"Chess is a beautiful mistress." — Bent Larsen

"Lack of patience is probably the most common reason for losing a game, or drawing games that should have been won." — Bent Larsen

"For me, chess is at the same time a game, a sport, a science and an art. And perhaps even more than that. There is something hard to explain to those who do not know the game well. One must first learn to play it correctly in order to savor its richness." — Bent Larsen

BL Best Games: https://www.newinchess.com/bent-lar...

BL Move by Move: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Bo...

BL Moves Guide: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show...

Learn from BL: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/learn...

Bookie Challenge

"The best book on chess? The question blossoms afresh with every new student of the game, and the answer, if candid, is ever the same: "Gather all you can from every good source, and let experience prove the worth or worthlessness of your harvest." As in other things, mere bookishness is not knowledge, nor on the other hand is a fine disregard of chess literature a key to proficiency; and the beginner drinking in the plausible hallucinations of a Gossip or a Staunton is quite as misguided as he who heeds the warning of a Lasker to give the chess book a wide berth." — W.E. Napier

Two Old Books (and one new)
Koltanowski, George, and Milton Finkelstein. Checkmate! The Patterns of the Winning Mating Attacks and How to Achieve Them. New York: Doubleday and Co., 1978. Tal, Mikhail, and Victor Khenkin. Tal's Winning Chess Combinations: The Secrets of Winning Chess Combinations Described and Explained by the Russian Grandmaster Mikhail Tal, trans. Hanon W. Russell. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979.

Checkmate! (1978) and Tal's Winning Chess Combinations (1979) are remarkably similar in approach. Each takes an individual piece and offers game conclusions where that piece delivers the check that is mate. Then, individual chapters concern certain groups of pieces: both texts have chapters on two rooks, rook and bishop, rook and knight, two bishops, two knights, and queen and knight. Tal and Khenkin* continue this scheme with queen and bishop, queen and knight, and three pieces. In contrast, Koltanowski and Finkelstein offer chapters on certain patterns—Boden's Mate, Epaulettes Mate, Long Diagonal Mates, Greco and Damiano Mates, and a chapter on double check. These pattern-oriented chapters are followed by chapters arranged by the piece that is sacrificed to set-up checkmate. There are additional chapters on pawn promotion, drawing resources, and how masters use checkmate threats.

There is a difference in the expectation of the target audience evident in advice about how to read the books. Koltanowski and Finkelstein repeatedly suggest that a reader should set up the position on a board and play through the moves in order to plant the patterns into memory. Tal and Khenkin, in contrast, suggest that readers study the book without a chess board to improve visualization skills, using a chess board "when you're really stymied" (14).

Legall's Mate appears in both books. Tal and Khenkin have it in the chapter on three pieces, while Koltanowski and Finkelstein place it under queen sacrifices. These books differ on the game score of Legall — St. Brie, as well as the date. Tal's Winning Chess Combinations has the game played in 1787 when Legall was 85 years old (351). Checkmate! states that the opening trap was first recorded about 1750, but does not explicitly state the game was played then (197-198). Koltanowski's penchant for dubious stories makes its appearance here in the claim, "Légal was one of the first players to record his games" (197). If he recorded his games, what happened to them? Today, we cannot even be certain of the moves in the sole surviving example of Legall's play.

Checkmate!

Checkmate! was brought to my attention in response to my assertion in the Facebook group Chess Book Collectors that the best books for teaching checkmate patterns are George Renaud and Victor Kahn, The Art of the Checkmate; and Victor Henkin, 1000 Checkmate Combinations (see below). My claim provoked some interesting discussion. One commenter identified Checkmate! as a book that helped him learn these skills. Bruce Pandolfini also commented that Milton Finkelstein "was a wonderful chess teacher". On the strength of such recommendations, I found a copy and bought it.

The chapters in Checkmate! typically begin with some elementary illustrations and an impressive combination from master play. The authors describe conditions and rules for executing the checkmate in question, often producing numbered lists. For instance, the "four conditions necessary for mate with a rook": 1. The enemy king lacks escape squares.
2. A rook can attack it on a rank or a file.
3. The rook is immune from capture.
4. The rook check cannot be blocked by the interposing of a protected piece or pawn. (41) The bulk of each chapter consists of exercises with a number of blanks on which a student can write the moves--workbook style. The introduction of each exercise typically offers clues, and in some cases the final position is shown. The book contains a bit over 550 exercises in total. Answers are in the back of the book. Here is an example from the chapter, "Boden's Mate", that is simple when you know the pattern, but has vexed many of my students over the years (151).

White to move

Often there are historical anecdotes about a player whose combination is featured. These anecdotes in Checkmate! are entertaining, but unreliable. We learn, for instance, that Akiba Rubinstein was confined to Berlin during World War I, "went bankrupt and then developed a persecution mania that broke his powers of concentration" (47). A more credible work, Akiba Rubinstein: Uncrowned King (1994) by John Donaldson and Nikolay Minev, places Rubinstein in Warsaw, limited to a playing local opponents in that city and in Lodz. Donaldson and Minev offer crosstables and games from the war period. They also note that Rubinstein married in 1917 and had a son born in 1918, both events taking place in German occupied Warsaw (254). There should be no question that Rubinstein's postwar play was inconsistent, as suggested by Koltanowski and Finkelstein, but they leave the impression that he did not play at all after the war. In fact, he won several strong tournaments in the 1920s. His performance in St. Petersburg in 1914 suggests that inconsistency cannot be wholly pinned on difficulties during the war years.

Historical errors are distracting, but do not destroy the book's pedagogical value for learning checkmate patterns. Nor do the errors in Checkmate! make the book unique. The list of errors that could be produced from thorough fact checking of Renaud and Kahn also would be lengthy (see "Pillsbury's Mate").

