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Chessville
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303 Tricky Chess Tactics 303 Tricky Checkmates
Reviewed by
Kevin Bidner
Cardoza Publishing, 1999 Softcover, 192 Pages
Tactics, they say, are the heart of chess. To quote the authors of these books, tactics are “the short term maneuvers which always involve either threats, captures or combinations”. The ability to recognize and exploit these short term tactical threats is, at the class-player level, frequently the deciding point in a game. Often the most useful tactic is the unexpected exploitation of a threat that you see, and your opponent does not. Used against us, these tactics represent deadly peril; used against our opponents, pure joy! Even if your opponent sees the trap, often the tension is enough to create a small advantage, and build that into a winning game… but one has to see these opportunities in order to exploit them. The tactical wizardry of the great players seems the stuff of the Gods, the unobtainable realm of the immortals, but contrary to popular belief, tactics are a learned skill that anyone, with a little work can develop. OK, I lied. It takes a lot of work! These books represent a good starting point. Developing a feel for tactics begins with building your “pattern recognition”, i.e. the ability to quickly recognize positions which contain the elements of tactical opportunities. Pattern recognition takes practice, practice, practice, and for that a few “power tools” can greatly shorten the path to success. Two books “303 Tricky Checkmates” and “303 Tricky Chess Tactics”, by Fred Wilson and Bruce Albertson are a terrific way for anyone from beginner to advanced intermediate to gain, develop, and hone those skills, and build the knowledge and pattern recognition tools that will improve your tactical abilities. I found both 303 Tricky Chess Tactics and 303 Checkmates to be a great set of books because of the quality of the presentation and the material. Presentation It was immediately apparent that professional educators prepared these books. They are beautifully simple, and that is what makes them so good. Large diagrams (2 per page) make them easy to read and visualize with, and the organization of the material has been carefully thought out to accelerate the learning experience. In both books, positions for both black and white are organized around the major tactical motifs. Introductions and explanations are given to explain the mechanics of the concept. The chapters start with easier problems, then move on to progressively harder examples. There is real value in having the material structured in this way in that as we work through a group of problems we are building and reinforcing a pattern recognition set around a recognizable positional structure. Tactical sense depends on rapid recognition of the motif’s that lead to tactical opportunities. Repetitive reinforcement of a concept is the required foundation we need to practice. These books provide the means to do so. Material. One can sense immediately that the material chosen for these books is from real games, and have been very carefully selected for their instructional value. Obviously a lot of work and care went into these selections and the value of this cannot be overstated. The positions themselves are great teachers that can be worked through layer by layer, i.e. initial observation may yield up a hint of a weakness or a familiar pattern, more work allows us to notice how the opportunity can be exploited to a win. Taking the time to analyze these positions will yield a rich reward in laying the foundations of tactical pattern recognition. The nice thing is that these books can go anywhere with you and the nice big diagrams lend themselves to being used just about anywhere, with good results.
I personally
found spending time with both theses books very worthwhile. Having just
finished Reinfeld’s 1001 Brilliant Checkmates, and 1001 Winning Chess
Sacrifices and Combinations, I found these books better organized, with
better quality material, and therefore more helpful. I think the authors did
a very good job of these books, and don’t hesitate in recommending them for
the purpose they are intended: practice… practice… practice!
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By Fred Wilson, Bruce Albertson
