Chess Tips to Think About

7/24/2019 Chess Tips to Think About

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1. Offense or Defense?

If you are new to the game of chess you

need to understand that a balance between

attacking and defending needs to be

achieved. Many inexperienced players are

quick to go on the offensive and look for the

quick crushing defeat of their opponent.While being able to pull this off is

impressive and good for the ego, the

likelihood of a quick offensive win against a

more experienced opponent is unlikely and

a bad decision.

The flaw with the all out offensive assault is

that an experienced opponent will see the

gaping holes in your own defense.

Experienced players sit and wait for this

type of inexperience to show itself. Think ofchess as a war in which you must defend

your capitol (your king) while at the same

time taking your opponents capitol. An

army that simply runs into battle with

bravery and no defensive protection may

appear as courageous, but they also oftensuffer a crushing defeat quickly.

A balanced approach is the best when

playing chess. Depending on your playing

style you will likely lean in one direction,

either offensive or defensive. Try to focuson this balance and keep your king protected

while slowly applying your offensive

strategy. At times the best offensive strategy

is to wait for your opponent to begin an

offensive front and to find the flaws in their

attack. Doing this gives you the wonderfuladvantage of finding their gaping holes in

their defense, instead of them finding your

gaping holes. Keep working on improving

your defensive skills, as this will lead you to

victory more often than an all out offensive

assault. Allow your opponent to make the

mistakes instead of you and you will find a

great deal of success in your game.

2. God Save The Queen?

The old saying of "God save the Queen"

does not always apply when playing chess.

While some would argue that keeping the

queen at all costs will be the difference

between winning and losing, there are others

who will tell you that a winning game of

chess is all about sacrifice no matter how

painful. Some players will spend the whole

game trying to protect their queen and will

never consider sacrificing this piece during

the game. Being ultra protective of your

queen can lead to your downfall in a gameof chess.

It is important to allow some of your other

pieces to begin the attacks and to keep the

queen in reserve until an opportunity

arrives, but keeping her at all costs is a

mistake that many players make. Being the

most versatile piece on the board the queen

can lead to great offensive attacks.

Willingness to sacrifice and trade a queen

for a queen will help you to achieve the

bigger goal of winning the game against

your opponent.

Allow your other pieces to initiate theattacks and bring the queen in to limit the

possible movements of your opponent. Try

to not waste moves by being overprotective

of your queen, because ultimately you only

get so many moves in a game and it is

important to make each move count.

Wasting movements of your queen, or any

other pieces will provide your opponent

with an advantage. Try to make every move

count during your game and do not be afraid

to sacrifice the queen for a queen, or to

sacrifice other pieces when it will provide

you with an advantage. The phrase "Godsave the Queen" applies in politics, but does

not always apply when playing to win in a

game of chess.

3. Bluffing

Bluffing is generally thought of in relation

to playing poker, not chess, but it does apply

to the game of chess albeit ineffectively

applied at times. Many opponents will

attempt to place pieces in an open space on

your side of the board with no real intent of

sacrificing the piece. This is particularly truetowards the beginning of the game when

your opponent is trying to feel you out. An

opponent may run a bishop or knight out to

your side of the board as an attempt to

establish an offensive front.

If you ignore this piece and allow it to sit

out there while executing your own plan,

then you are giving your opponent anadvantage. Find out if your opponent is

simply bluffing and trying to feel you out.

Many times if you challenge this piece, your

opponent will retreat quickly instead ofstanding to fight. Similar to a game of

poker, your opponent wants to see what typeof player you are. They are trying to see if

you are an aggressor or a protector of your

pieces. Call this bluff from your opponent to

find out how badly they want to keep this

piece out in the middle of the board.

If you simply allow this piece to sit in

waiting as an aggressor, then you are giving

your opponent the advantage. In a worst-

case scenario you will simply trade a bishop

for a bishop, or a knight for a knight. This isstill a good protective move by you because

leaving that piece sitting out there

unchallenged will prove to be a thorn in

your side throughout the game. Challenge

every piece that comes onto your side of the

board and determine how strongly your

opponent feels about keeping that piece

there, or if they will simply cower and

retreat.

4. Keep from Blocking Yourself

In the game of chess it is very possible to

beat yourself and to block your pieces in

with poor planned moves. While this is asimple concept that may seem obvious,

many players will make this error. For

example, moving your bishop in front of

your pawn in the very early stages of the

game will generally result in retreating that

bishop so that the pawn can be freed. This is

a waste of precious moves. Any move that

has no purpose or strategy is a bad move.

You only have so many opportunities to

move pieces throughout the game so it is

important to make each move count and for

each move to be a part of your overall

strategy. Waiting for you opponent to makethe first mistake is your first mistake.

Another blocking error is when you have

two pawns next to each other and you use

one pawn to take a piece that is in front of

the other pawn. Now you end up with one

pawn directly in front of the other. The

opens a file (vertical spaces) on the board

and seriously weakens both of those two

pawns. Your level of vulnerability to attack

has just increased dramatically. In addition

to this, the pawn that is the furthest forward

is most likely undefended. This has createda sort of traffic jam for your pieces on the

board and will haunt you as the game

progresses. An experienced opponent will

exploit this open file that you have created.

Always try to be thinking ahead as to what

your next few moves should be. Thinking

ahead will help keep you from blocking

yourself in and from making the avoidablecareless mistakes.

5. Middle or sides?

There are many different opening strategies

in chess that you can use. Much of thisdepends on how you approach your chess

game, whether you are aggressive or more

defensive in your play. Two of these

opening strategies are called open or closed.

An open strategy refers to beginning the

game with your pawns that are located infront of your king and queen. A closed

strategy refers to using the pawns on the

sides, in front of your rooks or knights.

An open strategy is a much more offensivestrategy. Using this strategy you and your

opponent will begin to trade pieces rather

rapidly. You and your opponent will have

many open lanes that can be used to attack

one another. This can lead to a quick defeat,


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for you or your opponent. If you are a risk

taker and like offense more than defense,

then this is a strategy for you to consider.

A closed opening strategy is just the

opposite. A closed opening of moving the

pawns on the sides of the board result in a

defensive game play by both you and your

opponent. A closed strategy also limits much

of the movements that you can make withyour more versatile pieces.

Perhaps if you are a beginner to chess you

should utilize the open strategy to help you

learn how the offensive game works in

chess. If you are a more experienced player,

then the closed strategy may serve you well

since you already know the offense. If you

are a more experienced player a good

defense will lull the inexperienced players

right into your traps. Regardless of whether

you are new to chess or have been playing a

while, continue to focus on finding a goodbalance for yourself in regards to offensive

and defensive strategies.

6. Skewering and Pinning

Skewering and pinning are essential and

favorite moves for many chess players.

These are rather basic strategies that often

lead to a win. Knowing how to utilize them

will help you to improve your game. Your

opponent will be forced into situations of

either losing their highly valued piece or

being placed in check. This gives you theadvantage because you are now dictating the

game and your opponent is simply trying to

survive your advances.

The skewer refers to threatening a highly

valued piece such as the queen. Your

opponent will likely move that queen and

leave a free and open attack to a lesser-

valued piece such as a bishop or knight.Picture placing a protected bishop so that it

threatens a queen, if that queen moves out of

danger the knight is exposed. Your opponent

will almost always move that queen, thusallowing you a free victory over the knight.

Always take advantage of this. Do notskewer unless you do in fact intend on

taking the piece with lesser value.

Pinning refers to threatening a piece that is

blocking a file to the king. In other words

that piece cannot move, because if it does sothe king would be in check and that would

be an illegal move. Imagine you have a rook

in the same file as your opponent's king, but

your opponent has a knight in the file. That

knight cannot move because again thatwould be an illegal move. You are not

allowed to place yourself in check. Now you

have a choice to take that knight with either

your rook or with another piece. Always

take advantage of this and capture your

opponent's piece. This is a strategy that

experienced player's use to successfully win

games on a consistent basis.

