MOVE TWO! 1 MOVE TWO THE SECOND VOLUME OF A COACHING COURSE FOR CHILDREN RICHARD JAMES Version 2.2: August 1999 MOVE TWO! 2 For Sam and Nicholas: Two very special boys MOVE TWO! 3 AUTHOR'S NOTE MOVE ONE!, the predecessor of this book, was originally published by Faber & Faber in 1990, with the intention, if successful, of being the first of three volumes intended to take children from learning the moves through to adult club standard. MOVE TWO! was completed in 1992 and submitted to Faber & Faber for consideration. After two years during which I was unable to get an answer from them they eventually decided to publish. Shortly afterwards Faber & Faber decided to stop publishing chess and bridge books and sold all the rights to Mr Bridge, a bridge publishing company. The rights to their chess list were eventually sold on to Batsford, a leading chess publishing house. Batsford, meanwhile, knew nothing about MOVE TWO! and didn't even have a copy of MOVE ONE! so had no idea whether or not they wanted anything to do with them, and my involvement with the Richmond Chess Initiative meant that I no longer had the time to prepare MOVE TWO! for publication. And so the chess course rested until January 1997 when two young pupils, Sam Pickard and Nicholas Moon, whom I was coaching on a weekly basis, had reached the point in their development where they needed MOVE TWO! At that point I started typing the original manuscript into my PC, at the same time computer checking all the analysis (and correcting much analysis previously published elsewhere in the process). The version you have in your hands at present is a test version for internal use by members and friends of Richmond Junior Chess Club. The current timetable for the course as a whole is a complete rewrite of MOVE ONE! (possibly under another title, which will involve changing the title of MOVE TWO! as well) during Summer 1997, followed by updates and corrections to MOVE TWO! and the first draft of MOVE THREE! during 1997/8. Any comments, corrections or suggestions for improvements that you have on this version of MOVE TWO! will be invaluable. My thanks go to Michael Duggan, who was the original guinea pig for MOVE TWO! in 1992, to Ray and Richard Cannon for checking the first version for analytical and other mistakes, to all the other RJCC members past and present who, no doubt without realising it, have helped in the development of this course in so many ways, to Mike Fox, without whom none of this would ever have happened, and to you for reading the book, and, I hope, for your opinions and suggestions. And of course to Sam and Nicholas for providing the inspiration for reviving the course. This version of the book is dedicated to them. Richard James May 1997 Since May 1997 not much has happened. My other chess commitments have increased and that, together with a lack of interest from publishers, has meant that not much has happened since May 1997. I've written two volumes of lessons for schools, produced other bits and pieces for beginners, and, this summer, started work on a website devoted to interactive chess lessons and quizzes. Batsford were never interested in publishing any of my coaching materials, telling me that nobody bought books for beginners. (This is no doubt true, but in itself an indictment of what's been happening in Primary School chess over the past 25 years or so.) As I write this they've just gone into receivership and been sold off to Chrysalis. It's not yet clear what will happen to their chess list. It has also occurred to me that the openings dealt with in this volume are those we study in the Intermediate Group at Richmond Junior Club while the rest of the material is more suitable for the Advanced Group, so at some point I really want to review the whole concept. When this will happen, and whether it will be published as a book or via our web site is not yet clear. But as I have sold out of the previous version and Jonathan Tuck, who is finding a lot of interest in this volume in Sussex, has asked me to produce some more copies. There may also be more Richmond Juniors interested in buying copies. So I am translating it from Amipro to Microsoft Word, with some minor changes and updates. Richard James August 1999 MOVE TWO! 4 INTRODUCTION This is the second volume of a coaching course designed for use either by children working at home with their parents, or by schools or chess clubs. It is also suitable for older readers