16,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010
Improve your chess game the fast and easy way
You never get a second chance to make a first impression?especially in the game of chess! Chess Openings For Dummies gives you tips and techniques for analyzing openings and strategies for winning chess games from the very first move you make!
This friendly, helpful guide provides you with easy-to-follow and step-by-step instructions on the top opening chess strategies and gives you the tools you need to develop your own line of attack from the very start.
- Includes illustrations to help ensure victory
- Equips you with the tools and strategies to plan a winning strategy
- Also serves as a valuable resource for curriculums that use chess as a learning tool
Whether you?re a veteran or novice chess player, Chess Openings For Dummies is the ultimate guide to getting a grip on the openings and variants that will ensure you have all the right moves to open and win any chess game.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Seitenzahl: 331
Ähnliche
Chess Openings For Dummies®
Table of Contents
Introduction
About This Book
Conventions Used in This Book
What You’re Not to Read
Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organized
Part I: Principles of Play
Part II: Winning with Open Games
Part III: Having It Both Ways with Semi-Open Games
Part IV: Conquering with Closed and Semi-Closed Games
Part V: Advancing with Flank Openings
Part VI: The Part of Tens
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go from Here
Part I: Principles of Play
Chapter 1: Understanding Chess Openings
Identifying a Chess Opening
Distinguishing “the” opening from “an” opening
Seeing how a move turns into an opening
Watching an opening transform right before your eyes
Finding an Opening That’s Right for You
Reviewing Chess Shorthand
Describing the board and pieces
Describing the action
Chapter 2: Exploring the Elements of Chess
Getting Time on Your Side
When Spacing Out Is Good
Making the Most of Your Material
Structuring Your Pawns
Doubled pawns: Trouble on the horizon
Isolated pawns: 1 is a lonely number
Pawn chains: Only as strong as their weakest link
Securing Your King
Chapter 3: Picking the Right Type of Opening
Considering Naming Conventions
Examining Opening Types
Breaking open the board with open games
Counterattacking with semi-open games
Shutting down your opponent with closed games
Playing coy with semi-closed games
Playing on the sidelines with flank games
Part II: Winning with Open Games
Chapter 4: Gambling with Gambits
Why Gamble with a Gambit?
Trotting Out the King’s Gambit
The King’s Gambit accepted
The King’s Gambit declined
Delving into the Danish Gambit
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Lying in Wait with the Latvian Gambit
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Chapter 5: Opening Softly with a Big Stick: The Bishop Makes Its Move
Preying with the Bishop’s Opening
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Keying Up for the Giuoco Piano
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Attacking with the Evans Gambit
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Chapter 6: Workin’ on Some Knight Moves
Calling in the Calvary: The Four Knights
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Ambitious but a Bit Ambiguous: The Two Knights Defense
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Chapter 7: Employing the Royal Ruy
Running with the Ruy López
Closing the Deal with the Open Variation
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Staying Open-Minded with the Closed Variation
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Marshalling Your Forces with the Marshall Attack
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Stocking Up with the Exchange Variation
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Chapter 8: The Best of the Rest of the Open Games
Pouring on the Scotch
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Getting Gory with the Göring Gambit
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Dabbling with Petroff’s Defense
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Part III: Having It Both Ways with Semi-Open Games
Chapter 9: Sharpening the Sicilian
The People’s Choice
Entering the Dragon
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Accelerating the Dragon
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Knocking Around the Najdorf
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Shenanigans in the Scheveningen
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Fooling Around with the Four Knights
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Chapter 10: Parlez-vous the French?
