212 Surprising Checkmates

Info:
Russel Enterprises
Rating: 4 from 6 by John D. Warth
Author: Fred Wilson & Bruce Alberston 
Pages: 152 pages
Publisher: Russel Enterprises, 2011
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1936490234


212 SURPRISING CHECKMATES: A MINI-REVIEW

212 Surprising Checkmates by Bruce Alberston and Fred Wilson is a funny little book. The contents are easily described: 100 mates in one, 100 mates in two, and 12 mates in three. The mates in two and three are almost all entirely conventional, and I would expect even a mid-level club player to blow through most of them quickly, while a player over 1800 should finish the lot in about 10-15 minutes. (If not, then the review would be useful, and then the second time around he'd wipe them out in that time range.)

Routine tactics of this sort are so widely available that if this were the heart of the book, there'd be no sense in buying it when thousands of similar problems can be had near the price of the book ($9.95), or even for free. But the surprise of 212 Surprising Checkmates is the first part, the mates in one. Oddly, they are much more difficult to solve than the mates in two and three! This one, #59, seems to be the authors' pride and joy - it's White to move (and mate in one):

This position is typical of what you'll find: lots of pins from both sides, and it may take you a while to figure out which check is the mate. According to the authors, some experts and masters took more than a minute to solve it, so if it takes you a little while don't feel bad! It's interesting that even a mate in one can be somewhat challenging, and the puzzles are good to force solvers to pay very careful attention to everything that's going on around the board. It may also serve as a small sample of what longer problems are like, but with a low enough level of difficulty to make it accessible.

I won't make any grand claims about the book's value, but I like that it offered something a bit different. It's reasonably priced too, so I think it might be an interesting gift book for youngsters and less experienced club players, while stronger players might have a little fun with the mates in one.

P.S.: I thought about giving the solution, but changed my mind. It's only mate in one, for goodness' sake!

Download:
http://www.mediafire.com/?bd2oankcn00biz0