Chess Notes

Chess Notes:
Chess is a complex, exciting, yet profoundly immoral game. Games are rarely exactly the same. Children can learn it and beat adults. The psychology of chess can be addicting. I say chess is immoral because it is based on a corrupt ideology. Chess should teach us why it is harmful to have a king. In a monarchal system kings are captured but never killed and kings rarely do their dirty work. Christianity teaches that a good man will give his own life to save another. Chess teaches that a king is more important than others and should sacrifice his subjects to save his own life. Chess teaches a cast system: Nobility, clergy, military, craftsman, serfs. As long as a student understands the morality of the game up front, learning it can be both useful and fun.

history: 6th-century Gupta India, Chaturanga, Sassanid Persia (Shah Mat), Muslim Arabs, Moors, Europe (knights Templars), Norman conquest of England, Modern Age: 1834. First Modern Competition: London 1851.

Modern Chess Champions and Super Grandmasters:

German Adolf Anderssen
American Paul Morphy
Prague-born Wilhelm Steinitz
Polish-German Johannes Zukertort
German Emanuel Lasker
Cuban José Raúl Capablanca
Russian-French Alexander Alekhine
[ hypermodernists: Aron Nimzowitsch, Richard Réti]
Netherlands Max Euwe
USSR: Botvinnik, Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Petrosian, Spassky
American Bobby Fischer
Soviet Anatoly Karpov
Russian Garry Kasparov
India: Viswanathan Anand
Norway: Mangus Carlsen


rules: set up, board (ranks, files), board materials, squares, color (light, dark), algebraic notation (1-8, a-h), pieces, color (light, dark), piece size, weight, proportions, piece moves, board orientation (light square to player's right), piece orientation (queen on her color), special moves, time (blitz, 5-min, 15-min, 30-moves in 2 hours), castling, en passant, promotion, checkmate, stalemate, winning, draw, resign, losing (lost on time), scoring (win=1, lose=0, draw=1/2). Sealed move. Touch- move rule, piece adjustment ("I adjust" before touching). FIDE Chess Rating.

draw: 3-fold repetition is consecutive identical moves, offer a draw, stalemate, 50-move rule is 50 moves without an exchange or pawn move. pieces exchanged down to insufficient material to checkmate (kings and a bishop).

Strategy: most people know how the pieces move but don't understand strategy. So, you can beat most people understanding strategy.

Openings/Defense
Mid-game
End game

Tactical vs. Position
Tactics: gambit, traps, fork, x-ray, pin, skewer, sacrifice, windmill, pawn break, pawn push, outposts.

Position: center control, piece activity, pressure, attacking, defending, taking, piece development, tempo, castling, initiative, pawn structure, open file, rank advancement, double pawns, exchanges, trading, F7 pressure, open/closed game, king opposition, triangulation, exploit weakness, pass pawn, decoy, deflection, connecting and doubling rooks, isolation.

E4, D4, don't move same piece twice in the opening, develop queen late. castle early.

Good Chess Openings for White:
1 Queen's Gambit
2 Blackmar Diemer Gambit
3 Ruy Lopez
4 Bishop's Opening
5 Benko Opening
=5 Reti Opening
=5 Vienna Game
8 Centre Game
=8 English Opening
=8 Scotch Game

Good Defensive Systems for Black: