Tactics book

It's hard to go wrong with the classics like Reinfield's "1001 Checkmates," or "1001 Sacrifices and Combinations." Also good is Chernev's "Combinations: The Heart of Chess," Renaud and Kahn’s “The Art of the Checkmate,” and Rudolf Spielmann’s “The Art of Sacrifice in Chess.” A couple of weeks ago, I read the McDonald book that was cited earlier and enjoyed it quite a bit. There were a couple of typos and it probably could have used one more pass by an editor, but overall, it was very instructive. I think it was published in 2003, so there were many examples from recent tournament praxis including a plethora of examples (winning and losing) from British GM Michael Adams. Lastly, I'd like to mention Yuri Averbakh's "Chess Tactics for Advanced Players." After you learn basic tactics and combinational motiffs, this book ties it all together and shows you how to apply what you've already learned. If you get this far, I have one final recommendation for your becoming a tactical wizard -- go through some game collections by the masters of attack: Alekhine, Keres and Spassky.

maybe chess modern tactics, by ludek pachman is an option. It's an old book, in descriptive notation, I don't know if there are new editions of it

Originally posted by Wulebgr
Tactics collections from real games that use checkmate threats and other tactical motifs to reach a winning endgame may be more practical...

Any suggestions?

I expect I'm about a 1500 or so player, so something geared for that level would be good. Don't let my rating fool you. I play my friend all the time, and he's weak, so my rating steadily goes up by 4 points. I need to start playing him unrated. But I digress.

Originally posted by magnublm
I have the BIG book "CHESS: 5,334 Problems, Combinations, and Games" by Polgar. Would any of you recommend that as a solution to what RahimK's recommended? Or is it no good for whatever reason(s)?

--
Brent

I have the book too. It is huge and cost me about $10. It's not a bad book, it's just that there's better out there. "The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book" by Emms which I mentioned earlier is better. at least for the purposes we're talking about here, because it combines problems where the solution is checkmate with those that win material, the problems are from real games, and they are computer checked. (It's also easier to carry around.) Considering the time you will spend with the book if you use it properly it's well worth spending more. Polgar's book does look impressive on the shelf though, even in paperback.

Originally posted by Skorj
I have the book too. It is huge and cost me about $10. It's not a bad book, it's just that there's better out there. "The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book" by Emms which I mentioned earlier is better...

Polgar's book does look impressive on the shelf though, even in paperback...

Thanks for the book advice, and, yes, the Polgar book does look impressive on the shelf. :-)

Originally posted by der schwarze Ritter
It's hard to go wrong with the classics like Reinfield's "1001 Checkmates," or "1001 Sacrifices and Combinations." Also good is Chernev's "Combinations: The Heart of Chess," Renaud and Kahn’s “The Art of the Checkmate,” and Rudolf Spielmann’s “The Art of Sacrifice in Chess.” A couple of weeks ago, I read the McDonald book that was cited earlier ...[text shortened]... rough some game collections by the masters of attack: Alekhine, Keres and Spassky.

Thats alot Black Knight that was helpful.

Originally posted by magnublm
Thanks for the book advice, and, yes, the Polgar book does look impressive on the shelf. :-)

I was in a barnes and nobles a few years back, with my fiance, a former chess player, and i saw that paperback in the marked down section, selling for less then $10. I was about to get it, when she complained "you have too many chess books, allready" Allright, so i put it down.
Recently looked for it online, and saw it was still around $16, and more with shipping.
Saw it the other day at B & H, and paid full price, (minus a 10% discount)
What i like about it is the 600 minuture games (combinations)
I plan to read them all, as soon as i can.
The tactics, i guess get harder as you go. They seem easy so far
I heard the russians study all the easy tactics first, so they never miss one, when it presents itself.
5000+ is a lot of puzzles, but i bet its worth a few hundred rating points with reading or 2

I have the perfect book for you. ECO's Anthology of chess combinations. There are almost 3000 combinations and none of them are easy. I have about an hour and a half between classes and it took me all 90 minutes to eat a foot long subway sandwich and finish about 30 of them. They are very instructive but by no means easy at all. You will probably have to order it off the internet but it's well worth it. Hardback too!