Aleksandar Matanovic Chess: Open Sesame

Aleksandar Matanović

Chess Open Sesame

Belgrade, 2012

CONTENTS

Lesson 1 – Three rules Lesson 2 – Pawn Lesson 3 – Knight Lesson 4 – Bishop Lesson 5 – Rook Lesson 6 – Queen Lesson 7 – King Lesson 8 – The object of the game Lesson 9 – Board and Pieces Fifteen centuries of chess Chess conquered the world Solutions to tests

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You do not know to play a chess?It is like not knowing how to swim or ride a bicycle. But at least it is easy to learn how to play chess. And once it reveals to you its secrets, one by one, youwill start liking it and you will become inseparablefriends.

Author

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3

Therefore, the chessboard is a battleground wherethe two armies are fighting. Each has six differentpieces: king, queen, rook, bishop, knight and pawn. Therules governing the movement of pieces, and on thistheir strength, qualities and flaws depend, are differentfor each piece, as their names are different.


7

King k

Queen q

Rook r

Bishop ¥

Knight n

Pawn p


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The white square in the corner of the table shouldbe on the right side of the player, white queen on whitesquare, and black queen on a black square.

THREE RULES

Both armies are on the starting position, ready forbattle, expecting a command. But before that, we needto know three rules:

– A player with a white piece first makes one move,then black makes one move of the black piece, and it iswhite’s turn again.

– White and black pieces are fighting each other.The piece which captures and takes the opposingpiece, removes it from the board and takes its positionon the board.

– The moving abilities of pieces, what they can do,and what they are worth – we will come to that later.


9

NOTATION

To be able to record a game of chess and help theplayers to remember it, the chess notation was inventedby which to read and write chess books.

Here is, for example, how to record the moves:

Lg3 – this means that the king is going from itsposition to the square f2

Ee6 – queen goes to the square d5Ud8 – rook goes to the square c7Mh5 – bishop to g4Tf4 – knight is going to the square of e31.1 – castling short (later we will see what castling

is)1.1.1 – castling long


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b9 c9 d9 e9 f9 g9 h9 i9

b8 c8 d8 e8 f8 g8 h8 i8

b7 c7 d7 e7 f7 g7 h7 i7

b6 c6 d6 e6 f6 g6 h6 i6

b5 c5 d5 e5 f5 g5 h5 i5

b4 c4 d4 e4 f4 g4 h4 i4

b3 c3 d3 e3 f3 g3 h3 i3

b2 c2 d2 e2 f2 g2 h2 i2


11

Moving knights and rooks, sometimes requires anadditional indication:

Thg7 – means that two knights could fit on thesquare f6, and specifies that the square f6 should beoccupied by the knight standing on the “g” file.

U9b6 – rook that is in the eighth rank goes tosquare a5

Only the movement of pawns is recorded withoutthe symbol for pawn:

f5 – the pawn is going from its position to squaree4

fe5 – the pawn takes, eats, the piece in the squared4

de9E – in the square d8 the pawn takes the oppos-ing piece and turns itself into a queen. (These possibili-ties of pawns will be discussed later).

g2U – black pawn arrives to the f1 square and turnsinto a rook.


12


13

In the above picture, taken in 1892, Jose PaulCapablanca, aged four, is playing chess with his father.

Capablanca was world champion from 1921. to1927.

The dream of every pawn is to turn into the queen. (Chess saying)

“Let me introduce myself. I am a small, but thereare many of us. I know all kinds of things, but I have tosay, when I get to the end of the board I become verydangerous. In spite of this, the chess players underesti-mate us – they prefer to sacrifice their pawns ratherthan other pieces. Better are those who are smart withus, because we can be very useful.

Four rules determine what I can and what I must.”

The first rule: “I can only advance straight ahead, while all the

other pieces can move forward and backward, left andright. When moving I can only move by one square. Theexception is when I move from my initial stand position,because in that case I can progress and move twosquares, if the player decides so.“


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Lesson 2PAWN

The second rule:“I attack forward by one square diagonally to the left orright. Of course, when I am on the file “a” or “h”, I canonly attack the right or left.”

The third rule:“This rule is somewhat complicated, so please pay

attention. When I go from my home position I can, as Isaid, move two squares. If I pass a square that wasattacked by an opponent pawn, he can if he wants tocapture me – take me and occupy the place where I wasattacked. He can, but he does not have to! This rule iscalled “in passing”. The chess players often use theFrench phrase “en passant”.

