Ault The Chess Tutor.pdf

"MASTERFUL . . Ault has selected situations that .

perfectly illustrate techniques and tactics.... An extremely valuable book." -Atlantic City Sunday Press "Well illustrated ...the conscientious student will benefit greatly.A useful contribution to chess teaching." -Library Journal "An excellent do-it-yourself manual ... almost ideal for both beginner and intermediate player." -Massachusetts Patriot Ledger "This book can sharpen many parts of almost any player's game."

-Indiana News-Sentinel

"AN EXCELLENT WORK ... READS LIKE AN EASY-FLOWING NOVEL ...no phase of the game is left out.This is a book that can be referred to again and again over a lifetime."

-Minnesota News Tribune

LESLIE H. AULT is chairman of the behavioral sciences department at Hostos Community College (City University of New York). With a doctorate in psychology, he spent five years with Basic Systems/Xerox, working on instructional programs and directing various educational research projects. Dr. Ault was editor of the revised edition of Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess and was coauthor of a twenty-hour instructional program called "Bridgeveryone." A former member of Columbia University's winning 1960 chess team, Ault won the U.S. Intercollegiate Individual Championship in 1959.

THE CHESS TUTOR: Elements of Combinations

WALTER KORN, General Editor

THE CHESS TUTOR: Elements of Combinations Leslie H. Ault

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Copyright© Mason/Charter Publishers, Inc. 1975 All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means-graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or taping, or information storage and retrieval systems-without written permission of the publisher. For information address Mason/Charter Publishers, Inc., 641 Lexing(on Avenue, New York, New York 10022

T!iis is an authorized reprint of a hardcover edition published by Mason/Charter Publishers, Inc. The hardcover edition was published simultaneously in the United Kingdom by Mason/Charter Publishers, Inc., London, England

®

PLUME TRADEMARK REG • .U.S. PAT.

�FF.

AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES

REGISTERED TRADEMARK-MARCA REGJSTRADA

HECHO EN FORGE

VILLAGE,

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SIGNET, SIGNET CLASSICS, MENTOR, PLUME and MERIDIAN BOOKS are published in the United States by The New American Library, Inc., 1301 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10019, in Canada by The New American Library of Canada Limited, 81 Mack Avenue, Scarborough, Ontario MlL 1M8 First Plume Printing, October, 1976

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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONTENTS

..

Acknowledgments

ix

How to Use This Book

xi

How to Read Chess Notation

xv

CHAPTER1

Material Advantage

CHAPTER2

Relative· Values

17

CHAPTER3

Double Attacks

33

CHAPTER4

Skewers and Pins

57

CHAPTER S

Pin Exploitations

76

CHAPTER6

Discoveries

97

1

Guard Riddance

121

CHAPTER8

Cornering

146

CHAPTER9

Sett ing Up Combinations

170

·cHAPTER7

CHAPTER·10 CHAPTER11 CHAPTER12 CHAPTER13 CHAPTER14 CHAPTER15

. Exchange Series

197

Queening Combinations Mate-Based Combinations .Review of Basic Elements Combined Operations I

Combined

Operations!!

A Final Word

'

219 239 271 293 312 329

A CKNOWLED GMENTS

•

An important, but often neglected, step in preparing an instructional book is to have the draft tested out on several people typical of those for whom the book is written. Their comment� and sources of difficulty can be valuable guidelines for revision. In this effort, I was aided by five chess enthusiasts of varying abilities, whom I would like to thank: Dr. Walter Blanco, Stephen Hoyt, John Turney, Peter Ault, and Dr. Sergio Tan. I would also like to thank my editors at Pitman, Walter Korn and James Citranglo, the former for his sustained faith in the project, the latter for his judicious but never intrusive copy editing. Finally, I would like to record my appreciation for the various and sundry help of my children Peter, Jocelyn, and Maiia, and especially for the advice, support, and continued encouragement of my wife Patricia.

Leslie H. Ault

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

..

The purpose of this book is to teach you to play_better chess. I say teach because it is designed to maximize your learning. The concepts are pre­ sented in logical order so that you can master them by selecting moves throughout. You go through this book by actively responding-not by passively reading. Since my organization of this book and your responses to it will help to determine how much you learn, let's consider some important questions: I.

What are you supposed to know about chess? I assume that you know

the rules and moves of chess and are interested in the game. As long as you play, you might as well win as often as you can (unless you want to encourage your opponent). That's probably the main reason why you are reading this book. You may already know chess notation, which is fine. Then again, you may not, in which case you can learn it easily enough by reading the section following, "How to Read Chess Notation." If you are a beginner, the first two chapters will move you smoothly into the re­ maining material. If you are more experienced, you may find these chapters elementary, so skim quickly through them (stopping if you need to) and dig into Chapter 2.

