NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/rec/games/chess/12065

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-28 | 1.9 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!gatech!destroyer!caen!nic.umass.edu!m2c!crackers!jjmhome!smds!rh
From: [e-mail] (Richard Harter)
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
Subject: Re: Gardner's Lecture Notes
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 28 Dec 92 06:39:15 GMT
References: <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Richard Harter)
Organization: Software Maintenance & Development Systems, Inc.
Lines: 33

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Wayne Mendryk) writes:
>Here are the key points which Rob Gardner (CFC rating 2238) gave at a
>chess lecture in Edmonton recently.

...

The points are generally sound, although it is (inevitably) heavily
qualified.  However the advice is sort of pre-Steinitzian, i.e. there
is almost nothing in it about the elements of positional play.  This
is not a bad thing -- one needs to learn the play the pieces before one
learns to play the pawns.

For serious chess, however, you need to understand things like weak squares
and strong squares, the difference between a cramped but dynamic position
and a cramped position without prospects.  You need to understand when
and how an apparently weak square can be unexploitable or even a source
of strength.  You need to understand the difference between a prophylactic
move and a weakening defensive move.  And so on.

More than that, you need to be able to assess a position in terms of
appropriate long range plans, to see what intermediate goals support
those plans and the opportunities for countervailing action to the other
players objectives.  And so on and so forth...

This is all old hat, of course, but the point is that there was nothing
of this in the posted points.


--
Richard Harter: SMDS Inc.  Net address: [e-mail] Phone: [phone]
US Mail: SMDS Inc., PO Box 555, Concord MA 01742.    Fax: [phone]
In the fields of Hell where the grass grows high
Are the graves of dreams allowed to die.