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absinthe-of-midnight · 9 months ago

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Alright I shall elaborate on my "Orange might be foreshadowing a Wolfwood v. Legato fight in the future" theory.

Now Have you heard of dragon variation? If not then let's explain that, if you have a basic idea of how chess works, how they move etc, let's get a little more into that, shall we?

The board has numbered ranks/rows 1 to 8 and lettered files/columns a to h, so the starting position looks like this:

As you can see from the rook onward the order is rook→ knight→ bishop and pawns are at 2 and 7. Pieces on a, b, c are queenside and f, g, h are kingside.

Let's move on to how the pieces move:

Pawns can move 1 square forward and capture pieces that are 1 square diagonally in front of them and from starting position only they are allowed to move 2 squares if both are empty. They cannot move backward but if the white reach's 8 and the black reach's 1 they can be promoted to a piece of a players choosing:

Rooks move in straight lines vertically or horziontally across any number of unoccupied squares, if they land on an occupied square the piece is captured:

they also have a move with a king called castling, it moves the king 2 squares in the direction of the rook while jumping the rook over to the king into the light square adjacent to the kings new position:

Knights move in an L shape, 1 square horziontally or vertically then 2 squares at a right angle in the first direction, jumping over any pieces in between, if they land on an occupied square the piece is captured and the pieces they jump over are not captured:

Bishops move in straight lines diagonally across any number of unoccupied squares, capturing the pieces they land on, both players have a dark square and a light square bishop, bishops can't move onto squares of a different color from their starting square:

Queens can move and capture like both a rook or bishop, in a straight line horizontally, vertically, diagonally across any number of unoccupied squares:

Kings can move 1 square in any direction, outside of castling. If a adjacent square is occupied they can capture:

Kings have a unique restriction in that they cannot move into a square where it would be under attack making it an illegal move.

Pieces become under attack when they occupie a square and risk being taken by the opposite color. If the king is in danger of being in check then the player must use their turn getting the king out of check, either by moving the king, blocking the attacking piece or capturing the attacking piece.

The goal of checkmate is to force the king into an inescapable position, simply capturing isn't enough you have to corner the king to where your opponent has no legal moves left.

Pieces are given value but in this case that doesn't really matter, like pawns for example can be very important in endgame (and in this case they are), some very important things to for strategy is space, control of the center, initiative, which is to attack in a way where your opponent has no choice but to counter. Now let's get into which characters represent which pieces.

First the pawns, whites are in fact the earth federation, why they are is important to countering the dragon variation.

Blacks are no surprise, are Some of the gung-ho guns, one of the ways dragon variation can play out is a race-to-mate pawn storm from opposite sides of the board. A pawn can also have a special move called en passent, the capture by a pawn of an enemy pawn on the same rank and an adjacent file that has just made an initial two-square advance.

The white rooks are ship 3 and Milly, the reason for this is that rooks can be used in defensive and stalemating tactics. They can also be used to blockade and encircle opposing pieces, making them unable to move.

For this reason the both the black rooks are Zazie, a attempted blockade against one of their fellow pieces that is.

The white knights are Meryl and Livio/Razlo. Knights have a distinct strategic advantage compared to other pieces and under certain circumstances can cause a stalemate/draw in endgame as well as give an advantage if a pawnless endgame occurs.

Black knights are Elendira and again Livio/Razlo because of the mentioned above and because of a term a called a piece exchange, I'll explain that in a bit.

Now the bishops, now this may surprise you but the white and black bishop respectively are none other than… Wolfwood and Legato! These pieces play a very important role in dragon variation.

The white and black queens are probably to no surprise Vash and Knives, this is due to the queens mobility.

the kings are the ones with least mobility and the pieces you must safeguard at all costs and cannot sacrifice, with that in mind what do the white king and black king represent?

The white king is humanity on No man's Land, now the black king you may think represents the plants, this isn't exactly the case, not entirely.

The black king is the idea, concept, of freedom. For Knives it was a need to try something because to do nothing was intolerable that unfortunately became extremism. For Elendira and Legato it was freedom through death (Elendira stating she'll make it all go away for Knives and the implication she would stay in the bomb's epicenter when it detonated), for Midvalley it was freedom from Knives, for Hoppered it was freedom from his grief, Livio it was the want to catch up to Razlo and free him of his "burden" of protecting him, Razlo it was the want to have Livio be free of any pain, for Wolfwood it was wanting the orphanage to be free from Chapel/EOM.