One of the simple illustrations of a final check by a rook in Checkmate! is identical in concept to one that I use often with my beginning students, and with which I became acquainted through Bruce Pandolfini, Pandolfini's Endgame Course (1988).

White to move

Classifying and organizing checkmate patterns is not a simple matter. In my own efforts, guided by half a dozen books and a few websites, I separated the dovetail and swallowtail checkmates from epaulette, listing all three as checkmates with the queen. Renaud and Kahn use the term Guéridon for the two bird mates and include this pattern with epaulette. Koltanowski and Kinkelstein lump them together under epaulette mate, but do not limit the pattern to a final check with the queen. This position credited to a Russian player surnamed Usachev illustrates (67-68).

Black to move

1...Bc3 2.Ke2

Black could avoid checkmate at the cost of a rook, the authors note. Stockfish shows that both rooks will disappear if Black plays the superior move 2.Kc1. After 2.Ke2, Black has a mate in two that starts with a queen sacrifice and ends with a knight check. Four White pieces occupy the king's escape squares, serving as ornament rather than protection.

Checkmate! includes a substantial number of checkmate examples. Had I acquired it when it was first published during my teen years and devoted myself to working through the book, I may have become a much stronger player.

Unfortunately, whatever the merits of the book, the authors were ill-served by their publisher. The very first diagram in the text is wrong (2). It appears that the image negative was flipped before printing--there is a dark square in the lower-right corner. Black's 4...K-K4 is an illegal move as there is a pawn on that square. The mismatch between the original position and the final position showing checkmate with a pawn alerts the attentive reader to the problem, so the error can be overcome. The publisher also exercised poor quality control over the printing process. Too much ink was allowed to flow, creating many pages where the dark squares are so dark that the Black pieces on them nearly disappear. Many pages have crystal clear diagrams, but a large percentage are dark and even blurred from inattention by the printer. These problems will be even worse in the Ishi Press reprints, which are notorious for poor print quality.

Tal's Winning Chess Combinations

My Facebook assertion in favor of the value of Henkin, 1000 Checkmate Combinations was grounded in study of Tal and Khenkin, Tal's Winning Chess Combinations, which I have found quite good. My view also stems from superficial examination of the newer translation in Kindle format. Others have assured me that the newer edition is a better translation of The Last Check (more on that below).

Tal's Winning Chess Combinations is more challenging than Checkmate! This position from Adams -- Torre, New Orleans 1920 (given as 1921 in the text) and the winning idea is richer than most of the combinations in Koltanowski and Finkelstein (19).**

White to move

White offered his queen for six consecutive moves in the effort to divert Black's queen from the defense of e8. The idea reappears as exercise 8 (37) from Guldin -- Bagdatev (1963), a position I remember from Lev Alburt, Chess Training Pocket Book, 2nd ed. (2000).

The initial example in each chapter of Checkmate! is usually comparable, but the rest of each chapter is less demanding. It did not take me more than ten minutes to blaze through the 13 exercises in the rook chapter, and every example was a forced checkmate. In many of the examples in Tal's Winning Chess Combinations, mate threats can be parried with significant sacrifice, still leading to a lost game.

Tal's Winning Chess Combinations also has a clearer demarcation between the instructive section and the exercises. Each chapter begins with diagrams showing the elementary pattern, and then proceeds through instructive and entertaining examples. Most chapters repeat this sequence with more checkmate patterns and game fragments. The object is showing a range of possibilities with the piece or pieces in question. As in Checkmate!, Tal's Winning Chess Combinations presents game endings where a queen did not deliver the final check in an epaulette mate.

This one is presented as Korchnoy -- Petrosyan 1965 (281).

White to move

White has a forced checkmate in four moves with a queen sacrifice on the second.

The bulk of the book is devoted to instructive examples. An idea is presented, then a few position, then a variations on the idea and more illustrations. The Adams -- Torre position above is the ninth instance of a combination exploiting a weak back rank in the chapter on the rook. This chapter begins with a simple illustration of a back rank checkmate. The instructive portion offers fifteen combinations to divert defenders from protecting the vulnerability. Diversion is combined with a second threat in some combinations. Further examples offer other tactical ideas, such as "line interference" in Reti -- Bogoljubow 1924 (22).

White to move

After 24.Bf7+ Kh8 25.Be8, Black resigned.

Tal's Winning Chess Combinations is notable for how it builds understanding of many possibilities related to a simple pattern. Applying what we know from backrank checkmates, the author notes that kings can be hemmed in by their own pieces on a file as well as rank. Even a file away from the edge of the board can become a deadly corridor. Goldenov -- Zakharian 1960 is a memorable example (34).

Black to move

1...g4 2.Kf4 Ra5 3.e5 Ra4+ 4.e4 Ra3 and White resigned.

Tal and Khenkin's chapter on the rook offers 45 instructive positions and then 17 exercises at the end of the chapter for the reader to solve. This abundance contrasts with a total of 13 exercises following four instructive examples in Koltanowski and Finkelstein. Checkmate!, however, offers 25 chapters to the 14 in the other text. The total of 271 exercises in Tal's Winning Chess Combinations are far fewer than more than 550 found in Checkmate!, but many offer greater challenge. On balance, I prefer Tal's Winning Chess Combinations, but expect to lift some examples from Checkmate! while creating worksheets for my students.

The New Book

Henkin, Victor. 1000 Checkmate Combinations, trans. Jimmy Adams and Sarah Hurst. London: Batsford Chess, 2011 2022.

1000 Checkmate Combinations is a newer translation of the same Russian book as Tal's Winning Chess Combinations. As such, the two books have considerable overlap. However, the differences are extensive. Both books have the same fourteen chapters, although the sequence differs. Each chapter offers a series of instructive game fragments and studies and then conclude with exercises at the end of the chapter. Tal's Winning Chess Combinations has a total of 271 exercises, but the newer translation expands these to 456. 1000 Checkmate Combinations was published just over ten years ago, but has been out of print most of that time, although a Kindle edition was available. It was brought back into print in February 2022.

