Hi,

I'm (perhaps around low intermediate) trying to improve my general tactics skills (after quite a bit of end-game study, and am currently using the puzzle book: 'Sharpen Your Tactics', which seems very good (I prefer using books to PC applications).

I have noticed that the book (currently out-of-print) "Tal's Winning Chess Combinations" seems to be good, especially for explaining the motives leading to spotting combinations. The only reviews for this book (just 5) on amazon all highly rate the book.

Anyone else with experiance with this book  ? (assuming I can get a copy) - is it worth investing time with this book, or is it over-hyped because of the famous author ?

Thanks in advance for your views!
Mark

no, there are many better tactics books than that. (im prefer books to computers too!)

If your need to go over some basic tactics. Back to Basics:
Tactics is wonderful (by dan heisman), or if you are reading sharpen your tactics, i recommend that you buy reinfeld's 1001 winning combinations and sacrifices.

THEN, you must solve it about 5-7 times until you can get ALL problems under 10 seconds.