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by Chris Wainscott
How to Win at Chess – Quickly! by Simon Williams, Everyman Chess 2010,
Figurine Algebraic Notation, Paperback, 192pp. $26.95 (ChessCafe Price:
$20.22)
In this offering from British GM Simon Williams (The Ginger GM) the reader
is treated to fifty games of twenty-five moves or less. The bullet-points on the
back cover inform us that the reader can expect to
How to Crush Your
Chess Opponents
by Simon Williams
Enhance your opening and middlegame skills
Learn to identify, avoid and exploit errors
The content is divided as follows:
Rating Chart
Awful –
Utter rubbish
Poor –
Inferior
Uneven –
Mix of good and bad
Good –
Introduction
The Exposed King
Exploiting an Advantage in Development
Punishing the Pawn-Grabbers
Gambit Play
Play with Purpose!
Crossed Wires
Missing the Danger
Unnecessary Pawn Moves
Super h-pawn Power
Index of Openings
Index of Complete Games
In order to do justice to a book such as this it is important to discuss what the
book is and what the book is not. What this book is not, despite its gimmicky
name, is a manual on how to win quickly. After all, there is no way to force
your opponent to make an early mistake. The book is, however, a manual on
how to win, period. As a chess player, you should not focus on whether your
opponent makes an early mistake nearly as much as you should focus on
whether or not you are prepared to capitalize on that mistake. Whether it
happens on move ten or move 100 should make no difference to you.
Worth buying
Great –
Above and beyond average
Excellent –
Everyone should own
One thing I appreciated with this book is the mix of games presented,
specifically the ratio of the author's own games to those of other players. In
this case ten of the fifty games presented are those of GM Williams. The
reason I like this is that no one knows the subject matter better than the person
who was there. As for the games themselves, they are well grouped into the
categories of each chapter, giving the reader the chance gain a working
familiarity with the thematic ideas.
Let's take a look at an example from the first chapter The Exposed King. The
game is between Boris Spassky and Mikhail Tal from Montreal 1979. After
fourteen moves in a Queen's Indian Defense the following position has arisen:
Win in the Opening
by Yakov Neishtadt
Tactics in the Chess
Opening 4
by Friso Nijboer
& Geert van der Stricht
[FEN "3rr1k1/pb1nqppp/3b1n2/2pp4/8/
1PQBPN2/PB1N1PPP/2R2RK1 w - - 0 15"]
Here Spassky starts to go wrong with 15.Rfd1?!
White continues in the same manner as his previous move, basically
saying 'come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!' I would
have thought twice about playing like this had I been faced with the
Master of Attack, Mikhail Tal. I remember that the late Simon Webb
emphasized the importance of sometimes playing the player, and not the
board, in his excellent book Chess for Tigers. If you know your
opponent is a tactical mastermind, then avoid giving him chances to
attack.
A more sensible and restrained approach was 15.Rfe1, which stops Black
from playing ...d4. Play could continue 15...c4!? (I am sure that this is
just the type of move that would have sprang from Tal's mind; Black
wants to play ...Bb4 with pressure against White's dark squares) 16.bxc4
Bb4 17.Qc2 dxc4 (opening up Black's light-squared bishop) 18.Bxc4
Bxf3 19.Nxf3 (19.gxf3? allows Black a nice tactical shot: 19...Bxd2
20.Qxd2 Ne5 21.Qe2 Rd2! Which echoes a combination we'll see in
Game 43, Wlliams-Cherniaev) 19...Bxe1 when Black wins the
exchange, but White's dark-squared bishop has become a very strong
piece. At least this way White takes the initiative, whereas in the game
Black gets all the attacking chances.
15...d4!?
This move frees Black's pieces. From the computer's point of view it may
be an error as Black's attack is not entirely sound, but from a practical
standpoint it is an excellent idea.
16 exd4 cxd4
[FEN "3rr1k1/pb1nqppp/3b1n2/8/3p4/
1PQB1N2/PB1N1PPP/2RR2K1 w - - 0 17"]
17.Qa5?
Spassky immediately goes wrong. The only way to remain true to
White's plan was by playing 17.Nxd4, which wins a pawn, although
White had to calculate the consequences of what would have happened
if Black had sacrificed with the tempting 17...Bxh2+ 18.Kxh2 Ng4+:
[FEN "3rr1k1/pb1nqppp/8/8/3N2n1/
1PQB4/PB1N1PPK/2RR4 w - - 0 19"]
a) 19.Kg1! Qh4 20.N2f3 Qxf2+ 21.Kh1 and it is not clear how Black
should continue. The position remains very complicated, but the onus is
on Black to prove that his investment has been a good one.
b) However, moving the king the other way could well lead to trouble:
19.Kg3 Qe5+ 20.f4 (or 20.Kxg4 Nf6+ when White's king looks stupid
and is not going to survive long) 20...Qe3+ 21.N4f3 Qf2+ 22.Kh3
(22.Kxg4 runs into 22...Bxf3+ 23.Nxf3 Qxg2+ 24. Kh4 Qf2+) 22...Ndf6
when Black's attack is very dangerous and well worth the invested piece.
