Fridays by the Fireside No. 2 - Odd, But True - Alekhine vs. Four Allies

This is the second installment of Fridays by the Fireside where I will feature an item of interest from the wonderful Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld book The Fireside Book of Chess. Below is the excerpt:

Chapter - The Magic of Chess
Section - Odd, But True
Item - 6
Page - 70

Many a miniature game owes its existence to an early mistake made by one of the players. But when four allies discuss their ideas with each other, and then get mated on the sixth move, that is unique.

Advice for the Chess Novice - Improve Your Game for Free!

In today's Thursday series, Rook's Recommendations for Raising Ratings, I'm going to suggest you save some cash (at least for now) by taking some free advice rather than spending your money on all the enticing chess books, videos, software, and paid services (like hiring a chess coach or enrolling in an on-line tutorial subscription service) out there.

So here are three things you can do to improve your game that won't cost a penny:

1. Play Chess! My first recommendation is the most obvious -but surprisingly often overlooked. Play chess. Play more chess. Play everyday. Like a musician learning to play an instrument, without regular practice you are not going to be very good. Fortunately we live in the age of the Internet, so finding an opponent to play (for free) is a piece of cake. Read Starting out with Online Chess Play to get started. And don't forget the Internet is not the only place to play - there are other excellent options: Where to Play Chess : Introduction. And don't make excuses for not playing chess.

2. Record All Your Games Assuming you have learned chess notation, you should be recording all your games. It's important to learn from your mistakes - you need to be able analyze your games in order to determine what you did right or what you did wrong. The other great reason to record all your games is that you'll be able to revisit them years later so you can appreciate just how much you have improved or to wistfully reflect on that win over your opponent who was rated 300 points higher than you.

3. Use the free chess resources on the web. There is a mind-boggling amount of chess improvement stuff on the Internet, which you can easily find using a Google search. Finding chess resources is not the problem- picking a few select sites to begin with is (Rook Van Winkle's Chess Blog being a given, of course). Start with these three chess sites and explore them thoroughly before going further afield looking for all the other wonderful and useful chess improvement sites out there:

• Mark Week's About Chess. If you are totally new to chess begin with the "Essentials" section (top left) or better yet, click here to start directly at the beginner's page. Next step, proceed to the Improve Your Game Section.
• Novice Nook. After you have a little experience under your belt it's time to head off to Dan Heisman's "Novice Nook" site. Again, there is the ever present danger of being overwhelmed with too much of a good thing. Fortunately Dan addresses this problem with his First NNs to Read - a list, in chronological order, of the first 12 Novice Nook columns to read.
• ChessVideos.TV. Register at this site and get some free video training, starting with the Beginner's section. There's no easier way to learn than watching.

Rave - The World of Chess

Rave - The World of Chess by Anthony Saidy and Norman Lessing. 274 pages. Ridge Press/Random House. 1974. $17.95 (in 1974 dollars).

Before there was David Shenk's the The Immortal Game there was Saidy and Lessing's The World of Chess. Time Magazine reviewed the book back in 1975, when "Fischer fever" was on the rise concerning a possible Fischer-Karpov match in the Philippines for a purse of 5 million dollars:

The World of Chess, by International Master Anthony Saidy and Senior Master Norman Lessing, is the handsomest and most informative chess picture book ever produced. Its illustrations include Persian paintings, medieval manuscripts,18th century court scenes, 20th centmy abstractions, a few sly cartoons and some arresting photographs of the strange cold men who become grand masters.

In the text, Saidy has provided some moving excerpts from his diary of a fumbled tournament that cost him a grand master's rating. Lessing has wittily recalled a misspent youth in one of Manhattan's less salubrious chess and coffeehouses. The authors have also taken care to make the historical sections pert and amusing. "Can you forgive me this indiscretion?" Benjamin Franklin writes to a wealthy Frenchwoman. "Never hereafter shall I consent to begin a game [of chess] in your bathroom."

You gotta love that Ben Franklin character :-)

This book complimented very well another favorite of mine - The Fireside Book of Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld. Unlike the Fireside Book, this book was up-to-date at the time and contained dozens of great black and white and color pictures. It was more than just a "coffee table" picture book, however, as it was filled with interesting chess facts and stories, fascinating anecdotes, several dozen classic chess games, and some very insightful thoughts about the game from two chess masters who were intimately familiar with the topic the were writing about.

I don't imagine this will ever be republished, but it must be added to the list of Chess Books That Should Be Reprinted.

Look for the next installment of the series Rook's Rambling Rants & Raves each Wednesday.

