Pandolfini’s Ultimate Guide to Chess

by Bruce Pandolfini

  Student: I’ve seen people use upside-down rooks.

  Teacher: That’s another way to go. Players often use a previously captured rook to represent a new queen by simply turning it upside down. You may even be able to borrow a piece from another chess set, but remember to return it at the game’s end. Most of the time, though, pawns promote during the final stages of the contest, when previously captured pieces are readily available, so what you’re looking for can possibly be found in your opponent’s stash of captured pieces.

  Diagram 44. Before the pawn advances to the last rank.

  Diagram 45. The pawn has just advanced to the last rank. The move isn’t completed yet.

  Diagram 46. The pawn has been promoted to a queen, and the move is completed.

  Student: I think it’s beginning to dawn on me why pawn movement can be a little complicated.

  Teacher: It’s even more complex than that. You’ll get a greater sense of the difficulties we’ve been alluding to if we turn our attention to another distinctive rule, also applying only to pawns. I’m referring to en passant, which is a special kind of capture that involves just pawns, one White and one Black. The pawns must occupy adjacent files. One pawn captures and the other is captured. The pawn that captures must be on its fifth rank counting from its side of the board. The pawn to be captured must start on its second rank, counting from its side of the board.

  Diagram 47. The pawn could also have been promoted to a knight, a rook, or a bishop. Here it has been promoted to a knight.

  Student: Okay, what happens?

  Diagram 48. Before Black’s pawn moves two squares.

  Teacher: Let’s say the capturing pawn on its fifth rank is White’s and the pawn to be captured on its second rank is Black’s. If the Black pawn uses its two-square first-move option so that after moving it occupies the same rank as White’s pawn, it can he captured by the White pawn en passant.

  Student: That sounds French.

  Diagram 49. After Black’s pawn has moved two squares.

  Diagram 50. After White has taken Black’s pawn en passant.

  Teacher: It’s French, and it means “in passing.” The White pawn takes the Black pawn as the Black pawn tries to pass the White, capturing the Black pawn as if it had moved only one square, not two. There’s a further and important requirement: En passant captures must be exercised on the first opportunity or the option is forfeited.

  Student: I think this is another section I’ll be reviewing later on. Let me change direction again, if I may. Many players seem to write their moves down.

  Teacher: And that’s important. Chessplayers record their moves using a system of letters and numbers that name each square on the board. There are two popular systems: the descriptive, used in many older chess books; and the algebraic, used in most chess books published since the mid-1970s. We’ll use the latter here. In fact, we already began doing so a while back.

  Student: I’ve noticed those symbols here and there and wondered. Is learning algebraic notation going to be as problematical as understanding pawn moves?

  Teacher: Actually, it’s easy once you get the hang of it. In the algebraic system, the board is viewed as an eight-by-eight grid. Every square has a unique name based on the intersection of a file and a rank. You remember, I’m sure, that files, the vertical rows of squares, are lettered a through h, beginning from White’s left. Ranks, the horizontal rows of squares, are numbered 1 through 8, beginning from White’s nearest rank. Squares are named by combining letters and numbers, the letter being lowercase and written first. So in the starting position, White’s king occupies el and Black’s king occupies e8. All squares in the algebraic system are named from White’s standpoint.

  Diagram 51. The algebraic grid. Every square has a unique name.

  Student: Besides letters and numbers, there are other symbols, too, right?

  Teacher: In addition to the letters and numbers that identify each square on the board, chess notation uses symbols to represent each unit as well as specific chess operations, like capturing enemy units or checkmating the king. The names of pieces are often abbreviated using capital letters: K for king; Q for queen; R for rook; B for bishop; and, to avoid confusion with the symbol for king, N for knight. Some books still use the older Kt.

  Student: And for the pawns, do you use a P?

