Chess Tactics book recommendations

Hey,

I'm trying to work on my combinative play. I've recently read Chess Kids Books of Tactics (for help with coaching positions), Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics, am reading the in-parts excellent Understanding Chess Tactics for the second time, am spending about an hour a day on CTS and am flicking through Reinfeld's 1001 Winning chess combinations and checkmates.

Just looking for further suggestions for books which explain the building blocks of combinations well (or possibly sacs). I really like Understanding Chess Tactics because you don't need to have a board set up to read it, and he clearly identifies and explains why a tactical motif is possible.

I'm not looking for another Reinfeld-like collection of problems and I have the Art of Attack. A couple of books I was considering are The Art of Chess Combination and Essential Chess Sacrifices.

Thanks,

D

I would recommend "Sharpen Your Tactics", by Anatoly Lein and Boris Archangelsky. It has over 1100 problems to solve, graded by difficulty.

Originally posted by gaychessplayer
I would recommend "Sharpen Your Tactics", by Anatoly Lein and Boris Archangelsky. It has over 1100 problems to solve, graded by difficulty.

Thanks, but I'm not looking for collection of puzzle type books, as I think Reinfeld's and CTS are sufficient.

D

Originally posted by Ragnorak
Thanks, but I'm not looking for collection of puzzle type books, as I think Reinfeld's and CTS are sufficient.

D

there is dvoretsky's "tactical play." I don't know the content, but it looked serious and is definately not a problem collection.

also, there's kotov's think like a grandmaster, which is almost excellent in my opinion. but it's not especially on combinations, its more about calculation generally.

An interesting one that got great reviews (that I completely agree with) is Valeri Beims "How to Calculate Chess Tactics". It's not a collection of problems (although there are a certain amount to test you on the material covered) but it's about working on your calculation and tactical vision.

Originally posted by Ragnorak
Hey,

I'm trying to work on my combinative play. I've recently read Chess Kids Books of Tactics (for help with coaching positions), Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics, am reading the in-parts excellent Understanding Chess Tactics for the second time, am spending about an hour a day on CTS and am flicking through Reinfeld's 1001 Winning chess combinations a ...[text shortened]... [b]The Art of Chess Combination and Essential Chess Sacrifices.

Thanks,

D[/b]

The only problem with Yasser's book is that it doen't talk about interference tactics

Originally posted by diskamyl
there is dvoretsky's "tactical play." I don't know the content, but it looked serious and is definately not a problem collection.

also, there's kotov's think like a grandmaster, which is almost excellent in my opinion. but it's not especially on combinations, its more about calculation generally.

I think his book "Play Like a Grandmaster" is on combinations but I am not sure about that one.

Originally posted by !~TONY~!
An interesting one that got great reviews (that I completely agree with) is Valeri Beims "How to Calculate Chess Tactics". It's not a collection of problems (although there are a certain amount to test you on the material covered) but it's about working on your calculation and tactical vision.

I got the opportunity to glance at this book and while I agree that it is very good, my initial reaction to it was quite similar to the following excerpt from IM Silman's review:

Now it's time to return to the book's title (and the promise it implies): HOW TO CALCULATE CHESS TACTICS. The author does offer a fresh way of looking at combinations and calculation, though it requires a good deal of thought -- his ideas are anything but basic. Thus, I feel that Grandmaster Beim has given us an important addition to the literature on this topic, and that players from 1900 on up can get a lot out of it. However, players under 1900 might feel a bit put off by the subject's complexity. In fact, they might even become somewhat depressed -- Beim takes it for granted that the calculations he deems as being so simple will prove just as simple for the masses. I don't believe this to be true. And a "how to" book for one level is not necessarily a "how to" for another.

Frankly, I feel that Silman may even be understating the complexity of Beim's book.

Ragnorak: With regard to the query that started this thread, I like your own suggestion of "The Art of Chess Combination" (Znosko-Borovsky). Here are some other possibilities:
Older
"The Basis of Combination in Chess" (Dumont)
"Chess: Middlegame Combinations" (Romanovsky)
"Winning Chess Combinations" (Bouwmeester)
Newer
"Mastering Chess Tactics" (McDonald)
"How To Become A Deadly Chess Tactician" (Lemoir)
"Chess Tactics For The Tournament Player" (Alburt and Palatnik)

There's also a CD by Chessbase, featuring Rustam Kasimdhanov, that is on the topic of how to go about looking for tactics and calculating them. I think it's called, "The Path to Tactical Excellence". I was super impressed with this CD, and I thought it was great, it might be right up your alley.

I also liked Seirawan's book, I think it was one of the most helpful I have read yet.

Originally posted by diskamyl
there is dvoretsky's "tactical play." I don't know the content, but it looked serious and is definately not a problem collection.

also, there's kotov's think like a grandmaster, which is almost excellent in my opinion. but it's not especially on combinations, its more about calculation generally.

I do not know which Kotov book it was, but there was one thing that helped me immensely. While I found his books to be way to advanced for me when I first got them, I kept them for the future. There is one thing i use, which was his "move tree", basically you map out the sequence of moves and see where it leads. Of course, this is supposed to be done "in your head" in OTB play, but I found it interesting and helpful enough to do with this correspondance type of play. I just keep scraps of paper and write out possible moves (candidate moves are what Kotov calls the best options) and my opponents reply, and so on and so on.