THE IDEAS BEHIND THE CHESS OPENINGS By REUBEN FINE AUTHOR OF Practical Chess Openings Chess the Easy Way Basic Chess Endings DAVID M°KAY COMPANY, INC. NEW YORKCopyright, 1943, 1949 by DAVID MCKAY COMPANY, INC, Reprinted June 1967 Reprinted August 1970 Reprinted March 1972 Reprinted October 1972 Reprinted May 1973 Printed in the United Slotes of AmericaPREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION It bas been said that ideas are weapons. That is certainly aa true in chess as in any other field. A mastery of a little theory which conveys real understanding of the game is infinitely more valuable than a carefully memorized compilation of endless moves. Paradoxically, a thorough grasp of the ideas behind the openings, which are relatively few in nutober, is a royal road to knowledge which eliminates much of the drudgery as- sociated with remembering a long series of variations. My object in this work is to present the necessary “‘ideology” as concisely as possible. The present work grew out of some articles which I wrote for the CHESS CORRESPONDENT about two years ago. Because so many encouraging letters came to me from so many enthusiastic readers it was a real pleasure to expand the pre- vious short sketches into a full-length book. As usual, the finished product is about twice as long as was anticipated, but it did not seem advisable to compress the ma- terial any further. I feel confident that the book can be read with profit without reference to any compilation of moves. However, those who have a copy of MODERN CHESS OPENINGS, 6th edition, will be well advised to use the two treatments together. Ideas and moves are complementary, not mutually exclusive. I wish to acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Mr. Walter F. James for the original suggestion which led to these pages. My thanks are also due Miss Nore L. Keesing for her kind as- sistance in typing a major portion of the manuscript. Revsen Fink Washington, D. C. May 5, 1943.