Chess as Played in the Real World - No. 3

In our last installment I featured a short "skittles" game I played with Judy in which I was checkmated in 8 moves (Chess as Played in the Real World - No. 2). We played four games that day, and it is only fair to include the last game we played - which she won! If you're a novice player, I'm sure you will relate to a game like the one below - where "defeat is snatched from the jaws of victory." Play through the game - and then see the advice at the bottom:

Some comments:

• I'm pretty sure 6. Bxf7+ is unsound, but I'm playing my opponent and not the board (bad!) and I figure it will be interesting to see what this accomplishes - if anything (bad again!) - I need to take the time to think through all the ramifications.
• 15. Re6. Wanting to pressure the defending rook (or exchange it away), I foolishly miss the fact that the c8 Bishop is attacking the e6 square too! Argh!
• 17. Bf5. Not even looking at the danger the rook poses. Well, I deserve what I got.

There are several lesson to be learned from this game - each of which Dan Heisman addresses in his remarkable book “Everyone’s 2nd Chess Book”:

• Think and take your time! Dan Heisman calls this "Guideline Zero" because "all other guidelines are useless if you don't follow this one!" So true.
• "Think with your head, not with your hands."
• Before each move make sure ALL your pieces are safe (including the king!) Duh!

What's really embarrassing is, that although I have learned these rules, I stupidly insist on "flunking out" and repeating the lesson ad infinitum. You'd think someone of my age would play a little bit better than an 8-year old and learn from experience :-)
Note: Dan Heisman is the host of the ICC’s radio show “Ask the Renaissance Man”, writes the “Novice Nook” column at ChessCafe.com, and is a Full-Time chess Instructor, and is the author of 8 chess books. If you are a novice player, visit some of the links above. You really should take advantage of Dan Heisman's expert advice aimed directly at the chess novice.
Look for the next installment of the series Chess as Played in the Real World each Tuesday.

Rook's Rudimentary Resources - ChessVideos.tv

Josh Specht called my attention to his excellent ChessVideos.TV site back in February of this year (at that time it was called ChessVideos.com). What is ChessVideos.TV, you ask? Josh explains:

ChessVideos.TV is a community driven site where anybody can record and upload and videos of themselves playing chess or analyzing games. Of course, our resident chess expert, Josh Specht is always there to provide his expert analysis whether in the forum or through his videos.

Did I mention everything on the site is FREE! All you need to do is register for access to the discussion forums and from there you can view the entire collection of videos - which are organized into the following categories:

• Beginner's Videos


• Int/Advanced Videos


• Game Analysis Videos


• Endgame Lesson Videos


• Chess Puzzle Videos

In the realms of education (I'm a former teacher) we had the saying "Tell me I forget, show me I remember, involve me I understand." Well, the "show me" part is definitely here, but what's even better is the "involve me" part is also present thanks to this neat little twist:

Our secret is to embed the videos directly in the forum, so you can conveniently view and discuss the videos at the same time!

There is a lot of interesting stuff here. Of course, the quality of the material varies quite a bit (both the presentation and the information) but this is to be expected given the "community' nature of the site. Even so, you are bound to find some items that will not only entertain you, but educate you at the same time. With the recently added live "chat room" and the ability to search for a particular video the site keeps getting better.

In addition to the videos, you'll also find a "puzzle of the day" and a set of very useful chess blogging tools:

• Puzzle of the Day - An interactive chess puzzle (you can make the moves right on the board). Currently, there are over 100 "Past Puzzles of the Day" you can also try.


• Diagram Generator - Simply set up the pieces on the board (or generate them from FEN) to create a Chess Diagram which you can add to your blog (the resulting chess diagram is hosted on the ChessVideos.tv server and you then link to it).


• Game Replayer - Paste your PGN chess game into the text box and your are given a link to play back your game using their replayer, or you can post the game in their forums, or you can grab some code to display the game on your blog or website (Like the diagrams, the games are hosted on their servers permanently - the won't be deleted unless you ask.)


• Puzzle Creator - Uses a wizard to set up and generate a chess puzzle - complete with hints. You can replay the puzzle from their link or grab the code to use in your blog or website.


• Qoute of the Day - "Every day we will pick a new chess quote, which you can insert right into your web page or blog. Inserting it is simple and every day it will update automatically with a fresh quote!" Cool - I'm using it now - look in the upper left of this blog page.

Overall, because of the usefullness of this site and that fact that it is free, I would rate ChessVideos.TV a definite 4-out-of-4 stars!

Look for the next installment of the series Rook's Rudimentary Resources each Monday.

Regal Games from the Realms of Yore: La Bourdonnais vs McDonnell 1834

Today, in our Sunday series Regal Games from the Realms of Yore, we feature the famous fiftieth game of the McDonnell-La Bourdonnais Championship Match of 1834. Wikipedia says of the match:

It was the first match of any importance in the history of chess and is still referred to today as the World Championship of 1834. The games were published widely, and were annotated and discussed by enthusiasts all over Europe. In the course of the mammoth encounter, both players introduced several innovations, a few of which are still seen today. It might even be said that the modern era of chess began with the McDonnell-La Bourdonnais match of 1834.

