Rating: 
Summary: A Cautious Recommendation
Review: Reinfeld's "1001" compendia are two of the enduring classics of chess literature. There is no doubt that they are a valuable addition to your chess library. Most of Reinfeld's books (i.e. the ones in which he wrote something) are slapdash and contain outdated and misleading opening advice, valueless annotations, and sweeping generalities that are helpful to noone, and could actually set the learning curve of some players back. Fortunately for Reinfeld, he chose to write this series, which has only diagrams and (with the exception of the introduction) no writing, and thus made a lasting contribution to the chess world. Consisting of 1001 diagrammed positions, the book calls for the reader to find the sequence of moves that leads to a win for either Black or White. The diagrams are organized by tactical theme (i.e. pin, fork, x-ray, etc.), and thus give the reader a hint as to the solution. There is no indication as to difficulty, and order of appearance in the chapter seems to have nothing to do with it. The benefits of this are obvious. Here is a book which can be stashed in one's pocket and taken anywhere, and studied without the benefit of a chessboard. Solving these diagrams can, and in most cases will, greatly improve the tactics of any player, and may help the more advanced player keep his or her tactical eye sharp. In addition, the sequences tend to be somewhat flashy, the kind of swashbuckling, romantic combinations that even the stodgy positional player (perhaps secretly) enjoys, so there is great entertainment value to the book, as well. This having been said, one must still have a healthy respect for the limitations of this work. Because it includes no exposition on how to scent the possibility of a combination, the book will not help us realize when a combination is in the offing in everyday or tournament play. No one is there during an actual game to whisper in our ear "There is a combination here and it has an x-ray attack in it". Thus, another book on middlegame or combination play, one that talks in more depth about what preconditions make combinations possible, will prove to be a helpful companion to this book. For this purpose, Silman's "How to Reassess your Chess" or Znosko-Borovsky's "Combinations-The Heart of Chess" would be good choices. The introduction, the only real piece of writing in the book, is another case of misleading generalities on Reinfeld's part. He says that tactics are "just what we need to become first-rate players" and intimates that "Tactics is 99 percent of chess...and 99 percent of the fun, too!". And towards the end of the introduction, he writes that "The first step toward mastery is to become familiar with many types of tactical motifs. The second step is to study...examples of these tactical themes." "So chess mastery is a two-step process", thinks the novice. Another set of sweeping unilateral statements from Reinfeld, whose incautious wording completely negates the value of positional play as an element in the mastery of the game. I am not suggesting that Reinfeld should have included an exposition of position play here-obviously that is not within the scope of this book. However, tactics should have been presented as merely one (albeit indispensible) facet of becoming a good player-not as the alpha and omega of chess mastery. For the more advanced player, an indication of where the diagrammed positions came from (i.e. the players, the tournament, the year) would be an aid in researching the positions-how they were arrived at, and who played the games, would be interesting and helpful to know. With all due respect to those players who still cling to descriptive notation ('B-KN5 dbl ch'?? Give me a break!), this book would be more accessible to the general public and to most modern players if it were translated into algebraic notation. All in all, I highly recommend this book-as long as the buyer realizes its limitations, and that it should be used as one useful tool-not as the whole toolbox.
Rating:
Summary: A Cautious Recommendation
Review: Reinfeld's "1001" compendia are two of the enduring classics of chess literature. There is no doubt that they are a valuable addition to your chess library. Most of Reinfeld's books (i.e. the ones in which he wrote something) are slapdash and contain outdated and misleading opening advice, valueless annotations, and sweeping generalities that are helpful to noone, and could actually set the learning curve of some players back. Fortunately for Reinfeld, he chose to write this series, which has only diagrams and (with the exception of the introduction) no writing, and thus made a lasting contribution to the chess world. Consisting of 1001 diagrammed positions, the book calls for the reader to find the sequence of moves that leads to a win for either Black or White. The diagrams are organized by tactical theme (i.e. pin, fork, x-ray, etc.), and thus give the reader a hint as to the solution. There is no indication as to difficulty, and order of appearance in the chapter seems to have nothing to do with it. The benefits of this are obvious. Here is a book which can be stashed in one's pocket and taken anywhere, and studied without the benefit of a chessboard. Solving these diagrams can, and in most cases will, greatly improve the tactics of any player, and may help the more advanced player keep his or her tactical eye sharp. In addition, the sequences tend to be somewhat flashy, the kind of swashbuckling, romantic combinations that even the stodgy positional player (perhaps secretly) enjoys, so there is great entertainment value to the book, as well. This having been said, one must still have a healthy respect for the limitations of this work. Because it includes no exposition on how to scent the possibility of a combination, the book will not help us realize when a combination is in the offing in everyday or tournament play. No one is there during an actual game to whisper in our ear "There is a combination here and it has an x-ray attack in it". Thus, another book on middlegame or combination play, one that talks in more depth about what preconditions make combinations possible, will prove to be a helpful companion to this book. For this purpose, Silman's "How to Reassess your Chess" or Znosko-Borovsky's "Combinations-The Heart of Chess" would be good choices. The introduction, the only real piece of writing in the book, is another case of misleading generalities on Reinfeld's part. He says that tactics are "just what we need to become first-rate players" and intimates that "Tactics is 99 percent of chess...and 99 percent of the fun, too!". And towards the end of the introduction, he writes that "The first step toward mastery is to become familiar with many types of tactical motifs. The second step is to study...examples of these tactical themes." "So chess mastery is a two-step process", thinks the novice. Another set of sweeping unilateral statements from Reinfeld, whose incautious wording completely negates the value of positional play as an element in the mastery of the game. I am not suggesting that Reinfeld should have included an exposition of position play here-obviously that is not within the scope of this book. However, tactics should have been presented as merely one (albeit indispensible) facet of becoming a good player-not as the alpha and omega of chess mastery. For the more advanced player, an indication of where the diagrammed positions came from (i.e. the players, the tournament, the year) would be an aid in researching the positions-how they were arrived at, and who played the games, would be interesting and helpful to know. With all due respect to those players who still cling to descriptive notation ('B-KN5 dbl ch'?? Give me a break!), this book would be more accessible to the general public and to most modern players if it were translated into algebraic notation. All in all, I highly recommend this book-as long as the buyer realizes its limitations, and that it should be used as one useful tool-not as the whole toolbox.