7. Castling

Castling is a move that you should not

overlook when playing chess. Generally it is

better to have castled within the first twenty

moves in a game. Castling helps protectyour king from intruders. Some think of it as

actually the king retreating into the castle

where he is safe. By castling you do not

have to be as concerned about the kings

vulnerability. A king is a very poor offensive

piece and a king copes poorly with direct

attacks. Castling offers the king the

protection that he so desperately needs.

Another good reason for castling is that it

allows your rook to develop more quickly.

Often without castling, it takes a long seriesof movements to simply develop your rook.

Exercise caution though not to move the

rook to far away from the protective role it

has with the castled king. The downside of

castling is that if you attempt to move your

rook out for an attack and you have not yet

moved any of the three pawns in front of

your kind, he can be trapped into a back row

checkmate. Always try to have a piece that

can go in and block a check if the king is

trapped behind the three pawns.

If, after castling, you find that you need tomove your protective rook, then it is a good

idea to move the pawn that is closest to the

edge of the board up one space. This allows

an escape route for your king to prevent the

back row checkmate after castling. The side

that you choose to castle on usually depends

more on opportunity than preference.

Choose wisely and evaluate the side that

seems least vulnerable to your opponent'sattacks. Use castling as a defensive method,

just does not allow it to trap your king

without protective help.

8. Put your Pieces to Work

Some approach chess with an extremely

defensive mentality. This works in some

situations and not in others. Being too

defensive leads to your primary pieces being

stuck on the back row and being of little

offensive value. This is particularly truewhen your queen, bishops, and rooks are

trapped behind the line of pawns. To win a

game of chess you need to develop your

back row pieces at some point. A plan of

how you are going to develop them willoffer you a strong advantage.

Think of your primary chess pieces as

sleeping soundly in the comfort of the

barracks before the war begins. If those

most powerful soldiers remain there, they

cannot thwart your enemy during the war.

Develop these primary pieces in the manner

that the game progresses. Typically this

means that bishops move from the back row

quickly followed by knights, the queen, and

finally the rooks. The rooks typically move

out when the middle game is starting, or the

midpoint of the match.

Too often inexperienced chess players do

not get their primary pieces off of the back

row soon enough and those pieces are

rendered ineffective. A worse scenario is

that they are trapped on the back row and

left rather defenseless. Think of the rook

being in its opening position with a knight

beside it. If the pawn in front of the knight

has moved forward your opponent's bishop

easily, and freely takes that rook through the

semi open file. Allow the powerful pieces

from your back row to work for you, not

against you. Allow them to be offensive aswell as defensive and you will have moved

towards achieving that all-important balance

in your chess game.

9. The Power of the Pawn

Many in chess underestimate how powerful

their pawns can be. Pawns are similar to the

foot soldier in a war, while not as awe

inspiring as the tank or the heavy artillery,

the foot soldiers ultimately win the war. It is

the same with pawns in chess also. One very

rarely, and rarely know about moves by apawn is called En Passant. This move can be

used only when an opponent moves his

pawn forward two squares on its initial

movement. When this happens, the

opposing player has the option to take the

moved pawn "en passant" as if it had only

moved one square. This option, though, only

stays open for one move.

Allowing your pawns to move forward in

small multiple groups can give you an edge

as well. It is much more difficult for your

opponent to defend against differentapproaching attacks than just one large one.

If you are on a battlefield and have a limitednumber of troops, it is easier to defend when

the enemy comes in one large group. It is

much more difficult to try and defend

against multiple fronts. This is the same in

chess when the pawns are advancing into

opposing territory.

Keep in mind that towards the end of many

games all that is left is pawns, the king, and

perhaps one of your primary pieces. At this

point in time pawns become criticaldefenders and offensive pieces. Combine

that with the ability to trade them in for a

queen when you reach the 8th rank (other

side of the board), pawns become all

important. So do not allow your pawns to


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simply be thrown away as unimportant since

they can help you a great deal in the end.

10. The Double Threat

One of the favorite moves in chess is being

able to threaten two pieces at the same time

with your one piece. This forces your

opponent to decide which piece to sacrifice.

An example of this is placing a bishop indiagonal file that threatens to take two

pieces. Whichever piece your opponent

moves, you will be able to take the other.

Another example would be placing a rook in

an open file so that it threatens both a knight

and a bishop. If your opponent moves the

knight, you can take the bishop, if your

opponent moves the bishop then you can

take the knight.

This is a move that will definitely assist you

in winning games. This move only gets

better when you are able to threaten twopieces with a pawn. A variation to this move

is to utilize a knight so that it places the king

in check and the king must move so that it is

out of check, allowing you to be able to take

a rook or bishop etc. A knight is a wonderful

piece to use in creating a double threat

because of its versatility and due to the fact

that some inexperienced players simply

overlook the available moves that your

knight has in front of it.

Defending against the double threat consists

of two strategies. First is the option ofretreating so that both of your pieces are

defended by one another. This is not always

an available option though. The second

defense is to threaten a highly valued piece

that your opponent has, generally a queen. If

you are being threatened with a double

threat and can threaten your opponent's

queen, your opponent is likely to defend that

queen before taking advantage of the doublethreat they have laid out.

11. The Trade Off

Trading pieces of equal value in chess is a

normal during the progression of the game.Sometimes though a chess player wonders

when it is appropriate to trade off pieces and

what pieces are relatively equal. The

obvious trade off would be a bishop for a

bishop, a rook for a rook, but what about a

bishop for a knight? Is this a good trade off?To answer this lets look at the values of the

pieces. Typically the pieces are ranked from

highest to lowest as follows: queen, rook,

bishop, knight, and pawn.

The relative value of the knight and bishop

can change during the games progression. In

the beginning of the game the knight is

more valuable than the bishop due to the

knight's ability to jump over a crowd.

Towards the middle game the bishop

becomes more important due to his ability to

cover the board. A rook is generally not

much of a threat in the beginning of the

game, but is often critical to the end game

since is can attack open files quite easily.

Keep in mind that the value of a piece will

change with the progression of the game.

Deciding whether or not to complete theavailable trade off is not always an easy

question to answer. The final answer is that

it depends on the game situation that you are

in Trading off pieces with your opponent

should add to your overall strategy instead

of being done just for the sake of clearing

spaces on the board. The only general rule

in regards to trading pieces is to always

trade up. If you can sacrifice a bishop for a

rook, do it. Sacrificing a knight for a queen

is always a good idea. Think out the benefits

that the trade off will provide then decide

whether or not to do it.

12. Three Types of Draws

Stalemate is not the only draw that can be

achieved in the game of chess, although it is

the most well known. The other two types of

draws include the fifty-move rule and the

three-fold repetition. If you are looking for

the win then you want to avoid draws as

much as possible and have the game result

in a checkmate instead of a draw.

A stalemate is when it is your opponent'sturn, but they have no legal moves that they

can make. This means that the king is the

only piece that can be moved, but it cannot

be moved into check. Remember that it is

illegal for a king to place himself in check.

This results in the draw by way of stalemate.

Neither player wins the game.

The fifty move rule is when there are nopawn movements and no captures for fifty

consecutive moves. If a pawn move or a

capture takes place, then the count resets to

zero and begins again. Upon reaching fiftymoves either player may claim a draw and

again no one wins the game. Typically thishappens when both players only have one or

two pieces left on the board.

The three-fold repetition says that if the

exact same position occurs on the board

three times during a game, either player mayclaim a draw. Sometimes this is done on

accident, other times it is forced by placing

an opponent in check over and over again.

