The Power Chess Program

The Power Chess Program Book 2 Nigel Davies B.T. Batsford Ltd, London. First published in 1999 © Nigel Davies 1 999 Contents ISBN 0 7 1 34 8420 9 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, by any means, without prior permission of the publisher. Printed in Great Britain by Creative Print and Design (Wales), Ebbw Vale for the publ[shers D.T. Batsford Ltd 9 B lenheim Court Brewery Road London N7 9NT lIP' A member of the Ch�J'saJis Group pic A B ATSFORD CHESS BOOK 5 Introduction 7 The Art of Attack 2 The Initiative 23 3 The Art of Defence 39 4 Winning 'Won Position s ' 56 5 Endgame Themes 71 6 Endgame Battles 87 7 Masters of Attack 103 8 The Strategists 120 9 The Technicians 136 10 The Tacticillns 152 11 The Opening 167 12 The Elements of Mastery 183 Key Moyes Solutions 201 Anal ysis Positions Solutions 215 Symbols Introduction Welcome to year two of the Power Chess Program which can be + # x !! '? ?! ? ?? 1-0 0- 1 '/1-'/1 Ct Cm Ch WCh Cht tt 01 Izt Zt corr m check mate captures a brill iant move a good move an interesting move a dubious move a bad move a blunder White wins Black wins draw Candidates tournament Candidates match Championship World championship Team championship Team tournament Olympiad Interzonal tournament Zonal tournament Correspondenc.e game Match studied either together with or inde­ pendently from Book I. What is it that makes a strong chess player? Is it a knowledge of opening theory Cas many people seem to believe) or perhaps being able to calculate more moves ahead than the opponent? A quick eye per­ haps, fierce will to win or just patience? Through my work as a chess trainer I have come across all sorts of theories as to what it is that makes someone good at chess, not all of them very sound. As a result it is quite difficult for an amateur player with a limited amount of time to know exactly how to improve. With these thoughts in mind I set about developing a training program which would target the two main areas in which stronger pl ayers dis­ tinguish themselves. The first is their ability to see ahead clearly and deeply and be able to make disci­ p lined calculations. The second is in recognising a large number of stra­ tegic patterns and being able to apply this to similar positions with good j udgement and creativity. The Power Chess Program is a two year course in which month by month I p resent different strategic themes and issues and then back this up with thematic test positions to get the reader actively invol ved. It is only through jhis active involve­ ment that the strategic ideas really hit home, simply reading about them is not enough! I have arranged the chapters in terms of 'weeks' and 'months' with the aim of encouraging a regu lar weekly study session of about 3-5 hours. For each week's lesson you should firstly read through the ootes and then set about the test positions. These positions are divided into two types. The 'key move' positions C KM 1 311: to KM24/4 are fairly l ightweight and you might allow yourself around 1 0 minutes each to fin