Most underappreciated chess book (secret Fischer)

Here's my nominee: "The Chess Tutor: Elements of Combinations" by Leslie H. Ault (1975).

It falls into the puzzle/quiz/tactical trainer category: diagrams and questions. It's out of print. You can find it on Amazon in hardback and paperback. You'll pay at least $30, but it's worth it in my view -- especially if you're an average/intermediate player (and aren't we all). It really should be called "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess Tactics." Let me try to explain, and throw in a bit of background.

I'm a casual class C-to-B player, ranging from 1450 on bad days to 1650 on good days when I'm seeing the board well. I'm also middle-aged, and I gain more insight from books than apps and computer programs, perhaps because more work is involved, perhaps because I'm just old. I own 700+ chess books, ranging from beginner stuff to high-level tomes by Dvoretsky and others.

"Elements of Combinations" still ranks in my top 10. There are other fans out there.* The book deserves to be known as the unofficial sequel to "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess," because that's what it is. Leslie Ault deserves much more credit than he has ever received for his involvement with the best-selling chess book ever written. In essence, he wrote it, and not Stuart Margulies, an executive who simply assigned the work. Ault, an expert-level player, was the editor.** (His late brother, Robin Ault, was the three-peat US Junior Champion from 1959-61).

At the end of the Fischer boom, Leslie Ault wrote "Elements of Combinations," which relied on the same programmatic style as "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess," but with a greater degree of complexity. It didn't sell well, due to bad timing -- it should have.

The book is a series of diagrammed positions in 14 chapters. It starts with simple tactical themes such as double attacks, and gradually shifts into more complex examples. Most of the diagrams ask the reader to evaluate the position for both sides, a welcome approach that requires not only identifying the tactical killer, but preventing it. The bulk of the positions come from Fischer's games, but other old masters such as Alekhine and Botvinnik are represented.

I suspect advanced players will scoff at my admiration for this book, and I get it - some of the examples are simple. It's written in old-school descriptive notation, a deterrent for some. Like any book published prior to the computer era, occasional errors in analysis crop up. All true, but the book is well aimed at the broad swatch of us.

- J.

* http://grandpatzerchess.blogspot.com/2007/05/leslie-ault-most-under-rated-chess.html

**See, "The Genesis of Power Chess" (Ault, 1994, Thinker's Press) p. iv-v:

'I was given the job, nominally, as "editor," to get it ready for publication.' Our job was to tidy up the text, make sure all analysis was accurate, and work with Bobby Fischer in integrating some of his own positions into the text. While I knew Fischer by sight from various tournaments in my teens, I had never met him personally. At first he was suspicious and defensive, but soon he became very helpful and cooperative -- all in all a fascinating experience to work with a genius on the verge of becoming a household name in America.'

I hear you - still think it's pretty good for kids and novices, though.