Table Of Content1.
Chess Tactics
for the
Tournament Player
by
Grandmasters
Sam Palatnik and Lev Alburt
with
FM Roman Pelts as
Special Editorial Consultant
2.
© Copyright 1995. Sam Palatnik and Lev Alburt.
All rights reserved.
2nd edition 1996.
eISBN 1-59062-166-2
Ebook edition published by Fictionwise.com
Originally published by:
Chess Information & Research Center
P.O. Box 534
Gracie Station
New York, NY 10028-0005
Distribution to the book trade in North America by:
W.W. Norton, 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
Editor: Mark Ishee
Special Editorial Consultant: Roman Pelts
Translator: Eric Schiller
Illustrator: Jami Anson
Cover: Mark Kostabi’s painting, “The Ultimate Sacrifice”
This book is also available in print as ISBN 1-889323-02-0.
3.
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
Lesson One
Tactical Play
Lesson Two
Decoy
Deflection
Obstruction / Blocking
Pin
Skewer
Lesson Three
Clearing a Square
Clearing a Line
Clearing a Diagonal
Interference
Lesson Four
Double Attack
Discovered Attack
Discovered Check
4.
Double Check
X-Ray
In-Between Move
Lesson Five
Exploiting the Vulnerable King
Breaking Down the Defense
Removing the King’s Pawn Cover
Lesson Six The Sacrifice on f7
Sacrificing a Bishop on h7
Lasker’s Combination
The Sacrifice on g7
Lesson Seven
The Back Rank
The 7th rank
Overloading
Far Advanced Pawn
Lesson Eight
Stalemate
Perpetual Check
Pursuit
5.
Lesson Nine
Learning to Calculate Variations
Avoiding Errors in Calculation
Typical Psychological Errors
Author Biographies
6.
Foreword
Chess Tactics for the Tournament Player is the third volume in the
“Comprehensive Chess Course” series. This book assumes that the reader
is familiar with the rules of chess and with the basic concepts and tactical
ideas outlined in the previous volumes.
The Comprehensive Chess Course originated in the former Soviet Union
as a means of providing students with the most effective chess training.
Thousands of masters and grandmasters were raised on this course of
study. The Comprehensive Chess Course is based on the method of
repeatedly presenting certain problems to students. The problems become
progressively more difficult, combining new ideas with familiar ones,
thereby broadening the student’s knowledge and simultaneously
reinforcing previously mastered material.
Like the two previous volumes, Chess Tactics for the Tournament Player
is designed to be an ideal self-study guide. Virtually all the material is
self-explanatory.
In the Introduction to Comprehensive Chess Course, Volumes I and II, we
stated: “We estimate that the next portion of our course requires about
1,000 pages to provide the knowledge necessary to reach expert strength.”
The book you hold in your hands represents this next step in our ambitious
attempt to translate and publish the entire course of study. The fourth book
of this series is also in progress, and will discuss “Attacking the King.”
We wish to take this opportunity to acknowledge our heavy debt to FM
Roman Pelts, our special editorial consultant, who provided much of the
material in this volume. In addition our editorial adviser Michael Vasilyev
provided a lot of useful criticism and ideas for improvements for which we
are grateful.
Important help was also received from Mark Ishee, while Lev Alburt’s
students Dr. Martin Katahn and Jan Cartier provided useful advice for how
to make this book user-friendly for novices and non-masters. The authors
are also grateful to Eugene N. Ruban for overall inspiration!
7.
— GMs Sam Palatnik and Lev Alburt
New York City
October 10, 1995
8.
Introduction
Chess Tactics for the Tournament Player is a textbook filled with
instructive and thrilling examples of various kinds of tactical play. It is
intended to benefit a wide range of players. Beginning players and
tournament veterans alike will find interesting and instructive material.
In order to master tactics, forcing variations, and the art of making
combinations, you must learn the art of calculation. In tournament play,
you are not allowed to move the pieces freely at the board. In fact, once
you touch a piece, you must move it, and you cannot change your mind
and choose some other piece. So it is important to learn how to perform all
necessary calculations in your head.
For that reason, it is best to try to use some parts of this book without a
chessboard, relying on the diagrams alone. This can sometimes be a
difficult task; therefore, from time to time you will want to set up the
position on a chessboard or in a chessplaying computer program for
assistance. But with some effort it is possible to work through most of the
book without a chessboard, making it ideal for use while commuting on
long or short journeys.
As you work through this book you will want to keep the following ideas
in mind:
1. Each example contains a tactical device.
2. The solution to any diagram involves the realization of some
concrete goal.
3. Each lesson focuses on a few specific ideas, though many of the
examples employ a number of different tactical ideas.
Please also note that this is a textbook, not a workbook. The aim of Chess
Tactics for the Tournament Player is to teach and explain the ideas upon
which tactical play is based. The examples in lessons one through eight
are intended to be read and studied, with a view to understanding how to
create combinations. Each of these lessons is followed by 12 test positions
called Exercises, which are designed to measure your understanding of the
new material. You should try as hard as you can to solve the Exercises
before looking up the solutions.
9.
The following suggestions may be helpful in working though the
Exercises:
1. In each example, try to find the solutions yourself, taking 10-15
minutes to discover the answer.
2. Don’t move on to the next Exercise until you fully understand the
current one. If you are not sure what the point is, study it further.
3. First try to read and analyze the moves without moving pieces on a
chessboard.
4. Don’t take anything for granted, especially when reading chess
literature! Sometimes mistakes in published chess analysis go
undetected for decades! Don’t just blindly assume that we are
correct. Check everything until you are satisfied that you
understand the solution.
Lesson nine on “How to Calculate Variations” contains positions designed
to sharpen your thinking skills. The goal of this chapter is not only to
introduce the reader to the art of making accurate calculations but also to
provide a solid foundation in correct chess thinking techniques upon
which later books in this series will build.
— GMs Sam Palatnik and Lev Alburt
10.
