The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book

I don't mind blowing a puzzle or getting stumped. But I find many online sites and puzzle books infuriating when I look at the solutions and they make no sense. In this book the solutions basically all make sense. The puzzles and solutions were done with care. Very good training book for lower level and intermediate players.

I play both correspondence and over-the-board blitz chess and based on my performance in both, I'd estimate my overall playing strength to be somewhere in the 1500-1750 elo range. Meaning I already have a more-than-solid foundation in tactics despite being neither an expert nor master-level player.The first section of the book, 'elementary puzzles', wasn't too bad. Only about 5 out of the total 112 puzzles I had no idea how to solve. I ultimately either couldn't solve or got the wrong solution to less than 10 of these. So far so good.Fast forward to the next section and I started having to consistently skip problems before being able to find one I could solve. I got to around puzzle 200 before I stopped because, on average, I was only able to solve (or even have an idea on how to solve) maybe every other problem. Hence, I've decided this book is a bit too advanced for me and I'm shelving it until I improve a bit more.In addition, the reader should be warned that for the puzzles that have hints to them, the hints can be confusingly ambiguous. One hint reads: "The game continued [move order given] with an eventual draw. What had both players missed?" The diagram indicates that it's white to move so you'd expect the puzzle solution to be an improvement for white. Except it's not...it's for black. Why couldn't the puzzle start with white already having moved and it being black's turn to play?What makes this even more confusing is that in other, almost identically-worded puzzles, the improvement IS for the first player to move and not vice versa. So at times, it's never clear which side you're supposed to be improving.I also have to echo the words of another reviewer (who also rated this 3 stars) in saying that the difficulty from one puzzle to the next can jump quite considerably. I also have to corroborate what this reviewer said about Emms not adequately explaining what the phrase "difficulty level 2-4" actually means.Overall, I would rate this a satisfactory, though far from perfect puzzle book for its intended audience. However, that audience is decidedly more on the advanced, as opposed to intermediate, side of the spectrum. Hence, I would not even consider this book unless your playing strength is ~1800 elo or above.

I am a beginner at chess, and was looking for something like this to challenge my mind in short spurts. The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book is enticing, engaging, and complete enough to make me hate to put it down.My only complaint is that I wish there was a travel-size edition, as this is large enough to not want to take on the plane.

After reading about the infamous seven cycles, I was willing to give tactics training a try. I had an FICS rating near 1800 (which correlates to about 1640 USCF) and consider myself a fairly strong amateur. After reading the reviews of this and other puzzle books, I selected this one. I've worked through 276 problems in the course of two weeks and my observations are as follows.The degree of difficulty for puzzles varies widely, and they often go from a string of difficult ones to duh - so easy ones with no warning. Emms says things like "the following puzzles vary in difficulty from 2-4" with no explanation of what that means. None of the problems have a difficulty rating under them, which would greatly ease the use of the book for those, like myself, for whom some problems are just too difficult to attempt. Often, one is required to calculate complicated positions out 14-18 moves, with quite a few variations, in order to solve these problems. (Note: a move is a move by either side, so in notation, 14 moves would conclude with each side making 7 moves.). The presence of these problems with no warning leads to frustration. I can do 8 moves readily, and 10 with difficulty, but only if lines are fairly clear with few options. Once you get three lines 7-8 moves out, I get lost. Other problems are immediately obvious to me, and require no calculation at all - some are 1 move problems!The first 112 "elementary problems" were about perfect for me. I got most of them, some with difficulty, but still missed maybe 1/10. After just those problems, my rating jumped and I immediately felt a difference in my tactical ability. But now, 1/4 of the way through, frustration with problems that I simply cannot get at this point has led me to put the book on the shelf and I'm getting a book that is a step down in difficulty.If the book added a star rating for each problem with a difficulty level so I could skip the ones that are over my head, or if they were arranged from easiest to hardest, I would find this book much better. But the random changes in difficulty do not encourage me to keep working. I simply look at the solutions and say, "Oh, I never would have figured that out.". A patzer I my be, but this book is beyond me in its current form.

Enjoying the puzzles every day

Good book

A good general book of puzzles with a good number of them!

Very easy to understand.Great for people who want to improve.

Had to have this book in ebook form.Can't put the Kindle Tablet down at the moment!

O autor, o Inglês JOHN EMMS, nascido em 1967, é Grande Mestre (GM) e atualmente (2020) tem Rating FIDE de 2478 pontos.O subtítulo da obra, em tradução livre, é "1001 quebra-cabeças de xadrez originais para desafiar todos os padrões de jogador, do iniciante ao grande mestre". O termo em Inglês “PUZZLE”, do título original, pode ser traduzido por “quebra-cabeças” ou “problema”.O livro tem uma introdução, onze capítulos e uma tábua de pontuação para avaliação de Rating FIDE. Os títulos dos capítulos são os seguintes:Introdução.1. Grandes ideias táticas.2. Problemas elementares.3. Problemas de cheque mate.4. Problemas intermediários e avançados.5. Testes 1-5.6. Problemas de antigos campeonatos soviéticos.7. Encontre o lance errado!8. Testes 6-10.9. Problemas de finais.10. Testes 11-15.11. O desafio definitivo.Tábua de pontuação.A grande vantagem deste livro é justamente a possibilidade de o leitor poder avaliar seu Rating ELO FIDE, a partir da pontuação obtida com os acertos nos problemas propostos.Ao contrário de outros livros do gênero (tática em xadrez), este livro entrega exatamente o que propõe: existem problemas fáceis de serem solucionados, problemas intermediários e problemas difíceis. Entre os problemas propostos, o Brasil está representado em dois diagramas obtidos a partir de partidas do MF brasileiro Paulo Cezar de Souza Haro (problemas/diagramas 95 e 96). A única reclamação que eu faria é a existência de um capítulo em que o autor convida o leitor a achar o lance errado. Por que alguém, jogando uma partida de xadrez, tentaria achar um lance ruim para fazer? A não ser para descartá-lo, não se trata de uma boa ideia.Em resumo: LIVRO FORTEMENTE RECOMENDADO. Um livro para ler e reler várias vezes.

I like the format of this book which covers puzzles from many grandmaster games and covers not only mating puzzles but other positional analyses as well. Diagrams are clear and easy to read. Any GM games are mentioned, so one can go back to the historical game (web search) and look at the game until the move indicated to get a "feel" of where perhaps the players were headed prior to the position.The positional analyses will require the reader (I suggest advanced intermediates and above for most of these puzzles) to LOOK at the position and try and find the best move(s) to achieve the result based on the board. These are not all just checkmate puzzles, but positional ones to find significant moves near the end of the middle game often. This is a critical point in many games, because when transitioning to the end game, one often needs to get their tactical position sufficiently strong to hold up to their opponent. In some cases, one may see no win in sight given the material disparity, and may need to force a draw. Again, seeing this ahead of time, results in a more predictable outcome, or at least has the best chance of doing so.1001 unique puzzles to challenge players at or above advanced intermediate levels!

My only complaint so far is that some of comments about the puzzle are misleading/confusing and it was not clear what is the exact starting position to the puzzle. But otherwise great puzzles.

Very useful chess book.