Think of being able to take a picture of the

board three different times during a gameand the pictures come out identical to each

other.

Try to avoid these draws so that you are able

to come away with an official win. Avoid

these by watching out for them and being

sure to look for every opportunity to place

your opponent in checkmate.

13. The Strategic Sacrifice

The strategic sacrifice is a strategy of

getting out of losing a primary piece to your

opponent. At times your opponent is going

to be attacking one of your primary piecesand that primary piece of yours is

unprotected. If you have no way for you to

protect that primary piece against the

ensuing attack, or no option to retreat, then a

strategic sacrifice may be in order. An

inexperienced player may simply allow the

threatened primary piece to be captured and

move on, but this does not have to be the

case.

When you find yourself in this situation you

may be able to threaten one of youropponents primary pieces on the very next

move. If you are able to do this it is a good

idea since you cannot retreat and cannot

move a piece to protect your threatened

piece. For example, you can slide your

bishop up to attack his unprotected rook.

This places your opponent in a difficult

situation. Your opponent must decide if he

wants to save his primary piece that you are

threatening, or go ahead and take your

primary piece that he has threatened. Of

course, he may decide to take your primary

piece anyway, at which point you take hisprimary piece. This results in a

compromised loss for you in that you at

least gain one of his pieces instead of none

at all. If you moved correctly, perhaps your

bishop is now only one move away from

protecting your original piece assuming

your opponent decided to protect his

threatened piece. This is a good way to keep

the pieces on the board more even if you dofind yourself in this type of situation during

a game.

14. Hidden Attacks

If you can utilize the element of surprise in agame of chess you are at a great advantage

over your opponent and have a winning

edge. However, surprising more experienced

players with a hidden attack can be tough to

do, but may be worth the try. A hidden

attack is one which your opponent does notsee coming and is unprepared to respond to.

Implementing a hidden attack on an

opponent's king is particularly effective.

A hidden attack is one where you have aprimary piece, such as a rook, that is not

threatening your opponent at all. In front of

this rook you have one of your knights in

the same file. Your opponent may be

concerned about where you will be moving


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that knight, but not concerned about the

rook due to its position on the board. This is

where you can make your hidden attack.

Move your knight so that the rook is now

threatening one of your opponent's primary

pieces or even your opponent's king. If it

appears to your opponent that you are going

after, say their queen, your opponent may be

focused primarily on that, and not realize

that you are actually threatening their kingthrough a hidden attack.

It is important in chess to not telegraph your

strategy if at all possible. This means

concealing your threatening strategy by way

of making it appear that you are simply

defending your own pieces. The best

defense mechanism against falling victim to

hidden attacks is to analyze the entire board

and think broadly. If you can see what

options your opponent has in he next two or

three moves, instead of just the very next

move, you can do a good job of defendingagainst hidden attacks.

15. Understanding the Three Stages of a

Chess Game

There are three distinct stages to the game of

chess that you need to know in order to be a

winning chess player. These three stages are

the opening, middle, and endgame. Each

stage has different goals and objectives.

The opening you want to get a rapid

development of your primary pieces. Youalso want to safe guard your king, generally

by castling. It is in this phase of the game

that you want to try and achieve dominance

over the middle four squares of the board.

Generally the opening lasts between ten to

twenty moves roughly.

The middle game is when you begin to

coordinate your primary pieces and attackyour opponent's weak spots and open files.

The goal is to win primary pieces from your

opponent or even be able to checkmate your

opponent. The middle game isapproximately from the end of the opening

phase until around move forty.

The end game is when you use your

remaining primary pieces to take advantage

of the weaknesses that you created in your

opponent's defense during the middle game.

The endgame often concludes when one ofthe players is able to move a pawn to the

other side of the board and thus turn that

pawn in for a queen. This is then followed

by a checkmate or a resignation. Strategy,

not tactics are what need to be considered inthe end game.

Although there is no official start or end to

the different stages of the game you need to

have an understanding of where you should

be focusing your attention. These are

general guidelines as to what the stages are

and goals to accomplish during each stage

that successful chess players have been

using throughout the history of chess.

16. Four Move Checkmate

If you are new to chess you need to

understand one of the oldest tricks in chess,the four move checkmate. It is quite simple

to make quick work of less experienced

player by this method. Due to its fast speed,

the inexperienced player will never see it

coming. Therefore it is important to be able

to detect the proper board positions of the

pieces in order to properly defend one's

king.

Characteristic of the four-move checkmate

is the board positions of the Queen and

Bishop. If you see your opponent moving

their Queen and Bishop early in the game,it's a big sign that they are setting up for the

four-move checkmate. Also, do not be

fooled into thinking that this checkmate

should be done in four moves either.

Oftentimes, even players who know about

the four-move checkmate are defeated by it

because their opponent was able to disguise

their intentions with distracting moves. You

should always be on the watch when your

opponent's Queen is attacking the King's

Bishop Pawn.

If you are white, moving the king pawnforward two squares followed by black

moving their king pawn forward two

squares start the process. Then white moves

king bishop to attack blacks king bishop

pawn. If black does not see this coming

white places its queen in a position to attack

blacks king bishop pawn. If black does not

defend the coming attack then white has

checkmate the next move by taking blacksking bishop pawn with the queen.

To defend against this attack black could

have simply moved the knight in front of theking bishop pawn. Another defense is to

simply move the king bishop pawn forwardone square. Either of these methods is

acceptable.

17. Use Your Moves Wisely

Becoming a better chess player is not simplylearning about advanced strategies, it also

includes learning about all aspects of the

game including wasted moves. In the game

of chess you only get so many opportunities

to move your pieces and advance yourstrategy, so it is important that you use all of

your moves as wisely as you can.

A wasted move is one that accomplishes

nothing for you in the way of strengthening

your position. If a move does not improve

your defense or your offense it is wasted.

Some inexperienced players will waste

moves while waiting for their opponent to

make an error and this is a poor strategy.

Sometimes a player will move a primary

piece forward without providing and

defense for that piece. Then when the

opponent threatens that primary piece, the

inexperienced player simply moves thepiece back to where it was. This

accomplishes nothing and wastes two

moves.

In becoming a better chess player the player

who can control the board, especially the

center of the board, has an upper hand in the

game of chess. An experienced player

understands that they need to make every

move count and that each move should be

accomplishing something either in the way

of offense or defense. A very good player is

able to use a move to help defend, attack,and control the board all at the same time.

Try not to allow your opponent to have

moves that are more effective than yours

causing you to waste moves. Since chess

does not allow you to make many mistakes

against an experienced player, try not to let

wasted moves be one of the mistakes you

make, particularly since it is a preventable

error.

18. Utilizing Your Bishops

In playing chess you must learn of all the

little intricacies that come along with the

game. One of these to learn is what is called

an unopposed bishop. An unopposed bishop

is one whose counterpart on the opponent's

side has been taken. In other words, if you

have your dark square bishop and your

opponent does not, then you have an

unopposed bishop. The opposite of this istrue if you have lost one of your bishops and

your opponent still has theirs that is on that

square color.

The danger of an unopposed bishop comes

in many forms. The primary way that anunopposed bishop is dangerous is that if you

are being attacked by an unopposed bishop

you cannot block with your own bishop or

trade out pieces with your own bishop of

that color. Also if you have opened files, or

semi open files, on your side that are open toattack, the unopposed bishop can exploit

these quite easily. If your opponent has an

unopposed bishop then your opponent can

also use its to start taking down your pawns

and your primary line of defense. If you hadnot lost your bishop of the same square

color this attack would be much more

difficult for your opponent to carry out.