I cannot assess the quality of the translation. I lack both the resources (a copy of the Russian edition of The Last Check) and the competence (knowledge of Russian). However, I prefer the recent Batsford edition for several reasons. Tal's Winning Chess Combinations blurs the lines between Khenkin's work and Tal's contribution. 1000 Checkmate Combinations explicitly states that the book is Henkin's work. The title page reveals that Victor Henkin owns the text copyright. Batsford also asserts copyright ownership. The publisher owns all rights in the 1979 translation by Hanon Russell; there is no mention of the authors on the copyright page.

Tal's Winning Chess Combinations begins with an Introduction: "Don't Reinvent the Wheel", co-authored by Tal and Khenkin (9-14). 1000 Checkmate Combinations has "Don't Reinvent the Bicycle" by Tal (5-6) followed by "Before You Open the Book" by Henkin (7-9). The joint introduction in the earlier translation contains most of the content presented in the two introductions in the later text. In addition to clarifying authorship, the most notable differences are that Tal ended his introduction in the Batsford edition with a quote from Richard Réti, Masters of the Chessboard. This quote is absent from Russell's translation. Russell also inserts Legall's game into the introduction, while Adams and Hurst do not.

In Tal's introduction to the Batsford edition, we find: There hasn't been a book like this before in our chess literature. The author has done an enormous amount of work selecting and systematizing the material. An experienced master, who in the recent past himself participated in competitions and had a reputation as a staunch tactician, he has retained a particular taste for the last check. (6) This text is absent from Tal's Winning Chess Combinations. 1000 Checkmate Combinations is clearly the work of Henkin, lauded by Tal. Henkin's authorship is attested in Vladimir Barsky, A Modern Guide to Checkmating Patterns (2020), which is dedicated to Viktor Khenkin, whose pioneering organization in The Last Check is the model for Barsky's text.

Tal's Winning Chess Combinations presents a decisive mating combination played by Vera Menchik against George Thomas in 1932, and then imitated by David Bronstein against Paul Keres 18 years later (32-33). In both books this combination follows Capablanca -- Raubitschek 1906, to which it is comparable. 1000 Checkmate Combinations adds Tal -- Andersson 1976, where Tal's threats to bring about Menchik's combination provoked a series of exchanges that simplified into an ending with queen against knight and rook (25).

White to move

After the immediate 25.Qh6, the combination falters because Black's resources with 25...Rg8 and 26...Nf8 hold the position together. Tal first set out to remove the knight.

25.Bb6 Rc8 26.Qh6 Rg8 27.Rd4!

Henkin writes, "So Ulf Andersson gives up his queen for rook and bishop, which, however, doesn't save the game" (25).

27...Nxb6 28.Rxd5 Nxd5 29.Rf3

With Tal renewing the mating threat, Anderrson is forced to exchange rooks.

29...Rc3 30.Rxc3 Nxc3 31.Qe3 b4 32.Qa7 Rf8 33.Qc5 Rb8 34.Qd6 1-0

This long combination with checkmate threats parried, but still leading to a decisive advantage is a characteristic of Henkin's work. Both translations of his work bring this out, but the more recent text does so in greater abundance.

Detailed comparison of the first chapter of both books shows that the 45 positions in Tal and Khenkin expands to 62 in 1000 Checkmate Combinations. I count five in the older translation that are missing from the newer edition. My count of 15 in the Batsford edition that are absent from Tal's Winning Chess Combinations reveals there is something askew with my counting (15+5 > 17). But there is no doubt that the newer edition has more material. The 1979 text has three sets of basic patterns followed by examples from games and studies. The Batsford edition has four. Above, I credit Tal's Winning Chess Combinations with showing corridor mates on files as well as ranks. The idea is there, but is is made more explicit in the section found only in the newer book. Mating situations in which the rook delivers a linear blow can also arise on the files. In these cases it is as if the board does a 90-degree turn. (20). At the end of the chapter on rooks, the exercises have expanded from 17 to 43 in 1000 Checkmate Combinations.

Although many passages in the two books make it abundantly clear that they are derived from the same Russian text, the language employed differs. The familiar term luft is found in Russell's translation, but becomes "the little window" in the work of Adams and Hurst. Diversion becomes deflection. Line interruption becomes interference.

Some readers will object to the small size of the diagrams in 1000 Checkmate Combinations. They are indeed small at 35 mm. Only a few books have smaller diagrams, such as the training positions in Antonio Gude, Fundamental Checkmates (2016), measuring 34 mm. Other chess books typically have diagrams from 40-50 mm, and the main part of Gude's book comes in at 45 mm. Diagrams in Tal's Winning Chess Combinations are 41 mm. They are 43 mm in Checkmate!

In the Kindle edition of Henkin, the figurines in the notation are a larger font than the text. I have found this ebook difficult to read, but the print text is a delight, even with the small diagrams. At least the diagrams are very clear with appropriate shading of the dark squares and clear pieces.

Notes

*Both Khenkin and Henkin appear as the spelling of this writer's name in different places. I favor the spelling used by the book under discussion. Vladimir Barsky dedicates A Modern Guide to Checkmating Patterns (2020) to Viktor Lvovich Khenkin and offers The Last Check as the English title of the Russian work upon which both Tal's Winning Chess Combinations and 1000 Checkmate Combinations are based. Barsky's book follows the general outline of these two, but with far less instructive material. Rather the instruction is provided as exercises. While Khenkin is the spelling on the cover and title page of Tal's Winning Chess Combinations, games played by the author are presented in the text with the spelling Henkin.

