Bøger af Alex Cherniack

Axel has spent all his adult life angry, and most of it drunk. If he cannot find a way without alcohol to defuse the rage, it will overwhelm and drown him.On a whim after momentarily getting sober, Axel joins a boxing gym. There he finds release, a welcoming family, and a sense of purpose that he has not felt in a very long time. Returning to his first love, chess, he decides to bring these two pursuits together into the crazy world of chess boxing, a biathlon of alternating rounds of boxing and speed chess.The chess boxing bouts strain Axel to his physical and mental limits. Will he find peace battling the added adversity? And can he begin a new, hopeful life?

This chess book is for adult chessplayers who still get really annoyed when they lose. Chess for Adult Beginners was about what you needed to know; Book II for Advanced Adult Beginners is about the how. Below are what I believe are the hows to become a better chessplayer: HOW TO EVALUATE POSITIONSKnowing where you stand in a position (better, worse, equal) during a game is essential for competitive chess. It determines whether you should be playing for a win, for a draw, or just actively waiting for an opportunity to arise in an equal game. Evaluation includes examining the concrete specifics of a position, strategy and tactics, the strengths and weaknesses of your opponent, and your general mood, as well as objective analysis. Way too much of this necessary skill in recent years has been outsourced to computers.HOW TO WIN BETTER POSITIONSWinning when you have the advantage is one of the hardest tasks in all of chess. It requires extra attention to detail, snuffing out potentially distracting complications, and a killer instinct.HOW TO SAVE WORSE POSITIONSIf the shoe is on the other foot, and you have a losing position, knowing how to make a clear advantage into an unclear mess, and making it as hard as possible for your opponent to put the game away, will save you many points. A heightened alertness to tactics and a willingness to be a firestarter will only help you, at the expense of your adversary. HOW TO PLAY EQUAL POSITIONSLike evaluation, running in place while looking for a shot that will tilt the game in your favor is a skill you develop with evaluation and tactical vigilance. Even on their best days, world class chessplayers never play flawless chess, and equal positions can become better (or worse) positions with a single move.HOW TO CONNECT YOUR PIECESOne piece almost never wins a game for you singlehandedly. You have to think of pieces as schematic units that can work together in the position, just waiting for an excuse to cooperate.HOW TO EXCHANGE THE RIGHT PIECESJudicious exchanges is another skill that is closely tied to evaluation. It is also tied to psychology in the openings, converting the values of squares that pieces control from the actual static value of pieces, and endgame knowledge. HOW TO USE THE WHITE AND BLACK SPACEUnoccupied squares are not the same as undefended squares. Every position has holes for both White and Black, and knowing the difference between a mere foothold and a potential anchor for making more holes, is an important factor in evaluating a position properly. HOW TO STUDY OPENINGSOpening study is a time consuming pain in the neck, but vital for successfully reaching the middlegame, where a chess game is truly won or lost. Of the many ways to study openings, I present mine, which involve preparing popular well tested lines, memorizing flash cards, and being wary of transpositions. HOW TO LEARN FROM YOURSELFYou learn from yourself when you can put words to your thoughts during a game, and determining afterwards how you could have played better. A proven way to do this is to annotate your game scores.HOW TO CONTINUE ENJOYING CHESSVery few of us will ever become World Champion, much less be good enough at chess to play professionally. Chess can still be a magical game when you realize it is not a gateway to absolute truth, but a means to meeting a lot of neat people.100 exercises are included, with answers in the back (more are available from the accompanying Chess Workbook for Advanced Adult Beginners).

