TACTICMANIA

Author: Glen Flear

Quality Chess (2011)

264 pages

$21.95

 

Reviewed by John Donaldson

TACTIMANIA by Glenn Flear is a tactics book with several twists. First all of the examples are drawn exclusively from the play of Grandmaster Flear or his wife Christine, a five-time French women’s champion. This husband and wife combination must be a first and to make it a real family affair their eldest son James has done the illustrations featured throughout this work.

 

Having the combinations coming exclusively from the Flear’s practice avoids the familiarity problem that plagues many tactics books. While pattern recognition is critical to chess mastery and solving tactics is a time honored training method the benefit is lost if the positions (and solutions) have been seen before.

 

Two other important requirements for a successful book on tactics are that the positions become progressively more difficult and that complete solutions are given. TACTIMANIA passes both these tests. Glen Flear has been writing solid, well-received books for close to three decades and has a great deal of experience as a chess trainer. Not surprisingly he knows how to organize his material to maximum effect.

 

For those that want to chart their progress and compare it with others TACTIMANIA offers points for each exercise and a scoring table at the end. The numerous illustrations throughout this work give it a more light-hearted feel than the average tactic book and likely will make it more user friendly for younger readers.

 

Recommended

 

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