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Bishops are not always considered to be

highly valuable pieces by inexperienced

players, but they can have a dramatic impact

on the game due in part to their ability to

span the entire length of the board from

corner to corner. An unopposed bishop

becomes even more effective in the

endgame with its ability to threaten the

opponent's king without having to guard

against the opponents bishop of the samecolor square.

19. King of the World

The king that is hunted throughout the game

by your opponent may appear weak, but can

have some offensive value during the

endgame. During the middle game the king

should be in hiding because your opponent

still has many of their offensive pieces that

can easily checkmate you. As the game

progresses towards the end game you may

have no choice but to bring your king intothe battle as an offensive piece.

During the middle game you have probably

castled already and your king is safely

tucked away behind pawns with a rook to

his side. Moving the pawns from in front of

the king during the middle game is a

mistake. It is a mistake because it creates

open or semi open files for your opponent to

attack the king. Towards the end game

though, the pawns will likely have to be

moved. The primary reason for this is that if

you bring your rook, that was guarding theking, into battle your king is in a dangerous

position.

Picture the positioning in your head, three

pawns in front of the king, the king in the

corner and no pieces to the king's side. All

your opponent has to do is slide a rook or

queen down to the back row and you are in

checkmate, unless you can block this. Thiscreates a situation where, for defensive

purposes, you need to begin moving the

pawns forward to offer a lane of escape for

the king.

In the endgame, the king becomes a strongpiece. With reduced material, mate is not an

immediate concern anymore, and the king

should be moved towards the center of the

board. The king can block your opponent's

king quite well and even capture pawns

when played correctly.

20. Pony Up

Knowing when and where to use your

knights can be the difference betweenwinning and losing. Knights are very

versatile with their ability to leap over other

pieces on the board. The knights are the

only pieces that can accomplish this

important feat. Much of the strength of the

knight depends on where it is positioned on

the board.

It is important to spot gaps in your

opponent's position where a knight cannot

be attacked because your opponent's pawns

have already moved past that position.

Knights are generally easily chased away

with pawns. Once you find a gap in your

opponent's defense you should place youknight into that position. A knight that is not

facing any immediate threats and that

cannot be attacked in one or two moves by

the opponent's pawns (since the pawns have

already moved too far forward) is a valuable

asset in the game. An unchallengeable

knight on the fifth row is a strong asset, and

a supported knight on the sixth row usually

decides the game.

Generally it is a bad idea to place a knight

on the edges of the board or in the corners of

the board because this dramatically limitsthe moves that the knight can make. It is

similar to placing the knight into a cage with

only one way out. Knights are generally

most beneficial towards the center of the

board.

It is also important to keep in mind that a

knight is one of the best pieces to deliver a

fork. A fork is where a piece can threaten

two pieces at the same time. Your opponent

has to decide which of the two pieces that

you are threatening to sacrifice. Knights can

be very sneaky in delivering a fork.

21. End Game Ideas

Once most pieces have been exchanged off

the board and the end game is reached it

becomes impossible to mount direct attacks

on the king. When this happens the focus of

the game switches to attempting to bring a

pawn to the eighth rank and promote it to aqueen and at the same time preventing your

opponent from doing so. The promoted

queen, provided the opponent does not

immediately capture it, is enough to bringvictory.

If only one pawn is left then both players

should attempt to direct their kings in front

of the pawn in order to keep the other king

away and ensure, or prevent, the pawn's

promotion.

In endgames that involve only kings and

pawns, the concept of opposition is

important. By moving to a square which is

horizontally, vertically or diagonally two

squares away from your opponents king,you gain an advantage because it forces

your opponents king to give way.

A king and one minor piece is never enough

to force a win and thus the game will be a

draw. A king with two knights against a king

is also insufficient to force a win; however,

since this inability is partly a result of poor

timing inherent in the knight's awkward

moves there are circumstances where a win

can be forced if the opponent also has a

pawn. Although a king and three knights

versus king is also sufficient for a win, such

a situation rarely occurs because, for such a

position to arise, a pawn must have beenpromoted to become the third knight

whereas most players would usually choose

to promote the pawn to become a queen to

quickly end the game

22. Doubled Pawns

Doubled pawns leads to a weak game for

the player who has them. Doubled pawns

can is defined as having two pawns directly

in front of one another. This is the result of

an earlier capture. What is worse is that

these doubled pawns often become isolatedpawns. Isolated pawns are unable to be

guarded or defended by another pawn. If

you have two pawns in the same vertical file

without an ability to guard them with each

other, then you have a major weakness that

will most likely haunt you later in the game.

These doubled and isolated pawns are just

waiting to be picked off by your opponent.

You opponent may elect though to simply

ignore them since they are of very little

threat unless they reach the back rank and

get promoted to queens. This is easilyavoided by blocking their path with a pawn

of your own. The other disadvantage of

having doubled your pawns in the game of

chess is that you have also opened a file that

your opponent can use to mount an attack

onto your back row.

The best thing that you can do is to try and

avoid doubling up your pawns in thismanner. In order to avoid this mistake you

must utilize careful planning from the

beginning of the game. Using other primary

pieces to be able to capture attackers thatyour opponent sends out will help you avoid

the double pawn weakness. At times it maybe unavoidable to double up your pawns,

but being aware of the disadvantage it

presents and being able to recognize this

will help you in your game. Also you should

know that you could exploit this double

pawn mistake in your opponent and that ifyour opponent makes this error that you are

at an advantage.

23. End Game Goals

The primary goal of the end game is to

achieve checkmate against your opponent.

There are other goals that must be

accomplished in the end game to make this

possible though. One of these goals is to


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develop and centralize the remaining pieces

that you posses. Using a rook to control one

of the central vertical files is essential since

it limits the movements of your opponent's

king. Also you may consider moving your

own king towards the center of the board

since by the end game there are relatively

few pieces left on the board to threaten your

king. Controlling the center of the board is

important throughout the entire game ofchess, regardless of what phase of the game

you have reached.

When it is possible to do a balanced

exchange with rooks you should do so. It

does take away your rooks, which are quite

powerful, but it also eliminates your

opponent's rooks. Eliminating your

opponent's rooks will make it much more

difficult for your opponent to place you in

check. If the opportunity presents itself try

to attack a weakness in your opponents

position so that your opponent cannot use apiece. An example of this is a pin whereby a

piece cannot be moved or else your

opponent would be placed in check.

Other goals in the end game include

advancing your pawns further down the

board to penetrate and weaken your

opponent's defenses. The other reason that

you want to do this is so that you can

ultimately promote a pawn to a queen by

reaching the back rank. At the same time

look for opportunities to capture more of

your opponent's pawns as this continues toweaken their defense and prevents your

opponent from promoting a pawn to a

queen.

24. Middle Game Tactics

After the opening comes the middle game,

somewhere around move twenty usually.

This is where you and your opponent set offto do battle in the game of chess. A trade off

of pieces, sacrifices, pins, skewers, etc

characterizes the middle game. The goal of

the middle game is to capture more of youropponent's pieces that your opponent can

capture of yours. The methods that you useto capture your opponents pieces are

referred to as tactics. Tactics are immediate

plans, usually completed in a few moves,

while strategy refers to longer-term plans in

the game of chess.

Utilizing tactics in the middle game boils

down to trying to capture your opponent's

pieces for free or by sacrificing low valued

pieces. Capturing opponent's pieces for free

means that you can capture them withoutlosing the piece that you used to take it.

Sacrificing for a lower valued piece could

be characterized by capturing a bishop or

knight with a pawn. Being able to capture

your opponent's pieces for free or by a low

valued piece sacrifice gives you a great

advantage in the game.

