I am searching a book

Hello,

I am searching a book which I studied a long time ago. I landed the book to someone and it get lost. It had only puzzles in it with every motiv worked out quiet well. Every chapter was about a specific motiv/motivs and was introduced at the start of the chapter whit only part of the board shown. For exmaple the smothered mate only in the corner from h8-h5-e5-e8. Every puzzle was rated on a scale and it was written in bracets next to the nubmer of the puzzle.

If soemone knows the book by my description please let me know.

Thanks,
A chess lover

Rings a bell in my mind but I just can't remember which book..

Thank you for the answer, John Nunn's book is great but the book which I am looking for had no text in it only puzzles.

That sounds like "The Art of Combination" by Maxim Blokh. It was a paperback book with a green cover. It's the best tactics training book I've ever seen, but it's been out of print for a long time. Used copies are sometimes available, but at an outrageous price.

I think there are 3 copies of the Blokh book on Amazon. Not cheap though...around $39.

It’s even worse than that. The book for $39 is a different one by Blokh. It’s good but not as good as the one with the green cover. The one I’m talking about is also on Amazon — it’s $250.

You've probably hit the nail on the head

There is a small upside to getting the Blokh book. The chess program CT-Art is based on Blokh's Combinative Motifs, and can be downloaded from the Chess King website, along with many other courses, for a fairly reasonable price. If the books are too hard to find or too expensive, that might be an alternative way to go.

Thank you guys for the answers, it is Blokh's book which I was searching. I am happy that I found it but also a bit sad that I lost such a valuable book.

Don't give up hope. I had the book many years ago and lost it. Last year, I found a used copy for $80 and snatched it up. I wouldn't pay that much for any other book.

The point is that used copies do come on the market from time to time at various prices. If you check Amazon and abebooks once in a while, you could get lucky enough to find one that works for you. Good luck!