Reaching the Top?!
A Practical Guide to Playing Master-Level Chess
2015
Russell Enterprises, Inc.
Milford, CT USA
Reaching the Top?!
A Practical Guide to Playing Master-Level Chess
by Peter Kurzdorfer
ISBN: 978-1-941270-17-2 (print)
ISBN: 978-1-941270-18-9 (eBook)
© Copyright 2015
Peter Kurzdorfer
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be used, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any manner or form whatsoever or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Published by:
Russell Enterprises, Inc.
P.O. Box 3131
Milford, CT 06460 USA
http://www.russell-enterprises.com
info@russell-enterprises.com
Cover design by Janel Norris
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
Foreword by Cyrus Lakdawala
Introduction
Chapter 1
Learning From Past Mistakes
Chapter 2
Choose Openings to Suit Your Style
Chapter 3
Handling Material Inequality
Chapter 4
Practical Endgames
Chapter 5
How Sound Do Your Openings Need to Be?
Chapter 6
When Things Go Terribly Wrong
Chapter 7
Overcoming Difficulties
Chapter 8
How to Win
Bibliography
Index of Openings
Index of Players
Foreword
I don’t actually remember meeting my old friend Peter Kurzdorfer for the first time. I just remember that he was always there as a sparring partner and Denny’s grand slam breakfast go-guy, when we got tired of our blitz sessions. We were both young, thin and handsome back then in 1981, and we were both chess bums (well, okay, Peter had a real job and I was the chess bum) who hung around the Balboa Chess Club, which is the site today of the San Diego Chess Club. Peter, now an experienced editor and author, asked me to write the foreword to his new book, which is about how to become a chess master. Now you may ask: why would one want to buy a book written by a National Master, when we can buy books written by titled players. The reason is simple: A master understands the great trials one must endure to reach the goal much better than an international master or a grandmaster, whose unnaturally high innate ability tends to allow them to zoom past, attaining the master class and beyond with ease. For the rest of us, we need this book.
Night and day are interconnected, yet perpetually elude one another. We all understand there is a great chasm between what one needs to know and what one needs to do to attain that knowledge. In this book, Peter systematically links together the required steps necessary to reach your goal, including key components like:
(1) The strategies required in playing the same opponent many times. If our enemy knows we love something or someone, then by harming the object of our love, he has power over us. We must understand just what kind of positions our opponents love – and then promptly deny them their wishes.
(2) Understanding classic positions. Most players below the master level play with the following philosophy: “If I don’t understand the exact sequence of my plan, then the next best thing is to travel in the direction of probability.” Unfortunately, this wing-it attitude is not going to be enough. We must deeply understand our positions from a structural level.
(3) Learning from past mistakes. When we lose the same way, over and over again, we all resemble Pharaoh, immediately after God visited plague after plague upon his head, after the unfortunate misunderstanding about the status of Moses and the children of Israel. Most of us are guided by our introspection, in that we tend to do the exact opposite of what we need! In this book, Peter shows us how to lay our weaknesses bare before our eyes, which is the first step in healing them.
(4) Choosing openings which suit your style. I’m currently working on a complete White/Black repertoire book with Professor Joel Sneed of Columbia University. In it we advocate London System as White, against everything, and Caro-Kann and Slav as Black. In this way we always reach the same structure, with black or white pieces. As our experience grows, so does our understanding – and our rating. The key is familiarity, mixed with an opening system in harmony with our inner nature.
The key to masterhood is repetitive hard work, mingled with self-knowledge. In this book Peter teaches us how to get from here to there. Good luck in your quest.
Cyrus Lakdawala
San Diego
July 2015