Tactical Training (Everyman Chess)

“Tactical Training” is an excellent book that would make a nice addition to any chess library. It looks good on the shelf, but it’s not designed to sit there. This is a workbook. It is a hefty book with more than 500 exercises in just under 500 pages. They are organized by themes—first checkmate patterns and then tactical concepts. Checkmate instruction and exercises comprise the first one-third of the text. At the start of “Tactical Training”, Cyrus Lakdawala states his aim to motivate readers to shift their “study focus to training in tactics, combinations and calculation” (7). He notes that chess players too often place undue emphasis on opening study, while most games are won and lost through tactics.In some respects, it resembles many other collections of checkmate and tactics exercises. What makes it different?Most tactics books have positions to solve with solutions in the back of the book, usually limited to the main line. Fewer present variations, as this one does. This book offers verbal discussion of the ideas, often with entertaining snippets from literature, film, and other manifestations of popular culture. The solutions immediately follow the exercise, rather than in the back. The oft-recommended habit of covering the solution with your bookmark proves useful. Some solutions embed additional exercises.The exercises range considerably in difficulty from very simple to others that should challenge masters. Lakdawala gives each exercise a rating on a scale of 1 to 5. Most of those rated 4 and 5 are composed, requiring imagination and careful calculation. I spent perhaps ten minutes on the first exercise in the tactics section, rated 4.5, got the first four moves correct and then faltered. It troubled me, so I checked with an engine. My solution also works, but is one move longer to checkmate and still requires the correct moves.I’ve only been reading Lakdawala’s books the past few months. Long aware of his prodigious output, I suspected that quantity interfered with quality. Having taken the plunge with “Capablanca: Move by Move”, which I found excellent, I inquired about his writing process. He has a strong work ethic, spending 40 hours per week on writing, plus he spends another 20+ hours per week teaching chess. He usually has two book projects at any any given time, and seems to put out three to four books per year. There seems to be a symbiotic relationship between his teaching and his writing.Lakdawala’s style is distinctive in ways that both cultivate a devoted following of readers, on the one hand, and substantial hostility, on the other. John Hartmann, who reviews books for “Chess Life”, for example, despises the style and pleads with editors in his reviews to trim out some of the excess. Lakdawala is fond of unusual metaphors, similes, and popular culture references. His creative expressions can come across as self-indulgent, or perhaps, like every good teacher everywhere, he expends extra effort to find new ways to connect students and readers to old ideas. Sometimes the only purpose seems to be to make a joke. For example, in a position from a game where nineteenth century British master John Cochran beat Howard Staunton, he references a high-profile celebrity murder trial from the 1990s with a defense attorney named Johnnie Cochran. The joke adds nothing to the chess content, but I laughed when I read it.I find the book attractive and the exercises compelling. Although I have at least two dozen collections of tactics exercises on my shelves, this is one that I am likely to work all the way through.

Excellent book! It’s all in one tactics from easy to devilishly hard! He also teaches how to think! Yes, I do know the author. He is a humble hard working IM who is consistently honing his craft - writing quality books. Most important piece of info - learn tactics and calculation. Know the principles of castling, pieces out (to create imbalance), activity and connect rooks! Buy this book! Cyrus is a great person, teacher and gentleman!! Thanks for reading!

Being sophisticated doesn't mean it's bad, it means it's a great tool for the serious chess experts. A joy of a book for profound students.

Ottimo libro di tattica scacchistica!