"Chess Tactics for Students" by John A. Bain
Reviewed by Tim McGrew
"Chess," as Richard Teichmann observed, "is 99% tactics." Anyone who doubts the truth of this remark hasn't taught the game recently; a large part of becoming a good player is achieving almost unconscious mastery of the elementary tactics of chess.
There are lots of books of tactics, but as pedagogic material most of them suffer from two defects. First, the problems in those books, wonderful as some of the combinations may be, are too difficult for the beginning player. Second, they rarely give sustained attention to the elements of combinations. An illustrative diagram or three to show off the pin, fork and skewer and the beginner is left to his own devices -- which, all too often, means that he is left floating in a sea of brilliant combinations he has no hope of understanding.
Chess Tactics for Students aims to fill this conspicuous gap in the literature. In a series of 434 thematically grouped problems, the workbook covers pins, back rank combinations, knight forks, other forks and double attacks, discovered check, double check, discovered attacks, skewers, double threats, pawn promotion, removing the guard, perpetual check, Zugzwang and stalemate.
In each chapter, an introductory diagram illustrates the theme in action (a Rook pinning a Queen to the King, for example); then four diagrams on the next two pages demonstrate simply and clearly how to bring it about. After that, a series of 26 problems involving that theme lead the student into moderately advanced applications. The problems in each chapter are arranged in (roughly) increasing order of difficulty, including some (e.g. diagrams 31, 81, 93, 144, 170, 182) which inexperienced players could not be expected to find without the focus and gradual buildup provided by the chapters. The chapters are meant to be read concurrently, a bit at a time; readers who follow this advice will be introduced to all of the motifs in elementary forms and then gradually master their more complex manifestations.
It is obvious that John Bain took a great deal of care in the selection and organization of the problems. Without exception the positions are very life-like. (I say this as a confirmed and lifelong hater of contrived chess problems.) There are no "cooks" here: every problem really does work, though just occasionally one side can evade the advertised immediate mate at disastrous material cost (diagrams 36, 340). Even more impressive, the problems often build on each other thematically: diagram 55, for example, introduces an idea which is shown in a slightly more complex setting in diagram 59 and in a still more complex form in diagram 60. Sometimes the interaction of multiple themes is also illustrated in an illuminating way (diagrams 74-5). Working through the book I discovered many "old friends," such as the lovely drawing mechanism in diagram 349 and the wonderfully useful promotion trick in diagram 296.
With the movement to introduce chess into schools gaining momentum, there is a real need for usable chess curriculum materials of just this sort. Workbooks alone will not be enough, of course; they are not substitutes for real practice and good teaching.
We can only hope that volumes on more advanced topics, like a workbook on typical checkmating combinations, are in the offing. Learning Plus, Inc. is leading the way in developing attractive, accessible chess teaching materials. The large format of the workbook makes it easy to use, the computer- generated diagrams are clean and attractive, and as far as I can tell the text is completely free of typographical errors. Anyone with a serious interest in coaching scholastic or club chess should definitely purchase Chess Tactics For Students.
