Contents

Chess Notation 4
Introduction 5

1 Warm-Ups 6
Solutions 12

2 Mate 14
Solutions 24

3 Double Attack 28
Solutions 35

4 Trapped Pieces 38
Solutions 48

5 General Tactics 52
Solutions 69

6 Hunting the King 78

Solutions 82

Opening Strategy 84

7 Development and the Centre 85

Solutions 92

8 Castling 96
Solutions 100

9 Does Íxh7+ Work? 102

Solutions 108

10 Advanced Exercises 111

Solutions 114

11 Tests 116
Solutions 123
Score-Table 126

Further Improvement 127

3
7 Development and the Centre
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The main goals of opening strategy for both players are to get their pieces quickly doing
something useful, and to control the centre of the board. In particular, in the first few moves
Black must fight hard to deny White complete domination of the centre, and may need to use
tactics to do so. Our first diagram is a typical case where alert play is essential. The moves to
consider are 6...d5 and 6...Ìe4. 6...Ìe4? might be a good idea if Black could secure his
knight on this central square by playing ...d5, but 7 Íd5! rules that out. After 7...f5 (7...Ìxf2
8 Êxf2 dxc3+ 9 Êg3 doesn’t give Black enough for the piece) 8 cxd4 Íb4+ 9 Ìbd2 (or 9
Íd2) Black has a new problem: his king will not find a safe home on the kingside. The right
move is 6...d5!. After the c4-bishop moves, the black knight will move to e4 and Black will
have a share of the centre and good development; e.g., 7 Íb5 Ìe4 8 cxd4 Íb6 or 7 Íe2
Ìe4 8 cxd4 Íb4+, while 7 exf6?! dxc4 8 fxg7 Îg8 is good for Black.
Our second position above shows the importance of getting the pieces out quickly. White
is well up on material but his development is terrible. 12 d3! simply must be the right move,
as it gets White’s pieces moving. After 12...Íxd3+ 13 Êg1 Ìg4 14 Íc6+ Êd8 15 Íg5 we
see a specific line where this is valuable – White wins easily here. Instead the greedy 12
Êg1?? Ìg4 is winning for Black because White’s queen and king are both in grave danger:
13 Íc6+ (13 Íxa8 Ìxf2 14 Êxf2 Ëf6+ leads to mate) 13...Êd8 14 Ìf7+ and now
14...Êc8! wins since the white queen dare not abandon the g1-a7 diagonal.
• The ...d5 advance is such an important idea for Black that it is worth thinking about in al-
most any position where White is creating an ‘ideal’ centre with pawns on d4 and e4.
• A temporary knight sacrifice followed by a pawn fork is a common way to break White’s
grip on the centre – we shall see several examples in this chapter.
• The player who is in charge of the central squares of the board sets the pace and can
quickly move pieces from one part of the board to another.
• If you are behind in development, seek ways to catch up as a matter of urgency.

85
 XABCDEFGHY XABCDEFGHY
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White exploits Black’s slow development in Black has developed rapidly, but White’s
an amazing way. mobile pawns now decide the game.

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White’s bishop is attacked. Choose between Is centralization the key? Choose between
7 d3 and 7 Ëb3. 8...Íg4 and 8...Ëd4.

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Choose between 7...Ìf6 and 7...Ëf6. Black has developed carelessly. What do
you play now?

86
 XABCDEFGHY XABCDEFGHY
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Black’s queenside is undeveloped. Exploit Take full advantage of White’s lack of de-
that in dramatic fashion! velopment.

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White has forgotten about controlling the Does Black have anything better than simply
centre. How does Black punish him? developing?

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Make a practical decision: is 6...Ìxc3 or Black’s development is a disaster. Take full
6...dxc3 safer? advantage and force an immediate win.

