Chess Traps, Pitfalls, & Swindles: How to Set them and How to Avoid Them

There is little doubt that we all have a spot of larceny in our hearts. It seems to manifest itself most clearly in our games. Take Chess, for example: to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat commands our admiration; but if the snatching involves a little highclass flimflam, who will deny it gives us an extra thrill. Chess Traps, Pitfalls, and Swindles is a rich storehouse of Chess “crimes.” Sometimes the villain is thwarted: more often he gets away with his nefarious deeds. But, in either event, the tales, and their telling, will prove to be instructive and vastly entertaining. By the very nature of its subject, the combinations you will find within the pages of this book are not all sound. But who cares? After all, there never has been The Perfect Crime. The great Steinitz once wrote: “A win by an unsound combination, however showy, fills me with artistic horror.” So, if you are a grandmaster, like Steinitz, perhaps this book is not for you. But, on the contrary, if you agree with Tartakover, who once remarked, “The mistakes are all there, waiting to be made," then this definitely is your dish. In Chess, as in life, we can’t all live dangerously; but fortunately we all can enjoy a vicarious thrill.