How to Be a Winner at Chess

by Fred Reinfeld

  Again as in the first diagram on page 58 we see that Black played out his queen knight with maximum effect (2...Nb8-c6). This piece is now admirably developed.

  Suppose we take another look at the diagram. White wants to play out his king bishop. But where should this piece play? Suppose White tries bishop to d3 (3.Bd3). (D)

  After 3.Bf1-d3

  The development of the bishop to d3 is development, to be sure – but very bad development. Why is this so? The bishop move is shortsighted because it blocks White’s d-pawn at d2 and therefore makes it impossible to develop White’s other bishop at c1. This second bishop cannot move until the d-pawn advances and makes room for the development of the bishop.

  On the other hand, suppose White plays bishop to c4 (3.Bc4), producing our next diagram. (D)

  After 3.Bf1-c4

  This bishop development is excellent. The bishop bears down effectively on the important central square d5 and points menacingly along the diagonal leading to the neighborhood of the black king.

  At the same time White’s d2-pawn is free to advance, so that the development of White’s other bishop is not held back.

  Now for the negative aspect of this rule: Don’t make repeated moves with the same piece or pawn.

  When a player has no opening plan and no opening rules to go by, he is very likely to move the same piece – or pawn – repeatedly.

  The result is that he falls far behind in development, with a loss of time that is generally impossible to make up. You can avoid these repetitious moves by moving a piece to its best square and leaving it on that square.

  Protect Your King

  The initial position of your king, on a center file, is not a good one. As more and more pieces swing into action, you will find that the king is exposed to heavy attack.

  Therefore you do well to castle early and tuck your king at the side of the board where it will be hard for the enemy to strike at the king.

  Let’s see how this is accomplished from our previous diagram position. Black plays ...bishop to c5 (3...Bc5) and in reply White castles (4.0-0). This leads to the following position. (D)

  After 4.castles (4.0-0)

  Now White’s king is much safer than it was at its original square. Meanwhile White has brought his king rook to a square where it plays a more active role than at its original corner square.

  Getting your king into safety by castling is one of the most important moves in the game. But if you look back a bit, you see that White’s castling was made possible by playing out his king pawn, his knight, and his bishop.

  So there you see an additional and automatic value of development: it helps you castle early and assure the safety of your king.

  Of course the same reasoning applies to Black in the above diagram. His immediate task is to play ...knight to f6 (...Nf6). He will then be ready to castle and get his king into safety.

  Avoid Premature Queen Moves

  Playing out the queen early has a great fascination for many players, because they are awed by the great power of this piece. However, it is precisely the power of the queen that makes it vulnerable. Take the situation in the next diagram, where White has aimlessly played out his queen at a very early stage, attacking three pawns that are all defended. (D)

  Black to play

  White last move was queen to h5 (3.Qd1-h5). Black’s reaction to the meaningless queen move is a disdainful “So what?” He plays ...knight to f6 (3...Nf6) developing with a gain of time. (D)

  After 3...Ng8-f6

  The knight thus plays to its best square. At the same time it attacks White’s wayward queen, which must waste a move for abashed retreat. Then it is Black’s turn to move again. White has lost the initiative.

  Early queen moves must at least have the justification of working in combination with another piece. When the queen goes gallivanting in the early stages of a game, it is fairly certain that it will return home with nothing accomplished.

  Summary

  What have we learned about opening play that can help us to be winners at chess?

  Here are the main points for playing the opening effectively:

  Try to concentrate your forces in the center. Always start the game by moving the e-pawn or d-pawn two squares (1.e2-e4 or 1.d2-d4).

  Develop your pieces quickly. Always play your king knight to f3 (Ng1-f3).

  Develop your pieces effectively – to their best squares. Beware of making too many pawn moves – or too many moves with the same piece or pawn.

  Be sure to castle early to protect your king against enemy attack. Developing your pieces promptly clears the back row for early castling.

  Avoid playing out the queen for pawn-grabbing expeditions. These only lose time and expose your queen to threats of capture.

  These rules are easy to follow. Often you will find that following one rule enables you to follow another one at the same time. For example, if you develop your pieces consistently, you will avoid useless pawn moves.

  Above all, following these rules helps you to be a winner at chess because they give you an objective; they give you a method for starting the game.

  This spots you a definite advantage over the vast majority of players who start the game in a mood of aimless drifting.

  Aimlessness is a likely prelude to losing. Purposeful play is an aid to setting up winning positions.

  Chapter Eight

  “What Do I Do Now?”

  Two Basic Rules for the Middlegame

  Once upon a time a tenderfoot found himself mounted on a very spirited horse. During its antics, the animal got one of its hoofs stuck in a stirrup. The queasy rider happened to look down and noticed what had happened. In mingled alarm and relief he shouted, “If you’re getting on, I’m getting off!”

