The Soviet Chess Primer

By

Ilya Maizelis

Quality Chess
www.qualitychess.co.uk

Contents
Foreword by Mark Dvoretsky
Emanuel Lasker: The Meaning of Chess
Advice to Beginners

7
9
12

PART ONE: THE ELEMENTS OF CHESS

CHAPTER ONE: THE GAME EXPLAINED
1. The Chess Board and Pieces Object of the Game
2. Identifying the Squares Recording a Position
3. The Order of Play Moves and Captures
4. The Moves of the Pieces Attack and Defence Exchanges
5. The Pawns Move Capturing en passant Pawn Promotion
6. Check and Mate
7. Draw Perpetual Check Stalemate
8. Castling
9. Recording the Moves Conventional Symbols
Entertainment Pages

CHAPTER TWO: AIM OF THE GAME
1. Checkmate
2. Mate in the Simplest Endgames
3. Drawn Game
4. Conducting a Pawn to Its Queening Square
Entertainment Pages

13
13
14
15
15
19
21
23
26
28
29
35
35
38
41
44
47

CHAPTER THREE: TACTICS AND STRATEGY

57
1. The Concept of a Chess Plan
57
2. Relative Strengths of the Pieces
60
3. How the Position Affects the Relative Strengths
62
4. Further Characteristics of the Pieces
69
5. Restrictions on Mobility
70
Obstruction 70
Cutting Squares Off
72
Edge of the Board
73
Defensive Piece
74
Pin 77
Insufficient Time
81

6. Forcing Moves
82
Check 82
Dual Attack
85
Captures 92
Pawn Promotion
96
Threats 98
7. Series of Moves with a Common Idea
99
Piece Coordination
100
Attacking the Unprotected King
104
Centralization 105
Conquering the Seventh (or Eighth) Rank
105
Concentrating the Forces against an Important Point
107
Drawing an Enemy Piece towards or away from a Square
108
Employing Many-Sided Threats
110
The Opening and Blocking of Lines
111
Breaking through the Pawn Position
114
Tempo Gain and Zugzwang
116
Countering the Opponents Plans
118
Entertainment Pages
120
CHAPTER FOUR: TECHNIQUES OF CALCULATION
1. The Rule of the Square
2. The Counting of Moves (or Squares)
3. Counting the Number of Attacks
4. The Wandering Square
5. Critical Squares for a Passed Pawn
6. Critical Squares for a Blocked Pawn
7. Corresponding Squares
8. Further Devices to Simplify Calculation
Entertainment Pages

127
128
132
135
137
140
146
152
154
156

CHAPTER FIVE: COMBINATION

1. Combinative Motifs and Ideas
2. Types of Combination and Their Characteristics
3. The Technique of Combinations
4. Prerequisites for a Combination
Entertainment Pages

165
165
170
184
190
194

CHAPTER SIX: POSITIONAL PLAY

1. Weak Points (Squares and Pawns)
2. Piece Configuration Temporary and Permanent Weaknesses
3. The Centre (Pawn Centre and Piece Centre)
4. Position and Strength of the Pieces The Two Bishops
5. Evaluating a Position
Entertainment Pages

211
211
216
224
229
233
234

CHAPTER SEVEN: HOW TO BEGIN A GAME

1. The Opening and Its Tasks
2. Control of the Centre Superior Development
3. Examples of Opening Play Opening Mistakes
Entertainment Pages

241
241
242
246
250

PART TWO: THE CHESS GAME (ITS THREE PHASES)

CHAPTER EIGHT: THE ENDGAME
1. Basic Ideas of the Endgame
2. Realizing an Advantage
3. Theoretical Endgames
4. The Endgame in Practical Play

261
261
264
273
303

CHAPTER NINE: THE MIDDLEGAME

319
1. Strategic Ideas of the Middlegame
319
2. Attack and the Methods of Conducting It
320
3. Defence and Counter-Attack
347
4. Equal Positions
359
5. Transition to the Endgame
364

CHAPTER TEN: THE FOUNDATIONS OF OPENING THEORY
369
1. The Modern Opening and how it is Played in Practice
369

APPENDIX: CHESS COMPOSITIONS
377
Chess Problems
378
(A) Two-Movers
378
(B) Three-Movers
381
(C) More-Movers
385
Studies 388
(A) Winning Play
388
(B) Drawing Play
393
Solutions to Problems
396
Solutions to Studies (Winning Play)
398
Solutions to Studies (Drawing Play)
399

