Contents


Authors Word
Foreword by John Nunn

Part One

1.Introduction
  • Our Purpose
  • The Importance of Chess Aesthetics
  • Fantasy and Motivation
  • A Brief History of Beautiful Chess Ideas
  • Previous Work in the Field
  • Philosophical Perspective; Art, Analogies and Taste
  • Our Four Elements and Why We Have Introduced Them
  • Limitations of Our Method

    Part Two: The Elements of Chess Beauty

    2. Paradox
  • Paradox of Material
  • Breaking the Rules
  • The Paradox of Set Play

    • 3. Depth
  • Depth, Length and Breadth
  • Small Change
  • Negative Depth
  • Further Aspects of Depth

    • 4. Geometry
  • Graphic Geometry
  • Optical Logic
  • The Extended Meaning of Chess Geometry

    • 5. Flow
  • Smooth & Turbulent Flow
  • Flow"& Technique

    • Part Three: Sampling the Spectacular

    6. The Poetry of War: aesthetics of practical play
  • Beauty in the Opening
  • Beauty in the Middlegame
  • Exercises
  • Beauty in the Endgame
  • Games Selection

    • 7. Tactical Fantasies: the charm of studies
  • Practical Player or Composer
  • Domination and the Paradox of Positional Draw
  • Beauty, Truth & the Computer
  • Assorted Brilliance
  • Tightness and Overall Control
  • `Complete’ Studies
  • Exercises

    • 8. Art For Art`s Sake: the delights of chess problems
  • Bohemian Problems
  • The Logical School
  • The Strategic School
  • Longer Strategic Problems
  • Exercises

    • 9. The Weird and the Wonderful: unorthodox problems
  • Helpmates
  • Selfmates
  • Series-movers
  • A Step Backwards: Retrograde Analysis
  • Exercises

  • Solutions to Exercises

  • Bibliography

  • Index

    • Extract from Secrets of Spectacular Chess (J. Levitt,128 pages,Batsford,1997,£12.99 ISBN 0 7134 8049 1)
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