How to Become a Deadly Chess Tactician (How to... Chess Tactics)

Bewilder and defeat your chess opponents!This is a guide for chess-players to help them spot unlikely-looking tactical tricks and launch cunning attacks. Readers are shown how to hunt the enemy king and how to seize the initiative with surprising sacrifices.“I absolutely loved this book ... his approach to explaining, categorizing, and reinforcing the tactical ideas is unique enough enough to make them easy to recall and apply when those themes arise in your own games” – Peter Connor, ChessVilleSome chess-players always seem to have a trick up their sleeve. They spot unlikely-looking tactical tricks, launch cunning attacks from seemingly quiet positions and are unrelenting when the enemy king is in their sights. Even when things go wrong, they create practical chances and repeatedly swindle their way out of trouble. LeMoir shows that the key factors in becoming a deadly tactician are motivation, imagination and calculation:Motivation: having the willingness to sacrifice and to consider tactical ideas during playImagination: being aware of tactical concepts that lead to ideas which other players might missCalculation: being able to analyse and calculate effectivelyThis user-friendly and humorously written book contains many outstanding examples of seized opportunities, together with guidance on how to spot surprising tactics and handle positions of material imbalance. Throughout, there are exercises for readers to tackle.“This is LeMoir’s second book for Gambit and already it is apparent that the publishers have discovered yet another good new author ... There are many practical tips along the way and there is also some interesting discussion of how to learn to calculate better, and the role of intuition. LeMoir writes entertainingly and I challenge any player not to enjoy this book. “ Phil Adams, 3Cs websiteDavid LeMoir is an experienced chess player and writer. He twice won the championship of the West of England and was runner-up on four occasions. In 2000, he was Champion of the English county of Norfolk. In a successful career as a business strategy consultant, he has made good use of the strategic and decision-making skills that are developed by playing chess. This is his second chess book.“LeMoir has selected his chess material extremely well – there are a huge number of startling examples which I’d never seen before – and his comments are always entertaining or instructive” – GM Matthew Sadler, New in Chess“My advice is to buy it and settle back to an exhilarating read, more exciting games and an improvement in your grading.” – Bill Frost, ChessDevon“He begins by going back to the days of Morphy and Anderssen and tracing the history of tactics to the present day. Other topics include silent sacrifices, brilliant blunders, and how not to calculate combinations. At the end of each topic there are three different levels of exercises (78 total) and it finishes with a series of three tests containing 36 exercises. Recommended for all players.” – Mark Donlan, Chess Horizons“How to Become a Deadly Chess Tactician by David LeMoir makes you want to do something about your tactical skills. Read it and you will be more dangerous than before. To solve the tasks in the book and to read the text is as much fun as just looking at the illustrations which make the book very pleasant to read.” – Martin B. Fischer, KARL Read more