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An Easy And Comprehensive Guide To

Chess

This fun guide will include: An explanation on how to be able to read and understand a chess game through theuse of co-ordinates

A brief glossary explaining some basic and essential chess terms. A table explaining the initial value of the pieces involved in a chess fight. A description of the strategies to adopt in the opening, middle game and endgamephases of a chess game with some insightful examples provided by diagrams.

A tactical approach to the game included in the explanation and analysis. A detailed analysis of the top games played by the author.

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!


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The basic rules

Chess is a game played on aboard with 64 squares. It has 32 pieces (16 pawns, 4 knights, 4bishops, 4 rooks, 2 queens, 2 kings) and its played with two opposing armies of equal size. The enemy pieces can capture each other (by occupying the square that was previouslyoccupied by the captured piece), but pieces of the same army cant capture one another.

Although the starting position is equal under the material point of view, white is allowedthe first move, thing which gives him a very slight advantage.

Overall, the objective of the game is to capture the enemy king. Once the enemy king iscaptured it is said that the player which captured the enemy king has given checkmate andtherefore has won.

In addition, the pieces have different movements which are:The king:

If the king is threatened to be captured, it is forced to move as it is under check.

The king can move in any direction but only one square (as the diagram on the leftillustrates).

The king, when itself or one of the two rooks hasnt moved yet, it can castle. Theprocesses involved in this move are illustrated by the diagram on the right. However, ifunder check, the king cant castle.



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The queen:

The queen can move in any direction of how many squares it wishes, but has to stop at thepoint where its blocked by other pieces.

The rook

The rook can only move horizontally and vertically of how many squares it wishes, but has tostop at the point where its blocked by other pieces. It also has the possibility to castle (seesection on how the king moves).

The bishop

The bishop can move vertically of how many squares it wishes, but has to stop at the pointwhere its blocked by other pieces.



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The knight

The knight has the property to jump over the other pieces, which is quite a significantadvantage.

It moves as shown in the diagram above, almost forming an L shape with its movements.

The pawns

When a pawn reaches the last rank, it can become any piece. The first time a pawn moves, it has the possibility to move two squares forward.However, it can still move only one square, like it would do normally.

A pawn can only advance, not move backwards. A pawn can only capture other pieces vertically in the range of only one square, asillustrated at the left of the diagram above.

A pawn also has a property known as en passant. When a pawn is on the 5th rankit has the possibility to capture an enemy pawn if it advances two squares next to it

(only if the pawn that has advanced is on a close file). An example of this can be seenin the right side of the diagram above.



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Checkmate!!When you checkmate, you win the game! Its the whole point behind the game of chess and,therefore, its very easy to recognize when you do give a checkmate. A checkmate occurs whenyou are threatening, with whatever piece, to eat the king and he cant escape, defend himselfor capture the attacking piece by himself or another member of the army. Below are some

exciting examples!


This is a typicalcheckmate early inthe game. White cando nothing to defendthe king and thegame is over!

This is another checkmateposition. Whites queen isthreatening to captureblacks king and black cantdefend himself. Therefore,white won!

This position doesntshow a checkmate.However, white cancheckmate by forcein two moves!P.S: The solution isRxe8+, Nxe8,Rxe8#. :)

HELP!


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GlossaryFile= A row of chess squares disposed vertically.Rank= A row of chess squares disposed horizontally.Square= A location/point of the chess board on which the game can be played. The whole chessboard is made up of 64 squares.

Co-ordinates= The combination of letters and numbers used in a chess board to annotate themovements and evolutions of the various pieces involved in the chess formation during thegame.


A diagram representing the initial position of a chessgame with the co-ordinates around the board.


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The co-ordinates In chess, being able to use the co-ordinates found on the board easily and efficiently is avery important skill that most masters require and have. In fact, its very useful to indicate themovement of the pieces and, therefore, being able to present a game to an audience (as forexample through a book) without the need of having to use thousands of diagrams.

How to specify which piece has been moved As it is possible to see from the diagram above, there are enough co-ordinates to indicateevery single square on a chess board.

