Neverending Tactics: 3003 Positions to Perfection Kindle Edition

I’ve been a Chess Coach now for 15 years and I have never ever come across an "insane" book quite like this (Except that fat Laszlo Polgar book which has 5,334 Mates, Combinations and Games). I’m recommending this book now to all my younger students who need to fill their heads with these common tactical patterns. This is great for my students who cannot get online to do tactics (Chesstempo.com is, in my opinion, the best site for Tactics and students always need to be doing (Blitz) tactics). I will now give my best about what I dislike and like about this book.The Negatives: #1: The Book Cover. If there was a hardback edition I would have quickly purchased it. This paperback edition is going to get lots of mileage and I can imagine at some point it will be bent up and scuffed in my coach bag. #2: No board coordinates on the diagrams is kind of a bust for my young students who are still learning Algebraic Notation. However, I guess people can say it is a plus since it will teach you to look at the board like that. #3: All diagrams are from White’s point of view. It may be a personal taste, but I enjoy looking at positions from the attacking player’s perspective (Black included). That may bother some people but others not.The Positives: #1: Dang son, didn’t I tell you this book at 3,003 puzzles?! Holy Crap! I’m wondering if I will be able to get through most of them in 1 year. I doubt it but let’s do another review when I finish it. I think the author, Tsvetkov, did an amazing job assembling so many RECENT puzzles! He comments in the Introduction, “Most of the games… from recent practice, 2016-2018,”. #2: The solution to the puzzle is located below the Diagram which saves me from flipping to the back of the book for the answer (causing more wear and tear on the book). If this bothers people I suggest covering up the answer with a sticky note, write the answer to the problem, then check it. I also encourage my students to take a pencil to problems and draw lines they are looking at to see the big picture when the tactic is solved. #3: Large Diagrams. No, my eyes are not getting bad and I can see just fine, I guess I enjoy looking at a good-sized diagram than squinting to see. Some people may notice that since the diagrams are larger pixilation can also be noticed, that really doesn’t bother me. #4: GREAT commentary of the puzzle solutions, the author gives the reader “tips”, “rules”, and useful comments to how he got the answer. I believe students really need this part in their Chess education from stronger players: How the tactic is being analyzed. Sometimes there are other sub-lines and he will address them. #5: All types of Tactical patterns (and Checkmates) given. The author sometimes labels what type of tactic the reader is looking at, which is helpful if you haven’t seen it before. #6: The Variations are not extremely long, and I find that helpful for growing students not to frustrate them. “the maximum length of lines being capped at 6moves/12 plies,” says the author. After going through the first 50 puzzles I’ve noticed more 3 movers which is perfect for Intermediate players and Advanced players trying to grow their Chess Vision. #7: The Price of the book is fair for the Paperback edition and worth every penny. I’m old school and I enjoy having a good book in my hands with my coffee in the evenings. The Kindle version is cheaper, but you will not be able to really cover up the solutions if you are aiming to solve these one by one.Overall: This should be “The Last Tactics Book You Will Ever Need” – get it. The Positives should outweigh the negatives on this one. I hope you found this review helpful. I’m recommending it to all student levels from (500 to 2200).

Very nice book. Lots of puzzles and nice puzzles. Initially I suspected a simple puzzle book, but the puzzles are creative. Some may not like that the answers are at the bottom of the puzzle, but I am not one of those people, I hate having to go back and forth to check answers, here it is on the same page. A thing to keep in mind is that the author gives an written explanation of the answer, so it is nice to have the puzzle and the explanation on the same page. I think it would be crazy to have to flip back and forth for every puzzle, in ordered to read the explanation. You are not just given an answer, but the author explains why the answer is correct. You just have to be honest with yourself and not cheat by peaking at the answers. he style of book reminds me of lev alburts pocket book (I cant recall the exact title) except that this is a super sized version. Great book and nice explanations, something many puzzle books lack.

Of course I haven't finished this yet; that may take me years. But so far, the book seems quite useful for practice and quite carefully authored. The answers would be better located elsewhere, I suppose, but their current placement isn't causing me any real problems.I have the kindle edition, and it's a convenience. I'll lug it along on vacation, gladly. I normally don't review so fast, but I thought I'd help to soften the impact of harsher reviews with which I just can`t agree.

Neverending Tactics (3003 Positions to Perfection) is the most comprehensive and educative chess tactics book ever published. Author Lyudmil Tsvetkov has collected 3003 puzzles mostly from very recent tournament games. For every puzzle the author has provided detailed solutions and insightful annotations that will surely stimulate your chess imagination. Here is a uniquely instructive book will take your tactical and pattern recognition skills to the next level while teaching you how to evaluate any chess position that you may encounter in your own games.

I really like this book. I have the Kindle version on my phone. This is important because when you rotate the phone to landscape mode, then you can isolate a diagram without text and focus solely on solving it. If a diagram seems too small, you can enlarge it.It’s a great book for improving tactical skills.

so far i'm finding this a challenging tactics book (i'm a rank beginner at best though) the problem for me are the solutions are written underneath the puzzle, it's difficult not to have a glance at the solution while going through the problems? minor issue i suppose, but it seems having the solutions in the back of the book would have been nicesome are easy, some are "what??? didn't see that one"

Much better than any online tactics trainer. I like how there is a seemingly endless stream of tactics of varying motif, difficulty, and depth. Also I like how just about every tactic came from an actual game. Its very frustrating to do tactics that involve crazy queen sacs or bishop underpromotion that you know would never happen in an actual game, but this book does an excellent job of keeping the tactics relevant and applicable.

