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Date: 16 Dec 2004 11:12:00
From: Kate Taylor
Subject: Chess puzzle Book - Favorite?
Besides Polgar's fabulous book... are there any other chess puzzle books
that are worth buying?

--
Kate

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Kathryn Rose Taylor
Syndicated Humor Columnist and author of...
Snickerdoodles - Guaranteed to make your doodle snicker!
http://www.kathrynrosetaylor.com

Clatskanie Chess Club http://clatskaniechessclub.tripod.com
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Date: 20 Dec 2004 23:31:52
From: Adrian MacNair
Subject: Re: Chess puzzle Book - Favorite?
"Kate Taylor" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Besides Polgar's fabulous book... are there any other chess puzzle books
> that are worth buying?

I have a pre-Fischer book by Fred Reinfeld... it has classic problems from
the masters like Alekhine, Capablanca, Lasker... even "contemporaries" like
the "young prodigy Samuel Reshevsky". I think the name was "Learn Chess from
the Greats". It's great fun to solve the 200 problems, and the old "Kings
Bishops Pawn" references are cute.




 
Date: 20 Dec 2004 18:50:04
From: Mike Ogush
Subject: Re: Chess puzzle Book - Favorite?
Kate,

What is it about Polgar's book that makes it worth buying?
Is it the large number of problems for the cost of the book?
Is it that the book offers no instruction and no hints - just
problems?

I own 40+ chess books that focus on chess tactics and combinations and
I am aware another 60+ books that I don't own (yet!) that focus on the
same subject. If you let me know what you are looking for, perhaps I
can make better recommendations.

For now, I recommend below some books that have a large number of
problems, mostly from actual games. Also these books have little or
no instruction, that is they are largely just problem positions and
their solutions.

Recommendations:
Two books that I have spend some time going through:
"The Manual of Chess Combinations" and "The Manual of Chess
Combinations 2" both by Sergey Ivaschenko. Both books present
problems orderd by increasing difficulty. The first book has 1320
problems, the most difficult of which should be solving by some one
with an Elo rating of about 1500-1600. The second book starts where
the other one left off and ends with problems suitable for Elo 2200.
Most of the problems are from actual game positions. I bought the two
books on eBay from BG Chess, but you can buy them directly from
www.bgchess.com.

There is a final volume in this series: "The Manual of Chess
Combinations Vol. 3" by Alexander Mazja, which has 750 problems
intended for Elo 2000-2400. All of these books were created to
multi-lingual (English, Russian, Spanish, German.).

Another book I like is "The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book" by John Emms.
These are all taken from games as well. Emms says in the preface that
he tried to find combinations that were less familiar than those from
the many books previously published. The 1001 problems are ordered by
increasing difficulty.

Two books with a large number of positions (all or mostly taken from
actual games):
Encyclopedia of Chess Combinations by Informant (2001 positions)
Chess Combinations Encylopedia by N. Kalinchenko (4260 positions)
These are next on my list to purchase.

If you are not wedded to the book format some CD's I own and like:
"CT-ART 3.0" has 1200 problems categorized by tactical theme and
difficulty level.
"Intensive Tactics Course" by George Renko
The CD's are self contained; you don't need to buy anything else.
One advantage of the CD format is that the software can give you
problems in a variety of orders (increasing difficulty, within same
tactical theme, random, etc.). Also most software can time how
quickly you find a solution and how accurate the solution is and rate
your perfromance.

Mike Ogush






On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 11:12:00 -0800, "Kate Taylor"
<[email protected] > wrote:

>Besides Polgar's fabulous book... are there any other chess puzzle books
>that are worth buying?
>
>--
>Kate
>
> �.����)) -:�:-
> �.�� .����))
> ((��.�� ..�� -:�:-
> -:�:- ((��.��
>
>Kathryn Rose Taylor
>Syndicated Humor Columnist and author of...
>Snickerdoodles - Guaranteed to make your doodle snicker!
>http://www.kathrynrosetaylor.com
>
>Clatskanie Chess Club http://clatskaniechessclub.tripod.com
>Clatskanie Home Education Network http://clatskaniehome.tripod.com
>
>Check out my chess items on Ebay!
>http://members.ebay.com/ws2/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=kathrynrosetaylor
>
>



 
Date: 20 Dec 2004 04:33:01
From: skoonj
Subject: Re: Chess puzzle Book - Favorite?

"Kate Taylor" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Besides Polgar's fabulous book... are there any other chess puzzle books
> that are worth buying?
>
> --
> Kate
>

Polgar has so many problems, the question is what else do you need? Anatoly
Lein has a nice book, somewhat challenging (not for beginners). I've
forgotten the name of it.

-T




  
Date: 20 Dec 2004 05:29:06
From: fs
Subject: Re: Chess puzzle Book - Favorite?

"skoonj" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Kate Taylor" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Besides Polgar's fabulous book... are there any other chess puzzle
books
> > that are worth buying?
> >
> > --
> > Kate
> >
>
> Polgar has so many problems, the question is what else do you need?
Anatoly
> Lein has a nice book, somewhat challenging (not for beginners). I've
> forgotten the name of it.
>
> -T
>
>

I've been using _Sharpen Your Tactics_. The diagrams could be better, but
the 1125 problems are great, and graded all the way from simple mates and
tactics to impossible combinations.