My Reference and Study Notes for: Fred Reinfeld: First Book of Chess; book contains 126 Pages with 314 Step-by-Step Diagrams.
IMPORTANT NOTE: From 1952 - 1959 when Sterling Publishing originally printed Reinfeld's 'The Books of Chess' as a series of 8 individual books, which totaled 818 printed pages at the 5.25" x 7.75" page size; however, when Double Day later created and published the all-in-one abridged omnibus edition, also in the 5.25" x 7.75" page size - now entitled as: The Complete Chess Course - they did so with a reduced page count, now only totaling 685 printed pages - or a difference of 133 printed pages of Reinfeld's writing left out of the all-in-one omnibus edition. I can tell you that the major victim of editing was specifically from The First Book of Chess which as an individual book, properly ran 126 printed pages; and yet, the editors at Double Day only republished 33 printed pages, appearing as the first chapter, entitled: Book One, within The Complete Chess Course - being a loss of 93 printed pages of original Reinfeld (and I.A Horowitz) material.
Here then is what The First Book of Chess contained:
The Elements:
COVERS: The Chessboard, The Pieces, Set-Up & Opening Position, How to Name the Pieces, and basic facts; such as: White moves first, White always on bottom with Black always on top, Explanation and Naming of Ranks, Files, and Diagonals. p3 - 6.
Key Tip: “White (lowest corner square) on Right, Queen on Color”.
Moves Of The Pieces:
COVERS: How all the Pieces Move and Capture. p7-29.
Key Tip: “Pieces are captured by Displacement.” - I like that term.
How To Win:
COVERS: Introduction to Checkmate. p30-34.
Key Tip: “The King is never captured.” - I like this concept too; being, all other pieces are captured; and yet, at best, the enemy King gets defeated when trapped with no legal move while under direct attack; but, is never considered to be truly captured. I suppose in some whimsical way I like this concept, as I can imagine the defeated enemy King returning at some later date to fight again - once having re-raised replacement battle forces - having never been truly captured; therefore, the battles between the White King and the Black King can go on and on in perpetuity.
Values Of Chessmen:
COVERS: Q = 9, R = 5, B = 3, N = 3, P = 1. p35-36.
Key Tip: “The King’s value is infinite.” - As with the concept above, I like the subtlety of this thinking too. When I was first taught the relative values of the Chessmen, I was taught: “The King has no value, because if he is lost at any time, so is the game.” - Again, I much prefer Reinfeld’s thinking of an infinite King who is never truly captured, who even when defeated in a battle, always comes back to fight again. To me, that’s so much more fitting in my imagination, than a King with zero power and who dies on the battlefield.
Chess Notation:
COVERS: The older-style Notation recording method, using terms for squares, such as: QR1 for White and QR8 for Black, for what we simply call today the “a1 square” in the modern algebraic notation style. Also, presents 2 Games notated with diagrams: Bishop’s Opening, and, Petroff Defense. p37-44.
Key Tip: Fun to read and understand; but, only truly useful in being able to follow the transcriptions of moves presented throughout the book. For someone who was raised purely on algebraic notation, moves notated as: : “N-KB3”, might take a bit of time to get used to.
More About The King
COVERS: Discovered Check, Double Check, Forking Checks, Castling (King-side, Queen-side). p45-58.
Key Tip: “en prise”; is when a piece is under attack it is said to be en prise (on preez).
The Value Of Castling
COVERS: 12 moves with 12 diagrams featuring The Ruy Lopez as the opening employed by White, and castling early with hopes that his King Rook will see early and useful action. p58-60.
Key Tip: “7 NxP! NxN (B6) Black is two pieces ahead; but, his joy is short-lived: the following Discovered Check is crushing, as both Black’s King and Queen are menaced!” - I just love how Reinfeld gets so excited writing about Chess.
Drawn Games
COVERS: Conditions which constitute a Drawn game, the ‘50 Move Rule’, and the ‘Three-fold Repetition’ rule, Perpetual Check, Stalemate, Minimum Mating Material. p61-67.
Key Tip: “Checkmate by force is impossible if you have only a Bishop, or only one or two Knights left against a lone King.”
More About The Pawn
COVERS: Pawn Promotion, Game with 12 moves using 12 diagrams featuring The Caro-Kann Defense, Capturing En Passant. p66-76.
Key Tip: “Capturing En Passant is impossible where it would expose your own King to check; for then capturing en passant becomes an illegal move.”
Elementary Checkmates
COVERS: Queen mating, Rook mating, Double Bishop mating, Bishop and Knight mating. p77-82.
Key Tip: “When you first attempt to work out this mate (Bishop & Knight mating exercise) you will probably find your prey escaping you; exactitude will come with practice. About 30 moves is par for this mate - 50 moves is the limit!”
Tactical Fine Points
COVERS: Exchanges, Superiority of Material, Threats, Attack and Defense. P83-104.
Key Tip: “... the Fork in Diagram 261 is easy to see and anticipate; whereas, the Fork in Diagram 255 is very hard to foresee. In other words, while THEMES and METHODS repeat themselves endlessly; it is the APPLICATION which differs, and here, practice does indeed make perfect.”
Survey Of The Chess Openings
COVERS: Basic Introduction with Notation and Diagrams for: p.105-126.
Center Game,
Danish Gambit,
Scotch Game,
Giuoco Piano,
Evans Gambit,
Two Knights Defense,
Max Lange Attack,
Four Knights Game,
Ruy Lopez,
Petroff Defense,
Philidor Defense,
Vienna Game,
King’s Gambit,
King’s Gambit Declined,
Falkbeer Counter Gambit,
French Defense,
Caro-Kann Defense,
Alekhine Defense,
Queen’s Gambit Accepted,
Queen’s Gambit Declined,
Colle System,
Nimzoindian Defense,
Queen’s Indian Defense,
King’s Indian Defense,
Gruenfeld Defense,
Budapest Defense,
Dutch Defense.
Key Tip: “ Counter-Attack or Gambit would be a more accurate term than ‘Defense’. The Budapest is favored by adventurous spirits!”.
Next Book in the Series: 'The Second Book of Chess: Nine Bad Moves and How To Avoid Them.'
For those who wish to discuss this specific Reinfeld book: