Table of Contents
1 Introduction to Chess Notation 9
On Chess Notation 11
2 Your First Chess Openings 17
On Openings 19
How to Use This Book 20
The Starting Position 23
Goal 1 Create ideal Pawn Centers 25
Goal 2 Castle! 27
Goal 3 Connect the Rooks 29
Goal 4 Centralize At Least One Rook 30
On the Value of the Pieces 31
3 Your White Openings 33
On White Openings 35
The Most Common Opening 39
White Attacks with the Bishop 40
A Tricky Gambit 41
The Traditional Fried Liver Attack: Introduction 47
Fried Liver Attack 48
The Officially Approved Defense 54
A Tricky Counterattack 57
The Wild Line 58
The Queen Line 59
Black Brings the Bishop Out Before the Kingside Knight 60
Copycat Line 61
French Defense 62
Attacking the French with a Gambit 65
Check Line 68
Central Challenge 69
Sicilian Defense 70
Black Smashes Open the Center 72
The Dance of the Knight 73
The Caro-Kann Defense 74
Living on the Edge 78
Dealing with the Flexible Defense 79
The Lazy Defense 82
Black Attacks Your Pawn with the Knight 84
The Other Knight Move 88
Bizarre Defenses 90
4 Your Black Openings 93
On Black Openings 95
The Most Common Opening 96
Two Knights are Good Knights 100
White Tries to Fry Your Liver 101
The Quiet Life 103
White Offers a Gambit 104
White Castles 108
Don't Be Afraid of the Spanish Inquisition 110
White Castles 113
White Builds a Big Center 116
The Immediate Break in the Center 118
White Opens Up the Center 121
Normal Play in the Center 122
White Gambit with C-Pawn 125
Gambit in Spanish Style 126
All Four Knights 129
Four Knights, Italian Style 131
Four Knights, Spanish Style 132
Four Knights, Scotch Style 133
White Uses Your Own Opening Against You 135
The Famous King's Gambit 139
White Brings Out the Other Knight 141
White Smashes Open the Center 144
Two-Pawn Gambit 146
5 Closed Games 149
On Closed Games 151
The Main Defense 154
What's Next? 157
As White 158
As Black 159