This workbook has 640 chess problems to solve, with the answers in the back, for adult chessplayers who still get really annoyed when they lose. The problems are based on themes from the book Chess for Advanced Adult Beginners, which are: HOW TO EVALUATE POSITIONSKnowing where you stand in a position (better, worse, equal) during a game is essential for competitive chess. It determines whether you should be playing for a win, for a draw, or just actively waiting for an opportunity to arise in an equal game. Evaluation includes examining the concrete specifics of a position, strategy and tactics, the strengths and weaknessnes of your opponent, and your general mood, as well as objective analysis. Way too much of this necessary skill in recent years has been outsourced to computers.HOW TO WIN BETTER POSITIONSWinning when you have the advantage is one of the hardest tasks in all of chess. It requires extra attention to detail, snuffing out potentially distracting complications, and a killer instinct.HOW TO SAVE WORSE POSITIONSIf the shoe is on the other foot, and you have a losing position, knowing how to make a clear advantage into an unclear mess, and making it as hard as possible for your opponent to put the game away, will save you many points. A heightened alertness to tactics and a willingness to be a firestarter will only help you, at the expense of your adversary. HOW TO PLAY EQUAL POSITIONSLike evaluation, running in place while looking for a shot that will tilt the game in your favor is a skill you develop with evaluation and tactical vigilance. Even on their best days, world class chessplayers never play flawless chess, and equal positions can become better (or worse) positions with a single move.HOW TO CONNECT YOUR PIECESOne piece almost never wins a game for you singlehandedly. You have to think of pieces as schematic units that can work together in the position, just waiting for an excuse to cooperate.HOW TO EXCHANGE THE RIGHT PIECESJudicious exchanges is another skill that is closely tied to evaluation. It is also tied to psychology in the openings, converting the values of squares that pieces control from the actual static value of pieces, and endgame knowledge. HOW TO USE THE WHITE AND BLACK SPACEUnoccupied squares are not the same as undefended squares. Every position has holes for both White and Black, and knowing the difference between a mere foothold and a potential anchor for making more holes, is an important factor in evaluating a position properly. HOW TO STUDY OPENINGSOpening study is a time consuming pain in the neck, but vital for successfully reaching the middlegame, where a chess game is truly won or lost. Of the many ways to study openings, I present mine, which involve preparing popular well tested lines, memorizing flash cards, and being wary of transpositions. HOW TO LEARN FROM YOURSELFYou learn from yourself when you can put words to your thoughts during a game, and determining afterwards how you could have played better. A proven way to do this is to annotate your game scores.HOW TO CONTINUE ENJOYING CHESSVery few of us will ever become World Champion, much less be good enough at chess to play professionally. Chess can still be a magical game when you realize it is not a gateway to absolute truth, but a means to meeting a lot of neat people.The workbook can be read as a standalone book, although it emphasizes problems to solve over prose.

This workbook has 640 chess problems to solve, with the answers in the back, based on themes from the book Chess for Adult Beginners. Specifically, every improving chessplayer should know the following: The most important skill a chessplayer has is to see chess pieces move around the board from a position, thereby creating more positions, without touching a single piece (SEE IT IN YOUR HEAD). Without this basic ability, you are flying blind during a game.At the chessboard, good chessplayers have developed and honed four highly refined filters that block out the nonsense moves that waste time, and allow them to concentrate on the promising moves that lead to the best move possible. The first filter is to determine if your opponent is aiming any threats your way (SEE THROUGH YOUR OPPONENT'S EYES), as chess is no fun if all you are doing is walking into your opponent's punches.Once you have determined that there are no incoming missiles into your position, the second filter to apply is to visualize your own missiles (CREATE THREATS) that you can lob in the opposite direction towards your opponent. Chess begins to become a little fun when you can see how you can make your opponent suffer.The third filter to apply deals with the pesky neighbors that throw a wet blanket over many, if not most, threats: the pawns. You have eight pawns, and your opponent has eight pawns, for a total of sixteen, which occupy 25% of the board (CREATE THREATS, BUT BE AWARE OF PAWNS). Pawns put special local rules on threats, depending on how they are placed.The fourth and final filter is heuristics. Once you have determined that your opponent is not threatening anything, that you can create threats, and that you can create threats around or through the pawns, you have to choose the best move (IF YOU SEE A GOOD MOVE, SIT ON YOUR HANDS AND LOOK FOR A BETTER ONE). First you choose an initial list of candidate moves, and then choose among your choices.If there are threats to be found, you must develop your tactical ability (COUNT WHERE IT COUNTS) to make them count. Tactics are everywhere, even in the simplest positions, and make the chess world go around.If no threats in a position can be readily found, you must develop your strategical ability (PUT YOUR PIECES ON HIGHER GROUND), which is basically improving the integrity of your position at the expense of your opponent's. In chess, the more your pieces control the center, the better.If you have played well, you often reach the end of a game with a few pieces left on the board, and your opponent has none. Checkmate is what chess is all about (DON'T FLY A PLANE, LAND ONE), and you must know how to finish off your opponent with limited material, and know it cold.If you play long enough, you will discover what kinds of positions you like playing at the chessboard, and what kinds you don't (FIND AND REFINE YOUR STYLE). Seeing the best move is essential for playing good chess, but knowing thyself against an opponent is a must for becoming a better player.It's not enough to see a chess piece move from one square to another. The rub in seeing all these hypothetical virtual moves is that each and every single one of them must be evaluated in how they affect the current position. Aside from playing, the best way to learn how to evaluate is to read (BE LITERATE) from experts who have been publishing books for over 500 years.The workbook can be read as a standalone book, although it emphasizes problems to solve over prose.

