Hi everybody!

I'd like to ask a big favour: I'm hoping that a few of my fellow chess writers and bloggers would be willing to read an advanced copy of my almost completed new book to give me some feedback, and potentially promote it when it is released! 😊

I've just about finished writing my second chess book. I'm currently carefully going through it to fix typos, check for errors, and making minor wording changes. The book is a celebration of the Romantic style of chess, and covers a good number of chess opening attacks, along with their refutation, and line variants. Interweaved with the description of the openings are the stories of the many interesting historical chess masters who have played these lines!

If you are interested, please leave a message, and I'll contact you directly and can potentially send you a PDF of the manuscript. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions! Thank you so much!

NM Bill Wall has generously written a foreword for the book, and this hopefully gives you a sense of what the book will be about!

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Probably the most important part of a chess game is the opening. The opening in a game of chess is complex and almost infinite. It is easy for chess players to fall for chess traps in the opening when they are not so familiar with an opening variation and lose their way. Michael Tam has selected some of the best chess opening attacks and traps that inspire and capture the imagination. These instructive examples show the beauty in chess combinations and tactics. Michael demonstrates and explains many common tactical themes during the opening phase.

At the amateur level, most games are won or lost in the opening through mistakes in development or falling for a known book chess trap. It is important to study the chess openings and know what traps may arise from a particular opening variation, either to spring it on an opponent or to avoid a chess trap that your opponent is trying to spring on you.

Every chess player should be aware of typical chess traps and opening attacks. My first chess book was a book on chess openings. A few weeks later, my second book was Irving Chernev’s The 1000 Best Short Games of Chess. It taught me how to play trappy chess as well as how to avoid such traps. And all of the greatest chess players have fallen for a chess trap. Vishy Anand lost in 6 moves. Paul Morphy was mated in 12 moves. Anatoly Karpov lost in 12 moves. José Capablanca lost in 13 moves. Emanual Lasker lost in 14 moves. Gary Kasparov lost in 15 moves.

For most average chess players, they should concentrate mainly on opening moves and principles. The chess opening is always the most significant part of chess, followed by the middlegame and the endgame. You are not going to reach the middlegame or endgame until you master the opening and avoid the opening traps.

To play good chess, one needs to exploit erroneous play in actual chess games. One needs to analyze chess openings and see why some moves are recommended, while other moves are not considered. Michael Tam’s book provides this analysis as he examines the best opening attacks.

Amateurs rarely play the best moves. Their mistakes tend to occur repeatedly. One should be able to recognize an opponent’s poor opening play and take advantage of setting up an opening trap or how to counter illogical opening play. Follow the principles of quick development, controlling the center, and protecting your king. You can play gambits for fast development of your pieces or look for sacrifices to open up the position or expose the enemy’s king. Opening mistakes are almost always the result of violating opening principles.

Chess should be fun and pleasurable to play. You don’t have to win to enjoy a game. Use your imagination and creativity when playing chess. I try to play a different opening or opening variation every time I play chess. I try to experiment and not play the same variation again. With the internet, one can play thousands of games and always have a new opponent. I have a list of what to play as White (20 different first moves – I’ve played them all), and what to play as Black (a response to 20 different first moves for Black). I’ve seen them all.

As an author of over 60 chess books on opening traps and unusual openings, I am always looking for traps and short games, as well as unusual openings. I make a list of newfound opening ideas and then try to play them online. Most of the time I win, but I lose some as well. I chock it up to experience and move on. With large databases, I always look for the theoretical novelty in my games and see what traps are associated with the opening. I also use a chess engine after a game to see where the losing move was, and then try to play an alternative move if I ever repeat this position.

I hope that Michael Tam’s work inspires you to play creative chess and perhaps you can use some of his ideas in your own games.

NM Bill Wall
October 2024

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