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What our customer's say!

"Too complicated for beginners, poor teaching, no repetition, low explanations = bad book on tactics", There are many problems with this book, and it's a shame because the book has many 4- and 5-star reviews that will most likely overshadow this one. Nonetheless, I feel compelled to write a review on this book.

1. The tests in this book have several major problems. Usually there are 4-6 tests for each tactic. The first two questions are usually on par with the examples, or slightly harder. Then the questions drastically get tougher. Like one reviewer pointed out... one question will require a simple 2-move combination, and the next requires you to figure out the 100% perfect move-list for a 10-move checkmate. Sorry, I'm not a grandmaster Yassir! The problem is that the tests don't progressively get tougher. There are usually more tougher tests than easy ones too, which I think only demoralizes the reader when they realize that they can't figure more than 30% of them out.

2. Sometimes the first question is actually one of the toughest! This is rare, and it happens! Great method of instruction! (sarcasm). Another problem is that none of the examples are challenging, but Yassir expects the reader to use the vague general principle taught and exercise it to master-level strength in the tests. It's like the questions were purposefully tougher than the examples, and I don't understand the reason.

3. There are not enough easy tests to cement the pattern of the tactic in the reader's mind. In fact, there is often only 1 test of each pattern for the tactic being demonstrated. As we know, pattern recognition only happens with constant repetition, so the book is more or less useless on this front. Maybe the problems in "Chess Tactics for Students" were simpler, but at least I can recognize those tactics rather quickly at a glance. This book hasn't helped me at all in my games.

4. Sometimes tests at the beginning also use tactics taught in later chapters. For example, there's a clearance sacrifice required to solve a problem in one of the first tests... but clearance sacrifice taught several chapters later.

5. Sometimes the answers to the tests are wrong. On test 23, you are put in check by the opponent's queen and you have to decide how to get out of check. You can block with your queen, block with a pawn or move the king (it's a pin problem... so the goal is to avoid a pin). After looking at the position however, I immediately saw that 'e5' (blocking with the pawn) was the best solution. It does pin the pawn to the King, but if you look at the position, it's not a negative at all.

However, Yassir says moving the King is the best answer... and doesn't even consider blocking with the pawn at all! He just ignored the possibility completely. After giving the position to Fritz and Rybka chess engines, both said 'e5' was the best solution. Moving the King was only second best.

There are several other tests (even those 8-10 move complex ones!) where the lines suggested by Yassir are incorrect, or where other solutions could easily fit the bill as the 'correct' answer. Test 50 is a good example of this. Honestly, myself, Fritz and Yassir only agreed on the first 2 moves. At that point, Yassir was dreaming of this 8-move checkmate that doesn't exist. When asking Fritz and Rybka the answer, it goes on for much longer with completely different moves.

As far as I can tell, this only serves to demoralize the reader like they are doing something wrong. The tests should have been worked out so that very few lines would work. As it stands, your answer is almost always going to be different than Yassir's answer for these long 10-move problems.

6. There are spelling and grammar mistakes throughout the book, even in the revised edition.

7. Explanations are usually very thin. Sometimes the author will say "and with these 4 moves, Black is in real big trouble!"

The problem is that Yassir doesn't explain how he's in trouble (it's usually some kind of tactic that is unrelated to the concept that is being taught). Yassir should have explained everything so that it was understood by new and expert players alike, but he doesn't! This happens quite frequently in the book, where the reader is left to their own devices to see what the author means. It just interrupts with the flow and understanding.

8. The example games at the back of the book are irrelevant. The games with Anderssen are completely pointless. Yes, the games feature tactics, but it's only because the opponent accepted gambits (because it's "the manly thing to do!") and accepted double-rook sacrifices (because "he wants his opponent to prove a point") without considering the compensation that the other player gets or actually formulating plans of his own.

In effect, Anderssen's opponents were idiots... and by modern standards, nobody in their right mind would play the way either player would. In fact, they would get crushed. What is the point of analyzing inferior openings and inferior moves when today's games will never see them? We learn by osmosis. These are not the type of games we should be studying!

9. Also, the examples are master-level games where 90% of the stuff is not explained. Honestly, much of it went over my head. I don't understand the point to learning from master-level games. Why not show some 1200-1500 level games instead? Like show really common tactics we will see on a regular basis... and common errors and how they can be exploited? Why not make this book practical? This approach would have made the game analysis useful.

10. There needs to be more diagrams in the book. Many times Yassir will throw out move lists or entire games with one or two diagrams. Unless you have a chess set with you, you are sitting at a computer, or you can see all the moves in your head... these examples won't be of much benefit to you. They are just hard to follow, and makes it impossible to read on... say... a bus. This is a problem with many chess books, and I don't know why they couldn't add another 40 pages to the book to make it easier to read. I would have gladly paid the extra .50 cents.

11. The book is also plagued with the problem where you have a diagram on one page, and it's explanation on another... causing the reader to flip back and forth. Was it really hard to paginate the examples properly, even if it meant having some white space?

Make no mistake, I did learn things from this book. I think because so many examples did use clearance sacrifices or piece sacrifices that I can see them a little better... perhaps because the "I'm going to lose on the exchange" mentality has been changed. Still, the book is just poor instruction and there has to be better books on tactics out there than this one.

