[.ca] Understanding Chess Tactics (ISBN 9197524425)

Lives up to its name!:
In this book, FM Weteschnik takes a different path from traditional 'find the best move' books on tactics. Instead, he aims to help the reader understand the conditions that must exist in order for various tactical motifs to suceed. I have to give him credit as he (or his translator) does an excellent job of articulating the requirements for pins, forks, etc. In so doing, he forces you to try to look past the notion of finding a shot and to look instead at whether or not the conditions warrant looking for one. His tinking is that noticing certain elements in the position should lead us to look for tactics to exploit them. The examples he chooses are excellent; especially because he does not take all the classics we have seen a dozen times. The positions can be appreciated for their own sake and enjoyed without the text. Another excellent feature of this book is that it provides enough diagrams that it can be read without a set and board. This is excellent practice in visualization added to the tactical training. Plenty of books claim they can be read without a set, but this is one of the few I have seen that lives up to its promise. As with other books from Quality Chess, the production standards are excellent and the writing is of a high order.