Bruce Alberston

Fred Wilson

Deliver the Coup de Grâce! With this instructive manual, players can learn to concentrate on one-, two- and three-move checkmates, focusing on their opponents� last moves and keeping alert to new possibilities, rather than getting blinded by previous calculations. Written by two experienced chess teachers, this volumes first 100 exercises concern checkmates in one move, while the remaining exercises represent game-like positions for checkmates in two and three moves. All are designed to increase a player�s skill and speed analyzing and solving chess problems. This is an updated and expanded version of 202 Surprising Checkmates which was released in 1998.

212 Surprising Checkmates

A fascinating challenge and great training tool, these two- three- and four-move checkmates are great for beginning, intermediate, and expert players. Mates are in order of difficulty, from simple to very complex positions. Learn the standard patterns for cornering the king, corridor and support mates, attraction and deflection sacrifices, pins and annihilation, the quiet move, and the dreaded zugzwang. Mate challenges are presented from both Blacks and Whites perspective so players learn to see both sides of the board. Examples from old classics to the new millenium illustrate a wide range of ideas. This book is lots of fun and an easy way for a player to improve skills! 192 pages

303 Tricky Checkmates

These one- and two-move checkmate drills help players keep alert to new possibilities. Queen sacrifices, "smothered" mates, "quiet moves," castling, en passant pawn capture, much more. 202 exercises. Solutions included.

202 Surprising Checkmates

The first move, or “key,” of a conventional chess problem is almost never a capture. But convention is turned on its head in this collection of 200 original problems in which every move of the white pieces requires the capture of a black piece! The advantages are several: for one thing, jaded problem fans are sure to appreciate the totally fresh approach. For another, unlike traditional problems, which require a rarefied and artificial type of thinking, these “take and mate” problems demand the same thought processes that players use in over-the-board play. Arranged in order of difficulty and coupled with a built-in scoring system, they offer a unique way for players at all levels to sharpen their tactical skills.

200 Chess Problems with a Twist

Take & Mate

The Chess Puzzle for Everyone! A completely new kind of chess puzzle helps you develop the necessary visualization skills to take your game to the next level When the first volume of Chess Mazes was released, it was an immediate hit with both chess instructors and students. It was a completely new kind of chess puzzle to help develop your chessplaying visualization skills. In Chess Mazes 2, author Bruce Alberston has created another 216 fascinating chess mazes. This book is geared for intermediate and advanced beginners. Designed to keep pace with a student's increasing development, the chapters appear in progressive order of difficulty, and form kind of a chess course in itself. As German International Grandmaster Karsten Müller observed in his Introduction to the first volume, solving Chess Maze puzzles is ...excellent training to avoid one-move blunders!”

Chess Mazes 2

Stop Hanging Pieces! A completely new kind of chess puzzle helps you develop the necessary visualization skills to take your game to the next level The planning and visualization skills that come from working on Chess Mazes are valuable and instructive. If you are one who often loses games by hanging pieces or missing mates, then this is the book for you. "There are many good books which present chess combinations and explain tactical motifs with the goal of training your tactical ability. Thinking techniques are also well covered in the game's literature. But what about visualization? This is where it is much more difficult to find good material. But now, Bruce Alberston's highly original work fills this gap. "To master his puzzles, you have to exert better control and command of the full potential of all the pieces and you have to visualize their movements in your mind's eye. This sounds more difficult than it is, but in fact only one piece moves in each maze. The result? Excellent training to avoid one-move blunders!" - From the Foreword by German GM Karsten Mueller

Chess Mazes 1

Chess openings are the most important part of every novices journey and the most fun. The most common and important openings are presented in an easy-to-use format with large, frequent diagrams showing every position along with clear explanations of the goals, objectives, and concepts behind the moves. No other book so perfectly presents the openings in a manner so easy to learn and use. 176 pages.

Bruce Alberston

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