Chess Mazes: A New Kind of Chess Puzzle for Everyone Paperback – Illustrated, October 1, 2004

What I was looking for in this book was probably a little different than what most readers want, or what the author intended. I wanted a solitaire game to play on the board. I play chess at what would probably be called a beginner level, though I have been playing for 50 years. At this stage in my life, I'm not that interested in improving my game. My husband is only slightly better than me, so we can play chess and enjoy it. And I know there are computer chess playing applications that are readily available. But I really like solitaire games. (I like traditional maze puzzles too.) I know the author recommends solving the puzzles in your head, and I do that sometimes, but I also enjoy setting up the board and weaving my way through the maze.A couple of decades ago I came up with a solitaire game for chess pieces called Queen's Quadrille, and I have enjoyed playing that ever since. (It's not a commercial game and you can easily find instructions online. There are a few apps for it, but I don't know the people who have written them and I don't get any money from them.) I have also had fun with the Solitaire Chess game made by ThinkFun and other companies. And I like "mate in one" puzzles (I'm not good enough to solve "mate in two" puzzles).But I think the Chess Maze is my favorite chess solitaire game. It feels the most like a real chess game. I like figuring out the path without having to take into account what an opponent is going to do. I've bought both volumes but am still working my way through the first one. Because I don't remember forever how I've solved a puzzle, I can enjoy the same puzzles again after a while. I especially like the ones where the goal is checkmate, and not just check.I have both the paperback and kindle versions of these books. I like having the paperback as a reference, but the kindle version is nice because you can blow up the diagrams to full screen size. I would like to see Chess Mazes printed on large cards like the Solitaire Chess cards, for people like me who love to set up the pieces. But I know that's not the author's intent, so it will probably never happen.

Only one side moves in these puzzles, by design. When you go 8 deep with a single piece, that's equivalent to 4 moves, counting your opponent's in a real game. I had always visualized barely two to two and a half moves ahead if I was lucky. There were more benefits to me...first, addressing the puzzle's goal, delivering check from a non-attacked square, has translated into more proactve and attacking thought patterns in my real games. Second, since I rarely solve on the first attenpt, often tracing steps up to 2 dozen times, the routes get burned into my mind's eye from sheer repitition, which I believe has helped me in real chess games also. Paths that include squares guarded (I believe these are called reprises) are not solutions. Obviously, I seem to be cutting down my blunders in real games. Finally, the key shows the only shortest sequence. Reworking to compare why your path was not the shortest, causes another highly active review.

I really like this book. Working through the mazes has really helped my board vision, but I've down graded my review by 1 star, since I keep finding mistakes and alternative solutions.Mistakes:1) #34 solution should be: 1. Bg7; 2. Bf8; 3. Ba3; 4. Bc1; 5. Bd2; 6. Be1; 7. Bg3; 8. Bb8; 9. Ba7+2) #60 ignore move 6. R x h3, there is no piece on h3Second solution:#54: 1. Rc7; 2. Rg7; 3.Rg4; 4. Rh4; 5-10 are the same#65: must be a typo, because 1) Rb4; 2) Rb3 is a valid solution#72 1. Nh6; 2. Ng4; 3. Ne3; 4. Nf1; 5. Nd2; 6. Nb3; 7. Nd4+ is also a valid solution#77 ... 7. Ng8; 8. Nxh6; 9. Nf7; 10. Ng5 is also a valid solution

The book is really thin, even though the book contains two copies of each puzzle. In total, there are only about 200 puzzles. The puzzles are not as good as those in winning chess puzzles for kids I and winning chess puzzles for kids II. Overall I think it is overpriced.

This book met my expectations. I am a more advanced player, but was looking for some different types of puzzles for my students. The kids love doing the chess mazes and I believe it improves their chess vision and planning. If nothing else it breaks the monotony of checkmate puzzles and keeps kids interested.

very good

One of the basic chess skills that needs to be developed is visualization. You look at a position, think about where you should move a piece, what your opponent's reply might be and then go on to analyze the position that your mind's eye "sees." This book helps develop this precise skill..It does it by setting up a position with black pieces on one side and just ONE white piece. The reader is then told to move the white piece to a certain square without landing, in transit, on any square controlled by an enemy piece, and to do so in the shortest number of moves. The student, particularly new beginners, may initially find it difficult to solve the puzzle without moving actual pieces around the board. However, when the puzzle -- the "chess maze" -- can be successfully solved without any pieces being moved, the student is well on the way to develop critical skills for playing better chess.A book (and the next in the series, Chess Mazes 2) well worth the time for beginners and "lower" intermediate players. Also may be productively used by instructors working with students.Parker R.

A fun and different way to work on calculation skills.