Winning chess tactics pgn3/16/2024 ![]() ![]() Jeff Coakley's series (which begins with Winning Chess Strategy for Kids mentioned above) also has two volumes called Winning Chess Puzzles for Kids Volume 1 and Volume 2, which have fairly easy exercises of the basic tactics but are also filled with other fun features like "Switcheroos" (switch two pieces to make it checkmate) and "Who's the Goof" (figure out what's wrong about a position) that makes the book a little less monotonous.Īnother great puzzle book that is a little bit harder is Chess Tactics for Champions by Suan Polgar and Paul Truong. The first chapter (which the book calls "stages") is very easy, but they gradually become harder. This book is also available in two volumes titled Chess School 1a and 1b. ![]() It is a fun and inspiring way to learn about these ideas.Īs I've said, there are many introductory tactics books, so it's not necessary that you pick this one in particular (and truth be told, Coakley's Winning Chess Strategy for Kids covers basic tactics as well, so at this point, you can really skip to the puzzle books mentioned in the next section), but I chose this one because I found the stories inspirational and entertaining.Īt this point, it's a good idea to get some easy tactics puzzle books to practice the tactical motifs shown in Waitzkin's Attacking Chess or similar instructive book.Īn easy first puzzle book is Chess School 1 The Manual of Chess Combinations by Sergey Ivashchenko. ![]() This book will familiarize you with some of the basic tactical motifs like Forks, Pins, Discovered Attacks, etc., and shows these motifs in the context of his own games, backed up by the stories behind those games. There are many good books that teach the basic tactical motifs and mating patterns, but one that I really like because it is filled with inspirational stories is Josh Waitzkin's Attacking Chess. Many coaches agree that at the beginner to intermediate level, the first thing to focus on is tactics and mating patterns. Once you've familiarized yourself with the basics and have a good overview of all the parts of the game, as covered in Play Winning Chess and Winning Chess Strategy for Kids, it is time to delve into specific aspects. The book is organized as a series of "lessons" (covering such things as basic strategy, endgames, openings strategy, etc.) interspersed with fun features on the basic tactics, chess lingo, and more. It covers endgames, tactics, openings, and more and is written in a very fun and accessible manner. To balance Seirawan's high-level approach (Force, Time, Space, and Pawn Structure), I next recommend Jeff Coakley's Chess Strategy for Kids for a detailed and comprehensive introduction to all the basic chess concepts you need to get you to an intermediate level. This book is the only one I know of that does this on a level that is accessible to an absolute beginner. ![]() It's important for beginners to be exposed to the idea that positional chess is not just about winning material, promoting a pawn, and checkmating your opponent, but rather about making all the elements of a position fit into your overall plan. This book does cover the basic rules in the first chapter, but so do countless other books on "how to play chess." What makes this book different is that despite being a beginner book, it presents chess strategy through the framework of Force, Time, Space, and Pawn Structure (which maps roughly onto the more commonly referred to MTQ - Material Time Quality framework) rather than jumping straight into tactics, endgames, basic openings, etc., as most beginner books do. Skip to the bottom of the article for the list of books I recommend in bullet form.įirst up is what I think is the best introductory book on the market: Play Winning Chess by Yasser Seirawan. Here's my list of best books I think would get any adult learner from beginner to expert. ![]()
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