10 tactics books

Hi,

Please suggest me 10-12 tactics book to take a beginner from 1200 rating to 2400 tactics rating(in order of increasing difficulty). I plan to complete them in 2 years.

The books could be old or new.

eg: old[Encyclopedia of chess combinations, Sharpen your tactics, Winning Chess Tactics(chernev), etc...]

Bye.

Emms' The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book. For starters.

Polgar's Chess Tactics for Champions....

I am going through it a number of times (similar to the Rapid Improvement theory) and have found, for example, that in my 3rd go-round, the time it takes to complete 50 problems is decreasing, as is the number of times I have had to look at the solution.  I am hoping that pattern recognition will be imprinted upon my brain.  

At the same time, I am doing the Tactics Trainer online and have just passed the 10,000 mark, doing it daily.  

Let us know your progress. It is great to read encouraging accounts. 

I really liked Weteshnik's Understanding Chess Tactics for explaining all the themes, great examples.  For puzzle books, Hays' Winning Chess Tactics for Juniors is really good for intermediate players.  It's really helped me.  For harder combinations books, there's a lot, but I like Polgar's Middlegames.

+1

It has been posted over and over again that you should familiarize yourself with basic tactical patterns, as all of the more complicated tactics are built on the foundations of the basic one's.  L. Polgar's Book should give you a solid foundation of just that. The other 2 books of Susan Polgar are just as good.

My advice would be not to purchase 10-12 books all at once.  You might lose interest in tactics (or even worse, chess) after the first one.  I've seen it happen more than once.

Also, what has helped me a lot is the Chess.com tactics trainer with hints/tags turned off.  Emm's book also has plenty of sections with no hints/help.

Heisman and other coaches recommend repetitively going over simple tactics - like 2-4 move solutions - until you can immediately recognize the solution.  Basically that means memorizing them.  IIRC Heisman says the master will know about 2000 of these patterns.

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman04.pdf

Hi

I am working my way througt chessimo www.chessimo.com

The tool is designed to help you learn all the basic patterns. I have been at it for about a month (5 days a week ½ - 1 hour each day) and I think it is starting to pay off. I think it should be supplemented with a good book explaining the ideas e.g. Weteshnik's Understanding Chess Tactics.

best,

Larsen_fan 

Understanding Chess Tactics by Martin Weteshnik and the free and very slick tactics training site  http://chesstempo.com/ is what I would suggest.

I agree Bronco10. I would start with Ward Farnsworth's Predator at the Chessboard. He lays out all the basic patterns, and thouroughly explains each position so you know what to look for. His book is very comprehensive. There is much more writing than a book like Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics. His book is 700 pages long. Once you have read or reread that, you can move on to something like Polgar's book, tactics trainer here, or chess tempo. These will just give you a sample of problems to practice what you have learned.

That has nothing to do with this topic! Also, I saw you trying to sell this same book in another forum thread. Also, I'd recommend Lev Alburt's 'Chess Tactics for the Tournament Player, once you have a good basis on the fundamentals. Also, I just got back into chess after being gone for a year and a half, and I'm trying to brush up on my fundamentals. Chesstempo.com is a great website, as is the Tactics Trainer here at chess.com. No need to limit yourself to one or the other, the more tactics, the better!

Consistency is the main key, just get yourself on a habit (30 days in a row they say, will become habit forming) of doing 30 minutes of chess tactics. Maybe 15 mins in the morning, or afternoon, and the other 15 minutes before you go to bed. You can easily get in 30-50 tactics, depending on difficulty level within 30 mins. Just think about it, let's say you averaged it to 40 tactics a day. In 10 days, that's 400 tactics you've worked through, in 20 days it's 800, and in a months time, you've done over 1200 tactical problems! Just think of the improvement you'll have within a few months time.

Good luck!

Did you notice that the other comments were from 17 mos ago? 

Well in case the OP ever looks here again I'd like to point out that a steady diet of tactics books is not the best way to improve. In fact it might be one of the worst, although probably better than watching "The Backyard Professor" 

http://www.chess.com/blog/NimzoRoy/beginner-chess-book-recommendations

Back to basics:tactics(Dan Heisman) and Learn chess tactics (John Nunn). Then you can continue training on tactics in this site or other tactics site, like chesstempo.

I'm now a 1800 rating. I remain stagnant for 2 months. I had considered that I may have some difficulties on tactics because I loss many times after I made a sacrifice. What books should fit my tactical problems? I start studying chess puzzles.

Hi everyone, this is my list of what I consider the best tactical books  
http://www.chessentials.com/best-chess-tactics-books/