Chessville - The Z-B Chess Course - by Robert T. Tuohey - A Past Pawns acrticle - chess history, chess biographies, chess personalities

Chessville - by chessplayers, for chessplayers!

Beginners

News

Openings

Study Materials

Endings

Columnists

Tactics

Store / Mall

Downloads

Links

Reviews

en español

Art, Fiction, History

A Past Pawns Article

The Z-B Chess Course

by Robert T. Tuohey

'Tis plate of rare device and jewels Of rich and exquisite form, their values great,
And I am something curious, being strange, To have them in sale stowage.
-- Cymbeline (Act 1, Scene 6).

That the majority of chess books are non-instructive, dull, and expensive to boot, is about as well known as the back-rank mate. And yet, that there are comprehensive, entertaining, and inexpensive books on the Royal Game seems to be something of an open secret.

The author of one such set of books is Eugene Znosko-Borovsky (1884 – 1954).

My purpose in this article, then, rather than provide an introduction to this interesting individual (note 1), is something of an entrée to his five main books.

In fact, this quintet can well serve as an entire course on chess, from general principles, to openings, tactics and combinations, right through to the endgame. And make no mistake, there is great advantage to be obtained from, at least initially, from receiving instruction all forged of one fine mind.

How Not To Play Chess

At just over 100 pages, this delightful little book outlines just what to avoid in a game of chess. To wit: Avoid Mistakes, Do not make opening moves automatically, Do not memorize opening variations…and so on.

If you happen to be so smug as to regard any of the preceding snippet as trite, and, thereby, unworthy of your exalted chessic attention, might I be so rude as to enquire as to the causes of your last couple of losses? If the answer is not “common mistakes”, I’ll eat my score sheet.

Here’s a brief look at the section entitled: Do not believe all that you have been told. Examine, verify, use your reason:

It must not be thought that it is always easy to give an explanation on some point in chess which shall satisfy the enquirer. For instance, I remember well the astonishment of one who asked me: “Is it true that in the opening it is not good to move the same piece several times?” “Quite true,” I replied. “Is it true,” he then asked, “that the Ruy Lopez is one of the best openings?” “Yes, it is,” I agreed. “But how can that be,” he objected, “when in the Ruy Lopez White makes four of his first nine moves with his KB?” He was quite right, for the opening moves are. 1.P-K4 P-K4 2.N-KB3 N-QB3 3.B-N5 P-QR3 4.B-R4 N-B3 5.0-0 B-K2 6.R-K1 P-QN4 7.B-N3 P-Q3 8.P-B3 N-QR4 9.B-B2 0-0 etc, and one had to explain that to bring this result about Black has had to weaken his Q-side by his pawn moves, that he himself has moved his QKt twice, and on a bad square at R4, and that in general if your opponent plays correctly, it is impossible to obtain something for nothing! (Note 2).

Whether raw beginner or inveterate wood-pusher, this simple paragraph works.

How to Play the Chess Openings

Moving now to the, oft dreaded, initial phase of the game, this, again short, book is based on the well-known-though-little-followed Z-B maxim: Chess is a game of understanding, and not of memory.

The key point is simple: Not so much that in this particular tabiya such-and-such a piece is put on this or that square, but rather, for this constellation, WHY the pieces coordinate the way they do.

In fact, I dare say, that between this general introduction, and Reuben Fine’s Ideas Behind the Chess Openings, you will never need labor through another opening tome until after ELO 1800.

Here’s the intro to the Petroff Defense (p. 24):

1.P-K4 P-K4 2.N-KB3 N-KB3

A bold player, as Black, having come to the conclusion that many openings give White no advantage, might well ask himself why Black should not, instead of defending, venture at once upon an aggressive game. Is the move such an advantage? Have we not, for example, the case of the Opposition where the advantage is with the player without the move? Is not the initial symmetrical position, also, a problem in opposition, whose solution should be found in not disturbing the equilibrium?

Certainly, one can have nothing but admiration for such a bold idea, especially in these days when timidity is too often the characteristic of chess players: but this would be to misjudge the very principles of the game rather than to discover a semblance of truth in what is, in the main, a paradox. The number of men and the variety of moves in the initial position make it difficult to consider it as a case of Opposition. Further, White can easily make quiet waiting moves which allow the advantage of the move to pass to his opponent or else lead once again into symmetry.