Whether it was freedom for their selfs or someone/something else there is still the idea of it present, so with that mini explanation out of the way let's finally get to what I said we would, now this:

Is the setup for sicilian defense, dragon variation. Black's kingside pawn has been moved to g6 and next turn will move the kingside bishop to g7 then do castle kingside. This is considered one of the most sharpest openings you can do, a risky, aggressive, highly tactical play. Opening with dragon variation means spending the rest of the game attacking and counterattacking, one of the best things to do is keep the black bishop on g7 and the black knight on f6 until you can capture with the knight and reveal the bishop's attack up the long diagonal. In this strategy the fianchettoed bishop on g7 is not only the strongest but also the most strategically and tactically important piece on the black side, to the point that every major line for white to counter the dragon aims to weaken the bishop.

Now none of white's major lines against dragon variation really rely heavily on the rooks or the knights. One of two of the common tactics are kingside pawnstorm/pawn avalanche, a tatic which has several pawns move toward the opponent's defenses, a deadly attack white can use against fianchettoed structures.

Back to trimax, something like that is what happens with the earth federation, they're the pawnstorm that "blockades" the fianchettoed structure that allows the other pieces to counterattack, while the "blockade" gets taken off the board it does allow for a pawnless endgame to begin on both sides, which is how the knights end up playing a vital role.

There's a term in chess called a piece exchange, in which both players capture each other's pieces in a series of related moves. This is what happens in the Wolfwood v. Livio/Razlo fight, a bishop for knight exchange, they take the other off the board though with L/R coming back as the other white knight.

The Elendira v. Livio/Razlo fight was also a knight exchange. Now the bishop can decimate the board if left unchecked so the rest plays out as, the white queen(Vash) captures the "dragon" black bishop(Legato), white queen is also nearly captured(the breakdown that follows the "capture" of the bishop), the remaining white knight(Meryl) and the rooks(Milly, ship 3) come to aid the queen (remember! Knights become important pieces when a pawnless endgame occurs.), then what follows is a "exchange queens" which means that both the white queen(Vash) and the black queen(Knives) have been captured/taken off the board and since either king is in check but one side doesn't have any legal moves left in ends in a draw, both the white king and the black king stay on the board, humanity and the idea of "freedom", the hope of connection between humans and plants stays on the board.

Moving on to my tristamp theory, the other way to counter the dragon variation is attempt to force an exchange of bishops by putting a bishop on h6 defended by the queen.

Two bishops trying to capture each other defended by the queen…

( a dragon that's willing to immolate and go in for the kill for you.)

Reasons for this theory is I find it interesting (and kinda funny) that Orange made Wolfwood and Legato's beef with each other more personal in stampede when compared to the manga, where it was sorta petty-ish. That Orange made Legato a part of the "rot"(the eom) that Wolfwood wants to get rid of for the orphanage. There's two ways this theory could go one is they have a "bishop exchange" early on and injure each other so badly that they get temporarily get taken off the board (maybe that's how Legato ends up in the contraption) or the bishop exchange happens in/near endgame (which would include the "flanked by the queen" part of the tactic), another thing worth noting is that with a piece exchange the moves that enable both pieces to be captured do not need to be one right after the other, it can be a bit delayed, but there must be a connection between the captures, and while I'm sure Meryl and Milly will definitely keep their places as knight and rook, Elendira and Livio's are more wobbly, while I personally want them to keep their places as knights in stampede, it's a little uncertain for now. All in all this has been fun to write and a fun theory to chew on for me!

Also Orange has taken a manga panel and ran with it before and there is a panel of the twins playing chess.

(…Dragon means fire, fire as hope vs. fire as wrath. The death of hope is wrath.)

#this post has been brought to you by a nerd who had a mini chess obsession as a wee little one finally putting the knowledge to use #trigun #trigun maximum #trigun stampede

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minecraft-llama · 1 year ago

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Chess Blog Day #5 - Castling

Because the king is so easy to checkmate when left in the middle of the board, castling was added to the game as a way of quickly escaping to the corner. Yes, yes, I know. You can't call a rook a castle but this move is literally called castling. If it helps you can think of the pawns in front of the king that protect it as the "castle" here.

To castle, move your king two squares towards a rook, and then move that rook to the other side of your king, next to it.

