Two Books About Chess Improvement "Guide to Good Chess" by
C.J.S. Purdy, 1996 Thinkers' Press, English Algebraic Notation,
Paperback, 143 pp., $16.95

"Chess: Improving and Staying Sharp" by Eric Tangborn, 1996
Chess Digest, English Algebraic Notation, Paperback, 78 pp.,
$14.50

A "Guide to Good Chess", by C.J.S. Purdy, the first World
Correspondence Champion and many time champion of Australia,
is aimed primarily at the beginner- to novice-level player. Given
the quality of instruction offered, it's easy to understand why the
book is now in its eleventh printing. The current version, reprinted
by Chessco of Davenport, Iowa with permission from the author's
spouse eighteen years after his death, is claimed to be essentially a
regurgitation of the previous 1974 edition, converted to algebraic
notation.

Material is segregated into five parts: "First Steps," which covers
the basic rules of the game and movement of the pieces, is meant
for the absolute beginner; "The Opening" provides some
fundamental rules to be followed during the opening phase; "The
Middle-Game" discusses weak pawns, weak squares,
combinational motifs and other themes common to this phase of
the game; basic endgame positions and strategy are the subjects of
"The End-Game;" the last part features an annotated game between
two "ordinary club" players.

According to Purdy, "Position play is concerned with very minute
advantages and has meaning only among players sufficiently
advanced to see and avoid all the little traps" (page 34). As a result,
his instruction centers around the teaching of basic tactics.
Elements such as forks, double attacks and overworked pieces
(called "tied pieces"), which usually receive insufficient coverage
in other beginner's books, figure prominently here. He writes "The
chess principle to be derived from the rule is that you should at all
times be on the alert for a chance to put the enemy under the
necessity of doing two things at once--and you should try to avoid
putting yourself into such a difficult position. This means that the
key to success in chess is A DOUBLE THREAT" (page 26).

About 20 pages are devoted to opening principles. Purdy,
correctly, advocates the view that the student should understand
the opening and not try to memorize specific variations. In addition
to covering the usual principles of development and the importance
of the center, he offers four maxims for proper piece deployment:
"1) The piece can go there in one move. 2) The piece will be
effectively posted there. 3) The piece will not suffer from
exposure. 4) The piece will not unduly obstruct any of its own
forces" (page 50). Of course, without knowledge of opening
theory, it may prove difficult for the student to figure out on his
own what the best square may be for any given piece.

Despite his rather disparaging, earlier comments about positional
play, Purdy's discussion of the middle game focuses on common
positional concepts. He offers a good explanation of weak squares
by discussing the disadvantages of moving each pawn in front of
the castled king. Lists are provided for "Combinational Motifs"
and "Possible Weaknesses" (pp. 76-77) It's hard not to agree with
Purdy's advice to beginning players on formulating a plan:
"Short-term plans pay best. It is even more important to look
around than look ahead" (page 86).

In this writer's opinion, the section on the endgame is the highlight
of the book. Although it may be a bit much for the beginner to
absorb all at once, virtually all of the basic concepts are covered.
For instance, in king and pawn endings, Purdy gives a good
explanation of the "Rule of the Square". In his words, "The King
stops an enemy pawn on its way to queen only if the King is in the
square of the pawn. That square is the square whose DIAGONAL
is the diagonal line leading from the pawn to the queening rank.
(Cheron)" (page 116). Rook mobility at almost any cost is
correctly stressed in rook endings; passed pawns are given their
deserved attention: "That the end-game begins and ends with the
passed pawn cannot be too often reiterated" (page 107). Four basic
rules are offered for bishop- of-opposite-color endings.

Although "Guide to Good Chess" is a superior beginner's book, it
is not without fault. The titles of Parts I and II in the text do not
correspond to the Table of Contents. More annoying is the use of a
term this writer has never seen anywhere else in chess literature:
"biff" or attack (page 51 and elsewhere). Even more curious is that
the term seems to be used exclusively when discussing bishops.
Why confuse a beginner with such a unique word, when the simple
and straight-forward will suffice?

There is also the aforementioned inconsistent treatment regarding
positional play: does he, or does he not, recommend that it be
studied?

Of more concern is Purdy's discussion of the opening. As
previously mentioned, it is certainly true that an understanding of
opening principles is more important than the memorization of
moves. However, the student should still temper his understanding
with a dose of opening theory so that he knows where the pieces
actually belong. Without theoretical knowledge, the beginner is left
with little more than Purdy's four general maxims about effective
piece deployment and his own judgement to make decisions which
he is simply unprepared to make.

Tangborn's brief book, "Chess: Improving and Staying Sharp"
apparently is intended for the more advanced player. It is
segregated into six "lessons" and an epilogue, and includes a total
of seven complete games with annotations, 140 tactical exercises
and some quotations by and about the game's best players.

Included in the seven games are two played by Keres under the
section "Keres on the Art of Attack and Counterattack;" Euwe's
win over Alekhine from the 29th game of their 1937 World
Championship match (won by Alekhine) in a section titled "Euwe
on the Art of Strategy;" and four examples of Akiba Rubinstein's
endgame technique under the heading "Rubinstein on the Art of the
Endgame."

According to Tangborn in the Introduction, the Keres games are
reproduced from the book "Schachmeister denken" edited by Paul
Eggers, while three of the Rubinstein examples can be found in
Donaldson and Minev's "Akiba Rubinstein, Uncrowned King." The
fourth, a loss to Lasker, is reprinted from Fine and Reinfeld's
"Lasker's Greatest Games 1899-1914." This writer can confirm that
notes have been culled verbatim from the Rubinstein book, but
Fine and Reinfeld's annotations have been condensed or, in many
cases, omitted entirely.

 The tactical problems are positions taken from master-level games
to illustrate common themes.

Tangborn states in the Introduction that his book focuses on two
areas "that strong players need to study to stay sharp" - annotated
games and tactics. He claims that the format "is written in the spirit
of Ken Smith's 'Chess Digest Magazine,'" which is no longer
published. What he means by this latter comment is that games
occasionally contain annotations written as though the player was
thinking out loud after he made his move. Unfortunately, this type
of beneficial analysis appears too infrequently in the book. Such is,
perhaps, the least of the its problems, however.

In fact, this book is so fraught with flaws that it's difficult to know
where to begin. Even the Introduction raises eyebrows for its
omissions. Some annotations to the games are in italics, while
some are not. Is Paul Schmidt responsible for all annotations to the
Keres and Euwe games? Certain notes are labeled as "Critic." How
do the "Critic" comments differ from other notes? What, if
anything, did Tangborn contribute? These are all issues that should
have been addressed early on, such as in the Introduction.

Although the notes are adequate for the Keres and Euwe games,
they are less than enlightening for the Rubinstein endgames.
Understanding these complex endings will prove to be a challenge
for even the strong player, given the sparse commentary.

One also can't help but wonder how carefully the proofreader did
his job, since there are a number of misspellings throughout.

In this writer's opinion, there's nothing unique about this work to
make it standout from the crowd of books already on the market
aimed at helping the more experienced player improve. Tangborn
includes only seven games, routinely annotated, none of which are
particularly noteworthy. The tactical exercises are not categorized
in any particular way and appear to have been selected at random.
Given its many drawbacks and lack of original material, there's no
reason for anyone to look twice at this book.

Purdy's "Guide to Good Chess," on the other hand, is an excellent
choice for the beginning player. The author usually gets to the
heart of the matter, stressing basic concepts in an organized format.
This is one of the best beginner's books that this writer has seen.