Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games

Patterns are the Brick of Chess - you must instantly be able to recognize these mating patterns automatically to succeed tactically in chess. Practice, Practice, Practice. This book POUNDS into you the mating patterns you need to know in a way that is actually palatable to most. At times it may seem tiring, but if you were to complete this book you'd be much the better player tactically if for no other reason than you'd be more aware of the vast number of maitng and tactical patterns that exist in chess, exist in your games to be played, and will find existed in your games of the past. As a tactical resource, this is one of the best chess pattern practice books out there, bar none.

This thing is awesome. I bought it just to put my order over the free shipping limit, and it's huge! Guess I should have guessed that of a book with 5334 chess problems. Unlike many books of this sort, I have not yet found a single error after working many problems, which totally undermines the value of the books that harbor them. It has a great variety of problems for all levels and moods. Sometimes I just want a quick-paced workout, going from one tactical problem to the next. The mate in one and mate in two problems are wonderful for that. When I feel particularly well-focused, I can attempt the games. Should I ever actually complete all the puzzles in this book - which I seriously doubt - by that time I'm sure I can start over and they'll all be perfectly fresh again. A book of truly inexhaustible value.

I would say this is the best chess book I've seen my whole life, and the one that took my playing really up in very little time.You won't find any text in the book, just diagrams with mates in one, two, and three moves, and that is what's going to make you a better player, forget all the opennings books.Just to tell you what happened to me thanks to this book, I was a 1200 player on the Internet, after spending my time with this book and solving five puzzles every day, after a month I became a 1700 player, and each time I dropped the book, my Internet rating dropped with it, but went up again after I started solving puzzles again.Unfortunately I haven't been able to play much for a while because of work, but I can assure you that if you solve five puzzles every day of the more that 3,000 that are in this book, your game will improve dramatically in no time.

The first thing to note is that this is book has a decent 'weight vs. price' ratio. The second nice thing is that yes, this was written by the father of the famous Polgar sisters.This book is approximately 85% chess problems and of that, about 15% mate in one, 60% mate in two, and 25% mate in three +. The problems basically consist of a picture of a chess board and you have to find the mating move(s). This book is excellent for what it is - a book of problems and solutions. It helps you visualize what mate looks like, trains your eye to recognize forcing moves and tactics, and keeps your mind always on the ultimate goal. I kept noticing that after reading this book for a while and then playing a few games, that I could feel my thoughts heading more directly to mating strategies and potential sacrifices etc.I've given this book 5 stars because it does exactly what it's supposed to do. If you want a book on openings or chess analysis, this obviously isn't the book for you.