Your Second Chess Book PDF
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Content Title page Notation and Symbols Introduction Chapter 1 - The Main Tactical Themes Tactical weakness Double Attack or Multiple Attack Double attack with the knight Check and Discovered Attack The Pin The Skewer or ‘X-ray’ Removing the guard Opening Lines Deflection Attraction Obstruction Intermediate move Zugzwang Back Rank Weakness Overloading Chapter 2 - Basic level puzzles Playing for mate Double attack puzzles Puzzles based on pinning or unpinning Puzzles involving win of material Puzzles on the theme of overloading Puzzles on the theme of attraction and deflection Puzzles involving an attack on the king Puzzles involving defence 2 Puzzles based on removing the guard Puzzles combining attack and defence Endgame puzzles Puzzles based on a tactical weakness Chapter 3 - Intermediate level puzzles Find the checkmate Puzzles involving a pin Puzzles based on attraction or deflection Puzzles based on overloading an enemy piece Puzzles based on attack Puzzles based on defence Puzzles based on attack and defence Endgame puzzles Puzzles based on exploiting a tactical weakness Chapter 4 - 29 challenges Maximum score: 166 points The author 3 Your Second Chess Book Basic and Intermediate Level Zenón Franco Copyright © Zenón Franco 2022 Your Second Chess Book Basic and Intermediate Level E- mail: [email protected] www.zenonchessediciones.com Layout: Duarny Meneses Hernández Cover Design: Duarny Meneses Hernández Translated by Phil & Anthea Adams Copyright © Zenonchess Ediciones ISBN - 978-84-09-40933-4 4 Notation and Symbols Chessboard Conventional signs used + Check ++ Checkmate x Capture ! Good move !! Very good play !? Interesting move ?! Doubtful move ? Bad move ?? Very bad play 5 Introduction I am pleased to present my first book of chess puzzles in English published by Zenonchess Ediciones. It’s intended for novice players who can already see simple mates and direct captures, but now wish to move up a level. To make progress in chess it’s essential both to play and to train. Solving puzzles is one of the most pleasant training exercises there are; no chess player can resist trying to solve them. At the start, the best way of moving up a level is with tactical exercises. The first step for those who have just learnt how to play is to solve simple puzzles, such as finding a mate in one, a knight fork, a pin, etc. However, the next step can be difficult, as most of the exercises may prove to be rather complicated. This first book of puzzles is aimed at those novices, starting with simple puzzles and finishing with more demanding ones. It’s more than likely that in a short time, after solving or trying to solve the puzzles in the first section, those same novices will be able to tackle the puzzles in the second and third sections. Some time ago, also using TWIC and the Mega database, I wrote a “giant” of a book, called The Giant Chess Puzzle Book, with 1,001 puzzles, for the British publishers Gambit, which was also published in Argentina by Ventajedrez. That book was for players of all levels, from beginners to strong masters; this one is different, it is my first book tailored specifically for the needs of novice chess players. The book is made up of four parts: Chapter 1 presents the most important tactical motifs. Chapter 2 contains 140 puzzles, simple but not elementary, with introductions that can help you to find the solution and/or explanations which can help you to progress. Chapter 3 is made up of 106 puzzles of a rather more demanding standard. In both these two chapters the wording of the puzzles gives a clue and if this isn’t enough, a small hint is provided to help you. In every case the aim is that the explanations will make it easier for you to understand what happened and to assimilate the tactical patterns. Chapter 4 contains 29 puzzles at a more advanced level than the previous ones, without any clues; these are real challenges, similar to those met in a game, and you can score points for correct answers. You will notice that there is one concept which is often repeated, that of the “tactical weaknesses”. I hope that this book will help you to develop a sort of radar to detect these and that you will benefit 6 from this, wherever it’s relevant to the position. It will give the author great satisfaction if, by training with this book, you are encouraged to carry on learning and to play better. Writing my first book for novices has been very enjoyable, just as much as writing my previous books. GM Zenón