To many, chess is simultaneously fascinating and perplexing. Enter Ward Fonsworth’s Predator at the Chessboard, a free online guide to chess tactics, released under a CC BY-NC-ND licence. No longer will you be baffled by a Sicilian Defense or a Queen’s Gambit (UPDATE: although these two moves are essential to understanding the game of chess, the book does not cover them as they are openings and rather focuses on tactics in particular) – who knows, maybe someday you will even climb the ranks to Grandmaster.

Published initially Now published as a book, Predator at the Chessboard has information that is compelling for both the chess amateur and the advanced hobbyist alike. Freely accessible, it is an incredible resource for anyone with any interest in the wondrous game that is chess. This approach, in Farnsworth’s words, says “is an experiment in a particular way of distributing work to the world: online for free, and then also in a book-on-demand form for those who would rather read the material that way”. Time to brush the dust off my old board and utilize the all-powerful, yet very subtle, Réti Opening on an unsuspecting foe.