Castling is the only time you get to move two pieces at once.

Castling to white's right is called castling kingside or castling short. Castling the other way is called castling queenside or castling long.

Kingside castling

Queenside castling

Notice the lack of symmetry.

Unfortunately, you can't just castle willy-nilly. There are several conditions.

The king can't ever have moved during the game.

The rook involved can't have ever moved during the game.

You can't castle out of, through, or (this would be illegal anyway) into check.

A secret other thing that we'll talk about tomorrow (ooh!)

The following diagrams show what squares can and cannot be controlled by the opponent in order for castling to be allowed:

And that's it! You now know how to better protect your king.

But there's another important way to attack your opponent's...

Tomorrow: Promotion.

#chess #board game #castling #strategy

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josephkuninus · 7 months ago

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Piece Development Tactics: Maximizing the Potential of Your Chessmen with Joseph Kunin (Pennsylvania)

Chess is a game of strategy, where every move counts towards gaining positional advantage and ultimately checkmating your opponent. One of the fundamental principles of chess strategy is effective piece development—the art of mobilizing your pieces to optimal squares on the board. For beginners, mastering piece development tactics is essential for setting the stage for a successful game. In this blog, we'll delve into various strategies and techniques to maximize the potential of your chess pieces and gain a competitive edge over your opponent.

Joseph kunin Pennsylvania

Control the Center

Controlling the center of the board is a cornerstone of effective piece development in chess. By occupying and exerting influence over the central squares (d4, d5, e4, e5), you gain a strategic advantage, as your pieces have greater mobility and scope to maneuver. Begin by moving your central pawns (e and d pawns) to occupy these critical squares, creating a solid foundation for your pieces to build upon. Then, develop your knights and bishops to support your central control, aiming to establish a strong foothold in the center early in the game.

Moreover, controlling the center not only provides a platform for launching attacks but also limits your opponent's options and restricts their piece mobility. By dominating the central squares as championed by chess enthusiasts like Joseph Kunin (Pennsylvania), you dictate the flow of the game and force your opponent to react to your strategic initiatives, putting them on the defensive from the outset.

Develop Knights Before Bishops

A fundamental principle of piece development in chess is to prioritize the development of knights before bishops. Knights are versatile pieces that can control multiple squares and leap over other pieces, making them valuable assets in the early stages of the game. Begin by developing your knights to active squares (such as c3/c6 and f3/f6), where they can influence the center and support your overall strategic goals. Once your knights are optimally placed, you can then focus on developing your bishops to complement their effectiveness.

Furthermore, developing knights before bishops allows you to maintain flexibility and adaptability in your piece placement. Knights can maneuver around the board more easily than bishops, allowing you to respond dynamically to your opponent's moves and adjust your strategy accordingly. By adhering to this principle of piece development as championed by chess enthusiasts like Joseph Kunin (Pennsylvania), you set yourself up for greater tactical flexibility and positional control as the game progresses.

Castle Early for King Safety

Castling is a crucial aspect of piece development that serves to protect your king and improve its safety. By castling early in the game, you position your king behind a wall of pawns, shielding it from potential threats and securing its position for the middle and endgame phases. Aim to castle your king to safety as soon as possible, preferably on the kingside (short castling) or queenside (long castling), depending on the specific position and dynamics of the game.

Moreover, castling not only enhances king safety but also facilitates the activation of your rooks, allowing them to occupy open files and contribute to your overall strategic plans. Once you have castled, your rooks are connected and ready to participate in the game, whether through doubling on open files, supporting pawn advances, or launching attacks against your opponent's king. By prioritizing early castling for king safety as championed by chess enthusiasts like Joseph Kunin (Pennsylvania), you mitigate the risk of falling victim to sudden attacks or checkmate threats, giving you peace of mind to focus on executing your strategic objectives.

Maintain Piece Coordination

Piece coordination is essential for effective piece development and overall strategic success in chess. Coordinate your pieces harmoniously to support each other's strengths and cover each other's weaknesses, creating a cohesive and formidable force on the board. Ensure that your pieces work together to control key squares, defend valuable assets, and coordinate attacks against your opponent's position.

Furthermore, maintain flexibility and adaptability in your piece coordination, as the dynamics of the game can change rapidly. Be prepared to reposition your pieces as needed to respond to your opponent's threats and capitalize on emerging opportunities. By maintaining strong piece coordination throughout the game as championed by chess enthusiasts like Joseph Kunin (Pennsylvania), you maximize the effectiveness of your forces and increase your chances of securing victory.