Franco Ocampos Ponteareas, July 2022 Dedicated to the “Capital de mis amores” 7 Chapter 1 The Main Tactical Themes The learning process for chess is not a rapid matter. When we begin to play and to see games by the masters, their combinations seem to us almost like something magical; everything is unexpected, based on reasons we can’t understand, without any obvious cause, and yet, in the games of the masters, it all works. As we make progress, we see that that’s not the case, that there are more mundane reasons why a combination works. Together with our increasing knowledge of other areas of the game, we gradually learn to recognise the characteristics of a position ripe for a combination. Nevertheless, and this is one of the charms of our game, the fascination caused by a beautiful combination remains the same throughout our lives. In this first chapter we shall go over the main tactical themes, which can serve as a useful basic guide, because most tactical motifs, in one form or another, are repeated over and over. Furthermore, we should not forget that often they don’t occur in isolation but in combination with each other. (To simplify the explanations, at times we shall also refer to files and diagonals as lines). Tactical weakness A fundamental concept that we must learn to recognise is that of tactical weakness, as this is the basis of most combinations. Tactical weakness is what we can call any piece or placement of pieces which makes a combination possible. You could say that it is a prerequisite for tactical motifs to work. One obvious example is an unprotected piece; also included in this category is having the queen or king within range of a knight ‘fork’ (i.e. a double attack) or on the same line, having a weak back rank, having the king inadequately defended, etc. A tactical weakness doesn’t always lose the game, or cause irreparable damage, but it’s a positional defect that always deserves to be taken into account. Other preconditions for a combination to work are positive elements in the position itself, such as having very active pieces, numerical superiority in one sector of the board, a pawn close to queening, etc. Double Attack or Multiple Attack When a piece attacks two enemy pieces simultaneously it’s a double attack, and when it threatens more than two pieces it’s a multiple attack. As well as attacking an enemy piece, it’s also possible to threaten mate, which is an attack of equal or greater force. 8 Let’s look at a spectacular example. Robert Fischer Raymond Weinstein New York 1960. White to move In this untypical position, with weaknesses on both sides, there is one element that is more important than all the rest, and that’s the weakness of the black king. In this connection, the b-file, occupied by the white rooks, with the support of the bishop on g3, is the most relevant factor. It’s true that at present the b8-square is protected by the rook on h8 and the knight on c6, but it would only need one of these defenders to disappear for Black’s position to collapse. 33.Qxh6! A spectacular blow by the legendary Bobby Fischer, the eleventh World Champion, and one which ends the game. In addition to 34.Qxh8+, followed by checkmate, Fischer threatens 34.Qxe6. The key to the combination is that if 33...Rxh6 then 34.Rb8+ Nxb8 35.Rxb8++, while if the rook moves away with 33...Re8, apparently defending the bishop on e6, the protection proves illusory when White plays 34.Qxe6 anyway, since 34...Rxe6 allows the same mate on b8. 1–0 9 Often there is more than one tactical theme involved; this example would also be useful for illustrating the theme of the overloaded piece: the rook on h8 has to defend the back rank as well as the pawn on h6, two tasks which it cannot fulfil adequately. Double attack with the knight In double attacks a special chapter is occupied by the knight ‘fork’, which arises very frequently. Let’s look at a beautiful example. Tigran Petrosian Boris Spassky World Championship, Moscow (10), 1966 White to move White can regain the exchange with 30.Nxf7 and play an endgame with an extra pawn, but he has something much more effective. The key is to ‘manufacture’ a winning knight fork. 30.Qh8+!! Black resigned, in view of 30...Kxh8 31.Nxf7+ and Nxg5, with an extra piece. This was the finish of a game which is considered the best of the first match for the world title between these two world champions. In this match, their first, in 1966, Petrosian retained his title, but in their 1969 match the winner was Spassky. 10
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