Like the first game in the Regal Game series (Celebrated Chess Games from History - Stefan Levitsky vs Frank James Marshall 1912), this is one of the earliest "classic" games I remember playing through. The game was included in the Random House book The World of Chess by Anthony Saidy and Norman Lessing, which is where I came across it in 1974.

Like Chernev and Reinfeld did earlier, Saidy and Lessing hooked me into playing over this game with an intriguing statement:

McDonnell sacrifices his queen on the 13th move, a sacrifice that only leads to fruition twenty -three moves later.

White resigns - he is helpless against the threat of ...Ng2 check followed by ...Rh3 mate.

The authors conclude:

Beyond inserting a number of exclamation points it is useless to try and analyze the wildly uninhibited game. Howard Stauntion, the famous English player, made the attempt some years later, only to give up with the historic remark: "It seems uttertly impossible for either player to save the game!"

Romp With Rook - Chess: A Poem

Written by a member of the Cambridge University Chess Club:

Chess: A Poem

Anonymous

THE WRETCHED captive in the dungeon laid,
His body wasted and his mind decay'd,
Unwept, unfriended, comfortless, alone,
With nought but horror now to call his own,
Pines o'er his limbs with ruthless bonds confin'd,
But most deplores th' enthralment of his mind.
Yet yield him here the luxury of Chess,
To soothe his sorrows and abate distress.
And lo! once more dear Freedom's breath he draws,
Tho' clasp'd his chains, and barr'd his prison doors
His soul unshackled and his fancy free
He broods no more on his captivity.

—1858

Romp with Rook - Horsing Around

For our first installment in Rook's new series Romp with Rook, Rook does a little horsing around - sharing this amusing little cartoon "Chess Centaur" by Estis Oleg (SSSR):

Fridays by the Fireside No. 1 - Odd, But True - Weiss vs. Schwartz

This is the first installment of Fridays by the Fireside where I will feature an item of interest from the wonderful Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld book The Fireside Book of Chess. Below is the excerpt:

Chapter - The Magic of Chess
Section - Odd, But True
Item - 121
Page - 107

A chess game where White and Black play perfectly theoretically should end in a draw. Theory should be strengthened when the players themselves are named White and Black! In the Nuremberg tournament of 1883, Weiss (which means White) met Schwartz (which means Black) in the fifth round. This is what happened:

After 27... Bxd4 the game was called a draw. Appropriately enough, the positions of 'White and Black (or Weiss and Schwartz) are completely identical!

Chess Blogging in Search of Improvement

Today's entry in my weekly series, Rook's Recommendations for Raising Ratings, concerns using one of the best resources on the web for improving your game - personal chess improvement blogs.

When I decided to get back into chess last year, naturally I searched the Internet to find advice on how to improve my game. Lucky for me I came across this:

The Chess Of Edwin ‘dutchdefence’ Meyer
Checks, captures, threats, combinations… Weblog of an amateur chess player determined to improve.

Part of the appeal Edwin Meyer's website was that he, like me, was taking on the task of improving his game later in his life - having first learned to play chess between the age of 29 and 30.

I read several of his blog entries. They were really interesting and very helpful - so helpful in fact that I went back to his very first entry (and to his original blog And Then There Was Chess) and read everything from the beginning!

There was (and is) a tremendous amount of useful information at both his blogs. I can give it no higher recommendation than to say it served as an inspiration for my own.

Since then I have come across several other excellent personal improvement chess blogs. Here are some other great ones:

• Begin Chess - A beginner's journey into the complex world of chess... A superbly designed and organized web site - everything is categorized so it is easy to explore a topic of interest. Like Edwin Meyer's blog, this was one of the first to catch my eye - since the writer of it is on a journey very similar to that of yours truly, Rook Van Winkle. If you too have decided it's time to give chess a try I think you'll find a lot of interesting reading here and lots links to good information.


• Confessions of a Chess Novice - Chess is too serious to enjoy, and too frivolous to take seriously. Eric Thomson is a member of the Knights Errant, a group of chess enthusiasts blogging about their quest to improve at the game. He started playing chess in 2005 and says "After six weeks of playing chess, I entered a tournament in Raleigh, North Carolina and lost 3/4 games, ending up with a provisional rating of 900. That puts me in the F class, which is the bottom 10% of all rated chess players." Form there Eric chronicles his chess improvement with an astounding amount of thoughtful and very useful chess improvement material that could keep you occupied for weeks!


• Steve Learns Chess - Never enough time, but trying to improve my chess game anyway! Steve Eddins says "I’m a borderline class C / D player with a USCF rating fluctuating around 1400. I’m an adult player who’s trying to study and improve my game in between devoting time to my family and my job." That sounds familiar to must of us! This is a good blog to visit once your chess improvement plan is under way to see what life is like in the trenches.


