City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

Chess for dummies, by James Eade

eng

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Chess for dummies

751789922

by James Eade

Machine generated contents note: About This Book -- Conventions Used in This Book -- What You're Not to Read -- Foolish Assumptions -- How This Book Is Organized -- pt. I Laying the Groundwork for Champion Chess -- pt. II Gaining Chess Know-How -- pt. III Game Time: Putting Your Chess Foot Forward -- pt. IV Getting into Advanced Action -- pt. V The Part of Tens -- pt. VI Appendixes -- Icons Used in This Book -- Where to Go from Here -- pt. I Laying the Groundwork for Champion Chess -- ch. 1 Tackling Chess Basics -- Chesstacular! Understanding the Basics of the Game -- The underlying concepts -- The finer points of the game -- Three parts that make a whole -- Different ways to get your game on -- Chessboard Chatter: Bringing Home a Board and Chess Set -- Finding the right board and set -- Getting up close and personal with your board -- Piecemeal: Putting the Pieces on the Board -- ch. 2 Getting to Know the Pieces and Their Powers -- Acting Like a Chariot: The Rook --Contents note continued: Showing Off Slender Curves: The Bishop -- Flaunting Her Power: The Queen -- Moving One Square at a Time: The King -- Galloping in an L-Formation: The Knight -- Scooting Around as the Army's Runt: The Pawn -- ch. 3 Exploring the Elements of Chess -- Hogging the Board: Space -- Avoiding that cramped feeling -- Gaining control -- Employing space strategies from the get-go -- Considering the laws of space -- Getting the Most Bang for Your Buck: Material -- Valuing your pawns and pieces -- Adopting material strategies -- Positioning Pieces in Good Time: Development -- Gaining a tempo -- Making a gambit (maybe) -- Protecting the Head Honcho: King Safety -- Working Together: Pawn Structure -- Two at a time: Pawn duos -- Promote the little guys: Passed pawns -- Mobility is key: Isolated pawns -- Left behind on open files: Backward pawns -- On the verge of backward: Hanging pawns -- In front of a pawn sibling: Doubled pawns -- Lines in the sand: Pawn chains --Contents note continued: All together now: Pawn tips for the road -- ch. 4 Going after the King: Check, Stalemate, and Checkmate -- Check `Em Out': Attacking the Enemy King -- Stuck in a Rut: Stalemate -- No Escape for Ye King: Checkmate -- Cutting off squares with the king and the queen -- Checkmating with the king and the rook -- ch. 5 Making a Few Special Moves -- Capturing a Pawn at Your Side: En Passant -- Boosting Your Pawns' Powers: Promotion -- Guarding Your King and Putting a Rook in Motion: Castling -- ch. 6 Got Notation? Reading and Writing about Chess -- Keeping Track of the Pieces -- Writing the Moves of a Game -- Describing a typical opening -- Indicating captures -- Noting an exchange and a castle -- Recording a pawn promotion -- Accounting for Ambiguities (Which Knight, for Pete's Sake?) -- Commenting on a Game after the Fact -- pt. II Gaining Chess Know-How -- ch. 7 Trying Out Tactics and Combinations in Hand-to-Hand Combat -- Knowing Your Tactical Game Plan --Contents note continued: Bullying two guys at once: The fork -- Going after the bodyguard: The pin -- Forcing your opponent to move it or lose it: The skewer -- Stealing the show: The discovered attack -- Making the king sweat: The discovered check and the double check -- Combining Moves to Speed Your Progress -- Sacrificing a piece to clear a path -- Luring your opponent with a decoy -- Deflecting your opponent's piece off a key square -- Destroying the guard -- Overloading one piece to make another piece vulnerable -- ch. 8 Sacrifices: Understanding When It's Better to Give than to Receive -- Sacrificing for an Edge in Development: The Gambit -- Setting Up an Attack on the Enemy King: The Classic Bishop Sacrifice -- Immediate Gratification: The Temporary Sacrifice -- A Strategic Move for the Patient: The Permanent Sacrifice -- ch. 9 Building Pattern Recognition -- Analyzing Chess Positions and Looking Ahead -- Picking Up on Pawn Formations --Contents note continued: The French Defense and pawn chains -- Typical pawn formations after the French Defense -- Eyeing Endgame Patterns -- Transferring the rook -- Building a bridge -- ch. 10 Recognizing Advanced Pawn Formations -- Exploring the Powers of Pawn Formations -- Restricting your opponent's mobility -- Playing up your strengths and minimizing your weaknesses -- Involving the Bishop with the Fianchetto -- Looking at the fianchetto's strengths -- Watching out for the fianchetto's weaknesses -- Varying the Sicilian with the Dragon -- Clawing your way through the Dragon's pros -- Getting past the Dragon's drawbacks -- Exercising Your Pawns' Flexibility with the Scheveningen -- Assessing the advantages -- Looking at the downside -- Building the Stonewall -- Relying on the Stonewall's strengths -- Coping with the Stonewall's weaknesses -- Matching Color to Center Squares with the Closed English -- Eyeing the benefits -- Coming to terms with the pitfalls --Contents note continued: Winging It with the Nimzo-Botvinnik -- Discovering the advantages -- Weeding out the weaknesses -- ch. 11 Mastering Mating Patterns -- Trapping the King: Back-Rank Mates -- Pairing the Heavy and the Light: Queen and Pawn Mates -- A simple queen and pawn mate -- A complicated queen and pawn mate -- Complementing Each Other Perfectly: Queen and Knight Mates -- Beginning with a basic queen and knight mate -- Surveying the smothered mate -- Creating a Steamroller: Bishop and Rook Mates -- pt. III Game Time: Putting Your Chess Foot Forward -- ch. 12 Selecting Your Strategy: The Principles of Play -- Examining Different Types of Games and Choosing Which Type Is Right for You -- Aiming for the Center -- Starting the game with center pawns -- Developing the knights and bishops -- Looking for control of the center -- Understanding initiative, positional advantage, and what happens next -- Exchanging Pieces -- Controlling Key Squares to Lock Up an Advantage --Contents note continued: Holding Back Pawns with a Blockade -- ch. 13 Coming on Strong in the Opening -- Developing Your Pieces -- Controlling the center as efficiently as possible -- Watching your opponent -- Following basic development principles -- Attacking Your Opponent's Pieces -- Perusing Some Possibilities for First Moves -- Taking note of two good first moves -- Surveying some not-as-good first moves -- Figuring out the fianchetto as a first move -- Exploring Common Chess Openings -- A popular double king pawn opening: The Ruy Lopez (the Spanish Game) -- Different strokes: Other black replies to white's first move of the king's pawn -- Ladies first: Double queen pawn openings -- Going back in time: Indian Defenses -- ch. 14 Making Headway during the Middlegame -- Formulating a Middlegame Plan -- Evaluating the position -- Taking advantage of the pawn structure -- Looking for ways to use a minority attack -- Attacking during the Middlegame --Contents note continued: Watching out for and defending against certain types of attacks -- Keeping some basic principles in mind -- ch. 15 Exiting with Style in the Endgame -- Putting the Endgame into Perspective -- Getting a Handle on the General Winning Endgame Strategy -- The Geometry of the Chessboard -- Typical Stories: Pawn and King Endings -- When a pawn and the enemy king race to the queening square -- When the kings face off: Opposition -- When you can whittle down the material: Simplification -- When each side has more than one pawn -- The Oh-So-Common Tricksters: Rook Endings -- Bishops and Knights: Minor Piece Endings -- Medieval times, chess-style: Knight versus knight -- Survival of the fittest: Knight versus bishop -- A religious battle: Bishop versus bishop -- pt. IV Getting into Advanced Action -- ch. 16 Playing in Competition -- Practice Makes Perfect: Joining a Club First -- Breaking Down U.S. Tournament Basics -- Finding tournaments -- Watching your time --Contents note continued: Earning ratings -- Familiarizing yourself with the types of tournaments -- Exploring Tournament Chess around the World -- Miss (or Mister) Manners: Tournament Etiquette -- Calling your loss -- Offering a draw -- Being careful what you touch -- Straightening your pieces -- Saving snacks for later -- Going the Distance: Correspondence Chess -- ch. 17 Hitting the Net with Computer Chess -- Building a Better Player: A Brief History of Computer Chess -- Developing a suitable approach -- Looking at landmarks in development -- A (Down) Load of Information: General Chess Websites -- Schooling Yourself: Electronic Chess Instruction -- All in One Spot: Chess Databases -- The Little Engines that Could: Chess-Playing Computer Programs -- What a Site: Playing Chess Online -- pt. V The Part of Tens -- ch. 18 The Ten Most Famous Chess Games of All Time -- Before You Begin: Understanding the Games -- Adolf Anderssen versus Lionel Kieseritzky: The Immortal Game --Contents note continued: Adolf Anderssen versus J. Dufresne: The Evergreen Game -- Paul Morphy versus Duke Karl of Braunschweig and Count Isouard -- Wilhelm Steinitz versus Kurt Von Bardeleben -- Georg Rotlewi versus Akiba Rubinstein: Rubinstein's Immortal Game -- Stepan Levitsky versus Frank Marshall -- Emanuel Lasker versus Jose Raul Capablanca -- Donald Byrne versus Robert J. Fischer: The Game of the Century -- Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov -- Garry Kasparov versus the World -- ch. 19 The Ten Best Players of All Time (and a Few Others) -- Garry Kasparov (1963-), Russia -- Anatoly Karpov (1951-), Russia -- Jose Raul Capablanca (1888-1942), Cuba -- Robert James Fischer (1943-2008), United States -- Paul Morphy (1837-1884), United States -- Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941), Germany -- Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900), Austria -- Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946), Russia -- Mikhail Botvinnik (1911-1995), Russia -- Mikhail Tal (1936-1992), Latvia -- Honorable Mentions --Contents note continued: The Strongest Players Never to Be World Champion -- pt. VI Appendix -- Appendix A A Glossary of Chess -- Appendix B Chess Resources -- Chess Books for Beginners -- Chess Equipment -- Informative Internet Resources -- U.S. Places to See and Games to Play