Combinations: The Heart of Chess

Combinations: The Heart of ChessIrving Chernev's outstanding chess books earn him a high rank among the world's top chess authors. In this well annotated text, Mr. Chernev guides his readers to an understanding of the subtleties of combinative play. Step by step from the simplest combinations to the most complex, the book explains the intricacies of pins and counter pins, Knight forks, smothered mates, and other elements of combination play. There is a discussion in chapter five of

Irving Chernev's outstanding chess books earn him a high rank among the world's top chess authors. In this well-annotated text, Mr. Chernev guides his readers to an understanding of the subtleties of combinative play.
Step-by-step from the simplest combinations to the most complex, the book explains the intricacies of pins and counter-pins, Knight forks, smothered mates, and other elements of combination play. There is a discussion in chapter five of combinations lurking in roads not taken -- alternate lines of play show up in Chernev's notes to the game, while the sixth chapter, "Convincing the Kibitzers," shows the second-guessers what would have happened had the masters done the obvious. (Some disastrous combinations show up here.) A host of boomerangs follow -- cases where the player didn't look far enough ahead and his combination, instead of bringing about the opponent's ruin, paved the way to his defeat. Chapters 8-21 take up combinations used by such great players as Tarrasch, Botvinnik, Nimzovich, Steinitz, Rubinstein, and Pillsbury; the sacrificial combinations of Anderssen and Spielmann; the dazzling brilliancies of Morphy, Keres, and Alekhine; the deadly attacks of Marshall; the almost unfathomable ideas of Lasker; and the matchless creations of Capablanca. Mr. Chernev's thoughtful annotations unravel the secrets of each of these plans. A diagram accompanies each combination; an index, by player, leads the reader to the combination he is looking for.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 06/01/1967
ISBN: 9780486217444
Pages: 272
Weight: 0.63lbs
Size: 8.44h x 5.38w x 0.51d