The fourth rule:“When I get to the end of the board (white pawn to

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Let’s recall 4 rules and what a pawn can and must do.

1. Movements of a pawn.2. How the pawns progress.3. The rule “en passant”.4. A promotion of the pawn into another piece.

anymore and I promote into another piece – queen orrook, bishop or knight. I can’t convert to the king. As aresult, it may happen to find on a chessboard two ormore queens, more than two rooks and more than twobishops or knights. “


17

Pawns play:

Let’s check what we have learned: 4 rules.Position the pieces on the board as shown on a diagrambelow and then make the following moves:2/f5!f7!3/e5!e6!4/f6!d6!5/d4!de5!6/de5!g6!7/fg7!hg7!8/g5!f69/gf6!gf6!:/ef6!e5!21/f7!e4!22/f8!e3!23/f9E!e2E


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*The solutions to all test questions are given at the endof the book. Each test is scored by a certain number ofpoints. The more points we collect, the better our knowl-edge of chess game.

T E S T S for lesson 2*

Rewarding points for a successful tests solution:from 1 to 10

1. White pawn is on the move.There are two possibilities.What are these?

The correct answer scores1 point


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2. Black pawn plays, and hasthree options. What arethese?

2 points

3. White pawn came to theseventh rank and moves –there are four possibilities.Which?

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4. Black pawn has reachedthe second rank, he is on themove and has eight possibili-ties. Which?

5 points

5. In this diagram the whitepawn arrived from e2 to e4.Black pawn has two options.Which?

2 points


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6. From the e2 square pawncame to the square e4. Blackpawns now have moreoptions. What are these?

3 points


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Chess primarily teaches people to be objective. (Alexander Alekhine)


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Good chess player always has a bit of luck.(Capablanca)

“I’m slower than a bishop or a rook, not to mentiona queen, but I only can jump and skip over obstacles!When I am in the center of the board, I would like todraw attention to the opponents for their own good; theyneed to watch what they do! My movements have ashape of the letter L and I can jump over mine as wellas opponent’s pieces.


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Lesson 3

KNIGHT

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Knights play

Pawns and knights are alone on a board, with noother pieces:

On your table align the positions of pieces asshown on a diagram and make the following moves:2/f5! d7! 3/e5! e6! 4/Td4!ef5! 5/Tf5Te8!6/Tg4!Thg7! 7/Tg7Tg7


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T E S T S for lesson 3

7. White is on the move. Whichopportunities there are for awhite knight?

4 points

8. Black is on the move. Whichand how many opportunitiesthere are for a black knight?


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9. In which squares can awhite knight fit, that are notcontrolled by black pieces?

3 points


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“No other piece in chess has so many differentnames in different countries as I do. These are thestrange and unusual names. You will agree if I cite someof them. They call me runner, bishop, officer, elephantand even the court jester! I do not complain about it. It isimportant to me that chess players rate me highly.Anyway, they rate me higher than a knight, but let thisremain among us. The knight is not happy because ofthis, but what can I do. I can in only one move, if the pas-sage is clear, to cover a large distance. I move only diag-onally, only in white or just black diagonals. Unlike pawns,in one move I can pass as many squares as possible oruntil I encounter an obstacle. If the obstacle is one of myfriends I have to stop, and if the obstacle is the oppo-nent’s piece I can take it if I want, and take its place.”


31

Lesson 4

BISHOP

Good chess player plays with his head – bad with his hands.

Touch – move! The player, when on his turn, whotouches certain piece must move it. He does not have todo that only if he warned the opponent in advance thathe wants to correct the position of the piece on the boardby telling “I adjust”“. 1222222223

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“I am moving down the ranks and files – as manysquares as I want. Of course, until I encounter an obsta-cle, and then I continue as a bishop does. I am placedin the corner of a table. In the beginning, and later, whenthere are many pieces on the board, I am avoiding thecrowd. Avoiding all those pawns, knights and bishopswho are eager to attack me, I prefer to operate from thebackground, to possess an open file or a rank fromwhich I can provide the assistance to my friends whoare on the front positions. “


37

Lesson 5

ROOK

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Rooks are playingDiagram shows all the pieces now in the starting

position, except the kings and queens. When you alignthis position on the board, make the following moves:2/e5!e6!3/Mg5!d7!4/f4!Mg6!5/!d5!Tg7!6/Td4!Tb7!7/Ud2!Ud98/de6!Te6!9/!Te6!de6!:/Ud9!Md9


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T E S T S for lesson 5

12. On which squares can awhite rook stand? Rememberhis words, this will help you.

4 points

13. By God, this is a bit difficulttask! Because black rook cango to many squares, but not allare safe. So, what the squaresare safe and how many?


