Hi I am looking to improve my chess with a tactics book. Which book did you find most helpful?

I have a 2700 Tactics trainer rating ... so my tactics are at least alright, so I wish to do more than easier books. Which books do you recommend?

thank you,

shuttlechess92

@shuttlechess92: I think your tactics are more than all right. :)

What books have you read already? I'm no expert - in book-reviewing or in chess tactics - but a few hours of research on the Internet (mostly looking Amazon.com customer reviews) has helped me compile a short list of good tactics books with affordable prices:

The Complete Chess Workout: Train your Brain with 1200 Puzzles by Richard Palliser
Sharpen Your Tactics by Anatoly Lein
John Nunn's Chess Puzzle Book by John Nunn
The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book by John Emms
Chess Gems: 1000 Combinations you Should Know by Igor Sukhin
The Giant Chess Puzzle Book by Zenon Franco
Chess Tactics for Champions by Susan Polgar

I think that there is a Chesscafe and a Burgess puzzle book, but I don't know anything about either book.

Not sure whether any of those books might be too easy for you or not, but I hear that Nunn's book is pretty challenging. (Me, I own Palliser's book, and that's about as much as I can handle!) But if you're just looking for new patterns (which is likely), then I think that any tactics book of reasonable quality would do as long as the content is not repetitive.

The best tactic I have ever saw used in chess is proper visualization/calculation for the best move to make. This tactic always works 100% of the time. No one book has the universally best answer. Find anything that helps you stretch your mind as you try to solve what the best move would be to make, then take that idea to greatest extreme you can. Do that and you'll be a good chess player. I gaurantee it, or your money back...

Joe Gallagher: 365 Ways to Checkmate. This book has combinations sorted by difficulty level 1 - 5. Since you are very good at chess I suppose level 5 would be suitable for you. Gallagher says if you manage those you can quit your job and start living from chess! :<)

Since you already seem to know a thing or two about tactics, you might want to consider branching out to middlegame and endgame strategy as well, not to mention studying an opening or two in depth, since you obviously have a good amount of "pattern recognition" under your belt - or wherever you keep this arcane knowledge :)

I'm not suggesting you abandon tactical studies but that you don't focus on them exclusively. I have not read The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book by John Emms (recommended by Pikachulord6) but I recently acquired his Book on The NID move by  move and it appears to be very good -  so I'd be willing to hazard a guess that his other books might also be very good. 

Then again, I doubt if you could go wrong with books by Polgar, Nunn or Lein either.

Chess Tactics (Batsford Chess Book) by Paul Littlewood = Good book on the subject, but has become rather costly.

An alternative maybe, Dan Heisman Back to Basics: Tactics

Perhaps John Nunn Learn Chess Tactics 

With your rating and, having won 2/3 of the games you have played, why do you think you need a book on tactics? Not being critical; just curious.

Wait. More importantly, what books did you read to get to 2700 in the first place?!!

My personal opinion and after a lot of tournaments (OTB) I have realized how important tactics are.

@AndTheLittOneSaid : I read Forcing Chess Moves by Charles Hertan, Winning chess tactics by Yasser Seirawan and Jeremy Silman, and am currently reading Dejan Bojkov's book "A course in chess tactics". But I am not sure how much reading these books helped me reach that 2700 rating - mainly just practice with tactics trainer, and maybe some luck ;)

OTB experience tells me that tactics are everything -  I've already read about 30 middlegame books .... I read a lot. Just not a lot of tactics books.

thanks for the suggestions guys, keep them coming!

~Julian

 How about you giving us your top 10 books that helped you improve.

Martin Weteschnik - Understanding Chess tactics

This book was recommended to me by another chess.com member who I play with OTB in NYC. It is an EXCELLENT book.

-Ted

 since you mentioned this I went to Amazon and noted this new book, its not out yet-

@CrecyWar: Maybe that's because it's the Second Edition? I'm sure the first edition has been out for some time now, although to be honest, I don't know anything about the book - just going off of what I've read in this thread so far.

I have the first edition of the Weteschnik book, and it is a very good book, but I doubt it has much of relevance for somebody with a tactics training rating of 2700, which is in the stratosphere. I hover between 1800s and 1900s except for a recent slump back down the 1700s, and I've gotten a lot out of the book so far (about half way through).

ok I did not put out the tactics trainer rating so describe my skill level but more as to give a reference point to start with... basically I am saying I do not need to start with "Tactics, a beginner's guide" or the such.

sorry if it caused any discomfort O.O

Julian

Have you tried CT-ART?

The chess font used in this one is kind of gross, but the tactics themselves are excellent:

http://www.amazon.com/Sharpen-Your-Tactics-Sacrifices-Combinations/dp/1880673134

I have one: "Chess for Dummies."  I personally own it, and i've learned a whole lot out of it.  It's a bit basic, but you might give it a try.