working on their own. Although it is not necessary to have read the previous volume (MOVE ONE!), knowledge of the material contained in that book is assumed. Topics covered in MOVE ONE! include: a) The Laws of Chess, including castling, en passant, stalemate, the 50 move rule b) Checkmate with two Rooks, King and Queen against King, King and Rook against King. c) Basic opening principles and the names of the major openings starting 1. e2-e4 e7-e5 d) Basic tactical ideas: the fork, the pin, the skewer, the discovered attack. The keyword for MOVE ONE is VISION: learning to look at the board and see the relationships between the pieces: the attacks and defences. The keyword for MOVE TWO is CALCULATION: learning to look ahead, work out variations from the position in front of you on the board. The book contains sixteen chapters. Each chapter starts with a lesson on one particular aspect of the game: opening, middle game or ending. Most chapters continue with a quiz to test knowledge and understanding of the material in the lesson. There is then a section called "Activities". This sometimes offers the pupil openings or positions to play which will then be studied in the next chapter. In other chapters this section includes further study material on the lesson. Where neither of these is appropriate other topics of general chess interest are covered. Finally, there is a section called "Masters of the Universe". This section tells the history of chess through its leading players, and, towards the end of the book, looks at the top players of today, and perhaps tomorrow. Each chapter contains two games which can be played through and studied. Some of these games were played by future champions when they were in their teens or younger. The main teaching method used in this book involves learning through playing. The student is asked to play some games with an opening or from a position. In the next chapter he finds out what should have happened and from this information is able to refine his experience of the position. For this to work you need: a) A regular opponent. This could be a family member (parent, brother or sister), a friend or a computer. b) A chess set, preferably tournament side (Kings about 3" high, squares of about 2"). c) A score book or score sheets (a lined exercise book can be used for this purpose), plus the ability to notate chess games. Information on where to obtain chess equipment can be found at the end of the book. Although both girls and boys play chess 'he' has been used, rather than 'he or she', for the sake of simplicity. MOVE TWO! 5 NOTATION The notation used in this book for writing down moves was described fully on MOVE ONE. In case you haven't read that book, we'll repeat it very briefly here. ABCDEFGH 8-+-+k+-+( 7+-+-+-+-' 6-+-+-+-+& 5+-+-+-+-% 4-+-+-+-+$ 3+-+-+-+-# 2-+-+-+-+" 1+-+-mK-+-! abcdefgh Diagram 1 Each square has a name consisting of a small letter followed by a number, as shown on Diagram 1, where the White King is on e1 and the Black King on e8. Each piece, apart from the Pawn, is represented by a capital letter: K is King, Q is Queen, B is Bishop, N is Knight and R is Rook. We write down a move using: first, the letter of the piece (unless it's a Pawn), then, the name of the square from which it starts its move, then, a minus sign (-), meaning 'moves to', or a times sign (x), meaning 'captures', finally, a plus sign (+) at the end of a move for a check, or, for checkmate, either this sign: # or the word 'mate'.. For Castles King-side we write 0-0, for Castles Queen-side, 0-0-0, for a pawn promotion, d7-d8=Q, for instance, indicating that the Pawn promotes to a Queen, and for an en passant capture, e5xd6 ep, indicating that the White Pawn on e5 captured the Black Pawn which had just moved from d7 to d5. If you're not used to this notation, play through these moves: 1. e2-e4 e7-e5 2. Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6 3. Nb1-c3 Ng8-f6 4. d2-d4 e5xd4 5. Nf3xd4 Bf8-b4 6. Nd4xc6 b7xc6 7. Bf1-d3 Bb4xc3+ 8. b2xc3 0–0 MOVE TWO! 6 ABCDEFGH 8r+lwq-trk+( 7zp-zpp+pzpp' 6-+p+-sn-+& 5+-+-+-+-% 4-+-+P+-+$ 3+-zPL+-+-# 2P+P+-zPPzP" 1tR-vLQmK-+R! xabcdefghy Diagram 2 You should now have reached the position in Diagram 2. If not, go back and try again until you fully understand the notation. Some more symbols for this volume: ! means 'Good move' !! means 'Brilliant move' ? means 'Bad move' ?? means 'Terrible move' !? means 'Interesting move' ?! means 'Risky move'.