50 Poison Pieces

Lauren Goodkind, who is a respected chess teacher in the San Francisco bay area, wrote 50 Poison Pieces, a fun puzzle book to help her students and any novice chess player to avoid capturing unprotected pieces that look safe to capture, which are actually poison! Taking a poison piece gives your opponent the potential to execute a basic tactic, such as a fork or skewer. You'll see how taking a poison piece can lead to losing your valuable pieces for no good reason. It might even lead to losing the entire game! In each of the 50 unique puzzles, you are asked to figure out why capturing an unprotected piece is a mistake, or in other words, the poison piece. Next, you turn the page to learn why capturing that piece is the poison piece. Then immediately you are shown two alternative moves. One is bad and will lead to a losing position. But the other move puts you on track to a win. Which move will you pick? By learning to avoid capturing poison pieces, you will start to understand and use the most important chess strategy of all: always think ahead! Players rated under 1000 will especially benefit from 50 Poison Pieces. Here's what notable members of the chess community are saying about Lauren's powerful book: "For those just learning the game of chess, I can enthusiastically recommend Lauren Goodkind's unique new book on safe captures. This is an essential concept often dismissed with a few examples of captures of undefended pieces. What she does is to load each capture with a tricky reply such as a skewer, pin or fork, forcing the student to look more than superficially deep. A splendid volume which will be invaluable to both students and teachers alike." FM Eric Schiller Author of More than 100 Chess Books, International Arbiter and Chess Coach "During my 29 years of running a very successful chess program, I have looked for ways to aid young children in analyzing the consequences of their moves. Most puzzle books and programs deal with checkmates in one or more moves or ask for the best first move in a complex middle or endgame. I like Ms. Goodkind's poison piece approach, not only because of the uncluttered problem solving, but also because her explanations for the moves provide guidance to the student to aid their critical thinking about why a pawn or piece was poison. I tested it with a few young players and I saw their eyes light up when they began to understand the need to use their thought processes and not just their fingers. I will be recommending 50 Poison Pieces to my students and to my instructors to use with their students who can be classified as intermediate or advanced beginners." Alan M. Kirshner, Ph.D. Director of Weibel Elementary School Chess & Winner of numerous State Championships, Two Open Nationals and Six All-Girls Nationals "This book should be in every student's and teacher's repertoire. Berkeley Chess School will certainly include it in theirs. With this book, Lauren has produced an easy to read system for understanding the poisoned piece, a subject that is rarely addressed elsewhere." Elizabeth Shaughnessy President and Founder, Berkeley Chess School "Lauren Goodkind and I first became acquainted, ten years ago, as fellow participants in the Sojourner Truth Tournament for Women. Over the past decade, our friendship has blossomed, and we have enjoyed many good games and memorable tournament experiences, as a result. When I heard she was writing a book, I was very excited for her, and feel that Lauren is a worthy opponent, a capable chess instructor, and a positive role-model for her many students. I am, therefore, pleased to endorse the collection of puzzles contained in 50 Poison Pieces, as a valuable resource for beginning players to use to improve, as they, undoubtedly, begin their journey on the road to chess mastery. This book is informative and fun." Jessica Lauser U.S. Blind Competitor and Blitz Expert
About the Author: Lauren Goodkind is currently rated as a class A player, rated between 1800-2000. She has been ranked on and off the top 100 ranking list of females in the USA for over ten years. Here are her chess highlights: -Gained about 450 USCF rating points in less than four months, from 1117 to approximately 1550, after winning and doing well in local tournaments. -Defeated Vivian Smith, the New Zealand women's chess champion in a 2004 tournament game. The second tournament game was a draw. Both games were played in beautiful New Zealand. -Defeated and drawn various expert and master players (rated 2000-2300) -Drew (a tie) against Peter Thiel, a billionaire and master chess player in a 2003 tournament game -Getting 2nd place in the 2016 California's Women's Championship Lauren's former and current chess students have won many chess tournaments, including the Susan Polgar All-Girls tournament. In April 2017, she helped coached the Weibel Elementary school chess team at All-Girls nationals in Chicago. The team got 1st place! Check out Lauren's unique chess puzzle website at www.ChessByLauren.com