**In all likelihood, this game was analysis, possibly by the alleged victim of the combination as instruction for the alleged victor. See Edward Winter, "Adams v Torre -- A Sham?" Chess Notes (updated 14 December 2022). Posted by James Stripes at 6:44 AM No comments:

"The boy (referring to a 12-year-old boy named Anatoly Karpov) doesn't have a clue about chess, and there's no future at all for him in this profession." — Mikhail Botvinnik

"I like 1.e4 very much but my results with 1.d4 are better." — Anatoly Karpov

"Style? I have no style." — Anatoly Karpov

"Let us say that a game may be continued in two ways: one of them is a beautiful tactical blow that gives rise to variations that don't yield to precise calculations; the other is clear positional pressure that leads to an endgame with microscopic chances of victory. I would choose the latter without thinking twice. If the opponent offers keen play I don't object; but in such cases I get less satisfaction, even if I win, than from a game conducted according to all the rules of strategy with its ruthless logic." — Anatoly Karpov

"Chess is everything: art, science and sport." — Anatoly Karpov

"I simply developed that universal style which dominated with the arrival of Spassky and then Fischer. But all the same we were different chess players, of course. Both Spassky and Fischer were brilliant at developing and sensing the initiative. In that regard I was, perhaps, a little inferior, but on the other hand I stood out by having excellent technique for converting an advantage, positional sense and an ability to maneuver positionally – in that area I was clearly superior to Spassky, and Fischer, and perhaps everyone, except Petrosian." — Anatoly Karpov

"At first, I found some of his moves not altogether understandable, and only after careful analysis did I discover their hidden strength." — Ljubomir Ljubojevic (on Karpov)

"When observing Karpov's play or playing against him, one cannot help thinking that all his pieces are linked by invisible threads. This net moves forward unhurriedly, gradually covering the enemy squares, but, amazingly, not relinquishing its own." — Alexander Roshal

"When having an edge, Karpov often marked time and still gained the advantage! I don't know anyone else who could do that, it's incredible. I was always impressed and delighted by this skill. When it looked like it was high time to start a decisive attack, Karpov played a3, h3, and his opponent's position collapsed." — Vladimir Kramnik

"There are very few madmen who risk employing Pirc or King's Indian against Karpov." — Alexsander Shashin

"Many of Karpov's intentions become understandable to his opponents only when salvation is no longer possible." — Mikhail Tal

"Known as a negative player, Karpov sets up deep traps and creates moves that seem to allow his opponent possibilities - but that really don't. He takes no chances, and he gives his opponents nothing. He's a trench-warfare fighter who keeps the game moving just an inch at a time." — Bruce Pandolfini

"Karpov defeated me in Linares-94 where he scored 11 out of 13. I got into an inferior endgame. However, it did not seem awful. Then I made some appropriate moves and could not understand how I had managed to get into a losing position. Although I was already in the world top ten, I failed to understand it even after the game. This was one of the few games after which I felt like a complete idiot with a total lack of chess understanding! Such things happen very rarely to top level players. Usually you realise why you have lost. This moment defies description - there is something almost imperceptible about it and so characteristic of Karpov." — Vladimir Kramnik

"Life is like a chess game. Every decision, just like every move, has consequences. Therefore, decide wisely!" ― Susan Polgar

"When people insult and disrespect you, the best revenge is to continue to win, and win, and win…." ― Susan Polgar

"The mind has no restrictions. The only restriction is what you believe you cannot do. So go ahead and challenge yourself to do one thing every day that scares you." ― Susan Polgar

* Wikipedia on Computer Chess: Wikipedia article: Computer chess

* A piece of cake: https://blindpigandtheacorn.com/che...

William Ewart Napier

Although W.E. Napier (1881-1952) was a highly quotable writer, he produced only one chess work, Napier's Amenities and Background of Chess-Play (published in three ‘units', the first two in 1934 and the third the following year). After his death they were adapted into a single volume entitled Paul Morphy and The Golden Age of Chess (New York, 1957 and 1971).

In the quotations below (some of which have entered chess lore) the figures refer to the item numbers in the Amenities work, the pages of which were unnumbered:

3. ‘In the laboratory, the gambits all test unfavourably, but the old rule wears well, that all gambits are sound over the board.' 18. ‘Once I asked Pillsbury whether he used any formula for castling. He said his rule was absolute and vital: castle because you will or because you must; but not because you can.' 22. ‘John McCutcheon, of Pittsburgh and undying fame for his research in the French Defense, often said about opening moves, "Not new, but old enough to be new."' 28. On Bird ‘He earned the rebuke of playing impulsively in tournaments. It was disrespect and scandalous, some thought; but if there is genius in chess, Bird of all players had it, I think, in greatest abundance.' 32. On Mason ‘As player, he had the unique quality of competently simmering thru six aching hours and scintillating in the seventh. Others resembled him but forgot to scintillate.' 52. ‘Once in chatting with Janowsky at Lake Hopatcong, he referred to Maróczy as the gentle iron-man of Hungary, which was accurate as to both specifications.' 67. ‘Some of Marshall's most sparkling moves look at first like typographical errors.' 72. ‘I knew Dr Tarrasch pleasantly at Monte Carlo, 1902. One day the fates had gone against me, malevolently, I felt, in a game against a man I had counted on beating. I got, by way of spur, this vitamin from the Doctor: "In these tournaments it is never enough to be a connoisseur of chess; one must also play well."' 75. ‘The super-men of chess come by that distinction through two rare capacities, an inscrutable vision in end play and a bland sense of well-being in what, to lesser men, look like predicaments.' 78. ‘No chess book, I think, can be complete without a page of homage to Master Bird. If I had only one page to rejoice in, it should own up to a kindly veneration for all his adventures and misadventures, his farce and comedy and drama of the chess board. The roots of his chess were deep sunk in the tradition of Labourdonnais and McDonnell; he played Morphy; and half a lifetime afterwards we see him at Hastings, playing a thorough-bred game which Pillsbury declared was too beautiful to annotate. A long stretch, that – and brim-full of enthusiasm. He adored chess, – the play itself, I mean, which is not common among masters. I saw him once at Simpson's Divan but not to speak to. I brought away an impression of fulminating chess, of hearty laughter and liberty and beefsteak. He romped.

