Journey to the Chess Kingdom

Why have I decided to present you this chess manual?

Simply because learning how to play chess will be extremely important for your professional and personal growth:

• more important than a course on strategy or conflict management;
• critical in reinforcing in a short time frame your ability to think intentionally in problem-solving.

More than other games, chess will help you develop the ability to define your own strategy considering your opponent’s intentions; in simple words, by playing chess

you will learn to look at the world through other people’s eyes.

This Averbach and Bejlin’s manual, by now a classic, is addressed to people who want to learn to play chess; an ideal tool to make the first steps also with your children:

especially with little girls, that the prejudice wrongly
wants naturally unsuitable for chess.

The book represents a real guide that frames rules, objectives and strategies within the evolution of a millenary game; like the passionate and exciting adventure that evolves with the world.

Like any good manual, the book will challenge you with difficulties to overcome and problems to solve, enabling you to learn gradually from one stage to the next.

In addition, thanks to the biographies of the world champions with games that document their typical playing strategies, the manual will also appeal to people who know the game and have already made their first steps.

What about the Authors? Here they are!

Jurij L’vovic Averbach,

• Well-known grandmaster over 100 years old, winner of international competitions and a true world authority in the study of the theory of endings, is the author of many books and articles on chess.

Michail Abramovic Bejlin

• Master, well-known chess journalist, author of many chess texts and books.

If you’ve never played chess and want to get a feeling for the basic rules watch this video, then go to the contents of the book!

Contents

Introduction
An ancient and unusual kingdom

CHAPTER ONE. The strict laws of the chess kingdom
Language of the chess pieces
Exercises
The rules of pieces behaviour
The Kings remain alive
Strange laws
What you see isn’t always what you get

CHAPTER TWO. The King without the retinue
Two Rooks against the King
The Queen against the King
The Rook against the King
Two Bishops against the King
The Knight and the Bishop against the King
The soldier becomes a general
A little body often harbours a great soul
Strive and seek

CHAPTER THREE. The guard defends the King
Without bodyguards
Storming the royal castle
Greek gifts
Weapons for all occasions
How lightning appears
Strive and seek

CHAPTER FOUR. The commander’s alphabet
The soul of chess
Charmed squares
The strong run from the weak
Roads to victory
What is good?

CHAPTER FIVE. Reflections before the battle
A False start
The three pillars of the opening

CHAPTER SIX. Chess geography
Open games. Scotch Game
Giuoco Piano – Italian Game
Two Knights Defense
Petroff’s Defense – Russian Game
Four Knights Defense
Ruy Lopez – Spanish Game
King’s Gambit
Semi-open games
Scandinavian Defense
French Defense
Caro–Kann Defense
Alekhine’s Defense
Sicilian Defense
Closed Sicilian
Scheveningen Variation
Dragon Variation
Closed games
Queen’s Gambit Accepted
Queen’s Gambit
Slav Defense
King’s Indian Defense
Gruenfeld Defense
Nimzo-Indian Defense

CHAPTER SEVEN. Win with ability, not with numbers
The weakest against the strongest
The Rook argues with the Queen
The death of a minor piece
Combat with the rook
The three pillars of the endgame

CHAPTER EIGHT. The treasury of the chess kingdom
The immortal game
To the music of Rossini
How the king went to war
The hunter becomes a victim
The punished pawn-eater
The egg of Columbus
The pursuit
Faster than time
The “light-minded” Queen
An unusual concert
Variation 1 “Go on a wild-goose chase”
Variation 2 “The tragedy of one tempo”
Variation 3 “If you run after two hares, you will catch neither”
Variation 4 “Up and down”
Variation 5 “A hymn for the passed pawn”
Variation 6 “Round the corner”
A magically true story
The aquiline eye
Cutting the way through for the bishops
The final blow
The Queen becomes a desperado
Lord of the storms
The witty inventor
Strive and seek
A thousand-year-old task!
The sword of Damocles
The machine solved the problem
To any side
The solution was quite simple
A puzzle

CHAPTER NINE. The strongest
Wilhelm STEINITZ
Emanuel LASKER
José Raúl CAPABLANCA
Alexander ALEKHINE
Max EUWE
Mikhail BOTVINNIK
Vasily SMYSLOV
Mikhail TAL
Tigran PETROSIAN
Boris SPASSKY
Robert FISCHER
Anatoly KARPOV
Garry KASPAROV
Vladimir KRAMNIK
Viswanathan ANAND
Magnus CARLSEN

CHAPTER TEN. Chess of the space century
Space–Earth
The machine plays chess
Chess vocabulary
Solutions