Chess Patzer to Master

57 Pages·2013·1.268 MB·English

by  Powell Paul

Just Released!

Also by National Master Paul Powell an exciting new book release in April 2013.

Bobby Fischer 60 More Memorable Games

National Master and Top Selling Amazon author Paul Powell explores the games of Bobby Fischer
from a unique point of view. Focusing on his own personal journey and taking up the mission
statement of his bestselling book “Chess Patzer to Master - How an Everyday Joe Does it” he
continues the battle to help the average player become a chess master. What’s truly unique about these
sixty games is they are the games he came back to over and over as a young man studying the games
of Bobby Fischer and they are presented with the be wonderment and lessons that he learned on the
road from Patzer to Master. The author’s goal is to instruct, entertain and deliver the tools that you
can use to grow into a future chess master.
Chess Patzer to Master
(How an Everyday Joe Does it)

By NM Paul Powell

Introduction

Greetings, future chess master, and welcome aboard. In this book I’m going to tell you a few stories
while sharing some games, positions and insights. If you skip the stories you’ll miss critical lessons,
as these are just as important as the games and positions. By understanding the interior battle and the
ways in which I approach chess and life you’ll gain insight into what it takes to succeed. Am I the
greatest player ever? Far from it. But I can beat 99% of the rated chess players, and I assume that’s
your goal too. This is not a complete guide to becoming a master—chess, like life, is a journey. This is
one step in that journey.
This book has been written with a few assumptions in mind. I assume that you know how to play chess
and use algebraic notation. I also assume that your chess rating is under 2100 and that you want to
learn and are willing to explore new ideas. I would say that even higher-rated players can learn
something from this book—but they usually don’t want to hear that, so I’m not going to state it. I will
say that even while being rated over 2200 FIDE, I still learn things from beginner books. We should
all learn a lesson from professional athletes who are never ashamed of studying the fundamentals of
their vocations.

This book was first published in 2012. I’ve now revised it, correcting some of the first edition’s
shortcomings, and adding more annotated games. While this book reflects insight into the journey I
took to becoming a Master, every journey is unique. Yet I also believe that Emanuel Lasker, who held
the World Championship for twenty-seven years, was correct in his belief that he could take anyone of
average intelligence and make him or her a Master in the space of one year. Well, I assure you that I
am not Lasker; however, I have access to the accumulated knowledge of all the World Champions
since era and I will offer you this: Subscribe to my free newsletter and I will personally assist you on
your journey to becoming a master. All you have to do is go to www.chessmastercoach.com and sign
up.

So let’s get to it…
The Patzer

Chess.com says this:
“Patzer (alternately patser) is a derogatory description, connoting someone whose chess abilities are
minimal. The term is drawn from the German word for bungler [. . .]. A patzer may be a beginning
chess player, or someone whose play appears to be stuck at the beginning level. Yet the term is also
relative: a resounding defeat may be said to make a player of any level ‘look like a patzer.’ ”
The word first appeared in the United States around the 1950s, right alongside “fish” and
“woodpusher.”

The Master
The Urban dictionary has a nice little entry:
“Chess Master:
a. A person who can beat well over 99% of other chess players. This excludes non-chess players.
b. A person who has a chess rating of 2200 or higher, awarded by the United States Chess Federation,
or a chess rating of 2300 or higher awarded by the World Chess Federation. Or awarded by his or her
country by demonstrating outstanding tournament performances over a period of time.”

Your desire, of course, is to become a master and never be referred to as a patzer. However, we will all
have times when we make patzer-like moves and maybe even play patzer-like games. That’s great
news because then you will have games worthy of study; you’ll learn more from your defeats than
from your victories.
My Start

I owe my adventures in chess to a non-chess player—my great aunt Ida, who was born in 1898. By the
time I came along, she was in her 60s and a willing baby sitter for my parents. I spent the ages of 2
through 5 learning and playing cards games (poker, rummy and fish) and checkers with Ida. I really
took to checkers and apparently the adults in the family would let me win when I was very young. By
the age of 5, however, the tables had turned, and I could easily beat anyone in the family. This led me
to believe that I might be the greatest checker’s player in the world, or at least a pretty darn good one.
After a few matches in my early school years, and a quick dusting off of a teacher or two, I was sure
that checkers was a waste of time. I asked my mother to buy me a chess set for my seventh birthday,
and I taught myself the moves. Chess proved to be more difficult, and it was hard to find anyone my
age who knew how to play. I floundered around teaching other kids the game and then beating them,
while losing games that I would play against myself.
Nothing much changed for the next several years; however, I did pick up a magazine called Boy’s Life
that had a regular chess column by a guy named Bobby Fischer. I sort of forgot Fischer’s name until
1972, which was a pretty big year in my life. It was from July through September of 1972 that Bobby
Fischer battled Boris Spassky in Reykjavík, Iceland, leading chess to capture the imagination of
America.
1972 was also the year that my mother died at the young age of 42. I was 13 years old. With a void to
fill and information about chess readily becoming available, I joined the United States Chess
Federation and picked up a rudimentary beginners book. I knew this was going to be hard road, but I
was ready to conquer chess; so I took the time to study a bit, and by 1973 I was ready to rule the
world.
November 1973
The state chess championship was divided into three sections and I decided to enter the top section
(open) in my first event. I was 14 years old. I boldly walked up to the tournament director (TD) with
my entry fee in hand and announced that I wanted to enter the open section. The TD was an ex-marine
and a saint of a man. Kindly, he asked if I had ever played in a tournament before. I said “No, but this
is the section I need to enter if want to be state champion, right?” He replied that it was, and I
reaffirmed my intention. Up until the start of that tournament, I had imagined myself on stage in the
final round winning the state title. After the tournament began, reality quickly kicked me off the stage.
I scored one draw out of five games and was filled with a mix of emotions. The entire event was a
roller coaster. Going from riding the hopes of winning a game to watching your pieces being snatched
one by one off the board is a smack in the teeth that knocks you back to the mental bottom again; but
after each game you need to bounce back and start afresh. After the entire event was over I did not feel
defeated—but clearly there was more to this game than I had gathered, and I vowed to myself that I
would one day win the state title. It was a promise that I would keep, but it would take two more
decades to win that title, and along the way I’d pick up a National Master and Life Master Title.

