Learn Chess the Right Way: Book 2: Winning Material

Introduction

Ever since I was four years old, I remember the joy of solving chess puzzles. I wrote my first puzzle book when I was just 15, and have published a number of other best-sellers since, such as A World Champion’s Guide to Chess, Chess Tactics for Champions, and Breaking Through, etc.

With over 40 years of experience as a world-class player and trainer, I have developed the most effective way to help young players and beginners – Learn Chess the Right Way. By understanding the most common and critical patterns, it will help you improve much quicker.

In this series of Learn Chess the Right Way, I will show you the most effective way to learn and improve through pattern recognition.

Volume 2 is all about winning material exercises. In each of the first six chapters a certain piece captures an enemy piece (in chapter 1 – The Queen, in chapter 2 – The Rook, and so on). In chapter 7, you will get no hint about which piece should be moved. In chapters 8-12, the most common and important chess tactics (such as decoy, fork, pin, discovery and skewer) are introduced. Finally, in chapter 13, in addition to the previously mentioned patterns, you will need to figure out which tactical pattern to use to win material, including concepts like trapping a piece or intermediate move.

In some examples it will be White to move, while in others you will have to try to find the winning move for Black. Also please note that under each diagram you will be able to record the amount of time it took you to solve each puzzle. As you go through and solve the puzzles again, your speed recognizing the winning material patterns should improve.

In chess, pattern recognition is a very important part of playing better chess. Therefore, my suggestion is to try to solve the puzzles multiple times, or until you feel that you can recognize the correct solutions within a minute per page (4 puzzles). Initially you may want to set up the pieces on the chess board as shown in the diagrams (make sure every piece is exactly as shown!), but by the second time around I would surely recommend to try to solve the puzzles just from the diagram.

Wishing you enjoyment as you embark on the road to Learning Chess the Right Way!

Susan Polgar

July 2016

Chapter 1

Captures with the Queen

In this chapter, the main hero is the queen. The queen can move and capture diagonally or in a line direction. We shall see examples of how the queen can capture an opponent’s valuable pieces. But first, it is essential to understand the relative value of the different pieces:

Queen = 9

Rook = 5

Bishop or Knight = 3

Pawn = 1

The king can never be captured (removed from the board) and has no relative value.

When the king is attacked and cannot escape, it is checkmate, as we learned in volume 1 of this series. When the king is attacked and can escape, it means you gave a

White or Black to move

In the example above, if it is White’s turn, the correct capture is Qxc6 to simply win the queen. If it is Black’s turn, the answer would be similar with Qxc3.

In the next example, White can choose between capturing the black queen or knight.

White to move

When thinking about your next move or capture, it is always essential to try to foresee your opponent’s best next move, possibly a recapture. In the position above, capturing Black’s queen on g5 would be a mistake, as it would miss out on a much better choice. After 1. Qxg5, Black would respond with 1…hxg5, which means that you just traded queens without any material gain. On the other hand, by playing 1.Qxa2, White wins material (a knight) without losing anything.

Black to move

In the position above, Black can capture White’s queen or rook. Here, even though the queen is the more valuable piece, it is the rook (on a4) that should be captured. Capturing 1…Qxe3 would be a blunder as it allows checkmate in one with 2.Ra8.

In some of the exercises ahead, you may be able to win only a pawn, but typically that is better than winning nothing. You may also find some puzzles in this chapter where one side is in check. Remember, you do not necessarily need to move your king. It is possible for you to capture the piece that just checked you.

Have fun, and good luck solving the next 20 puzzles!

White to move

(1)

1. ______

Time:

______

(2)

1. ______

Time:

______

(3)

1. ______

Time:

______

(4)