Chess Openings: Traps And Zaps: Traps And Zaps

by Bruce Pandolfini

In the first completely instructional book ever written on chess openings, National Master and game strategist for Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit Bruce Pandolfini teaches players how to take charge of the game's crucial opening phase.

Of the three traditional phases of chess play—the opening, the middle-game and the endgame—the opening is the phase average players confront most often. Unfortunately, though, many openings are not completed successfully, partly because until now most opening instruction has consisted of tables of tournament level moves that offer no explanations for the reasons behind them. Consequently, these classical opening patterns can serve as little more than references to the average player.

In Chess Traps and Zaps, Bruce Pandolfini uses his unique "crime and punishment" approach to provide all the previously missing explanation, instruction, practical analyses, and much, much more. The book consists of 202 short "openers" typical of average players, arranged according to the classical opening variations and by level of difficulty. Each example
-the name of the overriding tactic
-the name of the opening
-a scenario that sets up the tactic to be learned
-an interpretation that explains why the loser went wrong, how he could have avoided the trap, and what he should have done instead
-a review of important principles and useful guidelines to reinforce each lesson

Also included are a glossary of openings that lists all the classical "textbook" variations for comparison and reference and a tactical index. Chess Traps and Zaps is a powerful, pragmatic entry into a heretofore remote area of chess theory that will have a profound influence on every player's game.

Genres: Chess, Reference, Games, Nonfiction, How To

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 1989

About the author

Bruce Pandolfini (born September 17, 1947) is an American chess author, teacher, and coach. A USCF national master, he is generally considered to be America’s most experienced chess teacher. As a coach and trainer, Pandolfini has possibly conducted more chess sessions than anyone in the world. By the summer of 2015 he had given an estimated 25,000 private and group lessons.

(Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Dodsil · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a little bit disappointed with this one. Thought it was something it isn't. I was going through the book and using a chess analyser as my "board", since I don't have a physical board. I noticed around the 10th that although Pandolini said that there was some move or set of moves for white which would lead to a win of material or the game, that the analyser gave black the better advantage. Even after I followed what was written, black still had the advantage. I moved to the next one and ran into the same issue. Further, Pandolfini ignores good moves for the opposing player and pretends that the opposing player would never think of playing that move.

An example:

#11, "Skewer", Danish Gambit

1. e4 ...... e5
2. d4 ...... exd4
3. c3? ..... dxc3
4. Bc4? ...... cxb2
5. Bxb2 ..... Bb4+
6. Kf1 ....... Nf6
7. e5 ...... d5
8. Bb5+? ...... Nfd7

Pandolfini's solution:

9. Qg4 ..... Bf8 ?
10. e6 ... fxe6 ??
11. Qh5+ ... Ke7 ??
12. Ba3+ .... c5
13. Bxc5 ... Nxc5
14. Qg5+

As you can see, the solution requires a few blunders by your opponent to actually achieve anything.

How are you supposed to find the solution to a problem where your opponent isn't playing rationally?

Logically, 9. Qg4 would be followed by 9. ... c6

My solution then, could be anything. Perhaps I push the pawn on e5 and instead of taking, the opponent pushes f6. Then I check on h5 and he moves his king to f8 and I checkmate on the next move? How's that solution?


9. e6 ... f6 ????
10. Qh5 ... Kf8 ???
11. Qf7 mate

Seems a little silly? That's because it is.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author takes a “crime and punishment approach to learning the chess openings. In this collection, each of the 202 short openers demonstrates how a violation of sound opening principles brings disaster. Each of the games in this book are drawn from examples of 26 different double king pawn openings. These “open” games are the ones every young chess player should start with to learn basic opening play. For each game, the reader can use the move list to recreate the game on a board or can simply study the diagram to try to figure out the winning move. There are many books devoted to the chess opening, but almost all of them devote themselves to nearly flawless play between experts. Memorizing “the book” lines does little to teach how to exploit the weak play of most young players. Pandolfini’s approach is more likely to improve opening play than reviewing errorless games of the masters.

[Ho Hua · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book for chess enthusiasts. Or rather, enthusiasts of the chess opening who want to spring opening traps on their board opponents. Nicely explained, with a short introduction to each of the openings mentioned. The drawback is that the book deals with dual e pawn openings only

[Jesus Salgado · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book wasn’t bad. Some outdated stuff but a wide range of options to consider in attacking and traps. Probably YouTube openings and traps would be more beneficial than this book would at this age of chess.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a connoisseur of chess books, and this one took me a while to read. (I received it as a gift from my dad in sixth grade--26+ years ago.)

But, I enjoyed the quick, simple strategies of the game that were presented and the corresponding analysis.

[Bryan Whitehead · Rating 5 out of 5]

I should start by admitting that this might have been a bit much for me. I’ve been using chess books (particularly books by Pandolfini, whose writing I like) as bathroom reads. This works because it keeps my mind going during what would otherwise be downtime. But it also doesn’t work if the book centers around long strings of algebraically-noted moves that are hard to follow without a chess board handy to work them out. However, the challenges themselves were engaging and more often than not educational. A handful could have done with better proofing. And particularly in the Ruy Lopez chapter many of the puzzles led to conclusions that were somewhat different than their titles implied (particularly “mating moves” that didn’t automatically lead to mate). I didn’t appreciate being asked to take the time to look for something that turned out not to be there. Overall, however, I liked what this book did to my chess mindset. Now when I play, as soon as I get past the first three or four moves I start looking for ways to spring a trap rather than settling for piece-slaughtering trade wars. I may wait awhile before taking on the sequel to this tome. But I still liked what I got from this, even if I did sometimes feel like I was in a little over my head.

[Buffalonickel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice concept as everyone loves devastating his or her opponent in the opening of a match. Or avoiding the dumb mistakes where he or she is devastated in the opening moves.

Still, the problem with Mr. Pandolfini's books and similar ones is that chess openings are just too numerous. There are some pretty cool "traps" and "zaps" in there but you might play hundreds (or maybe even thousands!) of games before you see any of them. The variations of moves in the chess openings make seeing any of these traps and zaps unlikely.

[Stephan Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a nice little book. I liked how I got to solve tactical puzzles in context, knowing the moves that lead up to the positions. It also did a great job of explaining the principles behind the openings. It helps clarify why certain moves were bad and others were good. It's not a book that will teach you much about specific opening lines and opening theory, so if you want to memorize a bunch of opening moves this book isn't for you. It talks more about *how* to play in the opening more than *what* to play.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has a few typos, which are annoying, but I'll forgive it because the way to learn openings is to play through them over and over and over. But who starts games and stops when the opening ends? People who read this book and play though all the openings...that's who.

[Jasper Riogeist · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good chess book for learning what not to do and what to do in the opening. Runs through Early D2-D4 complex, the sister openings (vienna and bishop), the kings gambit, unusual openings, the knights game, the italian complex, and the ruy lopez.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book from which to learn a few tricks.