Combinations

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.<br>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.