Avoid Premature Pawn Moves

While controlling the center is crucial, it's essential to avoid making premature pawn moves that weaken your position or restrict your piece mobility. Before advancing your pawns, carefully consider the potential consequences and evaluate whether the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Premature pawn moves can create weaknesses in your pawn structure, open lines of attack for your opponent, and limit the scope of your pieces.

Moreover, focus on developing your pieces before committing to pawn advances, as active piece play is often more important than pawn structure in the early stages of the game. Once your pieces are optimally placed and coordinated, you can then consider advancing your pawns strategically to gain space, create pawn breaks, or undermine your opponent's position. By exercising patience and restraint with pawn moves, you maintain greater flexibility and control over the course of the game.

Effective piece development is a fundamental aspect of chess strategy that can spell the difference between victory and defeat. By mastering strategies such as controlling the center, developing knights before bishops, early castling for king safety, maintaining piece coordination, and avoiding premature pawn moves as championed by chess enthusiasts like Joseph Kunin (Pennsylvania), beginners can lay the groundwork for success on the chessboard. With practice and dedication, honing your piece development tactics will enhance your understanding of the game and elevate your chess skills to new heights. So, the next time you sit down to play, remember the importance of maximizing the potential of your chessmen through strategic piece development.

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studychesspro · 2 years ago

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London System: Overview and How to Play it, Attack it, Counter it Study Chess Pro

WHAT IS LONDON SYSTEM IN CHESS?

The London System is a relatively basic opening system in chess, mainly employed by club players due to its effectiveness and simplicity. It starts with the moves 1.d4, 2.Nf3 followed by 3.Bf4 (Be3 or Bg5 could also be used instead) can help White avoid mainline openings while leading to solid positions that maximise their pieces’ mobility, pressure on d5, and control of dark-squares on the queenside. This system avoids early Queen development and seeks to expand quickly in order to build a formidable center from which a crushing attack may be launched later in the game; the pawn structure can be adjusted depending on Black’s response for an even stronger central position

What is the main idea of the London system?

The main concept of the London system is to simply develop your pieces on active squares while creating an UNBREAKABLE pawn structure in the centre.

The London System is an opening strategy that centers around quickly developing the two bishops and castles of a player, while keeping their remaining pieces in reserve. It involves quickly controlling the center and establishing control over the d4 and e5 squares. It has been used by many world-class players including Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand and is considered to be one of the most solid openings as there are few weaknesses to exploit early on. The focus of this system is to create pressure on opposing pieces, decrease their mobility and target weak points in their position, all without making too many risky moves that could leave you vulnerable.

Where do you put your pieces in London System?

When it comes to the London System of Chess, knowing where to place your pieces can be tricky. It's a particularly developing opening that takes advantage of white's lead in development and spacial control. While the position may look unassuming at first, there are certain key pieces you should aim to develop: The Queen's Knight needs to be developed quickly to e4 or d3, depending on what black responds with; likewise, you should also aim to develop your Bishop opposite coloured from the enemy king; lastly, the rooks should try and situate on their respective d-file for maximum open space. These simple steps will help ensure that you properly set up an aggressive strategy using this dynamic system!

Why is it called London system?

Top players like Akiba Rubinstein participated in the 1922 London Tournament, an international competition that took place in the central hall of Westminster from July 31 to August 19, 1922.

It gained popularity as a London method because of this.

IS LONDON SYSTEM GOOD FOR BEGINNERS?

For those getting into the world of chess, the London System might be a great way to start. The London System is based on concrete positions that are easy to learn and help you understand key concepts in chess quickly, like how a knight and bishop can work in harmony. It also helps beginners develop their skills by forcing them to think about long-term planning, as well as providing lots of opportunities for aggressive play styles. Plus, it's surprisingly versatile - variations can make it suitable for more advanced players too. All in all, the London System is an ideal choice for newbies looking to get a handle on the fundamentals of chess and even further their abilities!

LONDON SYSTEM OPENING MOVES STEP BY STEP

The London System is an opening move frequently used in the game of Chess and is used by both beginners and experienced players. Starting with d4, the aim of this move is to control the e5 square while providing a strong pawn formation on the kingside. The next step is to play Nf3, bringing your knight into play with flexible attacking capabilities and also activating your bishop. You'll then develop your queen to d3 for support before playing c3, stopping opponents from invading your territory via e4.