• SquirrelChess.com - A journey into the world of chess. Squirrel says "This website is about learning to play chess, random things I discover on the long way to chess mastery, and the game of chess itself." Another must see site with all kinds of content: articles, reviews, annotated games, a chess glossary, and more.


• Chess Tales - Chess, chess players and tournaments worldwide, online and in the media. Roger, by his own admission is "probably quite a good player" and there is a lot of interesting material on his site. In particular, for advice on improving your chess, start with his Chess Improvement Tips
  
  Finally, although not a personal chess blog, I want to end this post with an absolutely essential resource for the chess novice:
  
  
• Dan Heisman's Chess Page. Dan is a National Master, full-time chess instructor, hosts a regular chess broadcast as "Phillytutor" on the Internet Chess Club and (best of all) is the award-winning Novice Nook columnist over at the Chess Cafe. Whew! I've mentioned Dan before in my blog (here and here) and I cannot recommend highly enough the fabulous advice he has for the chess beginner and novice.

I'll end with this bit of advice: "When in the same boat we should all pull together." :-) Thanks to the great chess improvement blogs out there, we are "pulling together"!

The One Chess Compuer I (Almost) Liked

The Fidelity Chess Challenger Sensory 9 from 1982

Rave - The One Chess Computer I (Almost) Liked

We'll need to take a trip in the "Way Back Machine" for this one - all the way back to 1982. Presenting the Fidelity Chess Challenger Sensory 9! My first (and best) computer chess experience.

My brother, a year or two before, had purchased the Chess Challenger 8 so he would have something to entertain himself at school. Strange to say, my brother really never played chess much - but he thought this would be a cool way to kill some time.

The Chess Challenger 8 was sort of cool - but it had some definite faults - the worse being it couldn't play chess - at least not very well, about the level of a 900-1000 player and its opening book consisted of a measly 80(!) positions. The other thing I didn't like about it was you had to trace the LED coordinates along two sides of the board to find the piece to be moved - then you pressed an enter key as I seem to remember - and you then repeated the process to find the destination square. Time consuming and awkward.

Enter the Sensory Chess Challenger 9 to the rescue! For 1982 it was an incredible technological achievement. It was a fantastic chess computer. It played very strongly - as far as I was concerned - about a 1600 rating with an opening book of 3,000 positions. It was also very convenient. The board had a "sensory" feature - to register a move you simply had to push down a piece on its square! Better yet, since each square had its own individual LED you simply repeated the press-and-move feature from one LED to the next to register the computer's move. Fantastic.

The only problem was I couldn't beat it past about level 3 or so. OK, maybe that was my problem and not its. :-)

Anyway, to this day it was the only computer chess playing experience I (almost) enjoyed.

Here's is an summary of the Chess Challenger 9 details:

• Manufacturer: Fidelity Electronics
• Dates from: 1982
• Processor: 6502B 1.6MHz
• Memory: 16 KB ROM
• Programmers: Dan & Kathe Spracklen
• Rating: Occasional Players / Weak Club Players (Elo 1570)
• Other details: pressure-sensitive board with LEDs on all squares
• Expandability; A cartridge slot for additional opening book modules - the CB9 with an additional 8160 positions and the CB16 with an additional 16,100 positions

I never did get either of the opening book expansion modules :-(

Look for the next installment of the series Rook's Rambling Rants & Raves each Wednesday.

Why I Hate Playing Computer Chess!

Today Even Grand Masters Hate Chess Computers!

Rant - Why I Hate Playing Computer Chess!

I have never enjoyed playing chess against a chess computer. I just don't find it much fun.

I think, for me, part of it is the need for competition - the desire to beat your opponent (at the end of this post you'll see some quotes from famous player's that echo this sentiment). I think the whole element of a "battle of the minds" seems rather pointless when your opponent is a machine.

The other big problem I have with computer chess, is computers just can't play like a real human being would. Human players can exhibit artistry, cleverness, craft, and cunning and just as easily display awkwardness, incompetence, inefficiency, and just plain ineptitude. We humans share one infallibility however - we will make mistakes. Computers can't mimic those "human" attributes in a believable way - especially the "making mistakes" part of the equation. I'm not sure they ever will.

Of course, perhaps the real root of the problem is I just can't beat the damn things. ;-)

- Rook Van Winkle

Famous chess players on the element of competition in chess:

"I like to make them squirm." - Bobby Fischer

“It’s just you and your opponent at the board and you're trying to prove something”(Bobby Fischer)

“Chess is like war on a board”(Bobby Fischer)

“I like the moment when I break a man's ego”(Bobby Fischer)

Chess is ruthless: you've got to be prepared to kill people. - Nigel Short

You cannot play at chess if you are kind-hearted. - French Proverb

Chess is a sport. A violent sport." - Marcel Duchamp

“Life is a kind of Chess, with struggle, competition, good and ill events”(Benjamin Franklin)

Look for the next installment of the series Rook's Rambling Rants & Raves each Wednesday.

