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Reviews

Can You Be A Tactical Chess Genius?

Reviewed by Leopold Lacrimosa

9/1/02

Can You Be A Tactical Chess Genius? by GM James Plaskett (Everyman Chess, 2002), 144 pp.

“Can You be a Tactical Chess Genius?” is something I often ask myself. Of course, the answer is “Only if you work at it,” and with his latest book British Grand Master James Plaskett provides a map of the road to mastering tactics. I would like to say that this book could turn anyone into a tactical genius, but with only 180 tactical problems, that wouldn’t be quite right. It takes many more problems than that to achieve tactical mastery (consider that Lazslo Polgar’s Chess has over 5,000 problems), but this book is a good start towards that goal.

Many tactical books are just pages with ten or fifteen problems on each page with the answers in the back. Instead GM Plaskett has set up a unique way of studying tactics. The book is divided into twelve tests of fifteen problems each. Each page contains only two problems, making them easy on the eyes. A strength value of 5, 10 or 15 points is assigned to each problem with each test starting off with easy problems and then proceeding to the more difficult ones. Each problem is numbered and includes the strength valve of the problem, the problem’s source, who’s to play, and a descriptive question about the problem in order to steer the reader in the right direction. If that’s not enough, it also directs the reader to a hint section in the back of the book called “Ask A Grandmaster,” but if you choose this option, it will require you to deduct several points from your total score.

This book does not provide basic definitions of the tactical themes, so it is not for the total beginner. On the other hand, it’s nowhere near as difficult as Dvoretsky’s School of Chess Excellence 2: Tactics, written for chess masters and above. However, this book does teach something that others don’t; namely, how to study tactics. By providing the extra hints in the “Ask A Grandmaster “ section, it allows the chess student to continue to try to tackle the problem without giving up right away when the answer is not so apparent. GM Plaskett also states that the student may not find all the answers to the problems in the beginning of their study of tactics, but as they continue on, they will develop pattern recognition which will help them in the latter part of the book to answer more problems correctly.

Overall, I liked this book and would recommend it to students rated 700 - 1500 ELO to help improve their tactical play. The only thing I would like to have seen added to this fine book would be a time limit to each problem (giving the student the often overlooked time element of chess) before they would be asked to look up the hint or the solutions which are located in the back of the book.