Learn Chess from the Greats (Dover Chess) - Softcover

Tamburro, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 048641373X ISBN 13: 9780486413730

Publisher: Dover Publications Inc., 2016

Synopsis

Beginning students of the game as well as veterans of the board will find this chess guide offers a wealth of inspiration, enjoyment, and practical chess advice. In providing valuable instruction for players at all levels, noted chess writer and teacher Peter Tamburro initially presents elementary ideas that can be used immediately by beginners.
The attack section features the tactics of such great masters of the assault as Fischer, Keres, Alekhine, Larsen, and Rubinstein -- all demonstrating how to win the middle game. A survey of endgame concepts follows, along with a selection of challenging chess problems and 60 complete games by Blackburne, Marshall, Tartakower, Polgar, and other champion players. An accessible, enjoyable guide, Learn Chess from the Greats allows readers to learn the fundamentals and improve their game in an informal, user-friendly way.

About this title

About the Author

Peter J. Tamburro, Jr., is a syndicated chess columnist.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Learn Chess from the Greats

By Peter J. Tamburro Jr.

Dover Publications, Inc.

Copyright © 2000 Peter J. Tamburro, Jr.
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-486-41373-0

Contents

Introduction, ix, 
Chapter 1. For Students and Coaches, 1, 
Chapter 2. How to Attack, 26, 
Chapter 3. You Must Learn Endgames, 47, 
Chapter 4. The Artists of Chess, 80, 
Chapter 5. Exciting Miniatures!, 88, 
Chapter 6. Games by the Greats, 103, 
Chapter 7. For the Fun of It!, 138, 
Index, 153, 

CHAPTER 1

For Students and Coaches Ta'bi'a

There is an old Islamic phrase in the ancient version of chess — shatranj — which describes a set-up, a kind of opening formation for all the troops before you mix it up in actual battle. In the older, slower form of chess these ta'bi'as were quite common and useful.

Although understanding the principles of opening theory is far better than uselessly memorizing columns of moves without comprehending why they are being made, there is still room for a compromise using the ancient principles.

After all, kids like to be able to get out of the opening when they play in tournaments. The solution? Give them a map. For example, as White give them (notice no Black moves given) 1. d4 2. Nf3 3. e3 4. Bd3 5. c3 6. 0–0 7. Nbd2 8. Qe2 9. Rel 10. e4, known to many of you as the Colle System. You can play this with minor variations against anything. It gives you something to hang onto while you learn the game.

With Black, it's tougher. In this game the player of the Black pieces was 13 years old. His adult opponent had played 1. d4 in earlier rounds and a concerned son sought out his dad to get some advice. Dad gave him 11 straight moves to remember.

Jan Kopleau–Peter J. Tamburro III Somerset, 1993 1. d4 f5 2. c4

Here Dad breathed a sigh of relief. What if White played the dangerous Staunton Gambit 2.e4?

2. ... Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg5?! 0–0 6. e3 d6 7. Bd3 b6 8. 0–0 Bb7 9. Nd2! Nbd7 10. Rel Qe8(see diagram)11. e4! Qf7?!

He forgot the 11th move, which was 11. ... Qg6, but at least he's in a middle game where anything can happen and does!

12. exf5 exf5 13. Bxf5 Qe8? 14. Qa4?

This gives Black his chance to recover from the hesitancy of his last move.

14. ... Qh5! 15. Bxd7 Qxg5 16. Nf3 Bxf3 17. g3 Qh5 18. Bc6

This seemed to be the saving idea behind 16. Nf3, but Black comes up with a great move for a beginner's game.

18. ... d5!! 19. Re3 Ng4! 20. Rxf3 Rxf3 21. Bxd5+ Kh8 22. Bxf3 Qxh2+ 23. Kf1 Qxf2 mate.

Seeing Combinations

Rudolf Spielmann, the Viennese grandmaster who wrote an entire book on chess sacrifice, wrote in emotional prose how the chess masses loved games with combinations over the technical, positional chess, which took greater effort to understand. This populist disregard for positional chess is the reason why Morphy, Chigorin, Marshall, Alekhine and Tal maintain their attraction.

There is something in their play and their moves that flaunts natural law, and we are amused and fascinated and awed by it.

In the 1940s, Irving Chernev and Kenneth Harkness wrote a delightful little book called An Invitation to Chess, and, frankly, no book published today of a similar size and nature can claim to be better. In one of their chapters, they show you how to see combinations. Using the two diagrams you see today, they demonstrate the fundamental truth behind all combinations. You must look at the board differently, indeed, more elementally.

