How to Be a Winner at Chess

How to Be a Winner at Chess

by

Fred Reinfeld

Forword by Bruce Pandolfini

21st-Century Edition

Fred Reinfeld Chess Classics

Bruce Alberston, General Editor

2013

Russell Enterprises, Inc.

Milford, CT USA

How to Be a Winner at Chess

by Fred Reinfeld

21st-Century Edition

The Fred Reinfeld Chess Series

Bruce Alberston, General Editor

ISBN: 978-1-936490-61-5 (print)

© Copyright 2013

Don Reinfeld, Judith Reinfeld and Bruce Alberston

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be used, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any manner or form whatsoever or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Published by:

Russell Enterprises, Inc.

P.O. Box 3131

Milford, CT 06460 USA

http://www.russell-enterprises.com

info@russell-enterprises.com

Cover design by Janel Lowrance

Table of Contents

Preface

Foreword

Editor’s Introduction

Introduction

Chapter 1. How to End It All

Checkmating

Three Tests for Checkmate

Checkmate

More Checkmates

Chapter 2. Don’t Give Up the Ship

Resigning

When to Resign

When Not to Resign

Ripe for Resigning

Chapter 3. What’s It Worth?

The Values of the Pieces

Even Exchanges

Relative Values

Cruising Range

The Lowly Pawn

More Comparative Values

Bishop vs. Knight

Winning Material

Chapter 4. The Three Strongest Moves

1. Checks

Priority of Check

Forking Check

Removing the Defender

The Discovered Check

Double Check

Chapter 5. The Three Strongest Moves

2. Capturing Threats

How to Win Material

Removing the Defender

The Double Attack

Pinning Attacks

Chapter 6. The Three Strongest Moves

3. Pawn Promotion

The Power of Pawn Promotion

A Pawn Gives Checkmate!

Promotion by Capture

Remove the Blockader!

How Pawn Promotion Wins Material

Watch for Passed Pawns

Pawn Promotion Wins Many a Game

Looking Ahead

Chapter 7. How Do I Get Started?

Five Rules for Opening Play

Simple Plans Are Best

Five Basic Rules

Control the Center

Develop Quickly

Develop Effectively

Protect Your King

Avoid Premature Queen Moves

Summary

Chapter 8. What Do I Do Now?

Two Basic Rules for the Middlegame

Give Your Pieces Mobility

Make Your Piece Cooperate

Chapter 9. The Endgame Is the Payoff

Five Basic Rules for Endgame Play

Know the Elementary Checkmates

Have Your King Play an Active Role

Utilize Passed Pawns

Post Rooks on the Seventh Rank

Simplify When You Have a Material Advantage

Chapter 10. You Can’t Move That Piece!

Winning by Pinning

The Irritating Pin

How Pins Work

Double Play

Chapter 11. Give Till It Hurts!

Winning by Sacrificing

How Sacrifices Work

Sacrificing the Queen

A Chess Refresher

The Basic Rules of Chess

How the Pieces Move

How the Pawn Moves

How the Pieces Capture

More about the Pawn

More about the King

How to Record Moves

Standard Chess Symbols

For my wife, who asked for a chess book that she could read

Preface

Many of today’s players, now the grandparents of chessplaying teenagers, fondly recall growing up with the Reinfeld books, which covered all aspects of chess, from the openings to the endgame, and included generous helpings of chess lore and the lives of the greatest chess masters.

Reprinting chess books by our father, Fred Reinfeld (1910-1964), ended in the 1980s as descriptive notation was phased out in favor of the more popular algebraic notation. We are extremely grateful to Bruce Alberston, who has taken up the task of converting Reinfeld’s notations to algebraic.

Thanks also to Russell Enterprises for publishing a 21st-century version of this, and, hopefully more, Reinfeld chess classics, thereby introducing Fred Reinfeld’s teaching genius to new generations of chess enthusiasts, especially to beginners and mid-level players eager to sharpen their skills at the chessboard.

