Why Must Read Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games?

When I was learning to play jazz guitar I struggled for years to figure out how to play at really fast tempos until I learned the secret of memorizing 3 and 4 note 'motives' that I had so well memorized that I could play them with out thinking. Think of this book as 5334 chess 'motives'. These are the 'guitar licks' of chess. Play them over and over and over until you don't even have to think when you see them. They become automatic. Then when your clock is ticking you won't miss that 3 move checkmate that you only had 60 seconds to find. It does no good at all to build up a winning position if you cannot finish off your opponent quickly and efficiently. There are plenty of sites on the internet where you can practice tactics. They will NOT do what this book does, which is systematically train your eyes to recognize the patterns of trapping and killing an opponent's King. The ONLY problem with this book is it is BIG and the diagrams are rather small... But, hey! That is because it is a treasure trove. One hour a day every day with this book and your chess 'eyes' will improve without fail. After working on this book for weeks the one unexpected takeaway is that the beauty of these puzzles eventually turns working on tactics from a drudgery into something inspiring and fascinating. I never quite appreciated the aesthetics of chess as much as I do now after being shocked and awed by the beauty of something as seemingly simple as a mate in two.