Rating: 
Summary: Just what I wanted
Review: I know what I have to do to improve my chess game - examine master games (and even annotating them and them comparing my annotations to GM annotations of the games), study the end game, play tournament length games and then study where my weaknesses were in the game, and so forth. And of course there is looking at two 'til mate "puzzles" and trying to discern what the mate is as quickly as possible. This book provides page after page after page of those puzzles, which is exactly what I wanted. It also has page after page after page of three until mate puzzles, but that's a bit beyond me currently. At my skill level, which is pretty low, it takes me anywhere from 2 minutes to 30 minutes to discover the two-until-mate problems in this book. My median average for solving these is 5 minutes.
I also own the 100 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate book, which is good and compact, but it only has 100 puzzles - this book has thousands of them. It's just what I wanted.
Rating: 
Summary: Chess is a visual game, so get a visual book
Review: I like the solutions. The key move is shown, but the next (obvious) move is for you to find. For a while I thought some of the solutions were wrong, but is far easier to say the typography or the book is wrong, when in actuality, it is us that made the error.Chess is a visual game, so get the visual book. I mean how many chess players have those books with algebraic solutions? Those books are okay, if you willing to spend weeks or months in that part of the tree. No me, I need to know how now, what to look for and avoid. The best thing I learned from this book, is containment. You have to contain your opponent (like what Star Trek does to their warp core, they gotta contain the warp core, otherwise the ship blows up) I like the smaller yet, 'manly' version of this book, the larger version is 'too manly'.
Rating:
Summary: Get this book if you are class A or below
Review: I must confess I refused to do what I had to do in order to improve my game for so long. There are many reasons for this - mainly that working on what troubles you can often cause great anguish. It can be a most painful process, believe you me. It is similar to how I feel when I do physical exercise. I hate doing my regular four-mile jog while I'm doing it, but I feel great when it's over.
Lazlo Polgar's book is a tactical workout that forces the beginner/intermediate player to acquire the essential tactics necessary for survival. I reached an ICC rating of about 1750 before I got the book and having gotten about half way through, I am currently at about 1850. I do three pages a day and mark my answers directly in the book, which I then grade. I have worked my way up from an accuracy rate of 90% to a steady 98% for the mate in two's, which is the type of puzzle that comprises the majority of the book. The reason why I do three pages a day is because I figured there is slightly over a thousand pages, so I will complete the book in a year. I was at first turned off by the book because I thought that there were too many check mate puzzles and not enough 'regular tactics' and endgame puzzles but I soon found that the checkmate puzzles are good for way more.
I look at positions way more in depth. I used to deal with tactical situations by saying to myself, I take, he takes, I take, he checks, I block, he forks, etc. Now I look at the squares in the enemy camp and take note of what is strong, and what is weak. I know how to stage a plan based on controlling crucial squares and win or lose, I play more interesting games in general. I understand the value of the initiative way better than I did in the past. I am always looking to sacrifice material (especially the Queen) for an attack, and recognize how to judge a position based on piece activity as opposed to merely counting material.
What really forced me to purchase the book was the section in the back containing miniature games that involve kingside attacks targeting the crucial squares f3, f6, g3, g6, h3, and h6. It is probably the most important part of the book because it illustrates the kingside attack in a real game situation. At about [a good price], it is worth it to get the book simply for its collection of games.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully huge monstrous collection of chess puzzles
Review: I try to work through this book for a half hour every night before bed. Has done wonders for increasing my ability to spot winning moves! If I could only keep one of my chess books, this would be it.
Rating:
Summary: No explanations, no theory, just plain practice
Review: I would say this is the best chess book I've seen my whole life, and the one that took my playing really up in very little time. You won't find any text in the book, just diagrams with mates in one, two, and three moves, and that is what's going to make you a better player, forget all the opennings books. Just to tell you what happened to me thanks to this book, I was a 1200 player on the Internet, after spending my time with this book and solving five puzzles every day, after a month I became a 1700 player, and each time I dropped the book, my Internet rating dropped with it, but went up again after I started solving puzzles again. Unfortunately I haven't been able to play much for a while because of work, but I can assure you that if you solve five puzzles every day of the more that 3,000 that are in this book, your game will improve dramatically in no time.
Rating:
Summary: Problem #460, and still loving it
Review: I'm less than 1/10th of the way through, and I think this is (by far and away) the best chess puzzle book I have ever owned. If you are going on a long car trip, buy this first. If you don't have the attention span for a full game, or can't find a partner to play with at 2am, dust this off. It makes great reading before bed.
Rating:
Summary: Massive!
Review: If you are looking at improving you Pattern Recognition and want more problems to work on than you could finish (well do you have a life?) then this book gives it all.
To use this book, begin with WINNING CHESS TOURNAMENTS FOR JUNIORRS to get in quick reference what is most important and how to use this kind of book effectively. Then start working on each problems here (as mentioned it will take you so many years to finish you will never need a second book on tactics).
A most wonderful and awesome book!
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Chess Books I've Not Read
Review: If you want a wide range of challenging chess problems to match your level of skill in one place this is the book. And what a book it is! This is one of those works like OED and Encyclopedia Britanica that just stands out by it's size. I lug mine around to work, have the biceps to show it. The diagrams are large easy to read and very instructive. If you need lots of words this is not for you. If you want tons of practice solving problems improving your chess thinking run and buy this book. It's making a big difference in my game. Tactical ideas now pop into my head where only blunders existed.. I've worked through the first five hundred problems and didn't come up against one queen sacrifice.
Rating:
Summary: got some time?
Review: If you want to increase your expertise of chess and got time to work on it, get this book! It will take you years to finish it!
Rating:
Summary: a joy to see
Review: No wonder why the Polgars are so good, with that father! Besides very instructive, this book is also a beauty, looks terrific in the bookshelf. It is a pleasure to see it, more to solve it. And will keep you busy for months.
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