When playing more experienced opponent's

it will be much more difficult to find free

pieces or to sacrifice lower valued ones for

higher valued pieces, however everyone is

liable to make a mistake during a

complicated game of chess. Awareness of

the entire board and the openings availablefor you to attack is a must in the game of

chess. Capturing more of your opponent's

material than they can capture of yours will

help you to ultimately win the game and to

do so with ease. Always be on the look out

for your opponent's unguarded pieces.

25. Chart Your Progress

Every chess player, no matter how good or

how bad, has strengths and weaknesses in

their game of chess. Whether you are an

absolute beginner or a seasoned veteran in

the game of chess there is room forimprovement. One way to improve your

strengths and to eliminate your weaknesses

is by simply keeping track of your games.

This includes wins and losses as well as

types of openings you use and endgame

strategies that you use.

If you use one certain opening sequence and

lose every time you use that sequence it may

be time to look for a new opening sequence.

This may also mean that you need to

practice and study your opening sequence in

greater detail. It is likely that youropponents are often exploiting the same

weakness over and over again. The same

ideas apply to your endgame strategy. If you

find yourself in similar situations over and

over again and continue to fail, then you

need to study your game and look at

alternative endgame strategies.

Athletes, business professionals, andbasically anyone who wants to be successful

at something use this kind of reflection to

see where they are making mistakes and

where they can improve. Use this critique ofyourself as a way to improve your chess

game. Take the time to write down theopenings you are using and the endgames

and compare that to your wins, losses, and

draws. You may even go so far as to create a

chart with opening scenarios and endgame

strategies listed in columns and wins and

losses listed in rows. Then you can quicklysee from the chart what combinations work

best for you. Understanding yourself and

your approach to the game of chess can only

help you to continue to improve.

26. Deflection

Deflection is a psychological term used to

describe a coping mechanism that people

use to avoid dealing with troubling feelings

or situations. People do this by being able to

alternate from one topic to another so that

they do not have to deal with either topic in

depth. Ok, so what does this have to do with

chess? In chess deflection will win you

games plain and simple. Players will often

use a piece, especially queens, to guard or

protect two separate pieces at the same time.

This is where the term deflection comes in.

Also sometimes called an overworked piece,

deflection is a tactical theme in which one

player has a piece that must remain on a

square that it is on, either because it defends

another piece, or because it blocks a threat.

If this guarding piece were forced to move,

the opponent's position would crumble. The

reason it is sometimes refers to as the

overworked piece is because this defending

piece is forced to do too many things at

once, defending two pieces. By meeting one

threat, the other threat is left unattended to

and thus leaves this piece at its opponent'smercy.

For example, if a bishop is guarding a queen

and is in place to prevent a back row mate

from a rook, you can simply move the rook

to the opponent's back row and place the

king in check. This forces the bishop to

move to block the check leaving the queen

that the bishop was defending completely

unguarded and available for the taking. Seek

out deflection that your opponent is using

and exploit it. This becomes an even better

tactic towards the end game because thechances of your opponent having a single

piece defending two is much higher.

27. Master an Opening

To become a better chess player you need to

be able to have one good opening when

playing white and one good opening when

playing black. There are many differentopenings that you can use, choose one that

is the most comfortable for you to use. Once

you have selected your preferred opening

begin to practice and then practice somemore. The opening that you decide to use

for white and the one you decide to use forblack do not have to be the same opening

sequence, however they can be if you so

choose.

Become a master at the opening, or

openings, that you have selected. One goodway to master these is to play against a

computer chess program that will exploit all

of the flaws in the opening that you have

selected. No matter what opening sequence

you choose there will be some weaknessesand flaws that go along with it. If you do

utilize a computer program to assist you in

this you can gradually increase the difficulty

levels within the program. By doing this you

will gradually learn most all of the outcomes


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of your opening sequence and the common

problems that can arise with these opening

sequences.

In addition to this, find people who are close

to your skill level and use these openings

when playing against them and play against

these opponent's frequently. Once you feel

you have the opening sequences down

pretty good then add a timer. Force yourselfto run through these openings with similar

skill level players at a rapid pace so that it

can become second nature for you. If you

follow these suggestion then you will

certainly become a force to be reckoned

with in your opening sequences and you

will have an advantage over your

opponent's.

28. Chess Notation Part 1

Chess notation is simply a method to write

down and record your game. Learning chessnotation will help you in many ways. One

way that it will help you is that it will

provide a history of what you did in the

game and how your opponent reacted. This

will allow you to recreate the game in the

future and to study what you did right and

what you did wrong. Chess notation is what

allows us to review the games of the

greatest chess players in the world. Without

chess notation we would not be able to

recreate those games. Chess notation also

can clear up any confusion during a game

about which moves have or have not beenmade. Chess notation is a must learn for

anyone who wants to become a serious

chess player.

There are a variety of chess notations, but

we will use the simplest method here. First,

turn your chessboard so that the right hand

corner of the board, as you and your

opponent face it, is the light color square. Ifthe squares are white and green, then the

right hand corner of the chessboard is white.

If the squares of the chessboard are red and

black, then the right hand corner is red.

Now you can begin setting up the pieces andalways remember that the queen goes on her

own color (white queen white/red square). A

common term for the horizontal squares is

"ranks" and the vertical squares are referred

to as "files". You will need to know these

terms in order to grasp chess notation.Ranks are labeled with numbers, and files

are labeled with letters. Next we will learn

the identifications of the different squares.


Many different chess books, chess websites,

and other types of chess training methods

rely on you understanding chess notation.

Chess notation helps to standardize how

moves are recorded and how a game

progressed. Let us look at how chess

notation identifies the different squares on

the board.

Your ranks are numbered from the white

side of the chessboard to the black side. The

back row with the white queen, not the one

with the pawns, is considered rank 1. The

white pawns are on rank 2 and so forth. Thismeans that blacks pawns are on rank 7 and

blacks primary pieces are on rank 8. The

files, or vertical rows are lettered A through

H. The first file letter is A, which will be the

furthest left hand file for the player playing

white, if you are playing black the A file will

be the file furthest to your right. Think of

the chess squares as having a first and last

name such as A1 or B7 with the letter being

the first name and the number being the last

name.

By doing this type of labeling, or chessnotation, we can track the moves of all the

chess pieces and the orders in which the

moves are made. To notate your chess game

you must write down where the piece was

and where it is moved to each turn. If we

were to move the white pawn in front of the

white king two spaces ahead, the move

would read e2 - e4. The hyphen means the

word "to". This signifies that whatever chess

piece was on e2 now has moved to e4. This

system of chess notation is probably the

easiest to understand for most people.


Understand that you will be writing down

move 1 for both white and black. This

means that in a grid, like the one below,

whites first move is next to the number one

and black first move is also in the number 1

row. Now that we have started looking at

chess notation lets see how a typical layoutof chess notation appears.

A typical layout of a notated game will look

like this:

Mike TomWhite Black

1. e2 - e4 e7 - e5

2. f1 - c4 b8 - c6

3. d1 - h5 g8 - f6

4. h5 x f7 #

The "#" sign means checkmate (chess game

over). Sometimes a "++" sign is used and

means, "game over" also. A single "+" sign

means that a check was made. The white

queen has checkmated the black king in theabove chess game. She has threatened to

take the black king with check, and he is

unable to escape from his position on the

chessboard, therefore it is mate. The king

cannot take the white queen for the king

would then be in check by the white bishop.

In the short form of chess notation, the

letters B, N, R, Q, and K are used before the

chess notation to identify which chess piece

is being moved. Each letter replaces the first

move and hyphen in the chess notation. The

bishop uses the letter B, the knight uses N,

the rook uses R, the queen uses Q, and theking uses K. No capital letter in chess

notation indicates a pawn is being moved.