3.

What are you supposed to do? As you proceed, you will be asked

questions about chess positions. Most of the time you will be asked to find moves for each side. When you have chosen your moves, read the top of the next page. Compare your moves with those given, and consider any differences carefrilly. Then continue with the next position, which normally appears on the bottom of the same page. 3.

Should you use a chessboard? That all depends. The large diagrams

are provided to make it easier for you to decide your moves without setting up a board. Using only the diagrams saves you the time needed for setting up the pieces and allows you to work with the book wherever you are. But if you have trouble in thinking out your moves or in understand­ ing or following the moves given as answers, then you should set up a board and use it. 4.

Should you write down your answers? You may want to write down Or you

your answers before checking them in the book, which is fine.

may prefer simply to think out your answers, which is fine, too, as long

How to Use This Book

/ xi

as you make definite answers. But don't settle for some vague answer

in your head and then, when you see the right answer

in

the book, per­

suade yourself that you had known it all along. 5.

Should you expect to get all the answers right? More of your answers

should be right than wrong, but the number you miss will depend on your chess skill and experience and the time you spend thinking. If you miss the right moves, read the comments in the given answer carefully and make sure you understand what is correct and why. If you find yourself missing several in a row, something is wrong; slow down, back up, think more carefully. 6.

Why are you asked to decide for each side to move? In most positions,

you are asked to find a move or moves for White to play and for Black to play. This is quite unusual, but I have two purposes. One is to accustom you not only to find sequences of moves that will beat your opponent but also to avoid such sequences

so

that your opponent will not beat you. The

other is to make it harder for you to find the right move through rote elimination; rather, you should rely on looking for certain kinds of patterns to guide you to specific moves. (Good chess players are skillful in doing the latter, whereas computers rely primarily on the former, which is why humans can beat computers at chess-at least so far!) 7.

Why does the book concentrate on tactical combinations? There are

various aspects of the game (openings, positional play, attacking play, mating combinations, endings), but I consider tactical combinations the most important part. Learn these well and you will be a formidable player. Then you can improve your technique in the other aspects. This view­ point is discussed further in Chapter 8.

1.

Why bother with combinations t o win a pawn? I t takes a certain

level of skill, which may be beyond you now, to tum an extra pawn into victory in the endgame. Even so, it's better to be a pawn ahead than a pawn behind. Besides, the process of winning a pawn through some kind of combination is the same as the process of winning any other piece. It is the process that is important, and you are learning the process and how to apply it. 9.

How is the book organized? As you will see as you proceed, most

chapters deal with an element of combinations, starting with the most basic. Three of them (Chapters

9, 14

and

1 5)

specifically require you to

integrate these elements. Within each chapter, the element in question is explained and illustrated, after which you have to work out simple exxii I

How to Use This Book

amples. Further refinements are then added, and soon you will find your­ self handling positions of some complexity. 10. Why are most of the positions taken from grandmaster games? You may have the impression that the world's best players (Fischer, Spassky, Karpov, et. al. ) are wizards who plot moves beyond the comprehension of mere mortals. Their best games suggest this. However, they make use of the saipe basic elements of combinations that you will learn. Their games provide realistic examples suitable for this book. Furthermore, even the grandmasters overlook winning moves, make mistakes, and sometimes blunder. In the following pages, you'll have many chances to find moves that were missed by even the greatest players.

As already discussed in item 1 of this section, your chess experience to date will dictate your starting point in the book. Proceed now to one of the following points: (a) The next section, "How to Read Chess Notation," (b) Chapter 1 , page 1 , or maybe even (c) Chapter 3, page 33.

H ow to Use This Book

/ xiii

HOW TO READ CHESS NOTATION

•

The recording and replaying of chess moves are done through various systems of chess· notation. The one in this book is called Descriptive Notation and is used for most chess books in English. A typical move tells what moves where. For example, P-K4 means that a pawn moves to a square identified as K4. As you can see, letters represent pieces, and letters and numbers represent squares. The pieces are identified by the first letter of their names, except that "knight" is written as N to be easily distinguished from K for "king." That is:

fp \t> King � YiJ Queen

=

K

=

a

.§. .l .Q._ E

Rook

=

R

Bishop

=

B

• � t .ft

Knight

=

N

Pawn

=

P

The symbols shown are those used to identify pieces in the diagrams. Each square is identified by a letter or letters representing the piece that originally stands on the file (up and down the board) and by a number from 1 to 8 showing the rank (across the board) . In the sample move P-K4, K4 stands for the fourth square up the board, counted from where the king is placed to begin the game. In recording moves in Descriptive Notation, the ranks are counted from 1 (closest to each player) to 8 (furthest from each player) . Thus each square has two names, one from White's point of view and one from Black's. This is shown in the two· diagrams that follow: White's Point of View