"It's All Here...", If you want a good book on tactics, this is the one for the Class A player on down. There are two kinds of books on tactics; ones that are a collection of tactical problems categorized by theme and this kind which is instructional and contains just the amount of problems needed to get the point made. This book also has a great exam at the end to rate your skill level at tactics and see how much of the book you have absorbed. Couple this book with Reinfeld's Winning Chess or Combinational Challenge by Hays(for the more advanced player) and you don't need any more on the subject!

"Excellent Title & Series", If you are a beginner chess player, with a rating below say 1400, and you are bewildered by the array of chess material ... rest easy. This book and tactics and this entire series of chess titles are absolutely excellent, and the best presented and thought out thematic chess books aimed at lower rated players in a way people can easily digest. Seriwan and Silman have created a deceptively simple formula for articulating complex points, and present the material with succinctness and clarity.

Really this series is the defacto education plan and reference set for the beginner to U1400 player. Sadly i bought many titles before this series was publised .. you can spare yourself wasted time and money.

"I'm a better player now .", I used to lose almost every game I played. I never took Chess serious until I played a thirteen year old and was thoroughly beaten. I knew I needed help and fast. This book broke tactics down to a level I never got from other chess books. It was not hard to follow and I learned a lot in just the first few chapters.

"A good introduction to the basics of chess tactics", It has been said that chess is 99% tactics. So studying tactics is a requirement for getting better at chess.

This is the 2nd book in Yasser Seirawan's "Winning Chess" series. It discusses all of the fundamental tactical tools which should form the foundation of a solid chess player's skill. In addition Seirawan introduces readers to some of the great attacking players in chess history and their games.

Overall, I think the book did a superb job explaining the different tactics and provided ample examples and exercises to drive the points home. The only problem I noticed was either a diagram was wrong (#77) or the analysis appears to be incorrect.

I would highly recommend this book as a first book on tactics.

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Nice book on tactics", When compared to Yasser Seirawan first book, "Play Winning Chess", I almost couldn't believe it was written by the same guy. I was critical of his first book, but it seems all my complaints about it being too advanced for the target audience were corrected in by this book. While there are tons of books on tactics out there, Seirawan does a great job of explaining these concepts in depth. While these were touched on on Wolffs "Complete Idiots Guide to Chess", Seirawan goes into better detail explaining these concepts and demonstrating how a player can set up these tactics and combinations. I found that the puzzels in this book were instructive and helped test my knowledge very well, and adequetly built up in difficulty.

The only real complaint I had about this book was the inclusion of Grand Master games towards the end of the book. They really seemed out of place, and the commentary on the games did not lend well to the topic of the book. But despite that, I really enjoyed this book to the point that I carried it with my everywhere and read it at every chance I got.

"One of the best in a very crowded field", There are many, many, MANY books, computer programs, and web sites on chess tactics, yet again and again I see this book touted as something to use to learn with as a beginner, and review with several times a year even as an advanced player. So I decided to spend time with it -- quite a bit of time -- and the recommendations are quite valid.

I'm a lowly class player, well above beginner but certainly lowly. I've read other tactics books and use both Personal Chess Trainer on the computer and Chess Tactics Server online. But this book offers what those media do not: down-home explanations with clear and understandable examples.

In the first part of the book, the material is nicely grouped by theme, and accompanied with frequent "tests" --- problems for you to solve, again in order of difficulty, usually in groups of eight or so. The first few are very easy even for a beginner but they do get harder, though a high-level player may find them all easy --- but still valuable for speed solving. My only gripe here is that the problem diagrams are very much smaller than the example diagrams and hard for us older people to read.

The second part of the book includes illustrative games, very valuable so that tactics can be seen in context--- you see how they come about and how they are used. This is much more valuable than merely solving problems. For one thing, studying the example games teaches you *avoidance* as well as *execution* because you see what happens "before the diagram"; in other words where one side went wrong to allow the winning side to carry out a tactic or combination.

All in all this is a very fine book and one that will stay on my study table indefinitely.

"Chess Tactics/Combinations: FOR THE ADANCED BEGINNINER & INTERMEDIATE PLAYER", Not overly basic and not too difficult would be the way to size up the tactics in "Winning Chess Tactics" by Yasser Seirawan. It will be honestly admitted by 90 of all chess players that they win or lose most of their games due to the use of a tactic: May be a pin, or a fork, discovered attack or due to a backrank mate idea?

* Tactics are well organized by "theme". The idea of the tactic and limited examples are provided for each.

** The writing style is usually made clear and understandable. I found only a couple of places where I thought different wording could have improved the definition or understanding of a theme.

*** The quality of analysis is there - couldn't find any mistakes in analysis, but there were some silly typos.

**** Most of the important tactical themes are covered but I would also recommend getting a book on chess traps (i.e. Winning Chess Traps: Tactics in the Opening", or "101 Chess Opening Traps") to fill in the gaps and supplement this material.

This is one of the better books on general chess tactics and I can recommend it.

"Good but useless", This book explains different tactical themes in a comprehensive and lucid manner. However, most of the lessons are rather obvious. To grasp the mechanics of tactics, it helps most to just dive into a puzzle book and do the puzzles yourself. Over time, you will have developed a keen eye for tactical combinations and be able to integrate them seamlessly into your games. The best way to learn tactics is not this book, but that by Reinfeld.

"A good overview of the most important tactics", There are three types of books that you should learn tactics from, 1. a general book on tactics that tells you what they are and explains the mechanics of them by name (THIS BOOK!!!), 2. a workbook that has hundreds of tactical puzzles to solve, and 3. chess traps book that covers tactics in openings showing how you get their from the start.

Seirawan's book is very clear and undstandable. A good starting place!