Nothing Diplomatic Here
Charging the Advance
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Staying Classical
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Winning with the Winawer
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Taking Out the Tarrasch
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Chapter 11: Anyone Can Caro-Kann
Caring about the Caro-Kann
The Classical Variation
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
The Smyslov Variation
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Being Advanced
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Chapter 12: Rope-a-Dope with the Pirc and Modern Defenses
Picking the Pirc
The Austrian Attack
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Picking the Pirc Classical
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Thoroughly Modern Maneuvers
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Chapter 13: The Best of the Rest of the Semi-Open Games
Analyzing Alekhine’s Defense
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Striking Back with the Scandinavian
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Part IV: Conquering with Closed and Semi-Closed Games
Chapter 14: Offering the Queen’s Gambit
Considering the Queen’s Gambit
The Queen’s Gambit Accepted
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Remaining Orthodox
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Testing the Tartakower
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Trading on the Exchange
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Chapter 15: Declining with the Slav and Semi-Slav
Declining or Delaying?
Going Down the Main Line
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Meeting the Meran Variation in the Semi-Slav
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Betting on the Botvinnik Variation
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Chapter 16: Getting Hypermodern with the Nimzo-Indian
What Is the Nimzo-Indian?
Playing Differently with the Sämisch
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Kicking Off with the Classical Variation
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Running with the Rubinstein
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Chapter 17: Fighting Back with the King’s Indian
The Center Can Wait
Getting Classical
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Playing Differently with the Sämisch
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Going for It All with the Four Pawns Attack
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Chapter 18: Grinding in the Grünfeld
Hypermodern to the Max
Examining the Exchange Variation
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Rolling Out the Russian System
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Chapter 19: The Best of the Rest of the Semi-Closed Games
Considering the Colle
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Loving the London System
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Beginning the Benoni
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Going Dutch
The Classical System
The Stonewall Dutch
Part V: Advancing with Flank Openings
Chapter 20: Speaking the King’s English
The British Are Coming!
Reversing the Sicilian
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Staying Symmetrical
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Stampeding in the Four Knights
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Countering with the King’s Indian
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Chapter 21: Getting Réti
The Contemporary Réti
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
The Original Réti
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Chapter 22: The Best of the Rest of the Flank Openings
Winging It with the Bird’s
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Attacking with the King’s Indian
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Getting an Edge with the Sokolsky
When things go White’s way
When things go Black’s way
Part VI: The Part of Tens
Chapter 23: Ten Common Mistakes to Avoid in the Opening
Wasting Time
Leading with the Lady
Losing Material
Abandoning the Center
Creating Weaknesses
Pawn Grabbing
Exposing the King
Blocking Lines
Falling for Traps
Memorizing Moves
Chapter 24: Ten Best Ways to Study Chess Openings
Getting a Coach
Finding a Friend
Reading Annotations
Dragging and Dropping
Playing in Real Time
Blitzing It Out
Basing the Data
Revving an Engine
Studying Your Games
Buying a Book
Chapter 25: Ten Great Chess Web Sites
Playing Sites
Free Internet Chess Server
Internet Chess Club
ChessBase
Informational Sites
Chessville
Chess games
Chess Cafe
Chess Lecture
Jeremy Silman
The Week in Chess
U.S. Chess Federation
Chess Openings For Dummies®
by James Eade
Chess Openings For Dummies®
Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier!, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The contents of this work are intended to further general scientific research, understanding, and discussion only and are not intended and should not be relied upon as recommending or promoting a specific method, diagnosis, or treatment by physicians for any particular patient. The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation any implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. In view of ongoing research, equipment modifications, changes in governmental regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to the use of medicines, equipment, and devices, the reader is urged to review and evaluate the information provided in the package insert or instructions for each medicine, equipment, or device for, among other things, any changes in the instructions or indication of usage and for added warnings and precautions. Readers should consult with a specialist where appropriate. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. No warranty may be created or extended by any promotional statements for this work. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any damages arising herefrom.
For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.
For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010930725
ISBN: 978-0-470-60364-2
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Author
Like many others, James Eade first got interested in chess thanks to legendary player Bobby Fischer. He played his first official tournament game in 1972, quickly became the top player at his high school, and represented the University of Massachusetts in the 1975 Pan-American Collegiate Games.
