Garry Kasparov - Checkmate - My First Chess Book PDF
Garry Kasparov - Checkmate - My First Chess Book PDF
Garry Kasparov - Checkmate - My First Chess Book PDF
...................
the pieces and their moves 8
notation 28
tactical play 40
checkmate 52
opening play 60
endgame play 70
solutions to puzzles 80
glossary 92
First published in 2004 by Gloucester Publishers pie
(formerly Everyman Publishers pie)
Northburgh House, 10 Northburgh Street, London EC1V OAT
~. Good Luck!
Garry Kasparov
,.
•
•
•
In the first diag ram the bishop can move to any Sometimes a bishop can be bad ly blocked in
of the marked squares. Like the rook and all the as you can see in the diagram below.
other pieces except As we wil l see later, these white pawns are
the knight, the blocked by the black ones and cannot move.
bishop cannot Therefore they are blocking their own bishop.
jump over A bishop that is stuck like this is often called
pieces. a 'bad bishop'. Try to avoid having one !
.
Pawns can capture en passant. promote it to another piece. He will choose
a queen to replace the pawn and can then
(as we shall see later) easily checkmate the
black king in a few moves.
Pawn promotion is a really important idea in
chess. The basic idea is that, if a pawn reaches
the opponent's back rank, it can be replaced
with any piece, except a king. We say the
pawn has 'promoted'. You can choose any
piece you like to replace the pawn but.
since the queen is the most powerful
piece, it is nearly always chosen.
Here is an example to show how pawn
promotion works.
E,
We shal l look at opening play in more detail Now the king has a safe haven behind a wal l of
later in the book, but here I would like you to pawns. Meanwhile the rook is ready to join in the
think about just two important principles: game. It is not doing much, at the moment but it
could soon move to el where it would be active
Develop your pieces.
along thee-file.
Get your king to safety.
King 1K (!;;
Qu een @ ~
Rook m E
Bishop ID 11
Knight ~ f)
In this diagram, if the Sometimes a piece is captured. In that case we
8 white queen moves to insert an ·x· between the symbol and the square.
7 the square marked with
6
the star we write Qb6. Or For example White can play
5 8 Bxd5 and Black can play Nxc2.
if the knight moves to
4 7 If a pawn capture is made, we
the square marked with
3 6 write down the file from which
a cross we write Nc3.
2 5 the pawn has just moved.
1 White can play cxb3 and
a b C d Black can play bxc2.
If an en passant 1 e4 es
8 capture is made 2 Nf3 Nc6
1 then the move is 1 3 d4
8 written as if the 6 This opening is called
6 pawn had only 6 the Scotch Game.
4 advanced one 4
3 square and then 3 ... exd4
2 been captured. In 2 4 Nxd4 Bb4+
1 this diagram Black 1 5 Nc3 Nf6
a b C d e f g h plays c5 and White 6 Nxc6 bxc6
can then play dxc6. 7 Bd3 0-0
Alternatively if 8 0-0 Bb7
White plays g4 Black 9 Be3 Oe7
can reply hxg3. 10 Oe2 Rfe8
D.n t ... tn nntP
The figures at the start of each line simply It is also possible to indicate the strength
indicate the move number. (or weakness) of a move by adding symbol(s)
after the move, as follows:
After White's third move we have written a note
and the game then resumes with Black's third
move. To make it clear that this is a black move D Good move
we insert'..'. before the move.
On the tenth move Black moved a rook to e8. This
OD Brilliant move
is a slight problem as either black rook could have ~ Bad move
moved to e8 and so writing simply 'Re8' would
not make the move clear. Therefore we indicate m> Blunder
which rook had moved by identifying the file from
which it had moved, i.e. Rfe8 - meaning the rook 0~ Interesting move
from the f-file has moved. Occasionally even this
may not work. Perhaps two rooks are on the c-file ~ Dubiou~ move
and both can move to c4. In that case we use the
rank and write, for example, R6c4.
If you have played al l the moves correctly
you should now have the following position
on the board.
5
4
3
cdcfgh
what yo.u need to know
Stalemate occurs when one side has no legal
moves, but is not in check.
try it yourself
l_n the following p!Jz~Jes tn~re. are opportunities to make use ttic tasti~~ U
id~as discussed: in the previous three sections. Hav~ .a good gor ~:t ~QlVi.rHi:
t~e puzzles, ·lookinglfor the right tactical ideas.-Gaining. a feel' f6_r fi_
ow~··
.,
tactical ideas work in chess· is a basic and crucial skill in chess .
1.1.1
1
•
fl
g
'{!J 3.
~
8 ~
abcdefgh
nn f) i
.8. il .8.
<!]
abcdefgh
.8. f)
.8. .8. .8. f) .8.
~ .8. .8. .8.
n <!J <!]
abcdefgh e f g h
4
3
2 .8. .8. .8. .8. .8. .8.
1na b c d<JJe f g hrs
7
6
5
4 .8.
3 & .8.
2 "{:ff/ .8.&
1 E , c:!J
d e f g h
84 solutions to puzzles
combining tactics
~·
1
it
1
.0. g ~
©
d e f g h
E
g 1 g
.n,g g
Ec:!J:1
' f g h
zs
.8,
16 B,
8~
a b ,c.· d e f g h
8 :i :i ~·
7 ~1 1 1
.I. {)
9~! glossary
glossary
queenside skewer
The board area consisting of all squares An attack on a piece that cannot move off the
on the a- , b- , c- and d- files. line of attack without exposing a piece behind it.
The skewer is ful ly explained on pages 44-45.
rank
A line of squares running from side to side stalemate
across the board. See page 7. Stalemate occurs when a player, whose turn it
is to move and who is not in check, has no legal
rating way of continuing. If this happens the game ends
All serious chessplayers have ratings. The in a draw. Stalemate is fully explained on page 34.
international system is the Elo rating system
(named after a Hungarian professor), but several tactics and tactical play
countries also have their own independent rating The hand-to-hand fighting that occurs when the
systems. On the Elo system, the world champion pieces interact. Tactics often involve pins, forks
is usually around 2800, a grandmaster about and skewers.
2550, and an international master 2400. A strong
club player would be about 2000 and a moderate trade
strength club player about 1600. Another word for exchange.
resign under-promotion
To concede defeat before reaching checkmate. The promotion of a pawn to a piece of lesser
value then the queen. This is very rare.
sacrifice
Deliberately giving up material for other gains. zugzwang
This is a situation in which a player is obliged to
simultaneous display make a concession as a result of having to make a
A simu ltaneous display occurs when a very move. It is of most importance in the final stages
strong player plays a number of weaker players of endgames, especially king and pawn endgames.
at the same time. The boards are usually set up
in a circle and the master moves from one board
to the next, replying immediately to his or her
opponent's moves.
ISBN 1-85744-358-6
II Ill II 11
9 78185 7 443585