Note that the crucial 14.Nc7+ is no longer available if White plays the youthfully tempting 13.exNf6, since 13...QxBf4 now covers the c7-square. (Prior to the double bishop sacrifices, the Black Qc7 had a defensive pin on the e5-pawn before the first bishop sacrifice re-arranged the position for her. She does not want to lose her king's knight without compensation.)

FTB believes non-professional chess players should play whatever openings make a person happy, including gambits. The amateur is not playing a GM opponent or a computer with an ELO 3000 rating. On the other hand, a person who makes a living at chess had better make full use of one's resources and stick to his tried and true money maker repertoire. Everyone's chances of winning improve if they specialize... know the opening lines and middle game nuances better than their opponent does.

Here's another White sacrificial attack against the Polugaevsky variation. Tal really cuts loose! Tal vs NN, 1963

The gigantic Sicilian tree requires a great amount of preparation to play well. Those who are young and talented and have a life time of chess ahead would do well to take up the Sicilian.

Over the board, begin at the end with simple, forcing positions. It's best to start a beginner with the kings and a pawn or two. Learn how to promote a passed pawn to make a new queen, and give checkmate with the new queen. Also learn how to gain the opposition of kings and force a draw. What are the five ways to draw? (FTB does NOT recommend studying K+B+N vs lone K until the beginner has already played at least 500 games of chess. That minor piece situation is not very common; it is forcing but it can take 30 moves or more. Why risk discouraging the beginner with something that can wait awhile??)

Much simpler, play the lone "Monster Queen" variant against all 8 pawns (no kings or other pieces) to see if one of the pawns can win by reaching the 8th rank before being captured by the Monster Queen. It's a race - Queen against all 8 pawns (and the speedy Queen should win).

Another useful variant is a "half game." Give each side four pawns on pawn row, and one king, one bishop, one knight, one rook on the back rank. No queens. Play it out!

A beginner SHOULD NOT learn by first setting up the entire board. It's better that a beginner learn how to maneuver the knight from one corner to the next in exactly five moves. This makes a good daily warm-up, as the knight always moves to the alternating opposite color square on which it currently sits. (This knight trip is also good mental training for those seeking to play blindfold chess. Just don't do it while driving an automobile! Never think about chess while driving. Give your undivided attention to safe driving -- look out for the other vehicle!)

Once the moves, pawn promotions, and forcing ways to finish a chess game are learned and repeated with ease, the entire board is set-up. Fool's Mate, which involves the blundering advance of the f- and g-pawns must be learned early on, followed by Scholar's Mate, Smothered Mate, and Legall's Mate, etc. These can occur in many different openings. (Legall's Mate occurs more naturally after 1.e4 e5 is played.) The beginner must understand how to attack and defend the vulnerable f2/f7 square protected only by the king. Get really good at recognizing these checkmate patterns and attacks.

The beginner should begin with the end -- how to finish the game with checkmate (pawn promotion to checkmate) or draw. The beginner should read and re-read some general instruction books (rules, moves, terms, and history of chess). Then and only then take a look into the openings.

Fredthebear recommends the book "Your First Chess Games" by A.J. Gillam (out-of-print), and perhaps "The Winning Way" by Bruce Pandolfini. There are a handful of good books demonstrating chess traps in the opening as well as websites. For those who read descriptive notation, "An Invitation to Chess", "Winning Chess", and "Winning Chess Traps" all co/authored by Irving Chernev are outstanding.

Another classic is "The Art of Checkmate" by Georges Renaud and Victor Kahn. It was originally written in descriptive notation, but is now available in algebraic notation. "How to Force Checkmate" is another descriptive trainer written by Fred Reinfeld, a prelude to his more famous "1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate" book. Anyone with serious chess aspirations should conquer these books. There's no point to studying anything else until the basic fundamentals are understood with complete confidence. Checkmate is the objective of chess so practice, practice, practice to become GREAT at delivering checkmate.