This book describes how to improve at chess after learning the rules. Specifically, every improving chessplayer should know the following: The most important skill a chessplayer has is to see chess pieces move around the board from a position, thereby creating more positions, without touching a single piece (SEE IT IN YOUR HEAD). Without this basic ability, you are flying blind during a game.It's not enough to see a chess piece move from one square to another. The rub in seeing all these hypothetical virtual moves is that each and every single one of them must be evaluated in how they affect the current position. Aside from playing, the best way to learn how to evaluate is to read (BE LITERATE) from experts who have been publishing books for over 500 years.At the chessboard, good chessplayers have developed and honed four highly refined filters that block out the nonsense moves that waste time, and allow them to concentrate on the promising moves that lead to the best move possible. The first filter is to determine if your opponent is aiming any threats your way (SEE THROUGH YOUR OPPONENT'S EYES), as chess is no fun if all you are doing is walking into your opponent's punches.Once you have determined that there are no incoming missiles into your position, the second filter to apply is to visualize your own missiles (CREATE THREATS) that you can lob in the opposite direction towards your opponent. Chess begins to become a little fun when you can see how you can make your opponent suffer.The third filter to apply deals with the pesky neighbors that throw a wet blanket over many, if not most, threats: the pawns. You have eight pawns, and your opponent has eight pawns, for a total of sixteen, which occupy 25% of the board (CREATE THREATS, BUT BE AWARE OF PAWNS). Pawns put special local rules on threats, depending on how they are placed.The fourth and final filter is heuristics. Once you have determined that your opponent is not threatening anything, that you can create threats, and that you can create threats around or through the pawns, you have to choose the best move (IF YOU SEE A GOOD MOVE, SIT ON YOUR HANDS AND LOOK FOR A BETTER ONE). First you choose an initial list of candidate moves, and then choose among your choices.If there are threats to be found, you must develop your tactical ability (COUNT WHERE IT COUNTS) to make them count. Tactics are everywhere, even in the simplest positions, and make the chess world go around.If no threats in a position can be readily found, you must develop your strategical ability (PUT YOUR PIECES ON HIGHER GROUND), which is basically improving the integrity of your position at the expense of your opponent's. In chess, the more your pieces control the center, the better.If you have played well, you often reach the end of a game with a few pieces left on the board, and your opponent has none. Checkmate is what chess is all about (DON'T FLY A PLANE, LAND ONE), and you must know how to finish off your opponent with limited material, and know it cold.If you play long enough, you will discover what kinds of positions you like playing at the chessboard, and what kinds you don't (FIND AND REFINE YOUR STYLE). Seeing the best move is essential for playing good chess, but knowing thyself against an opponent is a must for becoming a better player.Exercises are included, with answers in the back (more are available from the accompanying Chess Workbook for Adult Beginners).