Once I asked Teichmann what he thought of Bird's chess; "Same as his health", he replied, – "always alternating between being dangerously ill and dangerously well."

England will not know his like again.'

85. On the game Sim v Morrison, Toronto, 1918. ‘This is a Canadian game of exceptional worth in my collection, as resembling, as few games do, a sustained, Charousek attack. That slow-burning type of invasion, not essentially dependent on preserving the queen, implies a grasp of endings and a willingness to play them. As Pillsbury once said, "So set up your attacks that when the fire is out, it isn't out".' 93. ‘Pillsbury was present at Thousand Islands, 1897 on other business, and I remember his taking me for a row on the river, in the morning, before play started. He lectured a bit on Steinitz' opening vagaries; when we separated, he said – revealing perhaps a glimpse of his ruling philosophy, "Be steady, but not to the point of morbid restraint."' 96. ‘Louis Paulsen. It was surely a frolic of fate that translated an enviable potato planter of sedate Dubuque, Iowa, to that evergreen, mellow fame he achieved in chess. Paulsen was the landscape of that pioneer period from Morphy to the early nineties, not given to gay, aggressive outbursts, but a quiet pastoral ideal of sufficiency.' 115. On the game Důras v Teichmann, Ostend, 1906: ‘Důras needs no better monument to his genius than this lofty and exciting struggle with an eminent opponent. In my catalogue of genuinely great contests it rises up close to the top. It is chess all the way, but from move 43 it goes in a dignity unsurpassed.' 128. ‘A genial disposition shines in all Tartakower's chess. It is infectious fun. And when he loses a game, he writes sincere eulogies, fit for an epitaph, of the victor. He is very unusual.'

166. ‘It has been my observation all through the years that the master player nearly always makes lively games at correspondence, even tho his play vis-à-vis is governed by more conservative models. The paradox is baffling.

The only theory I have adduced is that the social nature of mail exchanges quite subordinates mere winning to joyful, yawing chess.

In match games over the board, the killing instinct necessary to success is the same that men take into Bengal jungles, – for a day. A killing instinct which survives the day and endures month in and month out, is stark pantomime; and mail chess is the gainer by it.'

180. ‘Among tournament masters, Marshall has had few superiors, and, as to style, has clearly been in a class of his own, without forerunner or disciple. He is a whole school.' 191. ‘I have met no critic who could not detect, in Torre, a potential world's champion.' 196. On Nimzowitsch's win over Yates at Carlsbad, 1923: ‘It is witch chess, heathen and beautiful.' 225. ‘Once while walking over Waterloo Bridge, in London, with stout-hearted Teichmann, we conversed of the ingredients that associate to make a chessplayer. I ventured a remark that, if he would name one indispensable ingredient, I would name an able player wholly destitute of it. And Richard very tolerantly said, "Have you given any thought to ‘vanity'?"' 230. Of Lasker's play beginning 17…Rxc3 against Pillsbury at St Petersburg, 1895-96: ‘Pillsbury told me that the exquisite combination here initiated was the only startling and utterly diabolical surprise he suffered in all his career abroad.' 237. ‘Spielmann plays always like an educated cave-man, who fell asleep several thousand years ago, – and woke up quite lately in the Black Forest.' 243. ‘The greatest difficulty of the game is to play it as well as one knows how.' 253. ‘F.M. Teed, of Brooklyn, was one of America's most powerful master players. Business kept him out of match play; and he describes well as a master "without portfolio".' 253. On Winawer v Englisch, London, 1883. Napier had given the game as item six of unit one, where he stated that ‘it was a revelation when first I studied its deliberate beauty while a boy enthusiast; and it never seems to stale.': ‘The most important single game ever played, I think.' 262. ‘It is astonishing how much hot water a master can wade into within the first dozen moves, despite a century of opening exploration.' 264. ‘I never see a King's Bishop Opening without thinking of the first of several lessons I took, when a youngster, from Steinitz. He said, "No doubt you move your knight out on each side before the bishop? And do you know why?" I was stuck for an intelligent answer. He went on to say, "One good reason is that you know where the knight belongs before you know that much of your bishop; certainty is a far better friend than doubt."' 268. ‘It has always been my doctrine that chess is easier to play with many pieces than few; that ending play more strains the mind than a middle-game involvement. Of many options, one may be fit. Resource is likely to be present in a tangled, critical situation.' 297. ‘Zugzwang is a very useful term. I sometimes think it is best defined by the story of the negro who drew a razor across the enemy throat: Said the enemy, "I'm not cut."

And the knight of the razor replied, "Just wait till you turn yo' head, before guessing at it."'

‘What he was in the '80s and '90s he Tarrasch is now and seemingly ever will be, one of the best. Only this and nothing more. He is a vastly learned chess master, which quality, coupled with stamina worthy of a Marathon runner, renders him superior to everything but the pelting of downright genius.'

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DoJo's Partial Discussion: Favorites w/an instructional value

