The Bluffer's Guide® to Chess; Bluff Your Way® in Chess

by B.W. Malpass

• ISBN13: 9781903096161
• ISBN10: 1903096162
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2000-09-28
• Publisher: Oval Books
• More Book Details
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Summary

A snappy little book containing facts, jargon, and inside information--all that readers need to know to hold their own among the experts.

Author Biography

B. W. Malpass was taught to play chess at the age of four by his father, who left home to join the Royal Navy shortly afterwards. His first steps in bluffing took place on the bus on the way home from school. He and a chess-playing friend would try to impress their fellow passengers by playing convincing but spurious games of blindfold chess. They would call out the moves loudly to make sure everyone got the message, and there was a great deal of brow knitting and head scratching to illustrate the intensity of the mental effort involved in playing without the aid of board or men.

It came to an abrupt end during a particularly realistic demonstration, when a miner on his way home from his shift paused as he left the bus and addressed the pair: "Tha' last three moves were illegal, lad. And 'yon's" - (nodding to the friend who was already going beet-red) - "yon's were bloody impossible. If you two are chess players, I'm Greta Garbo." It was game, set and match to the horny-handed son of toil, who exited whistling.

Mercifully, B.W. Malpass retired from competitive chess many years ago and greets all questions about his Elo rating with hysterical laughter, so his playing strength remains a mystery. He did perfect the defensive role of the domestic cat in chess. His chess computer, like him, could use new batteries.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 5
The Game	p. 7
Sidings	p. 7
The Material	p. 9
The Phases	p. 12
The Draw	p. 14
The Gambit	p. 15
Notation	p. 16
Correspondence Chess	p. 18
Match Play	p. 19
The World Championship	p. 22
Tournament Play	p. 24
Handicapping	p. 24
Problems	p. 25
Puzzles	p. 26
Time Limits	p. 26
The Players	p. 27
Prodigies	p. 28
Day Jobs	p. 29
Ratings	p. 30
Chess History	p. 32
Who is Good at Chess	p. 34
Who's Who in Chess	p. 37
Alexander Alekhine	p. 37
Jose Raoul Capablanca y Graupera	p. 40
Robert J. Fischer	p. 43
Anatoly Karpov	p. 46
Gary Kasparov	p. 47
Raymond Keene	p. 48
Emmanuel Lasker	p. 48
Philip Marlowe	p. 49
Paul Morphy	p. 50
Judith Polgar	p. 51
Nigel Short	p. 52
Howard Staunton	p. 52
Sultan Khan	p. 53
Mikhail Tal	p. 54
John von Neumann	p. 54
The Future	p. 55
Glossary	p. 58
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Post mortem
It is a sobering thought that no matter how brilliantly one side plays, he can only win if his opponent makes an error. The same applies to other games, of course, but chess differs in that it can take several years' exhaustive post-game analysis to establish what the mistake was.

Weight loss
A lengthy tournament is draining not only mentally but physically. It is common for players to lose a stone in weight in the course of one. Top players train hard to get fit beforehand. Sadly it doesn't work the other way round. You get fit to play chess, not by playing it.

Piece of mind
'J'adoube' are two little words you must say before adjusting the position on the board of any men whose misalignment on their squares might be annoying your tidy mind. Please note that this only works in chess and not in the real world.

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Excerpted from The Bluffer's Guide to Chess: Bluff Your Way in Chess by B. W. Malpass
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.