To indicate which piece moves to which square, there are some conventions that is veryimportant to keep in mind. In fact, the piece that is being moved has to be specified at everymove when annotating a game and, for this process to be made a lot more simpler, someworldwide recognized abbreviations have been attributed to the various pieces.

Pawn= When a pawn move is made, no annotation apart from the square to which the pawnmove is made is required.

Knight= N. (Not K as it would create some confusion with the piece of the king).

Bishop= B.

Rook= R.

Queen= Q

King= K.It is also important to remember that when two same pieces can be moved to the same

square, to specify which of the two pieces is moved, the different rank or file of the piecewhich is intended to be moved has to be specified. A clarification of this point can be seen in

the example provided below.


A diagram illustrating a typical position when twoequal chess pieces can move to the same square.

Letters have to be writtenfirst in chess annotations.

We, numbers, have tobe written after letters.


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In the case provided above, the annotation required for the white knight on g3 to move tof5 would be Ngf5. In fact, the specification of the rank on which the piece intended to moveis results necessary to distinguish the knights.

On the other hand, if the knights (or any other piece, like the bishop or rook) are on thesame file, the rank on which the moved piece is has to be specified. In fact, the annotationrequired to move the black c8 knight to e7 (the square to which also the c6 knight could

move) would be N8e7.

How to specify the square to which a piece has been moved Obviously, when annotating a chess move, as well as the specification of the piece that ismoved, also the specification of the squared to which it is moved is required. Conventionally,after the moved piece is specified, the square to which it will move is stated. In doing so, thefile has to be written first (through the use of letters from a to z) and then the rank (throughthe use of numbers from 1 to 8).

Example An example of how the first 5 moves of a well known opening line (the ruy lopez) would beannotated is provided.

1. e4, e5,2. Nf3, Nc6,Bb5, a6,3. Ba4, b5,4. Bb3.


The position that should be achieved if the co-ordinates

provided in the example are followed correctly by the reader

Reading chessco-ordinates isalmost likereading a map.


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The value of the pieces In chess there are 6 different pieces which differ in terms of their value, due to theirdifferent characteristics, properties and roles. During a chess game, it is very important tokeep in mind the value of the pieces to be able to know which pieces it might be convenient toexchange.

Pawn= 1Knight= 3Bishop= 3,25. Its considered a little bit stronger then the knight but, as well see in thestrategy sessions, it depends on the kind of position which is reached.Rook= 5Queen= 9King= Infinite (If the king is captured, the game is lost). However, in the endgame (when theking can become a useful weapon) it is given a value in strength that is worth 4 points.


N.B: Before entering this section it is important

to have understood properly and meditated

properly about the previous section. In fact,

the following topics will require a good

understanding of the basic chess rules.


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How to win a chess game (briefintroduction)

Winning a chess game is never easy, since you have to defeat your opponents army andget to his king. To win a game of chess, especially when the level gets higher, some key factorshave to be kept in mind and some plans have to be considered in order to crush the opponentand have even more fun! This page will provide some brief introductory explanations concerningwhat, generally, a chess player has to consider when attacking and defending. However, if anychess player is courageous enough to study the game in even more depth, the following pagesare rich with insightful information.Opening During the opening phase a player should just try to do the three following things:

Develop its pieces logically and safely (not creating too many pieces) for them to be ready tofight throughout the middle game.

Occupy the center, for the opponent to be limited and the attackers chances of winningthrough decisive breakthroughs (thing which often creates weaknesses) to increase.

Castle, since it puts the king to safety and connects the rooks.

Middlegame

When attacking...If you are attacking, you should try to push your pieces and pawns against the enemy

formation to create weaknesses, gain space and eventually capture the king! In trying to do so,the pieces have to co-operate well together and try to give each a contribution to the battle,as for example by occupy some key squares for the infiltration of other pieces.

When defending... Nobody likes to defend in chess! In fact, it often means that the defending side has a worstposition and the highest probability of loosing. However, if this is the case, care, precision andespecially steel nerves are required! The defending side should often try to recompose itsposition by re-coordinating its pieces to a defensive function and try to cover or heal all theweaknesses.

Endgame This is probably the most technical and complicated phase in chess. There are many logical

key principles to follow that will allow to win many endgames but, in this case, it is alsonecessary to be aware of some very few key positions.