  That expresses the mood of the player who, after handling the opening fairly well, suddenly finds himself confronted with the complexities of the middlegame.

  This is indeed an important problem, because the middlegame is the very essence of chess. This is the stage where the pieces are out, ready for action, the queens have unleashed their full power. The battle is on, and ...well, what do we do about it?

  To begin with, you already possess some powerful weapons for winning in the middlegame; you know the importance of scrutinizing every position for possible checks or captures.

  The middlegame is especially rich in complicated situations. These are the positions that abound in violent possibilities, such as checks and captures.

  And precisely because middlegame positions are so complex, they are the ones in which oversights are most likely. If you’re on the alert for checks and captures, you’ll avoid such slips and pounce on your opponents’ oversights. Aside from this important feature, there are two simple rules that will often guide you to victory in the middlegame. These are:

  Give your pieces mobility.

  Make your pieces cooperate.

  Wilhelm Steinitz, who was world champion for almost three decades, knew the secret of handling the pieces with the greatest economy – the secret of getting the most out of each piece.

  Once he was asked how it was possible for him to give the odds of a whole rook, that is, start the game with one of his rooks removed. “It’s easier than you think,” he replied in substance. “I do this only against weaker players. I understand just what each piece can accomplish, while these weaker players are all at sea.

  “Since they don’t make the best use of their pieces, they are really the ones that are giving the odds – not I! In the middlegame, all my pieces are forcefully in play. Their pieces are mostly at home. Naturally I have the best of the bargain.”

  The player who does not use his pieces to best advantage is simply helping his opponent to win the game.

  Give Your Pieces Mobility

  You’ve seen that pieces must be developed not only quickly but effectively. Effective development means that the apieces have mobility, elbow-room. If your rooks are on long open files; if your bishops s
trike along long diagonals, they cover a lot of ground and menace the opponent’s forces.

  On the other hand, if your pieces are blocked by obstacles; if your bishops are hemmed in by your own pawns; if your knights are off to the side, then you’re headed for trouble. If your pieces lack mobility, then your opponent has the initiative.

  Our next position is a good example of superior mobility. (D)

  Black to play

  Black is definitely the attacker. How can we tell? Black’s rooks are doubled on the half-open c-file. The two rooks placed on the same line exert tremendous pressure if it is open or if they have an enemy target.

  In this case the rooks attack the weak white pawn on the c-file (c3). Note this: Black attacks the pawn, White defends it. Black’s rooks have a great deal of mobility, White’s rooks have very little.

  What about the queens? Black’s queen is well advanced and attacks White’s a-pawn at a2. The white queen has very little scope, and is busy defending the c3-pawn and the a2-pawn. This is menial work for the queen.

  Again we see the same picture: Black’s queen attacks, White’s queen defends.

  What about the knights? Both knights bear on the center, so apparently there is not much to choose here. Actually there is a very important distinction to be made:

  If white plays knight to e5 (Ne5), he attacks nothing. If Black plays ...knight to e4 (...Ne4), he attacks the white queen and the weak white pawn at c3. Thus the search for capturing threats yields the right move for Black: ...knight to e4 (...Ne4). (D)

  After ...Nf6-e4

  What is Black’s threat? He attacks White’s queen. This threat is made possible by the excellent mobility of Black’s knight. It occupies one of the center squares on which a knight is most effective.

  Naturally White can move his queen away from attack. But more than that is involved.

  In the initial diagram White’s c3-pawn was attacked twice and defended twice, and is therefore safe from capture. But after the black knight goes to e4, while the same pawn is still defended twice, it is attacked three times. Consequently, after White moves his queen away he loses his c3-pawn.

  Superior mobility enabled Black to win material.

  In the next position, White has no immediate gain of material in view. Still his lead in mobility is very striking. (D)

  White to play

  White’s development has been fast. How can we tell? He has four pieces developed, whereas Black has only two pieces out. (A rough and ready count will always be a good check in comparing the amount of development on both sides.)

  White’s development has also been effective. Both his bishops strike along impressive diagonals. His knight is splendidly posted in the center (“centralized”).

  This last point is very important. As we’ve seen in connection with earlier diagrams on pages 56 and 57, it makes a very big difference whether a knight is marooned at the side of the board, or whether he is posted in the center, the busy crossroads of the chessboard.

  One last important feature: so far there is only one completely open the file, the d-file. (We say a file is “open” when there are no pawns on it.)

  Now White can bring a rook to the dfile (Rf1-d1) and then play rook to d2 (Rd2). After that he will bring his other rook on the d-file. Thus White will get a hammer-lock control of another important open line. (D)

  After Rf1-d1

  Can Black dispute control of the open file? Certainly not in the immediate future. He can bring only one rook to the open file. His other rook, still on its home square, is hemmed in by his undeveloped knight and bishop.

