The Soviet Chess Primer

By

Ilya Maizelis

Quality Chess
www.qualitychess.co. uk
 First translated edition 20 1 4 by Qualiry Chess UK Ltd

Copyright© 20 1 4 Ilya Maizelis

THE SOVIET CHESS PRIMER

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 Contents
Foreword by Mark Dvoretsky 7
Emanuel Lasker: The Meaning of Chess 9
Advice to Beginners 12

PART ONE: THE ELEMENTS OF CHESS

CHAPTER ONE: THE GAME EXPLAINED 13

1 . The Chess Board and Pieces - Object of the Game 13
2. Identifying the Squares - Recording a Position 14
3. The Order of Play - Moves and Captures 15
4. The Moves of the Pieces - Attack and Defence - Exchanges 15
5. The Pawn's Move - Capturing "en passant" - Pawn Promotion 19
6. Check and Mate 21
7. Draw - Perpetual Check - Stalemate 23
8. Castling 26
9. Recording the Moves - Conventional Symbols 28
Entertainment Pages 29

CHAPTER TWO: AIM OF THE GAME 35

1 . Checkmate 35
2. Mate in the Simplest Endgames 38
3. Drawn Game 41
4. Conducting a Pawn to Its Queening Square 44
Entertainment Pages 47

CHAPTER THREE: TACTICS AND STRATEGY 57

1 . The Concept of a Chess Plan 57
2. Relative Strengths of the Pieces 60
3. How the Position Affects the Relative Strengths 62
4. Further Characteristics of the Pieces 69
5. Restrictions on Mobility 70
Obstruction 70
Cutting Squares Off 72
Edge of the Board 73
Defensive Piece 74
Pin 77
Insufficient Time 81
 6. Forcing Moves 82
Check 82
Dual Attack 85
Captures 92
Pawn Promotion 96
Threats 98
7. Series of Moves with a Common Idea 99
Piece Coordination 1 00
Attacking the Unprotected King 1 04
Centralization 1 05
Conquering the Seventh (or Eighth) Rank 1 05
Concentrating the Forces against an Important Point 1 07
Drawing an Enemy Piece towards or away from a Square 1 08
Employing Many-Sided Threats 1 10
The Opening and Blocking of Lines 111
Breaking through the Pawn Position 1 14
Tempo Gain and Zugzwang 1 16
Countering the Opponent's Plans 1 18
Entertainment Pages 1 20

CHAPTER FOUR: TECHNIQUES OF CALCULATION 1 27

1 . The Rule of the Square 1 28
2. The Counting of Moves (or Squares) 1 32
3. Counting the Number of Attacks 135
4. The "Wandering Square" 1 37
5 . Critical Squares for a Passed Pawn 1 40
6. Critical Squares for a Blocked Pawn 1 46
7. Corresponding Squares 1 52
8. Further Devices to Simplify Calculation 1 54
Entertainment Pages 1 56

CHAPTER FIVE: COMBINATION 1 65

1 . Combinative Motifs and Ideas 1 65
2. Types of Combination and Their Characteristics 1 70
3. The Technique of Combinations 1 84
4. Prerequisites for a Combination 1 90
Entertainment Pages 1 94
CHAPTER SIX: POSITIONAL PLAY 21 1
1 . Weak Points (Squares and Pawns) 21 1
2. Piece Configuration - Temporary and Permanent Weaknesses 216
3. The Centre (Pawn Centre and Piece Centre) 224
4. Position and Strength of the Pieces - The Two Bishops 229
5. Evaluating a Position 233
Entertainment Pages 234

CHAPTER SEVEN: HOW TO BEGIN A GAME 24 1

1 . The Opening and Its Tasks 24 1
2. Control of the Centre - Superior Development 242
3. Examples of Opening Play - Opening Mistakes 246
Entertainment Pages 250

PART TWO: THE CHESS GAME (ITS THREE PHASES)

CHAPTER EIGHT: THE ENDGAME 26 1

1 . Basic Ideas of the Endgame 26 1
2. Realizing an Advantage 264
3. Theoretical Endgames 273
4. The Endgame in Practical Play 303

CHAPTER NINE: THE MIDDLEGAME 319

1 . Strategic Ideas of the Middlegame 319
2. Attack and the Methods of Conducting It 320
3. Defence and Counter-Attack 347
4. Equal Positions 359
5. Transition to the Endgame 364

CHAPTER TEN: THE FOUNDATIONS OF OPENING THEORY 369

1 . The Modern Opening and how it is Played in Practice 369

APPENDIX: CHESS COMPOSITIONS 377

Chess Problems 378
{A) Two-Movers 378
{B) Three-Movers 38 1
(C) More-Movers 385
Studies 388
(A) Winning Play 388
{B) Drawing Play 393
Solutions to Problems 396
Solutions to Studies {Winning Play) 398
Solutions to Studies (Drawing Play) 399
 Foreword by Mark Dvoretsky
I didn't take up chess until rather late. At the Palace ofYoung Pioneers I joined the chess section
in the fifth or sixth class. In those days the Soviet grading system included a Fifth and a Fourth
Category. I managed to attain those categories in no time, but afterwards there was a halt in
my progress. It was for that reason that I took the 1 960 edition of Maizelis's Chess with me on
summer holiday, intending to study it thoroughly.
It was an interesting and pleasant read. Large format, large diagrams, a wealth of striking
examples. In both content and presentation, this was a very "tasty'' book! I particularly liked
the short section entitled "Entertainment Pages" with which nearly every chapter concluded. It
contained amusing puzzles with witty, well-written captions. Interpolations like this embellish
a book and make the material easier to absorb. When studying a serious subject it sometimes
helps to divert yourself a little, to read something for pleasure, without at the same time straying
too far from the main topic. Mter all, these "Entertainment Pages" consist of chess material with
illuminating ideas, albeit conveyed in a different and lighter form. Many of the examples stuck in
my memory; I even placed them in my card-index for later use.

