Chess Gems

CHESS GEMS
Author: Igor Sukhin
Mongoose Press (2007)
www.mongoosepress.com
335 pages
$23.95

Reviewed by John Donaldson

Ask strong players what they do to improve and you will get many answers, but at least one in common -- keep your tactical eye sharp! Everyone agrees that all chessplayers benefit from regularly solving tactical exercises. Fortunately there are many good books on tactics, but how is one to choose? Good books should have the following characteristics: 1. well chosen examples; 2. complete and accurate solutions -- ideally with prose commentary when appropriate; 3. clear and easy to read diagrams.

There are other factors to consider. One is whether the student wants a book arranged by combinational themes. This can be helpful in getting acquainted with different tactics but of course during a game no one will tap you on the shoulder and tell you to look for a skewer. Another is if you want the exercises to be progressively difficult or arranged randomly. Most importantly you want to choose a book that offers challenging exercises but not so difficult that you can't solve any. Conversely you don't want a book where you can solve 100 combinations in half an hour.

CHESS GEMS by Igor Sukhin passes all the requirements of a good book on tactical exercises with flying colors and more. The exercises are well chosen with complete and accurate solutions including lots of prose explanation. Unlike most books on tactics which draw heavily from recent tournament play, CHESS GEMS has a strong historical bent. The 1000 combinations are arranged chronologically with Sukhin drawing heavily on the World Champions and their predecessors from Lucena and Greco to Karpov and Kasparov. The reader not only gets tactical training but also learns from the classics! While the examples are chronological, the level of difficulty is not. Sukhin has purposely arranged the examples not to be by theme or progressively more challenging so as to more closely a game situation. The varying levels of difficulty make this book useful for a wide range of strengths -- players from 1800 on up will find it useful.

CHESS GEMS is attractively produced. It is features an attractive cover, a clear two-column design, crisp diagrams and sturdy binding. This book is an excellent first effort by the new American publisher Mongoose Press.

Recommended

You can check out Silman's review of this book HERE.

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