Practical Chess Exercises: 600 Lessons from Tactics to Strategy Reviews

• Great Exercises, Lacking Theory

  
  By A3UTLDEY638EZP on 2008-09-12
  This is my first foray into the chess book market, so to be fair, I have to stipulate at the start that I don't have anything with which to compare this book. Nonetheless, what I find lacking about this book is any explanation into the theory of good chess play. What are objectives in 'start-game', 'middle-game', and 'end-game' sequences? What are the foundations to a great game? What makes a good player? How does one learn to look at the board? These are questions that are completely ignored by this book. Rather, it has a very brief introduction, and jumps directly into exercises. No theory is provided. No base with which to start.
  
  I felt that the author makes certain assumptions about my chess knowledge. Here, I may be showing my ignorance in not knowing, but I don't know the names of many strategies, and even found it difficult to understand the grid movements on the board.
  
  I like the exercises, and feel I have much to gain from this book. But first I want to read a book that outlines common strategies (such as, control the middle of the board, and why), goals, motives during the game, and maybe gives me some coaching on how to deal with the one's own psyche during the game (i.e. how to react if I miscalculate or lose an important piece during play). I don't know if such a book exists, but I have to keep looking
  
  I want to come back to this book when I want to practice thinking about specific chess positions. At the moment, I'm looking for a book that will boost my foundation and give me a better base in the game I love.
  
  

• A Holistic Approach to Chess Training

  
  By A3I6YCXC4WNSRL on 2007-06-19
  Refreshingly, here's a collection of chess puzzles that mixes tactical
  problems with strategic ones, plus some on defense and prophylaxis.
  The problems themselves are not necessarily harder than the ones you
  see elsewhere, but the fact that all these themes are blended together
  means that you have to go through your full mental checklist to
  evaluate the position and select the appropriate course of action.
  Some of the strategy problems, derived from the classics, are really
  quite nice. If you've paid your dues in the tactics department and
  want to continue your chess training on a broader and more holistic
  basis, this book may be just what you need. I have been working
  through these exercises myself, and I plan to give selected problems to
  my students to analyze and study. There should be more chess training
  books written with this philosophy. Dr. Nunn...Yaz...how about it?
  
  
  
  

• Concise and useful puzzle book

  
  By AXHXJ41ZJZUGZ on 2007-09-23
  We all know most chess puzzle books -- "White to mate in 3", "Black with a fork", etc. This book has no hints, just six positions on a page, with the color that has the move. Plus, they are not all "to win" positions, sometimes it is the best defensive more, sometimes it is avoid the blunder, etc.
  
  This format makes it very useful for actual chess training, as these are real positions for non-GM games. They are randomized by theme and difficulty, so you never know what is coming next.
  
  Furthermore, the positions are on the left-hand page and the solutions are on the right-hand page. The book is also a very convenient 5.5" x 8.5", so you can fold a standard piece of paper in two, place it between the puzzles and the solutions, and it serves as a shield for the answers as well as a bookmark.
  
  The only problem I have with the book is that the puzzles are numbered from top to bottom on the left column, and then to the right column, rather than reading left to right first, and then down. But this is extremely minor flaw to what is an excellent chess puzzle book.
  
  
  

• This is a must have chess exercises book

  
  By A1WJBTWSSB711M on 2008-03-06
  I have been away from chess for quite some time, in fact, I haven't played it seriously since the 5th and 6th grade. Now that I'm in graduate school, and I need something to "sharpen my mind" after lots of reading and writing, I have turned to chess to hopefully exercise the "other part" of my brain (whether the "chess" part of the brain is the same as the reading and writing part of it, I don't know, this is why I'm in history not science).
  