Rating: 
Summary: I bought this one just for the pictures
Review: Several years ago I was really heavily into my chess. I had a whole library of chess books - so many in fact, that in all likelihood I would never have finished studying them all. I gave most of them to my daughter's elementary school for their library since they were teaching the kids how to play chess, and I kept just a few of the ones I felt were the most useful and important. This is one I kept. The great thing is, you don't have to read it. You won't have to try to follow the gazillion alternate moves of some grandmaster in your already overloaded brain. You just play the book as you would play an opponent, only you get a clue as to how you are going to do him in. I buy some magazines and books for the great articles, but I have to admit that I bought this one just for the pictures.
Rating:
Summary: A Fantastic Bargain Classic
Review: Thank you Fred Reinfeld for this great collection of exercises in chess tactics. Ultimately, in over the board play, tactics decide victory or defeat. What better way to train for the winning pin or fork or double attack but to see again and again how it's done? "Their drills are bloodless battles, and their battles bloody drills."
Rating:
Summary: Could be better
Review: The concept is great, but sometimes can be misleading. The types of different problems are grouped into each individual chapter, so all the fork problems are grouped together. Of course, if you are in the pinning chapter, you'll be lead to find a move which will pin an opponent piece... This can be misleading, because although you will be able to recognize a similar situation when playing in a tournament, it will seldom be the same condition where the best play will be to pin a knight or fork a pawn and a rook.
I agree this is a great book (specially for the price!), but only if sized to the circunstance. Another issue altogether is the crummy notation (give me a break...)
Rating:
Summary: A cautious recommendation
Review: The content of this book so far is great (5 stars), but the fact that I only made it to page 16 and pages are starting to fall out makes me wish I had bought something else.
Rating:
Summary: One of the great mind benders
Review: The pin, the fork, the skewer, it's all in here. So many mind bending puzzles to work through it'll take you years. Sometimes you can spend hours on a single page, but once you've worked it out you've altered your mind set to see similar combinations on the board. If you're going to be stranded on a desert island for some time, then take this book. No one telling you how to solve the puzzle, no clues, just down and dirty do it yourself. I like it! The great thing is, that once you've worked through all 1001 puzzles, it's been so long since you looked at the earlier pages that you can start all over again. The never ending book.
Rating: 
Summary: There's more than meets the eye ...
Review: This book is a fine set of exercises that raise one's awareness of tactical opportunities. Whether or not you've gone through this book you might be surprised to find just how many of the positions are not easy wins. It is all too easy to say, "Oh yes ... Knight takes Pawn forking Queen and Rook." and just let it go at that. But can you win a game where your material advantage is a Rook and Pawn for a Knight? Can you win it against a stronger opponent?!! Consequently where it truly excels is as a set of starting positions for practicing winning a "won" game. Set the positions up on your chess computer or favorite chess software (setting the playing difficulty to something beyond what you can normally expect to win against) and play them out to mate. You'll learn that a capture all too often results in a loss of time and a breakdown in the coordination of your pieces. You'll also find that often your opponent now has the inititive and weathering the storm is a real challange. One of the most difficult positions to "prove" as won are those where one has exchanged a Rook and minor piece for a Queen; playing out these will teach the lesson "don't exchange off your last piece supporting the Queen" for the Queen alone has a hard time generating threats and is much stronger with another piece present.
Rating:
Summary: Are you a chess player under 1700?
Review: This book is a necessary part of your chess library if you are under 1700. Recognizing chess positions is something we all do, no matter how weak or strong you are, and this book will show you---and instill in your memory---every important tactical concept out there. Very highly recommeded.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is FULL of inaccuracies!
Review: This book is full of inaccuracies. I ran the problems against a computer (I used Chessmaster 6000) which revealed that nearly all the combinations longer than 3 moves have alternative superior defenses. Reinfeld in his solutions always assumes that the defender will choose the most obvious defense, even if it is a poor one. I am willing to overlook a couple inaccuracies here and there, but so far 75% of the combinations longer than 3 moves have alternative defenses! It's maddening to try and solve a problem, only to find that it's impossible and only works if the defender chooses poor moves! It's not that there's just one perfect alternative defense which only a grandmaster or computer will find either. In many cases, there are as many as 3-4 different and BETTER ways to defend than the one given by the solution. Do yourself a favor and don't buy any Reinfeld books ... the only exception is Winning Chess, which was lead-written by Chernev (many problems in 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifies etc. are recycled from Winning Chess, and the arrangement of this book follows Winning Chess as well, although the problems in Winning Chess are much more accurate than 1001)
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