Chess Tactics for Students DONE!

One down, many to go.

Woo hoo! I've completed Chess Tactics for Students! A few years ago, I bought a document embosser with my monogram in the middle and "Chess Library of Edward Seid" around the seal. To commemorate this special event, I've affixed my library seal to the first page of the book. This is the ritual I alluded to in my previous post. The "Chess Books I Have Read" list now consists of 1 book :)

A few comments about Chess Tactics for Students before I move on. Overall, this simple workbook suited my needs perfectly. The material was nicely organized into 13 chapters, plus a quiz chapter. Each chapter was short enough to complete in a single one hour session. (Remember, I had not read a chess book cover-to-cover in over 10 years, so I purposely didn't choose a hefty first book, which might dishearten me.) There were about a half-dozen positions that were a little tricky. For a couple of the problems, I was able to find an alternative solution.

I would make a couple of suggestions to the author for the next edition. First, I would label each position with "White to move" or "Black to move". The game score indicates which side is to move, but the game score also has some moves filled in which is a big hint. I prefer to be told which side is to move and be left to find the solution myself. Some positions have non-forcing solutions, ie you make a move and IF the other side makes a mistake, then the tactic can be executed. For those positions, you have to look at the game score. Second, I would use new positions for the final quiz instead of recycling positions from the other chapters like is currently done.

So now I'll take a few days to rest and straighten up my workstation before moving on to The Amateur's Mind and The Chess Tactics Workbook.