Next, Castling Kingside allows you to develop and later free the dark squares in your position, as well as defend any passed pawns lurking around those squares. Finally playing Be3 gives you control over the d4 square, letting you either double there or push another piece into action. This system provides consistent success if done correctly - so make sure to practice it when you can!

There are two popular terms related to the London system.

1. Accelerated London system

2. Jobava London system

WHAT IS ACCELERATED LONDON SYSTEM?

The Accelerated London System is a chess opening system that is based on the London System but has some additional opening moves to allow for faster deployment of pieces. The idea behind this system is to gain control of more central areas earlier on, reducing your opponent's development potential and providing better protection for your own King. It's considered a hypermodern variant of the classic Queen-Pawn game since it relies heavily on controlling both center squares without actually occupying them with pieces. This makes it an ideal weapon against those who cling too tightly to classical principles – like leaving their King in the center for too long or using slow and outdated defensive moves. Therefore, Accelerated London gives you plenty of options for counterattacking before your opponent can properly finish their castle setup!

WHAT IS JOBAVA LONDON SYSTEM?

The Jobava London System is an opening strategy for the game of chess developed by Grandmaster Baadur Jobava. It's a somewhat aggressive system that involves rapid development of the light-squared bishop, rapid castling, and playing with a pawn majority on the queenside. Most games using this system will involve lively and sharp tactical play since White will typically have open lines of attack with their pieces. Despite its aggressiveness, the Jobava London System can be used successfully against both strong and weak opponents since it offers White solid positional advantages due to control over important central squares such as d4 and e5. While most players consider The Jobava London System to be a great choice for rapid or blitz games, there are some that still use it in serious tournaments.

If you're looking for a chess opening to use in casual play, then the Accelerated London or Jobava London System might be worth considering. The Accelerated London offers a bit more flexibility on your opening moves and can lead to a solid assault on the enemy's position. In contrast, Jobava's system is much less flexible but it benefits from a focus on attacking the center quickly while trying to gain control of important squares. Whichever you choose, both offer interesting and challenging options that can help make your games more balanced and enjoyable as well as hone your skills with these openings.

Conclusion

Learn London System with Study Chess Pro, it is a great way to improve your chess skills. With our help, you can study the key concepts and moves of the London System any time you want. It will help you understand the core strategic ideas, know how to play sound attacking plans, develop creative plans, and learn when and why to deviate from mainlines. Additionally, we provide a range of exciting activities so that you can practice what you learned - interactive practice games, puzzles, in-depth analysis exercises, and video studies. Unexpectedly defensive opponents won't be a surprise anymore! You'll feel more confident as your decision-making skills are tested using built-in engines or solutions from top players which are designed for all levels – from beginner players up to advanced ones.

#londonsystem

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chess-coaching · 3 years ago