I would recommend <"Logical Chess"> by Chernev, <"Chess Fundamentals"> by Capa, and (from word of mouth) <"Journey to the Chess Kingdom"> by Averbakh & Beilin for, er, "beginners".

FTB believes that 1.e4 and 1.d4 are so common that a busy person can be at a disadvantage trying to play those against the opposition who is often well-prepared for them, fully expects to face them. Certainly, 1.e4 and 1.d4 are the most active moves; piece activity is important! Conversely, 1...e5 and 1...d5 can be recommended for Black, but the opponent is often well-prepared for these because of their frequency of occurence. In fact, FTB has played the Four Knights seemingly forever, although it's not his favorite opening.

FTB only recommends 1.f4 Bird's Opening as a "time saver that ages well" if one does not wish to play the Colle System, Torre Attack, etc. and one plays the mirror 1...f5 Dutch Defense as Black. Neither promises an advantage. However, one can "get a feel" for the kingside attacking possibilities by playing the same pawn structure with either color. The Bird and the Dutch are not the same thing, but they are similar.

Anyone who is not willing to study the Bird/Dutch a bit from the master writings of Soltis, Harding, Taylor, Danielsen, McDonald, Williams, Moskalenko, etc. should leave the f-pawn alone. It does have an inherent structural weakness. However, Bird's Opening is SIMPLER -- the theory is more stable -- than tackling an Open Sicilian with it's many branches.

Here's a link that also says what FTB suggests: https://www.amazon.com/Bird-Dutch-1... (In the interest of full disclosure, FTB has not read this particular book, but he trusts Tim Sawyer as an experienced author.) This gives a White opening and Black defense for a mere $9 or free as an e-book. Don't expect miracles, just reasonable chances for an active middle game.

Again, if one lacks chess resources, or has such but is unwilling to study a bit, then leave both the Bird and Dutch alone. With some home preparation, one can get good attacking games from this pawn structure, and enjoy studying the games of great players who dabbled in such. It's a practical way to restrain one's curiosity about all the other numerous openings that the working class has no time to absorb.

You won't have very many takers.

Boden's Mate should also make the short list of common checkmates in the opening.

Here's a link to checkmates in the opening: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check...

Do NOT teach in alphabetical order! FTB always covers the KINGSIDE mates/traps first. Teach just one pattern per lesson near the end after we have rehearsed our drills on rules, terms, elementary checkmates and pawn promotions. Never begin a lesson with the opening -- work on the various ways to FINISH a game (forced elementary checkmates, stalemates, perpetual checks, insufficient mating material, etc.) from simple, reduced positions!

After several months of lessons, repeated as necessary to insure recall, all the KINGSIDE mates/traps have been learned by heart. The players can demonstrate with the pieces without any prompting. (This will take an entire semester or first year of king pawn lessons for the group to grasp, depending upon it's size and frequency of attendance.) Then it's time to start teaching one QUEENSIDE mates/traps per lesson toward the end of the lesson.

FTB also likes to use the classroom globe to refresh a bit of geography as the names of openings are introduced. It is good for kids to be reminded where Russia and Moscow are on the map, where England and London are, where Germany and Berlin are, etc. Chess is the world's #1 game!

Here's a link to common traps/mating patterns in the opening that should be learned by beginners: https://www.chess.com/blog/BadGambi...

Wikipedia is a good source of foundational chess information for free: https://www.chess.com/blog/rsuhud78...

A less accurate but useful traps list:
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/ch...

Nice thought provoking posts.

"When someone says the theory in a book is outdated...."

Reminds me of a time at a bookstall when I was trying to get a 1500 player to put back the opening book he was hanging on to and buy Tartakower's (and Du Monts) 500 games. (It was also cheaper by a few pounds than that opening book - I'm sure it was The Slav.).

I got the reply. 'The openings will be out of date.'

I replied something like - What can be out of date about developing your pieces and the middle games ideas can never be out of date, they are timeless, as are the notes in this book. You will actually enjoy going through this book.

I failed. You know and I know that at that level he won't be seeing many mainlines going past 5 moves in any opening. He will have a headful of crap that will never be seen on his chessboard and huge gaps in his chess knowledge and heritage.

