All the positions in 100 Chess Tactics, 100 Chess Threats – For the Club Player, are taken from the games of players rated 1500-2300. Many of the positions come from my own OTB tournament games and represent my own or my opponent’s mistakes. Others are taken from a variety of games across a wide range of openings. These tactics and threats therefore represent the common oversights of the typical day-to-day club player.
It's all well and good training tactics taken from Grand Master games, but often these players just do not make the same mistakes average players do. This is why I have taken a closer look at the sort of mistakes I'm making in my own games and at players around my level, searching through hundreds and hundreds of games in the process. In this book you will find some beautiful combinations, some ordinary moves and some downright ugly ones – because sometimes you have to find the ugly move to stay in the game!
This book has been spilt into two sections – tactics and threats. In the tactic section it is your turn to find the winning tactic. This could be the simple win of a pawn or a piece, the exchange or mate. It might even be the odd positional move that results in a nice tactical win.
In the threat section you must identify the threat to your own position and make the correct counter-move. In some cases, you can ignore the threat by making one stronger in turn. In others, you must find the best defensive resource from an equal or even losing position. I was amazed to find some defences that could have saved me in some games I thought was lost! Threat training, I have found, is also something that’s pretty rare and I can’t think of many resources which actually train this.
All positions have been carefully selected and computer checked for accuracy. I have annotated every position in what I hope is an instructive but not overly verbose commentary (and given some hints where positions are difficult.) In some positions you may wish to open up the analysis board on Chessable to explore further if necessary or simply pick up the main idea.
This is a book written by the club player for the club player and I think it will benefit all players in the 1500-2300 range or thereabouts. I hope you find something of value in this book and enjoy using it as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.
