Chess Tactics for the Tournament Player

Comprehensive Chess Course #3

by Sam Palatnik, Lev Alburt

The third volume of the complete, easy-to-use program for teaching and self-study of the Comprehensive Chess Course, the famous, once-secret Russian method of chess learning and training. Grandmaster Lev Alburt is the three-time U.S. chess champion. Referred to as the "grandmaster of chess teachers," he has worked with students of all strengths and ages and has spent years translating the secret Soviet chess lesson plans used to produce a long line of Russian world champions. The volumes of the Comprehensive Chess Course, of which this is the third, are the result. His co-author is Grandmaster Sam Palatnik, a former captain of the Ukrainian squad that recently won the world team championshipahead of the United States and Russia.

Genres: Chess, Reference

248 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 1996

Reviews

[Alberto · Rating 2 out of 5]

If this book were truly representative of "the once-secret Russian method of chess training" no Soviet player would ever have become a grandmaster in the entire course of chess history. This book simply does not live up to the hype. Keep in mind as you read the following that according to the authors the alleged goal for these books is "to provide the knowledge necessary to reach expert strength." Nobody is going to reach anything remotely near expert strength using this book or its companions.

My complaints are numerous:

[1] The material oscillates between being absurdly simple for the alleged target audience to being absurdly unclear. For example, at one point they explain what a pin is. Elsewhere, they provide a complicated example from the Fischer-Spassky 1972 match with absolutely zero commentary.

[2] The examples are too many and too sparsely commented (many have no comments at all) to be of any use to a student trying to learn from them. As just one ridiculous example, page 180 contains a 19-move analysis with a single comment ("now follows a beautiful variation"); well, thanks, that was very useful. The famous game Lasker-Bauer, Amsterdam 1889, merits comment to only one move as well.

[3] Many of the examples are downright useless, consisting of a single move. We are given no indication of how the position was arrived at or how the magical move (1. Qa7!!) was arrived at or even why it merits two exclamation points.

The bottom line is if you are rated below 1700, you will not learn anything from this book, so try Jeremy Silman's or Yasser Seirawan's books instead. And if you are rated above 1700, you will not learn anything from this book either, so try Dvoretsky's well-respected series.

[Noah Zucker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Filled with errors... I likely have an old edition(?), but many of the examples are flawed. After studying an example (exercise) and reading the solution, I check it with StockFish and find that there was a better move that renders the exclam solution at best a draw. This has happened many times over the course of the book and has certainly lowered my motivation to finish the rest, but I'm powering through.

Of course, the introduction invites the reader to "find errors" - I understand that's a big part of chess literature and study (finding mistakes). I hope that an updated edition removes all the gratuitous exlams (!!) that time has shown to be flawed. If anything, I'm seeing first hand examples of how "winning" positions can be later found to be losing / drawn.

Goes without saying that readers are better off working through the examples and doing themed puzzles online rather than taking the (flawed) exercises in the book as gospel.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first serious chess book that I read, and I read it cover to cover. If every chess book was presented as this one is, I would have been a grandmaster by now.

[Ramon Girona · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book lacks of explanations in some analysis and the examples are well known in chess literature so it is no original or creative. Good to rehearse some motifs and combination but nothing more.

[Sergio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely got me better in tactics, took me about a month to work through. Difficulty seems to be fluctuating a lot.

[Eric Nielson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice review of tactics arranged by idea. The examples are intended to be worked out in your head without a board. These tactics are different from sites like Chess Tempo in that the results of many are very subtle advantages. Some are difficult to solve because you assume there must be more to it. But a very good review of tactical ideas in chess.