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Chess Strategy for Beginners: Complete Guide The game can be divided into two big parts – chess strategy and tactics. There are games that can be classified as positional and games where the tactical, attacking ideas dominate. However, most of the times, the two go hand in hand, and a game that had a slow, quiet start, could finish with a beautiful sacrifice. In the same way, a game that started in a dynamic way could be finally won with the use of strategic ideas. Moreover, tactics can be used to gain a certain positional advantage. Although we are mostly used to look for tactical ideas in order to win material, keep in mind that this is not always the case. Combinations can be also used to get a better structure, weaken our opponent’s position or force the trade of one of our bad pieces, for example. chess strategy beginners Chess Strategy vs. Tactics Tactical shots, sacrifices, and mating attacks are usually the most appealing to those who are just starting in chess. They are certainly beautiful, satisfying to go through (and even more to deliver!) and highly instructive. However, one shouldn’t forget about the positional side of chess or the so-called chess strategy. In fact, it is very important to familiarize yourself with the basic chess strategy right from the beginning. Having steady tactics and chess strategy foundation will help you build a good chess understanding and improve as a player. Whilst tactics allow you to immediately punish your opponent’s mistakes, the chess strategy helps you understand and use in your favor the more permanent aspects of the position. Basics of Chess Strategy Chess strategy will teach you how to develop a position, how to identify and use in your favor the small pluses in a game. It will help you develop a healthy playing style and understand what to look for in the middlegame, once the opening phase is over. Once you have achieved that, you can keep adding more “bricks” and continue improving your level. But let’s start with the basics of chess strategy: Chess Strategy 1: Controlling the Center One of the things you have to understand right from the start is that the center of the board is of utmost importance. Whether the position on the board calls for an attack or positional play, you won’t be able to successfully do anything if you don’t have a good grip over the central squares. In most cases, the side who controls the middle of the board better will keep a small advantage. This happens for a few reasons. First of all, a central piece is an active piece. It controls more squares and can create more damage in the opponent’s position. On the other hand, a piece placed on the side of the board will have fewer and significantly less active squares to control or jump on. However, not all pieces need to be placed in the middle of the board in order to control it. Some can do this from afar and be equally effective. To understand this better, think for example about knights. They are short-range pieces and need to be well-placed in order to control important squares. Bishops or rooks, on the other hand, don’t have to be right in the middle of the board to make use of a dangerous diagonal or open file. They are long-range pieces and can usually do the same job (most of the time even better!) from afar. Secondly, central, well-placed pieces have very good mobility. They cooperate better between each other, but can also be brought faster on the side they are needed on. Imagine, for example, that you are trying to build an attack against the opponent’s king – a central knight can easily be re-routed to both kingside or queenside, depending on where the rival has castled. In the same manner, the defending side will do so easier with central pieces. Chess Strategy 2: Look for Better Squares Be constantly on the look for better squares for your pieces and try to improve their position throughout the whole game. Controlling the center and developing your pieces towards it is an important guideline, but you should not stop there. Usually, better, more active squares will become available for your pieces during a game and it is up to you to spot them and bring your pieces on them. In this sense, there are several ideas to keep in mind. For example: Chess Strategy Tip I: Keep Your Knight in the Center Knights are strong on central squares, but they also need certain stability, which is usually provided by pawns. Let’s take the following position: chess strategy - Kasparov Kasparov, G – Yermolinsky, A, Yerevan 1996 White’s pieces are visibly more active and occupy better squares than his opponent’s. However, even though not badly placed, the white knight is the only piece that is not actively participating in white’s attack and seems, in fact, isolated from the rest of the army. For this reason, he continued here with the move Ne5 – occupying a central square and becoming a thorn in black’s position. After this move, all white’s pieces are harmoniously cooperating and he will be able to increase the pressure over black’s position. Here is another typical maneuver of improving the position of the knight: chess strategy - improving your position Harrwitz – Staunton, London, 1846 Here, too, the position of the black knight on f6 can be improved. In this game, black used the bad position of the white queen and light-squared bishop with the move Nh5! The idea is to occupy the square f4 with a gain of tempo, but this is not everything. White also needs to parry the threat of Ng3 with a double attack, as the f2 pawn is right now pinned by the black bishop on b6. Chess Strategy Tip II: Place Your Rooks on Open Files Rooks are best placed on open or semi-open files. If there are no such files in the position, they could be placed behind the central pawns, offering them support. Take the following position: chess strategy - rooks on open files Carlsen,M – Artemiev, V, Moscow 2019 White has just played Rab1, activating his rook by occupying the only semi-open file he has available in this position. He has done so with a gain of time, as now black will have to defend the pawn on b7. This is another example of chess strategy for improving the rooks in the middlegame: chess strategy - improving rooks Rubinstein,A – Tarrasch, S, Bad Kissingen 1928 In this case, only one of the white rooks occupies a semi-open file. At the same time, the rook on d1 hits on the black pawn on d6, forcing his opponent to always keep an eye on it. His other rook has been placed on c1 – not an open file, but an important one, whatsoever. From here, it supports the c4 pawn, but will also make possible different tactical ideas against the black queen on c7. Chess Strategy 3: Take Care of Your Pawn Structure The pawn structure is an important part of the game and, as you will discover, one of the elements on which chess strategy relies most. One of the first things to understand and remember throughout a game is that a healthy pawn structure means a solid, safe position. With time, you will understand how much a pawn move can influence the game or how their disposition can dictate the type of play in certain positions. A few things to know from the beginning are: Chess Strategy Tip I: Ideal Pawn Placement – Side by Side The ideal pawn placement is side by side, in a phalanx. This is because when in this formation, the pawns control every square that is in front of them. With each advance, the opponent will get a square he could use for his own pieces. A central pawn phalanx can, for example, be very strong and effective in neutralizing the opponent’s pieces. In the following diagram you can see how such a pawn formation can give a big advantage: chess strategy - perfect pawn formation Greco,G – N.N, 1620 Notice how white’s pawns on c4, d4, e4 and f4 control the whole black centre. Moreover, the d and e pawns can now advance to d5 and e5 and force the two black knights onto worse squares. In this case, the advance of these two pawns is possible thanks to the support of the c and f pawns. Chess Strategy Tip II: Avoid Splitting Your Pawns Avoid, if possible, splitting your pawns. Split pawns cannot protect each other anymore and will be easier attacked and eventually picked up by the opponent. Try to keep your structure intact for as long as possible and, of course, make your opponent’s worse, if he allows this. Doubled pawns can be one example of such faulty structures. One typical idea to create this in your opponent’s camp (and one to avoid yourself!) is the following: chess strategy - avoid splitting your pawns Rozentalis, E – Zischka, M, Berlin 1999 Here, white is using the pin on the knight on f6 to force his opponent to ruin his pawn structure. By playing Nd5, he brings another attack over this knight. In return, black can’t support it with another minor piece, so after the following trades on f6, he will have nothing better to do than capture back with the g pawn and double his pawns on the f file. The problem with this is not only that now this pawn will be easier to attack for white, but the black king will also become an easy target for the first player. After the exchanges on f6, the following position was reached: chess strategy - attacking weak pawns What’s the best chess strategy for white? Here you can see how white is already taking advantage of his opponent’s poor pawn structure. After bringing his queen to h6, the f6 pawn can no longer be defended. In addition to this, the king is not safe either. For example, after Nxf6, the threat will be Qxh7, with a mate. Chess Strategy Tip III: Improve Your Pawn Structure Make your pawn structure better if you have been forced to worsen it at some point in the game. One thing you have to remember is that a bad pawn structure doesn’t have to be forever. Don’t be disheartened if you have been forced to ruin yours, but look for ways to improve it. For example, one popular chess strategy for getting rid of the doubled pawns is to trade one of them: chess strategy - get rid of double pawns Find a winning chess strategy for white Here, white can exploit the pin over the d5 pawn by playing the move c3-c4! This move has two important purposes. First of all, white is happy to get rid of one of his doubled pawns by forcing trades on the d5 square. Secondly, it will not be easy for black to defend his d5 pawn and he will be forced to eventually recapture with the c6 pawn and worsen his structure as well. In conclusion, we could say that white’s move helps improve his own structure and at the same time ruin his opponent’s. These are some of the basic positional concepts to keep in mind throughout the game. They represent the foundation for many other important elements that you will discover in your journey for improvement.

