Heisman Dan, World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book

405 Pages·2016·8.95 MB·English

Dan Heisman
The World’s Most Instructive
Amateur Game Book
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Acknowledgements
Bosqueverde on the Internet Chess Club (ICC) for suggesting the video format for amateur games.
• John Henderson, formerly of ICC, for assigning me the instructional video series. Sandro
Leonori for taking over from John as my Chess.FM coordinator.
• Macauley Peterson and Raúl Pérez as my Chess.FM video editors.
• Proofreaders Mike Montgomery, Mark Corben, Dave Giltanen, Ernie Weaver, Joe Casey,
Richard Cordovano, and Troy Duncan.
• All the amateur players who submitted games to me that were used for the “Improve Your
Chess” video series and this book. And all their opponents, who played in an instructive
manner. ☺
To Joe Casey, in Memoriam.
Joe may have been an amateur chess player,
but he was a grandmaster human being.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: TOO FAST
Game 1 French Defense, Tarrasch Variation
Game 2 Sicilian Defense, Closed Variation
Game 3 Colle System
Game 4 Sicilian Defense, High School Variation
Game 5 King’s Indian Defense, Sämisch Variation
Game 6 French Defense, King’s Indian Attack
Chapter 2: TOO SLOW
Game 7 English Opening
Game 8 English Opening
Game 9 Slav (Grünfeld transposition)
Game 10 Queen’s Pawn Game
Game 11 Queen’s Pawn Game
Chapter 3: ENDGAME MISHAPS
Game 12 King’s Indian Defense
Game 13 Pirc Defense
Game 14 King’s Indian Defense
Game 15 French Defense, Winawer Variation
Game 16 Pirc Defense, Classical Variation
Chapter 4: A VARIETY OF INSTRUCTIVE PLAY
Game 17 Queen’s Gambit Declined
Game 18 English Opening
Game 19 Queen’s Pawn Game
Game 20 French Defense, Advance Variation, Milner-Barry Gambit .
Game 21 Queen’s Pawn Game
Game 22 Sicilian Defense, Chekhover Variation
Game 23 Tarrasch Defense
Chapter 5: DISASTER STRIKES
Game 24 English Opening
Game 25 Caro-Kann, Panov-Botvinnik Attack
Game 26 King’s Indian Defense, Sämisch Variation .
Game 27 Sicilian Defense, Grand Prix Attack
Game 28 French Defense, Winawer Variation
Game 29 Alekhine’s Defense
Game 30 Sicilian Defense, Wing Gambit
Bibliography
Glossary
Symbols
(?) Inaccurate or not best move
? Mistake
?? Bad mistake, outright blunder
(!) Good idea, interesting
! Good move
!! Brilliant move, Hard-to-find best move
?! Dubious move, Unnecessary complications
!? Worth a try, Creating good complications
□ Only move – other moves draw or lose instead of
win, or lose instead of draw
= Equal play or drawn
+– White is winning
± White is clearly better
White has a small edge
Black has a small edge
Black is clearly better
–+ Black is winning
Better is…
∆ With the idea of…
Computer evaluations are expressed in pawns, e.g. +1.25 is one-and-one-quarter pawns better for
White and -3.5 is three-and-a-half-pawns better for Black.
Introduction
“Well, Dan,” Howard Stern’s familiar bass voice intoned, “now that I am up to 1000, that’s about
it. I just can’t seem to beat those 1100’s.”
“But Howard,” I protested, “you’re just giving them free pieces and they are taking some of them.
They are giving you free pieces and you aren’t taking as many of them. If you just stop giving them
free pieces and take all of theirs, you will beat them every game!”
“It’s not as easy as that. You’re a good player so you can do that but I’m not so good.”
“You’re right, but basically it’s as easy as that.”
Four years later Howard was rated over 1700 Internet Chess Club (ICC) Standard, about 1600
USCF. As usual he woke up early, but this time he could not find a friendly face to play. So Howard
pushed the ICC’s then-new “45 45” pool button and the software paired him with the first available
player, who happened to have a Standard rating in the 1100’s.