The United States Chess Federation (USCF) certified him as a chess master for over-the-board tournament play in 1981 and as a correspondence chess master in 1984. International organizations gave him the chess master title in 1990 (for correspondence chess) and in 1993 (for over-the-board tournament play). He represented the United States in a number of international correspondence chess team tournaments.
In the 1990s, he began to supplement his chess-playing career by writing about the game, organizing elite tournaments, and teaching. He has written several books on chess, including the bestselling Chess For Dummies (Wiley), now in its second edition, and The Chess Player’s Bible (Barron’s). He has written numerous articles for a wide variety of publications and has been the editor of two chess journals. He was elected president of the Chess Journalists of America in 1995.
James was also elected vice-president of CalChess (the Northern California Chess Association) in 1991 and became the CalChess president in 1995. In 1996 he was elected to be a member of the executive board of the USCF and served until 1999.
He was appointed zone president in 2000 to represent the USCF in Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), the world governing body for chess, and served until 2002. He was elected to be a trustee of the U.S. Charitable Chess Trust in 2000 and became its treasurer in 2005, a capacity in which he continues to serve to this day.
Dedication
To Sheri, whose steadfast confidence in me has been amazing.
Author’s Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank Sheri Anderson for all her support and encouragement over the years. She may not be a chess player, but she puts up with one.
I’d like to thank Stacy Kennedy for coming up with the idea for this project, for pitching it, and for getting it approved. Todd Lothery was the copy editor for this book, and I thank him for all the work he did cleaning up my submissions. I really appreciated my project editor, Vicki Adang, and her many contributions. She knows how to push without ever being pushy.
I want to give a special thank you to John Watson, who was more than just a technical editor. John caught mistakes, of course, but he also gave me advice throughout the course of the project. I’ve been a big fan of John’s work, and it was a pleasure collaborating with him.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development
Project Editor: Victoria M. Adang
Acquisitions Editor: Stacy Kennedy
Copy Editor: Todd Lothery
Assistant Editor: Erin Calligan Mooney
Senior Editorial Assistant: David Lutton
Technical Editor: John Watson
Editorial Manager: Michelle Hacker
Editorial Assistants: Rachelle S. Amick, Jennette ElNaggar
Cover Photos: © iStockphoto.com/Sven Hoppe
Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)
Composition Services
Project Coordinator: Sheree Montgomery
Layout and Graphics: Ashley Chamberlain, Melissa K. Smith
Proofreaders: John Greenough, Toni Settle
Indexer: Cheryl Duksta
Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies
Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies
Ensley Eikenburg, Associate Publisher, Travel
Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel
Publishing for Technology Dummies
Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User
Composition Services
Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services
Introduction
Chess openings have been written about for centuries, but new books on the subject appear all the time. The analysis of leading experts has been augmented recently by sophisticated software and blindingly fast processing power. New insights are causing reevaluations of even the oldest of chess openings.
Chess has so many possible move orders, even in the opening phase of the game, that it’s humanly impossible to commit them all to memory. Most players become specialists on a very small number of openings in order to avoid unfamiliar territory.
I looked at all these dense, technical, highly specialized tomes on chess openings, and I decided I wanted to write a different kind of book. I wanted to give average chess enthusiasts a way to choose an opening that would suit their style of play.
But the question is always, which of the myriad chess openings should you adopt for yourself? This book is intended to help you find the right chess opening for you.
About This Book
No single book can comprehensively cover all the chess openings. Entire books have been devoted to a single variation on a single opening. You don’t want to spend hours trying to memorize chess openings; you just want to be able to play them well and get to the type of game you enjoy.
What this book does provide is a guide to the general principles behind playing a chess opening well, and specific examples of practical play. I break down the openings into different types and include examples of wins and losses in the most common openings, which help you develop a feel for what type of game you’ll be getting into if you decide to play one of them.
For each variation of an opening, I present a game in which White wins, followed by a game in which Black comes out on top. Throughout these games, I offer commentary that helps you see where a player’s strategy succeeds or fails. Remember, no opening gives you a 100-percent success rate — you need to know the good and the bad in order to make an informed choice.