39

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“The king is the most important piece in chess – heis the KING! But I am the strongest and most people callme ‘the leadership’. Rightly. Therefore it is not right thatone can’t play chess without a king and can play it with-out me! And to be honest, I don’t like it. But that’s how itis. It is on this one who invented the chess game. By theway, when it comes to my involvement, I am reluctant toleave my place in the beginning of the game for obviousreasons.


41

Lesson 6

QUEEN

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“I am a modern king. I do not give the orders, theplayers do. I’m not unhappy – the army preserves andprotects me from the enemy. What are the other pieceshave said about itself is a small part of the vast experi-ence we have gained over many centuries. From time totime between them may arise some misunderstandings,dissatisfaction and even the envy. As between the bish-op and the knight, for example. Pawns complain ofbeing underestimated, queen is surprised that one canplay without it but not without me. I often pretend as if Ieither do not hear, or do not understand. All in all, weare a good team, and if we are in the hands of a goodchess player, it is the right thing. Otherwise, I am not asleggy as a queen, and I am moving down the diagonalsand ranks and files, but I can move by only one square!In one move.”


47

Lesson 7

KING

Castling

To protect the king during the game the castling wasinvented. Castling is possible if the following conditionsare met:

– Castling king is not attacked by opponent’s pieces;– Between the king and the rook in castling there is

no other piece;– Neither the king nor the rook in castling did not

move before;– A squares which passes the king in castling are

not attacked by opponent’s pieces, as well as the squareon which comes the king.


48

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Castling short (0-0)

Castling long (0-0-0)


49

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Kings playKings come into play! All the pieces are in a game.

So let’s see the beginning of one real game of chess.When all pieces are set on the board according to a dia-gram, pull these moves:2/f5!d7!3/e5!e6!4/Td4!ef5!5/Tf5!Te8!6/Tg4!Thg7!7/Tg7Tg7!8/Me4!Mh5!9/d4!Ed8!:/1.1!1.1.1!21/Uf2!f7///


50

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T E S T S to lesson 7

16. What the white squares arethat can hold the white king?

3 points

17. Same question for theblack king – on which squareshe can come?


51

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The aim is to capture – checkmate the opponent’sking. To bring it into the position that he can’t defenditself from attacks by the opposing piece.

CHECKTo attack the opponent’s king is not necessary to

warn the opponent with the word check!


55

Lesson 8

THE AIM OF THE GAME

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The king defends

Attacked king has three ways to defend itselfagainst attacks:

– That he or some of his pieces take a piece thatattacks him;

– That the king moves to a safe place;– To protect the king by its own piece from the

direction of attack. This is not possible only if the knightsor pawns are attacking.


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T E S T S to lesson 8a) How to make a check?

24. White is on the move andgives a check?

1 point

25. In how many ways can ablack attack the white king?

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CHECK MATE

When attacked the king has no way to defend itself– it is called CHECK MATE. The game is over. The wi -nner is the one that has checkmated the opposing king.


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T E S T S

31. White king gives check-mate in one move. What isthat move?

2 points

32. In how many differentways the white can checkmatethe black in one move?


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DRAW (a tie)Draw or a tie occurs when:– Neither side has pieces that can checkmate the

opponent;– Opponent’s king is exposed to the “perpetual

chess”;– On the board, exactly the same position was

repeated three times in a row.– At the suggestion of one of the partners, players

agree to end the game as a draw.

Not enough pieces to make the checkmate.


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STALEMATE

The opponent is on the move, his king is notattacked and he can’t move the to a safe place, andthere is no other piece that he can play. It is a stalemate.The result of a game that is completed by stalemate isa draw – stalemate.

Black is on the move. Stalemate!


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How to arrange army if you do not know what thediagonals, files, ranks, center, and the king’s or queen’swing are?

Center


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{

Queen’s wing King’s wing

Lesson 9

BOARD AND PIECES

{

PLAY + BOOK = THE REAL THING

No one has learned to play piano by learning onlyfrom books. And one can learn a lot from books – all ofwhat the thousands of chess players have ever invented.

