Book Review: Some recent puzzle books

Puzzle books

I've lately listened to some of Ben Johnson's interviews on his excellent Perpetual Chess Podcast. Asked for tips on how to improve at chess, most of the interviewees I've heard so far mention solving puzzles. Usually this means tactics training, though puzzles can take different forms. As an active form of training that engages the brain, puzzle-solving tends to be more useful than, say, memorizing opening theory. Every player needs a regular supply of puzzles. Sites like Lichess do a great service by providing graded puzzles for free. But it can also be good to get away from the screen and work through a well-curated collection in book form. This review looks at four recent offerings - each very worthwhile, though in quite different ways.

1. Oops! I Resigned Again! by Ian Rogers (2021)
2. 1000 Chess Exercises for Advanced Club Players by Frank Erwich (2021)
3. Catastrophes & Tactics in the Chess Opening Volume 2: 1 d4 d5 by Carsten Hansen (2022)
4. Desert Island Chess Puzzle Omnibus by Wesley So, Michael Adams, John Nunn and Graham Burgess (2021)

I've gained fresh respect for the authors of puzzle books by starting to collect my own puzzles. It is not easy! I haven't got very far, but here is a little something to warm up with:

Oops! I Resigned Again!

by Ian Rogers

Russell Enterprises 2021, 160 pages

This small-format book is the lightest of the four in every sense. As the title suggests, GM Ian Rogers, who was Australia's strongest player for many years, takes a humorous approach to his task. The Acknowledgements include thanks 'to Britney Spears for inspiring the book title and chapter headings'.

Following Rogers's introduction, a preface by GM Sam Shankland gives us a confession: Shankland resigned a technically drawn position against Anish Giri in his first ever super-tournament. The moral is that even the strongest players can succumb to an unjustified moment of despair about their position - and also that after such a debacle happens, the important part is to find a way to bounce back psychologically.

The twenty chapters each consist of five puzzles, each puzzle introduced by a story, interesting information about the players, or a narrative about the position. In each case our task is an unusual one: work out why the player to move should not have resigned.

The solutions are safely tucked away at the end of each chapter, so the reader can't accidentally 'cheat'. Most of the positions are somehow quirky and require a bit of imagination to solve. But they tend not to be excessively difficult. I think players rated around 1500+ (no upper limit!) can enjoy this book.

Despite the light touch, Oops! I Resigned Again! must have been relatively labour-intensive to research. Rogers has clearly drawn on his decades of experience as a chess journalist as well as general reading and browsing. Many of the examples raise a smile, and we encounter a number of lesser-known chess personalities in these pages.

Rather than quote an example from the book, here is one I found myself, in the style of Rogers's work:

1001 Chess Exercises for Advanced Club Players

by Frank Erwich

New in Chess2021, 215 pages

The Dutch FM has diligently compiled a large work for players rated 1800-2300. It is a sequel to 1001 Chess Exercises for Club Players, which catered for a lower rating range.

With eight diagrams per page, this is an attractive, compact book that gives a thoroughly professional impression. Each diagram is accompanied by a brief question (of the type: Bxh7+, yes or no?) or direction ('create a threat').

The solutions are very clearly presented, with the main line in bold font. Here too, though, no space is wasted: the type is small and the explanations concise.

It cannot be easy to select puzzles of a consistent level, but Erwich has succeeded admirably. I am a rusty player but at the top end of the target rating range: as expected, the puzzles generally force me to work, but without ever feeling overwhelmingly difficult. For me, this is an enjoyable drill, and I'm sure the author is correct to say that it could be used for this purpose by stronger readers, too. For less experienced players, meanwhile, this book could accompany their chess journey for a long time.

Each of the main 11 chapters contains an instructive introduction, which explains the type of motifs we will encounter as we read on. I particularly like the organisation of the material. Chapter one, 'Main tactics', focuses on the fundamentals, such as discovered attacks or elimination of the defence.

Subsequent chapters use less conventional categories, such as 'the walking king'. For me this section was particularly valuable, since in my online blitz games I constantly struggle to finish off games once my opponent's king has been forced out into the open.

Chapter 10, 'Defence', deserves special mention. This seems an unusual feature in a puzzle book, but using tactics to beat off the opponent's attack is of course just as important as being able to hunt down the king.

Frank Erwich provides a large amount of calculation practice in this work, together with the opportunity to expand our tactical imagination. It is an extremely useful book.

Catastrophes & Tactics in the Chess Opening Volume 2: 1 d4 d5 Workbook

by Carsten Hansen

CarstenChess 2022, 387 pages

Like much of FM Carsten Hansen's recent self-published work, this chunky, large-format volume forms part of a series. It consists of a large number of puzzles designed for players rated 800-1700, and will also be of interest to players rated higher than that.

Every other page offers four diagrams with a tactical exercise. Turn over the page for the solution, and we find a complete game, always a mini-miniature of 15 moves or less, with the diagram handily repeated in small format so that there is no need to keep flicking back and forth.

The layout is thoughtfully designed. Lately I've done much of my chess book reading on trains, and Catastrophes & Tactics lends itself to that, as everything can be followed without using a chess set. The puzzles are pleasantly varied, requiring calculation, imagination, pattern-recognition, and so on.

As the title suggests, all the games begin with 1 d4 d5. Hansen has impressively picked out typical themes in these queen's pawn openings - including 'd-pawn specials' not involving 2 c4 - rather than merely random tactics. This makes the book a useful as well as fun companion not just for improving tactical alertness, but also for getting to know 1 d4 d5 structures.

Desert Island Chess Puzzle Omnibus

by Wesley So, Michael Adams, John Nunn, and Graham Burgess

Gambit 2021, 320 pages

This collection by a group of stellar authors is my very favourite. Gambit have published some wonderful puzzle books in recent years, and this is no exception.

Each of the four authors contribute 100 puzzles. Each chapter is divided into four parts, arranged (more or less) in ascending order of difficulty. The difficulty level thus varies far more than in the three books reviewed above, from puzzles I can solve in less than a minute to those which completely defeated me.

One advantage I find in this variety is that I can open the book at different places on different occasions. For bedtime solving with drooping eyelids, 'Warm-Ups' and 'Fun Puzzles' suit me fine. When attempting something more like serious training, 'Hard Challenges' fit the bill.

This book, like the recent reissue of Burgess's The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games, which also includes notes by So and Adams, seems to have emerged as a kind of silver lining from the shadow of the pandemic. These two elite-level players had more time available than they normally would, enabling them to contribute extensively.

So's puzzles are all selected from his own games, and it is particularly exciting as a reader to attempt decisions that he made over the board. The quality of the other authors' work is just as high. The in-house Gambit authors provide thematic variety: for example, FM Burgess has '25 Defensive Tasks' and '25 Opening Themes', while GM Nunn offers 'Advanced Tactics, Endgames and Studies'. Should the reader wish for more of the latter, Nunn's Chess Endgame Exercise Book is another superb work.

With three diagrams per page in the puzzle sections, the book is comfortable to study. Many of the puzzles come with interesting or amusing introductory text, and special care has been given to the solutions, which feature full explanations and extra diagrams where necessary.

Here is a position from So's 'Fairly Easy' chapter. It gives a nice flavour of the material, and contains a minor curiosity:

Here is a video by John Nunn introducing the Gambit book.