New! Daily Chess Blog Entries (Planned)

Starting today, Rook is planning daily blog entries! The operative word here is planning :-) My ongoing health issues have a tendency to side track my best intentions. But, hey, we'll see how long a streak I can make this!

As part of this plan, I am assigning each day of the week a special topic:

• Monday will feature Rook's Rudimentary Resources, recommended books, videos and DVD's, Internet sites, chess software, and anything else I can think of that will either improve your game or enhance your enjoyment of the game...


• Tuesday's topic is Chess as Played in the Real World - to be more precise, as played in Rook Van Winkle's world. Each entry will feature an interesting (I hope) annotated game played by Rook Van Winkle


• Wednesday is Rook's Rambling Rants and Raves, a chance for me to sound off on a variety of chess topics.


• Thursday I will present Rook's Recommendations for Raising Ratings in which I will offer tips and suggestions, based on my own experience and those of the experts, for improving your game. I will also give a weekly status report as to how I am doing in meeting - or not meeting - my goals .


• Friday is Fridays by the Fireside where I plan to feature a few select items of interest from the wonderful Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld book The Fireside Book of Chess.


• Saturday is Romp with Rook (chess for fun). Entries on this day will feature items as diverse as chess problems and puzzles, chess variants, chess poems and stories, chess art, jokes, etc.


• Sunday Rook presents Regal Games from the Realms of Yore in which I will feature a celebrated chess game of the past.
  

I hope will will find these daily entries enjoyable, entertaining, and educational.

Chess as Played in the Real World - No. 2

I've been encouraging Judy to take up the game of chess, and ocassionally I can get her to play a game or two with me. Below is an amusing little game we played in June. I know I should go gentle on her but the killer instinct is too strong :-) To see the first entry in this series go here.

[Event "Skittles Game"]
[Site "Home"]
[Date "2007.06.21"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Judy"]
[Black "RookVanWinkle"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Opening "Tennison (Lemberg, Zukertort) gambit"]
[ECO "B01"]
[NIC "VO.17"]

1. e4 d5 2. Nf3 dxe4 3. Nh4 e5 4. d3 Qxh4 5. dxe4 Bc5 6. Qd5 Qxf2+ 7. Kd1Bg4+ 8. Be2 Qxe2#

Chess Books That Should Be Reprinted

Speaking of The Fireside Book of Chess, here is a fantastic list of "Chess Books That Should Be Reprinted" compiled and commented on by by C. Dunn over at Amazon.com. I have heard a lot about some of these titles - it is a shame that they are no longer being published. Are there other books we should add to this list?

1. Winning Chess by Irving Chernev. "The best chess book ever! Teaches tactical combinations in the most effective way."



2. My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer. "One of the best game collections ever. Fischer's annotations are instructive for all levels of players. There was controversy over the reprint, but both editions are hard to obtain cheaply."



3. Essential Chess Endings: The Tournament Player's Guide by James Howell. "If not this book try Silman's Essential Chess Endings Explained Move by Move, or Griffiths' Endings in Modern Theory and Practice."



4. Impact of Genius: Five Hundred Years of Grandmaster Chess by Richard E. Fauber. "Reprinted recently, but hard-to-find now. This has far more 19th century games than The Development of Chess Style by Euwe and Nunn, and even includes games of the early 19th century French master Labourdonais! Interesting perspective on players' styles."



5. March of Chess Ideas: How the Century's, The: Greatest Players Have Waged the War Over Chess Strategy (Chess) by Anthony Saidy. "Wonderful book. A very fun read. Interesting. And in Algebraic Notation. A good companion to Fauber, as the overlap is minimal. Chapters on Bronstein and Tal, and emphasis on later players."



6. Morphy Chess Masterpieces by Fred Reinfeld. "Alternatives include David Lawson's Morphy, The Pride and Sorrow of Chess or Shibut's Paul Morphy and the Evolution of Chess Theory. Sargeant's collection of Morphy games is not well-annotated."



7. The Fireside Book of Chess by Irving Chernev. "Another gem by Chernev (with Reinfeld, who was a less consistent author). Fun stories to read at the fireside. Also, see Reinfeld's Human Side of Chess (aka Great Chess Masters and Their Best Games)."



8. Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games: Improve Your Chess by Studying the Greatest Games of All time, from Adolf Anderssen's 'Immortal' Game to Kramnik Versus Kasparov 2000 by Graham Burgess. "Great book. Intermediate to advanced annotations. Wonderful selection of games. Interesting commentary ahead of each one. Instructive game summaries. And cheap!"



9. What's the Best Move?: The Classic Chess Quiz Book that Teaches You Openings with No Memorizing of Moves (Fireside Chess Library) by Larry Evans. "A useful way for intermediate players to learn openings. Instead of memorizing move sequences, use this book to train yourself to see (and avoid) subtle tactics,and to improve your position gradually."



