The main Objective of any operation in an open file is the eventual Occupation of the seventh or eighth Rank.

No pawn exchanges, no file-opening, no attack.

A thorough knowledge of the elements takes us more than half the road to mastership

The threat is stronger than the execution.

Even the laziest King flees wildly in the face of a double check!

How is it to be explained that something inside me revolts against the playing of obvious moves? Perhaps we may perceive the underlying reason in the fact that I derive satisfaction from seeking to reveal the concealed meaning of a position by means of maneuvering play and therefore I do not wish to see this satisfaction curtailed by a banal, more or less fortuitous decision. Naturally, this phenomenon is played out beneath the threshold of consciousness. The waking consciousness will, of course, in each individual case, give preference to the more rapid means of deciding the game.

Do not always be thinking of attack! Moves that safeguard your position are often far more prudent.