How to study a chess tactics book? I've been playing chess for quite a while now, but I still consider myself a beginner. I play with friends most of the time. Now I want to get better so I bougth a tactics book (Yusupov: Build up your chess - The fundamentals). But I'm wondering how to study the book efficiently.

In the book itself, Yusupov recommends to set up every position and play them through on a chessboard. I imagine I could also use a software for that. Is there any software, that is particularly suitable? That let's me set up the position (maybe even save it) and then play through all the variations given?

And generally speaking: what is your approach, to studying a chess tactics book? How do you work with a book like "Yusupov - Build up your chess"?

Any help is appreciated :)
Well for starters I advise you to try out Daniel King's Power Play series, it helped me take my chess to the next level at the time. 

Also, rule number 1 when learning anything about chess. Never do it on a PC or something that's not physical... Always, always, always have a real chess board when practicing tactics and end game... Openings are more about memorizing so it can be done without a real chess board, but even then I still prefer a real board. 

There's of course a reason for this... Having physical contact with the pieces has a bigger impact on your mind, it helps learn and even memorize certain aspects of the tactic. This is of course also scientific, having an actual physical contact with things has a much bigger impact than something that isn't. If you ever download the Daniel King series (he's an english GM) he will also advise the same thing :)



However, it would obviously be a waste if you didn't learn something from the book you have! So first off, don't expect this to end fast, this will take time... unlike learning from a teacher or someone who speaks... Learning chess from a book takes time.

First off you will need to take your time and understand every single move, one of the hardest things to learn from chess books are tactics... Those have a lot of annotations and many variations (especially if you look at some rook lifting tactics, f4 pawn push, h4 push etc...). After you are done with the first chapter in the book, if you completely understand what's going on, you will most likely handle the rest fine if you take it at a good pace. Rushing things won't get you anywhere so take your time.

If you have any further questions feel free to ask, I'll answer to the best of my abilities.

A good endgame book to learn from is Domination in 2,545 Endgame Studies By Kasparyan... I bought the book and I can tell you, it's a piece of gold.