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    1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners: The Tactics Workbook that Explains the Basic Concepts, Too
    1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners: The Tactics Workbook that Explains the Basic Concepts, Too
    1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners: The Tactics Workbook that Explains the Basic Concepts, Too
    Ebook2,076 pages10 hours

    1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners: The Tactics Workbook that Explains the Basic Concepts, Too

    By Franco Masetti and Roberto Messa

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Chess is 99% tactics. If this celebrated observation is true for the master, how much more so for beginners and casual players! If you want to win more games, nothing works better than training combinations.


    There are two types of books on tactics, those that introduce the concepts followed by some examples, and workbooks that contain numerous exercises.



    Chess masters and trainers Franco Masetti and Roberto Messa have done both: they explain the basic tactical ideas AND provide an enormous amount of exercises for each different theme. Masetti and Messa have created a great first tactics book. It teaches you how to:

    ¯ identify weak spots in the position of your opponent

    ¯ recognize patterns of combinations

    ¯ visualize tricks.

    1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners can also be used as a course text book, because only the most didactically productive exercises have been used.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNew in Chess
    Release dateJan 11, 2019
    ISBN9789056915582
    1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners: The Tactics Workbook that Explains the Basic Concepts, Too

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    • 3/5
      It's good so far, however there's a problem with 96 puzzle (mate in two) when in fact it's not mate in two.

    Book preview

    1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners - Franco Masetti

    Colofon

    © 2018 New In Chess

    Published by New In Chess, Alkmaar, The Netherlands

    www.newinchess.com

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

    Translated from 1001 Esercizi per Principianti

    Authors: Franco Masetti and Roberto Messa

    This edition is published by arrangement with Le Due Torri – Chess Department Store – Italy – www.chess.it

    Cover design: Volken Beck

    Translation: Richard Jones

    Production: Anton Schermer

    Have you found an error in this book? Please send your remarks to editors@newinchess.com

    We will collect all relevant corrections on the errata page of our website and implement them in a next edition.

    ISBN/EAN: 978-90-5691-558-2

    Introduction

    Chess is 99% tactics!

    If this celebrated observation is true for the master, how much more so for the beginner and club player.

    By far and away, the quickest and most effective way to improve your chess performance is to increase your tactical skill so that at a glance you are able to see the typical mating patterns and material-winning tactical motifs that so often decide a game. There is no doubt that the best way to acquire good tactical vision is to do exercises that teach you to recognise the tactical building blocks that make up every combination. This book focuses on the crucial positions that every chess player must know. It cannot be stressed enough that a knowledge of strategy is of little use if you have not first mastered the fundamentals of tactics.

    This book starts with hundreds of essential mating positions that train immediate visual recognition; first there are the easier mate in one or two move exercises; then there are exercises for various crucial tactical motifs that must be mastered by any aspiring chess player; these are followed by more demanding positions where these various motifs are often combined.

    While the easier problems can be solved without a chess board, we suggest that for the more difficult ones you set up the positions on a board and try to find the solution as if you were playing a real game. You should therefore not touch or move the pieces before having made your decision, perhaps writing down the possible variations before you check the solutions at the back of the book.

    The introductions to each chapter are particularly instructive. It is here that we explain the ideas behind crucial tactical motifs such as double attack, the pin and skewer, as well as pawn promotion, drawing techniques, etc.

    This book is intended not only for personal use, but also as a course text book. We have thus consulted leading teachers and masters with extensive training experience working in chess academies and club courses so as to best identify the most productive positions and exercises to use.

