I have seen a few tactics books in my day, and grew up on books like Fred Reinfeld's 1001 Checkmates and 1001 Winning Sacrifices. All the strong players I knew in those days had worked through quite a few tactical puzzles.Why learn tactics?The most important skill in chess is tactical skill. The stronger the player, the faster they can see tactics.
There are several ways in which tactics help your Chess skill.
However, almost every move you have the chance of making a tactical blunder.
Tactical skill is invaluable in checking whether a move is safe or not, before you play it!What features would I like to see in a tactics book?
Like with many things, there are pros and cons with different approaches.Here are some of the approaches I have used and why.Do you have White at the bottom of a diagram or do you have the winning side at the bottom?
With a tactical book, I prefer the side to move at the bottom, just as in a real game you see the board from your side, not from White's side all the time.What order do you put positions in?
Some books put them in random order. For example, a mate in 12 may be followed by a mate in one. This has the advantage that the reader needs to be on their toes. They don't know what to expect.
Some books group puzzles by theme. There may be different sections on Knight forks, Queen sacrifices etc.
Some books put them in approximate order of difficulty.
This is my preferred approach and the one used in this book.
Puzzles in Book 1 can be solved by seeing only 1, 2 or 3 moves ahead. This increases to 4, 5, 6 and more moves ahead in Book 2. Where to put the answers? Older books tended to put them in a separate section at the end of the book or chapter. This was annoying because you had to look up the answer and go back to the position.
Some older books and more recent ones, put the answer immediately after the position. One book I read put the answer on the same page. This is not a good idea if you want to have a crack at the answer.
A good idea is to have the position of one page and be able to see the answer on the next page.Move by MoveYou are only expected to find one move at a time, just like in a real game.This is different most puzzle books where you are given an entire line of play as the answer.Visual MemoryAn advantage of only having a diagram at the start of a sequence of moves, is the reader is encouraged to play through the moves in his mind and visualise the final position. This can help the ability to see ahead moves. Summary of my idea of a great tactics book