Batsford's Chess Bible E-Book

Sean Marsh

• Herausgeber: Batsford
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 258

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

 Batsford's Chess Bible  is a landmark, full-colour chess instruction book, ideal for both beginners and more experienced players wanting to improve their game. The book takes the form of a course, with quick-start guides to help to retain the information you've learned and puzzle sections for you to test yourself as you go. To illustrate more advanced strategy and tactics, author Sean Marsh uses world-class chess 'heroes', such as Anatoly Karpov and Mikhail Tal, to bring the concepts to life. Essential topics include: - Pieces and Moves: the very basics, covering the chessboard, notation, the names of the pieces and how they move, plus an overview of chess etiquette. - What Chess is All About: an exploration of chess culture and history. - Winning, Drawing and Losing: Covers the various ways of winning at chess, and how games are drawn. - Six Openings for Life: Coverage of six of the best chess openings, each illustrated by a different 'chess hero'. - Tactical Weapons: An examination of forks, pins, skewers and other tactical devices, followed by illustrative games from Tactical Hero Mikhail Tal. - Positional Play: Looks at good and bad positions, plus the art of planning, seen through the games of Positional Hero Tigran Petrosian. - Human Factors: Typical mistakes and blunders to avoid.Easy to follow, yet thorough and challenging, this book is an essential companion for all budding chess champions.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title

Dedication

Contents

Remembering Bob Wade

Introduction

The Basics

Winning, Drawing and Losing

Tactical Weapons

Positional Play

When Heroes Meet

Human Factors

Non-Human Factors

Know Your Openings

Classic Players and Games

Solutions to Puzzles

Bibliography

Index

Copyright

Guide

Cover

Contents

Start

Dedicated to my parents, brothers and sisters, JH, CL, GSM and to the memories of Bob Wade and Mike Closs.

CONTENTS

Remembering Bob Wade

Introduction

The Basics

Winning, Drawing and Losing

Tactical Weapons

Positional Play

When Heroes Meet

Human Factors

Non-Human Factors

Know Your Openings

Classic Players and Games

Solutions to Puzzles

Bibliography

REMEMBERING BOB WADE

International Master Robert G. Wade OBE (1921–2008) wrote a best-selling chess book for Batsford which was first published in 1974, called Playing Chess. Revised editions, with a new title, appeared in 1984 and 1991. It was a very popular book which appealed to novices and more experienced players alike. This book is modelled on Bob Wade’s book and is aimed at a similar readership, offering a sweeping coverage of chess and chess players, from learning the moves to appreciating the games of the World Champions.

Bob was a strong player, winning the championships of New Zealand three times (1944, 1945 and 1948) and Great Britain (1952 and 1970). He earned the title of International Master in 1958 and represented both New Zealand and England at international level. He was an excellent author but better known for his key editorial role in making B.T. Batsford the world’s top chess publisher in the late 1960s and 1970s. In this capacity, his great knowledge and experience was supported by his huge library of chess books and magazines.

Moreover, he generously gave his time to tutor and advise a countless number of chess players, both young and old, and even helped the legendary Bobby Fischer to prepare for his titanic World Championship match against Boris Spassky in 1972. In 1979 he was awarded the OBE for his enormous contributions to British chess.

When Bob died there was no shortage of glowing tributes from players of all ages and levels of chess ability, from top Grandmasters to parents of junior players. I would now like to share some memories of my own meetings with Bob.

We first met in 1988, at the very start of my career in teaching chess in schools. Bob came to Teesside to deliver a coaching course and I spent as much time as possible grilling him about his experiences with Viktor Korchnoi, Bobby Fischer and other giants of the chess world. He was very willing to share his stories but there was a certain reluctance to go into detail about his dealings with Fischer. Bob expressed great praise for my coaching skills, telling me I would “easily go on to become a top national coach.” Needless to say, such words of encouragement served as a big confidence booster to me and sum up how inspirational and generous Bob could be.

