Search ChessCafe

Only Search ChessCafe.com

A Flear Family Affair

by Michael McGuerty
Tactimania, by Glenn Flear, Quality Chess 2011, Paperback, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 264pp. $27.95 (ChessCafe Price: $23.95)

Purchases from our chess shop help keep ChessCafe.com freely accessible:

Book Reviews
Like 102

Translate this page Select Language

Pow ered by

Translate

According to grandmaster Glenn Flear, "tactimania" means a "passion for tactics." And Tactimania is a puzzle book with a difference. The first thing that one will notice is its manga-like design. From the first page to the last, the book has graphic novel illustrations with character introductions and all. The characters, of course, are the chess pieces, and we see them in a variety of situations: comic, menacing, in battle, etc. This doesn't mean the book is for kids; it just makes it more fun. Another stand-out aspect of the production is the color-coded page corners delineating the chapters. This makes for easy reference knowing that you left off at yellow (chapter one) or green (chapter ten) or gray (chapter twelve), etc.

Quality Chess Puzzle Book by John Shaw

Rating Chart
Awful Poor Uneven Good Great Excellent

The Grandmaster Battle Manual by Vassilios Kotronias

The book is truly a family affair, with the puzzle positions stemming from Flear's own games, along with those of his wife, Christine, and the illustrations are provided by their eldest son James. Each puzzle is classified according to one of the following three categories: Apprentice, Advanced student, and Expert. Apprentice (or one star) puzzles generally require two or three moves of calculation. Advanced student (or two star) puzzles are a bit more involved in that the combination is longer or demands more finesse. Expert (or three star) puzzles are designed to take longer to solve and "generally involve making a series of threats that ultimately leads to the creation of a mating net." And, refreshingly, Flear is not always on the winning side. The contents are divided as follows: Introduction The Characters Chapter 1 Mate is in the Air! Chapter 2 Tactics for Tyros
Test Your Endgame Thinking by Glenn Flear

Chapter 2 Tactics for Tyros Chapter 3 Deviate to Dominate Chapter 4 On the Attack! Chapter 5 Pinching Pieces and Pawns Chapter 6 Punishing Precariously Placed Pieces Chapter 7 Blunder-bashing Chapter 8 Decisive Defence Chapter 9 Excel in the Endgame! Chapter 10 Until the Bitter End! Chapter 11 Tricky Decisions Chapter 12 Chess is not an Easy Game Chapter 13 The Tactimania Test Index of the Flears' Opponents The chapter titles are quite straightforward with regards to their content. Each chapter begins with some introductory text and illustrative examples, followed by exercises on one page with answers on the reverse. Chapters twelve and thirteen introduce a point scoring system, where each move of the answer deserving of an exclamation point is awarded one point and an evaluation table is given to rate your playing strength. According to the name index, there are about 482 positions given in the book.

Flear writes that "the book is aimed at just about everybody in the chess world" from "players who have already learned the moves and played a few friendly games" to experienced players who "will also find some testing material towards the end of each chapter and especially in the latter part of the book." Those who fall into the former category will find the material that much more testing as they do not have the pattern recognition that would allow them to solve the puzzles quickly, and there is limited explanatory text that introduces the patterns for beginners. For instance, it is easy to solve these apprentice puzzles from chapter one, "Mate is in the Air!," if you know your mating patterns: Black to move

[FEN "3r2k1/pp4pp/2bq3r/2p2p2/2P3n1/ PPQ1P1P1/1R1NR2P/5BK1 b - - 0 1"]

1-2 B. Mallet G. Flear Avoine 1985 27...Qxg3+ 28.hxg3 Rh1# Black to move
Tactimania

[FEN "1r4k1/p5bp/q2p2p1/2rb1pB1/1p3P2/ 1P1NP2P/P1PQ4/1K1RR3 b - - 0 22"]