This page is a summary of themain ideas and themes in themain phases of a chess game.


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Get

ready forsomething very

exciting!


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The opening The opening phase is at the beginning of every chess game, when the pieces jobs in thechess games are defined and both armies start developing themselves. Throughout the openingits very important to play in a logical and accurate manner as if the pieces are developed badlyand the position is already seriously compromised, the chances of success throughout the rest

of the game will diminish significantly.At very high levels, openings are studied by heart along the

lines of what is known as opening theory because any minorinaccuracy in deploying the forces could cost the game. Nonetheless,at amateur levels not such a high level of accuracy is required andmost players could manage to play some good level of chess bysimply following three basic, easy and healthy principles.

The principles to follow are these ones:

Develop your pieces safely and logically on active squares as close to the center as possible,in order for them to be ready to fight once the middle game will have been reached.

Occupy the central squares with your pieces and pawns, as its generally the area of theboard where the action takes place and a good control of the centre can be used to furtheron launch attacks through pawn pushes, etc.

Castle and put your king to safety. In fact, leaving the king at the center of the board isoften a great strategical error, due to the fact that most pieces have easy access to thecenter and, therefore, it is often very easy to concentrate all ones forces on an exposedcentral monarch.

At this point, most of the readers might be confused and bored by these very superficialand confusing explanations. However, I will try to explain in more detail and with some

insightful examples these points that, if understood well, will allow anybody to play chess at avery decent level.

1. Develop your pieces safely and logically and castle or if not... Develop your pieces safely and logically and castle, what does this mean? Which squaresare logical and safe? What is meant by this? How can we do it? If our opponent doesnt followthis rule, how can we take advantage of it? Well, these are all very good questions, but its notas hard as it seems.


Black hasmisplayed theopening in anevident manner asnow its clear that,even though blackwith correct play willnot loose, will havea worst position.

Thisis really badfor us!


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To explain the following principle, lets just take in consideration the above position. Although atfirst sight it might not be so easy to notice for the novice chess player, white is completelywinning. The reasons are the following:

Whites pieces are already developed towards the center

White is already occupying some key central squares with the pawns and pieces

White (since its his turn) could immediately make pushes with the pawns like e6. Such a

decisive move allows to crack definitely the enemy position, open lines for the attack, limiteven more the enemy position and leave the king undefended. After such a move. Theweak f7 square is attacked and a capture by white (assuming that black doesnt make anymove for progress) with check would result deadly as the right to castle would be lostand the king would be stuck in an area where it can be very easily attacked.

Black has not castled so at least one rook cant take part in the game and the king is notsafe.

Therefore white has two options apart from loosing a pawn:If black advances the threatened f7 pawn, the e8-h5 diagonal would remain undefended andwhite will have a very strong point from which to place his pieces thanks to the pawn.


The piece is removedand now white attacksthe exposed king, a

consequence of thepieces not beingdeveloped naturally.

The f7 pawn advances,weakening the king.Nowwhite has a free h5-e1diagonal and control over thef7 and d7 squares.

The decisive push is made by whiteto break open the white position,ust as in the previous example.

Black takes the apparentlyree piece (although theosition is alreadyesperate) and...

The knight is sacrificed to allowthe decisive attack. Either whitelooses material after Nf7 (doubleattack) or takes but this will allowto take advantage of the weakand undefended squares.

Forced by black and... CHECKMATE!! :)


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Capturing by black is a clearly better option. However, it would still be leading to aloosing position as in the current position, even assuming the best moves are played.offersvery bad prospects for black.

Try to occupy the center or else... Grabbing the center with your pawns is extremely important to successfully come out ofthe opening phase. Its like preparing your soldiers for attack and assuring not to createyourself any major weaknesses. If both sides follow the same principles, then the openingshould end approximately equal and the middle game phase would begin. Nonetheless, if oneplayer forgets to do what required, he will inevitably be teared apart!

The following position shows a typical situation in which one army can take advantage ofthe opponents misplay for not having developed the center.


The pawn is captured which, asdiscussed previously, is blacksbest o tion to survive!