We met again at the press conference for the 1989 London Candidates Matches (eliminators for the World Championship) featuring Jonathan Speelman vs. Jan Timman and Anatoly Karpov vs. Artur Yusupov. Clearly sensing I was a little overawed at being in such exalted company, Bob made a point of introducing me to as many famous Grandmasters as possible. Afterwards he took me on a mini-tour of chess-related London locations, including various specialist book shops and the Batsford offices. Intrigued by the extent of his famous collection of chess literature, I asked him how many chess books he actually owned and he said he had no idea at all and that counting them would be a retrograde step anyway. He came out of one bookshop with a couple of volumes on ‘Go’ and mentioned in passing that his collection of books on that game was very large too.

As we walked the streets of London, I quizzed him further about his contact with Fischer. He was undoubtedly still in touch with the 11th World Champion but had to be a little careful how much he said. He did tell me that when Fischer needed him, contact was made “in a roundabout sort of way” and that there had been plans for Fischer and Spassky to play a match in South Africa, an unexpected choice of venue. However, the plans had fallen through (this was still three years before Fischer emerged from his chess exile to play the 1992 ‘World Championship’ rematch).

We met a few more times after that, always in London. I remember travelling by tube with him on the way back from one of the Kasparov vs. Kramnik World Championship match games in 2000. He pulled some chess magazines from the pockets of his coat and showed me some striking examples of three-piece attacks, which he said juniors found particularly difficult to carry out in their own games.

Our final encounter was at the 2008 Staunton Memorial tournament. Not surprisingly, at 87(!) years of age, he was very tired after one of his losses and I’m not sure he even recognised me at first. Nevertheless, he recovered his spirits quickly and we chatted about his experiences of playing against far younger players.

I had written to him shortly before his death to invite him to take part in my series of interviews for CHESS Magazine. I was confidently awaiting a positive response when the news of his death suddenly appeared online.

At the next Staunton Memorial tournament, in 2009, I was present at the Bob Wade Memorial Evening, which featured a witty, moving and memorable tribute by none other than Viktor Korchnoi. The remarkable array of chess players present on that evening, including numerous Grandmasters, further emphasized how much of an influence Bob had on the growth of British chess and how much appreciation there was for his unstinting services to the great game.

I sincerely hope that Batsford’s Chess Bible, which was inspired by Bob Wade’s original book, will help aspiring chess players improve their skills and enhance their appreciation of the great game. I hope also that Bob, wherever he may be, will approve of my attempt to keep the spirit of his fine work alive.

Sean Marsh

January 2014

INTRODUCTION

Chess is an easy game to learn but a difficult one to master. Virtually anyone in the world can learn the basic moves in a matter of minutes and, unlike the majority of sports and games, it provides the opportunity for juniors to battle on equal terms with adults. It is a universal game that can be played anywhere at any time – even on a small travel set or a mobile phone. Millions of people play chess via the Internet every day, against opponents from all over the world, and it doesn’t require a stadium or football pitch, just an 8x8 checkered board and 32 chess pieces.

THIS BOOK HAS SEVERAL AIMS

1) Using our quick start guides, to teach novices of all ages the basics – so they can begin to play chess in the shortest possible time.

2) After a little practice, to encourage new players to return to the book and move on to more challenging work, such as the study of tactics, positional play and the principles of chess openings.

3) To introduce a number of chess heroes and examples of their skilful play. Hopefully, these instructive games will whet the appetites of readers, who will then be inspired to look at other masterpieces and develop a lasting interest in the history and culture of chess.

4) To encourage independent work by means of test yourself puzzles. So turn the page and step inside the wonderful world of chess…

THE BASICS

Chess Notation

A permanent record of chess moves can be made either on a hard copy scoresheet or a computer database. This enables you to replay your own games as well as those of Grandmasters and World Champions, past and present, from which you can learn the art of tactics and strategy.

We use the coordinates of the chess board to record the moves and thereby document games for future reference. The method is exactly the same as for the game of Battleships and for reading maps. Each piece on the board is represented by a letter, apart from the pawns which don’t need one.

K for king

Q for queen

R for rook

B for bishop

N for knight (to avoid confusion with K for king)

Various symbols are used for special moves.

0-0 for castling on the kingside.

0-0-0 for castling on the queenside.

A capture is indicated by ‘x’ A check is indicated by ‘+’.

! means ‘good move’.

!! means ‘exceptional move’.

? means ‘bad move’.

?? means ‘blunder’ (a very bad move indeed).

!? means ‘interesting move’, which may turn out to be good.

?! means ‘dubious move’, which may turn out to be bad.

PIECES AND MOVES

The Pawn

Pawns move one square forward (or, optionally, two on their very first move only). They capture one square diagonally forward. On reaching the end of the board, they are exchanged for another piece of the same colour, i.e. a queen, rook, knight or bishop – but never a king. This is known as ‘pawn promotion’.

The Pawn in Detail

The pawn is the lowest value unit in a game of chess. The name is derived from peón, the Spanish word for foot-soldier. The normal move of a pawn is one square forward. But, when moving for the very first time in the game, it also has the option of advancing two squares.

Pawns capture enemy pieces by moving one square diagonally forward. Think of a foot-soldier, marching into battle against an enemy foot-soldier. They both have shields to protect themselves from frontal blows, so they have to ‘stab’ each other at an oblique angle.

Pawns can never retreat or move sideways. They cannot move diagonally unless they are capturing an opponent’s pawn or piece.

Both players start the game with eight pawns. Generally speaking, they are at their strongest when they can protect each other and at their weakest when they are isolated.

The Bishop

Bishops move as far as they want along an unobstructed diagonal line. They cannot jump over other pieces or change direction in the process of making a move.

The Bishop in Detail

In days of old, the role of the bishop was taken by an ‘elephant.’ But, as this animal was unfamiliar to European eyes, and the role of the clergy was pronounced, the chess piece became the bishop as we know it today. The design of this chess piece is in the form of a mitre – the ceremonial headdress of real-life bishops.

Since bishops can only ever move on diagonal lines, they can never change the colour of the squares on which they operate. Therefore each bishop can only ever visit half of the squares on a chess board. Bishops are long range pieces and work best as a pair, since then they cover all 64 squares of the chess board.

Both players start the game with two bishops; one on the white squares and one on the black squares.

The Rook

Rooks move as far they want along unobstructed straight lines.

The Rook in Detail

The word ‘rook’ is derived from rukh, an Old Persian word for chariot, which was the original name for this piece. However, today, novices often refer to rooks as ‘castles’ due to their turreted appearance. Castles were a very familiar sight to Europeans in the Middle Ages, so the physical appearance of the piece was changed.

Rooks are powerful, long-range pieces. Both players have two rooks and these are placed in the corners of the board at the start of play.

The Knight

A knight moves one square in a straight line, in any direction, and then two squares to the side. Or, alternatively, two squares in a straight line, in any direction, and then one square to the side. It is the only piece that can jump over other pieces and pawns.

The Knight in Detail

Knights represent cavalry or horsemen. Novices will habitually call them ‘horses’ (or even ‘ponies’ and ‘donkeys’).

The move of the knight is the trickiest for novices to grasp and is best remembered by its ‘L’ shape. Every time it moves, it changes the colour of its square, hopping from white to black and then black to white.

Knights are allowed to jump over other pieces and pawns, regardless of whether or not they belong to the opponent’s army or their own. Every other piece needs to wait until a pawn moves before it can be developed, but a knight can enter the game on the very first move.

They are short-range pieces and can only cover long distances in a slow and clumsy manner. However, they can cover every square of the board (which the long-range bishop cannot).

Each player starts the game with two knights.

The Queen

The queen moves as far as she wants in any direction along unobstructed straight or diagonal lines.

The Queen in Detail

The queen is the most powerful chess piece, but this wasn’t always the case. Until the 15th century the equivalent piece was called the fers, meaning a prime minister or counsellor and it could only move one square diagonally in any direction. Thus it was far from being a powerful piece.

It is not entirely clear why the rules were changed to allow the creation of a powerful female figure but in some parts of the world it remained a controversial decision for some time.

Given the power of the queen, it is very tempting for inexperienced players to bring her out into the game as soon as possible. Indeed, many games between novices are decided quickly by one side’s queen racing into the action and either slaughtering the opponent’s forces or delivering a very quick checkmate. Against more experienced players, however, this usually proves far too risky and leads to a serious loss of time or even the loss of the queen.

Each player starts with just one queen but pawns can promote to new queens, even if the original one is still on the board. It is technically possible – but very unlikely – for a player to end up with nine queens on the board at the same time.

Be careful with your queen!

The King

Kings can only move one square at a time in any direction. They are special in that they cannot be captured.

The King in Detail

The king is the most important of all chess pieces, despite his very limited range of movement.

If a king is under attack from an enemy unit, it is said to be in ‘check’. The king cannot be captured under any circumstances, so he has to try to escape from check immediately. If he cannot escape from check then he is in ‘checkmate’ and the opponent has won the game.

There are three ways to get out of check.

White to play and escape from check

The black rook is attacking the white king, so the king is in check. The three ways of getting out of check are:

1) Moving the king out of range of the checking piece. In this example, White can move his king to either f7 or e7.

2) Blocking the check. White can move his knight to f8, blocking the attack from the rook.

3) Taking the attacking piece. White’s bishop can swoop down the long diagonal and capture the attacking rook.

If none of the three ways of escaping from check are possible then it is checkmate and the game ends.

White to play

White cannot capture the attacking rook and has no way of blocking the check. His king cannot move to d7, e7 or f7 because the other rook is attacking those squares and a king is never allowed to move into a check. The white king has been checkmated and Black wins the game.

SPECIAL MOVES

In addition to the basic moves of the pieces, there are three special moves.

Pawn Promotion

Pawns gain in strength towards the end of the game. There is more chance of them reaching the other end of the board if there are fewer enemy pieces in the vicinity. Pawn promotion can be a winning strategy.

White to play

The material is equal in this position, but White’s a-pawn can easily march to the end of the board without being stopped. From the diagram, play could continue: 1 a7 Kd7 2 a8=Q, leading to the next diagram.

Both sides still have an equal number of pieces, but White is winning easily. The queen is worth so much more than a pawn.

There are two common misconceptions about pawn promotions. Some novices think:

1) That a pawn must promote to a queen. Not true. You can promote a pawn to a queen, rook, bishop or knight. Ordinarily, of course, a queen is preferable to anything else. In fact, promotion to a rook, bishop or knight is called underpromotion.

2) That a pawn can only be promoted to a queen if the original queen has been captured and removed from the board. Again not true! A player can end up with several queens on the board. The next position is taken from a famous game between two of the world’s strongest players.

Bobby Fischer vs. Tigran PetrosianCandidates Tournament, Yugoslavia, 1959

Both players have recently promoted one of their pawns and obtained new queens. The game eventually ended in a draw.

In the vast majority of games, a pawn promotion will result in a new queen appearing on the board. However, there are rare exceptions that may require promotion to another piece instead of a queen.

White to play

In this position, the most obvious move for White is to play 1 f8=Q. Unfortunately, Black would then win the game by playing 1 …d1=Q checkmate. So White needs to realize that being first to promote to a queen isn’t enough in this position. This should then lead to the discovery of the best move – underpromotion to a knight: 1 f8=N checkmate.

Checkmate

Castling

Castling is a special move involving a king and a rook.

White to play

White can castle in two different ways in this position. To castle on the kingside of the board (also known as ‘castling short’), the king moves from e1 to g1 and the rook moves from h1 to f1, classed as all part of one and the same move.

White has castled on the kingside

To castle on the queenside of the board (‘castling long’) the king moves from e1 to c1 and the rook moves from a1 to d1, all in a single move.

White has castled on the queenside

The point of castling is to provide protection for the king and, at the same time, to bring the rook into play. Ordinarily, there will be pawns in front of the castled king, and usually a knight as well, to help with the defence.

The white king is very safe

It is advisable to castle as soon as possible. Novices are sometimes reluctant to place their king in the corner of the board, fearing it will present an easier target. That is not true. If one player castles and the other doesn’t, it will be the side with the uncastled king who will more often find himself in trouble. Every good chess player will try to castle at the earliest opportunity.

Sometimes it is not possible to castle.

