Winning Chess Tactics, revised (Yasser Seirawan)

Not sure about the "revised" version however, this is the book that took me as a novice player to the next level quickly. It illuminates the uninitiatd quickly in terms that are easily understandable.

The second installment of International Grand Master Yasser Seirawan and International Master Jeremy Silman's three part series for chess amateurs, "Winning Chess Tactics" was the easiest of the three to read. Having read "Play Winning Chess" and having a pretty solid grasp of chess fundamentals already, the learning curve for "Winning Chess Tactics" wasn't nearly as steep. All the old favorites are here: Forks, skewers, pins and discovered attacks; along with some more advanced tactics that amateurs don't usually see, like Zwischenzug. Each of them is presented, explained, dissected and incorporated into play in their own chapter with tests and puzzles liberally peppered throughout. After all the tactics are out of the way, Seirawan and Silman present selected games from some of the greatest chess tacticians of the last 150 years. Each game is presented with annotations and commentary from Seirawan and Silman to help the reader understand the tactical mind of chess masters and gran... Read more

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 ... Read more

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!

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.