Mating the Castled King – A review

On his entertaining blog, IM Sagar Shah gives an in-depth review of Mating the Castled King by Danny Gormally, and discusses how he used the book to help prepare for the recent Indian National Team championships in Goa.

IMG_0571

“So is going through this book going to help you to become a better player? Of course! My personal experience is that your mind will start seeing patterns much faster.

When I went to Goa, I setup my chess board on a table in my room. I kept the book of Mating the castled King next to it. Whenever I had some time, I would open a random page and setup a position from the book and solve it. After solving the position, I would just make a note with a tick mark that I had solved the position. Add a star or two next to the problem if I really liked it. In this way, I was solving almost 5-10 positions everyday. This helped me to stay in excellent tactical shape and I was able to remain unbeaten in the tournament. I continued working with the book even after the tournament and I am happy to say that I have completed the 160 positions.

Final words: A unique book which not only helps you to get acquainted with mating patterns against a castled king but also helps you to improve your art of calculation thanks to the excellent quality of analysis.”

The full review is available here.

3 thoughts on “Mating the Castled King – A review”

  1. This is a good book, just got it.
    @ John Shaw
    In your book 1.e4 Caro K and minor lines.
    Without giving too much away, against the Petroff, will you be recommending 5.Nc3, 5.d4 or a line to avoid the Petroff?

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top