The great thing about this book is that you decide where to start and what to read. It’s a reference work that you can jump into and out of at will. Just head to the table of contents or the index to find the information you want.
Conventions Used in This Book
I use the following conventions throughout the text to make things consistent and easy to understand:
I use italics to define chess terms that you may not be familiar with.
I use bold to indicate a move in a chess game. Bold type distinguishes the actual moves made in the game from moves that appear in my comments about the game.
Web addresses appear in monofont.
When this book was printed, some Web addresses may have needed to break across two lines of text. If you come across a two-line Web address, rest assured that I haven’t put in any extra characters (such as hyphens) to indicate the break. So when you’re using one of these Web addresses, just type exactly what you see on the page, pretending that the line break doesn’t exist.
What You’re Not to Read
You’ll notice a few gray boxes that contain information or anecdotes that supplement the chapter text. These are called sidebars, and you can safely skip the information in them and not miss anything essential, although if you do read them, I think you’ll find the info interesting.
Foolish Assumptions
I may be going out on a limb, but as I wrote this book, here’s what I assumed about you:
You’ve played chess before and are familiar with the game’s terminology.
You’re familiar with chess notation. (In case this is a particularly bad assumption, I include a short primer in Chapter 1.)
You want to better your game, whether that means being able to beat your nemesis, play in a chess league, or join your school’s chess team.
You own a reference work such as Chess For Dummies, 2nd Edition (Wiley). A reference is a great help for when you run into something unfamiliar.
How This Book Is Organized
This book is organized into six parts. The first part helps you understand chess openings in general terms. The next four parts get down to specific chess openings grouped together by opening type. The last part is the Part of Tens — a For Dummies staple that watchers of David Letterman’s show will be familiar with.
Part I: Principles of Play
In this part, I explain what an opening is, how openings vary from one another, and how they’re classified. I also identify the type of player who enjoys playing the openings in each category so you can skip to the openings that sound like your style of play.
Part II: Winning with Open Games
Games that begin 1.e4 e5 open up lines for speedy mobilization of your pieces and allow you to attack quickly. The openings I describe in this part are some of the oldest in the game, but they’re also some of the most popular because they allow players to attack early and often.
Part III: Having It Both Ways with Semi-Open Games
When you’re playing Black and you want to shake things up, you can respond to 1.e4 with something other than 1.…e5 and establish a semi-open game. These openings have fewer open lines, but they still feature plenty of piece mobility. The resulting games feature imbalanced positions in which White and Black are trying to achieve different goals, which leads to fighting defenses.
Part IV: Conquering with Closed and Semi-Closed Games
When White’s first move is 1.d4 and Black responds with 1.…d5, you’ve established a closed game. Closed games require a lot of strategy and planning. You do more maneuvering and have fewer tactical battles in the early stages of the game with these openings. I also include responses to 1.d4 other than 1.…d5 in this part.
Part V: Advancing with Flank Openings
When you open with a flank opening, the pawns on the outer files make the first moves; you put the center pawns into play later in the game. The English Opening 1.c4 is by far the most popular flank opening, but there are others as well. These openings provide you with more flexibility in responding to your opponent’s moves, and confrontations often come later in the game, after you’ve moved your pieces off of their starting positions.
Part VI: The Part of Tens
The last thing you want to do is make an error in an opening, so I include a chapter on ten mistakes not to make. I also offer chapters on ten ways to study chess openings and ten great Web sites.
Icons Used in This Book
To make this book easier to read and simpler to use, I include some icons that can help you find and fathom key ideas and information.
This icon appears next to ideas that can help you understand a chess opening, or the game in general, a little more easily.
Anytime you see this icon, you know the information that follows is so important that it’s worth reading more than once.
This icon flags information that means a mistake is about to be made.
This icon lets you know what type of chess player typically likes the opening under discussion.
Where to Go from Here
This book is organized so that you can go wherever you want to find complete information. Want to know about the various types of chess openings? Go to Chapter 3. Want to know about the Sicilian Defense? Go to Chapter 9. You can use the table of contents to find broad categories of information or the index to look up more specific details.
