Chess Strategy for the Tournament Player

by Lev Alburt, Sam Palatnik

Overview

Top grandmasters demystify chessboard planning, giving you the practical, game-winning strategic techniques you could spend years gathering on your own.

Chess strategy is the long-term planning at the heart of winning chess. Each important idea is clearly explained using games carefully chosen for their instructive clarity and power. This is the fifth but stand-alone volume of the Comprehensive Chess Course, the series that brings readers of English the once strictly guarded Russian training methods.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781889323213
Publisher:	Chess Information & Research Institute
Publication date:	06/15/2010
Series:	Comprehensive Chess Course Series
Edition description:	Third Revised Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

International Grandmaster Lev Alburt, three-time U.S. champion and former European champion, is one of the most sought-after chess teachers in the world. He lives in New York.

Sam Palatnik teaches in Bethesda, Maryland. Ten of his students have reached the list of the world’s 100 best players.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

The goal of this very practical book is to show you how to play the middlegame correctly. We do this by acquainting you with the basis of chess strategy, and by demonstrating the laws of positional play with both classical and modern examples.

Whether you prefer "quiet" positions or wild, tactical melees, the methods you'll learn from this book can become the very foundation of your future success in chess.

Importantly, the strategy examined and explained in this book is applicable to all phases of chess--opening, middle game, and endgame. (Given today's emphasis on "specialty" books of all kinds, we could claim to give you "three books in one"!) Regardless of the fashions of opening sequences or the transient evaluations of specific, "hot" positions, the knowledge in this book can successfully guide your play for a lifetime. It distills centuries of the most important and practical strategic chess knowledge into twelve chapters.

The basis of modern positional, or strategic, play is the theory of the first World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz. His ideas have been further developed by Tarrasch, Nimzovich, Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Botvinnik, Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov, and many others.

Before going any further, let's define a few terms. These definitions aren't absolutely rigid--but they're useful generalizations, and by themselves introduce important strategic concepts.

All operations should be undertaken with a certain goal, the object of attack, in mind. To swim without a goal is strategic confusion.--Grandmaster Aron Nimzovich

A plan is a visualized series of steps that make it possible toachieve a goal. Learning to plan is absolutely essential for every player who wishes to improve. Indeed, one of the attractions of chess is the way in which it teaches foresight and planning.

Strategy is the art of forming an overall plan. Frequently the fact that correct strategic planning dictates the choice of objectives is understated. Strategy is the "grand scheme" for a game. In a sense, strategy is the opposite of tactics, which are the application of a short series of forced moves to achieve an immediate improvement. The words positional and strategic are frequently used interchangeably.

The very first step in composing an appropriate strategy is to evaluate the position correctly. All of us at first see the challenge of such a comprehensive evaluation as daunting and confusing. This book is planned, however, to take the mystery out of such positional analysis. Here we are lucky to have the benefit of the great masters to show us how to evaluate positions logically and methodically.

The method for evaluating a position was initially developed by Steinitz in the 19th century. He first divided the position into elements. Next he compared the elements of White's and Black's positions, and only then formed an opinion, determined a plan, and, finally, looked for a specific move. Based on the accomplishments of his predecessors and contemporaries, as well as his own experience, Steinitz formulated the following positional elements:

1. Development
2. Mobility
3. Control of the center
4. The positions of the kings
5. Weak and strong squares in both camps
6. Pawn structure
7. Queenside pawn majority
8. Open files
9. Two bishops against bishop and knight or against two knights

The above elements still form the strategic basis for tournament players. Understanding these elements will enrich and broaden your strategic ideas, and will provide a foundation for a deeper understanding of the laws and principles of chess.

Based on these elements, a chess player can evaluate a position and develop a strategic plan. The evaluation must be confirmed by a concrete calculation of variations, the range of which depends on the character of the position. The merits and demerits of one side can be balanced by pluses and minuses of the opposite side, and in such a case we might say that the game is equal. But if a player's position does not have enough pluses to compensate, for example, for the opponent's control of an open file, then we would conclude that his opponent stands better.

When a player has enough broad concepts at his fingertips and understands their relative importance, he can correctly evaluate the position and create a strategic plan. We hope to persuade our readers that the true "picture" of the position is determined by the pawns, that their location can suggest a plan of action, that moves are often made not just to create or banish a threat, but also to strengthen the position.

Our study of strategy is divided into 12 chapters, covering most of Steinitz's original elements, albeit in a different order. We do not discuss "development" and "the positions of the kings." These subjects were covered in volume 4 of our Comprehensive Chess Course series, The King In Jeopardy.

Steinitz's Four Rules of Strategy

1. The right to attack belongs to the side that has a positional advantage, and that side not only has the right to attack but also the obligation to do so, or else his advantage may evaporate. The attack should be concentrated on the weakest square in the opponent's position.
2. If in an inferior position, the defender should be ready to defend and make compromises, or take other measures, such as a desperate counterattack.
3. In an equal position, the opponents should maneuver, trying to achieve a position in which they have an advantage. If both sides play correctly, an equal position will remain equal.
4. The advantage may be a big, indivisible one (for example, a rook on the seventh rank), or it may be a whole series of small advantages. The goal of the stronger side is to store up the advantages, and to convert temporary advantages into permanent ones.