1) If the king has already moved, a player cannot castle.

2) If the rook has already moved, a player cannot castle. It will still be possible to castle on the opposite side of the board if the other rook has not yet moved.

3) If the king is in check, then castling is not allowed. If the check can be met without having to move the king, then castling will still be possible later on.

4) If there is anything blocking the path between the king and the rook, then castling is not allowed.

White to play

In this position, White cannot castle on the kingside until he develops the knight and bishop, but he is allowed to castle on the queenside.

5) A player is not allowed to castle if, in the process, the king would have travel through a square which would subject the king to a check.

White to play

Here, White cannot castle on the kingside because both the f1 and g1 squares are under attack by enemy pieces. He can castle on the queenside instead, even though the a1 square is attacked by the bishop, as the king will not have to cross that square.

The En Passant Pawn Capture

This special move is tricky and one that novices often initially struggle to understand.

Originally, pawns could only advance one square at a time. The rules changed in the 1400s to allow the pawns a choice of advancing either one or two squares on their first move, as is the case today. This led to a new option for playing with the pawns.

Black to play

Black has a winning advantage in this position. Using the old rules, the only possible move for his g-pawn would be to g6, whereupon White would be able to capture it with his own pawn by moving one square diagonally forward. Under the new rules, Black could push the g-pawn two squares forward to the g5 square, and thus evade capture.

White to play

It seemed a little cheeky to be able to take advantage of the new rule in this way, so another new rule was introduced – the en passant capture. This rule allows the white pawn to capture the black pawn as if it had just moved a single square.

Black to play

White has just captured the black pawn en passant. The phrase means ‘in passing’, which is a good description of the action of the white pawn. The en passant capture has to be made immediately. If White delays, he forfeits the right to make this special capture. In the position given above, White has emerged with a winning position as Black’s knight is too clumsily placed to prevent the promotion of the g-pawn.

Only pawns can capture en passant and they can only capture other pawns with this move.

THE VALUES OF THE PIECES

It is interesting to compare the qualities of the different pieces. It is essential to understand their respective values, otherwise you won’t know what is a good exchange and what would be a bad mistake.

Kings cannot be awarded a value as they can never be exchanged. In simple terms, the other pieces are worth:

Clearly, under normal circumstances, it would be a bad mistake to swap a queen for a lower value piece.

1 Qxd8+ is just a blunder here. Black will simply recapture with 1 …Rxd8 with a winning advantage. The queen is worth much more than a bishop. However, there are sometimes other factors which would reduce the nominal values of the pieces to secondary importance.

White to play

White to play

The addition of the white rook makes a big difference. White can play 1 Qxd8+ Rxd8 and 2 Rxd8 checkmate. Even though the queen is worth three times as much as the bishop, the values of the pieces are no longer the most important factor. Checkmate ends the game.

With knights and bishops each worth three points, it can be a very difficult task to evaluate whether or not it is a good idea to exchange one for the other. Indeed, even strong players can struggle with such a decision. Comparing the activity of each piece makes the task easier.

White to play

White could exchange his knight for the black bishop by 1 Nxd7 Kxd7. However, the bishop is blocked in by its own pawns and is struggling to make any impact on the game. The knight is in an excellent position and has a much greater chance of making a significant impact on the game. So, in this particular case, White should keep the knight on the board and decline to exchange.

White to play

This time the bishop enjoys much more freedom than in the previous example. White can happily exchange with 1 Nxe7 Kxe7.

Bishops prefer open positions, where they are not blocked in by lots of pawns. Knights prefer closed positions in which they can hop in and out of the pawns.

WINNING, DRAWING AND LOSING

A game of chess has three possible results for a player: win, draw or loss.

Three Ways to Lose

You will lose a game of chess if:

1) Your king is checkmated

2) You resign the game (if you have a serious material deficit or believe checkmate is inevitable)

3) You are using a chess clock and you run out of time.