If you’re not sure where you want to go, you may want to start with Part I. It gives you all the basic info you need to understand chess openings, and it points to places where you can find more detailed information.
Part I
Principles of Play
In this part . . .
This part helps you understand what a chess opening is. First, I explain the various types of openings. Then I describe the style of play that’s suited to each type of opening and provide a general overview of the principles of play in the opening phase of a chess game.
This part gives you the ammunition you need to understand specific opening strategies employed in different types of games. It helps you zero in on the opening that’s right for you.
Chapter 1
Understanding Chess Openings
In This Chapter
Understanding what a chess opening is
Choosing openings that fit your playing style
Getting familiar with chess notation
Chess is typically divided into three phases: the opening, the middlegame, and the endgame. Although the exact point of transition from one phase to another can sometimes be ambiguous, each phase of the game has properties that distinguish it from the others. The opening phase of the game is all about mobilizing your forces as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
In this chapter, I explain how you know when an opening has been established. I also ask you to sit back and think about your style of play, because how you play the game helps determine what type of openings you favor. Finally, I include a quick review of basic chess notation.
Identifying a Chess Opening
The first phase of a chess game is called the opening. Players concentrate on the rapid mobilization of their forces during this phase of the game.
In the following sections, I explain what makes an opening an opening, and I show you how one move turns into an opening.
Distinguishing “the” opening from “an” opening
In chess, opening can mean two different but related things, and it all depends on whether the or an comes before opening.
The phrase the opening refers to the phase of the game when you get your pieces (by pieces, I’m referring to the rooks, bishops, knights, queen, and king — basically, everything but the pawns) off the back rank and reposition them where they can do the most good. (The other phases of the game are the middlegame and the endgame.)
The phrase an opening refers to a specific sequence of moves. When a move or a specific sequence of moves, by pawns and/or pieces, is given a name, you have yourself a chess opening. These openings are what I cover throughout this book.
There are many, many chess openings. Some are named after players. Some are named after locations. But to be considered an opening, for the purposes of this book, a sequence of moves has to have a name. (I cover chess naming conventions, which are frequently a source of head-shaking, in Chapter 3.)
Chess players and scholars generally agree on what to call a particular opening, but sometimes it depends on where you are. For example, the Ruy López, which I cover in Chapter 7, is called the Spanish Opening in some parts of the world. Throughout this book, I refer to the generally accepted opening names as they’re used in the United States.
Seeing how a move turns into an opening
Openings are defined and categorized by their pawn structure and piece placement. Although the pawns may not appear to have a lot of power when you’re in the thick of a game, at the start of the game, they open lines for your pieces to take advantage of.
The most frequently played opening move is 1.e4 because it does the most to help you develop your pieces (or move the pieces off of their starting position). However, the move 1.e4 is not considered an opening (see Figure 1-1).
Figure 1-1: An opening move, but not an opening.
Ranks, files, and diagonals are collectively referred to as lines. The move 1.e4 opens a line for both the queen and the bishop. They’re now free to move off of their starting positions.
If Black responds to the move 1.e4 with 1.…e5, you have a position that can be classified as a double king pawn, which is a type of opening known as an open game. (I cover the variety of chess opening types in Chapter 3.) But these opening moves are not yet an opening, because they don’t have a name.
If now, however, White continues with 2.Bc4, you have yourself a named opening! This position is called the Bishop’s Opening, which I cover in Chapter 5 (see Figure 1-2).
Figure 1-2: The Bishop’s Opening.
Watching an opening transform right before your eyes
According to Wikipedia, The Oxford Companion to Chess lists 1,327 named chess openings and variations. A variation is an alternate line of play within a particular opening.
It’s also possible to arrive at a particular opening or variation by different move orders, or to start out in one opening and end up in another, which is called transposing. Many opening systems offer the possibility of transposing from one opening into another, and top-notch players use this possibility to keep their opponents guessing.
