1001 Chess Exercises for Advanced Club Players

For any advanced club player (Elo 1800 - 2300) one thing remains true: if you want to win more games, nothing works better than training your combination skills. After all, studying the endgame will not help you if you are defeated by a deadly tactic long before the ending is reached.

In this follow-up to his acclaimed 1001 Chess Exercise for Club Players, FIDE Master Frank Erwich teaches you how to reach the next level of identifying weak spots in the position of your opponent, recognizing patterns of combinations, visualizing tricks and calculating effectively.

Erwich repeats the themes of his previous book, focusing on exercises in which the key move is less obvious. He also introduces new, more sophisticated tactical weapons. They are geared towards the reality of the advanced club player: it is not enough to spot simple combinations, at this level you must be able to resist your reflexes and look deeper. Being able to take a piece of your opponent, doesn’t mean you have to. If one of your pieces is attacked you should first research what happens if you don’t move it away. In variations that look forcing you will always search for that deadly Zwischenzug. Quiet moves in general should be your new best friends. In short: an advanced club player should expect the unexpected.

One of the celebrated elements of Erwich’s previous book, neglected in other books on tactics, is back: defence! You will also learn how to defend against tactics, as well as how to use tactical weapons when you are under heavy pressure. 1001 Chess Exercises for Advanced Club Players is a complete and structured course, and not just a collection of freewheeling puzzles. Erwich starts every chapter with an instructive explanation of the tactical concept and has carefully selected the most didactically productive exercises.