Written by a young Grand Master, this introduction to chess strategy is aimed primarily at players for whom a game plan is utterly enigmatic. By isolating basic elements and illustrating them through a selection of Master and Grand Master games, Simple Chess breaks down the mystique of strategy into plain, easy-to-understand ideas. (Only a knowledge of basic chess terminology is assumed.)

More than a lesson in chess fundamentals, this book illustrates an increasingly prevalent and successful style of play - a method that begins slowly accumulating small but permanent advantages, saving the outright attack for later in the game... this edition of Simple Chess offers a strategic weapon for players at every level of expertise.

JLJ - a great book full of ideas for human or machine playing chess.

p.1-2 When faced with any problem too large to cope with as a single entity, common sense tells us to break it down into smaller fragments of manageable proportions. Simple Chess... tries to reduce the problem still further by recommending various positional goals which you can work towards, other things (i.e., material, development, security of king position) being equal... Simple Chess will provide... some elementary objectives which if attained should eventually decide the game... Essentially, Simple Chess aims to give you some of the basic ideas for forming a long-term campaign.

p.7-8 The most important single feature of a chess position is the activity of the pieces. This is absolutely fundamental in all phases of the game (opening, middlegame and especially endgame)... The primary constraint on a piece's activity is the Pawn structure...The job of the chessplayer must therefore be to use his skill to create a Pawn set-up which will allow his own pieces the optimum freedom and stability, while denying his opponent's similar scope.

p.17 In general a successful attack can only be launched from a position of strength in the center of the board. This "position of strength" can take various forms, the simplest being an outpost.

 As the name suggests, an outpost is a square at the forefront of your position which you can readily support and from where you can control or contest squares in the heart of the enemy camp. To be useful, an outpost must be firmly under control and so should ideally be protected by a Pawn. Conversely your opponent should not be given the opportunity to deny you access to your outpost, so in particular it must be immune to attack by enemy pawns.

 This last condition is far and away the most important and can indeed be taken as the defining property of an outpost.

p.24 an outpost in the vicinity of the enemy King is an excellent platform from which an offensive can be launched.

p.38 The lesson to be learned here is that structure alone is not quite everything. The pieces must be able to coordinate with the pawn structure. After all, what use is a body without a soul?

p.39,42 If the defending forces can be reduced to the menial task of protecting Pawns, they will not be able to offer much opposition to a full-scale offensive.

   So what exactly is a weak Pawn and how is it recognizable? The answer is both simple and logical. A weak Pawn is one which cannot be protected by another Pawn and so requires support from its own pieces. Note that the criterion is the ability to be protected by another Pawn, not the existence of such protection. Take the example of two adjacent Pawns on, say, d4 and e4. Neither protects the other but each as the ability to be guarded by the other, by advancing. We must therefore say that the weakness or strength of two adjacent Pawns depends on whether or not they are able to advance if the necessity arises... The most common form of Pawn weakness encountered in practical play is the isolated Pawn - one which has lost its neighbors and stands alone in face of the enemy. Such a Pawn has two basic deficiencies: firstly it requires defense, and secondly the squares immediately in front of it make ideal outposts for the other player.

p.51 the White Pawns provide a very effective barrier against the enemy Bishop without any way impeding their own Bishop. Above all there is no question of White having any weak Pawns [in the game being discussed] - they all protect each other, except for the "base" at c2 which is completely unassailable.

p.66-67,78-79 "Put your rooks on open files" is a piece of advice every beginner receives, and a very sound piece of advice it is. But like all pieces of sound advice, it can prove to be inadequate, or worse... Occupation of an open file is of no value unless there is a chance of penetration... It must be stressed that open files only have a value as a means of feeding Rooks (or [possibly] Queens) into the enemy position, so that a file has no value unless there is somewhere along it an entry point, i.e., an advanced point on which a Rook can safely land... To summarize, the use of open files can be broken down into three parts: (i) Take control of the file. (ii) Find a point of entry (this is the important part; without an entry point a file has no value). (iii) Penetrate via the entry point.

p.71 Chess is very much a team game. The pieces rely heavily on each other's help and cooperation, so if one does not pull its weight it lets the whole side down.

p.132 The essence of simple chess is mobility. Pieces need to be kept active and used economically. All the objectives of simple chess can be traced back to this underlying notion... However, the single most important factor in determining mobility must be space, but what is space? ...space is not an easily definable or recognizable concept... The following is nearer the truth. Any given Pawn structure has a certain capacity for accommodating pieces efficiently. Exceed this capacity and the pieces get in each other's way, and so reduce their mutual activity. [JLJ - compare with this quote from Bossel, Earth at a Crossroads, p. 271: "The carrying capacity of a given environment is the result of the coevolution of species populations, ecosystems, physical environment, and human activities. It is limited by the energy and material flows which can be mobilized and utilized."]

p.140 The strategy behind playing to exploit a space advantage is twofold:

   (i) Deprive the opponent of any counterplay, avoiding exchanges whenever possible. The psychological pressure of being permanently hemmed in may well induce him to weaken himself in order to gain some freedom.

   (ii) If no weaknesses are forthcoming you must be prepared to attack on either wing. Greater space control gives you better communication between flanks, so you naturally want to exploit this fact to build up against the adversary's weaker front.

p.157 The real criterion [for a space advantage] is whether your opponent has more pieces than can comfortably fit in with his Pawn structure

In 1977 24-year old Michael Stean became the first grandmaster to lose a game of blitz chess to a computer:

White: Chess 4.6 (Cyber 176)

Black: GM Michael Stean

Date: September 18, 1977

1.e4 b6 2.d4 Bb7 3.Nc3 c5 4.dxc5 bxc5 5.Be3 d6 6.Bb5+ Nd7 7.Nf3 e6 8.0-0 a6 9.Bxd7+ (9.Ba4 creates good positional pressure) Qxd7 10.Qd3 Ne7 11.Rad1 Rd8 12.Qc4 Ng6 13.Rfe1 Be7 14.Qb3 Qc6 15.Kh1 0-0 (15...h6 stops 16.Bg5) 16.Bg5 Ba8 17.Bxe7 Nxe7 18.a4 Rb8 19.Qa2 Rb4 20.b3 f5 21.Ng5 fxe4 (21...Qd7 22.f3 h6 23.Nh3 fxe4 24.Nxe4 Bxe4 25.fxe4 is good for black) 22.Ncxe4

position after 22.Ncxe4

22...Rxf2? (possibly losing, better was 22...d5) 23.Rxd6 (23.Kg1 is also good for White) Qxd6 (23...Qc7 24.Nxf2 Qxd6 is the last chance here) 24.Nxd6 Rxg2 25.Nge4 Rg4 26.c4 Nf5 27.h3 Ng3+ 28.Kh2 Rxe4 29.Qf2 h6 30.Nxe4 Nxe4 31.Qf3 Rb8 32.Rxe4 Rf8 33.Qg4 Bxe4 34.Qxe6+ Kh8 35.Qxe4 Rf6 36.Qe5 Rb6 37.Qxc5 Rxb3 38.Qc8+ Kh7 39.Qxa6 1-0

A recent photo of Michael Stean