| Book Review by IM John Donaldson Chess Tactics (Batsford - www.chrysalisbooks.co.uk, 2004, 142 pages, figurine algebraic, paperback, $18.95) by International Master Paul Littlewood is a new edition of a book that was well received when it first appeared in 1984. IM Littlewood, who is a school teacher, follows sound pedagogical principles as he introduces the reader to the building blocks of chess tactics -- pins, skewers, double attacks, discovered attack, back rank combinations, overloading, deflection, decoying, removal of defense, interception, space clearance, zwischenzug and pawn promotion. Each of these themes receives it's own chapter where Littlewood starts out with simple examples and then adds progressively more complex ones. The end of each chapter offers the reader positions to test their newly acquired knowledge -- there are over 150 exercises in the book. There are many tactics books on the market today for beginning to club players making it difficult to choose the right one. I consider Chess Tactics to be one of the best. Players in the range 1200-1800, especially at the lower end, greatly benefit from plenty of explanation to explain tactical ideas. Littlewood provides this and well chosen examples. Consider the following exercise which appears near the end of the book and draws from the tactical themes of removal of defense and smothered mate. Ferarini - Moresi, Italy 1972 W- Qd6; B's b3, e5; Nb5; R's a1, d1; Kh1; P's h2, g3, f2, b2 B - Qh3; Bb6; Na5; R's c8, e8; Ka8; P's a7, e4, f3, g7 Black threatens mate but White is to move. 1.Bd5+ Nb7 2.Qb8+ Rxb8 3.Rxa7+ Bxa7 4.Nc7 mate It might be hard to imagine your average club player, say 1500, finding this combination over the board, but I think he would have an excellent chance if he had read Chess Tactics as White's play can be broken down into easy to understand themes. The club player who reads Chess Tactics cover to cover for a solid foundation and then starts working through various collections of tactical puzzles will be on his way to becoming an Expert (2000). A Practical Guide to Rook Endings (Russell Enterprises: www.chesscafe.com; 2004, 114 pages, algebraic notation, paperback, $14.95) by International Master Nikolay Minev is a special book. Today there seems to be a steady stream of material appearing on the most common of all endings (Rook and pawns), and there are some really good ones out there, works by Emms, Nunn and Dvoretsky come to mind, but that wasn't the case when Minev's book was first published in his native Bulgaria in the early 1980s. Pioneering efforts by Smyslov and Levenfish in the Soviet Union, Gawlikowski in Poland and Cheron in Switzerland had preceded it, but these books were encyclopedic - more for reference than to learn from. A whole generation of Soviet stars like Garry Kasparov and Boris Gelfand praised Minev's original take on the subject which he treated in two parts. The second section of the book, the theoretical one, formed the basis of the Chess Informant Encyclopedia of Rook Endgames volumes. What the reader of A Practical Guide to Rook Endings has is the first section, 114 pages of gold that explain the strategy and tactics of Rook and Pawn endings. It covers the basics like the Philidor and Lucena positions, how to draw when your King is cut off on the short side and frontal defense but goes well beyond this giving the dedicated student a solid foundation that will last a chess career. Minev is a very experienced teacher that explains this concepts clearly and thoroughly. Study this book well and your opponents will think you learned your chess in the Soviet Union! Highly Recommended |