tactics book sorted by difficulty

jarrasch

NeighborhoodChampion

Only Chess

21 Jul 13 14:48

jarrasch

NeighborhoodChampion

Joined: 24 Feb 07
Moves: 3510

21 Jul 13 14:48

Hi,

can you help me please sort tactics books by difficulty?

Let's start:

Susan Polgar‘s Chess Tactics for Champions
is easier than
Chess School 1b by Ivaschenko
is easier than
Winning Chess Exercises for Kids by Coakly
is ??? than
Weteschnik’s Understanding Chess Tactics
is more less the same level as
Fred Reinfeld’s 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations
is easier than
Palliser’s Complete Chess Workout

I do not know the average difficulty of these books:
Sharpen your tactics - Lein
Chess Tactics - Littlewood

please feel free to continue/correct/expand this list.

thanks!
jarrasch

RJHinds

The Near Genius

Fort Gordon

Joined: 24 Jan 11
Moves: 13644

22 Jul 13 04:54

1 edit

Originally posted by jarrasch
Hi,

can you help me please sort tactics books by difficulty?

Let's start:

Susan Polgar‘s Chess Tactics for Champions
is easier than
Chess School 1b by Ivaschenko
is easier than
Winning Chess Exercises for Kids by Coakly
is ??? than
Weteschnik’s Understanding Chess Tactics
is more less the same level as
Fred Reinfeld’s 1001 Winning Chess Sac ...[text shortened]... ics - Littlewood

please feel free to continue/correct/expand this list.

thanks!
jarrasch

I don't have any of those books. The one tactics book I have that I have completed is "Winning Chess Tactics Illustrated" by I.A. Horowitz. I am almost finished with "Learn Chess Tactics" by John Nunn. The first part of John Nunn's book seems pretty easy, since I have already completed a book on tactics. However, now that I have gotten to the combinations where the tactical ideas are added together, it seems more difficult.

The Instructor

ketchuplover

Isolated Pawn

Wisconsin USA

Joined: 09 Dec 01
Moves: 89226

22 Jul 13 07:28

"Perfect Your Chess" is sufficiently challenging to all imo.

Donald Gehris

Darknight

usa

Joined: 03 Apr 13
Moves: 909

31 Jul 13 02:19

1 edit

I would like to recommend any of Jeremy Silman books, Reassess your Chess, and his complete strategy and endgame books are very good & any chess player can understand & put the principals to work right away.🙂

emperor31

Joined: 25 Sep 09
Moves: 8987

31 Jul 13 06:32

I can't help you sort by difficulty, but don't see why anyone would need to do that as you've listed the two best books on tactics IMHO:

"Chess Tactics" by Littlewood and "Understanding Chess Tactics." Both are gems and will repay dedicated study.

Course in Chess Tactics by Dejan Bojkov and Vladimir Georgiev is awesome, but I'd hold off until you've gone through the other two multiple times. The Dreev/Seirawan game is stunning.

ketchuplover

Isolated Pawn

Wisconsin USA

Joined: 09 Dec 01
Moves: 89226

31 Jul 13 10:18

I'm sour on Susan Polgar & Paul Truong after their "shenanigans" involving the USCF.

DeepThought

Losing the Thread

Quarantined World

Joined: 27 Oct 04
Moves: 87415

31 Jul 13 16:18

1 edit

When I was checking my facts for my post in Thread 154611 for the reference to "inventing games" I found some books I have no recollection of buying. The more mysterious one is "A Short History of Progress" which is totally baffling; the less surprising one is "Excelling at Chess Calculation" by Jacob Aagaard, as at least I can imagine myself buying it. Does anyone know whether it's any good?

jarrasch

NeighborhoodChampion

Joined: 24 Feb 07
Moves: 3510

31 Jul 13 19:41

Originally posted by emperor31
I can't help you sort by difficulty, but don't see why anyone would need to do that as you've listed the two best books on tactics IMHO:

"Chess Tactics" by Littlewood and "Understanding Chess Tactics." Both are gems and will repay dedicated study.

Course in Chess Tactics by Dejan Bojkov and Vladimir Georgiev is awesome, but I'd hold off until you've gone through the other two multiple times. The Dreev/Seirawan game is stunning.

The reason why I would like to have them sorted by difficulty is to set order for studies.
For example, which of the books that you have recommended as gems should be studied first (is easier)?
"Chess Tactics" by Littlewood or "Understanding Chess Tactics?
(I would say that easier is the book which contains combinations of lower depth (plys) on average.)

emperor31

Joined: 25 Sep 09
Moves: 8987

01 Aug 13 02:40

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emperor31

Joined: 25 Sep 09
Moves: 8987

01 Aug 13 02:41

Go with the Littlewood book.

The "Test Your Chess IQ" series is great too (start with vol. 1).

jarrasch

NeighborhoodChampion

Joined: 24 Feb 07
Moves: 3510

01 Aug 13 08:32

Originally posted by emperor31
Go with the Littlewood book.

The "Test Your Chess IQ" series is great too (start with vol. 1).

thanks emperor31 and everyone for hints.
Still, I am waiting for further contribution to this topic 🙂

finnegan

GENS UNA SUMUS

Joined: 25 Jun 06
Moves: 64930

02 Aug 13 19:45

http://www.chesstactics.org/

This is a terrific guide to tactics and available on the net! I really recommend it. I was worried it might disappear while I was working through it. It seems too good to be free. Now I worry it might disappear while I work through it again.