Master Chess Tactics: Insightful Customer Feedback Report

This book was very instructive and easy to understand. Covers a wide variety of chess tactics in a clear way. Highly Recommended.

One of the best tactics book for beginner to 1500 level. Easy reading, won't put you to sleep like many chess books. A must read.

This is definitely the next book to purchase in this series. After spending some time applying the principles from Seirawan's first book, look here next. His grandiose style can be a little overbearing for some but I find that it adds levity to an otherwise difficult subject. Things have not quite "come together" for me past the opening yet but I do notice that I get further along with better positions against my friends than I used to, and I am now able to predict their responses up to two moves in advance (they are 1500ish players and I am a novice). I agree with his philosophy that for beginners, boldly attacking is the best plan of action at first, and this book shows you why. If a bold attack fails against an advanced opponent, you get to see WHY and how you could have made a better move. The tactical principles outlined herein are helping me to anticipate better moves for a short term advantage, or to (hopefully less often, with time!) immediately see how a move that I just made, though good, may have been better if it were displaced by one square, taken in a different sequence, etc. Wholly recommended!

I got this book along with the Complete Idiot's Guide, and I'm plowing thru the idiot book first. Both were recommended to me by a friend who is a very strong player. Tactics (a series of moves to accomplish a goal) is separate from openings, and from strategy, etc. Very well presented, a good chess writer.

Yasser Seirawan is probably the best big-time chess educator that I have yet come across -- you can see some of his lectures on Youtube if you want to see him for yourself. Pretty much all of the Grandmasters can write a coherent record of their best games or their favorite chess concepts, but when it comes to teaching most of them leave a lot to be desired. What sets Seirawan apart from the rest is that he understands what novice players need: a plain-language introduction to the mechanics of the game of chess. His writing is clear, efficient, warm, and effective.

As a novice player, I have read several chess books, but this is by far the best, and has helped me immensely; about halfway through reading the book my game suddenly transformed, and I began to internalize the book's concepts. The book has a great balance of exposition, puzzles, and examinations. After reading this you can train your tactics further with online tactics trainers or chess puzzle books, but the knowledge in this book makes all that other material so much more accessible.

Chess writers will definitely take your money, but I think you only need a handful of books to attain basic proficiency. A couple of Seirawan's books and a way to train with puzzles is probably all the novice needs to see big improvements.

Seirawan offers a compelling toolbox of chess tactics - patterns that you can look for and exploit in novel and surprising ways - and the resources to train you to recognize them. He offers a great balance between lecturing, practice puzzles, and raw delight as he examines dramatic games with an excitement that is contagious. His focus is mostly on the mid-game and end-game, with almost no material that will help with openings - you'll want to find other resources for that. But in his focus he does a good job of covering patterns not only in an introductory way, but showing how to spot opportunities to use them that might not be obvious even if you were familiar with them. If you are an aspiring novice chess player, you will at very least enjoy this book and will almost certainly come out a stronger player.