I first met Peter at several tournaments in Europe earlier in my chess career — the chess world is small, after all! But I really got to know him when I started my graduate degree in St. Louis and joined the Webster University chess team.
There is no shortage of Grandmasters in 2020, and many of them happen to create various types of chess content, such as writing books and articles, or recording video courses. Some are quite gift ed in this respect, while others are not as passionate or good at what they are doing. However, very soon after getting to know Peter, I came to realize that his passion for chess was endless. He is always curious about learning and discovering more when it comes to our royal game, and he won’t stop until he fi nds the truth and every little finesse is addressed. On top of that, he is a very diligent person, a perfectionist: having been roommates with him for a while, I can tell you from experience that while it might be hard for him to start doing something, there is no stopping him when the process is already underway! Such a personality and attitude, undoubtedly, couldn’t result in a bad book. Quite the opposite: I believe that what you are holding in your hands is a fantastic toolbox and workbook for perfecting your tactical craft . At the same time, you are guaranteed to fi nd plenty of beauty and entertainment within these pages.
The author has put an infinite amount of effort into handpicking these combinations — he even had to abstain from adding another few hundred stunning puzzles that happened not to suit his strictest criteria. The positions have been carefully checked with the best engines out there, so you surely won’t find any combinations that are fishy or contain multiple winning lines.
To the best of my knowledge — and I speak as someone rather familiar with the chess market and various books of tactical puzzles — there isn’t a single other book that provides such an outstanding and comprehensive structure of tactical themes and motifs; this means your chess study will be as effi cient as it gets.
All in all, I wholeheartedly recommend this work, and I genuinely believe it will help a wide variety of players feel a lot more confident when it comes to their tactical skills. Effort will be required on your part, but along the way you will also have a lot of fun, which definitely doesn’t hurt!
Sincerely,
IM Yuriy Krykun
Saint Louis
November 2020
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