    Franco Masetti and Roberto Messa

    Mate in one

    White to move and mate in one

    Exercise 1

    White to move

    The pin is mightier than the sword

    Solution 1

    Mate in 1

    1.♖xa6#

    Exercise 2

    White to move

    B and R make a winning team

    Solution 2

    Mate in 1

    1.♗f6#

    Exercise 3

    White to move

    N and R in partnership

    Solution 3

    Mate in 1

    1.♖f7#

    Exercise 4

    White to move

    Nice and simple

    Solution 4

    Mate in 1

    1.♖h1#

    Exercise 5

    White to move

    Another lethal pin

    Solution 5

    Mate in 1

    1.♖a8#

    Exercise 6

    White to move

    Also here

    Solution 6

    Mate in 1

    1.♘b5#

    Exercise 7

    White to move

    Only one of several checks is mate

    Solution 7

    Mate in 1

    1.♗h5#

    Exercise 8

    White to move

    Softly, softly

    Solution 8

    Mate in 1

    1.e4#

    Exercise 9

    White to move

    Pawn power

    Solution 9

    Mate in 1

    1.f7#

    Exercise 10

    White to move

    The bishop and knight team up

    Solution 10

    Mate in 1

    1.♗f6#

    Exercise 11

    White to move

    Less is more

    Solution 11

    Mate in 1

    1.c8♘#

    Exercise 12

    White to move

    Nothing fancy

    Solution 12

    Mate in 1

    1.♕xa7#

    Exercise 13

    White to move

    No en passant

    Solution 13

    Mate in 1

    1.g4#

    Exercise 14

    White to move

    Sacrificing the queen for mate

    Solution 14

    Mate in 1

    1.♗xf7#

    Exercise 15

    White to move

    Double check

    Solution 15

    Mate in 1

    1.♘a6#

    Exercise 16

    White to move

    One check is bad enough

    Solution 16

    Mate in 1

    1.♗xd6#

    Exercise 17

    White to move

    Her Majesty checkmates

    Solution 17

    Mate in 1

    1.♕e7#

    Anderssen-Staunton 1851

    Exercise 18

    White to move

    A mate from the past

    Solution 18

    Mate in 1

    1.♕e8#

    Staunton-Anderssen 1851

    Exercise 19

    White to move

    This is more recent

    Solution 19

    Mate in 1

    1.♕f3#

    Kovacic-Tasic 2006

    Exercise 20

    White to move

    Three ways to mate

    Solution 20

    Mate in 1

    1.♕h7#

    Exercise 21

    White to move

    The historic Arabian mate

    Solution 21

    Mate in 1

    1.♖d8#

    Exercise 22

    White to move

    A mate by ... Anderssen

    Solution 22

    Mate in 1

    1.♖e8#

    Anderssen-Mayet 1855

    Exercise 23

    White to move

    Two ways to mate

    Solution 23

    Mate in 1

    1.g4#

    1.♕e4# .

    Exercise 24

    White to move

    Castle early, castle often

    Solution 24

    Mate in 1

    1.♘f6#

    Staunton-Brodie 1851

    Exercise 25

    White to move

    An opening tactic

    Solution 25

    Mate in 1

    1.♘d6#

    Exercise 26

    White to move

    Power along the rank

    Solution 26

    Mate in 1

    1.♕d6#

    Exercise 27

    White to move

    Black regrets not castling

    Solution 27

    Mate in 1

    1.♕b5#

    Zukertort-Anderssen 1865

    Exercise 28

    White to move

    Ruling the ranks

    Solution 28

    Mate in 1

    1.♕a8#

    Exercise 29

    White to move

    By no means a draw

    Solution 29

    Mate in 1

    1.♘c4#

    Exercise 30

    White to move

    The queen and knight unite

    Solution 30

    Mate in 1

    1.♕d8#

    Adams-Leko 2005

    Exercise 31

    White to move

    The king has strayed too far

    Solution 31

    Mate in 1

    1.♕f7#

    Lange-Anderssen 1859

    Exercise 32

    White to move

    Black didn't develop

    Solution 32

    Mate in 1

    1.♕e5#

    Greco-NN 1620

    Exercise 33

    White to move

    GMs get mated too

    Solution 33

    Mate in 1

    1.♕xh5#

    Petrosian-Kortchnoi 1977

    Exercise 34

    White to move

    A 2006 mate

    Solution 34

    Mate in 1

    1.♕f6#

    Nadig-Vinas 2006

    Exercise 35

    White to move

    The right piece for the job?

    Solution 35

    Mate in 1

    1.♗e8#

    Exercise 36

    White to move

    White's pieces are more active

    Solution 36

    Mate in 1

    1.♕d6#

    Nepomniachtchi-Sharma 2006

    Exercise 37

    White to move

    Bishops rule

    Solution 37

    Mate in 1

    1.♗g6#

    Exercise 38

    White to move

    The R and N gang up on the king

    Solution 38

    Mate in 1

    1.♖g8#

    Kortchnoi-Padevsky 1972

    Exercise 39

    White to move

    Cornered

    Solution 39

    Mate in 1

    1.♘f7#

    Exercise 40

    White to move

    It is nice to discover there's mate

    Solution 40

    Mate in 1

    1.♘xf6#

    Exercise 41

    White to move

    Two ways to end the game

    Solution 41

    Mate in 1

    1.♘c6#

    1.♘ed7# .

    Exercise 42

    White to move

    Double trouble

    Solution 42

    Mate in 1

    1.♖g5#

    Exercise 43

    White to move

    A deadly pin

    Solution 43

    Mate in 1

    1.♗xd7#

    Exercise 44

    White to move

    Once again the king is exposed

    Solution 44

    Mate in 1

    1.♗g5#

    Exercise 45

    White to move

    An enterprising pawn

    Solution 45

    Mate in 1

    1.gxh8♘#

    Exercise 46

    White to move

    Easier than you would imagine

    Solution 46

    Mate in 1

    1.♖e8#

    Exercise 47

    White to move

    Mighty knights

    Solution 47

    Mate in 1

    1.♘f7#

    Exercise 48

    White to move

    Better not to exchange

    Solution 48

    Mate in 1

    1.♖h5#

    Exercise 49

    White to move

    A devastating discovered attack

    Solution 49

    Mate in 1

    1.♘d3#

    Exercise 50

    White to move

    The attacker wins

    Solution 50

    Mate in 1

    1.♕a8#

    Shaw-Tcharotchkin 2006

    Exercise 51

    White to move

    Another king stuck in the centre

    Solution 51

    Mate in 1

    1.♘d8#

    Bets-Melnikov 2005

    Exercise 52

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