It’s not so much the exact sequence of moves that matters, but the position you arrive at. As long as you understand the general ideas behind that position, you’ll be able to navigate through the maze of possibilities at your disposal.
Finding an Opening That’s Right for You
People have different styles of play when it comes to chess. Your style doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with how you behave in real life. You may be shy and retiring in your everyday encounters but a real tiger when it comes to chess, or vice versa.
I first became serious about chess when Bobby Fischer challenged Boris Spassky for the World Championship in 1972. I had suffered a skiing injury and spent some of my enforced downtime with a chess book that featured a lot of Nimzo-Indian Defenses (see Chapter 16) and French Defenses (see Chapter 10). They became the openings that I chose to play in tournaments.
I noticed, however, that the majority of players in those tournaments played Sicilian Defenses (see Chapter 9) and King’s Indian Defenses (see Chapter 17). It became clear to me that this was because Fischer played those openings. Fischer was a trendsetter.
But what about you? Do you want to play something that’s in fashion now, or do you want to go your own way? Out of all the available openings that exist in chess, which ones are right for you?
There is no right or wrong chess style. Two great players became World Champions in the 1960s, and their styles could not have been more different. Mikhail Tal (1936–1992) became World Champion in 1960 and was one of the fiercest attacking players of all time. On the other side of the ledger was Tigran Petrosian (1929–1984), who became World Champion in 1963. He was a staunch defender who was extremely difficult to beat.
Ask yourself what appeals to you the most about chess. Do you always want to be the aggressor and go on the attack at all costs? Check out the openings in Chapter 4. They may be right up your alley.
The different openings can be grouped together by type, as I explain in more detail in Chapter 3. In general terms, openings that feature open lines and easy piece development are grouped together in Part II of this book. Openings with closed lines and more limited piece mobility are grouped together in Part IV.
You may already know what type of player you are, and the organization of this book will steer you toward the type of opening that suits you best. If you don’t know what type of chess player you are, browse through openings from each type and see which one appeals to you the most.
Chess fashion sense
A chess opening can become popular simply because a famous player uses it. Another opening can become unpopular if a move is discovered that seems to give the advantage to one player over the other. Openings can be rehabilitated, too — sometimes, even newer moves are discovered that change the evaluation yet again.
Chess openings have been exposed to enormous scrutiny, but there still are no final answers as to which variations are best. I always felt that the “latest and greatest” wasn’t for me. I wanted to play something I understood, and it was fine by me if it wasn’t popular with other players. Play what you like, and don’t worry about chess fashion.
After you figure out the type of opening you like, take a closer look at some of the specific openings in that section. You’ll find games where White’s strategy succeeds and games where Black’s strategy comes out on top. If you feel an intuitive attraction to any particular opening, pay attention to that feeling!
If an opening seems too complicated, or if it just doesn’t feel right to you, keep looking. Matching the right opening to your style of play makes you a better player, and it guarantees you more playing pleasure in the long run.
Reviewing Chess Shorthand
Throughout this book, I use game scores from notable games to explain how an opening influenced the outcome of a match. These game scores use standard chess notation. Unless you’re a chess novice, you’re probably familiar with chess shorthand, but I include the main points in the following sections just in case you need a quick refresher.
Describing the board and pieces
Chess players use an alpha-numerical system to record chess moves. Each file (column) is given a letter from a to h. Each rank (row) is given a number from 1 to 8 (see Figure 1-3). So the lower left-hand square is a1, the upper right-hand square is h8, and so on.
Figure 1-3: Each square can be referenced by its coordinates.
The pieces are described as follows (note that capital letters are used to distinguish these abbreviations from the letters that describe the files):
Abbreviation
Piece
K
King
Q
Queen
R
Rook
B
Bishop
N
Knight
If the only designation is a square, such as 1.e4, that implies a pawn move. If on White’s second move the bishop moves in front of the king, it would be written as 2.Be2. If you’re not comfortable with chess notation, find someone who is, and ask the person to explain it to you. It’s much easier than it looks!
