Hi everyone,
I am a beginner to chess and I have read some beginner books and know some advance basics. I am told that reading tactics would be the next step and just keep doing tactical problems. From Jeremy Silman's recommendation books on Tactics in HTRYC he listed Winning Chess Tactics and The Art of Chess Combination. So which one should I get?
For Winning Chess Tactics, I would have to order it from Amazon.com and it is way more expensive compared to the other because then I would have to pay International Shipping too. I can get The Art of Chess Combination for a very cheap price in the local bookshop not to mention there is a wait of 2 weeks from Amazon for WCT. The question is, is The Art of Chess Combination just as good or is WCT more worth the wait?
I plan to also get 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations after reading a book on tactics as they contain many puzzles and I wish to memorize these positions in my head.
What do you think?
Originally posted by stanlohChess Tactics for the Tournament Player by GM Lev Alburt and GM Sam Palatnik. Lev Alburt is a World Class CHess coach for all levels. If you want to get into deep tactical combinations six moves and beyond, try out Killer Chess Tactics by Skamkovich (I think that's how you spell it; he's truly an old genius though), Keres and some other Grandmasters who compiled the text. Then, there's 1001 Combinations blah blah blah... If you're going to do the de la Maza trip, then go for that as well.
Hi everyone,
I am a beginner to chess and I have read some beginner books and know some advance basics. I am told that reading tactics would be the next step and just keep doing tactical problems. From Jeremy Silman's recommendation books on Tactics in HTRYC he listed Winning Chess Tactics and The Art of Chess Combination. So which one should I get?
F ...[text shortened]... contain many puzzles and I wish to memorize these positions in my head.
What do you think?
Another good tactics book is Pandolfini's "Chess Target Practice." It has 200 problems, with complete explanation for solving each one. It's the first tactics book I have tackled, and it is really helping me see tactical possibilities.
Another good tactics website is http://chess.emrald.net/index.php
Hi...it all depends on your level of tactics skill. The highest recommendation I can give is for the
Seirawan and Silman "Winning Chess Tactics." It's a good, basic book, but Seirawan is an expert
not only at chess but at teaching and he explains things much better than the average author.
The nice thing about it, is that you go through it and are tested over the tactics you've learned at
the end of every chapter. At the end of the book, Seirawan presents you with three sets of tactical
problems, easy, medium, and hard. You have to solve them and score at a certain level for Yasser
to say that you're ready to go on. After that, you should look into the Polgar book on chess. It's
mammoth, but you'll never be for want of a chess problem. Go through the first 450 problems over
and over until you can do them with relative ease. After that, more advanced study is required and
you should get better recommendations. There's a good article on studying tactics on www.chessville.com.
Hope this helps!
p.s. The 1001 problems are public domain and can also be downloaded from chessville.com.
Ranulf
Originally posted by RanulfI just watched seirawan's pro chess dvd, and althought I had read and liked his 'winning chess openins', it still blew me away how good a teacher he really is. It's very rare to come by such pedagogic skills, at least in academic world.
... Seirawan is an expert
not only at chess but at teaching and he explains things much better than the average author....
I also hear the bain book 'chess tactics for students' is good for beginners, but haven't read it myself.
One question, after studying tons of tactics and I become lets say, 1500-1600, can I even win games? I mean, I may know how to get the upper hand when it comes to material but in the end of the day, I don't know how to transform that material advantage into a win. Should I maybe lightly touch on some checkmate endgame situation books for example "Winning Chess Endings" by Seirawan or perhaps I should do lots of checkmate puzzles?
What do you think?
Originally posted by stanlohfirst of all, you should just play and analyze games and worry later.
One question, after studying tons of tactics and I become lets say, 1500-1600, can I even win games? I mean, I may know how to get the upper hand when it comes to material but in the end of the day, I don't know how to transform that material advantage into a win. Should I maybe lightly touch on some checkmate endgame situation books for example "Winning Che ...[text shortened]... Endings" by Seirawan or perhaps I should do lots of checkmate puzzles?
What do you think?
There are different kinds of books on chess tactics but I notice they all sort of get lumped together. A book like "Winning Chess Tactics" is a great first book on tactics because it explains the tactics to you. Most of the tactical problems it includes are there to further illustrate the motifs being discussed and to ensure you understand them. There are other excellent books of this type, but WCT is the one I'm familiar with and I can certainly recommend it. Books that are more or less purely devoted to chess problems are a good next step, but here again there are differences. They may be devoted to anything from elementary tactics to chess brain twisters. It is a mistake to think that doing the most difficult problems is the best approach. Before choosing a book of chess puzzles I recommend reading Dan Heisman's Chess Cafe article "A Different Approach to Studying Tactics" http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman04.pdf
My final thought: I find that going through a book of chess puzzles, especially as Heisman and others recommend, is best done along side other books you may be reading. Don't put off learning other aspects of the game until you have completed tactical study, and don't stop going through a few puzzles every day just because you are reading a book devoted to some other aspect of the game.