10. Winning Chess Traps (Chess) by Irving Chernev. "A top ten chess book, wonderful for improving players under 1500. Maybe it will be converted to algebraic notation? Hardly matters for such short games."



11. Invitation to Chess by Irving Chernev. "A classic for novices, but I guess the birds-eye chessboard photos would have to be re-shot."



12. Masters of the Chessboard by Richard Reti. "436 pages; a bargain when it was in print. There are other books like this (Euwe, Fine, Fauber...) but many players enjoy Reti's annotations."



13. Russian Chess (Fireside Chess Library) by Bruce Pandolfini. "Pandolfini's 2nd best (after his best-selling endgame book), this is a perfect follow-up to Chernev's Logical Chess, being similar but slightly more advanced. Very entertaining!"



14. Smyslov's 125 Selected Games by Vasily V. Smyslov. "Not only the best Smyslov collection, but a wonderfully well annotated one. Hopefully, Everyman will put out a new edition."



15. The Test of Time (Russian Chess) by Garry Kasparov. "Great games. Great annotations. For very advanced players."



16. Point Count Chess by I. A. Horowitz. "I'm told that this book has some great instruction on assessing the merits of a position. A great early-intermediate book."



17. Larsen's Selected Games of Chess, 1948-69; by Bent Larsen. "An under-rated collection of Larsen, by Larsen."



18. Grandmaster Meets Chess Amateur (Batsford Chess Library) by Steve Davis. "Short, but instructive and very amusing. Master vs. Amateur games are the best way to learn, and humor never hurts. The level of advice here is similar to Sadler's Tips for Young Players."



19. Mastering the King's Indian Defense (A Batsford Chess Book) by Robert Bellin. "For club players, few books on openings are worth the paper they're printed on. This one is superlative, like the others (with Ponzetto) on the Spanish and the Benoni/Benko."



20. Chess Openings: Theory And Practice by I. A. Horowitz. "Best openings manual for the intermediate player ever. Not just key variations, but also plans, traps, ideal set-ups, typical board positions, and sample games. Plenty of verbiage."



21. The Middlegame in Chess by Reuben Fine. "This IS the reprint, but there are so many typos that it needs to be reprinted again."



22. The Art of Positional Play (Chess) by Samuel Reshevsky. "Ditto. Fire Burt Hochberg and fix the damn typos!"



23. The Genesis of Power Chess: Effective Winning Technique for Strategy and Tactics by Leslie Ault. "This would be the next level past Pandolfini. The right way to teach positional ideas to advanced beginners."



24. Road to Chess Mastery by Max Euwe. "Excellent followup to Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur. This book has the master playing against Class B up to Expert, with every move explained in detail. Also, ideas in the openings."



25. Chess Secrets I Have Learned from the Masters by Edward Lasker. "A delightful book, full of anecdotes, biography, autobiography, chess tips, and of course games. Ed Lasker had contact with dozens of masters through the decades of his career. And he loves chess."

Favorite Chess Books - The Fireside Book of Chess

The Fireside Book of Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld is perhaps my favorite chess book of all time. I'm sure part of the reason for that is nostalgia - it was the second chess book I purchased - my first being The Complete Chess Course by Fred Reinfeld (see my post on that book here). Although originally published by Simon and Schuster in 1949, fortunately for me this book was reprinted in 1971 and that is about the time I got it.

I still have that book - its pages have begun to yellow and some of the pages are loose - but that's just a result of me being so fond of it. I spent a good part of this past weekend reliving happy memories reading some of the stories in the book and in playing over some of the wonderful games included in this volume.

Sadly this book is out of print - but trust me - it is worth searching around for a used copy of it.

If you are not familiar with this book, FrKurtMessick gives an excellent overview of it:

This is a chess book of a different sort - it is not a how-to manual for beginners, nor is it a strategy and tactics book for the more advanced player. This is just what Fireside books are meant to be - collections of memories, anecdotes, puzzles, lists and other trivia (and not so trivial) bits about chess. This is of interest to those who have a deep abiding passion for chess, as well as for those who only dabble in it occasionally. Both editors have written other books on chess; both Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld have written some of the better books on learning chess separately, and together they also collaborated on a book showing strategy and skills development toward winning at chess.

This book is divided into three main sections. The first section contains stories and articles, collected from various publications such as the New Yorker and other newspapers and magazines. Included are also comics from the New Yorker, the Saturday Review of Literature, the New York Herald and other sources. Here are fake histories of the game, tongue-in-cheek stories, poignant memories and more. From the 'Capsule History of the Game' by Chielamangus, we get this snippet:

'The next great figure was Wilhelm Steinitz; a very deep player - also wide, though short. He held the world's championship for twenty-six years, and was therefore considered by his rivals to be very obstinate and pig-headed. Dr. Lasker then held the championship for another twenty-six years. Critics explained that this was because he made weak moves. This was psychology. Lasker thus became known as the apostle of common sense.'

