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Practical Chess Exercises: 600 Lessons from Tactics to Strategy | 
 enlarge | Author: Ray Cheng
Publisher: Wheatmark
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
Buy New: $11.17
You Save: $6.78 (38%)
New (13) Used (5) from $11.17
Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 7233
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 216
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 1587368013
Dewey Decimal Number: 794
EAN: 9781587368011
ASIN: 1587368013
Publication Date: May 15, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Raise your chess to the next level with this program of 600 instructive and challenging exercises covering all aspects of the game. This book will sharpen your tactical vision, deepen your positional understanding, and enrich your knowledge of theoretical positions. It will also strengthen your analytical skills, and instill a sound move selection process. Win more games and increase your enjoyment of chess!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
Truly Useful August 21, 2008
The 1st word in the title is key, this book is _very_ practical. I suppose there aren't many chess books that will weaken your game, but I haven't come across any that should really significantly help an intermediate player to the degree this one does. It's based on a novel, but seemingly obvious, concept that the answer to problem presented shouldn't be "telegraphed" in any way beforehand. Also, the problems are not simply of the white/black "to play and win" variety - you may just be trying get a draw when behind. You aren't told whether there's a mate hiding in there or simply a positional improvement. In other words, it's very much like the real life positions players find themselves in on a regular basis.
There are a few minor points I could complain about. I think the arrangement of the illustrations s/h/b somewhat different and it seems like the difficulty levels shown are occasionally a little off. But these are really insignificant issues compared to the power of the concept and the excellent choice of problems.
In short, a great book for intermediate-to-advanced chess players. (It's extremely handy when you want something very portable to keep you entertained for an indeterminate amount of time - like waiting at an airport.) I'll be sad when I've finished this. I hope Mr. Cheng comes up with a volume 2!
I'll just add that, for what it's worth, I was recently playing blitz against an A-level friend (who beats me much more often than not) and I came up with a winning move in a complex position that stunned both of us. I don't think I would've seen it if I hadn't been exercising my brain with this book - and I'm not even halfway through!
For a combination of originality, usefulness and just plain fun, this book definitely deserves 5 stars.
not a problem/puzzle book August 14, 2008
First of all, I'd like to say that this is not a problem or puzzle book. As Cheng points out, if you rely on problem books, your mind channels into that mind set and you are constantly looking for mates in four or queen sacs which rarely occur. This book presents positions from amateur games (with a few master's games sprinkled in). They are typical positions which present simple tactics or strategic decisions or defensive moves, in other words you are not given anything to look for beforehand (as in your own games) so you have to think for yourself and scan the board for the best move in this particular situation. He doesn't even rate the difficulty until after you have made your choice. I had previously worked on CT-Arts problem series software and realized after finding five queen sacs leading to mate, that this wasn't real chess. Mr. Cheng's book is as close to real chess as I have seen. I was thinking he should create something on cd or dvd software based on this book or even more examples. But the book, as it is, is logically arranged. No more flipping to the back for the solution to the position. It's on the facing page and all you have to do is cover it up. Minor comments: slightly larger diagrams would help. Numbering left to right, as someone mentioned. Also, putting the color to move at the bottom of the diagram, rather than have all whites at bottom. I'm not sure if this would be a typographical issue, but there you are. I have only gone through about ten percent of problems, but have already learned a lot and have been kicking myself for stupid decisions, just as i do in real games. Congratulations to Mr. Cheng for this book, and perhaps he will expand into the software field in the future.
an extremely practical offering August 8, 2008
This is definitely a 5 star item. I agree with all the above positive comments, so I won't repeat them here. Basically you see a board position from real life games and you have to figure out the best move, which may be just a positional move, such as putting your rook behind a passed pawn, or you may have to avoid a trap or a mate three moves ahead. There are absolutely no hints on what may be the issue. I photocopy a few pages of problems, not the solutions, and carry them in my pocket to evaluate when I am somewhere where I have time to spare. The ability to have folded sheet(s) of paper in my pocket, rather than a full book, makes this an extremely practical offering.
 great book July 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a great book. I think every chess player should get as much information as possible on chess. Thats what I think. I've been playing for a long time. But slacked off a bit. So I recently got back into it. I play every day on my computer. And lose the majority of the time. Out of about 2,3oo games I won a little over 500. So I got a little tired of that and said to myself that you shoul get a couple of books. Thats why I purchased this book. I'm still reading it but It's helping me out.
Good Problems July 7, 2008
Good book as chess coach. Good instruction material as well as useful lessons for myself.
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