How to Play Chess for Kids: Simple Strategies to Win by Jessica E Martin Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess by Bobby Fischer , Stuart Margulies, et al. How to Beat Your Dad at Chess by Murray Chandler Life Skills for Kids: How to Cook, Clean, Make Friends, Handle Emergencies, Set Goals, Make Good Decisions, and Everything in Between by Karen Harris Learn Chess the Right Way: Book 1 (of 5): Must-know Checkmates by Susan Polgar A First Book of Morphy by Frisco Del Rosario
1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners: The Tactics Workbook that Explains the Basic Concepts, Too by Franco Masetti and Roberto Messa Everyone's Second Chess Book by Dan Heisman
Chess The Easy Way by Reuben Fine
The Art of the Checkmate by Renaud & Kahn
Best Lessons of a Chess Coach by Sunil Weeramantry Improve Your Chess in Seven Days by Gary Lane
Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games by László Polgár New York 1924 by Alexander Alekhine
Masters of the Chessboard by Richard Reti
Carlsbad 1929 by Nimzovich
Simple Chess by Michael Stean
Chess Fundamentals by Jose R. Capablanca (this book requires much prior game experience to appreciate the subtleties of defeat shown) The Art of Attack by Vladimir Vukovic
My Best Games of Chess 1908-1937 by Alexander Alekhine Modern Ideas in Chess by Richard Reti
Chess Praxis by Nimzovich
Mastering Chess Strategy by John Hellsten
My System by Nimzovich
Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 Masterpieces of Chess Strategy by Irving Chernev FCO: Fundamental Chess Openings by Paul Van der Sterren 500 Master Games of Chess by Tartakower and du Mont Capablanca's Best Chess Endings by Irving Chernev Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953 by David Bronstein Pump Up Your Rating by Axel Smith
Tal-Botvinnik 1960 by Mikhail Tal
Understanding Chess Move by Move by John Nunn
My Life and Games by Mikhail Tal
Endgame Strategy by Mikhail Sherevshesky
My Sixty Memorable Games by Robert J. Fischer
The Seven Deadly Chess Sins by Jonathan Rowson
How I Beat Fischer's Record by Polgar
100 Endgames You Must Know: Vital Lessons for Every Chess Player by Jesus de la Villa Think Like a Super-GM by Michael Adams
The Test of Time by Garry Kasparov
The Mammoth Book of The World's Greatest Chess Games by Graham Burgess, John Nunn, and John Emms. My Great Predecessors by Garry Kasparov
Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual by Mark Dvoretsky

"The beautiful wooden board on a stand in my father's study. The gleaming ivory pieces. The stern king. The haughty queen. The noble knight. The pious bishop. And the game itself, the way each piece contributed its individual power to the whole. It was simple. It was complex. It was savage; it was elegant. It was a dance; it was a war. It was finite and eternal. It was life." ― Rick Yancey, The Infinite Sea

<"I thought you wanted me to teach you how to play. (Chess)

Each possible move represents a different game - a different universe in which you make a better move.

By the second move there are 72,084 possible games.

By the 3rd - 9 million. By the 4th….

There are more possible games of chess than there are atoms in the universe. No one could possibly predict them all, even you. Which means that first move can be terrifying. It's the furthest point from the end of the game.

There's a virtually infinite sea of possibilities between you and the other side but it also means that if you make a mistake, there's a nearly infinite amount of ways to fix it so you should simply relax and play." ― Person of Interest s04e11>

"You're just a pawn on the chessboard, Leo Valdez. I was referring to the player who set this ridiculous quest in motion, bringing the Greeks and Romans together." ― Rick Riordan, The Mark of Athena

"At the beginning of a game, there are no variations. There is only one way to set up a board. There are nine million variations after the first six moves. And after eight moves there are two hundred and eighty-eight billion different positions. And those possibilities keep growing. ... In chess, as in life, possibility is the basis of everything. Every hope, every dream, every regret, every moment of living. (p.195)" ― Matt Haig, The Midnight Library

"Life is like a game where pawns can become queens, but not everyone knows how to play. Some people stay pawn their whole lives because they never learned to make the right moves." ― Alice Feeney, Rock Paper Scissors

"...you could never be completely sure of the other person, so never make a move until you were sure of yourself." ― Liz Braswell, Part of Your World

"Coaching is more like chess; it's about out-thinking and outsmarting the other team." ― C. Vivian Stringer, Standing Tall: A Memoir of Tragedy and Triumph

"Fighting was chess, anticipating the move of one's opponent and countering it before one got hit." ― Holly Black, The Wicked King

"There is no moral outcome of a chess match or a poker game as long as skill and stealth rather than cheating have been used." ― Francis P. Karam, The Truth Engine: Cross-Examination Outside the Box

"Chess does not only teach us to analyse the present situation, but it also enables us to think about the possibilities and consequences. This is the art of forward-thinking." ― Shivanshu K. Srivastava

"Behind every move I make on the chess board lies a story of calculation, intuition, and passion. With every game, I discover more about myself and the endless possibilities of the game." ― medicosaurabh

"That is the trick of it. You see, Time works differently in Chess." He pulled out his pocket watch and let it dangle like a pendulum over his desk. "Sometimes he moves forward and sometimes he moves backward, sometimes he goes fast or slow and sometimes he pauses altogether. But as long as I keep moving, as long as I am always moving in the opposite direction from Time, he can never find me, and I can never meet my fate." ― Marissa Meyer, Heartless

"There is profound meaning in the game of chess. The board itself is life and death, painted as such in black and white. The pieces are those that make a life fundamentally healthy. The pawns are attributes we gather with nourishment and significance. The knight is our ability to be mobile and travel in whatever form it takes. The rook or castle is a place we can call home and protect ourselves from the elements. The bishop is that of our community and our belonging. The king is our mortal body; without it, we can no longer play the game. The queen is the spirit of the body - what drives our imagination, urges, a life force. A captured queen removes energy from the game, and the player may become complacent. A crowning reminder of the game is that the spirit can be possessed again through our attributes." ― Lorin Morgan-Richards

"Chess is all about maintaining coherent strategies. It's about not giving up when the enemy destroys one plan but to immediately come up with the next. A game isn't won and lost at the point when the king is finally cornered. The game's sealed when a player gives up having any strategy at all. When his soldiers are all scattered, they have no common cause, and they move one piece at a time, that's when you've lost." ― Kazuo Ishiguro, A Pale View of Hills

"It's usually the father who teaches the child his first moves in the game. And the dream of any son who plays chess is to beat his father. To kill the king. Besides, it soon becomes evident in chess that the father, or the king, is the weakest piece on the board. He's under continual act, in constant need of protection, of such tactics as castling, and he can only move one square at a time. Paradoxically, the king is also indispensable. The king gives the game its name, since the word 'chess' derives from the Persian word shah meaning king, and is pretty much the same in most languages." ― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Flanders Panel

