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Simple Attacking Plans, by Fred Wilson, Mongoose Press 2012, Figurine
Algebraic Notation, Paperback, 192pp. $14.95 (ChessCafe Price $11.95)

Simple Attacking Plans is an ideal book for a beginner or casual player who
wants to become acquainted with some standard attacking motifs. It is a
Book collection of thirty-seven conversationally annotated miniature games that
reinforce Wilson's four essential concepts for successful attacks:
Reviews
● In the opening, whenever justified, relentlessly attack the weak squares
f7 or f2.
● Most successful kingside attacks are directed against the squares h7 or
h2, and they are often preceded by eliminating or driving off its World's Most Instructive
defender. Amateur Game Book
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● If your opponent's king is trapped in the center, make every reasonable by Dan Heisman
effort to open and dominate the e-file, and sometimes the d-file also!
● If possible, point all your pieces at your opponent's king!

As can be seen from the list of contents, the games are from a mix of amateur,
grandmaster, Internet, scholastic, and unknown players:

● Introduction
● Davisson – Perlowitz, U.S. Amateur East 2008
● Whately – another sixth-grader, New York 1999
● Parma – Kozomara, Vrnjačka Banja 1962
● Browne – Bellón, Las Palmas 1977
● Selected Games
● Rossolimo – Winser, Hastings 1949-50 Wojo's Weapons 3
Rating Chart ● Whitehead – Biyiasas, Lone Pine 1977 by Dean Ippolito
● Gurevich – Karanja, New York 1987 & Jonathan Hilton
Awful –
● Horowitz – Kibberman, Warsaw Chess Olympiad 1935
Poor – ● Andonov – Watson, St. John 1988
● Palau – Te Kolsté, London Chess Olympiad 1927
Uneven – ● "Lena" – Tamburro, Internet Chess Club 2009
● Greco's Sacrifice, or the Greek Gift
Good –
● Alberston – amateur, New York (casual game) 1986
Great – ● Rohde – amateur, New York, Marshall CC 2008
● Kuhnrich – Wilson, New York (casual game) 1966
Excellent – ● Wilson – Temple, New York (5-minute game) 1996
● Attacking a Fianchetto Castled Position
● Temple – Andrews, New York 1996
● Temple – Peterson, NYC HS Championship 1997
● Wilson – Tabakman, New York 1997 Complete Chess Workout 2
● Adams – Martin, London 2003 by Richard Palliser
● Winik – Joseph, New York 2002
● Larsen – Korchnoi, Brussels 1987
● More Selected Games
● Norman-Hansen – Tartakower, Copenhagen 1923
● Bauer – Kaufman, Foxwoods Open 1999
● Schrade – Kerr, New York, BAL "A" Division 2001
● Taubenhaus – Winawer, Warsaw 1900
● Maróczy – Von Bardeleben, Barmen 1905
● Wilson – O'Keefe, New York 2001
● Wilson – Koppel, New York 1966
● Bonin – Privman, New York 2000
● Galdunts – Katz, Calvi 2004
 ● Troff – Naroditsky, St. Louis 2011
● Hammer – Carlsen, Halkidiki 2003
● Epstein – Mihevc, Elista 1998
● Hess – Spoelman, Crete 2004
● Deflection, Undermining, or Removing the Guard?
● Shipman – Levy, New York City 1965
● Kristol – Morozova, USSR 1966
● Lolli – Ercole del Rio, Modena 1755
● Player Index
● Index of Openings

The annotations read as if they are from lessons or lectures given by Wilson,
so Simple Attacking Plans also offers a collection of ready-made lessons to
use for instruction or display on a demonstration board. The book jacket
claims "more experienced competitors will appreciate this book as a games
collection featuring masterpieces of enterprising play – some of them never
before published." Yet experienced players may mistakenly get the
impression that the material is geared somewhat under their level, a belief that
could be reinforced by the publisher's own excerpt.

Let's look at the first game from the introduction, which is also in the
promotional excerpt:

Scotch Game
Richard Davisson – Michael Perlowitz
U.S. Amateur Championship East 2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 f6?

A logical-looking but awful move often made by inexperienced players.

Besides opening the a2-g8 diagonal, which may make it harder for
Black to castle, it also takes away the best square for Black's king
knight. As a general rule of thumb, in all double king pawn (1.e4 e5)
openings, when White plays an early d2-d4 Black should always trade
pawns if White cannot recapture with a pawn.

4.Bc4! Be7??

[FEN "r1bqk1nr/ppppb1pp/2n2p2/4p3/2BPP3/
5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 5"]

Not obviously a blunder, and even a well-intentioned move. I believe

Black was worried about 5.dxe5 fxe5 6.Ng5, which would now lose a
piece. But while 4…d6 was playable, 4…Be7?? is a terrible mistake.
Why?

5.dxe5! fxe5 6.Qd5!

Hitting f7 where it hurts! White, a strong scholastic player, foresaw that

Black now has no acceptable way of defending f7, and expected 6...Nh6
7.Bxh6 Rf8 8.Bxg7 with an easily won position. Instead he was
pleasantly surprised by …

6...d6?? 8.Qf7+ Kd7 9.Be6!#

 [FEN "r1bq2nr/pppkbQpp/2npB3/4p3/
4P3/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNB1K2R b KQ - 0 8"]

I have dubbed this game "the eight-move checkmate" and often use it
when teaching. Rarely will you see a more devastating example of a
queen + bishop battery dominating the f7 square in the opening. Still,
Richard did have to know what to look for.

This particularly game is not likely to entice experienced players unless it as a

teaching aid to beginners. However, the majority of the games reach positions
that very well could arise in club and Internet play, including a number of
opening traps that can likely be used again and again. The four basic motifs
will not be new to stronger players, but useful as reinforcement; and once you
play through these games, you will be all the more alert to these themes in
your subsequent play.

Nevertheless, it is the casual player who stands to gain the most from Simple
Attacking Plans. This audience will appreciate the conversational
explanations and the targeted level of instruction. If you know someone who
only plays occasionally or recreationally, give them this book! What is more,
one can read through the book without the use of a board as there are enough
diagrams to do so – perfect for a bus or train commute, or while waiting for an
appointment.

My assessment of this product:

Order Simple Attacking Plans

by Fred Wilson

A PDF file of this week's review, along with all previous product reviews, is
available in the ChessCafe.com Archives.

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