Introduction 1 Part 1: Laying the Groundwork for Champion Chess 5 CHAPTER 1: Tackling Chess Basics 7 CHAPTER 2: Getting to Know the Pieces and Their Powers 21 CHAPTER 3: Exploring the Elements of Chess 39 CHAPTER 4: Going after the King: Check, Stalemate, and Checkmate 63 CHAPTER 5: Making a Few Special Moves 79 CHAPTER 6: Got Notation? Reading and Writing about Chess 85 Part 2: Gaining Chess Know-How 97 CHAPTER 7: Trying Out Tactics and Combinations in Hand-to-Hand Combat 99 CHAPTER 8: Sacrifices: Understanding When It's Better to Give than to Receive 125 CHAPTER 9: Building Pattern Recognition 137 CHAPTER 10: Recognizing Advanced Pawn Formations 157 CHAPTER 11: Mastering Mating Patterns 171 Part 3: Game Time: Putting Your Chess Foot Forward 189 CHAPTER 12: Selecting Your Strategy: The Principles of Play 191 CHAPTER 13: Coming on Strong in the Opening 209 CHAPTER 14: Making Headway during the Middlegame 227 CHAPTER 15: Exiting with Style in the Endgame 239 Part 4: Getting into Advanced Action 263 CHAPTER 16: Playing in Competition 265 CHAPTER 17: Hitting the Net with Computer Chess 279 Part 5: The Part of Tens 289 CHAPTER 18: The Ten Most Famous Chess Games of All Time 291 CHAPTER 19: The Ten Best Players of All Time (and a Few Others) 321 CHAPTER 20: Ten (or So) Cool Facts about Kids and Chess 345 Part 6: Appendixes 349 APPENDIX A: A Glossary of Chess 351 APPENDIX B: Chess Resources 371 Index 375.