“My advice to today’s young chess players is to read old chess books rather than overly imitate computer play.” – GM Lajos Portisch.

Attack and Counterattack in Chess by prolific author Fred Reinfeld was first published way back in 1955. It’s a testament to its popularity, and the popularity of Reinfeld’s books in general, that a new “21st Century edition” was published in 2019. This new edition has been converted into algebraic notation and edited by NM Peter Kurzdorfer, who was originally mentored by Reinfeld.

The Table of Contents above shows that the book focuses on taking advantage of mistakes by one player. Seven chapters are from White’s point of view and five chapters from Black’s point of view. Each chapter contains short and complete games to illustrate the theme of the chapter. The games also include headers to alert readers to the stages of the games and the themes that are being covered.

Attack and Counterattack in Chess

Author: Fred Reinfeld
Publisher: Russell Enterprises

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Kurzdorfer comments on the scope of the book as follows:

“There are several points to keep in mind as you peruse the games involved. The first is that this is not an opening book. The examples of play are all built around complete chess games that came to a logical conclusion based on one player’s muffs and the other player’s exploitation of those errors. The other point is that the poor moves that are taken advantage of were to some extent based on carelessness or inattention or lack of knowledge but were also set up on purpose by the winning player.”

A curious feature of the book is that the players are not named and just referred to as “White” and “Black”. The only exception is a game won by Capablanca at age 12. Perhaps, specifically naming Capablanca is not unusual, since Reinfeld was a big fan of the Cuban World Champion.

Reinfeld’s strength as a writer was that his annotations were clear and not overburdened by lengthy variations that often confuse amateur players. In this sense, this book is a good example of the type of book GM Portisch advised non-master players to read in his quote above.

Kurzdorfer writes on this aspect of the book:

“Fred’s books are peppered throughout with words and phrases in italics to emphasize ideas. Moves are punctuated with single, double, and even triple exclamation marks and question marks to span the entire spectrum of emotions the moves conjure up. He had a way of reducing the most intricate, complicated combinations to their basic components. After Reinfeld explains a combination, it makes sense.”

Of course, it is inevitable that a book written 70 years ago will have some analytical mistakes. Kurzdorfer has corrected these mistakes after checking with the current chess engines, and these corrections and some other pertinent comments are given in footnotes at the end of the games. These comments also include some light references to current opening theory, which again has clearly advanced enormously since the book was written. The opening comments are particularly relevant to Chapters 7 and 12.

Two examples from the book are given below, with annotations from the book, with the first game being a win by Alekhine.

Fred Reinfeld was one of the most prolific chess authors of the 20th century. An American chess master, editor, and educator, Reinfeld wrote or edited more than 100 chess books, helping introduce generations of players to the game. Known for his clear and accessible style, he covered everything from beginner instruction and tactics to opening theory and the games of the great masters.

In conclusion, Reinfeld has written a clear and instructive book on how to play in a direct manner and exploit typical mistakes by your opponents. The games are short and well-chosen, and the commentary focusses on the essential aspects of the games without overburdening readers with superfluous details. Despite its age, it is a book that can still be read for enjoyment and instruction by modern readers.