You do not need to spend time and try to find whatis already written in books. But without a game and with-out the opponent who wants to win, to become better –one can not reveal the secrets hidden in chess at itsfinest.

But when choosing an opponent is not good if heis much better or much worse than you – may be a littlebetter!


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CHESS GAME, BORN IN INDIA FIFTEEN CENTURIES AGO, HAS CONQUERED THE WORLD

Chess game was born in India around 550 year, inPunjab. From India chess has spread from county to countrytoward the west. Over the centuries, the rules have graduallychanged and the process lasted until the 16th century.


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CHATURANGA

”Chaturanga” is the first form ofa chess game, designed as a“war game”. The game was per-formed with four players and eachhad eight pieces on the boardwith 64 squares. The pieces werearranged by different rules thantoday, and the goal of the gamewas to destroy the entire enemyarmy.

Around the year 600 “chaturan-ga” has spread to Persia. Afterthe Arab conquest of Persia,“chaturanga” has undergonemany changes and was renamed– SHATRANJ.

Played by two players, pieceswere arranged as in modernchess. Some pieces: a queen,bishop, pawn, are moving by dif-ferent rules. They were “slower”and therefore worth less. Piecequeen, for example, was called

“firzans” meaning– a wise man. Inmodified form,this term is nowused in Russia.We say – queen,Russians call it“ferz”. The goalwas the destruc-tion, the check-mate of the opponent’s king.Checkmate in Persian means“the king is dead.”

”Shatranj” in the ninth century,spread to the Middle and NearEast, and the center of the worldfor chess became Baghdad. Thegame has gained significant pop-ularity, and depending on theirstrength, the players were dividedinto five categories.

Preserved are the names ofthe best chess players: As-Zuriand As-Seraksi, and names ofrulers, Caliph who played and

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supported this game: Harun al-Rashid, Al-Amin and Al-Mamun.Caliph Al-Mamun said: “It isstrange that I, who rule the worldfrom India in the East toAndalusia in the west, can notovercome 32 pieces in a smallspace of chessboard.”

After the Arab conquest ofSeville 712th year “shatranj”spread into Europe, and in the10th to 12th century from Spainand Italy has spread to manyother European countries. Thenames of pieces have changed,as well as the change of the rulesof their movements. Queen hasbecome the most powerful piece,the bishop has become moremobile, the pawn could, from thestarting position, go by one andtwo squares.

The last rule introducedallowed the castling to be done inone, and not as before in two

moves. The 16th century finallyshaped the modern chess weplay today.

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16th And 17th CENTURY

During the 16th and 17 century,Italy was the center of chessactivities. Best Italian chess play-ers, whose names and partieswere preserved, were LeonardoCutri and Greco. They sought todiscover the principles that wouldbe grounds for chess theory. Itwas noted that the Greco donatedhis work on the theory of theopening in 1619th to the RomanPontiff, who loved chess andplayed it.

At that time was played a“sharp”, combinatory chess withthe victims, without much under-standing of positional play. Thefirst international competition washeld in Madrid, the 1575thbetween the best Italian andSpanish chess players. TheItalians won. Somewhat earlier, in

the 1512th year, in Rome, DAMI-ANO, a chess primer was printedin Italian and Spanish language,and the first chess tournamentwas held at the court of Spanishking in the year 1565.

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WORLD CHAMPION TITLE

During the 19th century, moreand more tournaments of bestchess players from various coun-tries were organized. The firstinternational tournament washeld in London in 1851, andGerman player Adolf Andersenwon being considered the bestchess player of the time, until hewas defeated in the match withAmerican chess player Murphy in1858. For Paul Murphy, who wasthe first one to play aggressive,combinatorial chess, but on thepositional basis, the future cham-pion Alekhine said: “The deepunderstanding of positional prin-ciples was the basis for his posi-tional game.”

An increasing number of chesscompetitions imposed the need toestablish the title of world champi-on. In the U.S. in the 1886th was

held the match between JohanSteinitz and Wilhelm Zukertort.The first world champion in chessbecame Wilhelm Steinitz.

