“7 PLA LA =o co AE] RE ‘suite!Copyright Copyright © 1996 by Tim Harding. Copyright © 1978 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved under Pan American and International Copyright Conventions. Published in Canada by General Publishing Company, Ltd., 30 Lesmiil Road, Don Mills, Toronto, Ontario. Published in the United Kingdom by Constable and Company, Ltd., 3 The Lanchesters, 162-164 Fulham Palace Road, London W6 QER. Bibliographical Note This Dover edition, first published in 1996, is an unabridged, corrected and slightly revised republication of the 1979 corrected printing of the work first published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, 1978, as by “T. D. Harding.” For the Dover edition the author has written a new Preface, made a number of corrections and provided some additional annotation. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Harding, Tim. Better chess for average players / Tim Harding. p. cm. Originally published: Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977. With new pref. ISBN 0-486-29029-8 (pbk.) 1. Chess. |. Title. GV1449.5.H37 1996 794.1'2—dc20 95-38958 CIP Manufactured in the United States of America Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501 Preface to the Dover Edition It gives me great pleasure to see this book back in print under the distinguished Dover imprint. While | have taken the opportunity to make a few corrections, largely based on readers letters, | thought it best to leave the text essentially Intact. The book was first published in 1978, so some factual statements in the Epilogue about matters of English chess organisation may no longer be up-to- date. Also, happily, few games nowadays suffer premature adjudication and adjourned games are rarer but | do not think the advice given in the book or the reader's enjoyment should be affected. | consider it important that the flavour of the book should be unaltered, so changes have been made only where they definitely improve the book's accuracy and utility for the practical player. This new edition of Better Chess for Average Players is dedicated to my wife and daughters and to women chess players everywhere. Tim Harding Dublin January 1996Preface to the First Edition This book assumes no more knowledge of chess than the moves of the pieces. It is designed both as entertainment and as an instruction course to lead you in gentle stages from first principles up to the standard of a good club team player. Therefore beginners should read the book in order, though expert- enced club and school players may prefer to skip the first couple of units. Exercises are set at the end of most, though not al!, the units, but if you want to derive maximum benefit from the book | recommend that every example should be treated as a puzzle. Study the diagrams before reading what | have to say about them. Better Chess has evolved out of courses of chess coaching which | gave in London between 1973 and 1976 at Catford School and the Sydenham and Forest Hill Evening Institute. | should like to take this opportunity of thanking Adrian Hollis, who read an early draft of the book and made a number of helpful suggestions. Above all, Adam Hart-Davis must take much of the credit for what is good in this book. As editor, he inspired and guided and goaded me through all stages of the work. Dublin Tim Harding April 1977 AUTHOR'S NOTE The Midlington Chess Club and their rivals, introduced in Unit 5, are not intended to portray any actual club or chess players. Any resemblance detected by the reader is completely coincidental. Midlington is supposed to be an archetypal club somewhere in the English Midlands, and Harry, Mary, and their friends can be found in almost any town. Contents Notation 1. BASICS Unit 1 Material values 2 Forks, pins, and skewers 3 Checks and zwischenzugs 4 Pawn play H. ATTACK 5 Development 6 The centre 7 Targets 8 Mating attacks 9 Queen-side attacks ll. SACRIFICES 10 Combinations 11 Pawn sacrifices 12 Heavy sacrifices 13 Exchange sacrifices IV. DEFENCE 14 Be prepared! 15 Unsound attacks 16 Difficult positions 17 Desperation V. POSITIONAL PLAY 18 Planning 19 More about pawns 20 Positional judgement 21 Grand strategy VI. CHOOSING A MOVE 22 Organizing your thoughts 23 Open positions 24 Complications 25 Closed positions 26 Simple positions 101 101 110 118 125 132 132 138 145 151 157 157 163 169 175 181