John Nunn's Chess Puzzle Book

Make no mistake about it, these puzzles are HARD! I haven't gotten very far into it yet, but I already know that I'm not going to be solving many of these. As another reviewer stated, they are often "what did the grandmaster miss" type of problems, and what the grandmaster missed often isn't the first move. I solved the first puzzle quickly. The answer was fairly obvious, in fact. And then, YIKES! The puzzles are in no particular order as far as tactical motif, difficulty, etc. Nunn rates the puzzles on a scale of 1-5 for difficulty, with 1 being the easiest. Here's an idea of what a 1 is like. Puzzle no. 10 (rated 1) is a forced mate in nine (!) moves. The first move is a queen sac, and it doesn't pay off for 8 more moves! That's a 1. Puzzle no. 3 is a 4. The answer is 15 moves long, impossible for the average chess player to see in his head. I got the first move kind of by intuition (I've seen similar puzzles before), but no way I would have played it in a game because I just couldn't see it through to the end. In fact, I had difficulty working it out over the board. Puzzle no. 9 is a 5. The answer stretches over 3 three pages. There are hints. Sometimes the hints are useful, sometimes not. I'm going to keep at it, and I'm sure I'll learn something, but if you're looking for tactical practice problems, look elsewhere unless you are VERY strong. (I'm class B, btw.)

I'm only chiming in to counter act the negative reviews that claim the book is too difficult. While, yes, it is on the more challenging side, I don't believe the exercises are undoably difficult. I am about USCF 1900 and I have been able to nail about 30% of them, and get at least the right idea on as many as 40% more, where I leave out some important move or line. Granted that wont cut in in a real tournament game, but for exercises partial credit counts, I suppose. The captions and context set by the author is entertaining and useful. Perhaps this book would be too advanced for 1400s, but I think it should be entertaining and useful for anyone above 1600.Also, there is an interesting short segment in the middle of the book, where Nunn analyzes the playing strength of the prewar masters, finding most of them not more than 2100 on a good day. He shows some of their comical blunders. In the solutions also, there are amusing anecdotes, like "Kasparov gave me a wry grin when he made this move."

These puzzles are wonderful, and they are hard. For me (USCF 20xx), even the easier ones are to be attempted only over the physical board with some serious concentration, not from the book while riding the bus. This book should not be confused with Fred Reinfeld's 1001 Combinations.I was just proud of myself for finding five (I thought) tricky tactical moves, leading to a position in which "White's attack must be decisive." Well, it turns out that my five moves were just the lead in to the real meat of the exercise, and when you work it through another half dozen moves to the bitter end, White loses. That's the level of rigor this book requires - or, on the positive side, can help you develop.If you are a strong club player looking for a great selection of analytical exercises, this may be the last book you'll ever need. Seriously, there is enough quality material here to last a long, long time. A little humbling, yes, but in a good way.

Hello,I am a strong chess player with rating 2000+ and i play for my province chess team. I enjoy buying chess puzzle books, and bought almost all the chess tactics and chess puzzle books on amazon, I also a member of many chess tactic websites and got a large number of chess tactics problems that i can solve in my memory,but to be honest it was impossible to solve any chess puzzle's in this book.Most tactics start with: "What did the grandmaster overlooked in this position" or "what did anand miss in this position". So to give u an idea of the tactics in the book, it is tactics that grandmasters miss, So to solve any of the positions in this book u have to be a super grandmaster or a chess computer.I would recommend this book to all 2800+ rated players wanting to impove their ratings, any other normal chess student this positions will just not make any sense. In one of his tests he gave a bonus point for seeing some queen sacriface that happen after 16 moves in a specific tactic line. If any living person can see this then what is the reason for him to buy a book to improve his chess.

To keep things short: Mr. John Nunn's book is easy-to-use as it has diagrams in both the puzzles and the solutions. Consequently, the reader does not need a chess set when solving. Also, the hints are insightful. The "finding the wrong move" section has lots of amusing traps that players can easily fall into.Most of the problems are at level 1-3 (which are just a few moves in analysis). However, a few are at level 4 or 5; in this case, you might want to set the board up. In my view, solving these 300 tactical problems will help improve your play while being fun to study as Mr. Nunn has a good sense of humor.

Great collection and a lot to learn. John Nunn is one of the best authors out there and he proves that once again with this book.

Way beyond my level.

This is a lovely chess set. I like it alot

Dos testes

Dr Nunn's excellent reputation as an author is safe with this well above average chess puzzle book. The 300 puzzle positions of this new enlarged edition are extremely diversified and instructive, thanks to Nunn's talent as a teacher. The solutions are detailed and well explained. The author has even added a fascinating chapter called "The Test of time" in which he compares contemporary and past players. Strongly recommended for seasoned amateurs (1800+) to strong masters.

いわゆる｢次の１手｣形式のチェスパズルです。｢次の１手｣形式と言ってもこの本では続く１０手ぐらいを読まなければいけないし、メイトを狙うのか、優勢な状況を作る目的なのか、ドロー狙いなのか分からずさまざまな可能性を考えなければいけないので難しいです。同種の本として、日本語訳されている｢ボビーフィッシャーの究極のチェス｣などに比べて格段に難しく、初心者にはお勧めできませんし電車の中などで気軽にチェスの勉強をする場合にも向かないでしょう。(むしろ力がついて良いという考え方もできますが）　　読みの力に自信のある人が更に磨きを欠けるために良い本でしょう。連日電車内で苦戦している私としては評価は☆三つです。

I expect John Nunn put a good 10 times as much work into this book as does the usual puzzle book compiler and maybe much more. The innovative layout where each puzzle gives one page number for a hint and a second page number for the solution works extremely well. If you're stuck then a glance at the hints section gives you an indication of how hard the puzzle is, which helps in deciding whether to press on. Nunn suggests that only problems rated 1 or 2 are suitable for solving on a train journey. The solutions are discussed fully, with a diagram, and I find I don't need a chess set to follow them. There is an emphasis on learning something from the problems.The general standard of difficulty is quite high and I wouldn't expect a weak player to be able to solve any of the problems. It's not a suitable book for a someone who's recently learnt the moves but it's the best puzzle book I've seen for middling club players up to masters. Nunn has eschewed printing the old favourites one sees in most puzzle books.

Educational.