Wanted: A Good Editor 

Your Chess Questions Answered by Susan Lalic, 1999 Batsford,
Figurine Algebraic Notation, Paperback, 126pp., $12.95

A recent selection in the category of introductory books is Susan
Lalic's Your Chess Questions Answered, published by Batsford
in 1999. According to the book's back cover, "Grandmaster Susan
Lalic has been Britain's leading woman player for the last 10 years
and has played on board one for England in the Chess Olympiads.
Her experience as a chess teacher has given her a unique insight
into the thinking of average players." In addition, Women's
Grandmaster Lalic (her correct title as referenced on the book's
first page), was also a former Chess Cafe columnist.
 This work can be perhaps best described as a series of questions
and answers aimed at players learning chess for the first time.
Material is segregated into thirteen chapters: "Getting Started"
offers brief narratives on the movement of the pieces and a few
basic rules of the game; "Advanced Rules" discusses castling,
notation and the concept of the draw; "Mating" provides some
information about elementary checkmates; "Jargon" defines
peculiar chess terms such as "j'adoube"; the chapters entitled
"Children", "Tournaments and matches" and "Chess Clock"
discuss certain concepts pertaining to each of those respective
areas; Lalic offers ideas of how to improve one's game in the
chapter "Improvement"; "Grading" provides an explanation of the
British Chess Federation rating system; Openings such as the
London and Colle Systems are introduced in the "Openings"
chapter; "Computers" and "Puzzles" are given brief treatment in
each of the respective chapters; and the last chapter, "General
Information" provides discussion about other areas of potential
interest to the beginning player exposed to chess for the first time,
such as internet chess, postal play and the names of some of the
current top players in the world. 

The book may be at its best in Chapter 8, "Improvement". It is here
that Lalic identifies a few basic principles concerning the opening,
middlegame and ending phases. Her concepts coincide with those
presented by other writers. For instance, in the opening, she
stresses piece development, control of the center and the need for
castling. In the middlegame, her suggestion that the "most
important factor by far is to avoid losing material as the game can
be immediately over if your queen falls by the wayside" often
receives far too little emphasis in introductory books.
Remembering the rules about knight outposts, bad bishops and
weak squares probably won't do much to alter the outcome of the
game if you're a piece down. 

I also like her description of how to formulate a plan. On page 70
she writes, "The first words of advice that helped enormously was
to consider what I would play if I had several moves in a row. For
example, is there a way to round up a pawn or is there a checkmate
to set up? Okay, I am not allowed to have these moves
consecutively but I have formed a plan and can strive to carry it
out."

It should be noted that this book is primarily intended for a British
audience. There are numerous references throughout to the British
Chess Federation and its rating or "grading" system, as well as
discussions of other aspects of chess peculiar to Great Britain. For
instance, in the "Children" chapter, in response to the question
"How do I find out where my local club is situated?" she provides
the address of the British Chess Federation; in discussing
opportunities for talented youngsters, the reader is again referred to
the British Chess Federation; in answering the question, "How do I
know if my child is exceptionally talented?" the British Chess
Federation rating system is briefly explained; and in the
"Computers" chapter, a British company is listed as the only
source for purchasing a chess computer, etc. Although many of the
book's references may have little meaning to a non-British
audience, on the other hand, the same sources may prove to be
nothing short of a boon to British readers. 

Unfortunately, the remaining news about Your Chess Questions
Answered is, well, questionable. Let's start at the beginning, with
the "Getting Started" chapter. In response to "Why play chess?"
Lalic offers "all sorts of social occasions when it is useful to be
able to play. For example visiting in hospital, playing in a chess
team at work or school and teaching your children if they ask!"
This would have been a timely opportunity to discuss the
correlation between learning the game and improvement in
scholastic subjects, addressed by various writers, including British
GM David Norwood in his excellent publication "Chess and
Education". 

Although diagrams are provided depicting the movement of each
piece, the accompanying narrative seems inadequate, in certain
instances. For example, describing the movement of the queen,
Lalic states that it "can move in a straight line or diagonal line in
any direction shown." Bearing in mind the book's intended
audience of beginners, a little more detail, such as insertion of the
words "any number of clear squares" might help. Similarly, one
wonders if, even with the aid of a diagram, whether someone new
to the game can learn how a knight moves from the definition that
it is "the only piece that is able to jump over other pieces. It moves
in the shape of a capital 'L' and you can expect the general public
to call this piece a 'horse' ".

