CHESS MASTER — ae nae ne: ona — LeaPreface When a master plays an amateur, he is normally confronted with a different type and a greater number of inferior moves and. errors than he would find in master play. These are precisely the inferior moves and kinds of errors which the amateur meets con- stantly when playing other amateurs. What better way could the amateur have of learning how to exploit the weak play of fellow amateurs than to study how a master would handle such positions? If the brilliant games of Paul Morphy against the masters of the nineteenth century seem much more instructive to many amateurs of today than the far subtler victories of twentieth century grandmasters over fellow grandmasters, it is precisely because Morphy’s victories over his far weaker opponents provide a more striking example of how to exploit to the maximum the more serious errors of the weaker player. This work consists of twenty-five games between master and amateur. The amateurs range all the way from weak players who make characteristic amateur moves never found in master games to players just below master strength, amateurs who have studied chess and know a considerable amount of technique, but who fail to grasp all the strategic implications of a position. Since the games themselves have no particular importance, we have not indicated the names of the players. Our criterion for choosing a game was not whether a master was pitted against an amateur, but rather whether one opponent, who was performing as a master, showed in a convincing way how to exploit certain typical errors of another, who was playing like an amateur. Not only does this work show how to recognize and exploit vweak play; in its running commentary it delves into the very nature of chess and discusses, as they arise in games themselves, the various aspects of chess play. We are indebted to a number of amateur players who read over various games in manuscript form and raised further questions as to various possibilities. We are especially indebted and very grateful to Mr. Norman Cotter, of Wilmington, Delaware, for his help, comments, and encouragement during the several years in which this work was being written, and for his careful reading of the entire manuscript in its final form. M. E. W. M. Contents Introduction How to use the book Game Opening 1 2 3 10 11 Bird Opening (1 P-KB4) Irregular KN Opening— Damiano Defense The Four Knights Opening Irregular Opening (1 P-K3) The Ponziani Opening The French Defense (3 P-K5) Irregular King’s Pawn Opening (1 P-K4 P-K4 2Q-R5) The Four Knights Opening The Queen’s Gambit Declined (3 P-B5?) Semi-Italian Opening (8... ears The Philidor Defense PAGE ix xxxi Topic illustrated The mating pattern The discarded line 8 Characteristics of the beginner 16 Proper play against the beginner 28 Opening play 40 Ideas in “book” openings 52 The warranted and the unwarranted attack 62 Use of superiority in development 77 Exploitation of non-book line 92 Exploitation of loss of tempo 102 Use of advantage in space and time 113 vii