Table Of Content

3370688cvr.qxd 2/27/09 1:29 PM Page 1 Be a winner at home, at work, and on the chessboard! L egendary chess champion Bobby Fischer once said, “Chess is life”—and now, at last, Chess Master Peter Kurzdorfer explores T what every chess enthusiast knows and every beginner will soon H learn: Chess strategy holds many secrets that can improve your life. E In The Tao of Chess, Kurzdorfer shows how this complex game T can reveal underlying truths that you can adapt from the chessboard to every aspect of your life. You’ll experience greater success, have A more fun at play and in life—and achieve checkmate much more O frequently. O The Tao of Chess features 200 profound insights, including: • Mistakes tend to come in bunches F • Trust your intuition • Fortune favors the brave C • Good playing makes your own luck H E Ideal for helping you face whatever challenges may come your way, The Tao of Chess is your official strategy guide to S the game—and to the game of life. S Peter Kurzdorferhas been a Chess Master since the early 1980s. He is the coauthor of The K Everything®Chess Basics Bookwith the U.S. Chess Federation and is the former editor of Chess U Life magazine. He lives in Franklinville, NY. RZ D $9.95 (CAN$11.99) Hobbies/Games O R ISBN-13: 978-1-59337-068-8 F ISBN-10: 1-59337-068-7 ER Chess Master Peter Kurzdorfer Cover image ©Russell Illig/GETTY www.adamsmedia.com 37-068-7_pp000i-xiv.qxd 8/19/2010 3:55 PM Page i T HE T AO C OF HESS 200 principles to transform your game and your life by Peter Kurzdorfer, Author of The Everything®Chess Basics Book Adams Media Avon, Massachusetts 37-068-7_pp000i-xiv.qxd 8/19/2010 3:55 PM Page ii To Caissa, the goddess of chess Copyright ©2004 by Peter Kurzdorfer All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews. Published by Adams Media, a division of F+W Media, Inc. 57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322 U.S.A. www.adamsmedia.com ISBN 10: 1-59337-068-7 ISBN 13: 978-1-59337-068-8 Printed in the United States of America. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kurzdorfer, Peter. The tao of chess / Peter Kurzdorfer. p. cm. ISBN 1-59337-068-7 1. Chess. I. Title. GV1445.K87 2004 794’.01—dc22 2003028012 This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. —From a Declaration of Principlesjointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Adams Media was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed with initial capital letters. Cover illustration © Russell Illig / Superstock. Board graphics by Peter Kurzdorfer. This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases. For information, call 1-800-289-0963. 37-068-7_pp000i-xiv.qxd 8/19/2010 3:55 PM Page iii Contents Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix PARTI:TECHNICALMATTERS Chapter1: The Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 How well do you know the playing field? Chapter2: The Pieces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Know the tools you are given to work with; they’re all you have. Chapter3:Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Wake the pieces up from their initial slumber or pay the consequences. Chapter4: The Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Inject your game with life by bringing out the best in all your pieces and pawns. Chapter5: King Safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The king is the whole game, due to that peculiarity called checkmate. Chapter6: Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 It is essential to know the relative value of the various pieces and pawns that occupy the board. Chapter7: Pawn Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 The pawn structure provides the clues to any possible future plans. Chapter8: Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 The territory you control is an important factor in assessing any position. Chapter9: Tempo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 The move is your major weapon. Use it wisely. 37-068-7_pp000i-xiv.qxd 8/19/2010 3:55 PM Page iv iv The Tao of Chess Chapter10: Mobility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Give your pieces and pawns somewhere to go and something to do. Chapter11: Tactics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Tactics are the immediate, forcing moves that disturb the balance of a position in any way. Chapter12: Forcing Moves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Captures, checks, promotions, and threats to capture, check, or pro- mote demand an immediate response. Chapter13: Sacrifice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 A correct sacrifice is no sacrifice at all. Rather, it is an investment, giving up one thing to obtain something of greater value later on. Chapter14: Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Long-range ideas that help you achieve the result you want are called strategy. Chapter15: Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Defense is harder than attack, because it’s more fun to attack and, psy- chologically, the burden of defense is often hard to bear. Chapter16: Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Combinations and plans have a better chance of working when they are backed up with good calculation. Chapter17: Piece and Pawn Cooperation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 The relationships between pieces and pawns are intricate. Understanding these relationships is essential to good chess play. Chapter18: Exchanges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 You should know which pieces and pawns to exchange and when to exchange them. 37-068-7_pp000i-xiv.qxd 8/19/2010 3:55 PM Page v Contents v Chapter19: Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Predicting the future is not easy, especially when you have an opponent who wants a different outcome. Chapter20: Openings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Sometimes, the game will start out with a bang. Other times it may start out with a yawn. How much do you know about your opening? Chapter21: Middlegames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 After the pieces have come into the action and the kings are settled in, the middlegame takes over. Chapter22: Endings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 The endgame is not necessarily the end of the game, as the name would indicate. PARTII: HUMAN MATTERS Chapter23: Know Yourself. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Knowing yourself includes knowing your style, proclivities, will to win, capacity for hard work, and so many other bits of information about yourself. Chapter24: Know YourOpponent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 You don’t play chess in a vacuum. Your opponent is trying to thwart everything you do. Chapter25: Seeing Ahead. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Visualizing possible future positions while looking at something else is one of the most important skills to strive for. Chapter26: Courage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 It’s not necessarily bad to fear your opponent, his moves, or any of his ideas. But you need to face those fears squarely and not give in to them. 37-068-7_pp000i-xiv.qxd 8/19/2010 3:55 PM Page vi vi The Tao of Chess Chapter27: Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 When opportunity knocks, the good player seizes it. Chapter28: Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 You have to trust in your own analysis and your own ideas. If you don’t, who will? Chapter29: Mistakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Nobody plays mistake-free chess for very long—not even the best players. Chapter30: Reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 How you react to the changing situations during a chess game reveals how good a player you are. Chapter31: Fighting Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Your capacity for imposing your will on positions may be the most critical skill you can foster. Chapter32: The Moment of Decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 The moment when you must make a decision arrives whether you want to recognize it or not. It’s probably best to recognize it. Chapter33: Using Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 The time you have to think about your moves is usually very limited. Learn to use this time wisely. Chapter34: Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Whether analytical, logical, or haphazard, your thoughts during a game have a lot to do with how strong a player you are. Chapter35: Concentration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Some players are easily distracted. Others don’t seem to notice what goes on around them. Why is that? 37-068-7_pp000i-xiv.qxd 8/19/2010 3:55 PM Page vii Contents vii Chapter36: Patience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 All strong players possess this virtue in abundance, at least during a closely contested game. Chapter37: Luck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 If you think luck doesn’t play a part in chess, you probably haven’t played a whole lot. Chapter38: Practice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 You will learn to make good decisions by making many decisions. Chapter39: Study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 Find out what those who have gone before you have learned, and you build up a good foundation of knowledge. Chapter40: Passion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 If chess has not captured your soul, you probably will not do as well as one who is enthralled by Caissa. Chapter41: Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 There have been more books written about chess than about all other games combined. In addition, there are databases with millions of chess games. You can spend your entire life learning about chess, but you will never learn all there is to know about it or come close to examining every important game that has ever been played. Chapter42: Excuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Why do you lose? Finding excuses for not performing at your best is easy to do. But it can also retard possible later improvement by taking your attention away from the real problems. 37-068-7_pp000i-xiv.qxd 8/19/2010 3:55 PM Page viii Acknowledgments I have been deeply involved with the world of chess for more than thirty years. I have learned from watching, analyzing, playing, kib- itzing, reading, teaching, solving, coaching, organizing, writing, editing, directing tournaments, participating in leagues, clubs, camps, classes, tournaments, simultaneous exhibitions, matches, and so many other activities that thinking about it makes my head spin. In order to acknowledge all the people that helped hone my understanding of chess, not to mention all the people who helped hone my understanding of life, I would have to list practically everybody I have come in contact with, either in person, over the phone, through e-mail, books, magazines, Web sites, other media, and so on. This is simply impossible. I couldn’t possibly remember them all to begin with, and would inevitably leave out a great many who have helped my growth in chess and life. Besides, the list of what I would remember would be much too long. Therefore, I want to thank everyone who has con- tributed to my understanding. This includes all my opponents, students, teachers, coworkers, bosses, colleagues, teammates, contributors, authors I have read, my wonderful, supportive family, and anyone I have come in contact with in any way. Without all of you, I would not be the person I am, and would not have the understanding I have about chess as well as life. Thank you all! —Peter Kurzdorfer viii 37-068-7_pp000i-xiv.qxd 8/19/2010 3:55 PM Page ix Introduction “Chess is a sea where a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe.” —Old (Asian) Indian proverb “Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy.” —Siegbert Tarrasch “In answering the question ‘Which is the greater game, chess or checkers?,’I must, in all frankness, favor chess.” —Newell W. Banks (Blindfold checker champion of the world) “Chess is as much a mystery as women.” —C.J.S. Purdy “Others may talk of the Round Table with its 50 knights, but I greatly prefer the square table with only four knights.” —Willard Fiske ix