1. Joined
    14 Jul '06
    Moves
    20541
    08 Aug '07 20:081 edit
    Originally posted by AProdigy
    It is true that many of the puzzles in CT-ART are mate, but many are not. I wouldn't discount it all as queen sacrifices, either. There are many themes and they may be just been in one that you didn't find benifitial.

    emrald.net, also known as chess tactics server, is also a great resource. It is more geared towards speed chess, as they give you onl ...[text shortened]... more difficult puzzles, often requiring several minutes to solve. Many are unsolvable for me.
    CT-Art is a superb learning tool for anyone 1400+

    I've done over 900 of the positions, although admittedly 300 of them many times over.
    If so many of them are Q sacs for mate that chap must have a different version to mine.
    I also struggle on many of the studies with difficulty level 40 & up.

    P.S
    To get back on topic I'm going through some of the later chapters of A First Book of Morphy setting the games up with an analysis board.
  2. Joined
    19 Jun '06
    Moves
    847
    08 Aug '07 20:09
    Originally posted by buddy2
    i got disgusted with ct-arts after making my hundreth queen sac for mate. Usually at my club you win a pawn and grind it out to the end game. in that sense i think emrald.net is far superior.
    Dan Heisman's tactics book that I mentioned earlier would probably be too easy for you (recommended for under 1500 USCF), but it's very realistic. Not many queen sacs, not too many mate in x moves. And quite a lot of them are just picking up a pawn or winning the exchange, which is often what happens in real games. And that's no coincidence, because most of the tactics problems came from Dan's students' games on ICC.

    It's not a huge book, only 420+ problems, but it looks like Dan spent some time picking a good cross-section of problem types. Only a few significant typos. Several diagrams with a piece or pawn misplaced. Other than that, only a number of minor grammatical mistakes or fairly minor mistakes in the answers (that can pretty much be figured out with a little effort.) Not a bad number of typos for a first edition. Visually, the diagrams are clear and easy to read, but the blue boxes that are supposed to highlight special ideas are hard to read (light blue background with not much darker blue type, ugh!). I think Chesscafe had a review of it not long ago. If anyone if looking for a not-too-hard tactics book, I'd heartily recommend it.

    P.S. - The 3 typos dealing with misplaced pieces are:
    1) Problem 2-69 - Put white king on the g2 square.
    2) Problem 2-70 - Add a black pawn to the h3 square.
    3) Page 143 (Opening Sequence 23) - Remove the queen from the d1 square.
  3. Joined
    19 Feb '05
    Moves
    6190
    08 Aug '07 22:32
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