Chess Books - Exercise books
In my previous blog post (Chess Books - From Beginner to Expert), I listed several exercise/puzzle books that are appropriate for beginners up to experts. In my next couple of posts, I will focus just on puzzle books and give a more comprehensive list of puzzle books that are appropriate for different levels.
My preferred method of studying chess books is to read a strategy book or game collection while also working through a puzzle book on the side. It is essential to work on both tactics and to advance one's chess knowledge at the same time.
This list will be ordered roughly by difficulty, though attempting to do this is imprecise because many books cover a wide range of difficulties. I won't be able to cover all puzzle books in one post, so I'll split this into beginner books and intermediate-advanced books.
I should also note that this list is mainly limited to pure puzzle books and not tactics books that mix instructional material with exercises in each chapter. So, for example, John Nunn's Learn Chess Tactics, Murray Chandler's How to Beat Your Dad at Chess, or Martin Weteschnik's Chess Tactics from Scratch are excellent instructional books on material-winning tactics and checkmate patterns. Still, I do not count them as puzzle books. For beginners who want an instructional book on tactics before attempting a large puzzle book, I recommend Murray Chandler's series How to Beat Your Dad at Chess, Chess Tactics for Kids, and Chess Puzzles for Kids.
Now for our list.
At the very lowest end of the spectrum are books that are designed to teach children how pieces move through repetitive exercises and slowly ramp up to basic tactics and beyond.
Perhaps the best-known of these kinds of series is The Steps Method. This series is comprised of about 30 books that start with teaching how the pieces move and progress all the way up to strategy. Personally, I find the ordering of the books in this series confusing, as each "step" contains several books called "workbook," "extra," "plus," "mix," "stepping stones," "manual," and "thinking ahead." Their website does try to make it clear how different audiences are supposed to progress through them, and those who care to untangle it can do so without too much trouble. However, I am somewhat of a completist, and I prefer series where I can progress linearly from the beginning to the end and where the learning curve is not so slow. I don't own any books in this series, but others swear by it, and I could not leave it out.
Another series that starts off very basic and progresses quite gradually is Chess Camp by Igor Sukhin, published by Mongoose Press. It also starts with many repetitive exercises to reinforce how the pieces move, and very slowly moves on to checkmates with few pieces on the board, and slowly adds more complexity. I've used this to teach my six-year-old daughter, and she took well to it due to its unintimidating approach. I would consider this series best suitable for kids. These books are also reasonably economical at less than $10 per book. There are seven books in the series.
Yet another series that starts off relatively easy and gradually ramps up is Susan Polgar's Learn Chess the Right Way. These are a bit harder than the Chess School series, starting from basic checkmates rather than how the pieces move. Some intermediate players have even said they find the later books useful, for example, Book 3: Defensive Techniques, but I would still consider this series on the lower end of the spectrum, especially if you intend to start from Book 1 and work through them in order.
Another set of books that is published as a series is the Manual of Chess Combinations, but those should more accurately be regarded as stand-alone books because the step-up in level between each volume is quite steep. The first volume, now published as Chess School 1a starts off very easy with very simple mates-in-one, but by the second volume, the puzzles could easily challenge even expert players. What I like about this series is that the chapters (called Stages) are very well divided by level, so it is easy to find the chapter that is best for you. Each chapter ends with endgame positions which don't come with much explanation, so it's best to try those sections after reading the appropriate explanation in an endgame book. I like that the second volume gives the sources for all the puzzles. The chapters in the third volume are divided not by difficulty but by theme - Short Variations, Long Forcing Variations, Choice of Candidate Moves, Finding Your Opponent's Resources, and so on. The fourth volume is dedicated just to endgames. These books could be ordered directly from the publisher, Russian Chess House, who will ship to almost anywhere in the world.
As a chess teacher, I found that children really like mates-in-one because of the unambiguity. One good book that starts with mates-in-one and is very nicely formatted, with only two positions per page, and the solutions conveniently provided on each page is Simple Checkmates, by A.J. Gillam. I've given this book to my students, and I find that the level and format really connect to beginners. This book is also quite reasonably priced on Amazon. This author also has a series called Better Chess, but those are no longer in print and are hard to find. If you do find them for a reasonable price, I would recommend them too.
Another easy scholastically designed puzzle book is Peter Giannatos's Everyone's First Chess Workbook. The puzzles are also quite easy and designed to illustrate the basic tactical themes. The book is also formatted to be written in - a workbook, as the name suggests - so it is ideal for students. In the past, the place of this book was filled by John Bain's Chess Tactics for Students, but that book is no longer in print, and to be honest, this book is much better.
