01_584049 ffirs.qxd 7/29/05 9:19 PM Page iii Chess FOR DUMmIES‰ 2ND EDITION by James Eade 01_584049 ffirs.qxd 7/29/05 9:19 PM Page iv Chess For Dummies®, 2nd Edition Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River St. Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permit- ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600. 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Library of Congress Control Number: 2005924627 ISBN-13: 978-0-7645-8404-6 ISBN-10: 0-7645-8404-9 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 2O/RW/QY/QV/IN 01_584049 ffirs.qxd 7/29/05 9:19 PM Page v About the Author James Eade began taking chess seriously in 1972, when Bobby Fischer was taking the chess world by storm. He competed on his high-school and college teams and became a United States Chess Federation (USCF) chess master in 1981. In 1984 he became a USCF correspondence chess master as well. International organizations awarded him the master title in 1990 (for corre- spondence) and in 1993 (for regular tournament play), but his chess-playing career has gradually given way to chess writing, organizing, and teaching. James has written three other books on chess: Remember the MacCutcheon (Chess Enterprises), San Francisco, 1995 (Hypermodern Press), and The Chess Player’s Bible (Barron’s). He has written numerous articles for a variety of magazines and has edited both the Golden Gate Chess News and the California Chess Journal. In 1991 James began taking an interest in chess political organizations and was elected vice president of CalChess, the Northern California Chess Association, later that year. In 1995 he became CalChess president and was also elected to be president of the Chess Journalists of America. In 1996 he was elected to the USCF’s policy board, the executive committee charged with oversight of the multi-million-dollar corporation. He was appointed zone president for the United States for the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) from 2000 to 2002 and has served on the U.S. Charitable Chess Trust board of trustees since 2000. James holds a master’s degree in organization development from the University of San Francisco and still bristles at being called a chess nerd. 01_584049 ffirs.qxd 7/29/05 9:19 PM Page vii Dedication To Sheri — for suffering chess fools gladly. Author’s Acknowledgments I would like to thank Sheri Anderson for all her encouragement and support throughout this writing project. I really appreciated the feedback I got from the first edition of Chess For Dummies, especially the input I received from George Mirijanian, Frisco Del Rosario, and Wayne Praeder. My editors for the first edition, Bill Helling and Bill Barton, deserve a special thanks for drilling it into my head that not everyone knows Ruy Lopez from Nancy Lopez, and for keeping me on the straight and narrow. My thanks also go to the first edition’s technical editor, John Peterson, who is a better friend than chess player — and he happens to be a very good chess player. I also wish to thank my editors, Sherri Pfouts, Kristin DeMint, and Jon Edwards, for their help with this second edition. M. L. Rantala was more than helpful with the glossary of terms, which I could not have done without her most able assistance. I wish to thank my father, Arthur Eade, for teaching me chess, and my mother, Marilyn, for her touching advance order for this book. Lastly, a spe- cial thank-you to Lore McGovern, who was the wind at my back from start to finish. 01_584049 ffirs.qxd 7/29/05 9:19 PM Page viii Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Composition Services Media Development Project Coordinator: Adrienne Martinez Project Editors: Sherri Cullison Pfouts, Layout and Graphics: Karl Brandt, Carl Byers, Kristin DeMint Andrea Dahl, Joyce Haughey, Acquisitions Editor: Stacy Kennedy Stephanie D. Jumper, Barry Offringa, Copy Editor: Kristin DeMint Lynsey Osborn, Melanee Prendergast Editorial Program Assistant: Courtney Allen Proofreaders: Lynda D’Arcangelo, Leeann Harney, Jessica Kramer, Technical Editor: Jon Edwards Dwight Ramsey Editorial Manager: Christine Meloy Beck Indexer: TECHBOOKS Production Services Editorial Assistants: Hanna Scott, Melissa S. Bennett, Nadine Bell Cover Photo: © Les Cunliffe / AGE Fotostock, Inc. Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com) Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel Publishing for Technology Dummies Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User Composition Services Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services 02_584049 ftoc.qxd 7/29/05 9:09 PM Page ix Contents at a Glance Introduction .................................................................1 Part I: Laying the Groundwork .......................................7 Chapter 1: Tackling the Chess Basics ..............................................................................9 Chapter 2: Greeting the Pieces and Their Powers ........................................................23 Chapter 3: Getting to Know the Elements of Chess .....................................................41 Chapter 4: Looking Out for the King: Check, Stalemate, and Checkmate .................63 Part II: Gaining Chess Know-How ................................79 Chapter 5: Tactics and Combinations in Hand-to-Hand Combat ................................81 Chapter 6: Sacrifices: When It’s Better to Give than to Receive ...............................109 Chapter 7: Mastering Mating Patterns .........................................................................121 Chapter 8: Building Pattern Recognition .....................................................................137 Chapter 9: Recognizing Pawn Formations ...................................................................155 Chapter 10: Making Special Moves ...............................................................................169 Part III: Game Time: Putting Your Chess Foot Forward ...177 Chapter 11: Selecting Your Strategy: The Principles of Play .....................................179 Chapter 12: Coming on Strong in the Opening ...........................................................193