How to Beat Your Dad at Chess (Gambit Chess) by Murray Chandler
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Book Reviews of How to Beat Your Dad at Chess (Gambit Chess)
Book Review: Excellent Primer (or review!) on Mating Tactics
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a USCF Class C player and great enjoyed this book -- even though I already have worked through similar mating combination exercises. The reason I picked this up was because the title made me laugh, but surprisingly I bought it once I looked inside. The key is the format: each of the 50 mating (or drawing) patterns is presented with a nice, clear diagram, often including arrows to show lines of attack.
These pictures do help the mating pattern sink in for quick recall later, just as the author claims. I read through the first 5 or 10 or the 50 patterns, and then played a game of blitz chess on the internet. I had a winning position and avoided losing when I saw my opponent setting up one of the mates from the book in a last-ditch effort to save the game. I didn't even have to calculate to avoid the mate; I recognized the pattern almost instantly and won the game.
I find that it's especially helpful for tactical ability when concepts are cataloged and named as they are in this book. Spotting the basic mates might be pretty easy, but when you're in a complex position it's a great advantage to have these burned into your memory so that you'll spot the possibilities when looking several moves ahead.
Finally, to address other reviewers' concerns about the soundness of the example combinations: while many of these are not forced mates, they generally result in overwhelming advantages if the oppponent gives optimal defense. I found it useful to practice my calculation ability when solving the exercises. On problem 41, for instance, the author does make a misleading statement that Black is unable to prevent a killer check from White on move 3. In fact, black can give up a bunch of material to avoid immediate mate... the king is driven into the open, though, and I kept trying to find a mate. I gave up around 8 moves in, but using Crafty I found I missed a simple final move, giving a forced mate in 8 or 9. (Also, to address another review's comment about problem 11 in particular, if white avoids mate then he is simply down by one piece while black still has a strong attack. Other problems in the book use the mating threat to gain a single pawn, and it is certainly desirable to be able to use mating threats to gain material.)
I find these subtleties of the problems to be an advantage, rather than a weakness (although I think the authors should have pointed this out in the introduction). Working out the variations improves tactical ability -- it's nice that the examples aren't completely trivial, and that they all come from real games (many of these are classic combinations from historic world-class games).
Book Review: Excellent Primer (or review!) on Mating Tactics
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a USCF Class C player and great enjoyed this book -- even though I already have worked through similar mating combination exercises. The reason I picked this up was because the title made me laugh, but surprisingly I bought it once I looked inside. The key is the format: each of the 50 mating (or drawing) patterns is presented with a nice, clear diagram, often including arrows to show lines of attack.
These pictures do help the mating pattern sink in for quick recall later, just as the author claims. I read through the first 5 or 10 or the 50 patterns, and then played a game of blitz chess on the internet. I had a winning position and avoided losing when I saw my opponent setting up one of the mates from the book in a last-ditch effort to save the game. I didn't even have to calculate to avoid the mate; I recognized the pattern almost instantly and won the game.
I find that it's especially helpful for tactical ability when concepts are cataloged and named as they are in this book. Spotting the basic mates might be pretty easy, but when you're in a complex position it's a great advantage to have these burned into your memory so that you'll spot the possibilities when looking several moves ahead.
Finally, to address other reviewers' concerns about the soundness of the example combinations: while many of these are not forced mates, they generally result in overwhelming advantages if the oppponent gives optimal defense. I found it useful to practice my calculation ability when solving the exercises. On problem 41, for instance, the author does make a misleading statement that Black is unable to prevent a killer check from White on move 3. In fact, black can give up a bunch of material to avoid immediate mate... the king is driven into the open, though, and I kept trying to find a mate. I gave up around 8 moves in, but using Crafty I found I missed a simple final move, giving a forced mate in 8 or 9. (Also, to address another review's comment about problem 11 in particular, if white avoids mate then he is simply down by one piece while black still has a strong attack. Other problems in the book use the mating threat to gain a single pawn, and it is certainly desirable to be able to use mating threats to gain material.)
I find these subtleties of the problems to be an advantage, rather than a weakness (although I think the authors should have pointed this out in the introduction). Working out the variations improves tactical ability -- it's nice that the examples aren't completely trivial, and that they all come from real games (many of these are classic combinations from historic world-class games).
Book Review: 50 Deadly Checkmates!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a USCF Class C player and great enjoyed this book -- even though I already have worked through similar mating combination exercises. The reason I picked this up was because the title made me laugh, but surprisingly I bought it once I looked inside. The key is the format: each of the 50 mating (or drawing) patterns is presented with a nice, clear diagram, often including arrows to show lines of attack.
These pictures do help the mating pattern sink in for quick recall later, just as the author claims. I read through the first 5 or 10 or the 50 patterns, and then played a game of blitz chess on the internet. I had a winning position and avoided losing when I saw my opponent setting up one of the mates from the book in a last-ditch effort to save the game. I didn't even have to calculate to avoid the mate; I recognized the pattern almost instantly and won the game.
I find that it's especially helpful for tactical ability when concepts are cataloged and named as they are in this book. Spotting the basic mates might be pretty easy, but when you're in a complex position it's a great advantage to have these burned into your memory so that you'll spot the possibilities when looking several moves ahead.
Finally, to address other reviewers' concerns about the soundness of the example combinations: while many of these are not forced mates, they generally result in overwhelming advantages if the oppponent gives optimal defense. I found it useful to practice my calculation ability when solving the exercises. On problem 41, for instance, the author does make a misleading statement that Black is unable to prevent a killer check from White on move 3. In fact, black can give up a bunch of material to avoid immediate mate... the king is driven into the open, though, and I kept trying to find a mate. I gave up around 8 moves in, but using Crafty I found I missed a simple final move, giving a forced mate in 8 or 9. (Also, to address another review's comment about problem 11 in particular, if white avoids mate then he is simply down by one piece while black still has a strong attack. Other problems in the book use the mating threat to gain a single pawn, and it is certainly desirable to be able to use mating threats to gain material.)
I find these subtleties of the problems to be an advantage, rather than a weakness (although I think the authors should have pointed this out in the introduction). Working out the variations improves tactical ability -- it's nice that the examples aren't completely trivial, and that they all come from real games (many of these are classic combinations from historic world-class games).
Book Review: Excellent Primer (or review!) on Mating Tactics
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a USCF Class C player and great enjoyed this book -- even though I already have worked through similar mating combination exercises. The reason I picked this up was because the title made me laugh, but surprisingly I bought it once I looked inside. The key is the format: each of the 50 mating (or drawing) patterns is presented with a nice, clear diagram, often including arrows to show lines of attack.
These pictures do help the mating pattern sink in for quick recall later, just as the author claims. I read through the first 5 or 10 or the 50 patterns, and then played a game of blitz chess on the internet. I had a winning position and avoided losing when I saw my opponent setting up one of the mates from the book in a last-ditch effort to save the game. I didn't even have to calculate to avoid the mate; I recognized the pattern almost instantly and won the game.
I find that it's especially helpful for tactical ability when concepts are cataloged and named as they are in this book. Spotting the basic mates might be pretty easy, but when you're in a complex position it's a great advantage to have these burned into your memory so that you'll spot the possibilities when looking several moves ahead.
Finally, to address other reviewers' concerns about the soundness of the example combinations: while many of these are not forced mates, they generally result in overwhelming advantages if the oppponent gives optimal defense. I found it useful to practice my calculation ability when solving the exercises. On problem 41, for instance, the author does make a misleading statement that Black is unable to prevent a killer check from White on move 3. In fact, black can give up a bunch of material to avoid immediate mate... the king is driven into the open, though, and I kept trying to find a mate. I gave up around 8 moves in, but using Crafty I found I missed a simple final move, giving a forced mate in 8 or 9. (Also, to address another review's comment about problem 11 in particular, if white avoids mate then he is simply down by one piece while black still has a strong attack. Other problems in the book use the mating threat to gain a single pawn, and it is certainly desirable to be able to use mating threats to gain material.)
I find these subtleties of the problems to be an advantage, rather than a weakness (although I think the authors should have pointed this out in the introduction). Working out the variations improves tactical ability -- it's nice that the examples aren't completely trivial, and that they all come from real games (many of these are classic combinations from historic world-class games).
Book Review: One of the best chess books you can buy!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book teaches mating tactics in so many ways!
* 50 patterns, 2 pages each
* For each pattern, a brief description of the elements which must be present. (This is similar to more advanced checkmate books, but at a very simple level.)
* Then, a couple of diagrams with arrows, showing the motion of the key pieces, with the moves written below. Very good for improving visualization, so you might spot the pattern later.
* Then another similar pattern, with 2 diagrams.
* Then a couple of positions for you to work out yourself, with solutions directly underneath.
* And finally, near the back of the book, a set of a few dozen positions. They include theme numbers for you to use as hints if necessary. Solutions are separate. This reinforces the learning.
These are all attacks on the castled king, not How To Take Advantage of Opening Blunders, or How To Solve Unlikely Chess Positions. These positions can actually occur in your games, even Fischerandom. The attacks are simple, but not obvious. Some are even by the Black pieces!
Nice hardcover for a thin book. Large diagrams. Feels great in your hands. Very well-designed.
Excellent book for someone rated between 1200 and 1500. I keep it in the bathroom. (I use different chess books in different ways. I take tactics puzzles to the gym. I always keep a chessboard handy for endgame books. I use a miniature set for studying openings. And I follow along with game anthologies by using a computer database and watching the computer analysis. And I am improving rapidly.)
Do one theme (two pages) per day. In two months you'll have actually finished an entire chessbook, and you'll miss it! You will find yourself improving your own defenses because you'll know what to look out for. One of the few chess books you'll actually read cover to cover, and it's cheap for a hardcover.