  Because Black has failed to develop rapidly in the opening, he now finds that his pieces are still on the back row, while White’s are actively in the fight. This is another proof that if you want to be a winning player, you must develop your pieces rapidly.

  If anything, Black’s position in the following diagram is an even more impressive example of superior development. (D)

  Black to play

  Let’s break this position down into its elements, as we’ve done previously. Black’s rooks are doubled on the halfopen king bishop file (the f-file). As we’ve seen, doubling the rooks on a single line gives them great power. Note that the f-file isn’t open at all as far as White is concerned. His rook on that file is blocked by his own f2-pawn.

  Now to further comparisons: note the magnificent sweep of the long diagonal commanded by Black’s bishop. Posted on a remote corner, the bishop cuts right across the board. White’s bishop, on the other hand, has no scope to speak of.

  Compare the white and black knights. The white knight is back on its home square, accomplishing nothing at all. As for the black knight, it is superbly centralized on the vital center square d4. The knight, which can never be driven from its outpost, hits out in all direction from its centralized location.

  This is definitely a winning position for Black. Superior mobility adds up to winning play.

  Make Your Pieces Cooperate

  As we’ve seen several times, effective development is just as important as fast development. When you develop your pieces effectively, you can make them cooperate toward achieving a certain objective. If you don’t develop effectively you will find later on that your forces are scattered and cannot be made to work together.

  Take our next diagram as a telling example.

  White’s rooks are certainly developed, but to no good purpose. His rooks are disconnected – the one on b7 is in a particularly bad way. It is unprotected, subject to sudden attack, and completely isolated from the other white forces. (D)

  Black to move

  The white knights are off to the side. Realistically speaking, they are out of the game. The white b2-bishop, blocked by its own queen pawn at d4, accomplishes nothing.

  Worst of all for White is the fact that his king is exposed to attack, and his far-off forces are no help to the king. Only the White queen stands by for help, and this piece cannot do all the work.

  Black stands to win if he can profit by White’s inept, inharmonious set-up. So let’s appraise Black’s formation.

  His queen is beautifully posted right in the heart of the enemy position. And because White’s forces are miserably situated, they cannot drive the black queen away.

  The black rooks do not take part in any attack on the white king, but they mutually protect each other, which is more than can be said for the white rooks.

  All Black’s advantages, in short add up to a winning position for him. To hope for any resistance on White’s part, we would need the optimism of the little girl who asked God “to make the bad people good, and the good people nicer.”

  Black’s winning move is ...knight to f4 (...Nf4). The diagram shows the resulting situation. (D)

  After ...Nd5-f4

  As a result of the powerful knight move, Black has two brutal threats. One is ...knight to h3 check (...Nh3+). This would fork White’s king and queen and consequently win White’s queen. The other threat is ...queen takes rook (...Q×b7). Black’s two-fold threat, which cannot be completely parried, exploits the scattering of White’s forces.

  When your forces cooperate skillfully, they often succeed in concentrating on an enemy target which is both valuable and vulnerable. Our next diagram is a good example. (D)

  White to play

  White’s forces have a great deal of mobility; black pieces have very little scope. White’s dark-squared bishop pins the black knight. The bishop is active, the knight is passive. (If black moves the knight, he loses the queen.)

  Black’s bishop is blocked by his own king pawn at e6. The white bishop at d3, on the other hand draws a bead on Black’s h-pawn at h7. This is no mere figure of speech, as White’s queen also attacks this weak point.

  Of course, in the position of the diagram, White cannot play queen takes h7-pawn check (Q×h7+). The black knight parries this threat. Yet White can make this threat real by first playing bishop takes knight (B×f6), removing the protection of the h7-pawn
. (D)

  After Bg5×f6

  What made White’s attack so powerful in this example? It was the superior mobility and the smooth cooperation of his queen and two bishops concentrating on a weak point.

  Another example of powerful cooperation appears in the next diagram. Studying the position reminds us that the quickest way to understand any middlegame position is to look for differences. (D)

  Black to play

  White’s king for example is perfectly safe and unapproachable. Not so the black king, which is back in the center of the board.

  No black pieces menace the white king. In the case of Black’s king, a white rook has penetrated all the way to h8, and its very presence so deep in Black’s position is very disturbing to the defender.

  Equally alarming for Black is the presence of white queen at h7. The far-advanced white rook and queen have the cooperation of still a third white unit, the h-pawn at h5; and here is where danger rears its ugly head.

  Why? White is threatening pawn to h6 (h5-h6), attacking the unfortunate black knight which is pinned and cannot move; to do so would expose Black’s king to attack.

  When we look for moves to parry this threat we realize that the exposed position of his king is not Black’s only difficulty; he also suffers cruelly from a lack of cooperation among his forces.