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!
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Why aren't those 600 positions available as PGN file?
Excellent book, deserves 5 stars at least. But why not to make these positions available in electronic format (PGN,EPD,ChessBase, whatever)? Would make training so much easier. For sure the author has run it through computer analysis so the file should exist anyway...
Rating: - practical chess exercises
this is a great chess book for the kindle. love how the exercises seem random and there are no clues like a real game. and the solutions are revealed by turning the page. simple but clever. highly recommend. but skip the front matter. you can hyperlink to thesymbol keys from each exercise.
Rating: - Best Chess exercise book availalbe!
The 600 exercises in Ray Cheng's "Practical Chess" let you approach learning much as you would a real game -- exercises are displayed on one page, and possible solutions are revealed on the next page.There are all kinds of problems, tactical and positional, and they're not labeled so it's more fun and more challenging than most chess book exercises. The Kindle version is awesome. A great find.
Rating: - Great Exercises, Lacking Theory
This is my first foray into the chess book market, so to be fair, I have to stipulate at the start that I don't have anything with which to compare this book. Nonetheless, what I find lacking about this book is any explanation into the theory of good chess play. What are objectives in 'start-game', 'middle-game', and 'end-game' sequences? What are the foundations to a great game? What makes a good player? How does one learn to look at the board? These are questions that are completely ignored by this book. Rather, it has a very brief introduction, and jumps directly into exercises. No theory is provided. No base with which to start.
I felt that the author makes certain assumptions about my chess knowledge. Here, I may be showing my ignorance in not knowing, but I don't know the names of many strategies, and even found it difficult to understand the grid movements on the board.
I like the exercises, and feel I have much to gain from this book. But first I want to read a book that outlines common strategies (such as, control the middle of the board, and why), goals, motives during the game, and maybe gives me some coaching on how to deal with the one's own psyche during the game (i.e. how to react if I miscalculate or lose an important piece during play). I don't know if such a book exists, but I have to keep looking
I want to come back to this book when I want to practice thinking about specific chess positions. At the moment, I'm looking for a book that will boost my foundation and give me a better base in the game I love.
Rating: - Truly Useful
The 1st word in the title is key, this book is _very_ practical.
I suppose there aren't many chess books that will actually weaken your game, but I haven't come across any other that should really help an intermediate player more than this one. It's based on a novel, but seemingly obvious, concept that the answer to chess problem shouldn't be telegraphed in any way beforehand. Also, the positions shown are not simply of the white/black "to play and win" variety - you could just be trying get a draw from behind. You aren't told whether there's a mate hiding in there or simply a positional improvement. The key may be in noticing your opponent's threat, not yours. In other words, the problems represent challenges very much like those real players find themselves faced with on a regular basis.
It just seems obvious that preparing with real-life problems with real-life solutions is a better use of your time than pondering over where's the mate in 3 when you know there's a mate in 3, etc.
In short, a great book for intermediate-to-advanced chess players. It's a whole bunch of chess brain-teasers of the best variety. 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. It's also handy if you just want to wake your brain up for a few minutes before you do something else. I'm sure I'll be sorry when I've finished this. I hope Mr. Cheng comes up with a volume 2 by then!
There are a few minor points I could complain about. I think the arrangement of the illustrations s/h/b somewhat different (left/right before top/bottom) and it seems like the difficulty levels shown are occasionally a little off. A further break with tradition by showing "black to move" problems from the black side would have been welcome also. But, REALLY these are insignificant issues compared to the power of the concept and the excellent problems in this book.
I'll just add that, for what it's worth, I was recently playing blitz against an A-level friend and I came up with a winning move in a complex position that stunned both of us. It was the kind of thing I would have probably missed in a long tournament game and I came up with it in seconds. I don't think I would've seen that move 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.
- Why aren't those 600 positions available as PGN file?
- practical chess exercises
- Great Exercises, Lacking Theory
