Table Of ContentSteve Davis Plays Chess
Steve Davis
(Six-times World
Professional Snooker ChamPion)
and
David Norwood
( I nte rn ati o n a I G ra n d m aste r)
B T Batsford Ltd London
First published 1995
@ Steve Davis and David Norwood 1995
lsBN 07134 7813 6 '
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. A catalogue record for
this book is available from the British Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, by any
means, without prior permission of the publisher.
Printed in Great Britain by
The Bath Press, Bath
for the publishers,
B: T. Batsford Ltd.
4 Fitzhardinge Street,
London W1H OAH
A BATSFORD CHESS BOOK
Editorial Panel: Mark Dvoretsky, John Nunn, Jon Speelman
General Adviser: Raymond Keene OBE
Managing Editor: Graham Burgess
Acknowledgements
The cover photographs were taken by Anthony Oliver, and the
photographs on pages 23,86,90 and 103 were by Leslie Co!!ett.
Contents
Symbols and Notation 7
Introduction
9
.
1 How and Why to lmprove Your Chess 11
2 How to Open a Chess Game 23
3 Tactics and Tic-tacs 31
Steve Takes the Test - Part 1 35
4 Avoiding Blunders 46
5 Planning and Positional PIay - An lntroduction 51
6 The Endgame 60
Steve Takes the Test - Par12 63
The Basic Endgames 68
General Advice on Endgames 69
7 Computers versus HUmans 71
How to Make Use of Computers 74
Steve's First Visit to a Chess Club! 76
8 Steve's first tournament 87
Batsford's Glossary 104
Steve's Glossary 110
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
f
a b c d e g h
Symbols and Notation
In this book we have adopted the standard algebraic system of
notation. The system is so simple that even those few people who
have never read a chess book before will be able to pick it up in
minutes.
Consider the diagram on the facing page
A move is indicated by a symbol for the piece which is moving,
followed by the co-ordinates of the square where it arrives. In the
'When
case of pawn moves, there is no symbol given. necessary,
there is clarification of which piece is moving, e.8. Ngf3 means
that the knight on the g-file moves to f3.
These are the symbols for each piece:
K king
a queen
R
rook
B
bishop
N
knight
A few other symbols are used in writing down the moves:
#
checkmate
x
captures
+
check
++
double check
0-0
h castles kingside
0-0-0 castles queenside
a move bY Black
A handful of other symbols are useful, though we have used
them sparingly:
!!
brilliant move
!
good move
?
bad move
??
horrible blunder
1-0
Black resigns
1.tz-ttz Draw
0-1 '!7hite
resigns
Introduction
'S7hen it comes to chess, I'm just an ordinary player Nothing special,
but accomplished enough to understand P-K4 P-K4, KI-KB3 KI-QB3,
and some of the ideas behind these moves. I imagine there are many
of us in a similar position, some regularly participating, others having
given up for various reasons, possibly due to lack of improvement.
My Father taught me to play chess (before I'd ever picked up a
snooker cue!) and he had taught himself from a standard 'How to
Play' book. The results were two chess players who played the way all
beginners were advised to play. Namely the above moves with a cou-
ple of different continuations thereafter. IThy? \7ell, this was
recommended as the strongest way to start the game. \7ho were we to
question the word of experts? 'We continued in our own little world of
chess, game after game following a similar pattern, never experiment-
ing, and not really improving until snooker appeared on the horizon.
Obviously that took up the majority of my teenage years (when a
hobby also turns into a profession it becomes all-consuming).
Nevertheless, while travelling around the world trying to knock balls
into holes with a wooden stick, my chess computer was an ideal com-
panion. Initially I was frustrated by the time they took to play a decent
move and eventually with the evolution of silicon into a pain in the
backside, I was demoralised by the strength they'd achieved. In the
space of a decade a piece of plastic had left me in the stalls in the learn-
ing stakes! I felt I didn't have enough ability to enjoy the game so I
stopped playing.
You may be wondering why I'm involved in a book on chess; look
no further than curiosity. Cbess Monthly (a magazine about chess that
comes out monthly) approached me to be their June celebrity page 3
pin-up due to my documented interest in the game. A question-and-
answer interview was printed which thoroughly flattered me. I played
a game with my interrogator Edward Penn which I lost inspirationally
and I arranged to turn up at the Chess & Bridge Centre in London for
pne of their 'Open days' where, coincidentally, Graham Burgess
(Managing Editor for Chess at Batsford) was attempting to destroy his
sanity in an assault on the'World marathon Blitz record.72 hours of
continuous five-minute games! During an enjoyable day I managed to
lose gracefully to Graham (by running out of brain cells within the
allotted time) and decided to play more chess again.