  Teacher: Pawns are another matter. No letter is necessarily used to designate a pawn in recording unless there’s a practical reason to use P or p, usually either for instruction or in order to delineate a position. If a move is given without a capital letter, say d3, the reader should assume that a pawn is doing the moving. By the way, you might want to copy these symbols onto an index card, which you can also use as a bookmark.

  OTHER USEFUL SYMBOLS

  K king

  Q queen

  R rook

  B bishop

  N knight

  - moves to

  x captures

  + check

  # checkmate

  0-0 castles kingside

  0-0-0 castles queenside

  e.p. en passant

  Student: Could you show specifically how to write down a move?

  Teacher: Let’s say, at the very beginning of a chess game, that White moves his kingside knight from g1 to f3. Both players would write on their score sheets 1. Nf3. The 1. introduces White’s first move; N stands for the knight, the moving piece; and f3 is the name of the arrival square. Note there’s a period and space between the 1 and the N, by the way.

  Student: Suppose White’s fourth move is the capture of a black pawn on d4 with a knight from f3?

  Teacher: In the full version of move recording, this move would be written 4. Nf3xd4. The 4. indicates it’s White’s fourth move; N means a knight does the moving; f3 is the square of departure; x means it’s a capture; and d4 is the name of the arrival square, the square on which the capture takes place.

  Student: I’m not sure everybody writes all that stuff. Some seem to write less.

  Teacher: Most veteran chessplayers tend to abbreviate their notation by dropping the departure square, so that 4. Nf3xd4 could be written as 4. Nxd4. Others abbreviate even further, to 4. Nd4. In their more experienced minds the capture on d4 is implied and need not be symbolized.

  Student: Probably I should use the longer version of recording until I feel comfortable enough to shift to the shorter methods of writing down moves. But I’m still a little mixed up about using or not using the P to indicate pawn captures.

  Teacher: Generally, no indication need be given that a pawn is captured, or that it does the capturing, even if you use the form of recording that signifies what’s being captured. If an x is used to indicate a capture, readers infer that some unit has been captured, and this notation will provide enough information for the reader to correctly play the move on the board. You can see what’s being captured merely by going to the correctly indicated square. Most people aren’t going to read chess moves in their heads. Instead, they’re going to play them on the board. As a result, they will see exactly what has occurred. If, for example, White captures a black pawn on d5 with his e4-pawn, that move could be written e4xd5.

  Student: I’m getting the idea. No letter has to be used to designate a pawn, if the sense of the move is totally clear.

  Teacher: Quite so. Many players even use personalized symbols for some of these transactions. That’s usually okay as long as they remain consistent and if others, such as tournament directors, can follow the score once it’s been explained to them. After all, recording is just another mode of communication. Chess games, by the way, are not just recorded by writing down moves made by White or Black, but also by commentary. Some of this commentary comes in words, but a lot of it takes the form of more symbols. Below are some of the most common symbols for analytical assessments and statements about the game.

  SOME SYMBOLS FOR COMMENTARY

  ! good move

  !! very good move

  !? probably a goo
d move

  ?! probably a bad move

  ? questionable move

  ?? blunder

  1. White’s first move

  1 … Black’s first move (when appearing independently of White’s)

  (1-0) White wins

  (0-1) Black wins

  Student: I feel a bit tired just thinking about all this.

  Teacher: Learning how to read and record a chess game may seem a daunting task, but it’s as helpful to assimilating chess as understanding how to conjugate verbs is to mastering a language. Chessplayers record their moves for various reasons, especially in tournament play.

  Student: What are some of those reasons?

  Teacher: Chessplayers notate to (1) pace themselves and monitor their rate of play during a tournament or clock game; (2) make sure they don’t forfeit on time; (3) reduce blundering by writing moves down before they are played to check for potential mistakes and observe their opponent’s reactions; (4) enable others to learn and benefit so that the game itself can evolve, which pertains especially to strong masters; (5) look back on one’s personal playing history; (6) become conversant with reading chess moves, in order to study and improve; (7) show the games to someone—mainly a teacher—to learn from one’s errors; and (8) settle disputes.

  Student: How about playing a quick game?

  Teacher: Rather than playing a quick game, why don’t I show you one—in fact, the shortest game possible. It’s only two moves: two for White and two for Black.

  Diagram 52. I. f2-f3 (White’sfirst move). White moves the pawn from f2 tof3.

  Diagram 53. 1 … e7-e5 (Black’s first move). Black moves the pawn from e7 to e5.

  Diagram 54. 2. g2-g4 (White’s second move). White moves the pawn from g2 to g4.

  Diagram 55.2 … Qd8-h4# (Black’s second move). Black moves the queen from d8 to h4. This is checkmate.

  Student: That was fast. I suppose you could beat me that quickly.

  Teacher: Actually, I probably couldn’t, especially now that I’ve shown you what not to do. But you’d be surprised. Good players don’t always win so quickly. Sometimes they take longer than expected, so they can make sure not to throw away their advantage or fall for a trap. Funny thing is, there are a lot of misconceptions—and misconceivers—about chess. Take George Bernard Shaw, who once described chess as a “foolish expedient for making idle people feel they’re doing something very clever.” Then compare his thoughts to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s, who said that chess was the touchstone of the intellect. Is there any doubt, of the two, who was the better chessplayer?

  LESSON 2

  NON-MATING TACTICS

  Teacher: So those are the moves and rules. Now that you know how to play, you’ll want to learn how to play well.

  Student: How did you know that?

  Teacher: Just a gut feeling. But let’s agree to operate on this assumption: Any statement you make about chess is open to question. The game is home to infinite variety, and any rule, principle, or theory is subject to the changes such variety can impose. At one point, a chessic principle may seem to answer a positional problem. At another, it may be of no help whatsoever.

  Student: No wonder chessplayers talk like philosophers.

  Teacher: The best chessplayers question even the right moves. The greatest philosophers leave no statement unexamined.

  Student: It sure takes some concentrated thinking to get good at this game.

  Teacher: And you need tools to win—not just the rules of the game, but helpful principles, guidelines, and tactics. Just be prepared. There’s only one thing in chess that’s beyond any doubt.

  Student: Checkmate?

  Teacher: That’s right. With that said, let’s start discovering pathways to the only chess conclusion that can be called a final one. We’ll begin with tactics.

  Student: And they are?

  Teacher: Tactics are winning ideas. They refer mainly to a local opportunity rather than an overarching, long-term goal. They’re almost always employed after one side has made a mistake. Once you see an inaccuracy, however slight, you may be able to take advantage of it immediately by using a specific tactical weapon. Other times, you might have to make a few moves to set up your use of a given tactic. Many tactical ideas are designed to gain material advantages, because having greater material is usually the easiest way to win. Other tactics lead directly to checkmate. Tactics gaining material fall into the class of non-mating tactics. Those resulting in mate are obviously called mating tactics. For the remainder of this discussion we’ll focus chiefly on non-mating tactics.

  Student: How do I use non-mating tactics?

  Teacher: First, get familiar with them. After you’ve learned some fundamental tactics, you can begin to use them in your own games to win enemy units and get the better of exchanges. In order to perform these tasks, you must be acquainted with the relative value of the pieces. As a rule, whenever considering any transaction of forces, try to give up less than you get back. Take a look at the chart. It lists the chess worth of all units except the king, which is not assigned a numeric value because the rules prevent it from being taken or exchanged at any time.

  TABLE OF RELATIVE VALUES

  Pawns are worth

  1

  Knights are worth

  3

  Bishops are worth

  3

  Rooks are worth

  5

  Queens are worth

  9

  Student: How should I interpret this chart?