Foreword by Mark Dvoretsky

I didnt take up chess until rather late. At the Palace of Young Pioneers I joined the chess section
in the fifth or sixth class. In those days the Soviet grading system included a Fifth and a Fourth
Category. I managed to attain those categories in no time, but afterwards there was a halt in
my progress. It was for that reason that I took the 1960 edition of Maizeliss Chess with me on
summer holiday, intending to study it thoroughly.
It was an interesting and pleasant read. Large format, large diagrams, a wealth of striking
examples. In both content and presentation, this was a very tasty book! I particularly liked
the short section entitled Entertainment Pages with which nearly every chapter concluded. It
contained amusing puzzles with witty, well-written captions. Interpolations like this embellish
a book and make the material easier to absorb. When studying a serious subject it sometimes
helps to divert yourself a little, to read something for pleasure, without at the same time straying
too far from the main topic. After all, these Entertainment Pages consist of chess material with
illuminating ideas, albeit conveyed in a different and lighter form. Many of the examples stuck in
my memory; I even placed them in my card-index for later use.
Having studied the Chess book, I scored 10 out of 10 in my next tournament more than
fulfilling the norm for the Third Category. After that, I made it to the Second with a score of 10
out of 11, then progressed to First Category within a short interval.
Regrettably I was not personally acquainted with Ilya Lvovich Maizelis (1894-1978), but it is
obvious he possessed a high level of culture. Though not exceptionally strong as a practical player,
he was an excellent analyst; he made a study of pawn endgames and the rook versus pawns
ending (about which he wrote a short book). Ilya Lvovich associated with several illustrious
chessplayers, for example with Lasker in the pre-war years when the second World Champion was
resident in Moscow. He even translated Laskers famous Manual of Chess into Russian, as well as
the story How Victor Became a Chess Master. In the pages of Maizeliss book you can find quite a
few traces of the authors association with great players.
Chess is a teaching manual with an excellent selection of material convincingly presented, and
a bright outward design. At the same time it is more than just a textbook. It is a story of chess
as a whole, and thus its title wholly fits its content. Of course, this is not a book for the very
young (writers for them go about it differently), but it will be very interesting and useful for
schoolchildren and adults alike.
Maizelis lived in the Soviet era, and naturally he could not help incorporating certain ideological
clichs into his text. This sprinkling of ideology is none too obtrusive, however, and is not
experienced as an eyesore.

The Soviet Chess Primer

A notable fact is that many of my acquaintances strong adult players have wanted to acquire
Maizeliss Chess. The book is very dear to me too; now and again I open it and read through a
few pages afresh. Incidentally, the copy that I studied as a child was borrowed by someone long
ago, and it wasnt possible to find another one in a shop and buy it. Then, in the seventies, I was
in Sweden with the Burevestnik team, and we visited a chess bookshop there. Some Russian
language publications were in stock, and Maizeliss book was among them. I bought it at once
money was no object! But afterwards the same thing happened to this copy: someone took it to
read and didnt bring it back, so I had to look for it all over again... I now have my third or fourth
copy in my library.
I am glad that Maizeliss remarkable work has finally been re-issued and will be available to many
lovers of chess. It will, I hope, be both useful and pleasurable to acquaint yourselves with it.
Mark Dvoretsky

Chapter 5
Combination
1. COMBINATIVE MOTIFS AND IDEAS
We already know that a combination is the name given to the concerted action of some pieces
which takes the form of a forced variation involving the sacrifice of material as a result of which
a player counts on obtaining benefits of some kind. The purpose of a combination may be to
give mate or to win material, or sometimes it may be to save the player from defeat by bringing
about perpetual check or stalemate. But then again, a combination may also pursue such aims
as breaking up your opponents pawn formation, or seizing some good squares or lines for your
pieces, or exchanging your opponents active pieces off, and so forth. In these latter cases, with
the aid of the combination, you are acquiring what are known as positional assets that is, an
advantage in the placing of your pieces.
The most characteristic things about a combination are the forced nature of the moves that
constitute it and also, in most cases, their unexpectedness (sacrifice!) which strikes us most
forcefully (and also finds its explanation) in the culminating point, the climax which defines the
essence of the combination.
Even though a combination follows logically from the position on the board, the unconventional
nature of some of the moves (material sacrifice) disrupts, so to speak, the normal flow of the
game, and abruptly steers it into a new channel (like a jump or an explosion). The result is a
different correlation of forces on the chessboard and a completely new setting for the struggle.
In the positions given below, try to find the combination for yourself each time, before
reading on.

The Soviet Chess Primer

166

265

266

White to move

Black to move

1.a8
With a dual attack (check and skewer)
against Blacks king and rook.