Losing at Chess

The aim of the game of chess is to checkmate the opponent’s king. It sounds so simple: after all, the king, despite being the most important piece on the board, can only move one square at a time and requires protection from his army. Indeed, achieving checkmate against a novice can be very easy and it often goes like this:

1 e4 e5

2 Bc4 Nc6

3 Qf3 (or 3 Qh5) Bc5

4 Qxf7 checkmate.

This checkmate is so common that it even has a name: Scholar’s Mate or Schoolboy’s Mate. If the opponent plays very weakly, right from the start, an even faster checkmate is possible.

1 g4 e5

2 f3 Qh4 checkmate.

Though this is rather insultingly known as Fool’s Mate, the best way to remember such checkmates is to fall for them – and then it is unlikely you will allow a repeat performance. To prevent Fool’s Mate, it is enough to know that moving pawns on the kingside so early in the game leads to potentially serious weaknesses. Numerous disasters can occur on the h4-e1 diagonal for White, and along the corresponding h5-e8 diagonal for Black.

There are several ways to guard against Scholar’s Mate. Logically, the queen can only get to the magic f7 square if she is allowed to do so. Black needs to be aware that as soon as the queen comes into play, she will be hoping to land the knockout blow. But it is easy to block her path.

1 e4 e5

2 Qf3 Nf6

That’s all there is to it. If White continues with 3 Bc4, Black doesn’t have to worry, since, as long as the knight remains on f6, the queen won’t be able to deliver the checkmate. Indeed, after 3 …Bc5 Black can quickly castle (4 …0-0) and he already has the better position. On f3, the white queen not only blocks the best square for her own knight, but may even find herself being chased around the board just to evade capture, particularly after Black develops the queen’s knight (…Nc6, with the idea of …Nd4, attacking the queen).

White could try an alternative route to Scholar’s Mate, but with care and attention Black will have no problems.

1 e4 e5

2 Qh5

Black must avoid the blunder 2 …g6?? which allows 3 Qxe5+ and 4 Qxh8 – a good example of a fork, to which we will return in the section on Tactical Weapons. It is important to protect the e5 pawn and this is easily achieved with a developing move.

2 …Nc6

3 Bc4 g6

Now 3 …g6 is fine as 4 Qxe5+?? doesn’t work (because of 4 …Nxe5) and there is no way for the queen to reach f7 and deliver checkmate. White can renew the threat by retreating with his queen.

4 Qf3

We now know that Black can easily block this attempt.

4 …Nf6

Black should be very happy with this position. He will soon castle (after 5 …Bg7, to plug the holes in his defence) and then think about chasing the white queen around.

Once a player has learned to avoid such early catastrophes, the games will go on longer and become more difficult. Naturally, every threat to the king must be taken extremely seriously. There is little point being massively ahead in material if a player is going to lose concentration and allow the opponent to deliver a one-move checkmate. A momentary lapse of concentration in most other sports or games doesn’t always deny players ultimate victory. For example, a football team leading 5-0 could lose their focus for a minute and carelessly allow a goal to go in at the other end. It’s annoying, but ultimately the final score of 5-1 isn’t all that different from 5-0. In chess it is different and one little slip can easily cost the whole game, thus ruining several hours of hard work.

It makes perfect to sense to familiarize oneself with as many of the standard checkmate patterns as possible. Here are a few essentials which will crop up time and again.

Checkmating with Queens

The queen is such a powerful piece as she can control many squares at the same time. She doesn’t need much help to force a checkmate. The next three positions show common ways to finish off a game.

The only way to master these basic checkmates is to practice until one’s technique is perfect. Simply get together with a friend and set up this position.

White to play

Note that the white pieces are in poor positions on the side of the board, with the king blocking some of the queen’s power. The black king stands proudly in the centre. Take turns with your friend, with one of you handling the white pieces first. Try to force the black king to the edge of the board in order to reach one of the checkmate positions given above. The white queen needs help from her king; they must work as a team. Black’s king must stay in the centre of the board for as long as possible and move away only if he is forced to do so.

White can start to force the king out of the centre once this position has been achieved.

White’s queen could be on h5, g5, c5, b5 or a5 and the effect will be the same. If the queen stands on d5 or f5 then Black would simply capture it and the game would end in an instant draw. The most important feature of the position is the way the kings are facing each other.