OBVIOUSLY. White captures back! :)

White captures with the bishop,limiting blacks position and chanceto castle due to the presence ofthe rook and the pressure on thee file.

The pawn is pushed and thedecisive breakthrough is made.

Black captures back,not to loose a pawn.

Black plays Nf6. However, becauseof the opening inaccuracies whitehas a terrible pressure on the e-file, which compromises themonarchs safety and, after Qe2,

black wont be able to castle as thee pawn will be captured withoutthe king defending it.


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The diagram above represents the key position which we will discuss to understand theopening. The situation is very good for white, since he has a very good control of the centerwith his pawns (a key objective of the opening), he has got space and is ready to attack! Ifonly black would have also pushed his pawns to the center in the opening and would haveundermined whites control, then he would have probably not have faced this problem! In this game white didnt develop all his pieces yet and didnt castle but instead he obtaineda very strong center and, since black is not in a situation to attack him (practically, in fact, eventhough white didnt castle his king is not in danger), he can now easily use this to win thegame.

How will he attack? What pieces will attack, how will he be able to deliver checkmate fromsuch a position? Probably most of the readers are thinking about these critical questions at

this point but no worry, I will explain!From this point on, white won in only 7 more moves! Hard to believe, right? However, I willexplain in detail every move.


White takes advantage of thecentral square provided by oneof the many central pawns tocheck the king (and make him

loose the right to castle)without getting captured.

Here black moves the kingto f8. However, in doing soblack looses officially theright to castle and develop

his rook from the corner.

White develops more piecesto attack the weak kingposition and play movessuch as Ng5, which, for

example, would immediatelywin the h7 pawn.

Ijust cant

wait to get toF6 and checkthe king. Black

is toast!


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White plays d6 to try andcreate space for thedevelopment of the bishop andtry to destroy whites center.However, white is too quick andblack plans too slow.

By playing Ng5, white threatens totake the h7 pawn with check thatcant be defended as blacks pieces aresquashed on the last ranks. Whitesmore space and more development isresulting very strong.

Black captures the pawn hopingsomehow to brake the center.However, the situation isalready desperate.

White obviously capturesback the pawn, also tosupport the knight on f6.

Black exchanges queen hoping toreduce the attack and achieve aplayable endgame, but this wonthappen.

Black tries to develop theking, for white not to beallow to capture with check!

White plays Rh3 to develop the rookon the d file where it would be able tocontrol the file and harm the king.

b6 is an attempt tothen develop the bishopto b7 and take him outof his initial position.


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The Middlegame


We allworked together as

a family to destroy black,once we had obtained the

advantage of a verystrong pawn center.

Victory

is ours!

White achieves awinning position.


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KingThe king is the most important chess piece during a chess game. In fact, the side which

manages to capture the opponents king wins. Therefore, during the middle game section thereare a couple of things to keep in mind, for the king to remain safe and protected.

The king should be protected constantly and under whatever circumstance.

The king should be kept safely behind the pawns.

The pawns in front of the king should not be pushed, for the kings safety not to becompromised.


This position isapproximately equal,since whites king isrelatively safe andprotected by theknight and pawns.

In this position whitesking is extremelyexposed and black can

infiltrate with Qh3+,Kg1 and Qxg3. In thisline black, apart fromhaving an extra pawnalso has a good attack,that he will be able tocontinue by bringingother pieces in thegame.


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Queen The queen is the second most valuable piece in a players army as it is very useful indefending and attacking. To use appropriately this very powerful piece there are some veryuseful tips which have to be kept in mind:



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The Rooks

After the queen and king, rooks are the most powerful and important piece in a chess army.Therefore, its extremely important to play well with rooks and allow these pieces to reachtheir full potential during a chess battle. To be able to do this, there are a few important tipswhich should be followed during a chess game:

Rooks should be placed on open files, for them to control a significant amount of chesssquares, limit the opponents pieces and potentially prepare to infiltrate in the opponentsposition.


Whites active rooks are very strong. In fact,they are controlling fully the d file and stoppingpieces from making progress on it, they arethreatening to enter the 7th rank and win apawn (they would be threatening the b and f

pawn at the same time without chance ofsaving both) and they are supporting the d-filesquares for their knight to enter the attack forexample through moves like Nd5.

