Chess For Dummies

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Eade James. Chess For Dummies

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond the Book

Where to Go from Here

Part 1. Laying the Groundwork for Champion Chess

Chapter 1. Tackling Chess Basics

Chesstacular! Understanding the Basics of the Game

Chessboard Chatter: Bringing Home a Board and Chess Set

Piecemeal: Putting the Pieces on the Board

Chapter 2. Getting to Know the Pieces and Their Powers

Acting Like a Chariot: The Rook

Showing Off Slender Curves: The Bishop

Flaunting Her Power: The Queen

Moving One Square at a Time: The King

Galloping in an L-Formation: The Knight

Scooting Around as the Army’s Runt: The Pawn

Chapter 3. Exploring the Elements of Chess

Hogging the Board: Space

Getting the Most Bang for Your Buck: Material

Positioning Pieces in Good Time: Development

Protecting the Head Honcho: King Safety

Working Together: Pawn Structure

Chapter 4. Going after the King: Check, Stalemate, and Checkmate

Check ’Em Out: Attacking the Enemy King

Stuck in a Rut: Stalemate

No Escape for Ye King: Checkmate

Chapter 5. Making a Few Special Moves

Capturing a Pawn at Your Side: En Passant

Boosting Your Pawns’ Powers: Promotion

Guarding Your King and Putting a Rook in Motion: Castling

Chapter 6. Got Notation? Reading and Writing about Chess

Keeping Track of the Pieces

Writing the Moves of a Game

Accounting for Ambiguities (Which Knight, for Pete’s Sake?)