1-3 Z. Slapak G. Flear Cappelle-la-Grande 1986 22...Qxa2+ 23.Kxa2 Ra5+ 24.Kb1 Ra1# But not knowing the pattern of rook and bishop mate could make these puzzling indeed. Still, these early chapters do have definite themes, and this will give the reader some clues on how to proceed. Though it is odd that no mention is made of the tougher defense to Puzzle 1-2 in 28.Rg2, when Black has to find 28...Rxh2. Here are two advanced exercises from chapter eight, "Decisive Defence": Black to move

[FEN "6r1/1R3pkp/2Q1P1p1/2pp1q2/5P2/ 8/r5PP/4R2K b - - 0 28"]

8-8 G. Flear A. Kinsman Nottingham 1987 28...Qe4! A pretty resource!

29.Rxf7+ Kh6 30.Rg1 Rxg2+! 31.Rxg2 Qe1+ 32.Rg1 Qe4+ - White to move

[FEN "r7/pp1Qn1bk/2p4p/2P2p2/6q1/ 2N1BpP1/PP3P1P/4R1K1 w - - 0 23"]

8-12 G. Flear A. Haik Metz 1984 23.Ne2! A neat defensive move that I didn't find during the game. I played 23.Kh1?, but following 23...Ng6 24.Qxb7 Qh3 25.Rg1 Re8 the attack was decisive. 23...fxe2 If 23...Qh3?, White has 24.Nf4. Another try 23...Ng6 met by 24.Nd4! Rg8 (24...Qh3 25.Nxf3) 25.Qxf5, leaves White on top. 24.Qxe7 White is better. Here is one expert exercise from chapter eleven, "Tricky Decisions": White to move

Tactimania

[FEN "6k1/p4r1p/5q2/P1N3p1/2QPp1n1/ 4P1P1/7P/2R3K1 w - - 0 31"]

11-12 M. Grignon G. Flear Narbonne-plage 2010 31.Rf1!

The game continuation was disappointing for my opponent: 31.Nxe4? Qf3 32.Qd3 (32.Qxf7+? Qxf7!) 32...Nxe3 33.Rc8+ Kg7 34.Rc2 Qf1+ 0-1. Another plausible move is 31.Qe2!?, although then 31...Qf3 32.Re1 h6!? 33.Qg2 Qxg2+ 34.Kxg2 Rf2+ 35.Kg1 Rxh2+ 36.Nxe4 Ra2 would offer Black reasonable drawing chances. 31...Nxe3 Alternatively, 31...Qxf1+ 32.Qxf1 Rxf1+ 33.Kxf1 Nxe3+ 34.Ke2 Nf5 35.d5 g4 36.Nxe4 Kf7 37.Kd3 would be difficult for Black. 32.Qxf7+ Kxf7 33.Rxf6+ Kxf6 34.Nxe4+ Kf5 35.Nd6+ Ke6 36.Nb5 a6 37.Nc7+ Kd6 38.Nxa6 Nc4 39.Nc5 Nxa5 40.Ne4+ Kd5 41.Nxg5 I think that White should be winning here. Interestingly, none of the examples above can be found in Mega Database 2011, making the material that much fresher for some. Overall, Tactimania is an above average tactics book. It is nicely produced on glossy, thick-stock paper; includes challenging puzzles that are likely to be unknown to the reader; offers fully annotated solutions with in depth explanations; all presented in a colorful and enjoyable manner. It is probably best for the prospective reader to be rated 1600 or higher, but anyone can benefit from using this book to develop their "gut-feeling" for tactics. My assessment of this book: Order Tactimania by Glenn Flear Read an excerpt in our shop!

Comment on this week's column via our Contact Page! Pertinent responses will be posted below daily.

[ChessCafe Home Page] [Book Review] [Columnists] [Endgame Study] [The Skittles Room] [ChessCafe Archives] [ChessCafe Links] [Online Bookstore] [About ChessCafe.com] [Contact ChessCafe.com] 2011 BrainGamz, Inc. All Rights Reserved. "ChessCafe.com" is a registered trademark of BrainGamz, Inc.