Tricks, Traps, and Tips in the Chess Opening - Practical Lessons for Ambitious Improvers - New In Chess 2022

Oct 14, 2026

Tricks, Traps, and Tips in the Chess Opening presents structured opening instruction built from decades of scholastic coaching experience. The book gathers 60 games, each treated as a distinct lesson, and closes sections with training positions to reinforce key patterns. It emphasizes recurring weak-point themes such as f2 and f7, attacks on an uncastled king, and progressively introduced techniques with bolded concepts to build retention and enable faster tournament readiness.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages32

Reading Time11 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

Explanation of symbols

Foreword

Chapter 1 Early f-pawn moves

Chapter 2 Early queen moves

Chapter 3 Attack on the uncastled king

Chapter 4 Sacrifice on the weak spot before castling (f2/f7)

Chapter 5 Four Knights with 4 ... a6?!

Chapter 6 Moving the pinned piece: Legal’s checkmate

Chapter 7 The Center Fork Trick

Chapter 8 The Fishing Pole

Chapter 9 The knight sacrifice on f7: the Fried Liver Attack

Chapter 10 Dueling weak spot attacks: the Traxler Gambit

Index of names

Glossary

Biography

Dean Ippolito Tricks, Traps, and Tips in the Chess Opening Practical Lessons for Ambitious Improvers New In Chess 2022 Contents Explanation of symbols .......................................... 6 Foreword ...................................................... 7 Chapter 1 Early f-pawn moves .............................. 11 Chapter 2 Early queen moves .............................. 32 Chapter 3 Attack on the uncastled king ..................... 47 Chapter 4 Sacrifice on the weak spot before castling (f2/f7) .... 69 Chapter 5 Four Knights with 4 ... a6?! ........................ 87 Chapter 6 Moving the pinned piece: Legal’s checkmate ...... 102 Chapter 7 The Center Fork Trick .......................... 124 Chapter 8 The Fishing Pole ............................... 153 Chapter 9 The knight sacrifice on f7: the Fried Liver Attack .. 171 Chapter 10 Dueling weak spot attacks: the Traxler Gambit .... 200 Index of names ............................................... 215 Glossary ..................................................... 217 Biography .................................................... 223 Foreword Introduction to the series After many years of coaches, students, and parents asking when my next instructive manual would come out, I finally made time to organize all of the material that I’ve accumulated over the past 30 years of teaching in a structured manner. When I began this project, my intention was to use the most instructive material and pack it into one book for coaches, students, and parents. After several years of carefully selecting games and puzzles for the undertaking, I realized that it was not possible to condense everything into one book. Therefore, I decided to separate it by parts of the game. The first book will focus on tricks and themes in the opening. Most of those have to do with the weak points f2 and f7 and deal with attacks aimed at the uncastled king. The second book will showcase attacking ideas in the middlegame. These ideas include attacking the castled king and will include many themes on the subject. The book will also include a basic introduction to more advanced themes such as noticing the opponent’s ideas, outpost squares, etc. Additionally, typical middlegame tricks such as the Greek Gift will be covered in their own chapters. Most of these are aimed atthe weak spots after castling – the primary targets of h2 and h7 and the secondary targets such as g2 and g7. The third book will cover important themes, tricks, and typical checkmate patterns in the endgame. Most of the checkmate themes in the endgame have to do with the back rank, or herding the enemy king to the side. Additionally, other endgame themes such as stalemate ideas will be covered. Introduction to the book This book is the culmination of decades of working with scholastic players, as well as being a top scholastic junior myself. It includes detailed games, stories to help the student remember, and a history of the ideas. There are a total of 60 games, each its own lesson. All of the sections will conclude with training positions as a review for the student. There are over 200 training positions in this book alone, along with many other extra questions asked during each lesson. Tricks, Traps, and Tips in the Chess Opening All of the games have been shown and tested in classes, some with over 100 groups. There were many games which could be included in two or more chapters, but I tried to make everything as consistent as possible. Many of the explanations are taken from students’ questions, so there is very little that the reader will need to wonder about. This book is intended for anyone interested in improving quickly by getting right to the most important patterns and positions which are likely to come up in the opening. It is a blueprint highlighting all of the most important openings, traps, tactics, and themes for players to move from the early stages o

FAQs

What kind of chess content does the book focus on?

It focuses on opening tricks, traps, and practical tactical themes, especially attacks involving weak points such as f2 and f7 and pressure against an uncastled king.

How is the instruction organized for learning and review?

The book uses 60 games as lessons, and each section ends with training positions to review and strengthen the student’s recall and technique.

Is the book designed for complete beginners or stronger players?

It is intended for players taking their first steps into tournament play, while also providing a glossary for unfamiliar terms so newer players can follow the ideas.

Oct 14, 2026

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