  This is the first book that I have ever bought concerning chess puzzles, and I must say I am very impressed. Cheng mixes in puzzles of different difficulty levels and simply asks you to make the best move. He doesn't tell you if there is a two move checkmate, or if you are looking for a winning fork, you simply have to study the board and make the best choice. This choice can be anything from creating a space advantage, to an outpost for your Knight, to a fork, to a consolidation of your position, to preventing your opponent from mating you, etc. All you know is that you are either black or white and you must make the best move. I sincerely hope that Cheng comes out with another such book very soon. I am only 80 puzzles into it, and I would definitely consider buying another such book with this format. No hints, no themes, no # of moves to checkmate, simply make the best move. It's brilliant!
  
  

• Nifty companion for a chess-man.

  
  By A373ZCB1AYOZC on 2008-03-31
  Yes, I truly think so, though neither I possess or study chess books on a regular basis. I am just a 1600-1700 ranked player who does not spend much time for studying.
  Concept is similar to "How Good is Your Chess" by Larry Evans, but this time you do not have 3 options to chose from. I prize selection of board's positions - they teach! Solutions are well explained and SHORT.
  You have about 100 pages (6 puzzles on each), so if you take one page a day or two, pleasure will last about 1/2 a year. The only draw-back is the size of board squares. I wish they were bigger (format/or number of pages should be larger).
  
  
• Great Teaching Book
  By A2E5LSPHR6AMKW on 2007-07-19
  I teach chess to a high-school-age group and am starting to use this new book because it was recommended on the Internet Chess Club. I'm only about 40% through it, but so far it's absolutely fantastic! What I like about these exercises is that they are equivalent to a real-world chess experience: you don't know in advance what kind of position you've got. There could be a mate or some positional idea, and you don't know how difficult the problem is. Most books give you a problem and then tell you what to look for. It's challenging!
  The exercises aren't for beginners, but not for grandmasters, either. A good book for the average player to advance with.
  
  
  
  
  
• The best collection of real-life test positions!
  By AZED11O4APE4T on 2008-04-12
  This book is an outstanding collection of tests on various themes in chess (not only tactics, but also attack, defense, threat identification, counterplay, openings, middlegame, endgame, the thought process, positional play and strategy). The examples are unique here, as John Watson puts it simply in the introduction: "Ray's understanding of the ways in which amateurs oversight that don't occur to the masters who usually write exercise books." This is the key advantage of the collection, which provides very instructive feedback on every test position (running from easy * to very difficult **** regardless of the theme, good for identifying one's weaknesses). The level is about 1600-2000. I hope this approach will become a new popular way to write chess training books for all levels!
  
  
• a different type of puzzlebook
  By A25YW7ROYB2J6A on 2007-10-02
  This book is different in that the correct answer can be a positional move or tactical or defensive. Of course this is like a real game and the book is good for beginning to intermediate players.
  
  
• great book
  By A3FUMB4NL2LNL7 on 2008-07-26
  This is a great book. I think every chess player should get as much information as possible on chess. Thats what I think. I've been playing for a long time. But slacked off a bit. So I recently got back into it. I play every day on my computer. And lose the majority of the time. Out of about 2,3oo games I won a little over 500. So I got a little tired of that and said to myself that you shoul get a couple of books. Thats why I purchased this book. I'm still reading it but It's helping me out.
  
  
• Good enough
  By A2YORZK95DPO5B on 2008-02-10
  This book is a good for every level of player. I have picked up a few moves from it and it has lead me to think a lot more when playing. A must have in my opinion.
  
  
• Practical Chess Exercise
  By on 2007-06-26
  I like this book very much. My teacher gave it to me to work on for our talk out loud lessons. It helps me learn a lot about chess tactics, attack and defense. It is good for practice when you don't have another player.
  
  
• Absolutely recommended
  By A21RNJ4RRBDY0Y on 2007-09-29
  This book is a fantastic collections of problems to solve, without any order, and it is composed of a variety of themes: defense, tactics, attack, positional sacrifices, zugwang, counter-attack, etc etc.
  Very usefull as you solve the problems as if you were at the board on an offical game.
  
