Tactics Move by Move

Hi, I have been around the block a few times and am an experienced Chess master and Chess coach.

I have seen a few tactics books in my day, and grew up on books like Fred Reinfeld's 1001 Checkmates and 1001 Winning Sacrifices. All the strong players I knew in those days had worked through quite a few tactical puzzles.

Why learn tactics?

The most important skill in chess is tactical skill. The stronger the player, the faster they can see tactics.

There are several ways in which tactics help your Chess skill.

• You can win your opponent's pieces and even checkmate checkmate them with tactics. You can even use tactics to win all their pieces. This is my recommended strategy.
• By seeing tactics that might happen, you can stop your opponent by winning all your pieces and checkmating you.
• You learn to recognise positions that are tactically weak. This means you can reduce your chances of having tactical weaknesses.
• You learn to recognise positions that are tactically strong. This means you can increase your chances of having tactical chances.

Avoiding Blunders

A point has been made that studying tactics will now help you so much. This is because you may only have a few tactical opportunities per game.

However, almost every move you have the chance of making a tactical blunder.

Tactical skill is invaluable in checking whether a move is safe or not, before you play it!

What features would I like to see in a tactics book?

Like with many things, there are pros and cons with different approaches. Here are some of the approaches I have used and why.

Do you have White at the bottom of a diagram or do you have the winning side at the bottom?

With a tactical book, I prefer the side to move at the bottom, just as in a real game you see the board from your side, not from White's side all the time.

What order do you put positions in?

Some books put them in random order. For example, a mate in 12 may be followed by a mate in one. This has the advantage that the reader needs to be on their toes. They don't know what to expect.

Some books group puzzles by theme. There may be different sections on Knight forks, Queen sacrifices etc.

Some books put them in approximate order of difficulty.

This is my preferred approach and the one used in this book.

Puzzles in Book 1 can be solved by seeing only 1, 2 or 3 moves ahead. This increases to 4, 5, 6 and more moves ahead in Book 2.

Where to put the answers?

Older books tended to put them in a separate section at the end of the book or chapter. This was annoying because you had to look up the answer and go back to the position.

Some older books and more recent ones, put the answer immediately after the position. One book I read put the answer on the same page. This is not a good idea if you want to have a crack at the answer.

A good idea is to have the position of one page and be able to see the answer on the next page.

Move by Move

You are only expected to find one move at a time, just like in a real game. This is different most puzzle books where you are given an entire line of play as the answer.

Visual Memory

An advantage of only having a diagram at the start of a sequence of moves, is the reader is encouraged to play through the moves in his mind and visualise the final position. This can help the ability to see ahead moves.

Summary of my idea of a great tactics book

• Player to move at bottom of board.
• Diagrams for each move.
• Un-timed puzzles.
• Positions from real games.
• Positions not excessively difficult.
• Answer on the next page.
• Explanation of tactics.
• Large diagrams, one per page.

1.Rxd4

Removing the defending bishop.

...cxd4 2.Nf6+

Sacrificing the knight to open the king up.

...gxf6 3.Qh6

Mate threat.

...Kh8 4.Qg7#