Moving the white knight from g1 to f3 in

chess short form notation would read Nf3.

When a capture takes place, the letter "x" is

used to indicate the capture. For example,

exd5 means that the pawn on e4 just took

the piece or pawn on d5.

31. Join a Chess Club

Joining a chess club can offer a tremendous

amount of help in improving your chessgame. Joining a chess club allows you to

compete with many different players who

are at a variety of skill levels in their chess

game. Joining a chess club also allows you

to discuss the dynamics of the game with an

opponent's after a match and hopefully learn

from your mistakes and to continue to

improve your strengths. This benefit can be

fully utilized by using chess notation during

your game so that you and your opponent

can recreate the moves and learn from them

afterwards.

Another benefit to joining a chess club is

that you get to practice frequently.

Practicing and then practicing some more is

probably the best way to improve your

chess game. Players in your chess club can

educate you about various strategies such as

gambits and end game ideas. Fellow chess

club members can also help you keep up to

date with the latest news in the world ofchess and tournaments.

Finding a chess club is as easy as looking

one up on the Internet. Many communitieshave chess clubs; even the smaller

communities often have chess clubs. Thereare also on line chess clubs that you could

join. Try to find a friendly, not overly

competitive, chess club so that you can

enjoy yourself and learn at the same time.

Remember, the game of chess is supposed to

be fun. Chess clubs often times compete intournaments as well. These can be a great

deal of fun as you advance your chess skills.

Go find yourself a chess club today and

begin enjoying the socializing and otherbenefits that are offered by joining a chess

club.

32. Chess Etiquette


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There are some official and unofficial rules

of etiquette in the game of chess. The

general theme of chess etiquette is to be a

good sport and to be respectful. Some of the

more common official rules of etiquette are

as follows:

Every game must begin and end with the

players shaking hands.

Between the two handshakes, no talking is

permitted. "Check" need not be said. Players

are responsible for noticing where all of the

pieces on the board are located, and what

threats are pending.

Never do anything to distract any other

player in the tournament, especially your

opponent.

Always use the "touch move" rule.

If an illegal move is made, the tournamentdirector should be summoned. In a

tournament using a "Sudden Death" time

control, the other player receives an extra

two minutes when one player makes an

illegal move.

Never gloat over a victory, or become

despondent or hostile following a defeat. It

is always best to analyze the game with your

opponent, after the game ends, and in a

different room from where you played.

Leave the playing room quietly when you

finish so as not to distract the other peoplewho are still playing.

Never comment on a game that is in

progress, whether the game is yours or one

that you are just watching.

The tournament director has the authority

to punish breaches of etiquette, and may add

or subtract time as a sanction. In extremecases, players may be forfeited for violating

the rules and spectators may be banned from

the site.

These rules of etiquette generally apply to

tournaments, but it is always a good idea tofollow these. Being a good sport in chess

and having fun generally makes for a better

chess player.

33. Pay Attention

Staying focused and paying attention during

your chess game is critical if you intend to

win. While this may sound elementary,

many players often do lose focus during a

game and lose. When I was a very youngman I went to a chess club meeting for the

first time. I lost many games rapidly and

was not at all considered a serious player. In

the final match that I had that night, I played

a much more experienced player who was

said to be one of the very best in the club.

While I played him in our game I was very

focused on the game and looking for any

advantages on the board I could find since I

knew I was outgunned. As the game

progressed other members of the club came

over and began to talk with my opponent.

See, he was playing a young kid who hadnot even come close to winning a game all

night. The distraction that my opponent

faced with the conversation from other

players allowed me to ultimately win the

game. He simply was not paying attention,

had be been focusing on the game he would

of most likely won. I was quite pleased that

he was distracted and unfocused during the

game.

So the moral of the story is to stay focused

on your game so that you do not make

simple mistakes and do not underestimatean opponent. Everyone has a chance to win

and lose a game. It is noteworthy that during

tournaments it is improper to have

discussions with players who are currently

playing a game due to the level of

distraction it brings. Staying focused simply

helps you to keep your head in the game

where it belongs.

34. Gambits

I am sure that by now you realize that chess

is game of give and take. Depending on thegame situation you may be more inclined to

sacrifice pieces and in other situations you

may fight very hard to keep all of your

pieces. However, there are a number of

chess openings that are referred to as a

gambit. The word gambit stems from the

Italian 'gambetta' which means to set a trap.

The term gambit was also used by Italians to

describe a wrestling move. In chess agambit is simply sacrificing a piece to

achieve a better position on the board.

Typically in a gambit it is a pawn that issacrificed, but there are times where perhaps

a bishop or knight is the piece that issacrificed in the gambit. The idea is that the

player who sacrifices something gains

something in the process such as time or

active piece play. Let's look at the Danish

gambit as an example. In this white loses

two pawns, but is able to place bishops at anadvantage looking to your opponent's

kingside.

There are numerous gambits that have been

proven and tested time and again. Some ofthese gambits are more effective than others.

An opponent may or may not choose to

accept the gambit that you are offering. Your

opponent may be familiar with the gambit

and elect not to take your sacrificial pieces

to keep you from having an advantage. It is

up to you to decide if it is in your best

interest to use a gambit or to accept a gambit

during a game. It would be wise to research

many of these gambits and to become

familiar with using them in games. There

are numerous Internet sites that describe

gambits in detail as well as a variety of

books on the topic of gambits.

35. Have Your Game Analyzed

A unique way to work on improving your

chess skill is to record a typical game of

chess that you have played with chess

notation and then submit that game to a

grandmaster or other high-ranking chess

player. There are a number of grandmasters

that offer this as a service, for a fee, and will

provide you with detailed feedback about

how you can improve your game. The

experience and knowledge that these proven

players have can be invaluable to a beginneror intermediate chess player. The down side

of this is the costs that are incurred by

utilizing their services.

A less expensive way to do this is to record

your games, through chess notation, and to

ask a friend or member of a chess club that

you are a member of to analyze your moves

and give you feedback. While these people

are not grandmasters they may very well be

able to show you mistakes that you make

that can be easily corrected. The idea behind

this is to have more sets of eyes (and brains)looking at the various options that you could

have used.

People use feedback from more experienced

people in various facets of their lives.

Whether it is a parent of a baby asking

another parent how to take better care of

their child, or a business student asking for

feedback from a CEO, feedback from thosewho know more about a subject than we do

is one of the very best ways to learn. People

often get stuck in ruts and in a game of

chess we get stuck in ruts as well. Havingothers analyze our game may be one way to

help break the bad habits that we tend to fallinto.

36. Long Term Thinking

Playing chess is a thinking persons game

and the longer we have to think aboutsomething and analyze it, the better results

we usually have. Some people thoroughly

enjoy speed chess (also known as blitz

chess) in which each person usually has five

minutes each to complete the game, for atotal of ten minutes. Other players loathe

this type of rapid game and like to take their

time to think more deeply about their

possible moves and options. The more

rapidly a game progresses the more likely


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you and your opponent are to make

mistakes.

If you are one who prefers the games that do

not have a short time limit then

correspondence chess may be for you.

Traditionally the idea of correspondence

chess was to mail your move back and forth

with an opponent. You send them your first

move, by way of chess notation; they sendyou their response move, and so forth. With

the advent of technology and the Internet,

this can easily be done through email.

The appeal of this correspondence chess is

that you could literally have hours, days, or

even weeks to consider your next move. By

spending a great deal of time deciding upon

your next move you can dramatically

improve your chess game. Your opponent

will also have that length of time to consider

their move and this often results in a very

well played game by both participants.Correspondence chess allows you and your

opponent to develop better strategies and the

tactics to carry out those strategies.

Consider this as a method to improve your

game. If this is something that is not at all

appealing to you then there are a number of

people who will happily play speed chess

with you.