Commenting on a Game after the Fact

Part 2. Gaining Chess Know-How

Chapter 7. Trying Out Tactics and Combinations in Hand-to-Hand Combat

Knowing Your Tactical Game Plan

Combining Moves to Speed Your Progress

Chapter 8. Sacrifices: Understanding When It’s Better to Give than to Receive

Sacrificing for an Edge in Development: The Gambit

Setting Up an Attack on the Enemy King: The Classic Bishop Sacrifice

Immediate Gratification: The Temporary Sacrifice

A Strategic Move for the Patient: The Permanent Sacrifice

Chapter 9. Building Pattern Recognition

Analyzing Chess Positions and Looking Ahead

Picking Up on Pawn Formations

Eyeing Endgame Patterns

Chapter 10. Recognizing Advanced Pawn Formations

Exploring the Powers of Pawn Formations

Involving the Bishop with the Fianchetto

Varying the Sicilian with the Dragon

Exercising Your Pawns’ Flexibility with the Scheveningen

Building the Stonewall

Matching Color to Center Squares with the Closed English

Winging It with the Nimzo-Botvinnik

Chapter 11. Mastering Mating Patterns

Trapping the King: Back-Rank Mates

Pairing the Heavy and the Light: Queen and Pawn Mates

Complementing Each Other Perfectly: Queen and Knight Mates

Creating a Steamroller: Bishop and Rook Mates

Part 3. Game Time: Putting Your Chess Foot Forward

Chapter 12. Selecting Your Strategy: The Principles of Play

Examining Different Types of Games and Choosing Which Type Is Right for You

Aiming for the Center

Exchanging Pieces

Controlling Key Squares to Lock Up an Advantage

Holding Back Pawns with a Blockade

Chapter 13. Coming on Strong in the Opening

Developing Your Pieces

Attacking Your Opponent’s Pieces

Perusing Some Possibilities for First Moves

Exploring Common Chess Openings

Chapter 14. Making Headway during the Middlegame

Formulating a Middlegame Plan

Attacking during the Middlegame

Chapter 15. Exiting with Style in the Endgame

Putting the Endgame into Perspective

Getting a Handle on the General Winning Endgame Strategy

The Geometry of the Chessboard

Typical Stories: Pawn and King Endings

The Oh-So-Common Tricksters: Rook Endings

Bishops and Knights: Minor Piece Endings

Part 4. Getting into Advanced Action

Chapter 16. Playing in Competition

Practice Makes Perfect: Joining a Club First

Breaking Down U.S. Tournament Basics

Exploring Tournament Chess around the World

Miss (or Mister) Manners: Tournament Etiquette

Going the Distance: Correspondence Chess

Chapter 17. Hitting the Net with Computer Chess

Building a Better Player: A Brief History of Computer Chess

A (Down) Load of Information: General Chess Websites

Schooling Yourself: Electronic Chess Instruction

All in One Spot: Chess Databases

The Little Engines that Could: Chess-Playing Computer Programs

What a Site: Playing Chess Online

Part 5. The Part of Tens

Chapter 18. The Ten Most Famous Chess Games of All Time

Before You Begin: Understanding the Games

Adolf Anderssen versus Lionel Kieseritzky: The Immortal Game

Adolf Anderssen versus J. Dufresne: The Evergreen Game

Paul Morphy versus Duke Karl of Braunschweig and Count Isouard: A Night at the Opera

Wilhelm Steinitz versus Kurt Von Bardeleben

Georg Rotlewi versus Akiba Rubinstein: Rubinstein’s Immortal Game

Stepan Levitsky versus Frank Marshall

Emanuel Lasker versus José Raúl Capablanca

Donald Byrne versus Robert J. Fischer: The Game of the Century

Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov versus the World

Chapter 19. The Ten Best Players of All Time (and a Few Others)

Garry Kasparov (1963–), Russia

Anatoly Karpov (1951–), Russia

José Raúl Capablanca (1888–1942), Cuba

Robert James Fischer (1943–2008), United States

Paul Morphy (1837–1884), United States

Emanuel Lasker (1868–1941), Germany

Wilhelm Steinitz (1836–1900), Austria

Alexander Alekhine (1892–1946), Russia

Mikhail Botvinnik (1911–1995), Russia

Magnus Carlsen (1990–) Norway

Honorable Mention: Mikhail Tal

The Strongest Players Never to Be World Champion

Chapter 20. Ten (or So) Cool Facts about Kids and Chess

Lots of Kids Learn Chess in School

Chess Teaches Patience

Chess Competition Shows Kids How to Win – and Lose

Chess Education Can Begin Early

Kids Can Safely Learn Chess Online

Chess Can Lead to International Travel and Friendships

The Boy Scouts and Ben Franklin Would Approve

Science Finds Benefits in Playing Chess

Other Benefits of Chess

Part 6. Appendixes

Appendix A. A Glossary of Chess

Appendix B. Chess Resources

Chess Books for Beginners

Chess Equipment

Informative Internet Resources

U.S. Places to See and Games to Play

About the Author

Dedication

Author’s Acknowledgments

Отрывок из книги

Some chess players hate to hear someone call chess a game. They think that doing so trivializes what is actually a profound intellectual activity. Try as they may, however, chess enthusiasts seem incapable of convincingly placing chess solely in the context of art, science, or sport. Uncannily, chess contains elements of all three – and yet chess remains a game.

Actually, I prefer to think of chess as a game – the best game ever invented. Chess is a game loved by engineers and free-verse poets alike. It imposes a set of rules and has finite limits, but just as you start to think that you’re finally solving its mysteries, it thwarts you. As a result, sometimes the game is frustrating, but far more often chess proves to be both surprising and delightful. The deeper you dig into chess, the more of its secrets you unearth – but interestingly enough, the game has never been tapped out. Even today’s monster computers are far from playing the theoretically perfect chess game.

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I assume that either you want to learn how to play chess, or you already know how to play chess and want to get better. I also assume that you’ll be able to find someone to help you if you’re a beginner and have any problems with the material in this book. (And if you don’t know anyone who can, I provide plenty of websites and computer programs that can help you navigate the road through the world of chess.) After all, everyone has to start somewhere.

The icons used in this book point you to important topics and help you pick out what you want to know. Make a mental note of the following icons to guide you on your path to chess greatness.

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