I am fairly good at tactics. At least for my level. Of all the various ratings I have, my tactics rating is the highest by far. It has been well over 2000 for longer than I can remember, whereas my OTB rating is at a meek 1500 level. Now, why is that? Well, the problem is that my tactical skills are one-sided. I usually spot tactical opportunities for myself, but I often miss tactics that are available to my opponents. This is something that Dan Heisman has identified as a very common problem among amateur players. Therefore, he has written two books on the topics, Looking for trouble and Is your move safe?. Both books focus on the same topic, i.e. defensive tactics, but they have slighly different flavors. Anyway, I thought I'd take on both books in the same review.
One thing that I like about these books (and others by Dan Heisman) is that you do not only get the solution straight up (a sequence of moves), but you also get an explanation of why the solution is correct, what the alternatives are, and what is wrong with them (or why they are equally good). Because of this, every problem is actually a small lesson and not just a puzzle. It is quite clear that the problems are not chosen at random; there is a learning objective for each problem.
Although the books are similar in many ways, there is a small detail that sets them apart. In Looking for trouble, you are served a position and the opponent's last move. Based on this information, you are asked to determine what the threat is and how to properly handle it. All the problems are rated, ranging from very easy (*) to extremely hard (*****). Most problems are medium difficulty (***). One original (?) feature of this book is that the solution is given directly below the problem. This is convenient, since you do not have to keep track of which page the solutions are and use double book marks or anything like that. However, if you're not careful, you might see the solution before you have even attempted to solve it. My suggestion is to get some sort of card that is big enough to cover the entire solution.
Is your move safe? is structured more like a traditional tactics books, with a separate solution section for each chapter. However, the problems are different - from traditional tactics books as well as Looking for trouble. Most problems are multiple choice, you are given one or more moves and your task is to evaluate each one of them and determine which one/s (if any) is safe. (Hence the title of the book). Just like in Looking for trouble, the difficulty ranges from basic to advanced, but the difficulty is not indicated anywhere. In that sense, the book gives a rather realistic scenario: In a real game, you will often find yourself in a situation where you have identified a handful of candidate moves, and left to your own devices to determine which one is best. For some of the problems, just like in reality, none of the moves are safe, and you have to pick your poison.
On his website, Dan Heisman gives the following description of the two books:
What can you expect from these books?
Both of these books address the problem that I mention in the introduction of this post. Although both of them are tactics books, they differ rather much from other tactics books on the market. Most tactics books are based on attack, but these two books are based on defense. Furthermore, tactics books tend to be based on themes (pins, skewers, forks, trapped pieces etc.). You will of course find these sorts of tactics in both of these books, but it is not explicitly stated. Instead, the problems are sorted by the different phases of the game (opening, middlegame, endgame).One thing that I like about these books (and others by Dan Heisman) is that you do not only get the solution straight up (a sequence of moves), but you also get an explanation of why the solution is correct, what the alternatives are, and what is wrong with them (or why they are equally good). Because of this, every problem is actually a small lesson and not just a puzzle. It is quite clear that the problems are not chosen at random; there is a learning objective for each problem.
Although the books are similar in many ways, there is a small detail that sets them apart. In Looking for trouble, you are served a position and the opponent's last move. Based on this information, you are asked to determine what the threat is and how to properly handle it. All the problems are rated, ranging from very easy (*) to extremely hard (*****). Most problems are medium difficulty (***). One original (?) feature of this book is that the solution is given directly below the problem. This is convenient, since you do not have to keep track of which page the solutions are and use double book marks or anything like that. However, if you're not careful, you might see the solution before you have even attempted to solve it. My suggestion is to get some sort of card that is big enough to cover the entire solution.
Is your move safe? is structured more like a traditional tactics books, with a separate solution section for each chapter. However, the problems are different - from traditional tactics books as well as Looking for trouble. Most problems are multiple choice, you are given one or more moves and your task is to evaluate each one of them and determine which one/s (if any) is safe. (Hence the title of the book). Just like in Looking for trouble, the difficulty ranges from basic to advanced, but the difficulty is not indicated anywhere. In that sense, the book gives a rather realistic scenario: In a real game, you will often find yourself in a situation where you have identified a handful of candidate moves, and left to your own devices to determine which one is best. For some of the problems, just like in reality, none of the moves are safe, and you have to pick your poison.
On his website, Dan Heisman gives the following description of the two books:
Is Your Move Safe? is a "cousin" book to Looking for Trouble, but this in no way implies you need one book to benefit from the other. Looking asks the reader to identify and deal with threats from the opponent's previous move. Is Your Move Safe, on the other hand, looks at safety from the view of analyzing your own candidate moves to see if they are safe.To summarize, we can say that Looking for trouble asks you to identify and handle threats, whereas Is your move safe? asks you to find moves that avoids the problems altogether - at least threats that cannot be met safely.
Who should read these books?
Both of these books are best suited for intermediate players. Although Heisman presents a very wide range of readers in terms of playing strength (~1200 - 2300 Elo), I would say that the sweet spot is approximately 1400 to 1800. That does not mean that either book will be irrelevant for players outside that rating range, far from it! But beginners may find the problems too difficult, and more advanced players will probably have other issues to work on. This being said, some problems will probably be challenging even for players with a 2000+ playing strength. So to put it more simply: If you ever find yourself making unnecessary blunders, both of these books may be worth your time. If you are serious about improving your chess, I can warmly recommend both of these books.About these books
| Author: | Dan Heisman |
| Title: | Is your move safe? / Looking for trouble |
| Type of book: | Tactics |
| Level: | Intermediate |
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