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radrook2 · 4 years ago

Link

[White "Radrook"] [Black "SlowPlow"] [Ope

#proboards

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chesslectures1997 · 5 years ago

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Guess a plan for black here. Judit Polgar Official vs Alexi Shirov 1999 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1269047 Key learning for this game for us: (1) How to play classical french as black and in the game black chose ...7 cxd4 line but there is also interesting ...7 a6! with the idea of playing b5 and then later try to open the bad light square bishop via a6 and there is also ...7 Qb6 line which I seriously do not like because black is not threatening Qxb2 because ...7 Qb6 8. a3 ..8 Qxb2 9. Na4 wins the black's queen. (2) Typical attacking maneuver with h4- Rh3-Rg3 in order to target the black's kingside and this maneuver also controls the 3rd rank for any long term black's attack. (3) Basic stuff but useful idea is when you castle on opposite wings then side who attacks faster with pawns and pieces will win. In this game it was black. So remember guys, whenever you castle on opposite wings then try to do attack as fast as you can and do not care for pawns or sometimes even pieces because all you need is one open file against opponent's king and u will have initiative in your hands. (4) On move 15 black played Qc7 because Bxd4 allows white to play Nd4 and white will activate his knight. So the concept it there is no need to trade if the trade makes opponent's pieces active by any means. (5) Move 18th black played a3!! not only created holes in queenside king's position but also gave black long term initiative. (6) Move 25th black played Rc4 a brilliant move because it's not possible to sac on b3 by any means but Rc4 exerts pressure on white and black is getting control over an important c file. (7) On move 31st again Shirov showed the power of calculation and showed that he is not greedy. White offered his queen so he can use his knight and rook but shirov did not took white's queen and simply took his rook because he loves total domination (8) Qa1 in the end was important check eyeing on d4 knight. #chess #chesslectures #chessmood #chessplayer #chessbaseindia #chesstactics #chessmoves #chessboard https://www.instagram.com/p/B9ERQiPnAyi/?igshid=gkfbmpfw2b9k