  Teacher: According to the chart, and aside from even-up trades, you should be willing to surrender a pawn for any piece; a knight or a bishop for a rook or a queen; a rook, a bishop, or a knight for a queen; a bishop and a knight for a queen; a rook and a knight or a rook and a bishop for a queen; or a rook for a bishop and a knight. Using this system as a guide, you can reliably analyze most tactics materially.

  Student: Are there many different non-mating tactics to think about?

  Teacher: There are many, but we’re going to limit our discussion to eleven separate categories of tactics. These eleven cover the game’s tactical brass tacks for winning material. Well start with en prise.

  Student: That’s another one of those French terms.

  Teacher: Chess is international. But yes, this specific term is French. It means “for the taking.” A unit is en prise if it’s unguarded and under direct attack so that it can be taken at no cost to the capturer. If a unit is en prise we say it’s hanging, or that it can be taken for nothing or for free. I should warn you, though. Chessplayers are like anyone else, and they may alter a word’s meaning so that it can imply more than the original definition would logically suggest. En prise can refer simply to an unguarded and defenseless unit. It can also signify the act of capturing that unit.

  Student: Can anything be en prise?

  Teacher: Any unit can be en prise except the king, which can never be captured. If a king is in position to be captured, that’s checkmate, and the game ends there.

  Student: I see you’ve set up a position. What is it you want from it?

  Teacher: I’d like you to take a look at it. Notice that whoever moves can take the other side’s bishop for nothing.

  Diagram 56. Whoever moves can take the other side’s bishop for free.

  Student: I think in this position I’d want it to be my turn. But I have a question about something else. What’s a fork?

  Teacher: A fork is not just silverware. It, too, is a tactic. You give a fork when one of your units attacks two or more enemy units with the same move. Sometimes only one of the enemy units can be saved, sometimes neither of them can. All units can fork. All can be forked. The queen is the best unit for giving forks, since it can strike in all directions. But the pawn gives perhaps the most serious forks. Whatever it attacks, it can capture without loss of material, even if the unit to be captured is already protected, because nothing is less valuable than a pawn.

  Student: Is this position a fork?


  Teacher: This next diagram shows a knight forking Black’s queen and rook. I’m leaving the kings out of the diagram so you can concentrate on the concept.

  Diagram 57. The knight forks queen and rook.

  Student: I see. If one of the two attacked Black pieces moves to safety, my knight is still in position to capture the other. I’ll make sure to look for forks in my own games.

  Teacher: And while you’re looking for forks, you might also start looking for pins. The pin is a straight-line tactic that usually involves three units: an attacker and two defenders. All three units occupy the same straight line, which means the same rank, file, or diagonal. In a pin, the attacker threatens an enemy unit that shields a more valuable enemy unit along the line of attack. The unit closest to the attacking unit is pinned to the unit behind it. Either the pinned unit can’t be moved off the line of the pin legally, or it can’t be moved without incurring disadvantage or actual loss of material.

  Student: How do you win with a pin?

  Teacher: Sometimes the shielding pinned unit is captured with material gain. In other cases, the pin renders the shielding unit helpless, so that it can be attacked and won by other attacking units. At still other times, no material can necessarily be won, but the pinned unit’s ability to function is reduced. Queens, rooks, and bishops can pin. Any unit except the king can be pinned. In diagram 58, for instance, the bishop is pinning the rook to the king. The rook can’t be saved, even if it were Black’s move.

  Diagram 58. Black’s rook is pinned and lost.

  Student: Now that’s an obvious but nasty pin.

  Teacher: Some pins are more intricate than that, and it can take a few moves to experience their full worth. As I’ve just said, sometimes you don’t capture the pinned unit at all. Rather, you pile up on it with other forces, until it can’t be defended adequately. And there are times when the pin doesn’t win anything. It’s just maintained to limit the other side’s options. In diagram 59, Black’s knight is pinned to its queen and also attacked by a pawn. The knight is lost in a practical sense. If it moves, Black’s queen could be taken by White’s rook. Since the knight can’t move without even greater loss, the pin gains the knight.