The diagram with the White bishop and knight and Black king and queen clearly shows a basic possibility. Then, White has to figure out how to get the d4 pawn, the e5 knight and the f6 knight out of the way in the right order to achieve the objective. This approach makes it easier to understand a good many positional moves which put rooks opposite opposing queens even though there are five pieces and pawns in between.

In this position, Alekhine sees that he must play 1. c5 bxc5

3. dxc5 (1st goal accomplished) Bxc5+ 3. Rxc5! Rxc5 4. g5 Nd7 (2nd goal) 5. Nc6+ (all done!).

Death Ray Attack

In Star Wars, Darth Vader unleashes an awesome weapon — a death ray which destroys the Princess's planet. The unsuspecting planet couldn't see it coming, but the terrible explosion was such that even "the force" shuddered.

Chess can simulate that! Our Darth Vader for today is Anatoly Ufimtsev, champion of Kazakhstan, who took the "dark forces" (Black pieces) fifty years ago against grandmaster Isaak Boleslavsky to demonstrate the power of concentrating on a single point.

In our diagram, Black is threatened with b4 followed by c5 and general havoc around his monarch. However, watch as Ufimtsev lines up on g2 from the diagonal and the file.

1. ... Ne4! 2. Qa5

White cannot afford to fall for 2. Bxb6? Nxd2 3. Nxd2 Rxg2+ 4. Kh1 Rxh2+ 5. Kg1 Rh1 mate. So he figures Black will have to do something with the queen after Qa5. And then again ...

2. ... Rhg8! 3. Ne1

The GM still cannot take the queen! 3. Bxb6 Rxg2+ 4. Kh1 Rxh2+ 5. Nxh2 Nxf2 mate!! And

3. g3 doesn't help either because of 3. ... Nxg3 4. hxg3 Rxg3+! 5. fxg3 Qxe3+ 6. Kh1 Qh6+ 7. Kg2 Rxg3+ 8. Kf2 Rg2+! with mate in two, according to Reuben Fine.

At least the knight at el protects g2, right? Wrong!

3. ... Rxg2+ 4. Nxg2 Nd2!!

The unveiling of the death ray. White is helpless. And, of course, White still cannot take the queen. Also, 5. f3 loses to Qxe3+.

5. Qd5 Bxd5

The Princess must be sacrificed to save the King from checkmate, but it is a lost cause in any event.

6. cxd5 Qxb2 7. Bxd2 Qxa1 8. Bf3 Bxh2+, White resigns.

An object lesson on focusing in on one point.

Getting Better

Some years ago, at New Jersey's Westfield Chess Club, FIDE Master Steve Stoyko gave a little talk on how to improve at chess.

He strongly favored one suggestion above the rest in terms of improvement of your mental faculties for tournament play. Stoyko told his audience to set up a middle game position on a board with a chess clock ticking away. Give yourself 15 minutes or a half hour or even an hour and really study the position.

Don't move anything. Treat it like a tournament game. Wring every last secret out of the position. If you like, write down notes of key alternative lines you looked at.

Now, put yourself in White's shoes. We even give you some hints.

You might find it helpful to know that moves 27 through 38 are all checks! White, an 18-year-old playing in the 1946 US Championship found the moves. Can you?

Cover all the moves below, set up the board and the position. Chess players, start your clocks! (and good luck!)

Now compare your thoughts with what actually happened and with the alternatives that were possible:

Kramer-Drexel(see diagram)27. Ng6+! hxg6 If 27. ... Kg8 28. Nfxe7+ 28. Bxg7+! Kh7

If 28. ... Kg8 29. Nh6+ Kxg7 30. Qxg6+ or 28. ... Nxg7 29. Qh6+

29. Qh6+ Kg8 30. Nxe7+ Qxe7

If 30. ... Kf7 31. Bxg6+ Kxe7 32. d6+

31. Qh8+ Kf7 32. Rxf8+ Nf6 33. Bxg6+!!

If you got this far and saw this, pat yourself on the back. If you played 33. Rxf6+, Qxf6 wins for Black!

33. ... Kxg6 34. Qh6+ Kf7 35. Rxf6+ Ke8 36. Rxf8+ Kd7 37. Qe6+ ...

No credit for 37. Rxa8?? Qe1 mate.

37. ... Qxe6 38. dxe6+ Kxe6 39. Rxa8, Black resigns.

Now, if you got lost early on, set up the diagrammed position and go through it again and visualize the sequence you just saw played out. It's good exercise for your brain (latest scientific reports!) — and just watch your chess get better.