The game was over in 19 moves. The 1100 made several simple tactical errors and Howard had
captured much of his army for free. Later in the day, Howard was on the phone for a lesson and I
asked him if he wanted to review the game.
“No sense doing that,” Howard protested logically. “I won’t learn anything. He just gave me some
free pieces and I took them.”
“Oh!” I remembered our conversation from four years ago and decided to have some fun, “That’s
right, he’s one of those 1100 players you said you would never beat, back when you were 1000!” I
knew Howard could see my smile right through the phone.
“Wise guy!” he replied good-naturedly, for he not only got my point, but appreciated it even more
now that he was a much better player. At 1700 he was a competent amateur – at 1000 he had been
closer to being a beginner.
* * *
“There’s a benefit to losing – you get to learn from your mistakes” – Megamind (2010)
If you examine the U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) database, about 99.5% of their members are
amateurs – by definition, players rated under 2200 (master level). Moreover, the overwhelming
majority of chess players never join the USCF, so the percentage of amateur players in the U.S. is
much closer to 99.98%. That neighbor of yours you think is pretty good is just an amateur, as are the
highest-level amateurs, the experts, who play very well and, rarely, might draw or even beat a
grandmaster.
Yet when I suggest to players to read over instructive annotated games, both master and amateur,
you can hear the disgust in many, who answer: “What can I learn from amateur games? Those guys
stink. They just put all their pieces en prise. What can I learn from that?”
But these protesters are mistaking “amateur” for “beginner.” This is not a book about beginner
games – all the players in this book are experienced in either over-the-board or online events. The
book features a representative cast of amateurs ranging from lower tournament levels up through
expert (one may have been stronger than that). While there are some very interesting reasons why
amateurs leave pieces hanging and methods to minimize these mistakes are helpful, there are not that
many pieces left en prise in the games chosen for this book.
Since 99.5% of tournament players are amateurs, it follows that they would benefit greatly from
reading about the typical mistakes they make, and how to avoid or at least minimize them. IM Jeremy
Silman’s popular book The Amateur’s Mind does that, but it does not include any full games, nor does
it address time-management errors, but instead provides helpful snippets of amateur thought about
various instructive positions and IM Silman’s insightful comments about their misconceptions. There
is a big void in publishing amateur game books, although some of Lev Alburt’s columns of amateur
games from Chess Life Magazine were recently collected into the book A Fresh Look at Chess. One
big difference between our books is that GM Alburt’s work features move analysis by the players
with the grandmaster’s insightful comments sprinkled about. My book is much denser: it features
extensive master (and computer) analysis and a much larger dose of general improvement advice. I
include much commentary on two big sources of problems – the thought process and time management
– that are usually not covered in Lev’s column. Finally, the “Master vs. Amateur” genre includes
several entries such as Euwe and Meiden’s classic Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur, Norwood’s
Grandmaster Meets Chess Amateur, and the recent Grandmaster Versus Amateur edited by Aagaard
and Shaw. The value of examining amateur play for the purpose of instruction is widely recognized.
I believe that any comprehensive course of chess study should include the review of many games
by strong players, so that an inexperienced player would know what good moves and ideas looks
like, and what he should be trying to do in typical positions. I studied at least two thousand games in
my first few years of play and made expert after participating in tournaments for 3 years. Studying
these master-level games helped me immensely and gave me a “chess conscience” where, when I ran
across typical positions, I could hear those strong authors whispering in my ear, “In this type of
position you should consider doing X.”
But that does not mean that there is not a large benefit to be had from seeing the mistakes of your
peers. Many amateur tournament players are superior to the average chess book purchaser. Therefore,
even though their mistakes may seem “basic” to a reader familiar with master play, they are the same
mistakes that that reader, without taking remedial action, might keep making throughout his chess
career. Just because a mistake is simplistic does not reduce its instructiveness; in fact, it is likely
much more instructive and helpful than the more subtle strategic mistakes that often cause a
grandmaster to lose.
I would estimate that 99% of games among players rated USCF/FIDE 1500 or below feature a
safety mistake that would be either appropriate for a basic tactics book or too easy to be a puzzle in
most “beginner” books. The day I wrote this Introduction, I reviewed a game by a student who aspires