Tactics Books

The diverse set of tactical ideas involving a bishop and knight in the finale will enable them to gain a deeper understanding of how the bishop and knight pair combine.

The diverse set of tactical ideas involving a single queen in the finale will enable you to gain a deeper understanding of the queen’s resourcefulness

The diverse set of tactical ideas involving a single king in the finale will enable you to gain a deeper understanding of the king’s resourcefulness.

This tactics book by FIDE Senior Trainer Grandmaster Jakov Geller teaches the reader how to create mate threats and execute them using a mixture of combination techniques, as well as how to deploy all key defensive techniques to combat mate threats. Unlike most tactics books, the text provides readers with a detailed explanation of all elements of a mating combination, both individually and when combined with others. This knowledge enables the reader to identify tactical opportunities in their game and execute them or defend against them with confidence.

This book contains 1,000 carefully selected examples, of which 924 are exercises for the reader to solve. They begin with simple one-move illustrations of the concepts and then go on to more complex tests, with many featuring combinations of 5-6 moves and sometimes more. The book is split into 28 chapters, the majority of which focus on defending against mate threats. Nine defensive techniques are given their own chapters. With every new defensive technique studied, the combinations in subsequent chapters become increasingly diverse. The difficulty level of exercises in each chapter hence gradually increases.

This work is a direct sequel to the book 1500 Forced Mates published by the author with Elk and Ruby in 2021 and is intended for a wide audience of chess improvers.

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Boost Your Chess 1 continues Artur Yusupov’s Fundamentals series, helping players to build their skills on solid foundations. Yusupov guides the reader towards a higher level of chess understanding using carefully selected positions and advice. This new understanding is then tested by a series of puzzles.

Artur Yusupov was ranked No. 3 in the world from 1986 to 1992, just behind the legendary Karpov and Kasparov. He has won everything there is to win in chess except for the World Championship. In recent years he has mainly worked as a chess trainer with players ranging from World Champion Anand to local amateurs in Germany, where he resides.

Winner of the 2009 Boleslavsky Medal from FIDE (the World Chess Federation) as the best instructional chess books in the world (ahead of Garry Kasparov and Mark Dvoretsky in 2nd and 3rd place).

TACTICS TRAINER AVAILABLE! Working on chess tactics and checkmates will help you win more games. It develops your pattern recognition and your ‘board vision’ – your ability to capitalize on opportunities. This Workbook features a complete set of fundamental tactics, checkmate patterns, exercises, hints, and solutions. Peter Giannatos selected 738 exercises based on ten years of experience with thousands of pupils at the prize-winning Charlotte Chess Center. All problems are clean, without unnecessary fluff that detracts from their instructive value. The Workbook has ample room for writing down the solutions to the exercises. This is helpful for both students and coaches, who can assign homework from the book without having to worry about being unable to review the solutions. And writing down the correct chess moves will greatly accelerate your learning process. Everyone’s First Chess Workbook offers you a treasure trove of chess knowledge and more than enough lessons to keep you busy for a year!

The diverse set of tactical ideas involving two knights in the finale will enable them to gain a deeper understanding of how the knight pair combines.

The diverse set of tactical ideas involving two bishops in the finale will enable them to gain a deeper understanding of how the bishop pair combines.

In this groundbreaking work, award-winning chess coach and author Frisco Del Rosario shines a long-overdue light on this neglected aspect of Capablanca’s record. He illustrates how the Cuban genius used positional concepts to build up irresistible king hunts, embodying the principles of good play advocated by the unequaled teacher, C.J.S. Purdy. The author also identifies an overlooked checkmate pattern – Capablanca’s Mate – that aspiring attackers can add to the standard catalogue in Renaud and Kahn’s The Art of the Checkmate. As Del Rosario shows, Capablanca has inspired not only generations of players, but also many of the classics of chess literature.

It is hard to understate the importance of tactic ability to overall chess proficiency. Of course other elements such as a knowledge of opening play and an understanding of strategy are also important. However, it is undoubtedly the case that 99% of games are won or lost because one player either spots or overlooks a tactic. Consider your own games and just imagine how much stronger you would be if you never overlooked a tactical idea.

The good news is that your tactical ability is not some genetically-acquired unalterable trait. Tactical ability can always be improved through the application of diligent practice. Tactical themes are repetitive. The same arrangements of pieces occur again and again and a continual study of the subtle interactions between the forces will inevitably lead to a greater sharpness in actual play.

In Tactical Training, experienced chess coach and prolific author Cyrus Lakdawala guides the reader through numerous tactical themes. Topics include:

– Checkmating patterns,

– The 32 major combinational concepts,

– Numerous positions ranked in terms of level of difficulty.

The final chapter focuses on a 2020 online match between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, currently the top two ranked players in blitz, the form of chess where tactics predominate.