An Invitation To Chess: A Picture Guide To The Royal Game

' » Irving Chernev & Kenneth Harkness An Invitation to Chess FIRESIDE Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/invitationtochesOOOOcher AJV INVITA TION TO CHESS A Picture Guide to THE ROYAL GAME Irving Chernev and Kenneth Harkness A Fireside Book Published by Simon and Schuster - New York 1945 COPYRIGHT BY SIMON COPYRIGHT RENEWED © 1972 8c SCHUSTER, INC. BY SIMON & SCHUSTER, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT OF REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN ANY FORM A FIRESIDE BOOK PUBLISHED BY SIMON AND SCHUSTER A DIVISION OF GULF SIMON 8c 8c WESTERN CORPORATION SCHUSTER BUILDING ROCKEFELLER CENTER 1230 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS NEW YORK, N.Y. 10020 FIRESIDE AND COLOPHON ARE TRADEMARKS OF SIMON ISBN 8c SCHUSTER 0-671-21270-2 MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 CONTENTS FOREWORD 7 Part One: THE RULES OF CHESS 11 The Chessmen and Chessboard.11 The Starting Line-Up 13 The Moves of the Chessmen.15 How the King Moves and Captures 16 How the Rook Moves and Captures 17 How the Bishop Moves and Captures 18 How the Queen Moves and Captures 19 How the Knight Leaps and Captures 20 How the Pawn Moves 22 The Pawns Initial Move 23 How the Pawn Captures 24 How Pawns Move in Chess Diagrams 26 Obstructions and Captures 27 The White Queen Captures a Black Pawn 29 The Object of the Game.30 Checking the King 34 Getting Out of Check 36 Checkmating the King 38 Movie of a Chess Game.41 How the Chessmen Are Named 42 The Moves 44 Safeguarding the King.67 How to Castle with King and Rook 69 Rules on Castling 71 Castle Early in Game 73 Illustrative Game 74 Illegal Exposure to Check 77 The Power of the Pawn.78 Pawn Promotion 79 How the Pawn Captures “en passant” 83 How Games Are Drawn.°b Drawn Positions Without Pawns Technically Drawn Games Draw by Stalemate Draw by Perpetual Check Draw by Repetition Part Two: BASIC PRINCIPLES 87 89 90 93 94 95 Relative Values of the Chessmen.95 Examples of Exchanges 98 Superior Force Should Win.101 Rules for Learners How to Meet Capturing Threats Threats and Counter-Threats What Does He Threaten? Illustrative Game 104 104 108 Ill 112 The Principle of Mobility.123 How Mobility Wins Illustrative Game Part Three: 126 129 OPENING PRINCIPLES 139 Outline of Opening Principles.139 Mistakes in the Opening .143 Premature Attacks Pawn-Grabbing with the Queen Exposing the Queen to Attack Unnecessary Pawn Moves Moving the Same Piece Twice 145 153 157 159 168 Correct Opening Strategy.174 Control of the Center Examples of Center Control Summary of Opening Procedure How Development Wins 175 181 189 194 Part Four: 207 CHESS COMBINATIONS The Artistry of Chess .207 A Chess Combination.209 FOREWORD This little book is an invitation to the royal game of chess. There is a widely held popular belief that chess is “too deep” for the average person. The idea that one has to be “brainy” to play the game is pure nonsense. No more brains are required to play this fascinating game than are needed to master contract bridge or gin rummy. There are millions of chess players in the world and most of them are just ordinary people of average intelligence. In Russia—where chess is as popular as baseball in the United States—childre