Beat the Grandmasters
Title: Beat the Grandmasters
Author: Christian Kingsted
Publisher: GAMBIT BOOKS
Paperback, 176 pages
Price: £14.99/$25.95/€23,45
ISBN 1 904600 27 1
The author Christian Kongsted holds a provisional ICCF rating of 2510. In master level events ICCF EM/M/A104 and EM/EM/A134 he has won both tournaments with the excellent score of 9/10. Kongsted also trained at the Danish school of journalism and his combining of journalistic talent and chess knowledge have enabled him to put together an enjoyable book for your pleasure.
The book contains 351 varied puzzles where you can test yourself in real positions that occurred in tournament play. The way the books works is to place you in a position against a grandmaster where in the actual game the position contains a real-game situations where there is a way to defeat a well-known player. Kongsted: "Your task is to find the moves which lead to the defeat of some of the strongest players in the world. Quite often one move can change the course of the game, and calculating with precision at the right moment can mean the difference between winning and losing. Even if you have had a lost position for a long time, you may suddenly get the chance to turn things around if your opponent drops his guard for a moment."
Included in the book is a scoring system for you to measure yourself and perhaps test your score against a friend or player at your local chess club.
Verdict:
Kongsted delivers a book that is hard to put down. The layout of the pages
makes it easy for you to study a position whilst at home, in the cafe or
on the bus etc. A thoroughly enjoyable challenge that will develop your
understanding of chess.