1...b4!
Black wins the queen for a minor piece,
since capturing the bishop is met by:

1...c8
White now temporarily sacrifices the
exchange:

2.xb4 xc2

2.xc8! xc8 3.e7

A new and this time decisive dual attack.
The rook check was a preparatory move,
the exchange sacrifice was the climax of the
combination; its idea consisted in drawing
the king onto an unpropitious square exposed
to the dual attack from the knight. As the
result of this combination all Blacks pieces are
eliminated, and further resistance on his part
is senseless.

A combination is not possible in every

position. In various examples, the basis of
the combination the motif which suggests
its very possibility is the location of some
enemy pieces in a straight line (a diagonal in
this last example), in other words a motif of a
purely geometric type.
Drawing the hostile pieces onto squares
exposed to a knights fork constitutes the idea
of the following combinations.

Chapter 5 Combination
267

White to move
1.xe5!
With this capture which simultaneously
defends his own knight, White wins a piece.
White will immediately regain his queen with
a check on f7:
1...xe5 2.f7
268

White to move
Here the king is drawn onto the fatal square by
means of a rook sacrifice:

167

1.d8 b7 2.b8! xb8 3.c6

Winning the queen.
The combination in Position 269 is a good
deal more complex. In this case, the device of
drawing the king onto a specific square enables
a decisive dual attack that is performed by a
pawn promotion.
269

White to move
1.c8! xc8 2.a7!! xa7 3.bxc8=!
White wins back the queen and emerges
with an extra piece. This clearly brings out the
meaning of a combination a tactical stroke
that uses time economically and is crushing in
its effect. If White failed to find it, his own
king could easily fall victim to an attack by the
opponents major pieces.
The cramped position of the enemy forces
is another factor that often gives rise to
combinations. All the forms of cramping that
we examined earlier cutting squares off,
obstructing lines of action, proximity to the
edge of the board can serve as the themes of
combinations.

The Soviet Chess Primer

168

270
Sebestyen Fster, Budapest 1950

White mates in 2 moves

The idea of Whites combination is a queen
sacrifice to open up a file against the black
king, whose mobility is extremely restricted:
1.xh7! xh7 2.h5#
271

White mates in 2 moves

White compels Black to place an obstruction
on the a2-square and follows with mate:
1.a2! xa2 2.c2#

272

White mates in 2 moves

White forces the key diagonal open:
1.h6! gxh6 2.f6#
273

White mates in 2 moves

White again forces open the key diagonal, this
time by sacrificing his queen to divert the rook:
1.f8! xf8 2.f7#

Chapter 5 Combination

274

275

White wins

By diverting the black rook in Position 274,

White allows his pawn to be promoted:
1.b6! xb6 2.a8=
Winning.
White ingeniously achieves a draw in Position
275 by sacrificing his bishop:
1.d8 c8 2.xc8 xc8 3.a6!!
It makes no difference whether Black takes
the bishop at once or only after xb7; either
way he is unable to win, as the bishop on c6
cannot control the a1-square (see Diagram 64
on page 43).

169

White draws
Sometimes the cramping of your own kings
mobility can be utilized as the theme of a
combination to save you from loss.
276

White draws
1.c7 xc7 2.d6 xd6
If 2...xd6, then 3.b4.
3.f4! xf4
Stalemate!

52

The Soviet Chess Primer

FIND THE SOLUTION
13
Different means to identical ends

+
+ O
+
lV +
+ Ok

+ B

14

White draws in both 13 and 14

15
Not a four-mover, and not a six-mover either!

How many moves does White need, to give mate from this position?
It looks like four: 1.b2, 2.a3, 3.f8, 4.g7#. Black cant do anything to stop it, can he?
Aha, Black isnt that helpless. On 1.b2, he plays 1...h1! 2.a3 g2, and hes stalemated.
Youre right. To let Black out of the stalemate, White needs another two moves: 3.h2 g1=
4.xg1. So its mate in six moves!
You were being too hasty before, now youre taking too long. Its actually mate in five moves!
Try and find it.

Chapter 2 Aim of the Game

16
An unusual case

White to move
I cant see you saving this game, said the
player with Black. Im a rook up already,
and Im going to get a second queen for good
measure.
Youre celebrating your victory too soon,
came the unexpected retort. Im the one whos
going to save the game, and you definitely
wont manage to.
Indeed White won by spectacular means.
17
Relatively simple

Mate in 2 moves

53

FUN EXERCISES
18
Going up in the lift

Mate in 6 moves
Just switch on the mechanism, and the rest
follows easily.
19
Coming down the escalator

Mate in 5 moves
Although its a moving staircase, you still have
to walk down slowly from step to step, to avoid
a stoppage (stalemate!).