Quite soon after, Graham approached me with the novel idea of co-
authoring this book with David Norwood GM. This approach to a
-r
lntroduction
10
tuitional book from a different perspective appealed to me. A part of
me said great! - a chance to ask the questions I've always wanted to
ask, and not to read something well over my head. The other part of
me was sceptical. I'd hit a brick wall long ago when it came to
improvement. If you can't improve naturally then even an expert
would be unable to add the missing ingredients. I should have known
better from my own experiences in snooker.'Whatever the outcome, I
thought it would certainly be a challenge for both of us. 'S7hat I was-
n't prepared for, was the way David, overnight, started to change the
way I tackled the game. It was a revelation. Nobody had ever
explained to me how to go about assessing the position on a chess
board before. Perhaps I'd never asked the right person!
Look, I know where the pieces start off, how they moYe, what
they're worth and the main idea behind the game, but that's not
enough. Chess represents a wat) and you're the General. You decide
where to put your men, what strategy to employ and how to react to
the changing patterns. Unless you are one of a small minority you
won't become a General on your own. You'll need someone with
pxperience to guide you and point out the pitfalls. You'Il hardly
scratch the surface by yourself; I'm proof of that. Until recently I'd
been pushing pieces around the board with a short-sighted view to the
game. Either attacking something, or just reacting to a move by my
opponent, I honestly had no real idea what I was doing. Basically I
didn't understand chess.
I've never studied the openings. The middle of the game I'd always
found the most confusing and if I ever reached the endgame against
my computer, I always messed it allup. David Norwood has managed
to unlock more chess talent in me than I'd ever thought possible.
Together we've tried to come up with a book that is entertaining,
informative and isn't a cure for insomnia! While the contents of this
book never boast my improvement to the dizzy heights of a grand.
master, with more understanding, I've started to enjoy playing chess
again.I hope you'll find it a similar experience.
'Working on this project has been a gfeat deal of fun from start to
finish. I should thank my co-author, David Norwood, and my editor,
Graham Burgess, who demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt that
chess can, and should, be a social game. You will notice that the mate-
rial in this book is presented in a user-friendlS attractive format. For
this, thanks are due to Vaughan Collinson, who was responsible for
design and typesetting.
Steve Davis
.
Brentwood t995
me. A part of 1
How and Why to Improve Your
wanted to
other part of
Chess
It Came to
an expert
have known
David Norwood:
the outcome, I
What I was-
to change the There has been a never-ending stream of books and articles on the
had ever theme of 'How to Improve Your Chess'. Already there are several
on a chess videos on the same topic, and soon CD-ROM's will also be instruct-
'$Thatever
ing us on self-improvement. the mode of communication,
move, what one thing is taken for granted: that people actually want to improve
that's not their chess. After teaching chess for more than ten years, my feeling is
You decide that this is a dangerous presupposition.
to react to At first this might sound ridiculous. All chess players, from novices
rminoriry you to masters, will tell you that they want to improve. Many people are
with willing to pay for private tuition. Every year tens of thousands of
You'll hardly books are purchased because the buyers believe that this will some-
recently I'd how improve their chess. I have a good friend who made a resolution
view to the to improve his chess and promptly bought every ChessBase disc avail-
move by -y able on the market.
Basically I But do people really want to improve? In my experience many chess
books remain as new as the day they were bought. Purchasing a book
I'd always might display a desire to improve, but conviction lies in ploughing
agamst through the pages. To play chess, however badly can.be one of the
has managed most enjoyable pastimes known to man. Sitting down and studying a
possible. book ... well ... that constitutes WORK.
entertarrung, Still, certain people do improve their chess. In the main though
of this these people are smaller than grown-ups. Children seem to have no
of a grand problem improving their chess and I do not believe that this is due to
playing chess a greater capacity for hard work. The key is that adults become stub-
born. They refuse to keep their minds open - especially on the chess
from start to board. I remember watching a 'friendly' game in which two veterans
my editor, kept missing a key move. '$7hen the game was over I pointed out the
doubt that move but one of the players glowered at me as if I'd insulted his
fiat the mate- mother.
format. For The fact is that 'bad' players can enjoy the game iust as much as
sible for grandmasters. There are some players who simply do not want to
improve, no matter what they claim, because chess may be too much
fun to take seriously. The main problem with the 'How to Improve
Your Chess' industry is that it ignores certain aspects of human
nature. It is for this reason that I have added a Vlty to the topic.
So Why? Ask an exuberant schoolboy why he wants to improve and
he might say with flourish'To become'World Champion'. But most of
