Ebook: Manual of Chess Combinations Volume II

Author's preface: You have already studied The Manual of Chess Combinations I and can solve simple exercises in which the goal can be reached after 1-3 correct moves. It is time now for the next step - to learn and solve more complicated problems, where deeper thought is required. Such combinations and manoeuvres can bring not only victory, but also aesthetic pleasure, and thanks to books and magazines they are stored forever in the treasury of chess. Our new book too includes combinations that have occurred in games by well-known players, including outstanding masters of the past and present. Here there are also many specifically composed positions, not instructional exercises, but artistic compositions called studies. In them, ideas are usually expressed in a cleaner and more memorable form than in practical games. As in our previous book, instructional material is arranged in sections of increasing complexity. The study of each section can be roughly estimated as adding 100 points to your rating. Thus our book should lead you up the rungs of chess mastery from a rating of 1600-1700 which signifies knowledge of the game rudiments, to a solid level of 2200 points or more, which in practice corresponds roughly to that of a candidate master. The book concludes the author's 25-year-long work on the creation of chess tactics manual. Of course with tactics alone you will not defeat all your opponents, but without tactics nothing can be done in chess. Tactics are perhaps the most beautiful and attractive side of chess, particularly at the beginning of your studies. I hope that the study of this book will strengthen your desire to learn chess systematically and bring you real pleasure.