White here has not an advantage as hisrooks are not currently active andblack could quickly play moves like Rd8which would take control of the d file.In fact, white now hasnt got a massive

control of the d file which would stopblack from having any play on it, like inthe previous diagram.


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Rooks, should always try to be infiltrated on ranks where there are many pawns, for them tobe able to munch them all, not allowing the pawns enough time to run away.


Black has clearly played worst thanblack and has reached a bad position,in which he clearly hasnt been ableto put pieces on the d and e file tostop or limit whites rook infiltration.However, if white by playing wellmanages to reach such a position heis lost since moves such as Re7 bywhite would inevitably cause black toloose many pawns without remedy.You can even try to look for a moveyourself, after Re7 there is not wayblack can avoid the loss of pawns.

This position is clearly not what anyside should be playing for. White clearlydoesnt have the advantage he had inthe previous diagram, since his rooks arenot well developed.


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Rooks should always be kept in open space, for them to move freely and avoid risking to belost.


Black in this position is clearly bettersince his rooks (and knight) are activeand ready to join the fight and attack.On the other hand, whites rooks arestuck and the knight is misplaced. Toremediate it would take white manymoves, by which black might havealready obtained a crushing position.

Sweet

nibblets!

Whites rooks are almostlike frozen, because they

cant move. Especially thisapplies for the rook on a2.


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The Bishops

The bishop is a less important piece then the rook, queen or king. However, it is consideredof approximately equal strength with the knight but, nonetheless, of inferior value to thepawns. To play well with a bishop, the following tips have to be followed:

Develop bishops on open diagonals for their potential to be fully expressed.


In this position the two whitebishops are aiming at blacksking and black will loose.

Black plays the only move whichdoesnt loose immediately. However,because of the courageous whitepawn on h5 (as well as obviouslythe bishops), blacks castle will beripped apart.

White removes the g6 defenderand now has to take with the hpawn, because the f pawncovers the king from the bishop.

Black is still in danger since thetwo bishops have removed everyescape square for the king andhe has no escape.

CHECKMATE! Black, because of the twobishops, cant capture with the fpawn (otherwise the king would beunder check) and has no escapesquare. This position has clearly

explained how powerful the twobishops can be if they work together,eyin a certain area of the board.

White wins especiallybecause of the bishops,which are very powerful.


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The knightsThe knights have approximately the same value of the pieces. However, to work well, knightsneed the following things:

Advanced operation bases from which to work. This weak squares of the opponent, over whichhe has no control have to be used as advanced homes for knights especially (and sometimes

bishops).

Knights at the center of the board which can control many central squares.


From this position, clearly white has obtained all the advantage since he has two advancedknights that are supported by pawns and pieces and that are ready to capture the e7 weakpawn. This is a clear example of how two advanced knights can truly squash an enemy armyand take advantage of all his weaknesses. On the other hand, black is cramped, his piecesare inactive and cant stop the loss of the e7 pawn.

Here whites knight is a

lot more active thanblacks knight on h8. Infact, it is controlling 10squares whilst theknight on f8 only 2. Forexample, it is stoppingthe black queen frommoving to f5 and beginany aggressive plans.

Black has a lotless space thanblack becausealso of thepowerful knight.

White has a lot ofspace, an openposition and a lotmore squaresthan black.

Black has a lot lessspace than blackbecause also of thepowerful knight.

White has a lot ofspace, an open

position and a lotmore squares thanblack.


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The pawns The pawns are the least valuable pieces in a players chess army. However, pawns are verynumerous and, therefore, its very important to be able to play with them well to win a game.

Pawns need to be together and support each other.

Pawns need to give advanced squares (outposts) to their pieces, whenever they have a chanceto become advanced.


Pawns need to be together. They are like friends,together they are stronger. In fact, in this positionpawns support each other and cant be captured byother pieces , because the piece would re-captureany piece daring to take a pawn.

Here whites pawns are all separated and cantsupport each other when attacked. In fact, herethe d4 and b3 pawns are under pressure and,since no pawn can support the attacked pawns,black will probably end up devouring them.

