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Chess: 80 Classic Problems: One Move and You're Dead!
This guide to chess chooses the most dynamic and destructive tactical patterns, positions where the winning move forces instant checkmate, resignation or decisive advantage. Quite often such climaxes are the result of sustained and prolonged attacking pressure, and the final move may be make or break, where the winner has already burned boats by sacrificing material. Players have to choose the one move that causes the destruction of your partner. All of these games are real, and many are absolute classics that have been overlooked for one reason or another.
192 pages, Paperback
First published March 2, 2010
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 30, 2013
So this review is going to be a little interesting for me. Here's my story. I've always known the basic rules of chess, but have only recently started really playing. I decided to read a little on it and just picked up a few random books from the library, Chess: 80 Classic Problems: One move and you're dead! was just one of them. (I also got on chess.com, and have been playing games with others) I began to read, even though there was not much reading to do, because this is a book on solving classic chess problems. I find it relaxing to take the board out when I have time and set the problems up on the board, trying to figure them out.
This book utterly confused me.
I had just gotten done reading a beginner's book for chess, so I understood the standard chess notations for moving pieces, but when I looked at the solutions, I couldn't seem to figure out what they were trying to say. First of all, even though the title of the book insinuates that it's a one move solution, these solutions definitely weren't one move, they were several. Then, they would say, move 1, move 2, etc. but often I didn't see the piece that could make that move. Then I realized they were talking about black. Okay, I thought, so it was the opponent's move. But then, on the next solution, there was no opponents move. Or was there? The next move they indicated was for white, or at least, it was only possible for white, but only if black had moved "here" and had taken this piece. Was I going crazy or was there something I wasn't understanding about the solutions?
So, I put it down and came back to it later. I was still confused. I did this several times and was still frustrated. So finally I put it down and opened up another book I had gotten from the library, a massive tome that would rival any paperweight in existence called: Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games. I loved it. It started out with over 300 one move solutions that were actually one move and easy to understand. Yes, I realized one of the biggest complaints of this book was that many of the puzzles were composed, (meaning that the pieces were put into place to form the puzzle and not there because of an actual game situation), but it was still interesting, helpful, and fun. After only one hour of trying some of these puzzles, I got on Amazon and ordered it for myself, knowing it was a book I wanted to pour over bit by bit and dissect, doing all five thousand problems in it. So then I went back to Chess: 80 Classic Problems. I was confused again.
Finally, I got fed up. I wasn't going to do anymore, there had to be better books out there, and sat down to write my review. But before I did I had to read some other reviews to see if I was an idiot. It's entirely possible that I am, or that I just wasn't understanding something. I got on Goodreads, but to my surprise, there was not a single review of this book. Okay, I thought, maybe it's just not that popular. So I head over to Amazon, and again, much to my amazement, there was not one review of this book anywhere to be found. So I looked up the year it was published - 2010. It's not a new book, so where are the reviews?
So now I'm calling on you - Goodreads readers who also have an affinity for chess - check out this book, and post a review! I challenge you to prove that indeed, the more children you give birth to, the more IQ points you lose. Because if one of you says it's completely easy to understand, I'll be able to prove my hypothesis that my children stole my intelligence, and then I'll proceed to sit down and cry. Please be gentle, fair readers, if this is the case. If it isn't, and the book is confusing, feel free to be ruthless in your decimation of its content. Thank you.
ClassicsDefined.com
This book utterly confused me.
I had just gotten done reading a beginner's book for chess, so I understood the standard chess notations for moving pieces, but when I looked at the solutions, I couldn't seem to figure out what they were trying to say. First of all, even though the title of the book insinuates that it's a one move solution, these solutions definitely weren't one move, they were several. Then, they would say, move 1, move 2, etc. but often I didn't see the piece that could make that move. Then I realized they were talking about black. Okay, I thought, so it was the opponent's move. But then, on the next solution, there was no opponents move. Or was there? The next move they indicated was for white, or at least, it was only possible for white, but only if black had moved "here" and had taken this piece. Was I going crazy or was there something I wasn't understanding about the solutions?
So, I put it down and came back to it later. I was still confused. I did this several times and was still frustrated. So finally I put it down and opened up another book I had gotten from the library, a massive tome that would rival any paperweight in existence called: Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games. I loved it. It started out with over 300 one move solutions that were actually one move and easy to understand. Yes, I realized one of the biggest complaints of this book was that many of the puzzles were composed, (meaning that the pieces were put into place to form the puzzle and not there because of an actual game situation), but it was still interesting, helpful, and fun. After only one hour of trying some of these puzzles, I got on Amazon and ordered it for myself, knowing it was a book I wanted to pour over bit by bit and dissect, doing all five thousand problems in it. So then I went back to Chess: 80 Classic Problems. I was confused again.
Finally, I got fed up. I wasn't going to do anymore, there had to be better books out there, and sat down to write my review. But before I did I had to read some other reviews to see if I was an idiot. It's entirely possible that I am, or that I just wasn't understanding something. I got on Goodreads, but to my surprise, there was not a single review of this book. Okay, I thought, maybe it's just not that popular. So I head over to Amazon, and again, much to my amazement, there was not one review of this book anywhere to be found. So I looked up the year it was published - 2010. It's not a new book, so where are the reviews?
So now I'm calling on you - Goodreads readers who also have an affinity for chess - check out this book, and post a review! I challenge you to prove that indeed, the more children you give birth to, the more IQ points you lose. Because if one of you says it's completely easy to understand, I'll be able to prove my hypothesis that my children stole my intelligence, and then I'll proceed to sit down and cry. Please be gentle, fair readers, if this is the case. If it isn't, and the book is confusing, feel free to be ruthless in your decimation of its content. Thank you.
ClassicsDefined.com
Displaying 1 of 1 review