  
  
• Review of the book
  By A1OIQ8IXA4FPEI on 2007-11-28
  Fabulous book. Everybody at the beginer level (which I am) should read this book. It talks about real word problems..and not problems like 'mate in 2/3/4 moves' which hardly happen on the borad and are mostly computer generated.
  It improves your positional understanding of the board..and you start improving your game unknowingly. Must read for the beginers.
  
  
• My Personal Idea about this book
  By A3VLFU64Y4O7N9 on 2008-03-29
  Excellent way of presenting the lessons (6 problems on each page; solutions found on the successive page). Important tactics, instructive strategies, mandatory endgame problems...
  
  Without any instruction about the position except "White to Move"/"Black to Move", the player will try to find not only a combination but a stalemate, a positional pawn sacrifice, an essential opening principle, a critical endgame theory...
  
  I would have preferred to elaborate the solutions more.
  Sometimes, a sequence of one - two - or three moves are given in the solution without detailed analysis...
  
  
  
• not a problem/puzzle book
  By A29QR7YGN2RM1G on 2008-08-14
  First of all, I'd like to say that this is not a problem or puzzle book. As Cheng points out, if you rely on problem books, your mind channels into that mind set and you are constantly looking for mates in four or queen sacs which rarely occur. This book presents positions from amateur games (with a few master's games sprinkled in). They are typical positions which present simple tactics or strategic decisions or defensive moves, in other words you are not given anything to look for beforehand (as in your own games) so you have to think for yourself and scan the board for the best move in this particular situation. He doesn't even rate the difficulty until after you have made your choice. I had previously worked on CT-Arts problem series software and realized after finding five queen sacs leading to mate, that this wasn't real chess. Mr. Cheng's book is as close to real chess as I have seen. I was thinking he should create something on cd or dvd software based on this book or even more examples. But the book, as it is, is logically arranged. No more flipping to the back for the solution to the position. It's on the facing page and all you have to do is cover it up. Minor comments: slightly larger diagrams would help. Numbering left to right, as someone mentioned. Also, putting the color to move at the bottom of the diagram, rather than have all whites at bottom. I'm not sure if this would be a typographical issue, but there you are. I have only gone through about ten percent of problems, but have already learned a lot and have been kicking myself for stupid decisions, just as i do in real games. Congratulations to Mr. Cheng for this book, and perhaps he will expand into the software field in the future.
  
  
• Truly Useful
  By A18GTN5ZU74AHF on 2008-08-21
  
  The 1st word in the title is key, this book is _very_ practical.
  
  I suppose there aren't many chess books that will actually weaken your game, but I haven't come across any other that should really help an intermediate player more than this one. It's based on a novel, but seemingly obvious, concept that the answer to chess problem shouldn't be telegraphed in any way beforehand. Also, the positions shown are not simply of the white/black "to play and win" variety - you could just be trying get a draw from behind. You aren't told whether there's a mate hiding in there or simply a positional improvement. The key may be in noticing your opponent's threat, not yours. In other words, the problems represent challenges very much like those real players find themselves faced with on a regular basis.
  
  It just seems obvious that preparing with real-life problems with real-life solutions is a better use of your time than pondering over where's the mate in 3 when you know there's a mate in 3, etc.
  
  In short, a great book for intermediate-to-advanced chess players. It's a whole bunch of chess brain-teasers of the best variety. It's extremely handy when you want something very portable to keep you entertained for an indeterminate amount of time - like waiting at an airport. It's also handy if you just want to wake your brain up for a few minutes before you do something else. I'm sure I'll be sorry when I've finished this. I hope Mr. Cheng comes up with a volume 2 by then!
  
  There are a few minor points I could complain about. I think the arrangement of the illustrations s/h/b somewhat different (left/right before top/bottom) and it seems like the difficulty levels shown are occasionally a little off. A further break with tradition by showing "black to move" problems from the black side would have been welcome also. But, REALLY these are insignificant issues compared to the power of the concept and the excellent problems in this book.
  