Pawns and pieces are working very welltogether, threatening pieces and pawns.

Wewere the

armys pivot!Hehe.


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Pawn pushes (if done carefully and without leaving weak squares) can be used to weaken theenemy position by attacking, for example, the pawn barrier in front of the pawn chain.


This is a typicalposition in which

white hasadvanced hispawns, has a goodbishop, an activequeen and rookbehind his pawnsand just has tomake the finalwinning moves.Well, how? The

answer is simple:

The mostnaturalmove, butblack stilllooses due

to a superbmove!

White

pushes thepawn,gaining atempo onthe bishopwhich nowhas to move.

Blacks knightretreats, asblack wouldloosematerial if hewould give aknight awayfor a pawn.

KA BOOM!Whitethreatens xh7+and Qg7checkmate. Ifh6, xf7+, rxh7and Qxg7checkmate.

QXG6. Nowcheckmatecant bestopped in anyway and thequeen cant betaken with thepawn, becausethen the whitebishop would cbe able tocapture theking.

In some positions where a side has activepieces ready to support an attack, he hasto try and push pawns to try and createweaknesses in a chess structure. In fact,this is what happened in this example.

YOU SHOULD PUSH PAWNS!


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More things you should know about chess and how to win good positions Having a plan means having an idea of what to do and play for during whatever chessposition. Previously, we have discussed what every piece tries to achieve during a chess gameand, now, we will explain generally what is

necessary to do to actually win a game with anadvantage. There are a few simple rules.

Know which pieces to exchange.

When you have a good piece setup and your pieces are in a good position, you should attackthe weaknesses:


Here white has a much worst position. Thebishop is a lot worst and obviously out ofplay, as well as blocking the rook. On theother hand, the knight is extremelypowerful and puts pressure on the pawns.Think about it, the rook and bishop are inprison. In fact, if the knight would capturethe bishop, all blacks advantagewould be lost.

Iam stuck!

Here there is a chance to win the pawn,but white has to carry on threateningthis weakness of black! How would he do

it? Well, clearly with Nf4 or Nc3, whitewould get that pawn.

Aim at the weaknessesof the enemy position!


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Whites pieces haveall a very goodposition. The pawnsare connected, therooks are on anopen file, thebishops controlopen diagonalsagainst the king and

the queen is readyto attack. Howevernow white has to,concretely, takeadvantage of thesituation.

Whiteexchanges theonly bad piece(isolatedknight at theside of theboard) for the

only goodpiece (thestrong bishop).Now, white iseven better.

Black seeing noappropriate way

to defend, sincehis pieces are onthe other end ofthe board andpushing hispawns wouldweaken theposition bycreating holes,he decides to at

least create anesca e route.

White eyesthe h7 squareand now blackhas nothingleft to do thentry to escape.

Blackcapturesback.

White tries tore-coordinate

his pieces andtry to attack theh7 weaksquare, which isthe weakness ofblacks position.

White capturesthe pawn andgets a totallywinningposition, alsobecause ofblacks exposedking.

Even if there is asmall weaknessin the enemyposition, youshould try to takeadvantage of itthrough yourpieces andpawns, trying toapply the

principles ofchess strategylearned so far.


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The Endgame The endgame is probably the most technical phase of the chess game, because alot of knowledge concerning many different technical chess positions is required. Someof the principles and ideas are equal to the ones in the middle game, but others arecompletely different.

Passed pawns (Pawns which are not blocked by other pawns) are an essential factorfor winning and each army has to try create as many passed pawns as possible.


White here has a pawn which is notstopped by other pawns and therefore

has higher chances of becoming aqueen also being help, in this case, bythe white king and knight.

This position is equal and white herehas not got any advantage. There is

no way in which white can win.


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Rooks have to support passed pawns from behind on their march to promotion.

Here white will easily win byattacking the rook on c8, forcing it tomove and eventually promoting it. Infact, it would reach the rook beforethe black king. Also, if the black kingwould reach the d file he would bechased away by checks on the d file.

Here white cant win. In fact, topromote he would have to move therook away from the last square butthe problem is, black would capturethe pawn. Therefore, this is why tosupport the advance of passedpawns from behind the pawns.

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