Black's Point of View

Black

Black

White

White

How tci Read Chess Notation

I

xv

Note that White's point of view is from the bottom of the diagram upward, and Black's point of view is from the top downward. This is true of all diagrams in this book. White's pawns always move up the page, and Black's pawns always move down the page. Also note that since each side starts with two rooks, knights, and bishops, it is necessary to make a further distinction. This, as you can see, is done by reference to their location on the king's side of the board (KR, KN, KB) or on the queen's side (QR, QN, QB). The additional letter is used for squares and somethimes for pieces, whenever necessary. It is omitted whenever it would be superfluous. For example: N-KB3 Knight moves to the third square up/ down from where the king's bishop stood. This implies that N-QB3 is also pos­ sible; if not, N-B3 would be sufficient, and it's up to you to figure out which B3 ( KB3 or QB3) . QN-Q2 Queen-side knight moves to the second square in front of where the queen stood. This implies that the KN (king-side knight) could also move to Q2; if not, N-Q2 would be sufficient. R(l ) -N2 Rook on the first ran� moves to N2. You must figure out which N2 is meant, which shouldn't be difficult. This form is used whenever either rook could move to N2 and the use of KR or QR might not be clear. Between the piece and the square, a symbol is used to show what the piece does. So far, you have seen only the dash (-) to represent "moves to." For captures, a times sign (x) is used, and the last part of the move shows what is captured. For example, P x 'P shows that a pawn captures a pawn, and you must discover where on the board such a move is pos­ sible. If there is more than one such move, then further clarification is used, such as QP x P, less commonly P x KP, and rarely (as needed) P:x:P(5 ) . Castling is written as 0-0 to represent "castles king side" and as 0--0-0 to represent "castles queen side." For en passant captures, e.p. is written after the move ( P x P e.p.) . Checks are shown by ch after the move (R x N ch) . Moves are usually numbered in sequence, as follows: the move num­ ber, White's move, then Black's move, and so on. Thus, 1 P-K4 indicates White's move, and 1 . . . , P-K4 indicates Black's move. When a pawn reaches the eighth rank, it is promoted to a piece of the ·

xvi I

How to Read Chess Notation

player's choice, usually a queen. This is shown by an equal sign lowed by the piece chosen; for example,

P-K8

=

( = ) fol­

Q.

Sometimes, commentators choose to indicate their opinion of a move by one or more exclamation marks

(!)

or question marks

(?) . A

good

strong move may merit an exclamation mark, whereas a really excellent move rates two. A bad move rates a question mark, and a really bad blunder rates two. In special cases, three or more marks may be used. The two symbols are also used in tandem, with sibly unsound move, and

?!

!?

indicating a strong but pos­

indicating a tricky but probably unsound

move. Let us summarize:

Piece

Action

K =King O=Oueen R =Rook B =Bishop N=Knight P =Pawn

X captures -moves to

(Kl R (Kl N (Kl B K

a

(Q) B

(0) N

(Ql R

Castling:

0-0 0-0-0

Add-On

Square

1 2 3 4 5 .6 7 8

check ch e.p. en passant good move ! !! excellent move bad move ? ?? blunder !? strong but maybe unsound ?! tricky but probably unsound

castles king side castles queen side

Promotion: (equal sign and piece chosen; e.g., P-R8=Ol

For practice, you can play through this game from an exhibition by Alekhin (White), one of the game's greatest players.

1 P-K4, P-QB3 ; 2 P-Q4, P-Q4 ; 3 N-QB3, P x P ; 4 N x P , N-Q2; 5 Q-K2, KN-B3?? ; 6 N-Q6 mate. You should now have the position illustrated at the top of page xvi.

How to Read Chess Notation

/

xvii

White's knight is giving check and cannot be captured by Black's king­ pawn because such a move would expose Black's king to c apture by White's queen. Since Black has no way to save his king, it is checkmate, and White wins.

xviii

I

How to· Read Chess Notation

THE CHESS TUTOR: Elements of Combinations

CHAPTER

Material Advan tage