  I'll just add that, for what it's worth, I was recently playing blitz against an A-level friend and I came up with a winning move in a complex position that stunned both of us. It was the kind of thing I would have probably missed in a long tournament game and I came up with it in seconds. I don't think I would've seen that move if I hadn't been exercising my brain with this book - and I'm not even halfway through.
  
  For a combination of originality, usefulness and just plain fun, this book definitely deserves 5 stars.
  
  
  
• A chess puzzle book - for the thought process
  By A2V3EAV9TKJ2EN on 2008-01-24
  I think the other reviews describe this excellent chess puzzle book quite well. There is nothing like this book, maybe Khmelnitsky "Chess Exam And Training Guide" come close to this book.
  
  So when you have no idea what to do or expect, you are so close a real game situation. That makes this book an extraordinary training materiel for the thought process.
  
  Together with "Winning chess exercises for kids" this is the best chess puzzle book for players rated 1200-1650.
  
  Is this an award-winning book 2007?
  
  
• Innovative Book
  By A3J1ES04D3UX0Y on 2008-03-10
  In all my years of studying chess, I've never come across such a novel and simple concept for a chess book. Actually, Hort's The Best Move, comes close to this, however that's out of print. This book mirrors it, but with more exercises.
  
  
• AN ORIGINAL, & HELPFUL, IDEA!
  By A3USZE85GAEOCN on 2008-04-06
  Six diagrams on the left, six short solutions on the right. What's so original? The diagrams are strewn at random, an easy fork, a deep combination, a bit of opening theory, what ever. It's as if you had wandered into a club and started looking over shoulders. That means one must study EVERYTHING before thinking of an answer. Not unlike real life. The author says to cover the right hand page with a card; well of course. The problems are very well selected. I think that I might learn something here.
  
  
• Best tactics and/or strategy book I've used
  By AXGN7O1YLWRJK on 2008-01-21
  If you're looking for a book to improve your rating and chess strategical knowledge this book is the best I've seen.
  
  Excellent book!
  
  
• Tournament Conditions reproduced here
  By A25LB0358CCXD4 on 2008-04-24
  One of the best puzzle book I'read.
  It reproduces tournament conditions because no hints on problems and they varies from tactics, to strategy to openings. Also, difficulty is mixed on easy, medium, hard and very hard.
  So, start your clock and think like in a tournament. Find the best move ! May be you have to defend yourself and thats the solution !.
  Excelent book !
  
  
• Good Problems
  By A3GE7CCXKPM9FI on 2008-07-07
  Good book as chess coach. Good instruction material as well as useful lessons for myself.
  
  
• an extremely practical offering
  By AWGPAR55CEBGX on 2008-08-08
  This is definitely a 5 star item. I agree with all the above positive comments, so I won't repeat them here. Basically you see a board position from real life games and you have to figure out the best move, which may be just a positional move, such as putting your rook behind a passed pawn, or you may have to avoid a trap or a mate three moves ahead. There are absolutely no hints on what may be the issue. I photocopy a few pages of problems, not the solutions, and carry them in my pocket to evaluate when I am somewhere where I have time to spare. The ability to have folded sheet(s) of paper in my pocket, rather than a full book, makes this an extremely practical offering.
  
  
• Best Chess exercise book availalbe!
  By A5YIWLSN7T85E on 2008-09-12
  The 600 exercises in Ray Cheng's "Practical Chess" let you approach learning much as you would a real game -- exercises are displayed on one page, and possible solutions are revealed on the next page.There are all kinds of problems, tactical and positional, and they're not labeled so it's more fun and more challenging than most chess book exercises. The Kindle version is awesome. A great find.
  
  
• practical chess exercises
  By A1NMZS8X0Y9UE5 on 2008-09-13
  this is a great chess book for the kindle. love how the exercises seem random and there are no clues like a real game. and the solutions are revealed by turning the page. simple but clever. highly recommend. but skip the front matter. you can hyperlink to thesymbol keys from each exercise.
  
  

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