365 WAYS TO CHECKMATE
Author: J. Gallagher
Gambit (2004)
208 pages
$23.95

Reviewed by John Donaldson

365 WAYS TO CHECKMATE by Grandmaster Joseph Gallagher might appear to be yet another puzzle book in what seems a never ending flood of works on the subject, but that would be an inaccurate assessment. While many recent releases are little more than collections of positions dumped straight from a database, Gallagher has given you quality control, a priceless commodity in today’s information explosion.

As the title implies, Gallagher offers the reader 365 puzzles to solve which start at relatively easy (a National Master should be able to solve most if not all of them and a club player will do pretty well) and move to quite difficult exercises as one progresses from level 1 to level 5. Near the end there are three sets of puzzles, each with 15 exercises that offers a chance to compare results with other players who have taken the tests.

One of the things that make this a good book is Gallagher’s skill at selecting examples and placing them at the right level of difficulty. Another is offering detailed solutions which often cover plausible sidelines that might have attracted the reader. Gallagher does not restrict himself to just the moves of the solution but often inserts helpful prose to make things clearer. Going though a tactics book can often be a bit of a dry exercise, but I found that the author’s humor and personal observations of various players livened things up.

This book has several reader-friendly features. I have already mentioned the detailed solutions. Should one get stuck on a puzzle, before looking at the solution there is the option of consulting the hints section. This is nicely placed near the back of the book so as not to be used as a permanent crutch. The author has arranged the puzzles by difficulty and not by theme but a glossary/themes index at the end of the book allows the reader to investigate a particular subject.

365 WAYS TO CHECKMATE is a book that should appeal to a wide audience from club to international players.

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