37. Think Ahead

Playing chess is all about having a goodsolid strategy developed in your game. In

order to develop and carry out your strategy

you need to be able to look at the board, the

pieces, and the situation in order to

determine the best strategy to use. Most

strategies will fail if you do not plan ahead.

Planning ahead, at least two moves, is

critical to becoming a winning chess player.

You can do this by carefully analyzing theboard and where the pieces are situated. A

more experienced player may even be able

to see likely scenarios that his opponent is

attempting to execute.

To plan ahead a couple of moves in chessmeans that you look at your available

options as well as your opponent's available

responses to the moves that you intend on

making. If you are able to do this you are on

the path to becoming a great chess player.

Some people have a tendency to simplyreact to the moves that their opponent

makes. These are the same people who wait

to see their opponent's strategy without

trying to implement one of their own. All of

us are probably guilty of doing this at somepoint, but taking control of the game and

being the one implementing strategies,

instead of the one reacting to them, gives us

an advantage in our games.

Being able to plan ahead a few moves and

to see what the next few moves your

opponent may make takes a great deal of

practice and generally comes with

experience. Being aware enough to try and

look for possible scenarios though will help

you to progress quicker in your game

development. Spend time during the game

looking for those scenarios and it will pay

off for you.

38. Watch Others

People are often so eager to jump into chess

and have heard over and over again that the

best way to improve their game is to

practice as much as possible. While this is

true another method that is often overlooked

is to watch others play chess. You can watch

other people in online chess games, at chess

clubs, tournaments, etc. Observing others

games will allow you to see situations that

have baffled you in the past and how othersreact to these situations on the board. This

will often provide unique insights since

many different people respond differently to

any given situation. While there may be

accepted standards in the chess community

of how to respond to a particular tactic, not

everyone will respond with that accepted

standard.

Watching those who are rated higher than

you, or those who are simply more

experienced at chess will provide you with

valuable insights. If you watch a game andsay "Oh, that is how you get out of that trap"

then you have already learned a valuable

piece of knowledge that your future

opponent's may not posses.

Do not limit yourself to simply watching

those who you feel are better players either.

Watch the games of lower rated, or less

experienced players. By watching thesegames you will see common mistakes that

new chess players make. Experienced chess

players often lose concentration and make

the same mistakes that the less experiencedplayers make. Watching these games will

also help prevent you from committingthese simple mistakes.

Continue to practice on a regular basis, but

also watch and learn from others. Learning

through the experience of playing is great

and watching others play is simply anothertool that you can use to improve your chess

skills.

39. Learn from Grandmasters

In today's technological world gaining

knowledge is easier than it has ever been.

Today on the Internet anyone can download

a copy of the chess annotation of games

played by chess grand masters. Sometimes

these are available for free and other times

there is a fee associated with gaining access

to these historical chess games among the

greatest chess players of all time.

Why would you want to look at a game that

was played twenty years ago by two grand

masters? The reason is simple, you can learn

a great deal from the experts. The grand

master ranking is often thought to be thehighest chess rating that a person can have.

If you can walk through a game and see the

moves, strategies, and tactics that experts

use in their game then you can dramatically

improve your game. Some of these grand

master games even come with a

commentary about which strategies and

tactics are being utilized so that you can

learn what the names are of the tactics and

strategies. The games that come with an

available analysis are especially beneficial

because someone has already spent the time

and energy to go through and detailmistakes that were made by each player in

the game.

Grand masters often spend years, or even

decades, perfecting their chess game and

have played against the greatest players in

the world. By doing this they have

experience and knowledge that we would

not be able to gain anywhere else. So take

advantage of today's technology and get

those annotated games and play them

through and learn from them, you will be

glad that you did. You should notice yourgame improving as well after having

analyzed a handful of games.

40. The Spike or Grob Opening

The Spike or Grob Opening line begins with

the strange appearing 1. g4. Most players

would not think of making this move in a

game of chess that they want to win. Itdamages king side pawns with an unguarded

advanced pawn. The Grob opening does

offer many tactical advantages for white

though along unusual opening lines.

After using 1. g4, follow with 2. Bg2 anddepending on your opponent's reactions, 3.

c4. These odd moves will send your

opponent's head reeling with trying to figure

out what in the world you are thinking. Your

opponent's may even think that you are

obviously inexperienced and will not eventake this opening, or you, seriously, which

gives an automatic advantage.

One difficulty with playing chess against

more experienced players is that they have acommon response to common openings.

Every time you use a certain opening they

will respond with a certain defense that has

worked for them in the past. This is where

the Grob comes into play, since it is so


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unusual for someone to use it, opponents are

often unsure of how to respond to it. The

Grob opening is particularly useful in speed,

or blitz, chess games.

The Grob is also effective in chess games

that are not timed. The Swiss

correspondence master Grob used his

namesake to win many different

correspondence games. In this case, a B-Class player defeated a strong master with

the Grob. Try out this unusual opening in

your games and see if you can make it work

for you. It does give you, as white, certain

tactical advantages whereby you can exploit

blacks responses when your opponent is

unsure of how to respond to such a different

opening.

41. The Classic Kings Pawn Opening

The classic kings pawn opening is a time-

tested opening that novice players can use tohelp them gain experience in the game of

chess. This is a great way to control the

center of the board and allows you to have

many avenues in which to mount an attack

against your opponent. At the same time it

also allows you to develop a very tough

defensive stance that your opponent may

have difficulty breaking through without

suffering a tremendous loss in pieces.

The kings pawn opening consists of first

moving both the D and E pawns forward

two spaces to D4 and E4. This is followedby bringing out both bishops to the sides of

the pawns at C4 and F4. The next step is to

move both knights out to C3 and F3.

Castling your king and rook on either the

kings side or the queens side follows this

move. Once this is done you can move the

queen to either E2 or D2. Now you can

move your second rook over to D1 or E1

depending on which side you castled to.

Of course all of this assumes that your

opponent will allow you the luxury of

moving your pieces into these exactpositions. Often times they will not give you

this opportunity, but if you have the chanceto execute even most of this opening, you

can place your self at a major advantage. All

of these pieces carefully compliment each

other in this opening scenario. You have

many different lanes in which to attack from

and have total dominance over the center ofthe board. Having control over the center of

the board is one of the basic tactics that

many players use in chess. Give the kings

pawn opening a try and see if it works for

you.

42. Chess Variants

Imagine getting a little tired of the

traditional chess game. If this ever happens

to you, or if you just want a new challenge

consider some of the many chess variants

that people are using today. There are many

new wild variants that you can play that can

actually help you to improve your

traditional chess game. Some of these

variants were originally made to help

beginners learn strategies and tactics in the

game of chess. However, some people

enjoyed the variant trainings so much, thatthey have begun playing them regularly.

Many of these chess variants, along with

their rules and strategies are widely

available on the Internet for those who are

interested.

Some of these variants include just using a

few pieces instead of the full compliment of

traditional chess pieces. Some of these

variants are used to teach children the basics

of chess, but before you ignore those

variants, they can be used by anyone to help

understand some of the more complexintricacies of the game of chess. Some of

these would be using only pawns on the

board to learn pawn forks and how to

advance while slowing your opponent's

advances.

There are other variants that only use

bishops as pieces, or only rooks, etc. These

variants can help you to master the

knowledge of how to best use these pieces

as attacking pieces and as defensive pieces

while at the same time experiencing a new

type of game that can provide you someenjoyment. While I prefer traditional chess,

I do recommend using these variant games

as a way to improve your overall chess

skills and knowledge of tactics that you can

use with the different pieces.