87
Solutions to Development and the Centre Exercises
1) 15 Îxe7+! wins. 15...Ëxe7 16 Îe1 pins the queen, but 15...Ìxe7 16 Íxc7, trapping the
queen on its home square, is the main point. After 15...Êxe7 the simplest win is 16 Ëe4+.
2) Black had missed that 8 Ìxd5! paves the way for the pawns to roll forward: 8...Íxd5 9
e4 Íe6 10 d5 and White wins a piece. Although Black got his pieces out quickly, he failed to
establish a central foothold and paid a heavy price. Instead 8 e4?? is bad because of 8...Ìb6
followed by taking on d4.
3) If you chose 7 Ëb3??, then you were perhaps thinking too much of your own ideas (i.e.
the d6 advance) and not enough about your opponent’s possibilities. 7...b5! wins a piece
thanks to the pin against the undefended bishop on c1. On the other hand, 7 d3 is a good
move that keeps everything solidly defended and prepares further development.
4) 8...Íg4?? hits the queen, but is a blunder because of 9 exf6! Íxd1 10 Íb5+, regaining
the queen (and keeping an extra piece) because the black king has nowhere to run. Even if
you didn’t see that, then 9 Íe2 is also good for White, and reason enough to reject
8...Íg4??. Instead 8...Ëd4 is a good move, countering by attacking the c4-bishop and in-
stalling the queen on a powerful central square.
5) 7...Ìf6?? is a blunder. Even though the pin-based 8 Ìe6! doesn’t trap the queen, it wins
because 8...Ëe7 9 Ìxc7+ picks up the rook on a8. 7...Ëf6! is far better, avoiding tactical ac-
cidents before catching up with development – the fact that White’s pieces aren’t well-
anchored will help with this.
6) 10 e5! unleashes a rampant pawn, creating a double attack on f6 and b7. After 10...Íxg2
11 exf6 Black still has two pieces under attack, so the best he can do is 11...Íxf1 12 fxe7
Ëxe7 13 Ëxf1, though two pieces for rook and pawn is a serious material advantage in the
middlegame.
7) The fact that Black’s queen’s rook is not covering d8 allows White to play 19 Îd8!, de-
flecting the queen from its vital role covering the g6-square. After 19...Ëxd8 20 Ìg6+!
hxg6 21 Ëh4# Black is mated.
8) 17...Íe2! 18 Ëe1 Íd3! attacks both queen and rook, and after 19 Ëxe8 Îaxe8 White can’t
save his rook without allowing a deadly check on his back rank: 20 Îc7 Îe1+ 21 Íf1 Íxf1.
9) By ploughing right through the centre to attack the white king: 9...Ìxe4! (9...Ìxf3+ 10
gxf3 Ìxe4! is good too) 10 dxe4 (10 Ìxc5 Íxf3 11 gxf3 Ëh4+ also mates, while 10 h4
Ìg3 is obviously a disaster for White) 10...Ìxf3+ 11 gxf3 Ëh4+ leads to mate: 12 Êe2
Ëf2+ 13 Êd3 Ëd4+ 14 Êe2 Ëxe4+ 15 Êf1 Íh3#.
10) Yes! The loose bishop on f4 is a clue that there is a double attack in the position:
11...Ëe4! wins a pawn on c2.
11) 6...dxc3?! is extremely risky, as White replies 7 Íxf7+ Êxf7 8 Ëd5+ Êf6 (8...Êe8 9
Îe1) 9 Îe1 Ìe7 10 Ëxe4 Êf7 11 Íg5, when Black may still be better, but in practice any-
thing could happen. 6...Ìxc3! is not only safer, but stronger. 7 bxc3 (7 Îe1+ Íe7 8 bxc3 is
similar) 7...Íe7 8 cxd4 d5 simply leaves Black a pawn up with a great position.
12) With 11 Ìb5! White threatens Ìc7#, and 11...cxb5 allows 12 Íxb5#, while 11...Îc8 12
Ìc7+ Îxc7 13 Íxc7 is hopeless for Black. After 11...e5 12 Ìc7+ Êe7 13 Íg5+ f6 14 Íe3
White threatens Íc5#, so Black loses a whole rook. 11 Ìd5! is also good, with the same ideas.

92