White Line Fever

One of the signs that you are progressing as a chess player is when you start talking about "weak white squares" or "weak black squares." You take your focus beyond what piece is attacking what other piece or who can check whom.

You start to realize that unoccupied or unprotected squares can be deadly. Your first practical experience might be when your opponent saddles you with a "bad bishop," blocked by its own pawn chain, while your foe's bishop slides freely along friendlier squares.

You can also learn the hard truths of weak squares when you move one of your castled position pawns. For example, when your g-pawn moves up just one square gaping holes appear in front of your f- and h-pawns, not to mention the newly created hole where the g-pawn used to be.

And if your opponent has a bishop or queen (or both in combination) that can attack right through the long diagonal, you find you have something akin to an interstate highway for your opponent's pieces going right through your position.

In our diagrammed position, Vasily Ivanchuk drives his forces along the white square highway of Epishin in a game played at Tilburg in 1993:

25. Qc2!! Rd4!?

Black is already desperate to set up a roadblock at e4; however, White zooms through before it can be constructed.

26. Qf5! Qxa4 27. Bf7 Bxf7

If 27. ... Rd6 28 Rc7 Bd7 29. Ng6+! Kh7 30. Rxd7! Rxd7 31. Nf8+ Kh8 32. Qh7+! Nxh7 33. Ng6 mate!!

28. Nxf7+ Kg8 29. Nxh6+ Kh8 30. Nf7+ Kg8 31. Ne5 Qe8 32. Rc7 a4 33. Qg5 Nd7 34. Ng6!

This could be the weakest g6 square in the history of chess!

34. ... Qe2 35. Rgl Re8 36. Ne5 a3 37. Nxd7 Qe7 38. Qb5, Black resigns.

It is fitting that the last move is to yet another weak White square.

Alertness

Sometimes a chess position, just by the way it looks, can lull you into an incorrect perception and into missing a win.

As any tournament player can tell you, several factors can contribute to this. You have been fighting for a draw and do not have the frame of mind to look for a win. The position looks drawn. It's the endgame and you're tired after four hours of play.

The late great Australian writer C. J. S. Purdy made a point of emphasizing the tactical truth of any position. He insisted that every single move changes the position and that no matter what the strategic elements, a tactical shot can come out of any position.

Or as Richard Teichmann once put it, "Chess is 99% tactics."

A quick look at the position in the diagram does not give either side much expectation of anything. The rook and knight usually don't work well together, and the queen will keep all the white pieces busy, but she alone is not enough to do any damage.

If White is alert he might just start thinking, "It is my move, and if only there were some way to coax the Black king to g8 so the knight could fork the king and queen with a check at f6. Say, wait a minute!"

Now White will get the benefits of being alert: 1. Rc8+ Kg8 2. Rg8+ Kxg8 3. Nf6+

The best way to increase your tactical awareness is to buy one of the multitude of books available on combinations. You can even go to a used book store and purchase one of Fred Reinfeld's 1001 examples books. There are quite a few old classics. This example was from DuMont's The Basis of Combination in Chess. Another oldie, now in paperback, is Znosko-Borovsky's The Art of Chess Combination, and Renaud and Kahn's The Art of the Checkmate is one of the best teaching books ever on how to polish someone off.

Oh, Those Gods!

One of the eye-opening first strategy lessons for intermediate players is the relationship between pawn structure and the outcome of a game.

Dr. Max Euwe, the late world champion from Holland, liked to demonstrate this concept with a very popular opening — the Ruy Lopez:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d4 exd4 6. Qxd4 Qxd4 7. Nxd4

At this point, any chess coach worth his salt will take off all the pieces, leaving only the two kings and the seven pawns on each side.

Two basic concepts are taught here. First, White wins by pushing his pawn majority on the kingside. Secondly, White stops Black's majority on the queenside because the Black pawns are doubled and a White set up of his three pawns on a4, b3 and c4 (or even a3, b2, c3) creates an impenetrable barrier for Black's four pawns.

Dr. Euwe gave this solution:

(see diagram) 1. Ke2 Ke7 2. Ke3 Ke6 3. f4 c5 4. c4! c6 5. a4 b5 6. b3! (axb5?? loses) f6 7. a5 b4 8. g4 g5 (g6 is a little better) 9. e5! gxf4+ 10. Kxf4 fxe5 11. Ke4 h6 12. h4 Kf6 13. g5+ hxg5 14.

hxg5+ Kxg5 15. Kxe5 Kg4 16. Kd6 Kf4 17. Kxc6 Ke4 18. Kxc5 Kd3 19. Kxb4 Kd4 20. Ka3! (20. c5 Kd5! draws) Kc5 21. Ka4 Kd4 22. Kb4 Ke5 23. Kc5.

