A Modern Guide to Checkmating Patterns

Faktisk en imponerende ny bok om å sette sjakk matt. Her er kapitlene å se de ulike angrepsbrikkene og kombinasjoner av disse i aksjon, ikke temaer og mattbilder med ulike navn som er lite aktuelle under partiet.

Forfatteren viser ulik bruk av brikkene i hvert kapittel, fulgt av rikelig antall øvingsoppgaver, tilsammen 851 i tallet. Sammen med eksemplene som blir gjennomgått kan boka skryte av 1000 eksempler, og alle er faktisk spilt på 2000-tallet. Det blir ikke alltid matt, men mattvarianter er om ikke annet årsaken til at vinneren vinner!

Boka er nok mest for ratingnivå 12-1300 og oppover til mesterklassen. Eksemplene er gjennomgående ikke veldig kompliserte, men heller ikke elementære.

Forlagets egen omtale:

Giving mate is the ultimate goal of every chess player. Finding that all-decisive combination is immensely satisfying. But how are you supposed to spot a checkmate when you are sitting at the board with the clock ticking?

In this guide International Master Vladimir Barsky teaches the method created by his mentor Viktor Khenkin (1923-2010). It’s based on an ingenious classification of the most frequently occurring mating schemes. A wide range of chess players will find it an extremely useful tool to recognize mating patterns and calculate the often narrow path to the kill.

All the 1,000 examples (850 of them in exercise format) that Barsky presents are from games played in 21st century. He has carefully selected the most instructive combinations and lucidly explains the typical techniques to corner your opponent’s king. More often than you would expect, positions that look innocent at first sight, turn out to contain a mating pattern.

This is not just another book full of chess puzzles. It’s a brilliantly organized course that has proven to be effective. Finding mate isn’t rocket science, but you need to know what to look for. Vladimir Barsky teaches you exactly that.

Vladimir Barsky (1969) is an International Master, an experienced chess coach and a well-known journalist and author. He lives in Moscow.