James Eade became a US Chess Federation Chess Master in 1981. International organizations awarded him the master title in 1990 (for correspondence) and in 1993 (for regular tournament play). Today, he writes about and teaches chess.

Introduction 1

Part 1: Laying the Groundwork for Champion Chess 5

Chapter 1: Tackling Chess Basics 7

Chapter 2: Getting to Know the Pieces and Their Powers 21

Chapter 3: Exploring the Elements of Chess 39

Chapter 4: Going after the King: Check, Stalemate, and Checkmate 63

Chapter 5: Making a Few Special Moves 79

Chapter 6: Got Notation? Reading and Writing about Chess 85

Part 2: Gaining Chess Know-How 97

Chapter 7: Trying Out Tactics and Combinations in Hand-to-Hand Combat 99

Chapter 8: Sacrifices: Understanding When It's Better to Give than to Receive 125

Chapter 9: Building Pattern Recognition 137

Chapter 10: Recognizing Advanced Pawn Formations 157

Chapter 11: Mastering Mating Patterns 171

Part 3: Game Time: Putting Your Chess Foot Forward 189

Chapter 12: Selecting Your Strategy: The Principles of Play 191

Chapter 13: Coming on Strong in the Opening 209

Chapter 14: Making Headway during the Middlegame 227

Chapter 15: Exiting with Style in the Endgame 239

Part 4: Getting into Advanced Action 263

Chapter 16: Playing in Competition 265

Chapter 17: Hitting the Net with Computer Chess 279

Part 5: The Part of Tens 289

Chapter 18: The Ten Most Famous Chess Games of All Time 291

Chapter 19: The Ten Best Players of All Time (and a Few Others) 321

Chapter 20: Ten (or So) Cool Facts about Kids and Chess 345

Part 6: Appendixes 349

Appendix A: A Glossary of Chess 351

Appendix B: Chess Resources 371

Index 375