I actually am a USCF master. Hence the book was only mildly interesting to me and contained no lessons like “The Art of Attack in Chess” or the groupings provided by “Tal’s Winning Chess combinations.” It has no self-study material and perhaps 25% of its mate are under 3 moves long. It appears to be most useful for the 1200–1600 rated player who seldom work interactive tactics online.

Seeing as I have purchased this as a physical book, and on Kindle, I will use this same review for both formats, with the relevant points for each raised.Having seen this book discussed on Chess.com, I became quite intrigued to check it out. 3003 puzzles for £17 (or just under £4 for Kindle version), I felt I couldn’t really go wrong. I am a novice at chess. I know how the pieces work, and I am familiar with the thinking behind the opening moves. I practice chess by playing whole games, either with a person or via computer/console, but I also wanted some help on getting my mind used to working out chess puzzles, as this can only serve so as to improve my game, right? So I decided on this book. The book was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, but this is good as each page has 4 puzzles with accompanying text. Had the book been too small in its dimensions it may have made the pictures of the board layout and text a little uncomfortable to read. The puzzles, generally speaking are “White/Black to play and win” type affairs. I like to set up the board on my iPad, using Stockfish, or even on my physical chess board and then work out the puzzles. What I look for is “what is my best move?” I think about alternatives, what the response by the opponent might be, then I decide on one move and make it. When I get the correct answer (according to the author - and there may be more than one “best move”, or at least more than one way of achieving the same result), I feel really pleased with myself, and, as a result my confidence as a novice chess player is boosted. I am hoping this book is going to train me to look at the board and spot “best moves”, and I am confident it is going to do just that. The explanations from the author for each puzzle’s answer is clear and concise, without any heavy jargon; a bonus for me as I do not consider myself to be particularly clever or intelligent. Each puzzle also states from which game it was taken. Some of the games are from the “professionals” (GMs etc), yet some are from amateur games.The answers to the puzzles are directly below the puzzle itself. Some have said they would prefer to have had the answers at the back of the book to prevent any accidental (or sneaky!) peeking at the answer. Yes, I agree that would be helpful, but I simply get an index card and cover the answer up. With the Kindle version you can simply tap on the image of the puzzle itself and it zooms in a little, but more importantly it removes the text and therefore the answer. However, I really don’t mind having the answer directly below the puzzle because, as I have said, I can easily cover it up. Then when I want to look at the answer I don’t have to search for it in the back of the book.The physical book is large (210mm x 297mm x 50mm) and weighs in at 2.2kg (that’s just over 4 lbs for you in the US), and so is not a book you can just stick in your pocket. But what I also like about the size is that there is enough margin space on the page for any little notes I may wish to write. Physical size on the Kindle version is irrelevant, but I would add that this book displays vary well using the Kindle app on my iPad/iPhone.I saw one reviewer comment that the overall physical quality of the book itself was poor. I disagree. The copy I have here is durable.The pages are quite thick and the binding seems fine. The cover is somewhat flimsy, made of thick card, so not a book produced by a professional binder, or so it seems, but it really is more than adequate for its needs. Had the book been available in hardback I would probably have gone for that for a bit of extra durability.So, I am vary pleased with this book. In fact I was so happy that I also purchased it on Kindle, so that I could have this physical copy at home (as I prefer physical copies of such books), but have the Kindle version displayed on my iPad/iPhone (via the Kindle app) when I am, say, on public transport, or waiting at the hairdressers. Whether this book will make me a “perfect tactician” as the author claims I do not know., However, I am confident that it is going to help me improve my game. I do recommend this book.

Love the kindle version. The position is repeated directly below with the answer so you can play it over in your mind.The little comments are often amusing. The puzzles are perfect for me, not crazy hard but requiring some thought. I have a load of tactic puzzle books and this one is top of the list.

Good value

If you are a player with over 500 ELO rating this is not the book for you. This book consists of examples of 1 move combinations- mostly attacking 2 pieces simultaneously or an attack on a piece combined with a mate threat which is also nothing but a double attack- that would be probably helpful to train players who are beginners. Will be very useful for those who coach beginners to understand and look for 1 move double attacks/ forks. It needs a very patient person to assemble 3003 of such positions, which is creditable, because the idea of one move double attack can be exhausted in a few positions, say 20 or so.Another strange thing about this book is that there is nothing printed on the spine of the book, it is just blank. Thus you will not be able to identify the book if it is standing among other books on a bookshelf. On second thought, you might, because this will be the only book which has no name on its spine.

La pregunta es ¿si es extraordinario, por qué solo una estrella? Bien, el problema no es el contenido sino el formato en Kindle. La idea del libro es desarrollar la habilidad táctica en ajedrez y para eso hay una magnifica colección de 3003 problemas. ¿Cuál es el problema? Pues que en Kindle solo puedes pasar páginas enteras y como cada problema tiene la respuesta JUSTO debajo, es imposible evitar verla antes de intentar resolver. Por eso voy a devolver el libro, si se corrige esta situación iré corriendo a compralo. Gracias.