The Quality Chess Puzzle Book - by John Shaw

When John Shaw decided to write a puzzle book he had many ideas in mind:

• The puzzles should be challenging but not so difficult that a chessboard is needed
• they can be solved on the train, plane or wherever you happen to be when you have a few minutes to spare
• The positions should be educational with some instructive point to the solution

But, he also selected many puzzles just because they were fun.

The positions are all from fairly recent games, so the reader will not have seen them before in older puzzle books.

John Shaw is a grandmaster and one half of Quality Chess. He has been Scottish Champion three times.

ISBN - 978-1906552121 - 354 pages- Published July 2010

Reviews

"Another great new offering... Puzzle books are ten a penny, with most over-priced even at that rate, but this is a shining exception, a truly fabulous collection of positions that will test every player, from average club player up to 2700... no player can fail to benefit from serious work on the book. It is another fabulous product from a great publisher."

Steve Giddins, British Chess Magazine

"Just recently I received a book from grandmaster Shaw from Scotland. I had no time to read it so I gave it to grandmaster Motylev, a student and friend. He told me just yesterday that he solved a lot of the exercises and he liked them very much, he believes that the book is of very high quality. I don't have my own opinion, but I believe him, perhaps it's true."

Mark Dvoretsky, full interview at ChessVibes

"Well-explained solutions... wonderful game-fragments... It is a rare and original contribution, chartering new territory. I would recommend it to tournament players."

GM Lubomir Kavalek, Huffington Post (full column)

"The Quality Chess Puzzle Book lives up to its name!"

Michael McGuerty, ChessCafe

"There are many things to like about this book. Apart from the high quality material, the vast majority of the exercises are from very recent games (700 of 735 puzzles are from after the year 2000.) I also liked the fact that there's a chapter with ‘Contributions from our Readers'. As a matter of fact, there was no immediate need for such an original approach as the author has made sure the puzzles in this book 'have not been used in other puzzle books, so the reader has to solve the puzzle, not remember the answer from old books.' Finally, I found it extremely convenient that the solutions to the puzzles aren't given in some obscure section at the end of the book, but on the very next page."

Arne Moll, ChessVibes