Don and Judith Reinfeld

Foreword

Mention the name Fred Reinfeld to different chessplayers and you get different reactions, not all supported by the facts. There are those who claim he wrote books mainly for beginners. True, but he also produced a number of quality volumes for more experienced competitors as well. Those more involved tomes will always have value to aficionados and others wanting nicely gathered material, while not being too far beyond the reach of the newcomer. I’m especially thinking of various outstanding works he did on tactics, endgames, and the collected games of particular players.

There’s an implication in some criticisms that Reinfeld wasn’t a good player. But the reality is that he was a very good player. On the 1950 rating list, the first one put out by the USCF, he was rated sixth in the country. In 1933, as another example of his playing prowess, Reinfeld won the New York State Championship ahead of Denker and Fine. Furthermore, in individual encounters over the years, he was able to beat Fine, Reshevsky (twice – certainly, no mean feat), Marshall and Denker. Not too many weak players could boast of vanquishing members of that group. Nor is it likely that an ordinary player could draw with world chess champion Alexander Alekhine (when Alekhine was truly Alekhine), as Fred Reinfeld once did.

To be sure, Reinfeld was prolific. He may have authored as many as 200 books, if we count those he did for other people. And he wrote not solely about chess, but on an array of other disciplines, and as nimbly. Medicine, coin collecting, physics, checkers, law, geology, and stamp collecting are just a sampling of the fields Reinfeld tackled and conquered, rendering their substance in beautifully clear texts. In a way, he came from the same mold as Isaac Asimov. He loved ideas and was able to write with power and clarity on practically anything.

Reinfeld, no question, had an uncanny facility for language. He could take abstract concepts, often expressed in numbers and symbols, and somehow convert all of that obfuscation to cogent utility. Fraught with wonderful metaphors and delightful anecdotes, Reinfeld was always a great read. That expertise – all of that mastery – can be found in the offerings in this series. How to be a Winner at Chess and How to Play Chess Like a Champion are among the very best introductory chess books ever produced, bar none. In both offerings, Reinfeld manages to capture the essence of good chess in a most readable, enjoyable, easy to grasp format. Indeed, he dedicates the first book to his wife, who he states asked for a chess book that she could read. And now these two volumes have suddenly become even more accessible, thanks to the efforts of master teacher/writer Bruce Alberston, who has changed everything from the obsolescent descriptive notation to the more popular algebraic notation. Another nice feature instituted by Alberston is the two-column format, making the material much easier to read and follow.

But those two excellent manuals are not alone. Alberston has also put into algebraic notation Reinfeld’s two classic texts on tactics: 1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate and 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations (both scheduled to appear late 2013 or early 2014). That’s more than 2000 problems to work on and from which the overwhelming majority of chess enthusiasts can benefit. Hey, even if I hadn’t written what I have here, I’d still buy a bunch of all four titles every year, as long as I had students who loved the game of chess, just like the great Fred Reinfeld.

Bruce Pandolfini

New York

January 2013

Editor’s Introduction

This is a book for beginners, but not starting beginners. It’s designed for folks who already know how the pieces move and the main rules of the game, although they may not know a whole lot more. It’s a description of your average chessplayer.

The assumption is that the average chessplayer wants to know more, wants to get better, wants to become a Winner, or why else pick up the book. Well, as the title suggests, How to be a Winner at Chess will help you do just that. One word of caution: It’s written in adult language, so it’s not for the little kiddies. But any teenager who can read can handle it.

As an aside, we mention that should a total beginner happen onto this book, there’s a quick refresher course in the back that will introduce the pieces and the rules. Author Reinfeld covered all his bases.

But what does a chessplayer need to know to get better? That’s the tricky part. Many authors, afraid of giving too little, often go off in the opposite direction, overwhelming their readers by giving too much or too advanced. Reinfeld is well aware