Describing the action
Chess is an action-packed game. Those who’ve played enough often comment on whether a move is good, bad, or fatal when writing about a game. The following chess symbols are the shorthand for conveying these ideas:
Symbol
Definition
?
A bad move
??
An extremely bad move
?!
A dubious move
!?
An interesting move containing some risk
!
A very good move
!!
A brilliant move
0–0
Kingside castling
0–0–0
Queenside castling
x
A capture has taken place
+
Check
++
Double check
#
Checkmate
1–0
White wins the game
0–1
Black wins the game
1/2–1/2
The game is drawn
If the only designation is a square, such as 1.e4, that implies a pawn move. If on White’s second move the bishop moves in front of the king, it would be written as 2.Be2. If you’re not comfortable with chess notation, find someone who is, and ask the person to explain it to you. It’s much easier than it looks!
Chapter 2
Exploring the Elements of Chess
In This Chapter
Increasing the mobility of your pieces
Gaining an advantage in space
Winning the battle for material
Examining some common pawn structures
Making sure the king is secure
Chess openings may seem to veer off in a million different directions, but they all share certain fundamental characteristics: time, space, material, pawn structure, and king safety.
Army generals know that getting their forces someplace fast can be more important than the magnitude of the force itself. They know that if they have more room to maneuver, they may be able to outflank the opposition. These military teachings apply to the game of chess as well. In this chapter, I break down the fundamental elements of the game and help you understand how you can use these concepts to your advantage and to avoid mistakes.
Every rule has an exception, and most rules are really only guidelines meant to steer you very generally in the right direction. However, you better have a good reason for violating the basic principles of chess openings, or you may find yourself wishing that you hadn’t.
Getting Time on Your Side
The element of time in chess is called development. Development doesn’t refer to the speed at which the game is played, or how long it takes to complete a game. It refers to how quickly and effectively you deploy your forces. Each side takes a turn making a move, and each turn is important. You want to spend this time increasing the mobility of your pieces. A move that increases their mobility is called a developing move.
The power of the pieces is tied to their mobility. The player who develops his pieces to effective squares most efficiently has more power to command. If you make a move that doesn’t increase your mobility, you may be wasting time. Because White has the first move, White starts out with a slight advantage in time.
Here are some points to keep in mind to maximize your mobility:
Make only as many pawn moves as are necessary to get your pieces out.
Move your knights toward the center.
Put your pieces on active squares that are also safe from enemy attack.
Avoid moving one or two pieces multiple times. Get everyone into the act.
Chess players use the Italian word tempo to refer to a single unit of time. They speak of winning or losing a tempo, meaning that they’ve either gained or lost time. Winning a tempo is like getting a free move, and losing a tempo is like giving your opponent an extra turn.
In the Scandinavian Defense, Black eliminates White’s center pawn, but at the cost of a tempo following the moves 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3. White develops the knight to c3, where it attacks the Black queen on d5. The queen must move for a second time, and White gains a tempo (see Figure 2-1).
Figure 2-1: Black’s queen is under attack and must move again.
When Spacing Out Is Good
In many ways, chess is a game of spatial conquest. All things being equal, the player who controls the most space controls the game. In the opening, the quest for space usually involves a fight for the center (see Figure 2-2).
Figure 2-2: The four center squares are the key to controlling space.
If you gain an advantage in space, you have more freedom of movement for your pieces. Most pieces gain more mobility when you move them toward the center, which is called centralization. A knight, for example, has significantly less mobility on the edge of the board than it does in the center. (See Figure 2-3 and Figure 2-4.)
Figure 2-3: A knight on the edge of the board attacks only two squares.
Figure 2-4: A knight in the center attacks eight squares.
The most popular opening move is 1.e4. It opens a line for the queen and the light-squared bishop, but it also grabs space (see Figure 2-5).
Figure 2-5: White is now attacking squares on Black’s side of the board.
The most common opening strategy is to use the center pawns and minor pieces