Also on the scholastic side is Jeff Coakley's Winning Chess Puzzles for Kids. These books are part of the series that starts with the excellent Winning Chess Strategy for Kids. These two books are full of fun and interesting puzzles besides for just sraight-up tactics, such as word-searches, help mates, chess mazes, triple loyds, switcherooos, and more. The tactics themselves aren't so hard. The author also manages to slip in a page or two here and there with some good tips about finding tactics and through process. The next volume in the series, Winning Chess Exercises for Kids is slightly harder than these two. I highly recommend all four books, not just for kids but for adults too.
One step up from these elementary books is Susan Polgar's Chess Tactics for Champions. It is presented as an instructional book - each chapter starts with a short explanation of the tactical these, and the puzzles aren't that difficult - but I really like this as a puzzle book because I find that the difficulty is just high enough to make you think but easy enough that even beginners can get them all. They are all ply-2 puzzles, where the tactical theme is not immediately available but has to be set up. Yet the winning move is very logical and natural, and there are no tricky surprises (maybe just one or two that I found a little surprising). I think this book is ideal for a high beginner looking for a fairly easy puzzle book to reinforce patterns, but not "stupidly" easy like some of the books I listed above.
A book that focuses only on checkmates is John Nunn's 1001 Deadly Checkmates. Some of the mates in this book are harder than beginner level, but Nunn gives a point system from 1 to 5, and the chapters start with easier puzzles to warm you up, and even the harder ones are doable for advanced beginners once they're clued into the pattern they should be looking for. Nunn's other puzzle book, John Nunn's Chess Puzzle Book, is far more difficult and beyond the level this article addresses. If you're looking for material tactics at an easier level, Nunn's Learn Chess Tactics is the appropriate one. Each chapter starts with an introduction with some examples, which are followed by 5-30 puzzles to solve.
Another book that is on the easier end but has a few tricky puzzles is Franco Masetti & Roberto Messa's 1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners. Some people have said that this book is too hard for beginners, but what I think is going on here is that the authors mixed together a few hard examples in each chapter to vary the difficulty a little. Most chapters have 25 puzzles. They start with two very easy examples to get you warmed up, then have a mix of about ten easy and ten intermediate problems, with another two hard ones thrown in, and then end with two very easy ones to reinforce the theme. So the average difficulty is somewhere around advanced beginner, but the range is somewhat wider than what you'd see in a beginner puzzle book. I think the authors did this deliberately for optimal pedagogical value, and that's why I would recommend this book if you're trying to get better at tactics. In addition, there are little hints under each puzzle which makes them slightly easier to solve and also focuses your attention on the pattern you're trying to commit to memory. This book is good value for money because it has quite a few puzzles packed into a small paperback that is easy to carry around. The only downside is that the diagrams are small, but the print is clear.
Another book from New In Chess is Tactics Time! by Tim Brennan and Andrea Carson. There's also a second book, Tactics Time 2, by the same author. The puzzles in these two books aren't too hard, but they appear somewhat random and not organized by theme or difficulty. The positions also tend to be a little more chaotic, as they come from online or amateur games rather than famous master games. In a way, these are sort of like Puzzle Rush in book format. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. On the one hand, they simulate a real game situation when there is no one standing over your shoulder saying, "mate in one" or "pin the queen." On the other hand, if you're trying to reinforce patterns, it's not as structured as the books above that are organized by theme and where the positions are curated to illustrate these patterns in their purest form. I'd recommend these if you want lots of extra practice drilling tactics rather than part of a structured learning program.
Finally, for those looking for a gigantic collection of mostly checkmates, there is the monumental book by László Polgár, Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games. It starts with mates-in-one, which are relatively easy, but the bulk of the problems are mates-in-two. It also includes some harder mates-in-tree and four, endgames, and other combinations, but for an advanced beginner, mates-in-two are an excellent way to improve and tune your tactical brain. This book is big enough that it could last you all the way up to expert level, but I'll include it on this list because if you've made it this far, I think it makes an appropriate choice.
I'll add one more recommendation. For those attempting to apply the Woodpecker Method, I recommend that beginners not attempt to use The Woodpecker Method as their choice of puzzle book. I think the Method itself is good, but the puzzles in that book are far too hard to solve quickly. If beginners and lower intermediates want to use the Method, I'd much sooner advise that they use a book like 1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners or Chess School 1b.
This concludes my list of beginner puzzle books. In my next post, I will list some intermediate to advanced books.
