A Guide for Young Players Entering the World of Competitive Chess by Jonathan Winer Opening Moves: Michael Thaler, The Making of a Chess Champion, by Barry Berg, 2000 Little, Brown and Company, Algebraic Notation, Hardcover, 44 pp., $15.95. Many of us got started as competitive chess players when we received a chess set as a present for one of our early birthdays. We learned how to move the pieces, how to check and, in due course, how to checkmate. We quickly demonstrated some ability to grasp the game, probably beating our friends and family regularly, and were then introduced to some form of scholastic chess tourney where we also achieved success. Opening Moves provides a brief and effective view of this process, focusing on the last step. Michael Thaler is a very promising eight-year- old from New York who starts demonstrating his chess talent at the ripe age of four. He immediately shows patience, chess intuition and the ability to concentrate for long periods of time well beyond what would reasonably be expected for almost any child. (This reviewer can personally confirm that Michael has these skills. When he and I played at a recent open tournament, Michael used almost his two full hours for 40 moves and found a way to draw a game he was losing. I have been active in scholastic chess for ten years and have observed hundreds of young players, but rarely have I seen one so patient and mature.) Michael has many other interests, including music and baseball, and the good fortune to have parents who find him a coach and a chess club at his school. After "trying out " the club, which is intended for older kids, and soundly beating an older, experienced player on his first try, the coach first allows Michael to join the club and shortly thereafter embraces his burgeoning talent. Almost immediately, Michael wins the kindergarten national scholastic championship, and now at the age of eight he sports a rating of 1558! The championship game is presented to the point of clear victory by Michael, and it shows his emerging skill. Michael was Black and achieved this position after 35 moves (See Diagram). After 36 Kf1, Michael resists a more typical beginner-style knight move, instead finding the only move that retains winning chances: 36...c3! 37 Kxe2 If 37 Nd6 c2 38 Bd2 Nd4! 39 Nxc8 Bc4+ etc. 37...c2 38 Bd2 Bc4+ 39 Ke1 Bxa6 40 Nd6 c1=Q+ 41 Bxc1 Rxc1+. Rather well played, especially by a six-year-old! (Michael checkmated his opponent on move 64.) Opening Moves is primarily the story of Michael's start in chess, but it also provides three other games he played, complete with the less sophisticated beginner-type mistakes that one would expect to see from such young players. Unlike the typical chess analysis, the book allows the reader to see the games through the eyes of a young, talented player. There is a little analysis and more qualitative assessment from Michael. Beginning competitive players and their coaches will find the games useful, for they provide good ideas and lots of opportunities for improvement. There are many photographs to keep the book more interesting for younger readers. Even more useful is the well-conceived chapter entitled "Lessons I Have Learned." Seven principles are described in a manner calculated to appeal to youngsters and their parents. Follow them and you are bound to improve your game, your enjoyment of the game and your perspective on chess in your life. And, as the author points out, these principles are valuable in life in general. For example, from Lesson # 2: Respect Your Opponent, comes the following: "Michael knows better than most other players that it is a mistake to underestimate your opponent. He knows this because when he first started playing, he wasn't even in kindergarten, and he was playing boys and girls in third and fourth grade. Some of those kids thought that a five-year-old wouldn't even know all the moves of chess, much less play a strong game. They were very much mistaken ...". The four-page "Afterword" by Michael's father Fred is a concise set of observations for chess parents. Fred describes the "chaos" and "anxiety" that permeate scholastic chess. He distinguishes "trainee/parents" responsible for food, sleep schedules and showing up on time from "coach/parents" who also have some responsibility for the chess preparation itself. After every tournament, Fred returns "thoroughly exhausted," but without any hesitation about continuing as long as it is fun for Michael. Fred recognizes the bonding that results from such intense, jointly experienced events. Opening Moves does contain two minor but notable technical errors. First, it describes a national scholastic tournament as an elimination event. This is one of the most frequently asked questions from parents who are new to chess competitions. Of course, scholastic nationals are run as Swiss system events without elimination. So no, you won't travel all the way to Peoria for just one game! Second, the book inaccurately implies (p.18) that you can change a move as long as you have not punched your clock. Again, we know that the rules restrict such a change when the piece is released on a new square. This is a minor point for sure, but one which has caused its share of arguments and should have been described accurately in such a short work. On a more philosophical level, Opening Moves invites discussion about issues faced by very young players in highly competitive situations. The book gives a sense to new participants of what chess competition is like and shows that others have been through what they are experiencing. It also sets out expectations that Michael will become a master at an early age and, despite clearly identifying the learning that follows losses, conveys the pressure on Michael to win. Is this too much for such a young player? It is not for us to legislate, but it is interesting to contemplate how our young players develop. A look at the top age-eight-and-under players listed for the United States in 1995 revealed that only a handful were on the "Top 50" lists five years later. Perhaps this is significant and we should consider how to nurture this talent. Certainly, we will be following the development of Michael Thaler as a chess player, musician and, most importantly, as a very nice boy. Opening Moves is a good introduction for young players and their parents starting down these paths.