Rating: Summary: Excellent Review: I really believe that this book is excellent. It sharpens your tactical ability by providing puzzles to solve. The best thing that I like about this book is that Reinfeld doesn't tell you what to do! No useless crap, just puzzles and solutions in the back. He gives basic outlines in each chapter (attacking the castled position etc.), but besides that you're on your own. I would recommend that anyone wishing to improve tactical ability buy this book. I would however not recommend this to complete beginners, some solutions are difficult and may contain tactics not known to a beginner. First buy Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics. The only problem with the book is the antiquated descriptive notation, it's easy to learn however I found it sometimes annoying.
Rating: Summary: Great Drill Material: Very Simple Problems Review: I was able to win 102 consecutive games after studying this book
Rating: Summary: A very good book for getting a tactical workout. Review: If you already have 1001 chess sacrafices and combinations already you won't necessarily need this. But, If you want to learn how to checkmate in just about every position under the sun, or just want something to practice your calculating ability on, (Tal said calculation needs practice) Then this is the book for you!
Rating: Summary: If u want to improve THIS BOOK IS IT!! Review: My daughters (11 and 8) started working on the problems presented in this book about 2 weeks ago. They enjoy working on the problems. Like one of the reviewers mentioned - we will never come across many of these positions in our own games. I agree with that statement but if you start working on these puzzles without a board and without accepting any solution that has not considered all the alternatives, let me tell you this - Your ability to visualize the chess positions will improve tremendously, not to mention your tactical ability. I have noticed my daughters discussing positions several moves deep with great accuracy already. Ultimately I think that is how one develops the faculty of analyzing. The chess muscle is developed this way. It is not meant for you to master each position in case it happens to occur in one of your games!!!
Rating: Summary: Important and indispensable Review: Pattern recognition is a very important skill in chess both for attack and defense. This book drills in this very matter testing your ability to recognize a pattern and to calculate the variations leading to checkmate.I solved each and every puzzle in this book and I can honestly say that the skills gathered were put to the test almost inmediately: I was engineering simple checkmates and executing them over the board after reading the book. Objectively speaking the problems range of difficulty varies a lot. Some of the problems are as simple as calculating a mate in one while others require you to find a ten moves solution. Is this good? Sure it is! A plain diagram with the words "white (or black) to move" not telling you how long is your path to victory is in my opinion the best way to train tactics. [In fact, I would say that Reinfeld should not even divide the material in themes like queen sacrifice, attack to the uncastled king, etc.] A single pass over Reinfeld's problems is just not enough and the book demands a second or even third "reading." Why? Because it will save time and suffering in actual games... In any case I wholeheartedly recommend this book
Rating: Summary: Important and indispensable Review: Pattern recognition is a very important skill in chess both for attack and defense. This book drills in this very matter testing your ability to recognize a pattern and to calculate the variations leading to checkmate. I solved each and every puzzle in this book and I can honestly say that the skills gathered were put to the test almost inmediately: I was engineering simple checkmates and executing them over the board after reading the book. Objectively speaking the problems range of difficulty varies a lot. Some of the problems are as simple as calculating a mate in one while others require you to find a ten moves solution. Is this good? Sure it is! A plain diagram with the words "white (or black) to move" not telling you how long is your path to victory is in my opinion the best way to train tactics. [In fact, I would say that Reinfeld should not even divide the material in themes like queen sacrifice, attack to the uncastled king, etc.] A single pass over Reinfeld's problems is just not enough and the book demands a second or even third "reading." Why? Because it will save time and suffering in actual games... In any case I wholeheartedly recommend this book
Rating: Summary: Great Drill Book Review: Puzzles and solutions. That's all this book is and all it is meant to be. Repetition, repetition and more repetition to ground you in mating themes. I myself do 10 a day, and they are so helpful that I was able to recognize the seeds of a mating position in a tournament against a player rated 200+ points higher than me and prosecute a moderate length(4 move) forced checkmate after only 13 days of exercises. Keep in mind, this is not an instruction book, it does not give advice, nor rules, nor methods to checkmate. It consists of diagrams and there solutions for different checkmate motifs. Consistent, steady and repeated study of these problems will result in your automatic recognition of both attacking chances, and your own danger.
Rating: Summary: Great Drill Book Review: Puzzles and solutions. That's all this book is and all it is meant to be. Repetition, repetition and more repetition to ground you in mating themes. I myself do 10 a day, and they are so helpful that I was able to recognize the seeds of a mating position in a tournament against a player rated 200+ points higher than me and prosecute a moderate length(4 move) forced checkmate after only 13 days of exercises. Keep in mind, this is not an instruction book, it does not give advice, nor rules, nor methods to checkmate. It consists of diagrams and there solutions for different checkmate motifs. Consistent, steady and repeated study of these problems will result in your automatic recognition of both attacking chances, and your own danger.
Rating: Summary: Unrivalled Workbook For Your Checkmating Technique! Review: The exercises are simple but sound. There are no comments, only diagrams (one of the advantages of this book). If Reinfeld had only omitted the silly attempts at classification (queen sacrifices, checkmate without the queen, etc.) that give unwanted clues. Knowing there is a mate should really suffice! Read Renaud/Kahn, The Art of Checkmate (Dover) first and then test your newly acquired skills with Reinfeld. I hardly doubt that after this workout you will miss many mating opportunities in your own games! One last advice: do notes to avoid superficialty in your analysis (not all diagrams are mate in two or three).
Rating: Summary: Practice, practice, practice! Review: This book and its companion, 1001 Chess Sacrifices and Combinations, are excellent tools for intermediate players to use to sharpen their eye for combinations. This book is nothing more than page after page of diagrams of chess positions from real games that contain a forced checkmate. Like a math book, the answers are in the back in case one cannot solve the mate. The aspiring player cannot help but learn from the repetitive practice solving these mates. The book is not without its problems: A few of the diagrams are printed a little dark; a couple answers are incorrect (the corresponding diagram is probably incomplete); and, the problems are not arranged in any order of difficulty -- a mate in ten is often followed by a mate in two. Some beginning players are also disconcerted by the fact that there is little or no instruction provided in the introductions to the chapters. For them I would strongly recommend Renaud & Kahn's The Art of the Checkmate and Seirawan & Silman's Winning Chess Tactics as prerequisites to tackling 1001BWTC. My guess is that a class C or D player could easily pick up a 100 rating points in strength after reading these three books consecutively.
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