Understanding Chess Tactics

This book teaches basic tactical ideas such as the fork, pin, and discovered attack, and introduces general ideas such as elimination, immobilization and compulsion. A basic knowledge of simple tactics will enable a novice to start winning games, by giving checkmate or capturing material. As the player progresses, his tactical arsenal will broaden, and he will start to play sacrifices and combinations, and develop a deeper understanding of the game. Players who fail to study tactics systematically tend to suffer from tactical blind-spots that plague them throughout their playing career, and thus they fail to realize their full potential.

'Chess is 99% tactics' is an old saying. This may be an exaggeration, but even the remaining 1% still depends on tactics. When Martin Weteschnik started working as a trainer in his local chess club, he quickly realised that even the stronger club players had great weaknesses in their tactical play. He also discovered that simply asking them to solve a huge number of puzzles did not fix the problem. These players clearly needed a good book, but when Weteschnik looked for it he found nothing suitable, so he decided to write it himself. But Weteschnik was not completely satisfied with the book and decided to restructure and rewrite it completely.

The best advice for chess players who want to improve quickly is: get better at tactics! Simply because the vast majority of amateur games is decided through tactics you will immediately start beating more opponents when you improve your tactical skills. Experienced Russian Grandmaster Jakov Neishtadt has selected those examples from the games of masters that have the biggest instructional value for club players. In the first part of the book Neishstadt teaches a systematic course on the most important tactical themes. The second part consist of an exam with hundreds of tests from real-life chess, in random order so as not to give unwelcome hints on how to solve them. The solutions are not just lists of moves, but include instructive prose.

Susan Polgar became the first female Grandmaster at age 15—and it wasn't luck that got her there. Her use of tactics, combinations, and strategy during her games gave her the critical advantage she needed against her opponents. In Chess Tactics for Champions, Polgar gives insight into the kind of thinking that chess champions rely on while playing the game, specifically the ability to recognize patterns and combinations. With coauthor Paul Truong, Susan Polgar teaches the tactics she learned from her father, Laszlo Polgar, one of the world's best chess coaches. • Teaches players how to calculate the effect of a move in order to gain an edge over an opponent • For intermediate to advanced chess players of all ages

WINNER of the ChessCafe 2008 Book of the Year Award SHORTLISTED for The Guardian 2008 Chess Book of the Year Award Why is it that the human brain so often refuses to consider winning chess tactics? Every chess fan marvels at the wonderful combinations with which famous masters win their games. How do they find those fantastic moves? Do they have special vision? And why do computers outwit us tactically? Forcing Chess Moves proposes a revolutionary method for finding winning moves. Charles Hertan has made an astonishing discovery: the failure to consider key moves is often due to human bias. Your brain tends to disregard many winning moves because they are counter-intuitive or look unnatural. It’s a fact of life: computers outdo us humans when it comes to tactical vision and brute force calculation. So why not learn from them? Charles Hertan’s radically different approach is: use COMPUTER EYES and always look for the most forcing move first. By studying forcing sequences according to Hertan’s method you will: Develop analytical precision Improve your tactical vision Overcome human bias and staleness Enjoy the calculation of difficult positions Win more games by recognizing moves that matter. This New and Extended Fourth Edition of Hertan’s award-winning modern classic includes 50 extra pages with new and instructive combinations. There is a foreword by three-time US chess champion Joel Benjamin, and a special foreword to this new edition by Swedish Grandmaster Pontus Carlsson.

Chess Tactics for Kids By Murray Chandler

A mastery of tactics is essential to a competitive chess player, and the original Advanced Chess Tactics became an instant classic in this field. "This book is absolutely superb. For serious players... this volume will provide a wonderful breadth of study material and act as a workbook to advance your skills and understanding of this important topic..." was Carsten Hansen's comment when awarding the book 6/6 stars.This new edition benefits from various analytical tweaks, plus an entirely new chapter dedicated to attacking in the French Defence, an opening which the author knows better than almost anyone, having played it for most of his career. Readers are sure to find this an invaluable addition to the original chapters, which remain usefully categorized by opening or common pawn structure.

This book fills a valuable niche in the ambitious player's library. The authors present each major tactical theme in turn, explaining how it works and providing inspiring examples. They then explain how you can spot the idea in your own games and use it to your advantage.