Positional Puzzles Books

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busterlark

I feel like I've seen a few takes on this topic, but I thought I'd post and ask. Any books to recommend specifically on positional puzzles? Evaluating a position, finding the correct plan in a position, strategic considerations, etc. I'm already aware of the following:

Jeremy Silman - Reassess Your Chess, Reassess Your Chess Workbook

Jacob Aagaard - Positional Play, Strategic Play

Emmanuel Bricard - Strategic Chess Exercises

Ray Cheng - Practical Chess Exercises

What else is out there?

IpswichMatt

There's a fairly basic one by Todd Bardwick:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chess-Strategy-Workbook-Blueprint-Developing/dp/0976196220

Also the book "Idiot's Guide to Chess" has some Strategy problems.

And "Test Your Positional Play" by Bellin and Ponzetto

IpswichMatt
busterlark wrote:

I feel like I've seen a few takes on this topic, but I thought I'd post and ask. Any books to recommend specifically on positional puzzles? Evaluating a position, finding the correct plan in a position, strategic considerations, etc. I'm already aware of the following:

Jeremy Silman - Reassess Your Chess, Reassess Your Chess Workbook

Jacob Aagaard - Positional Play, Strategic Play

Emmanuel Bricard - Strategic Chess Exercises

Ray Cheng - Practical Chess Exercises

What else is out there?

@busterlark, Have you read any of these yet?

busterlark

I read some of the Silman books, but there's something about his writing/teaching style that just doesn't stick for me, so I eventually dropped them. I'm working very slowly through Aagaard's Positional Play right now, and I think that whenever I'm working on the book, I understand the concepts. I'm batting about 40% in actually identifying the correct move/idea the first time around, though. It just seems like I don't have the intuition, and I'm not sure how to build the intuition/evaluate my own knowledge unless I do puzzles like this. I mean, I know concepts, I've read the Pachman stuff, I can look through Grooten's Strategy for Club Players and understand the concepts, but actually finding them on the board on my own -- that's something I really struggle with. Either it takes me too long, so I end up in time trouble every game (and then make some silly blunder in time trouble), or else I move too quickly, without finding these ideas, and end up with positions that I have to claw my way out of. So, I figured, let me work on finding these ideas faster, and maybe the best way to find these ideas faster is just to work through a ton of positional puzzles until they become more natural to me.

I forgot about the Bellin/Ponzetto book, I'd heard good things about it, though. Maybe I'll put that one next on the list, after I finish Positional Play. Thx for the suggestion.

wids88
It’s your move by Chris Ward. You get a position, and 5 choices on how to proceed. You choose which way you would proceed, then you get rated on your answer. 50 puzzles with explanations. It may be what you are looking for.
taychoe

Since you asked for a puzzle book, here are two options:

The ChessCafe Puzzle Book 2 - Test and Improve Your Positional Intuition - Karsten Müller - 2008

The Chess Puzzle Book 4 - Mastering Positional Principles - Karsten Müller, Alex Markgraf - 2012

RussBell

Elements of Positional Evaluation by Dan Heisman

Although it is not, strictly speaking, a puzzle book, there is nothing to prevent you from analyzing the many positions presented before reading Heisman's discussion.

otherwise, you may discover something of interest here...

Good Positional Chess, Planning & Strategy Books for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/introduction-to-positional-chess-planning-strategy

 

mx5driver

Can You Be a Positional Chess Genius (Everyman Chess) 

I haven't read this book but I understand it is a positional chess puzzle book. Should be worth a look.

AlexiZalman
busterlark wrote:

...

I forgot about the Bellin/Ponzetto book, I'd heard good things about it, though. Maybe I'll put that one next on the list, after I finish Positional Play. Thx for the suggestion.

The book is out of print and second-hand copies are very expensive and more than likely marked up. The book starts out with theory and thinking structure/process then moves to a much longer section of 30 practical tests/positions with detailed solutions. 

Frankly I don't think 'positional puzzles' exist rather what you should be looking for are 'positional studies'. The latter are far more likely to be obtained from walking through GM games and using well-documented 'Best Games Of Player_X' type books.

One of the best examples being Botvinnik's 'One Hundred Selected Games', which is still in print - uses descriptive notation.

Alternatively there is plenty to enjoy on 'The Mammoth Book Of The World's Greatest Chess Game' - Burgess, Nunn & Emms. As well as the best games ever it's extremely good value to boot! You can download all 125 games for free (you can scrip out the comments), then work through them till you don't understand a move then refer to the book for an explanation - rinse and repeat - you can do this forever as there is so much to gain.

IpswichMatt
There’s a couple of copies of “Test your positional play” by Bellin and Ponzetti going cheap on eBay.
busterlark
Alexi - is that the Botvinnik book you would recommend? I also heard that there’s a three volume collection, is that worth looking into? Or is the one hundred games the best collection?
Chesserroo2

300 most important chess positions.

Maybe you already know about the 495 one.

RussBell

also...

The Complete Manual of Positional Chess (2 volumes) by Konstantin Sakaev & Konstantin Landa

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=The+Complete+Manual+of+Positional+Chess&i=stripbooks&crid=64REF0LK6KYD&sprefix=the+complete+manual+of+positional+chess%2Cstripbooks%2C112&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

busterlark
The Sakaev and Landa books look real nice. I haven’t read them yet but they look good. I should probably read them instead of thinking about new books
AlexiZalman
busterlark wrote:
Alexi - is that the Botvinnik book you would recommend? I also heard that there’s a three volume collection, is that worth looking into? Or is the one hundred games the best collection?

I have no idea whether the three volume is better than the 100 Selected. But the latter is frequently referenced and the fact that it is still in print probably means something.

The Mammoth Book might be a better practical call since if it doesn't fit your current purpose then there is lots more within it - for example, each game has a short 'lessons' section. The games are all very exciting.

I did read somewhere that the BEST indicator of chess skill is directly correlated to the number of GM games studied.  I am a bit low-level to appreciate this, but it's a very frequent statement. So why not start with the best 125 games?

OmegaGrandMasterGWiz
chess gems Sukhin, blunders& brilliancies mullen, chess calculation training 1 middle game edouard, test your positional play bellin, imagination in chess gaprindashvili, the best move hort, perfect your chess volokitin, think like a super-g adams