There is also the question of appropriateness of inclusion of certain
material. For example, in the "Jargon" chapter, there is nearly a
one-half page discussion of the "theoretical novelty" acronym
"TN" found in many publications for advanced players. Given the
book's audience, the mere mention of the term with a one-line
definition would have sufficed. The "Tournaments and matches"
chapter contains about one full page devoted to a detailed
explanation of systems used to break ties among players who
finish with the same scores in tournaments, and another one-half
page discussing "What if I think that the arbiters have done the
pairings incorrectly?" While both questions may be pertinent to
players at later stages of their chess development, it is unclear why
these issues are considered important enough to merit such space
in a book that discusses the reasons for playing chess and how to
move the pieces. 

In the "Openings" chapter, Lalic recommends that the famous
"Fried Liver Attack" be added to one's opening repertoire. After
the moves 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 Ng5 d5 5 exd5 Nxd5 6
Nxf7 Kxf7 7 Qf3+ Ke6 8 Nc3 Nb4 9 Qe4 c6 10 a3 Na6 11 d4 Qd6
12 Bf4, Lalic comments "I think it is White having all the fun here
and you should learn and understand this sequence of moves and
practice finishing Black off while testing out earlier deviations to
make sure it suits your style." While Lalic is certainly entitled to
express her opinion, the reader should understand
that this may not necessarily coincide with the objective reality of
the position. Established opening reference books such as
Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (3rd edition, C57) and
Beliavsky and Mikhalchishin in their recent The Two Knights
Defence consider Black's best move to be 11 Nc7 and after 12
Bf4 and now 12 Kf7, assess the position as unclear (not
favorable to either side). Although Lalic may be "having all the
fun here", the rest of us are not similarly strong master players. A
beginner attempting to learn this particular variation should be
reminded that he's investing a piece to achieve the position
recommended by Lalic (which may not represent best play by
Black, as noted above) and unless he is able to obtain sufficient
play, he stands a reasonable chance of losing the game because of
this decision. 

The focus of the "Computers" chapter is primarily on dedicated
computers, rather than PC software. For example, several pages
are devoted to mini-reviews of numerous chess playing computers,
but software is allotted only two paragraphs, or slightly more than
one-quarter of a page. This apparent bias against chess software
(or is it a lack of appreciation?) is accentuated by the inclusion of
game scores of a series of victories by master Paul Lamford over
Fritz software. The perception presented by this chapter is that
dedicated chess computers are more popular and may be, in certain
ways, preferable to software. However, given the popularity of the
PC and internet play, as well as an emphasis on teaching chess in
schools, it would not at all be surprising to learn that PC software
has supplanted dedicated machines as the chess computer system
of choice. 

Lalic's opinion about the gender differences and
chess participation, as given in the "Tournament and matches"
chapter, is somewhat unsettling. She writes "It is 
interesting that girls and boys are quite
equally matched in junior schools, but as the hormones start to
shape us in our teens, there is a remarkable drop out rate amongst
girls. I am convinced that men are more likely to become dedicated
or even obsessed with a project, while women are generally more
involved with several interests and tend not to specialize as much.
Perhaps women are not so competitive and do not wish to waste
their life on a board game, but I think few would doubt that the
difference between the sexes is a real thing that is mental as well
as physical." Are these words of encouragement for women who
are new to chess and are they expected to emanate from a
respected woman player and teacher? Although I would hardly
consider myself to be an expert on womens' issues, isn't the lack of
successful chess role models an equally plausible explanation for
the drop out rate among teenage women? In the wake of the
success of the Polgars, have any studies been conducted to
discover if the situation has changed? Given Lalic's view, how
does one explain the popularity of women's tennis or junior
women's soccer (the latter is especially popular in the U.S.)?

Finally, there is the issue of grammar and writing style. Accuracy
of content is my primary concern in reviewing a book. Towards
that end, I have no problem accepting apparent colloquialisms such
as Lalic's "off putting", or even the infrequent misspellings or
mixed tenses. But, while I don't expect to see the prose of
Shakespeare or Steinbeck from an author, is it necessary to be
subjected to that of Eric Schiller? Is it too much to ask to have
agreement among singular and plural pronouns in the same
sentence?

Being a reviewer means bearing the burden of one's own words, no
matter how personally distasteful those words may be. I very much
enjoyed Susan Lalic's regular column that appeared monthly at
The Chess Cafe. It was usually well-written and offered a different
but interesting perspective, seldom found elsewhere. It is indeed
unfortunate that Your Chess Questions Answered is not up to the
same standards.