Assuming no knowledge of chess beyond the rules, Maurice Ashley guides you on an inspirational journey through the world of chess tactics. He brings the pieces to life by examining their fundamental characteristics, and shows how their powers can be put to use to win pieces or give checkmate - the building-blocks upon which all chess skills are based.
Ashley writes: "the approach is unique because it is basically me: the way I teach, the way I talk about chess, the way I think. You'll find my love for martial arts in these pages, as well as my ridiculous love for sports, story-telling and teaching." But his approach is not just entertaining: teams under Ashley's guidance have won six national junior championships. His charismatic teaching methods are the stuff of legend - and are to be the subject of a movie. This book makes his ideas and material available to all: teachers and students alike.
He has been called the Tiger Woods of chess. In 1999, Maurice Ashley became the first African-American to qualify for the elite Grandmaster title, an achievement that was widely reported in the international media, including Time magazine, USA Today , New York Times , Sports Illustrated and The Times (London). Ashley is one of the highest-profile figures in American chess, and has commentated on the game for ESPN and Channel Four Television (UK). He sees chess as playing a role in helping at-risk youth, and has coached a number of junior teams to victory in national championships, most famously the Raging Rooks of Harlem, whose achievement is planned to be the subject of a feature film. In 2003 he was named Grandmaster of the Year by the US Chess Federation.
Introduction
When I was first asked to do a beginner's book, I felt a bit uneasy. It seemed to me that I had nothing to add to the numerous quality books already in print. Just to slap my name and grandmaster title onto the same old rehashed material seemed boring, and in some way, a bit dishonest. It took a long time for the ideas you now hold in your hands to hit me over the head and insist that they be written. I can't say that all the material is entirely original, but the approach is unique because it is basically me: the way I teach, the way I talk about chess, the way I think. You'll also find in these pages my ridiculous love for sports, story-telling and teaching.
But most of all, you'll find my love for chess. Writing this book for beginners forced me to look very closely at little things about the game. This process led to pleasurable discoveries. My friends seemed bewildered when I called them up in delightful amazement to tell them how I had just discovered for the first time that a nearby king can only attack a bishop from one square. I could hear them thinking, "Maurice, you're a grandmaster. Surely there's some complicated opening variation you should be studying."
Yes, maybe. But chess is built on those tiny observations that grandmasters not only love to notice but find a way to use magically in their games. Hundreds, if not thousands, of trivial-sounding realizations add up to grand awareness and sudden insight. Complicated moves and ideas come from a thorough understanding of the simple ones. It's no wonder that the great Cuban World Champion Jose Raul Capablanca, whose style seemed as effortless as stroking a cat, insisted that students first study the endgame. Forget about memorizing openings, he insisted, for they go out of fashion fairly quickly. But the intrinsic properties of the pieces won't change for as long as we have chess as we know it.
This book is a primer on tactics that goes from the basic to the complex. Part 1 covers the basic skills every chess-player should have at his or her fingertips. Each position is meant to serve a long-term purpose. Make sure you understand each diagram before going on to the next. And, when you are all done, I hope you go through it once more. Trust me: it pays to refresh your fundamentals. Eventually you'll see that the crazy jungle of tactical ideas is not so crazy after all.
The second part of the book covers five of the greatest games ever played. More than just entertainment, they are meant to teach you how the basic skills you learnt in Part 1 come together to make real works of art. Do not be fooled by the years in which these games were played. Works of art, like the Mona Lisa or the Venus de Milo, are timeless.
At the beginning of any new journey, there is a sense of anticipation and excitement. I hope that's why you came to chess, and why you picked up this book. It is my wish that I'll be able to enhance those feelings, and open a door to a world of wonder that I experience continually whenever I look at a chessboard. And I hope, most of all, that this book is an inspiring first step on the thousand-mile journey that is chess.
Content:
005 Symbols
006Introduction
Part 1:The Basic Skills
0071 The Hunters
007 Long-Range Pieces
007 The Queen
010 The Rook
014 The Bishop
016 Short-Range Pieces
016 The Knight
022 The King
026 The Pawn
029 Exercises
0312 Crowd Control
031 Liberty or Death
036 A Tale of Two Positions
038 Exercises
0403 Float Like a Butterfly
041 The Landmine Exercise
047 Give-Away Chess
048 Exercises
050 4Dollars and Sense
050 Up or Down
051 Table of Values
053 Cinderella
057 The Officers
060 Exercises
0625 Wall Street
062 Fair Trades
066 Bad Trades
067 Proper Sequencing
071 Exercises
0736 Homeland Security
073 The TRIP Method of Defence
073 Take
074 Run
077 Interpose
079 Protect
091 Exercises
0927 Regicide
092 The Bear Hug
095 Quad Mates
097 Back-Rank Mate
101 Exercises
Part 2: The Fabulous Five: The Skills in Action
104 Paul Morphy - Duke of Brunswick / Count Isouard, Paris 1858
112 Wilhelm Steinitz - Curt von Bardeleben, Hastings 1895
121 Mikhail Botvinnik - Milan Vidmar, Nottingham 1936
126 Donald Byrne - Robert Fischer, New York 1956
133 Bent Larsen - Boris Spassky, Belgrade 1970
138Solutions to Exercises
154Glossary
157Dedication
157Acknowledgements
158Index of Games | 