The second section is entitled 'The Magic of Chess'. The entry 'Odd But True' includes a feast of trivia items. How can a game be won (or lost) in two moves? Was there really a master-level game that concluded in four moves? What was the longest master-level game, in number of moves? Many people through history have played through correspondence; given the amount of time permitted between moves, one would not expect too many mistakes, but the shortest of these types of games concluded in a mere six moves. There was also a book published once in Germany with the title, 'Advice to Spectators at Chess Tournaments'. All the pages were blank save one, which had but two words on it - 'Halt Maul!'

The third section is a collection of classic games and strategies, which includes a lot games more interesting for the circumstances surrounding them as much as for the play that takes place. These include miniatures (short games), blindfolded games, and even 'the perfect game'. This has a strange quality about it in chess - according to Chernev and Reinfeld, the perfect game is not one in which all the moves are 'perfect': 'A game in which neither side has made a mistake does not add up to perfection; in such games we find only a sterile dullness which lacks every memorable feature.'

Chernev and Reinfeld had the reputation for being able to speak for hours on end about chess without notes or books, much in the way many people will talk about sports, movies, politics or other areas. They write with wit and skill (much like the way they play the game), and have the hope that through their writing their love of the game is contagious. Judging from this book, one of my earliest books on chess, they are indeed.

Celebrated Chess Games from History - Stefan Levitsky vs Frank James Marshall 1912

David Shenk, in his excellent book The Immortal Game describes how, in an attempt to improve his game, he needed to "seek some expert help." As part of that quest he came upon a book of famous chess games, and from there upon one game in particular - "The Immortal Game" by Adolf Anderssen vs. Lionel Kieseritzky played June 21, 1851 in London.

For me, the first classic game I stumbled upon, after first learning the game of chess, was "Levitzky vs. Marshall", Breslau 1912. Why this particular game? Well, the book I was reading made this statement:

The most brilliant move ever seen on a chessboard was made by Frank J. Marshall, in a game against Levitzky. So electrifying was the effect on the spectators that they showered his board with gold pieces!

I had never played through classic game up to that point (I was about 9 or 10 years old), but with a claim like "the most brilliant move ever seen on a chessboard" and the mention of gold pieces being showered on the board I was hooked. This I had to see.

What a game! Marshall's last move consisted of a stunning queen sacrifice, seemingly out of the blue, allowing Levitsky to capture it in three different ways! Even with my limited understanding of chess I could appreciate the shock such a move must have created. Here is the game:

1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nc3 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.exd5 exd5 6.Be2 Nf6 7.O-O Be7 8.Bg5 O-O 9.dxc5 Be6 10.Nd4 Bxc5 11.Nxe6 fxe6 12.Bg4 Qd6 13.Bh3 Rae8 14.Qd2 Bb4 15.Bxf6 Rxf6 16.Rad1 Qc5 17.Qe2 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Qxc3 19.Rxd5 Nd4 20.Qh5 Ref8 21.Re5 Rh6 22.Qg5 Rxh3 23.Rc5 Qg3!! 0-1

To this day, I remember it fondly as the first "classic game" of chess I ever played over.

What was your first memorable classic game?

UPDATE: I found an interesting discussion about the legend that "spectators showered the board with gold pieces" in a discussion in the Kibitzer's Corner at www.chessgames.com/:

"It is not strange that a game as old as chess should have its fabulous legends. Columbus's voyage to America, for example, according to one tale, would not have been possible had not King Ferdinand of Spain managed to retrieve a lost game (with the assistance of one of Columbus's well-wishers). A battle in the Revolution could have been won had a British general not pocketed a note during a chess game, in which he was much absorbed, warning him of the approach of the Americans. One myth has made the rounds so often that it has gained wide currency through reiteration, even though there isn't a grain of truth in it. It concerns the famous brilliancy at Breslau in 1912 in the game Marshall-Lewitzky [sic]. On his twenty-third move, the late U.S. champion won fantastically by subjecting his Queen to capture in three different ways on one move. This was dubbed the most beautiful move ever made on the chessboard. Enthusiastic spectators are alleged to have showered the board with gold pieces. But Caroline Marshall, who ought to know, disclaims knowledge of even a shower of pennies." I.A. Horowitz, All About Chess, 1958.

And this follow-up comment:

Its difficult to know for sure, but Caroline Marshall is probably right. Andrew Soltis in Frank Marshall, Chess Champion (McFarland, 1994) had Marshall's original notes for the "My Fifty Years in Chess". Marshall says only that he received "a purse" after the game. Why did he get money after the game? Apparently, some Russian nationals like P.P. Saburov and Alekhine bet that their countryman Levitsky would win. After the game, they dumped their coins on board to pay off Marshall. The story was recounted by Walter Korn in American Chess Heritage. Korn was not present but told the story as it was circulated around Europe.
Still, why didn't Caroline Marshall see the payoff? And why did Marshall after the publication of the book insist that the shower of gold story was true? The rumor has always been that Fred Reinfeld helped with My Fifty Years in Chess, so perhaps it was he who exaggerated the facts a bit and Marshall simply loved the idea.

