Begin Chess

Begin Chess by D.B. Prichard

I don’t know if I’ll ever be really good at chess, having picked up so late in life, and being more attracted to the idea of chess than to the game itself. But reading this book reminded me of the difference that the right approach to teaching a subject can make. Until now, my most “formal” introduction to the game was from another book which, like Prichard’s Begin Chess, was targeted toward children: Let’s Play Chess, a hardcover book filled with lavish illustrations in which the chess pieces are depicted as warriors from a fantasy world, the rooks as riders atop wooly mammoths, the queens as beautiful women in translucent shifts who are capable of firing energy beams from their fingertips. Great food for the imagination, but the text focused jumped quickly from explaining the moves of individual pieces to recounting whole endgames and then entire matches transcribed from the great games of such folks as Bobby Fischer and Gary Kasparov. While it certainly got me interested, it also frustrated me because I felt steps were being skipped.
What I like about Prichard is that for most of the book he forsakes the full chessboard and focuses on fields of sixteen or twenty squares and the conflicts that arise from just a few pieces. He keeps stressing that, while it’s tempting to memorize important scenarios, openings, and even entire games, it’s much more effective to learn a few principles that you’ll then be able to hold onto in a variety of situations. Prichard, I think, gives a little more credit to his audience, trusting that someone who has the time to devote to his tiny illustrations of chess tactics and strategy will then be able to translate them into the more chaotic world of real play.
I especially like that I came away from this book understanding that the chessboard, for all its apparent uniformity, actually has its own geography. Certain squares have their own importance, and this importance changes as the terrain itself is set up by the positioning of the pieces, particularly the pawns. This book has taught me why it might be interesting not just to play chess, but to undertake the thought processes involved in the game.