Z-B Middle Game Books

Z-B has two books on the middle game: The Art of Chess Combination, and The Middle Game in Chess. This indeed is fitting, for, as we cannot be too often reminded, tactical and combinative ability are at the very heart of our sport. Furthermore, as every aficionado well knows, these two undisputed classics easily divide into introductory (Art) and intermediate (Middle Game), forming two parts of a whole.

In these two books Z-B’s true greatness as a chess teacher-writer shine through. In an interesting way, he informs, and is, at once, as comprehensive as need be, without overwhelming the reader with too much, and yet cites games and positions that strike the imagination, always repaying further study.

I recall as a grade-school student being much impressed with the following position from Euwe – Davidson, 1925 (page 45):

Z-B is discussing the knight in combination, and here remarks that all movements of this piece are forks, “…the most simple of geometrical ideas”.

26.Q-Q8+ K-N2 27.QxN+ KxQ 28.NxP+ and wins.

My friends, it is the laconic “and wins” that makes this example worthwhile – for if you have any love of this game, you will now set to figure out, for yourself, how!

Let’s now sample a bit of the prose from The Middle Game in Chess (page 61).

3. Construction and Execution of a Plan

In the foregoing chapters we have seen all the fundamental ideas on which the elaboration of a plan can be based. There are two points which must, however, be borne in mind. It must not be thought that a plan will occur to us fully worked out in all its details at a given moment, like Pallas Athene arising fully armed from the head of Zeus. Step by step, after the tentative maneuvers of the opening, it takes shape in our mind, at first in vague outlines, gaining gradually in definition and character. Where the position is simple and the advantage well defined, there is no difficulty in formulating at once a suitable strategic plan. But it is not possible to do this at will in obscure and complicated positions of no definite character, where both sides have equal chances, or, worse still, where the formations are symmetrical. It must then suffice to evolve an idea, without quite realizing how to carry it out, or even where it will lead.

This type of advice, as practical as a good left hook in a street fight, is typical of Z-B: it is the rough-and-tumble of real OTB chess (with apologies to the great Kotov).

How to Play the Chess Endings

For most chess players, endgame books are about as fascinating as watching paint dry (albeit on newly carved Staunton pieces). The problem is basically two-fold: there’s a lot of material to cover, and here chess takes on its truly mathematical character (sincere apologies to Dr. Euwe, et al).

Thus, the best we can hope for is that the text will clearly and cogently present the essential ideas. This Z-B does.

Z-B Writes:

Black appears to have a won game: he threatens to queen in seven moves by 1…P-B5; 2.PXP PXP; 3.any, P-B6; 4.PXP followed by P-R5-R6-R7-R8 (Q).

As it is White’s move, he might stop the pawn from queening after: 1.P-R4 K-Kt5; and the White King taking the diagonal from K Kt 7 to Q Kt 2, would reach the critical square Q Kt 2 on the sixth move, just in time to hold up Black’s Q R P, but for one fact: after 3…P-B6; 4.PXP, there is a White pawn at Q B 3, which now obstructs the White King’s progress and stops him from arriving in time. The long diagonal is clearly not the right one to select. White must use another if he can do so without loss of time. But how can it be done?

Perhaps the novice, prima facie, can appreciate the straight-forwardness of this description. For those of you, however, who have suffered through contemporary chess texts, overblown as they often are with verbiage and line-upon-line of pointless computer analysis, the above must appear a model of Olympian clarity.

Notes

1. An outline of Z-B’s life can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Znosko-Borovsky, or a better one in the introduction of The Art of the Chess Combination, penned by Philip W. Sergeant.

2. All of Z-B’s books are still in descriptive notation (as given in the article).

3. Book details:

Znosko-Borovsky, Eugene (1961) [1934]. How Not to Play Chess. Dover. ISBN 0-486-20920-2.

Znosko-Borovsky, Eugene (1971) [1935]. How to Play The Chess Openings. Dover. ISBN 0-486-22795-2.

Znosko-Borovsky, Eugene (1977) [1936]. The Art of Chess Combination. Dover. ISBN 0-486-20583-5.

Znosko-Borovsky, Eugene (1980) [1938]. The Middle Game in Chess. Dover. ISBN 0-486-23931-4.

Znosko-Borovsky, Eugene (1971) [1940]. How to Play Chess Endings. ISBN 0-486-22795-2.

4. A collection of 250 games by Z-B, in zipped PDF format, is here.

These books are all available from Amazon: