[.ca] Winning Chess Tactics, revised (ISBN 1857443861)

From Amazon.com:
This is the second in Seirawan's four volumes, taking the reader from the very basics of chess through appreciation of advanced play. He does a remarkable job of discussing tactics that usually appear only in books for advanced players and communicating them to anyone with a grasp of playing fundamentals. The first part of the book deals with basic tactics and how they can be used individually and in combination. In the second part, Seirawan introduces some of the great chess tacticians and their games, further illustrating tactics as they work out in real-life play.

Tricks of the Trade:
After finishing Seirawan's and Silman's "Play Winning Chess", I followed up with this book which is the second volume in the authors' "Winning Chess" series. I think this book has plusses and minuses and that the individual needs and expectations of the readers/students can result in very different levels of appreciation. To me, this was a very useful book to get reintroduced to the tricks of the trade that I was familiar with about a quarter of a century ago. The book is very systematic in it's overview of tactical concepts and contains a wealth of problems. At the end of the book the authors provide a kind of exam, that allows you to get an "absolute measure" of tactical skill. My own personal objection to this book is that increase in difficulty through the problem sets tends to be exponential and that the main text of the book provides the novice with very limited tools to tackle the advanced/professional tactics levels. In fact, only after progressing in the third book of this series, "Winning Chess Strategies", for which this volume is a necessary introduction, some of the more advanced problems became accessible to me. The flipside of this, of course, is that non-beginners will also find lots of use in this book. While this book is not perfect, I greatly appreciate the authors' systematic approach and the many structured problems. The chapter on master tacticians is interesting, but will again appeal more to the advanced players. Other reviewers have already commented on especially Seirawan's self congratulatory stance throughout this book. However, dear reader just hold your breath till volume III, where Yasser not only spends some very instructive pages on his crunching of Karpov, but actually has included a whole chapter with examples of games in which he chose faulty strategies.

This is the book that made me fall in love with chess:
First, a disclaimer: I'm not a grandmaster. Far from it. I'd estimate my rating to be somewhere in the 1300's. Without this book, it would probably be about 600 -- scratch that, it would be zero, because I wouldn't be as hooked on chess as I am, and I probably would never get around to playing it. Simply put, Seirawan has THE GIFT. You know -- the very rare ability, among those of world-class skill in any discipline, to actually explain his knowledge clearly to a layman. And to convey not just the knowledge, but also the passion. That is his genius. And this fabulous series of book is the result. If you've got someone on your Christmas list who is getting interested in chess, but -- like most newcomers -- believes that she/he will never be any good at it, give her/him this book! Perhaps give this one and the overview "Play Winning Chess" together. But this the book that will truly change your friend/son/niece/spouse/whomever into a *competent* chess player. One strength of the book is its focus on problems. There are a lot of problems, which appear as the relevant concepts are introduced, and also in the back (so you have to discover for yourself which tactics are involved). The problems are very challenging -- or, they were for me anyway! -- yet completely solvable knowing only what's been taught. This makes them FUN. Yes, I said fun! You might eventually progress far past the level this book is at, but the book will never stop being useful to you. You can still use it as a means to drill yourself -- to see how fast you can spot the solutions, burn the lessons they illustrate into your head, and keep the fundamental patterns fresh in your mind for when you go into battle. Well, I'll stop, but really, this book is beyond excellent and I can't praise it highly enough to match the gratitude I feel toward GM Seirawan for showing me how incredibly awesome this game really is. Thanks, man.

best introduction to tactics for beginners:
I've never seen such a good introduction to tactics. Seirawan explains everything very clearly, with excellent illustrations. Seirawan included several hundred problems in the book. I'd recommend following up this book with Reinfeld's 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations. In fact, if you're a talented player, you might want to skip Seirawan's book and go straight to Reinfeld. But most of us could use Seirawan's book.

Tactics taught using a step-by-step approach:
Summary: After studying an overview of chess (e.g. Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess) a book on tactics is a logical next step. I have purchased several tactics books. I found this one to be the best for teaching the beginner how to effectively recognize tactical opportunities and execute winning tactical sequences. Learn by example? Some tactics books show examples and hope for results. This would be like a golf pro showing me a video of Tiger Woods, and then asking for his fee. I am sorry, but examples of great tactics will often discourage beginners more than educate them. Examples of these types of books include: 1. Combinations, the Heart of Chess 2. Chess Tactics for the Tournament Player Learn through countless exercises? Some tactics books are really puzzle books with about 1000 different diagrams that offer tactical gains. These are useful for the intermediate player, but can cause frustration for those who are not good at calculating a four move combination. Examples include: 1. 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices 2. Sharpen Your Tactics Learn through instruction - the best method Winning Chess Tactics is written with very simple, step-by-step style. "In this section we will learn how each piece can create a fork" Therefore, it is useful for both children and adults. It is repetitive and slowly builds on previous themes, in other words, it teaches. Seirawan uses exercises at the end of each lesson to test your knowledge. One negative - Part 2 (examples of master level tactics) is not very useful in a beginner's book, this space could have been used to provide more instruction. Overall, it is an excellent book and well worth the money. For these reasons, I give it four stars.

Basic material, with advanced tests:
After reading through Part 1 of "Winning Chess Tactics", I felt I had a pretty good grasp of the material Seirawan was presenting-- double attacks, pins, skewers, deflection, decoys, clearance sacrifices, etc. After doing the "Basic Tactics" tests in Part 3, I thought "great, I *do* understand what's going on." Needless to say, I was feeling pretty good about myself and my perceived IQ. Then I hit Chapter Twenty-Two: "Advanced Combinations" tests. After maybe getting half of one test correct, I started wondering, "Am I a total idiot?" I didn't even try the "Professional Combinations". To add insult to injury, based on my score Seirawan admonishes me: "I'll be honest with you, this is not good. You need to carefully read this book again." Somehow I don't feel that reading the book again would help me with those tests. While Seirawan presents the basics very clearly, the tests seem to demand tactical skills and insights which I simply did not pick up along the way. Based on another recommendation, I picked up "Sharpen Your Tactics" by Lein. This book of chess problems seems to progress more gradually in difficulty, though only time will tell if it sharpens me up enough to be "respectable" in Seirawan's eyes.