The Times Winning Moves

Most puzzle collections target too broad a skill range, offering too many puzzles that are too easy and/or too hard for me. I'm rated about 1600, and nearly every puzzle in "Winning Moves" was within my ability to solve, yet most offered me a real challenge. I don't read the London Times chess column, so none of the puzzles were familiar to me, even though some positions are from games played by the greats, long ago. Nearly every puzzle is a gem of the tactician's art; delightful to solve and savor. Every major tactical idea is well represented, including opening traps, middle game combinations, and end game finesses. All the answers (in English algebraic notation) were clear and convincing, with no dubious solutions! A book of this type, which is subject to heavy use, benefits from high production values. "Winning Moves" is a quality production with crisp, dark, large type, printed on dense white paper. The plastic laminated cover stock is thicker than on most trade paperbacks, and resists creasing. The book's size is ideal for travel, and is thin enough to hold open easily. The covers are pre-stressed near the spine, to reduce tension on the adhesive binder. My copy is holding up well on this, my third solving of the puzzles. The sharp, and ample-sized (4 per page) diagrams are in the USA standard chess font (Linares). Each diagram has algebraic coordinates along the left side and bottom. The clear diagrams invite solving directly from the page. No need to set up a board, which saves time and prevents cheating. Captions quickly orient the solver to each position, without disclosing motif or method for solving. Each puzzle is identified by players, year, place, and event. All 500 puzzles are presented randomly (not by type) in one section, followed by a solutions section at the end. I have not found any blatant typos or flaws in the analysis (very rare for a modern chess book). There are, however, one or two positions for which I found alternate solutions. I leave these for the clever reader to find. I believe most intent puzzle solvers will agree that this is a truly exceptional puzzle book. Kudos to the London Times editors! I eagerly await their next puzzles offering.

Well, what can I say more? The book is quite slim (so it travels well), there's 500 puzzles from actual games. The puzzles are not divided into any category, which is perfectly OK, because when playing your own games you have to know your tactical stuff well beforehand, you never know what lies within the position. Diagrams are big enough to pleasure your eyes. My only complaint is that there could be more (verbal) analysis with the solutions. But nevertheless, it does its job well. Being 1500 player myself I feel they are perfectly challenging for me. Of course you should get your basic tactics skills honed, and for that job I like Winning chess tactics by Yasser Seirawan, and better yet, CT-ART 3.0 by Blokh (sorry if I remember wrong), Convekta software. 500 puzzles are great number of exercises, it's nice to try to solve these with board, but when travelling, for example, it's a nice companion.