Nowadays you can buy "Tactic apps" from the App Store!
Sergey Ivachenko is a classic author.
The difference I have noticed between beginners and advanced is the difficulty in the diagrams. Other difference I have seen is the topics covered.
Tactics Book
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By far the best tactics book I've ever seen is "The Art of Combination" by Maxim Blokh. Unfortunately, it is out of print and the best price I can find for a used copy is $103. Blokh's later book "Combinative Motifs" is very good and readily available. Both books group tactical themes together so that by working through all of the positions the theme gets burned into your thought process. I think the second book is worthwhile, though the first one was better at building an understanding of the motif by starting with very basic examples and working up to more complicated ones.
I have heard, but cannot personally confirm, that the CT-ART tactics program is based on Blokh's work.
SmithyQ wrote:
get zenon franco's chess puzzle book.
When someone is trying to learn tactics, the stock responses are 'Do lots of puzzles' and 'Go through a good tactics book.' I've even given this advice out ... but I now realize I don't even own a tactics book, and I don't know many of the top of my head.
So, what are examples of good tactics books? Are there any classics? Is there a difference between a beginner and an advanced tactics book (or is there a difference?)?
In short, list good tactics books so I can see what others have found useful. Thank you.
Winning Chess Tactics by Yasser Seirawan is nice. May be too elementary though for you, Smithy.
Heisman has a good list:
https://www.danheisman.com/recommended-book-lists.html
The first 8 are pretty easy.
This website also has some helpful reviews, toward the bottom:
http://www.entertainmentjourney.com/index1.htm
My personal favorite is Sharpen Your Tactics (about 1000 puzzles); the puzzles in it are similar to those in the CT-ART program and the related Chess Tactics for Beginners app/software. I also have the Zenon Franco puzzle book (1000 puzzles, I believe) and find it gets extremely difficult after the first 100 problems.
When someone is trying to learn tactics, the stock responses are 'Do lots of puzzles' and 'Go through a good tactics book.' I've even given this advice out ... but I now realize I don't even own a tactics book, and I don't know many of the top of my head.
So, what are examples of good tactics books? Are there any classics? Is there a difference between a beginner and an advanced tactics book (or is there a difference?)?
In short, list good tactics books so I can see what others have found useful. Thank you.