Book Recommendation For Your Better Tactical Abilities. Listen to Kasparov's Thoughts on Analyzing Games.

Find out which chess book I almost always carry. And also, which of our games we should analyze.

Apr 28, 2023

After a bit of a pause caused by my trip to Madrid (Spain), I'm back with a new edition of The Queen's Pawn. If you're asking how Madrid was, I have to say it's an amazing city and I even got a chance to play chess there. But I'll write about that next time.

One of my Best Friends - Chess Training Pocket Book II

Today I would like to show you a book that I have been returning to for many years. It is not an encyclopedia of openings or a theory of endings. But a book of tactical puzzles.

Chess Training Pocket Book II is a 15 year old rather small book, but I still find it very useful.

It has been written by GM Lev Alburt and it includes 320 practice positions from various chess game phases. So you can solve puzzles from complicated middle games, but on the other side, the book contains also simple positions from chess endings. Each and every diagram is educational and is based on actual games.

If you can't figure out the correct solution to a diagram, you can get a little hint in the form of the name of the theme or pattern that is at stake in that position. And of course you can then check the solution.

The base of the book is development of chess thinking and also chess knowledge.

The reader will acquire common patterns by working through the various puzzles in the book and storing them in his memory.

Additionally, "Chess Training Pocket Book II" includes a kind of brief manual called "How to Think" which I have found extremely useful and instructive.

The readers of this book should not be absolute beginners in chess. To successfully study the book, you must have some chess knowledge and experience. Therefore, I would advise that the better club players between 1400 and 2000 ELO points would benefit the most from this book.

I can recommend the book. At these days it is my best friend when I travel and do not look at my mobile's screen ;)

Speaking about mobiles… The book is their size 5x7 inches, so you can keep it in you pockets without any problems ;)

We Will Know Him This Weekend

I have to say I wasn't expecting much from the Nepo-Ding match. Because... Magnus is just one. But... That match is/was great, and maybe much, much more interesting than if Magnus had played it.

This weekend we will know the new World Champion. Regardless who of those two guys became The Champ, we have to thank them for one of the most exciting matches of this century.

What are your thoughts about the match?

Garry Kasparov on Analyzing Own Games

Are you analyzing your own games? Not just the ones you've lost, but also the ones you've won? Why you should do it, Garry Kasparov talks about in this video.

Garry discusses the importance of analyzing losses and mistakes in order to improve and stay ahead in competitive situations. He emphasizes the need to challenge oneself and scrutinize all games for errors, even those that are won.

Definitely worth of listening!