Having studied the Chess book, I scored 1 0 out of 10 in my next tournament - more than
fulfilling the norm for the Third Category. After that, I made it to the Second with a score of 1 0
out of 1 1 , then progressed to First Category within a short interval.

Regrettably I was not personally acquainted with Ilya Lvovich Maizelis ( 1 894- 1 978), but it is
obvious he possessed a high level of culture. Though not exceptionally strong as a practical player,
he was an excellent analyst; he made a study of pawn endgames and the "rook versus pawns"
ending (about which he wrote a short book) . Ilya Lvovich associated with several illustrious
chessplayers, for example with Lasker in the pre-war years when the second World Champion was
resident in Moscow. He even translated Lasker's famous Manual of Chess into Russian, as well as
the story How Victor Became a Chess Master. In the pages of Maizelis's book you can find quite a
few "traces" of the author's association with great players.

Chess is a teaching manual with an excellent selection of material convincingly presented, and
a bright outward design. At the same time it is more than just a textbook. It is a story of chess
as a whole, and thus its tide wholly fits its content. Of course, this is not a book for the very
young (writers for them go about it differently) , but it will be very interesting and useful for
schoolchildren and adults alike.

Maizelis lived in the Soviet era, and naturally he could not help incorporating certain ideological
cliches into his text. This sprinkling of ideology is none too obtrusive, however, and is not
experienced as an eyesore.
8 The Soviet Chess Primer

A notable fact is that many of my acquaintances - strong adult players - have wanted to acquire
Maizelis's Chess. The book is very dear to me too; now and again I open it and read through a
few pages afresh. Incidentally, the copy that I studied as a child was "borrowed" by someone long
ago, and it wasn't possible to find another one in a shop and buy it. Then, in the seventies, I was
in Sweden with the "Burevestnik" team, and we visited a chess bookshop there. Some Russian
language publications were in stock, and Maizelis's book was among them. I bought it at once­
money was no object! But afterwards the same thing happened to this copy: someone took it to
read and didn't bring it back, so I had to look for it all over again . . . I now have my third or fourth
copy in my library.

I am glad that Maizelis's remarkable work has finally been re-issued and will be available to many
lovers of chess. It will, I hope, be both useful and pleasurable to acquaint yourselves with it.

Mark Dvoretsky
 Foreword by Emanuel Lasker
The Meaning of Chess
The history of chess goes back a very long way. Many thousands of years ago - no one knows
exactly when - people began to satisfy their need for play by fabricating primitive game boards,
marking lines on them, arranging little objects like stones or pieces of wood on the squares (or on
the intersections of the lines) and moving these objects around. In this way the game of draughts
and many others arose. Illustrations of such games have been discovered in the ancient Egyptian
pyramids. They are mentioned in old songs and sagas. One Chinese game is said to date back
four thousand years; the game of chess has been known in India for more than two thousand.
The Indian form of chess gave rise to a large number of games that are widespread across Asia.

Indian chess travelled across Persia and penetrated to Europe. The rules of the game changed -
they were made more rational. Chess underwent its last significant change about four hundred
years ago in Italy. But it still took a long time for the new rules to gain universal acceptance in
Europe. What became "European" chess is now widely disseminated in all parts of the world.

In India, chess was an image of war. The chessboard figured as a battlefield. The pieces were
divided between two hostile camps that were distinguished from each other by their colours
(black and white) . The classification of pieces according to their types of weapon was modelled
on the ancient Indian army. At the head of the army stood the king, and it was for his life that
the battle was fought. The army consisted of fighting elephants and horsemen, distinguished by
their great strength and mobility, as well as lightly armed infantry. The pieces on the chessboard
were moved by the players in keeping with the prescribed rules. Each player strove to eliminate
his opponent's pieces and reach the enemy king, in order finally to "put him to death".

With the passage of time, the character of real war changed. The time when the life of one person
- the king - was the prize at stake in the battle, receded into the distant past. So did the time when
army elephants had taken part in hostilities. Yet the game of chess still retained the character it
had had at birth. Even today, a chessplayer moving his pieces according to the established rules
can view himself as a warlord in a battle where success depends on how well he has devised his
plan. If we wanted to represent modern warfare in chess, we would need to alter all the rules of
the game. The players, however, would gain precisely nothing from such an alteration, because
what interests them is purely the execution and evaluation of cleverly conceived plans; and any
rules that make this possible will serve - provided they are acknowledged by both opponents and
strictly observed by them. All the better when the game possesses a very long history and a vast
literature, from which advice and instruction may be gleaned.