"Playing chess with my father is torture. I have to sit very upright on the edge of my chair and respect the rules of impassivity while I consider my next move. I can feel myself dissolving under his stare. When I move a pawn he asks sarcastically, 'Have you really thought about what you're doing?' I panic and want to move the pawn back. He doesn't allow it: 'You've touched the piece, now you have to follow through. Think before you act. Think." ― Maude Julien, The Only Girl in the World

"A deep laugh stirred in his chest, and his thumb brushed over the backs of her fingers before he withdrew his hand. She felt the rasp of a callus on his thumb, the sensation not unlike the tingling scrape of a cat's tongue. Bemused by her own response to him, Annabelle looked down at the chess piece in her hand. "That is the queen—the most powerful piece on the board. She can move in any direction, and go as far as she wishes." There was nothing overtly suggestive in his manner of speaking …but when he spoke softly, as he was doing at that moment, there was a husky depth in his voice that made her toes curl inside her slippers. "More powerful than the king?" she asked.
"Yes. The king can only move one square at a time. But the king is the most important piece." "Why is he more important than the queen if he's not the most powerful?" "Because once he is captured, the game is over." ― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

"You and I should play sometime. I think you would like it,' she said." It's a game of strategy, mostly. The strong pieces are in the back row, while the weak pieces - the pawns - are all in the front, ready to take the brunt of the attack. Because of their limited movement and vulnerability, most people underestimate them and only use them to protect the more powerful pieces. But when I play I protect my pawns.'... 'They may be weak when the game begins, but their potential is remarkable. Most of the time, they'll be taken by the other side and held captive until the end of the game. But if you're careful - if you keep your eyes open and pay attention to what your oppenent is doing, if you protect your pawns and they reach the other side of the board, do you know what happens then?' I shook my head, and she smiled. "Your pawn becomes a queen."... 'Because they kept moving forward and triumphed against impossible odds, they become the most powerful piece in the game." ― Aimee Carter, Pawn

"Chess is a game with simple rules and pieces, a small sixty-four-space board, but there are more possible chess games than there are atoms in the universe." ― Austin Grossman, You

"Tablebases logs of complete chess games played backwards from the end-state of checkmate are the clearest case of human chess vs. alien chess. A decade of trying to teach computers how to play endgames was rendered obsolete in an instant thanks to a new tool. This is a pattern we see over and over again in everything related to intelligent machines. It's wonderful if we can teach machines to think like we do, but why settle for thinking like a human if you can be a god?

(jm3: Frustratingly for the humans, it was not disclosed whether IBM's Deep Blue stored and consulted endgame tablebases during competition)." ― Garry Kasparov, Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins

"I learned about opening moves and why it's important to control the center early on; the shortest distance between two points is straight down the middle." ― Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club

"The passion for playing chess is one of the most unaccountable in the world. It slaps the theory of natural selection in the face. It is the most absorbing of occupations. The least satisfying of desires. A nameless excrescence upon life. It annihilates a man. You have, let us say, a promising politician, a rising artist that you wish to destroy. Dagger or bomb are archaic and unreliable - but teach him, inoculate him with chess." ― H.G. Wells

Proverbs of Solomon 4
A Father's Instruction

1Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction;

pay attention and gain understanding.

2For I give you sound teaching;

do not abandon my directive.

3When I was a son to my father,

tender and the only child of my mother,

4he taught me and said,

"Let your heart lay hold of my words;

keep my commands and you will live.

5Get wisdom, get understanding;

do not forget my words or turn from them.

6Do not forsake wisdom, and she will preserve you;

love her, and she will guard you.

7Wisdom is supreme; so acquire wisdom.

And whatever you may acquire, a gain understanding.

8Prize her, and she will exalt you;

if you embrace her, she will honor you.

9She will set a garland of grace on your head;

she will present you with a crown of beauty."

10Listen, my son, and receive my words,

and the years of your life will be many.

11I will guide you in the way of wisdom;

I will lead you on straight paths.

12When you walk, your steps will not be impeded;

when you run, you will not stumble.

13Hold on to instruction; do not let go.

Guard it, for it is your life.

14Do not set foot on the path of the wicked

or walk in the way of evildoers.

15Avoid it; do not travel on it.

Turn from it and pass on by.

16For they cannot sleep

unless they do evil;

they are deprived of slumber

until they make someone fall.

17For they eat the bread of wickedness

and drink the wine of violence.

18The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,

shining brighter and brighter until midday.

19But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom;

they do not know what makes them stumble.

20My son, pay attention to my words;

incline your ear to my sayings.

21Do not lose sight of them;

keep them within your heart.

22For they are life to those who find them,

and health to the whole body.

23Guard your heart with all diligence,

for from it flow springs of life.

24Put away deception from your mouth;

keep your lips from perverse speech.

25Let your eyes look forward;

fix your gaze straight ahead.

26Make a level path for your feet,

and all your ways will be sure.

27Do not swerve to the right or to the left;

turn your feet away from evil.

<chess writer and poet Henry Thomas Bland.

Another example of his way with words is the start of ‘Internal Fires', a poem published on page 57 of the March 1930 American Chess Bulletin:

I used to play chess with the dearest old chap,
Whom naught could upset whatever might hap.
He'd oft lose a game he might well have won
But made no excuse for what he had done.
If a piece he o'erlooked and got it snapped up He took it quite calmly and ne'er ‘cut up rough'.>

"You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore." ― William Faulkner

"Sometimes in life, and in chess, you must take one step back to take two steps forward." — IM Levy Rozman, GothamChess

So much, much, much better to be an incurable optimist than deceitful and untrustworthy.

Old Russian Proverb: "Scythe over a stone." (Нашла коса на камень.) The force came over a stronger force.

