“1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate” by Fred Reinfeld.
My chess journey started before the internet. Players of my generation had at least one Fred Reinfeld book on their chess shelf. For me, it was this book. Reinfeld used 1001 checkmates to teach me forcing sequences under several broad topics like Queen Sacrifices, Checkmate without a Queen, Storming the Castled King, Harrying the King, Discovered & Double Checks and Composed Problems.
I have heard that the new version has algebraic notation and improved binding. I went through three copies of the old red version as it would come apart at the spine despite how careful I was with it.
I am afraid that time has been less kind to puzzle books. The advent of countless free online puzzle resources means that the requirements for a physical puzzle books is much higher than just containing puzzles. You need to either educate your reader, systematically walk a player through their acquisition of patterns, teach calculation or offer something unique.
I do not suggest the purchase of 1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate but I will hold onto my old duct taped red copy for sentimental reasons. As an alternative, I would like to suggest “Everyone's First Chess Workbook” by Peter Giannatos as your first puzzle book or “How to Beat Your Dad at Chess” by Murray Chandler that teaches the most common checkmate patterns (800-900 elo).
