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by Michael McGuerty
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Simple Attacking Plans, by Fred Wilson, Mongoose Press 2012, Figurine
Algebraic Notation, Paperback, 192pp. $14.95 (ChessCafe Price $11.95)
Book
Reviews
Simple Attacking Plans is an ideal book for a beginner or casual player who
wants to become acquainted with some standard attacking motifs. It is a
collection of thirty-seven conversationally annotated miniature games that
reinforce Wilson's four essential concepts for successful attacks:
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In the opening, whenever justified, relentlessly attack the weak squares
f7 or f2.
Most successful kingside attacks are directed against the squares h7 or
h2, and they are often preceded by eliminating or driving off its
defender.
If your opponent's king is trapped in the center, make every reasonable
effort to open and dominate the e-file, and sometimes the d-file also!
If possible, point all your pieces at your opponent's king!
World's Most Instructive
Amateur Game Book
by Dan Heisman
As can be seen from the list of contents, the games are from a mix of amateur,
grandmaster, Internet, scholastic, and unknown players:
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Rating Chart
Awful –
Poor –
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Uneven –
Good –
Great –
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Excellent –
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Introduction
Davisson – Perlowitz, U.S. Amateur East 2008
Whately – another sixth-grader, New York 1999
Parma – Kozomara, Vrnjačka Banja 1962
Browne – Bellón, Las Palmas 1977
Selected Games
Rossolimo – Winser, Hastings 1949-50
Whitehead – Biyiasas, Lone Pine 1977
Gurevich – Karanja, New York 1987
Horowitz – Kibberman, Warsaw Chess Olympiad 1935
Andonov – Watson, St. John 1988
Palau – Te Kolsté, London Chess Olympiad 1927
"Lena" – Tamburro, Internet Chess Club 2009
Greco's Sacrifice, or the Greek Gift
Alberston – amateur, New York (casual game) 1986
Rohde – amateur, New York, Marshall CC 2008
Kuhnrich – Wilson, New York (casual game) 1966
Wilson – Temple, New York (5-minute game) 1996
Attacking a Fianchetto Castled Position
Temple – Andrews, New York 1996
Temple – Peterson, NYC HS Championship 1997
Wilson – Tabakman, New York 1997
Adams – Martin, London 2003
Winik – Joseph, New York 2002
Larsen – Korchnoi, Brussels 1987
More Selected Games
Norman-Hansen – Tartakower, Copenhagen 1923
Bauer – Kaufman, Foxwoods Open 1999
Schrade – Kerr, New York, BAL "A" Division 2001
Taubenhaus – Winawer, Warsaw 1900
Maróczy – Von Bardeleben, Barmen 1905
Wilson – O'Keefe, New York 2001
Wilson – Koppel, New York 1966
Bonin – Privman, New York 2000
Galdunts – Katz, Calvi 2004
Wojo's Weapons 3
by Dean Ippolito
& Jonathan Hilton
Complete Chess Workout 2
by Richard Palliser
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Troff – Naroditsky, St. Louis 2011
Hammer – Carlsen, Halkidiki 2003
Epstein – Mihevc, Elista 1998
Hess – Spoelman, Crete 2004
Deflection, Undermining, or Removing the Guard?
Shipman – Levy, New York City 1965
Kristol – Morozova, USSR 1966
Lolli – Ercole del Rio, Modena 1755
Player Index
Index of Openings
The annotations read as if they are from lessons or lectures given by Wilson,
so Simple Attacking Plans also offers a collection of ready-made lessons to
use for instruction or display on a demonstration board. The book jacket
claims "more experienced competitors will appreciate this book as a games
collection featuring masterpieces of enterprising play – some of them never
before published." Yet experienced players may mistakenly get the
impression that the material is geared somewhat under their level, a belief that
could be reinforced by the publisher's own excerpt.
Let's look at the first game from the introduction, which is also in the
promotional excerpt:
Scotch Game
Richard Davisson – Michael Perlowitz
U.S. Amateur Championship East 2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 f6?
A logical-looking but awful move often made by inexperienced players.
Besides opening the a2-g8 diagonal, which may make it harder for
Black to castle, it also takes away the best square for Black's king
knight. As a general rule of thumb, in all double king pawn (1.e4 e5)
openings, when White plays an early d2-d4 Black should always trade
pawns if White cannot recapture with a pawn.
4.Bc4! Be7??
[FEN "r1bqk1nr/ppppb1pp/2n2p2/4p3/2BPP3/
5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 5"]
Not obviously a blunder, and even a well-intentioned move. I believe
Black was worried about 5.dxe5 fxe5 6.Ng5, which would now lose a
piece. But while 4…d6 was playable, 4…Be7?? is a terrible mistake.
Why?
5.dxe5! fxe5 6.Qd5!
Hitting f7 where it hurts! White, a strong scholastic player, foresaw that
Black now has no acceptable way of defending f7, and expected 6...Nh6
7.Bxh6 Rf8 8.Bxg7 with an easily won position. Instead he was
pleasantly surprised by …
6...d6?? 8.Qf7+ Kd7 9.Be6!#
[FEN "r1bq2nr/pppkbQpp/2npB3/4p3/
4P3/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNB1K2R b KQ - 0 8"]
I have dubbed this game "the eight-move checkmate" and often use it
when teaching. Rarely will you see a more devastating example of a
queen + bishop battery dominating the f7 square in the opening. Still,
Richard did have to know what to look for.
This particularly game is not likely to entice experienced players unless it as a
teaching aid to beginners. However, the majority of the games reach positions
that very well could arise in club and Internet play, including a number of
opening traps that can likely be used again and again. The four basic motifs
will not be new to stronger players, but useful as reinforcement; and once you
play through these games, you will be all the more alert to these themes in
your subsequent play.
Nevertheless, it is the casual player who stands to gain the most from Simple
Attacking Plans. This audience will appreciate the conversational
explanations and the targeted level of instruction. If you know someone who
only plays occasionally or recreationally, give them this book! What is more,
one can read through the book without the use of a board as there are enough
diagrams to do so – perfect for a bus or train commute, or while waiting for an
appointment.
My assessment of this product:
Order Simple Attacking Plans
by Fred Wilson
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available in the ChessCafe.com Archives.
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