Publisher's Synopsis
This books is designed to teach the aspiring chessplayer how to build an attack from the opening. It is based on the games of Rudolph Spielmann, one of the greatest attacking players of all time. All of the games belong to the category of the Open Game, characterized by the initial moves 1.e4 e5. One hundred games have been selected to illustrate not only how to carry out in attack, but how to build an attack from the opening. I have chosen to concentrate on the Open game because it is here that the attacking motifs are most clearly illustrated, and the types of defensive mistakes must closely reflect those made by beginner and intermediate players. Classical openings, and particular the Open games, are the best foundation for an aspiring chessplayer. In fact, almost all World Champions have spent a great deal of time exploring both sides of these openings, which were seen even in the World Championship match between Gary Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand. It is well-known that the most instructive games for novices are those which involve players from the Classical and Romantic periods of chess, roughly between 1890 and 1930. This is due to the general lack of defensive technique seen in those games. Because one side often lets an attack succeed, either through ignorance of the threat or failure to appreciate the positional factors of the game, we can see how an attack is built and carried out in its pure form. In more recent games, direct attack usually does not succeed because players are better schooled in the art of defense, On the other hand, opportunities for Romantic play still appear.
