This book came to my attention when reading Dan Heisman's book A Guide to Chess Improvement.
Heisman recommends the "improvers" part of this book as one of several books that should be used for post-beginners who want to sure up their chess foundation. I have come to develop a deep respect for Heisman's recommendations, so I thought I'd give it a try. I was not disappointed.
This specific book is actually a collection of three books: It's your Move, It's your Move - Improvers and It's your move - Tough Puzzles.
This specific book is actually a collection of three books: It's your Move, It's your Move - Improvers and It's your move - Tough Puzzles.
What can you expect from this book?
I have labeled this as a middlegame/tactics book below. The puzzles actually cover all parts of the game, but I find that the majority of the puzzles are either direct tactics or find-the-plan type of problems.
The book has a quite original structure. Each part contains 5 "tests" that consist of 10 puzzles each. In each puzzle, you are given a position and a short description of the challenge at hand, and requested to find the best continuation. So far, nothing new. But what sets this book apart from others is that it is actually multiple choice. Ward has created five fictional characters, different ones in each book. In the third book (tough puzzles), they are Analytical Anatoly, Battling Boris, Creative Chris (Ward?), Desperate Dan and Elegant Elizabeth. As their names suggest, they have different personalities and different preferences. Each character suggests a solution to the problem. Most of the times, several suggestions seem reasonable, which can make it tricky to choose the correct one. You can of course make the puzzles slightly more difficult by trying to come up with a solution without checking the five suggestions.
The setup in the book is similar to the situation you face when playing a game. The book thereby provides examples of how the reader may generate candidate moves and plans in his or her own games. In the solutions, Ward provides detailed explanations of why some suggestions are better than others. You are awarded points for your answers; 10 points for each correct answer, and solutions that aren't outright wrong are worth points as well. You can tally up your score and see how Ward would evaluate your abilities.
Each puzzle can be seen as a small lesson, and there is not much text. This makes it a great book to pick up when you have limited time to study. If, for some reason, you are interrupted during your studies, the reset time is minimal.
One drawback of the book is that it is written with Comic Sans font. But hey, that was a thing at the time the book was written. =)
The book has a quite original structure. Each part contains 5 "tests" that consist of 10 puzzles each. In each puzzle, you are given a position and a short description of the challenge at hand, and requested to find the best continuation. So far, nothing new. But what sets this book apart from others is that it is actually multiple choice. Ward has created five fictional characters, different ones in each book. In the third book (tough puzzles), they are Analytical Anatoly, Battling Boris, Creative Chris (Ward?), Desperate Dan and Elegant Elizabeth. As their names suggest, they have different personalities and different preferences. Each character suggests a solution to the problem. Most of the times, several suggestions seem reasonable, which can make it tricky to choose the correct one. You can of course make the puzzles slightly more difficult by trying to come up with a solution without checking the five suggestions.
The setup in the book is similar to the situation you face when playing a game. The book thereby provides examples of how the reader may generate candidate moves and plans in his or her own games. In the solutions, Ward provides detailed explanations of why some suggestions are better than others. You are awarded points for your answers; 10 points for each correct answer, and solutions that aren't outright wrong are worth points as well. You can tally up your score and see how Ward would evaluate your abilities.
Each puzzle can be seen as a small lesson, and there is not much text. This makes it a great book to pick up when you have limited time to study. If, for some reason, you are interrupted during your studies, the reset time is minimal.
One drawback of the book is that it is written with Comic Sans font. But hey, that was a thing at the time the book was written. =)
Who should read this book?
This is three books in one, with different levels of difficulty. The different parts of the book are useful for players at the beginner, intermediate and advanced level, respectively. Once you have a reasonable knowledge about fundamental tactics, the first book (improvers) should be a good choice. For somewhat more advanced players (about 1400-1600 FIDE), the second book may be useful. The final one (tough puzzles) is suitable for stronger players with ratings from about 1600 and up to 2000.About this book
| Author: | Chris Ward |
| Title: | It's Your Move x3 |
| Type of book: | Middlegame/Tactics |
| Level: | Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced |
Comments
Post a Comment