Today's questions: (and it's not a trick question.)

The one thing every other piece can do but the Queen cannot.

The Queen is the only piece that cannot be the piece moving to give a discovered or double check. (else it would already be giving a check and therefore cannot move) Best explained by a couple of diagrams.

click for larger view

The piece on d4 can be a King, Pawn, Bishop or Knight and move to give a discovered check. It cannot be a Queen.

click for larger view

FTB has read numerous chess instruction books, and some tricky/riddle books, but does not recall ever being told the queen can not generate a discovered check as the moving piece. Thanks! FTB will use that one at the chess club.

FTB appreciated your story about the comment on outdated opening lines. FTB continues to play out-of-fashion (but not necessarily refuted) lines with good success in out-of-state tournament play (where my less familiar opponents have not prepared specifically for my tournament repertoire). The younger rising star players are often booked up on the contemporary lines of the top GMs, but brush aside unfashionable lines as played out, and consequently are not as prepared for them. Practical beats precise when precise runs out of memorized book lines. FTB plays various lines hoping to catch the opponent off-guard and generate unfamiliar middle games -- not for a slight theoretical edge as GMs do.

Certainly 500 Master Games of Chess by Dr. Savielly Tartakower and Julius Du Mont is a much forgotten book (because it is printed in descriptive notation and all concerned are deceased). For shear volume, entertainment value, and instruction, 500 MGOC is the Holy Grail of chess books!! If shipwrecked on a deserted island, this is THE chess book to have as it contains annotated games from all the old masters grouped by opening. Other encyclopedic efforts include Sergeant's book on Morphy's Games, Blackburne's 400 games, Alekhine's Best Games, Chernev's 1000 Short Games, Tarrasch's instruction, Lasker's Manual/Nunn's Complete Chess Course, Frank Marshall's 50 Years, Art of Attack in Chess by Vladimir Vukovic, Zurich 1953 by Bronstein, The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, and Polgar's Brick. Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games by Laszlo Polgar would be my second choice strictly for training purposes, but it lacks colorful entertaining prose. After all this time, 500 MGOC with it's opening index is still the granddaddy chess book for sequestered sailors on sandy beaches. (Kasparov needed 5 volumes to cover all the bases, so FTB probably won't ever get that far. Re-reading a favorite chess book is more important for recall than reading a new one.)

Those amateurs with the good fortunate of being safely at home should first read the books recommended above by <zanzibar>. Then there's The Art of the Checkmate by Georges Renaud and Victor Kahn, How To Improve Your Chess by Al Horowitz and Fred Reinfeld, perhaps Self-Taught Chess for Beginners and Intermediates by Milton Finkelstein (out-of-print) as well as Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur by Max Euwe and Walter Meiden. Don't forget Complete Chess Course by the author of your choice. This base of fundamental understanding will be greatly re-enforced by 500 MGOC!

One of the best ways to get better at chess is to replay annotated games by the masters because each game provides an education in tactics, combinations, mate/draw patterns, opening development, middle game planning, endgame conversion, strategic attack and defense, etc. etc. etc. Most young players get hung up on tactics and opening book theory, but that's not the whole picture. Their game tails off as the pieces are traded off. Oh, the art of the exchange... Thank goodness that "pawns are the soul of chess."

Mrs. FTB has read a couple of beginners books and sometimes asks for advice. She might watch my chess DVD when I do. That's enough for her, and that's fine too. Chess can be whatever a person wants to make of it... more serious or less serious. Training yields more successful results against stiffer competition, of course. Many people are satisfied with just playing casually.

Mrs. FTB likes to travel to the out-of-state tournaments with FTB. She enjoys seeing the kids reactions and interactions. It almost seems she finds the agony of hard-fought draws as much or more interesting than wins and losses. Below GM level, the various ways of drawing have their own unique stories. Perhaps this is partially due to FTB's ability to draw endgames from lost positions. Of course, we make an effort to do a bit of sight seeing the big city before returning home.