Luther – författare

Der Tod ist stumpf, in seinem Tun sehr behäbig. Dem Tod bei seiner Arbeit zusehen ist hochgradig langweilig, ja sogar sterbenslangweilig, nur, dass beim Sterben eben keine Langweile aufkommt. Ich begleite den Tod nun schon eine lange Zeit, eine lange Zeit für mich, denn der Tod, er besitzt sie nicht, die Zeit. Er beendet sie.Für die Toten der Inquisition. Ihnen schenke ich den Tod einer Religion.

Hallo, kleiner Mensch!Du weißt es jetzt noch nicht, aber es liegt eine lange Reise vor dir. Nicht nur vor dir, sondern auch vor deinen Eltern.Eine Reise, die ein außerordentlich hohes Ziel hat! Du sollst vom Neugeborenen zum erwachsenen Menschen heranreifen.Dieses Buch wird dich und deine Eltern ein Stück weit des Weges begleiten, und wir werden uns gemeinsam unseres Verstandes und keiner pauschalen So-Und-So-Lösung bedienen!»Der kleine Mensch ist ein wunderschönes Werk, dem ich entnehmen kann, dass es Dir wichtig ist, dass Deine Kinder mal als denkende Menschen durchs Leben gehen. An der einen oder anderen Stelle nicht ganz leicht zu lesen, aber im Endergebnis verständlich. Ein Manuskript, das mir mehr als einmal ein Lächeln ins Gesicht gezaubert hat.« (Bianca Weirauch, Lektorin)

How to use this book I thought long and hard about the best way tostructure this Workbook. My idea was to make a book with additionalexercises for readers of my earlier books Thinker’s Chess AcademyVolumes 1 & 2(TCA1 and TCA2 for short) while working with these books, plusmaterial for really interested and ambitious readers to maintain and broadenthe skills they have already learned.  That’s not an easy task, as it means combining ratherbasic material with really sophisticated exercises without making it boring forthe advanced readers or too hard for readers still on TCA1 level. My idea is tomix the two parts.Readers still on the lower level should work throughthe chapters Quick Test 1, QuickTest 2 etc and after Quick Test 10 go over to the chapters Advanced Lesson 1, Advanced Lesson 2 and so on. Advanced readers can use each chapter’s Quick Test asa kind of warm-up test under time pressure, for example setting a time of 10seconds for each mate in 2 or whatever you may think is right for you. Afterthe Quick Test you go ahead with the following Advanced Lessons chapter. The hardest part of the book is called “Master Class”. In these chaptersyou’ll find really difficult exercises such as unusually long combinations orcheckmates. Not every reader is ambitious enough or has enoughtime to work very hard on his chess. That’s quite understandable and nothing tobe ashamed of. You can enjoy chess very well without being a strong tournamentplayer. You could just entertain yourself by playing through interestingcombinations. In this case don’t try too hard to solve the Advanced Lessons orMaster Class exercises. Have a look to make yourself familiar with theposition, than look at the solution and enjoy the surprising combinations. Youwon’t learn as much as you would by racking your brain to crack the hard nuts.But some knowledge and experience will certainly rub off and increase yourunderstanding of chess. I hope this book will help you to work towards yourgoals and let have you fun with chess. Thomas Luther, September 2022

Most chess games are decided by tactics. Grandmaster Thomas Luther brings a structured approach to capturing the subtleties of any tactical theme. The reader is challenged to regularly solve his exercises and in doing so improve his skills of motif recognition. This book is aimed at chess players of all ages and levels who want to significantly improve their results. This is the first book in the Thinkers’ Chess Academy trilogy.

This is the second book of the Thinkers’ Chess Academy series. In the first book we started at a beginner’s level with checkmates in 1, 2 or 3 moves and the most common tactical motifs. If you have already worked with the first book you will now be much more experienced and ready for some more difficult lessons. We will start with 50 combinations to refresh our memory of the motifs from the first book. Th e chess friends who have not read the first book can treat it as a kind of self-test. If you cannot solve many of the examples it may be better to go back and work through the first book again. It is not a good idea to leave basic knowledge out. It will certainly hinder your progress if you do so. In this book we will not only show you more tactical motifs, but we will also give you an introduction to the basics of chess strategy. You will learn the most important elements of strategy which will help you to find better plans and to understand positions better. At the end of the book a chapter with 50 checkmates of 5+ moves will show you techniques of how to attack or hunt the opponent’s king and also how to improve your calculation skills and your imagination at the chessboard. Now enough of the prologue, let us go to work and learn lots about chess tactics and strategy! Have a lot of fun while studying chess and enjoy your improvement! Yours, Thomas Luther Grandmaster and FIDE senior trainer