So let’s look at an early game from that event…
Harris - Powell
Delaware State Championship 1973
Two Knights Defense

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 h6

After ....h6???
I’m very proud of this move and I believe it set me on the path to becoming a chess master. My
opponent was in his mid-20s. He decided to offer his 14-year-old opponent a break and asked me if I
was sure that I wanted to play h6.
He explained that there was a fork at f7 and showed me that d5 and a few quick moves [4...d5 5.exd5
Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Ba4].

Now, this was a very difficult moment. I knew the rules of chess stated that I couldn’t take a move
back, so I politely told him that, no, my move would have to stand. I sat there humiliated, but
determined to live with my mistake and fight on. In order to become a chess master you need a thick
skin and a will to battle at all cost. Actually, it might be much, much more complicated than that. I’ve
noticed a life pattern both on the chessboard and off. I have a tremendous desire to win and an
incredible fear of losing. So when I’m on the attack, I am relentless; and when I sense it’s not going
well for me, I fight like a cornered animal. I use to be embarrassed of the times when my fear of
failure in life would rise to the surface. Now I fully embrace this fear as a source of motivation to
succeed.

5.Nxf7 Qe7 6.Nxh8, I battled on for about ten more moves and resigned.

After this first tourney I purchased more books and increased the amount of time I spent studying
chess openings. Years later I hosted Grandmaster (GM) Arthur Bisquier to play a simultaneous
exhibition at our local chess club. During the question and answer part of the program, someone asked
the GM about “chess books and studying.” He said that in his day there were not many chess books
and that he had only one or two. However, he knew those books inside and out, having gone over the
games incessantly and unlocking all their secrets. He also stated that many players today buy tons of
chess books as if just having them “around you” will make you a better player. That was a critical
turning point for my game. I no longer worried about purchasing the latest book on openings; instead,
I tried to learn lessons of lasting value. It’s not the material you study that counts, it’s the hard work
you put into the study.
Simultaneous Exhibitions

Simultaneous exhibitions present special opportunities to do battle with legends. What many players
don’t realize is that the top of the chess echelon is a very scared space. It is a level that few mortals
ever reach. It is not uncommon for a world champion to face Masters and International Masters in an
exhibition and defeat them all.
I have been on both sides of the simultaneous exhibition, playing up to 60 players and sitting down to
face some of the greatest players in the world. I have had the good fortune to play Karpov, Botvinnik,
Tal, Reshevsky, and many other famous GMs. Each of these occasions has a special story behind the
games and events. Let’s examine two of my experiences in simultaneous exhibitions.
The first game was against U.S. Champion GM Walter Browne, a player with very high energy and a
tremendous will to win.

Powell - Browne
Simultaneous Exhibition 1975
Sicilian Defense

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 b5 7.Bb3 e6 8.0-0 Be7 9.f4 0-0 10.Be3 b4
11.Na4 Bb7
At this young age I didn’t really know much about theory; I just had a primitive sense of attack. At
this point in the game, I smell that something needs to happen, but I quickly get into trouble.

12.Bxe6 fxe6

I chop down on e6, but I use the wrong piece—12 is better. Nxe6 fxe6 13.Bxe6+ Kh8 14.e5 dxe5
15.fxe5 Ne4 16.Rxf8+ Qxf8 17.Bd5

13.Nxe6 Qd7
And only now do I realize that he's attacking the Knight at a4 and the Knight at e6.

14.Nxf8 Qxa4

At this point, a rational player would try to extract the Knight via e6, but I’ll have none of that and
fight on foolishly.
15.e5 Qc6 16.Rf2 Nd5 17.Qh5 Bxf8 18.e6 g6 19.Qg5 Be7 20.Qg3 Nxe3 21.f5 Nxf5 22.Rxf5 Qe4
23.Rf4 Qe5 24.Re1 Qc5+ 25.Kh1 Nc6 26.Rg4 Ne5 27.Rf4 Rf8 28.Rxf8+ Bxf8 29.Qg5 Qxc2
30.Rf1 Be7 31.Qg3 Qe2 32.Rg1 Nd3 0-1
Years later a young chess player named Richard Chow would join our local club. Richard became one
of the top 50 players under 18 years of age in the USA. He would often tease me that “there goes
Powell, sacrificing a piece for two Pawns and a check.” Richard was able to hammer home a lesson