The past decade has seen all sorts of new training methods put forward to help players improve their chess, but the tried and true puzzle book formula continues to hold ground. Much like basic calisthenics, the advantages and benefits of solving tactical positions on a regular basis are easy to explain. They can be done anywhere and the amount of time spent on them is flexible. The cost is cheap typically pennies a position. Last and most importantly is the benefit they deliver. Players who regularly solve tactical exercises not only improve their combinative skill but also sharpen their calculating abilities.
The latest offering in this genre is John Shaw s QUALITY CHESS PUZZLE BOOK. The Scottish GM offers the reader 735 positions, almost all of them post 2000, chosen with care to be unfamiliar to the solver. The positions are arranged by chapter as follows.
Chapter 2 Contributions from our Readers 19
Chapter 3 Thematic Combinations 31
Chapter 4 Simple but not Easy 79
Chapter 5 Missed Opportunities 127
Chapter 6 Ivanchuk 145
Chapter 7 Blitz Games 159
Chapter 8 Winning the Endgame 167
Chapter 9 European Team Championship 2009 187
Chapter 10 Drawing the Endgame 201
Chapter 11 Puzzles with Two Solutions 213
Chapter 12 Defense 223
Chapter 13 Puzzles with Pawn Promotion 241
Chapter 14 More Missed Opportunities 257
Chapter 15 Brain Crushers 277
Each chapter starts off with an introduction between two and four pages that discusses the theme that will be covered. There are six positions to solve per page with the solutions on the back. These solutions have both analysis and prose to make sure things are clear to the reader.
One very nice feature is the tribute to Vassily Ivanchuk, one of the great players of the last two decades and likely to join Kortchnoi, Keres and Rubinstein on the short list of the greatest players never to become World Champion.
The QUALITY CHESS PUZZLE BOOK will be useful for a wide range of playing strengths from 1800 to 2400. One very nice feature of this book aside from its content is that it easily lies flat no matter which page it is turned to. This not typical for a book this size and makes it a pleasure to use.
