison, I have an over-the-board USCF rating thats varied between 1750-1850 (which is at least 80th percentile) and I found most of the problems frustrating. However, Pedersens solutions and annotations are convincing: his effort shows and I did feel I learned something.

The How Good Is Your Chess? section with its sixteen games is slightly easier going but not to be rushed through. If youve sped through Chess Lifes Solitaire Chess with good results, youll be surprised at how difficult these games are. The games deserve close to tournament length amounts of time to solve, so much so that I almost felt that I had been the player.

If youre sure youre a strong player or highly motivated, than this book might be for you. If youre relatively lower-rated, or looking for more casual combination books, I think youd be disappointed here.