Rating: 
Summary: Best introduction to tactics for beginners
Review: I've never seen such a good introduction to tactics. Seirawan explains everything very clearly, with excellent illustrations.Seirawan included several hundred problems in the book. I'd recommend following up this book with Reinfeld's 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations. In fact, if you're a talented player, you might want to skip Seirawan's book and go straight to Reinfeld. But most of us could use Seirawan's book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for amateurs (below 1500)... otherwise buy Reinfield's
Review: (I am currently 1900 ELO; I read the book when I was about 1400-1500) This is one of those books that will be very useful for persons unfamiliar with basic tactical themes in chess. For players who already have this basic understanding (probably 1500+), this book is not necessary. Some reviewers recommend skipping this book in favour of Reinfield's 1001 Winning Chess Combinations and Sacrifices. I think that they are actually both excellent tactics books. The difference is the intended audience: Seirawan's book is geared to players who have little or no understanding of tactics, whereas Reinfield's assumes some understanding of these principles. Thus Seirawan spends a lot more time explaining the mechanics of the tactics, while Reinfield's approach is to provide a large selection of quizzes so that the player can transfer the theory into practice. I would imagine that a beginner would be somewhat frustrated tackling Reinfield's book head-on due to the general lack of explanation. Seirawan's book fills this void. Seirawan's friendly, conversational writing style is well suited for the intended audience. He conveys his message clearly and throws in some humour as well. Some find him egotistical, but I think by his personal chess anecdotes help the reader to relate better with him. My main caveat with this book is that it does not contain enough puzzles. Additionally, too many of the puzzles are similar. Seirawan probably did this to facilitate those readers slow to grasp the different concepts. To me in came across as slightly annoying as I didn't feel challenged enough. All in all Winning Chess Tactics is an excellent book if one recognises it for what it is: a primer on tactics. More advanced players will definitely prefer Reinfield's 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices & Combinations.
Rating:
Summary: a decent intro to tactics
Review: I usually write reviews for books with little customer feedback; in this case, however, I make an exception. This book is intended for beginners, and being one, I feel it appropriate to share some what I hope will be valuable feedback.
First, some personal chess background, which when reviewing a chess book is essential. I'm currently rated from 1300 to 1400 by the Chessmaster program, Yahoo, and Chess.net, which makes me an advanced beginner, I guess.
I've just read and studied through the entire book, and the answer is YES you will improve. My rating increased by ~ 200 points.
I did some research when I decided I wanted to start learning chess seriously, and found that after learning basic chess: piece value, movement, concepts on space, time, some basic openings, basic rook and queen endings, etc .. the next step was working on improving my tactics.
This is the only book on tactics I've studied so far, but I've looked over a couple more. Seirawan's compares nicely. It has thorough explanations on tactical concepts such as pins, forks, skewers, decoys, windmills, and such. However, as any chess player with some experience will say, tactics is all about practice. This is where this book falls short. It has 92 problems that serve to strengthen tactical concepts, and 45 end book puzzles, with no clues. Though good for starters, this is nowhere near what a player needs to really strengthen his skills. I suggest buying either or both "The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book" and "1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations." Both have 1001 tactical chess puzzles, and by the time I work through one of these I hope to have improved a great deal.
WCT has two main strengths. I find that Seirawan's explanations on the different tactical situations is extensive, the prose clear, though childish at times. However, few examples illustrate each point. Another point is the book's print quality, as another reviewer mentioned, very good binding, wide margins and quality paper.
Seirawan's very high ego is manifested throughout the book, with lots of examples from his own games, in which, OBVIOUSLY, he always has the winning combination. I might be intolerant with such prideful individuals, but I find this showing off very distracting. In his book, Emms has examples where he loses to a brilliant combination. Chess masters are not gods, and should not portray themselves as such.
The book has a final section on great tacticians and some of their most famous games. This makes for an interesting read, but the tactical combinations in these games are of such depth and cunning as to be completely useless to the reader. The space could have been better used with more examples and puzzles to work on.
The book is good, it served its purpose - introduce me to chess tactics.
Nevertheless, my final recommendation - use a chess software program or go online to learn the basic tactical ideas, then work out the hundreds of examples in any of several good puzzle books.
Rating:
Summary: Not over my head for a change!
Review: Yasser is a great teacher for the beginning chess player who really wants to study the game and learn how to play it right. It is, for once, a beginner's book that will take one into the middle game, and still be "follow-able". Too many of these tactics books are over my head and I can't follow all the variations and combinations and lines. Yasser is much more accessible without being juvenile or too simplistic. I love this book. It is the one book my teacher recommended as soon as he discovered that I am an older "beginner" who now needs to concentrate upon learning tactics and recognizing common patterns in games. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.
Rating:
Summary: Well written with good examples.
Review: I read this book after reading several others in his series. Yasser Seirawan takes a topic which is often dealt with very technically and makes it understandable to the beginner and intermediate player. My personal view on tactics is that players should read several texts to get different author's views and examples. This is a great one to either start with, or perhaps review a theme. Mr. Seirawan is a great player and his writing shows his skill in teaching as well.
Rating:
Summary: Good for beginners, which I am one
Review: It seems a bit basic, but this is a beginner's course book. After reading it, and practice, my wins to losses improved greatly from where I was normally at or very near the bottom of the pack a tournametns to the point where had I taken the draw my opponent offered me, I would have finished 4th out of 48. This was over the course of 6 or 8 weeks.
It worked for me, but I don't think I will review tactics with it. I am sure there is more for me to learn from it, but I think other books that have more puzzles would benefit me more.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Beginner Title
Review: I am a tournament player -1900 and climbing, but I remember this book was my first. It is perfect for players wanting to get beyond friendly play and into serious competitive study. It is a warehouse of fun tactical ideas. High Class B and A players will not find much new in the book, but I must admit that after reading it again recently I was able to snatch a half a point from a clearly lost game using the ideas in the chapter on stalemate. No long variations, just clear descriptive text and challenging test positions.
Rating:
Summary: Chess isn't for everyone!
Review: I feel that some people like to complain about books (or anything for that matter) they don't understand. This book does require some chess knowledge. It even says it in the introduction. If the less fortunate would read the fine print they would know what they are getting into. When you read a series of books, it usually helps to, and I'm just making a slight suggestion, READ THE FIRST ONE BEFORE THE SECOND! Doing so will set the mood for the second, then the third, and so on. So simply because you lack chess knowledge is not a reason to MisRate this fine piece of work, by one of the Top American GMs.
Rating: 
Summary: Cheap carbon copy of Reinfeld's 1001 sacrifices and combos!!
Review: I went through this book before reading Fred Reinfelds 1001 WINNING CHESS SACRIFICES AND COMBINATIONS. When I got to Reinfelds book it was deja vu! Can we say PLAGIARISM?? Get Reinfeld's book instead. It is half the price, and gives you extensive training, (1001 puzzles to solve!). Seirawan's WCT gives you very few examples to work on. You will be so inspired by 1001 Sacs and combos that you will not even notice the descriptive notation.
Rating: 
Summary: Strangely overrated
Review: I really don't understand the judgements of the other reviewers. To me this book is a very poor way to learn tactics. The basic themes are presented in a sketchy way, and there are nowhere near enough examples of them to allow the reader to really learn to recognize the patterns involved. Apparently Seirawan's approach works well for some, but I got nothing from this book compared to Reinfeld's simpler but more extensive book of combos. The same goes for Seirawan's writing style. I guess some people like it, but to me his exaggerated folksiness is like fingernails on a blackboard. Be warned that this book is not for everyone!
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