43. Checkmate

Have you ever found yourself dominating agame, leading in pieces, and yet struggling

to put your opponent into checkmate? Have

you ever chased a king around the board,

frustrated that you could not find that allimportant checkmate position? Most chess

players will struggle with completing thecheckmate, especially early on in their chess

playing. Being able to checkmate is

essential and knowing some of the different

checkmates is needed in order to be a

competitive chess player.

Even if your opponent is outnumbered by

pieces, they may try to elude you in order to

get a draw. This is a very smart move on the

part of your opponent. There are many

different checkmates that you can use to endthe game. Placing a guarded queen next to

the king does one of the easiest checkmates,

or at least one of the most effective

checkmates. If the king has nowhere to

escape to, then you have successfully placed

your opponent into checkmate.

Another very common checkmate is to use

two rooks, or a rook and a queen. Either

way it is the same concept. Use your two

rooks to dominate files so that the

opponent's king is slowly forced over to one

side of the board. Simply continue to move

your rooks so that the king cannot moveforward from the files and you will have a

checkmate.

There are many more checkmate methods

that can be used and you should study and

learn those checkmates. Experienced players

spend a great deal of time learning the

various checkmates and it shows in their

games by their wins. The more checkmates

that you know, the better off you will be and

the easier it will be for you to win games.

44. Defend Yourself

When your opponent attempts to move

pieces onto your side of the board you must

challenge those pieces. If you allow your

opponent to move unchecked onto your side

of the board you are asking for trouble. If

you are trying to execute a certain opening

or gambit, it may still be wise to challenge

these trespassers that have come to your side

of the board.

You need to defend against these pieces that

come to your side of the board either byattacking them, trading, or finding away to

drive them away and make them retreat.

Any of these methods are good in defending

yourself against these trespassers. Letting

your opponent place pieces on your side of

the board and taking no action allows your

opponent to gain an advantage that he or she

will likely hold throughout the entire game.

If you ignore these pieces that youropponent has placed on your side of the

board it will allow your opponent to bring

even more primary pieces over to your side

of the board and will limit your possiblemovements.

It is especially important to attack these

pieces or drive them away when they are

placed in the center of the board.

Controlling the center of the board is one of

the basic principles in the game of chess. If

you see your opponent placing uncheckedpieces there you must challenge or attack if

you want to have a chance to win the game.

Often times if you are able to force your

opponent to retreat these trespassing pieces

you will gain a tactical advantage. You willhave the momentum, or tempo, on your side

while he or she is in the process of

retreating.

45. Simplicity


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Sometimes when playing chess we are

looking for the complex gambits or trying to

memorize openings. While chess is a very

complex game that requires many complex

strategies and tactics it is easy to overlook

some of the more simple principles of the

game of chess. Staying focused on the basic

principles of chess is much more important

than being able to rattle off the sequence ofyour preferred openings. Sticking with basic

principles will simply help you to win

games when your opponent's may be trying

too hard to carry out some ultra complex

tactic that rarely works.

One of the basic principles in chess is that

when your opponent gives up control over a

square you should move into that square.

There are only so many squares on the

board that you can safely move pieces into.

As the game progresses these available

squares become much harder and harder tofind. Therefore, if your opponent is

surrendering one of these precious squares,

you should move into it. By moving into

this free, or unguarded square, you will be

able to mount an attack much more easily.

The main thing to watch for when doing this

is to make try and determine if your

opponent is trying to set a trap for you.

Generally, even if your opponent is trying to

set a trap for you, it will be apparent. Most

of the time though moving into that

unguarded square will work to youradvantage. With only sixty-four squares on

the board, moving into that free and open

spot is helpful. Again, try not to get too

focused on the complexities of strategies

while forgetting the most basic principles in

the game. Successful chess players always

stay in touch with the simple and basic

principles.

46. Attack on the Kings Side

At Some point during the opening of the

chess game most players will likely attemptto castle. Castling provides the player with a

good line of defense for their king. Typicallythe player who has castled has at least three

pawns in front of their king, a rook on the

open side of the king, and one space

followed by the edge of the board on the

other side of the king. Most of the time it is

a good idea to castle because of theprotection it offers the king.

When playing against someone who has

castled their king, which will frequently

happen, it is a good idea to begin a strategythat allows you to attack your opponents

king side. In other words, attacking those

pawns that are protecting your king. If you

are able to, you want to slowly but surely

place your pieces on the opponent's king

side so that you can overwhelm the pieces

that are protecting your opponent's king.

Depending on the situation it may even be

worthwhile to sacrifice a piece in order to

disassemble your opponents pawns that are

protecting the king. You will have to decide

if it is prudent to sacrifice a piece or not

when attacking the opponents king side

defense.

Being able to dismantle your opponents

king side defenses, while at the same time

maintaining your own kings side defenses,

will give you a huge advantage in the game.

Chess players who are able to destroy the

opponents king side defenses and keep their

own defenses in tact usually win the game.

Use this as a strategy when you feel that you

are perhaps a piece or two ahead, or when

you have tempo going in your favor.

47. Play Against a Computer

One method to develop your chess skills

and experience are to play against a

computer opponent. The primary reason to

do practice against a computer chess

opponent is because the computer opponent

rarely makes major errors or tactical

blunders. Consider this, the computer

opponent does not get tired, distracted,

angry, etc. This makes for a very tough

chess opponent when you play against a

computer.

It is helpful to set the skill level of thecomputer opponent to a slightly higher skill

level than what you are at. However, this is

not an option against all computer

opponents. There are many different

websites on the Internet that allow you to

play for free against computer opponents.

Some of these Internet sites also allow you

to receive feedback from the computer

opponent as to how you could improve yourgame, or even suggested moves for you to

make during the game. Being able to win,

when playing against a computer opponent,

is quite an accomplishment. Although somepeople have a general disdain for playing

against computers, there is a great deal oflearning that comes for the human player

when they do play against a computer chess

opponent.

Take advantage of this technological age

that we live in and utilize these computerchess opponents as a way to drastically

improve your game and learn from your

mistakes. Computers will generally work

from a statistical formula that results in the

computer opponent making the move that isthe statistically best move. Often times these

computer opponents will provide you with

chess notation that you can print out. Using

the notation that is provided will allow you

to review your game and see where you

made mistakes in the game.

48. Zwischenzug

The German word zwischenzug means

intermediate move and it is a common tactic

that occurs in almost every game of chess.

Picture your opponent making a move that

directly threatens one of your pieces. Afteryou opponent has done this you are able to

follow up with the zwischenzug tactic.

When this tactic is used in the game of chess

you will make a move that poses an even

more devastating threat, instead of

countering a direct threat, which the

opponent expected you to do. Often the

move that you made will be a direct attack

against the opponent's queen or the king.

The opponent is forced to counter that threat

against his or her queen or king first and this

will ideally change the situation to his or her

disadvantage.

Just as easily as you can use this tactic, so

can your opponent's. Because this is a

common, well-known tactic you should

always watch out for a zwischenzug. Do not

assume that the opponent has to counter

your threats immediately, no matter how

great they may appear in your eyes. It is

good practice to always check whether your

opponent has a check or a move that can

threaten your queen. Conversely, anticipate

your opponent's threats and plan a

surprising. Zwischenzug.

Try to use this tactic when it appears to

work to your advantage and guard your

pieces against it, particularly guard your

queen and king against the zwischenzug.

This tactic is all about forcing your

opponent into making tough decisions. Your

opponent has to ask themselves for example

"do I take his knight with my bishop, orguard or move my queen?" these types of

situations generally will provide you with a

tempo advantage as your opponent retreats.

49. Do Not Fret

If you find yourself in a game where you are

trailing a two or three or even four pawns

behind there is no reason to worry too much.

The number of pawns that you have as

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Chess Tips to Think About