So you want to be able to beat anyone at chess? I don’t blame you. If you had the skill and power to
annihilate anybody you see you’ll be the most feared, respected, and
honored person around. Well, at least in the chess world.
The good news is that
learning chess is easy and fun, and
mastering the art of
checkmating is very
attainable to the smart individual with a little practice and a little guts. If you’re like me you know that anything you put your mind into you’ll also pour your heart into, and end up thinking about chess when you go to bed and thinking about chess when you wake up. Visions of solid pawn structures will be dancing in your head while you sleep.
What Is Chess?
Chess is one of the most played strategy games in the world. In fact, it is one of the most sold and played board games globally. Its earliest forms have been around since the 7th century A.D., with the game as we know it forming in medieval times, when it was immensely popular.
It has been used for centuries as a measure of one’s intelligence and speed of thought; it has even been used by militaries to introduce and train soldiers in the art of war. It was a gentleman’s game not to be undertaken by the feeble-minded. Voltaire calls it “The game which reflects most honor on human wit.” I tend to agree with the old philosopher.
Anybody can learn and play chess. At a young age, if we were lucky, our parents sat us down and explained the ancient game of wit. I, for one, would rather have played checkers at such a young age, but thankfully picked it up eventually. We can’t all be Bobby Fishers, unfortunately. However, with a little smarts and perseverance, along with a whole lot of practice, we can increase our chess skills dramatically in a short period of time.
Intelligence, you already have. In fact, I’m willing to bet that you have a very high degree of smarts. How do I know this? Well, you’re reading this book, aren’t you? So, you have good judgment as well.
The readers of this book, like any group of players, are likely to have a wide range of skill and experience. Fortunately, both are easily increasable. Of course, if you’re reading this book, you’ll likely not be satisfied with your skill level, and would like to see it improve. I don’t blame you, I’m the same way. You can always learn and always improve yourself. Even the top grandmasters will tell you that.
Mistakes are the best teachers. Garry Kasparov will tell you to be “relentless in studying your own mistakes.” He’ll also tell you that when you lose, you gain far more than if you won. When you win, you don’t put much thought into how you played and what you did right or wrong because you are satisfied with the outcome. After a loss, you must examine closely what went wrong, and be sure not to let it happen again. Don’t be afraid of losing, but rather let the losses teach you, and know that you are getting better with every game you play.
The goal of this book is to teach you how to win. To learn how to win, you must have a plan of action, implement it, and reap the rewards. It’s that simple.
Contents
Introduction: What Is Chess?
The History of Chess in a Nutshell
How to Play
Object of the Game
Setup and notation
Pieces and Their Moves
Special Moves
Check and Checkmate
Draws
Chess Strategy
Openings (Goals, The Open Game, Semi-Open Game, Closed Game)
Fool’s Mates (Fool’s Mates In Two Moves, Scholar’s Mate In Four)
Middle Game Strategy (Special moves, Exchanges, Pawn Strategy, Combinations)
Endgame Strategy (Types of checkmate, Promotion, Avoiding Draws)
Intermediate Lessons
Principles of Good Game Play
Chess Problems
Resources
Appendix A: Chess Variants
Appendix B: Chess Puzzles.
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