Thematic Chess Training

Thematic Chess Training
BOOK 12 - New Spectacular Combinations

Spectacular Combinations was the subject of the BOOK 2. The study of combinations occupies an important place in the author's work, to which he devoted, among others, chapters 5 and 7 of Chess School, as well as the third of Chess School 2 and, of course, most of the three-volume Encyclopedia of Tactics. The combination is usually defined as a forced variant with sacrifices, but here we will exclude the traditional one by themes (double attack, pinning, etc.) because at this point it is already somewhat schematic, to reduce the exercises in this BOOK to four chapters of broad spectrum, with the aim of not giving the reader too many clues, and to preserve the versatility of today's chess, because except for the first one (The Artillery Protagonism) the chapters are not technically descriptive. All the positions included here were produced in international (or high-level Spanish national) competitions. With the exception of five (one from 2003 and four from 2006), all the others correspond to games played from 2007 onwards.
Only one formula is known for progressing in chess: play as many games as possible, together with theoretical study and analysis of the games themselves. The ideal complement to this formula is, as many great masters recommend, for the player to develop and perfect their tactical and strategic skills by solving numerous exercises, specially selected for their usefulness. Like the ones we offer here.