17...Ne5
Now Black gets an attack without any loss of material.
18.Nxe5
White could have pinned the knight with 18.Re1, but this move runs into
trouble after 18...Bxf3!.
18...Bxe5
[FEN "3rr1k1/pb2qppp/5n2/Q3b3/3p4/
1P1B4/PB1N1PPP/2RR2K1 w - - 0 19"]
19.Nc4?
White moves his knight the wrong way and his king is left bare. A better
attempt at defense would have been 19.Nf1, but Black still has the
initiative after 19...Nd5!, heading for f4 and allowing his queen access to
the kingside. After 20.Ng3 Nf4 21.Bf1 h5 White is in trouble.
19...Rd5!
The rook enters the attack with the gain of tempo.
20.Qd2
Can you find the move that Tal chose next?
[FEN "4r1k1/pb2qppp/5n2/3rb3/2Np4/
1P1B4/PB1Q1PPP/2RR2K1 b - - 0 20"]
20...Bxh2+!
The classic Greek Gift, but here Black is planning to use his rook and not
his knight in the attack.
21.Kxh2 Rh5+!
Instead 21...Ng4+ would have given some chances to defend with
22.Kg3.
22.Kg1
White's other option was 22.Kg3. Then all that Black has to do is move
his queen to h4, but how can he achieve this? 22..Ne4+ (that's right!)
23.Bxe4 Qh4+ 24.Kf3 Qxe4+ 25.Kg3 Qh4 and it is mate.
22...Ng4 0-1
So let's go back to move fifteen where Spassky played Rfd1. Did it matter that
this occurred on move fifteen rather than move fifty? Of course not. Tal saw
the chance to rip open White's king and he went for it. This is the heart of
what this book aims to teach. See a mistake, exploit a mistake.
Now let's take a look at the Williams-Cherniaev game that is mentioned in the
notes to Spassky-Tal. The game is from Hastings 1998/99 and the opening is
the English.
After White's tenth move the following position is on the board:
[FEN "r2qkb1r/1b1n1p1p/pp1ppnp1/2p5/
2P1PP2/2NP2PP/PP2N1B1/R1BQ1RK1 b kq - 0 10"]
10...h5?
This is simply an error. Black cannot afford to play moves like this, even
if he didn't like my plan of expansion with g3-g4. The position is closed,
which makes is harder for any tactics to arise, but the Black king is stuck
in the center and White can try to open things up with a pawn break.
11.f5! e5?!
[FEN "r2qkb1r/1b1n1p2/pp1p1np1/2p1pP1p/
2P1P3/2NP2PP/PP2N1B1/R1BQ1RK1 w kq - 0 12"]
An attempt to keep the position closed, but I can still attack along the ffile. Here gxf5! would have made more sense. At least this way Black
can aim to attack White along the g-file if given the chance. Play could
continue 12.exf5 (12.Bg5!?) 12...Bxg2 13.Kxg2 and now maybe Black
should play 13...e5. White is better as he can aim to control the e4 and
d5 squares, but Black is in no immediate danger.
12.fxg6 fxg6 13.Nd5!
A big square!
13...Nxd5 14.exd5
"I have now freed the e4 square for my knight on e2."
14...Qe7
Black cannot castle kingside anymore due to my rook on f1, so
Cherniaev desperately tries to get his king to safety on the queenside.
15.Nc3!
Moving around to e4.
[FEN "r3kb1r/1b1nq3/pp1p2p1/2pPp2p/
2P5/2NP2PP/PP4B1/R1BQ1RK1 b kq - 0 15"]
15...0-0-0?
Black had to try 15...Bh6, but things would have been very unpleasant
after 16.Bxh6 Rxh6 17.Ne4. Indeed, what can Black play here? 17...0-00 fails to a similar tactic to the game and it is not clear which other pieces
Black can move. White has a big advantage.
16.Ne4
White is winning and I now enjoyed the finish!
16...Bh6 17.Bxh6 Rxh6 18.Rf7! 1-0
[FEN "2kr4/1b1nqR2/pp1p2pr/2pPp2p/
2P1N3/3P2PP/PP4B1/R2Q2K1 b - - 0 18"]
It is clear that Black's major mistakes were the pawn moves ...g6 and
...h5. Black did not have time to play these moves.
Again, if you consider these type of pawn move mistakes as an overview, you
will realize that it is far more important to understand that your opponent has
made an unnecessary pawn move, rather than that they have done so on move
ten!
I learned quite a bit about exploiting weakening moves having played through
the games in this book. In chess you can rarely miss out on the chance to
capitalize on your opponents mistakes. If you are presented with an
opportunity, it is vital that you take it while you can! GM Williams did a fine
job with this work and it is has a ton of practical value. I give this book a very
solid four stars.
My assessment of this product:
Order
How to Win at Chess – Quickly!
by Simon Williams
Order
How to Win at Chess – Quickly! (Ebook)
by Simon Williams
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