Anyone know about Chess School !a and 1b by Ivashchenko?

These are books from Russia, I think, and I wonder if they have any relationship to Convecta's software by that name.

I also wonder what these two books are like. Does anyone know?

Amazon gives them a good review.

stwils

Actually the reviews in Amazon are for "Chess School Vol. 2" and there are only 3 reviews and only one detailed review. I hope some people that have actually used "Chess School Vols. 1a & 1b" answer your request. Of course if you try it and don't like it, that's the best answer. I like "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess" right now, but I'm a beginner. It's highly rated on Amazon and is supported by 58 reviews.

I own them and I think they rock!  By the way they are the same as the software, or rather the software is these two books put onto CD. 

The problems start off pretty basic, and it gives you the goal in the description, ie..win a queen, win a rook etc.  Then it finishes off with white/black to move.  Although it starts very basic it is a outstanding series of books.  I've workded through Vol.1A once and Vol 1B twice, and I have not found one error.  Everytime I think I did I computer checked it and the solution in the book was correct.

Highly recommended.

Thank you so much for replying. I have been waiting to hear how the books (or the software) really are. So are you saying the books came before the software? Which do you prefer?

I have a downloaded demo called Chess Advanced School. (Convecta) It is just a fragment of the real program, but I want the more basic versions as I am not ready for the "advanced" one. Is the Convecta software the ones you are saying are taken from the books?

Thanks again for your help.

stwils

I studied chess School 1A and 1B, and it is a magnificient piece of book! Nevertheless, it has some errors, one of them being for instance the 1240, for which the advised move is Bf4, but actually the best move according to fritz is Bxe7

Aguien tiene toda la colección en pdf??? Me gusaria completarla!!!

Winning this position is forbiddingly hard after 1.Bf4 Qh5, the number of variations is overwhelming. What was the intention of the author with this move?

Bxe7 forces a simple win (1.Bxe7+ Rxe7 2.Rd8+ Ne8 3.Rxe8+!). Is this really a book for children?

These are great tactical books but are not a chess course per se. Think these as supplemental exercises in addition to a course you are following.

1000 percent agree with asdf234. These are excellent exercises but a tactics course will increase your ability more than actual puzzles at the beginning ( think of it as a teacher teaching you a formula and doing sample equations and questions to showcase how to apply that concept) 

So far the 2 best tactics courses I have experienced first hand are GM Avetik Grigoryan's Tactics Ninja course available on his chessmood website and Irving Chernev's Book, "Winning Chess". 

These 2 concepts explain the type of tactics and what can be done with them. For instance for pin alone there is "absolute pin, relative pin, killer pin, cross pin, double pin, counter pin" etc etc. 

I climbed from 900 slow chess to 1200 slow chess with just these puzzle books that required solving but did not really teach why and how tactics work. But once I did a tactics course I climbed up to 1600 slow chess. What i notice looking back was when I did puzzle books for tactics, I was brute force solving the puzzles and when I did them repetitively, I was picking some patterns. However, if similar occasions arose in my games I may or may not recognize the tactical opportunity. 

In a tactics course, the instructor shows you the tactic, what are the common variations of the tactics, and how to identify if tactics are present in the position. If you just do puzzles imagine having to reverse engineer the formula and it's subvariations and possible applications. I guess that's what great learners do, they are just very organized in their approach and categorization. But don't be too demotivated, every generation had the previous generation to pass on the knowledge accumulated.

Back to the topic at hand, once i did tactics courses, I recognized tactical opportunities faster and because I could recognized things faster my calculations were being directed in the right direction and I had more time to do meaningful calculations. Sometimes, we calculate a line that doesn't lead anywhere. But with formal knowledge in tactics, we use the time more wisely which means better time management. And also, better opponent tactics prevention.

In summary, FM Peter Giannatos tactics workbook and Bain tactics for students would be the first two things I would cover multiple times, then I would graduate to a formal tactics course like Tactics Ninja or Winning Chess then do a puzzle book like this Ivashenko puzzle book or for a real test for anyone below 1800, Chess Tactics for Beginners by Masseti and Messa ( do not. E fooled by the title it's this far the hardest puzzle book I own) I am now working Chess Tempo and then hope to do chess tactics for Tournament Players by Erwich which Grandmasters use to warm up before playing ( 2200 level puzzles) just for your knowledge, chess.com puzzle ratings are not the same as actual ratings. A 1600 player should be doing 2300 and above puzzles on chess.com