"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things." ― Leonardo da Vinci

<Q: How do poets say hello? A: "Hey, haven't we metaphor?"

Thank you Qindarka!

Q: What do you call a cow jumping on a trampoline? A: A milkshake.>

The Words Of Socrates

A house was built by Socrates
That failed the public taste to please.
Some blamed the inside; some, the out; and all
Agreed that the apartments were too small.
Such rooms for him, the greatest sage of Greece!

"I ask," said he, "no greater bliss
Than real friends to fill even this."
And reason had good Socrates
To think his house too large for these.
A crowd to be your friends will claim,
Till some unhandsome test you bring.
There's nothing plentier than the name;
There's nothing rarer than the thing.

"Encouragement is like water to the soul, it makes everything grow." ― Chris Burkmenn

Be slow in choosing a friend but slower in changing him. ~ Scottish Proverb

Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER

<Shakespearean Puns
Perhaps no writer is better known for the use of puns than William Shakespeare. He plays with "tide" and "tied" in Two Gentlemen of Verona:

"Panthino
Away, ass! You'll lose the tide if you tarry any longer.

Launce
It is no matter if the tied were lost; for it is the unkindest tied that ever any man tied.

Panthino
What's the unkindest tide?

Launce
Why, he that's tied here, Crab, my dog."

In the opening of Richard III, the sun refers to the blazing sun on Edward IV's banner and the fact that he is the son of the Duke of York:

"Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York."

In this line from Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare plays on the different meanings of heavy (which also means sad) and light:

"Give me a torch: I am not for this ambling; Being but heavy I will bear the light."

Later in Romeo and Juliet, a morbid pun comes from a fatally-stabbed Mercutio, where grave means serious, but also alludes to his imminent death:

"Ask for me tomorrow, you shall find me a grave man."

If you open any Shakesperean play, you're likely to find at least one pun on the page! Keep an eye out for a clever play on words example the next time you read Hamlet or watch As You Like It on the stage.>

Dec-12-16 DrGridlock: Q: When is a pin not a pin? A: When the piece is:
(i) not pinned to the king
and
(ii) in moving the piece threatens either mate or greater material gain than what it was pinned to. (iii) in moving the piece now defends the unit it was pinned to, such as Nf3xd4 and protects the Be2 that was behind the knight.

The Bear and the Amateur Gardener

A certain mountain bear, unlicked and rude,
By fate confined within a lonely wood,
A new Bellerophon, whose life,
Knew neither comrade, friend, nor wife, –
Became insane; for reason, as we term it,
Dwells never long with any hermit.
It's good to mix in good society,
Obeying rules of due propriety;
And better yet to be alone;
But both are ills when overdone.
No animal had business where
All grimly dwelt our hermit bear;
Hence, bearish as he was, he grew
Heart-sick, and longed for something new.
While he to sadness was addicted,
An aged man, not far from there,
Was by the same disease afflicted.
A garden was his favourite care, –
Sweet Flora's priesthood, light and fair,
And eke Pomona's – ripe and red
The presents that her fingers shed.
These two employments, true, are sweet
When made so by some friend discreet.
The gardens, gaily as they look,
Talk not, (except in this my book;)
So, tiring of the deaf and dumb,
Our man one morning left his home
Some company to seek,
That had the power to speak. –
The bear, with thoughts the same,
Down from his mountain came;
And in a solitary place,
They met each other, face to face.
It would have made the boldest tremble;
What did our man? To play the Gascon
The safest seemed. He put the mask on,
His fear contriving to dissemble.
The bear, unused to compliment,
Growled bluntly, but with good intent,
"Come home with me." The man replied:
"Sir Bear, my lodgings, nearer by,
In yonder garden you may spy,
Where, if you'll honour me the while,
We'll break our fast in rural style.
I have fruits and milk, – unworthy fare,
It may be, for a wealthy bear;
But then I offer what I have."
The bear accepts, with visage grave,
But not unpleased; and on their way,
They grow familiar, friendly, gay.
Arrived, you see them, side by side,
As if their friendship had been tried.
To a companion so absurd,
Blank solitude were well preferred,
Yet, as the bear scarce spoke a word,
The man was left quite at his leisure
To trim his garden at his pleasure.
Sir Bruin hunted – always brought
His friend whatever game he caught;
But chiefly aimed at driving flies –
Those hold and shameless parasites,
That vex us with their ceaseless bites –
From off our gardener's face and eyes.
One day, while, stretched on the ground
The old man lay, in sleep profound,
A fly that buzz'd around his nose, –
And bit it sometimes, I suppose, –
Put Bruin sadly to his trumps.
At last, determined, up he jumps;
"I'll stop your noisy buzzing now,"
Says he; "I know precisely how."
No sooner said than done.
He seized a paving-stone;
And by his modus operandi
Did both the fly and man die.

A foolish friend may cause more woe
Than could, indeed, the wisest foe.

Question: What do you call a woman that knows where her husband is, at all times? Answer: A widow

Question: What is the only number spelled out in English that has the same number of letters as its value? Answer: Four

"It's not how you start that matters, it's how you finish."

"Friend, you don't have to earn God's love or try harder. You're precious in His sight, covered by the priceless blood of Jesus, and indwelt by His Holy Spirit. Don't hide your heart or fear you're not good enough for Him to care for you. Accept His love, obey Him, and allow Him to keep you in His wonderful freedom." ― Charles F. Stanley

Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

If the game is well-played, the rook's first move is usually sideways.

Oct-04-10
I play the Fred: said...
You're distraught
because you're not
able to cope
feel like a dope
when Lasker hits
Puttin on (the Fritz)

"Whatever you are doing in the game of life, give it all you've got." — Norman Vincent Peale

"What you do today can improve all your tomorrows." — Ralph Marston

"A wise man never knows all; only a fool knows everything." — African Proverb

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