Play "Cooperative Chess" at Work

I was certain that the game of chess would be mentioned in the excellent book Keep Your Brain Alive - 83 Neurobic Exercises to help prevent memory loss and increase mental fitness by Dr. Lawrence C. Katz and Manning Rubin. (You can read my blog entry about the book here: Rook Van Winkle's Chess Blog: Keep Your Brain Alive)

Sure enough, on page 83 they recommend using an "ongoing chess game" at work as one of their exercises for "preserving and enhancing the brain's capabilities into the senior years."

Basically the idea is to set up a chess game near the water cooler (or some other public place were co-workers gather) "where an employee can come to the board, assess the situation, and make a move."

Although this doesn't allow for the development of long term strategies, according to the authors of the book:

... It does require visual-spatial thinking that is different from what most of us do at work. The brief gear switching provides a break from verbal, left-brain activities and lets the 'working brain' take a breather."

I think this is a fantastic idea! You will need some method to indicate whether it is white's or black's turn to play.

Why not use this as a great way to get a chess club started at your work? It would certainly attract the attention of any chess playing co-workers, and the novelty of the 'shared game" might even spark some interest among your non-chess playing co-workers - perhaps they might even want to take up the game themselves?

The Evolution of Chess - Chess Variants - Part One

One nice thing about being a rather weak amateur chess player is that there is no danger (at least in my lifetime) of chess becoming so easy and predictable as to not be worth playing. However, this may soon be a problem for chess professionals and chess computer programs, especially with the news that the game of checkers has been "solved" by a computer program called "Chinook". Will chess soon follow? Not likely, says computer scientist Jonathan Schaeffer:

Whereas checkers has a mere 500-billion-billion positions (5 followed by 20 zeroes), chess is though to have about a billion-trillion-trillion-trillion positions (1 followed by 45 zeroes).

"Given the effort required to solve checkers," Schaeffer reports, "chess will remain unsolved for a long time, barring the invention of new technology."

Well, I'm glad to hear that. Even so, I have always had an interest in chess variants since I first learned the game, going all the way back to the 1970's when I purchased the fascinating Dover Publications (they have a lot of great classic chess books available) volume "Guide to Fairy Chess" by Anthony Stewart Mackay Dickins.

Here, summarized from Chess-Poster.com are some of the more common suggestions for "improving" the game of chess:

• Modify (or abolish) the castling rules.


• Add new chess pieces that combine the movements of several pieces i.e. a piece that combines the moves of a rook and knight or a bishop and knight - or even a queen and knight.


• Change the initial starting positions of the chess pieces. This is one of the more popular proposals as found in Chess960 (also known as Fischer Random Chess).


• Changing the way pawns move (the ability to move three squares forward on the first move or to move one or two squares forward each turn) or the ways pawns can be promoted (promotion of pawns to minor pieces on reaching the seventh rank).


• Changing the size or layout of the chessboard (very often to accommodate the extra chess pieces as mentioned in the 2nd bullet).

In parts two and three, I'll take a look at two of the most popular (and intriguing) commercial variant chess available - Gothic Chess and Omega Chess.

In the meantime, if you have an interest in chess variants start with the excellent Wikipedia article on chess variants or visit the The Chess Variant Pages.

Keep Your Brain Alive

If you've read my profile, you know one of the reasons I decided to take up chess again was for the good of my brain. Recently, PBS Television has started a new series called Life (Part 2) for those of us approaching (or past) the age of fifty. On the show there has been a lot of good advice on how to exercise the aging brain to keep it healthy. In one episode, The Aging Brain, Dr. Rudy Tanzi, Ph.D., (a Harvard-trained neurobiologist, and the director of the genetics and aging research unit at the Massachusetts General Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease) was asked how can we keep our brains healthy:

The best way to do this is exercise, both physical and mental. Learn new things, or do routine things in a different way. Take a new route to work, or try golfing or brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand. (Hey, it just might improve your game!)

As part of the recommendation "do routine things in a different way" Dr Tanzi recommends the book Keep Your Brain Alive - 83 Neurobic Exercises to help prevent memory loss and increase mental fitness by Dr. Lawrence C. Katz.

I purchased a copy of this book and I highly recommend it. It makes for fascinating reading and has dozens of intriguing brain exercises. The 83 exercises given are not logic puzzles or memory exercises but "nuerobic exercises" that "use the five senses in novel ways to make the brain more agile and flexible overall so it can take on any mental challenge, whether it be memory, task performance, or creativity."