Catalogue text:

Test your tactical chess skills with a quiz book with a difference! Grandmaster James Plaskett, a player of distinguished tactical ability, has carefully assembled an abundance of tactical chess puzzles to test players of all levels. At the beginning of each chapter the puzzles are relatively easy, worth five points for a correct solution. However as you move on they become more and more difficult, soon becoming worth ten points and eventually 15. If you get stuck, do not despair as help is at hand! You can 'ask a grandmaster' to obtain the guidance you need to help solve the puzzles. However, use this option carefully, as it will cost you some of your hard-earned points. You can also obtain points for finding the basic idea of the solution without necessarily working out all the refinements. Either on your own or with friends, this book will provide hours of brain-teasing enjoyment.

• Includes puzzles for all levels
• Grandmaster hints to help you through the most taxing problems
• Unique scoring system enables you to monitor your progress through the book

James Plaskett is one of Britain's most talented and imaginative grandmasters. A former British Champion, his sharp and uncompromising play has won him many admirers over the years. Plaskett is also an experienced writer; his earlier works include Sicilian Taimanov and Sicilian Grand Prix Attack (both published by Everyman).


INTRODUCTION

Chess is 99% tactics.
Anatoly Karpov's reaction to that truism was 'What rubbish!'. He, of course, being one of the best tacticians ever, might have underestimated the significance of his prowess in that particular department of the game. IM William Hartston even went so far as to state that there is no such thing as a good strategist; the best players are simply the best tacticians.
Dr John Nunn, on the other hand, is of the opposite opinion - 'Chess is 99% po-sitional play.'
We may indeed have problems defining the precise distinctions between strate-gic and tactical operations. William Osborne suggested to me that there are not enough words in the English language to accommodate the nuances of the sun-dry types of chess activity, and that it can sometimes be very difficult to catego-rise them.
Certainly the compiler of the 'Quick' crossword in the December 27th 1988 edi-tion of The Daily Mail might have agreed, for one clue was 'Tactics (8 letters)', and the answer was Strategy.
Forks, pins, skewers, deflections, overloading, double attacks, trapping of pieces, mating nets, stalemate escapes and unguarded guards... the whole panoply of tactical weapons will feature in this book. However, the positions are almost all taken from practical play. Consequently the main requirement for earning points when working through the puzzles will be concrete calculation of a tree of varia-tions in which accuracy in threading your way through is particularly important. There will not necessarily be an especially pretty tactical bauble hanging in any of the branches.
Each set of twelve puzzles is intended to be of approximately similar difficulty and the total number of points available in each text is 150. As you progress through the tests you may see if your totals for the later ones are higher than those for the earlier positions, and thereby if your tactical strength is developing. If you become completely stuck on a position you may 'Ask a Grandmaster' to obtain a hint as to the solution. However, this indulgence will not go unpenalised and will cost you points.
The puzzles here are of a mathematical type, inasmuch as there is an expected 'correct' answer to each. This will aid the development of precise calculation and pattern recognition but may play less of a part in helping the student to show creative flair. Korchnoi once voiced the amazing opinion that the tactical genius Mikhail Tal was a routine player, lacking in the subtlety and feel for the initiative exhibited by the truly great attackers such as Spassky and Keres. I would differ with him there, but if you want to see instances of the intuitive gambit or true sacrifices, where there is no immediate win by attack nor imminent regain of material, then you might do well to go through a tranche of Shirov or Speelman games.

James Plaskett
Hastings
February 2002