Reddit reviews Art of Attack in Chess

I think Art of Attack is the definitive book for attacking play.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkmate_pattern

http://chesstempo.com/chess-forum/tagging_discussion/checkmate_pattern_tags-t4899.0.html

Many of these names where coined by VV https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Attack-Chess-Vladimir-Vukovic/dp/1857444000 although the patterns themselves are well known from much earlier.

A very good summary with diagrams: http://chesstempo.com/tactical-motifs.html

You can read about them also in Tisdall's book (Appendix 1 - page 185): https://archive.org/details/Improve_Your_Chess_Now

I gave you some advice for each book at each level. Of course all of these books can be switched around and if you want to read Dvoretsky (A very advanced author) at your level you're welcome to. Although a 1300 rating on lichess.org is still at a beginner level so I suggest you start from that section.

---

Beginner:

Play Winning Chess By: Yasser Seirawan

Logical Chess Move by Move By: Irving Chernev

How to Reasses Your Chess By: Jeremy Silman

---
Intermediate:

Practical Chess Exercises By: Ray cheng


The Art of Defense in Chess By: Andrew Soltis

Pawn Structure Chess By: Andrew Soltis

---

Master:



Fundamental Chess Endings By: Karsten-Müller and Frank Lamprecht.

Art of Attack in Chess By: Vladimir Vukovic

Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual By: Mark Dvoretsky

I think they're still talking about Art Of Attack: http://smile.amazon.com/Art-Attack-Chess-Ladimir-Vukovic/dp/1857444000/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1417206123&sr=8-3-fkmr1&keywords=art+of+attack+vukovich

In my opinion books 1, 4, 5, 8 might be worth a look. 1 you can get at any used book store pretty much. It has gajillions in print and is something you can get through in a couple of hours. Pandolfini writes for the abject beginner and you're probably beyond them by now.

Similar to #8 is a book by Colin Crouch called Modern Chess Move by Move which has an unusual and interesting method of teaching: It's a series of grandmaster games from 2005 - 2008 with various openings. The books starts by easing the reader into gradually more and more complex analysis as the book progresses. So by the end of the book you'd be equipped to pick up any other book of grandmaster games with heavy and complex analysis and not feel overwhelmed.

Two other books that are generally considered bibles to chess beginners are: How to Reasses Your Chess by Jeremy Silman and Art of Attack in Chess by Vukovic
Once you get through those I recommend Chess Tactics for Advanced Players by Averbakh -- This book has complete games, puzzles, mating paterns, focal squares, combinations. It's probably one of the most complete books on tactics I've ever run across.

You'll also want to consider a book on endgames: It runs as matter of personal taste because there are several very good books on endgames out there. My wife says it's a toss up between Fundamental Chess Endings by Lamprecht and Müller or Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual by Dvoretsky, they're both excellent.

Another great book if you can get hold of a copy is The Road to Chess Improvement by Yermolinky.

For further reading, there's a chapter on this attack in Vukovic's excellent book Art of Attack in Chess. I have the 1999 edition where Nunn translates and fixes analysis errors.

The chapter explores what conditions are necessary for the attack to work, and the common principles amongst the Black defences (e.g. Kh8; vs. Kxh7; or after Kxh7 Ng5, whether Kg6 or Kg8 is played).