The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants

Review: 303 Tactical Chess Puzzles

The contents of the book 303 Tactical Chess Puzzles, written by Fred Wilson and Bruce Alberston come as no surprise given the title. The book contains slightly more than 300 chess puzzles. Each of these is a position that could (and sometimes has) occurred in actual chess play. In each of the puzzles, the reader should find a good move, or series of moves that gives him either a direct win of the game, or a significant gain in material. The puzzles are meant for training the chess combination skills, and thus we have problems where we should make a double threat, remove the guard, skewer, make knight forks, etc. The puzzles are grouped into three categories, each with 100 puzzles and a few `bonus positions': the advanced beginner, the intermediate player, and the tournament player. Solutions are given in the end.

Diagrams are clear. Most of the book is filled with the diagrams of the problems; two are given on each page, with a short hint towards the solution (e.g.: mating attack). The problems form a nice set of chess training exercises of varying difficulty. Some of the simpler problems are doable for a young player with one or two years experience in the chess club; others are much harder. The authors write in their introduction: We want to make 303 Tactical Chess Problems your chess workout book, and indeed, going through many of these problems will be a pleasant way to shape the combination chess skills of many of the books readers.

303 Tactical Chess Puzzles
Fred Wilson & Bruce Alberston
Official American Mensa Puzzle Book
Sterling Publishing Co. Inc., New York
ISBN 0-8069-2733-X
2002

Written by Hans Bodlaender.

WWW page created: September 4, 2002.

For author and/or inventor information on this item see: this item's information page.
Created on: September 03, 2002. Last modified on: September 03, 2002.

Review: 303 Tactical Chess Puzzles

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