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CORNERSTONES

In the history of chess the world champions have a role of corner-stones that characterize and outline some stages in the development

of the game of chess.Emanuel Lasker, after winning the match with

Steinitz in 1894, won the championship, which hewill hold for the record 27 years. Philosopher by pro-fession, Lasker pointed out that the essence chessgame is its social value. More than his predeces-sors, he has devoted attention to the endgame andpsychological factors at play. The scientist AlbertEinstein said: “Emanuel Lasker was undoubtedlyone of the most prominent personalities I’ve met. Itis very few people like him, who simultaneously pos-

sess a unique independence of thought and a wider interest in theproblems of mankind.”

Emanuel Lasker’s heir to the throne was a chess play-er from Cuba, Jose Raul Capablanca. He beat Lasker ina match in 1921. For Capablanca, who was adorned witha great chess talent, the future champion, Alekhine said:“Already in 1914 Capablanca played just as well asLasker. Either before or after I never met such a clear andlogical way of thinking in chess as Capablanca pos-sessed.”

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New changes occurred on the throne in 1969.World champion became Boris Spassky.Botvinnik estimated Spassky in this way: “Thechess throne took the most rational chess playerafter Lasker. His chess style is not limited.Regardless of whether he is attacking or defend-ing himself, he understands all of the positions,maneuvers successfully using correct variants.His gift of chess is a versatile, with rich repertoire.“

A brief interruption of Soviet chess dominationoccurred 1972nd year. On the big stage came theAmerican Robert Fischer. Within a few years, hedefeated in a spectacular way all obstacles,reached the match with Spassky and won. Heplays and understands all kinds of positions. Nomatter if he plays with white or black pieces,whether he is playing against weak players or withgrandmasters – he plays to win. He flew over thechess sky like a meteor, enlightened his era and

burned. After winning the title, he withdrew from chess competitions,and would much later play a friendly match against Spassky inYugoslavia in 1992 year. He won this match – and that was all in hischess career.

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THE NEW RULES IN THE SYSTEM OF COMPETITION

Conflict between Fischer and FIDE, and subsequent disputes betweenKasparov and Karpov have imposed the need to change the compe-tition system. Instead of the earlier three-year cycle that was sup-posed to beat a contender for the match with the champion, in the newsystem the way to the title of the competition is considerably short-ened and facilitated. For a single tournament, the first consisting of100 players with FIDE rating list, the winner will be entitled to the titlematch. Thus, for a short time, tournaments were much shorter thanbefore and the new world champions became: 1999. AlexanderHalifman, 2000. Indian Viswanathan Anand, 2002. Ruslan Pono -mariov, 2004. Rustan Kasimjanov, 2005. Veselin Topalov and VladimirKramnik who won the title in 2006.

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1999. Aleksander Khalifman

2000. Viswanathan

Anand

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2005. VeselinTopalov

2004. Rustam

Kasimdzhanov

2002. Ruslan

Ponomariov

2006. VladimirKramnik

2007. Viswanathan

Anand

CHESS HAS CONQUERED THE WORLD

Conceived as “war game” chess on its long journey through thecenturies has been transformed into a means of creating friendshipand cooperation between people. Because of its educational andrecreational properties, chess has become a part of general culture.World Chess Federation – FIDE brings together some 150 countries– members. In addition to various competitions within some countries,FIDE organized individual championships for women, youth and se -niors, male and female team competition – Chess Olympiad to be heldevery other year, the chess team is involving a large number of coun-tries.

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Aleksandar MatanovićChess

Open Sesame"Chess school"

Book 1Editor

Oliver KneževićPublishers

Aeksandar MatanovićOliver Knežević

CaricatureJovan Prokopljević

TranslationLjiljana Lakić-Švrakić

Printed byKarganović Ltd, Belgrade

CIP - Каталогизација у публикацијиНародна библиотека Србије, Београд794.1(035.053.2)MATANOVIĆ, Aleksandar

Chess : Open Sesame / Aleksandar Matanović; [caricature Jovan Prokopljević ; translation LjiljanaLakić-Švrakić]. - Beograd : A. Matanović : O. Knežević, 2012 (Beograd : Karganović). - 95 str. : ilus-tr. ; 16 x 16 cm. - (Chess school ; #Book #1)Prevod dela: Šah za prvake.ISBN 978-86-909473-4-8 (AM)a) Шах - ПриручнициCOBISS.SR-ID 188829452

PhotosPage 23 Patrick KeoghPage 93 Darja Kapš

Aleksandar Matanovic Chess: Open Sesame

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