So, all you do is trade off your pieces and win the game? Hey, Lasker and Fischer did it! Sure, you're not Lasker or Fischer, but then your opponents aren't Capablanca and Spassky either. Pretty simple, right?

Actually, not so simple. As the great chess teacher Tarrasch once observed, "Between the opening and the endgame, the gods have placed the middlegame." And he was right! Black's two bishops, if they avoid trades, can open up the position and be more than a match for the knights.

But that is another lesson!

Amateur Hour

We have seen the first five moves of today's game in countless beginners' games. They are good moves.

In fact, the Peruvian master, Canal, practically made a living off a slight deviation: 5. Nc3 followed by 6. Bg5. After 6. ... h6, he would play 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8. Nd5 and get a fine game until greater defensive players caught up with him.

Beginners are so entranced with maintaining the pin on the knight to keep threatening Nd5, that we too often see white play 7. Bh4, which in truth is a horrible line, both in Canal's line and today's game. It's worse if 5. 0–0 is played.

An amateur once played it against German IM Kurt Richter and got a lesson on Steinitz's Trap (Yes, it's that old — London, 1862!).

We share this with you beginners out there in the hope that you'll play it over a couple of dozen times in order to spread the lesson around a little. More advanced players will delight in Richter's wizardry.

Amateur–Richter Italian Game 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 d6 5. 00 Nf6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4? g5

Good rule to remember: Don't pin the king knight if your opponent hasn't castled — ... h6 and ... g5 are two reasons why.

8. Bg3 h5! 9. Nxg5

"Hey, why not?" thinks the amateur; "With 10. Nxf7 threatening the queen, Black is going to be too busy to attack me." Famous last words.

9. ... h4! 10. Nxf7 hxg3!! 11. Nxd8 Bg4! 12. Qd2 Nd4!

Threatens 13. ... Ne2+ followed by 14. ... Rxh2 mate.

13. Nc3

The best chance was 13. h3, but after 13. ... Ne2+ 14. Qxe2 (Also bad is 14. Kh1 Rxh3+ 15. gxh3 Bf3, mate) 14. ...Bxe2 15. Ne6 Bb6 16. Nc3 Bxf1 17. Rxf1 gxf2+ and Black is winning.

13. ... Nf3+ 14. gxf3 Bxf3

And it's over! See the diagrammed position. Any White moves just temporarily delay the coming mate by Black.

Wild Pig

There is nothing more fearsome to a chess player than to have one's opponent put two connected rooks on your second rank.

Every chess teacher tells their charges to get two rooks on the seventh rank. Most players think that the game pretty much plays itself after that.

Look at our position from Szabo–Duckstein, 1957. Although the Black king is appropriately cowering in the corner, White has a few problems of his own.

White's queen is threatened. Black is threatening f2 with a vengeance and seems to have back rank checks covered.

Grandmaster Szabo, however, notices something. The White queen is indirectly threatening the Black king along the diagonal. In a way, the Black rook on f6 is pinned. One should never underestimate the indirect threat. Can you see the other factor Szabo notices?

Szabo figures out a plan that requires his "wild pigs", (some prefer "wild boars") to act more like ballerinas pirouetting about the Black king. The dance (see diagram) commences:

1. Rh7+ Kg7 2. Rcg7+ Kf8 3. Rxa7

White achieves the first part of his plan. He uses the rooks to threaten their patented teamwork mate. Maybe with the influence of Jurassic Park, we will soon hear about "raptors" on the seventh. Two mates at h8 and a8 must be attended to.

3. ... Kg8 4. Rhg7+

Haven't we checked here before? "Deja vu all over again?" Note the difference this time, Yogi.

4. ... Kh8

Out of the question is 4. ... Kf8 as 5. Rgf7+ means mate (5. ... Rxf7 6. Qh8 mate) or the rook is lost.

5. Rgf7, Black resigns.

Ouch! The rook is pinned and eventual mate after Ra8 is threatened. Note that Szabo would love to have played 1. Rgf7 on the first move, but the other rook could not check on c8. So he logically found a way to put it on a7. That's why he's a grandmaster!

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Learn Chess from the Greats by Peter J. Tamburro Jr.. Copyright © 2000 Peter J. Tamburro, Jr.. Excerpted by permission of Dover Publications, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dover Publications Inc.
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 048641373X
• ISBN 13: 9780486413730
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160