Very Brief Primer on Chess (Thanks to Dennis)

 1. Notation

The first book given to Beth by Mr. Shaibel was Modern Chess Openings; probably the 1939 6th edition by Reuben Fine (also one of the first chess books I owned). Books of this era identified the squares of the board from the perspective of each player and used letters to identify the pieces (K,Q,R,B,Kt or N) and pawns (P). So a square in the fourth rank on the King file (from White’s side) would be labeled K4; the same square from Black’s side would be labeled K5 (since it is on Black’s 5th rank in front of the King). So an opening sequence might look like this:

1. P-K4 P-K4

2. N-KB3 N-QB3    (you have to specify which bishop file, since there’s one on each side)

3. B-B4 B-B4 (no need to distinguish which one, since only one bishop on each side can move)

4. N x P    (the x represents a capture; you capture something by moving onto the same square and removing what you capture; in this case, no need to tell which pawn is being captured by the knight, since there is only one possibility. If there is more than one pawn that could be captured, you would specify further, such as N x P(K5); similarly, if more than one knight could capture the pawn, you might say N(B3) x P.

4. … B x P+  (the + indicates that the opposing King is in check; that is, under attack. In this case, it is not checkmate, since the King could simply capture the bishop by moving K x B.)

With this type of notation, there are a few other special moves to denote, including ++ for checkmate, O – O or O – O – O for castling (the only move in which you can move two pieces at once, the King and one of your Rooks), P x P e.p. (a special move for the pawns), and P-N8 (Q), for promoting a pawn which reaches the 8th rank into a piece, in this case a Queen but in fact you can also promote to a Rook, Knight, or Bishop, and there are unusual cases where those might be preferable to a Queen).

The more modern type of notation is called algebraic, in which the files are labeled a-h and the ranks labeled 1-8, always from White’s perspective. The same opening sequence would look like this:

1. e4 e5    (if there is no piece notated, it is assumed it is a pawn, and all you need to see is the square the pawn is moving to, since there can only ever be one pawn that can do that)

2. Nf3 Nc6  (the black Knight move still uses the square notation from White’s perspective)

3. Bc4 Bc5

4. Nxe5 Bxf2+

2. Phases of the Game

The Opening is the first stage, in which both sides are striving to develop their pieces, achieve good pawn structure, control the center, and provide protection for the King. There are a zillion different openings, some of which are more sound than others, and in many cases with over a hundred years of analysis. You don’t need to memorize openings, though. I could give you a few rules of thumb that would allow you to have a more sound opening than many beginners.

The Middle Game is the stage in which most attacks occur, deriving from the situations formed by the openings. These might be mating attacks (against the opposing King), or attacks to gain material (such as capturing a Knight for the cost of just a Pawn), or simply maneuvers to improve your pawn structure while weakening the opponent’s pawn structure. A good many games will end during the middle game, either by checkmate or resignation (if your situation becomes hopeless). Analysis of a complex middle game can be very demanding, if there are tactical possibilities all over the board.

The End Game is the stage in which many of the pieces or pawns have been removed from the board. Usually the objective here is to promote a pawn while keeping the opponent from promoting one of hers. End games tend to be straightforward in analysis, but can still be difficult to work out, since you may have to calculate many moves in advance. There are a few situations that arise over and over in end games, so to be skilled in this phase you should learn these recurring themes and practice them, particularly if you are playing timed tournament games, in which you don’t have time to figure out deep multi-move analyses, but making, say, a King move that seems equivalent to an alternative King move might be the difference between winning or losing the end game.

When Laszlo Polgar was teaching his three daughters to play chess, he felt the customary instruction starting with the opening was faulty, since there are so many different openings, and a beginner may have difficulty with concepts such as ‘control of the center’ and ‘pawn chains’. After all, the goal is to checkmate. So he reversed the approach, by starting the girls’ training with checkmates. He designed an amazingly useful book in which he first analyzed all the possible “Mate in One” situations (that is, White to move once and checkmate the King), and he had his daughters master these, so they could quickly spot a one-move mate whenever it appeared. He did the same with all possible “Mates in Two” (White makes a move, then whatever Black chooses to do next, White mates on the following move), and trained his girls to see all of these, no matter where they appeared in play. He began the same approach for “Mates in Three”, but there were simply too many of them to include in one book (his book is very large as it is). His method must have been effective, as his girls went on to become some of the strongest chess players in the world.

3. Other Early Books

In addition to the Fine book, Beth was possibly given copies of Chess Strategy, by Edward Lasker (1st ed. 1915, but my 2nd ed. Is 1959), and Great Short Games of the Chess Masters, by Fred Reinfeld (1961; he published over 100 books on chess, and many players of that era learned much from Fred).

4. Online Learning

Chess.com is an excellent site. Lots of lessons, for players of every level, lots of problems to solve, ability to play games against computer opponents (where you can choose the difficulty level) or against live opponents (if two of you are learning at the same time, this is a good way to practice, since the computer can analyze your game after it ends and you can both see which moves were good and which not so much).

If you have not learned how the pieces move yet, you can pick that knowledge up right here.