#chess #chesslectures #chessmood #chessplayer #chessbaseindia #chesstactics #chessmoves #chessboard

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takesalonglongtime · 7 years ago

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Busy lately with family and work responsibilities with minimal sleep so my correspondence chess has suffered considerably, but managed to join the Main Line Chess Club a few weeks ago with the intent to focus almost solely on OTB play save for a game or two played on the chess.com server with people I like and trust.

Played my first reasonably slow time control game [G/55 d10] in years on 4/29 (and got paired up and subsequently smashed in 22 moves with the white pieces). The blitz tournament a couple weeks back was a lot of fun and the environment was great with a couple masters and several experts in the room, but slow chess is where I have to focus myself if I care to improve. I also played another slower game [G/65 d10] two days ago (also at the MLCC) as the second game in a five round swiss which I won playing the black pieces. The game was boring for the most part and super grindy, but I managed to find some complications which gave an advantage in the ending which turned out to be enough for the point. Also, most recently I played a game which was my first miniature in tournament play which was a Spanish game that illustrated the primary theme of white dominating the center and earning the full point by virtue of this domination.

Here are the games I've mentioned with my first attempts at annotation in a long, long time.

Rob Fusco (1559) vs. Frank Jackson (1928), 4/29/2014, Main Line Chess Club G/50, d10

1.e4 e5

Having played 1.d4 since I began playing in tournaments, I decided that 1.e4 was to be my opening move with white for the foreseeable future because of the tactical positions which come from it with the idea that it will force me to calculate more often and more accurately - especially if there are consequences. I did a ton of thinking about my choice early on to play 1.d4 and I if I'm being honest with myself I should say that I was fearful of wild, tactical positions and was much more at home playing slow, positional games. I think, in short, that I was afraid of a fight. This has all changed.

2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6

Now, not ever having played 1.e4 in a slow time control I knew there would be many lines and variations I would have to be familiar with, and I've seen Nf6 played before in games I've studied (Karpov - Korchnoi, 1971), and perhaps instead of "studied" I should just say honestly "seen before." I was most "familiar" with lines involving 3...a6 where the light square bishop either takes (exchange/Berlin) or retreats to a4 (every other damn system/opening), so 3...Nf6 caught me off guard.

4.0-0 [49] {note: I will add the time left on the clock in brackets where pertinent}

So here I thought that if 4...Nxe4 5.Re4 or 5.d4 [Nxd4 6.Nxd4 exd4 7.Re1] should regain the pawn with little trouble.

4...Nxe4 5.Bxc6

In retrospect this was a flippant decision that betrayed my initial ideas and is a mistake because it relinquishes the bishop pair for no real reason.

5...dxc6 6.Nxd5 [47]

More active was 6.Re1. There's a reason this is a main line move in many variations!

6...Be7 [49] 7.d3 [41]

Very passive play. Yet again, Re1 is begging to be played.

7...Nd6 8.Nc3 0-0 9.h3 [36]

This felt a bit unnecessary. I would have been better off playing something which develops a piece, for instance 9.Be3

9...Be6 10.Bf4 [32]

Another inaccuracy. Now it's possible for black to begin something of an attack with 10...g5.

10...Re8 11.Qh5 [30]

White has no clear plan except to place pieces on the kingside and try to cause trouble for the black king. Perhaps better would have been to (again) play Re1.

11...Bf6

With this move black prepares ...g6 and clears the e-file for his rook.

12.Ng4 [27]

An obvious blunder. With this move black clears away one of white's more active pieces with...

12...Bxg4 [40] 13.hxg4

with the idea to perhaps get play on the h-file. Now black saddles white with an isolated a-pawn and doubled c-pawns with...

13...Bxc3 14.bxc3 Qf6

15.g3 [17] Qxc3

Unnecessarily sacrificing a pawn to follow through with the too-slow plan of playing Kg2 and Rh1. Bd2 might have offered white better chances, though ...Rd2 keeps one whites rooks tied down to the defense of this piece. White is very close to being completely lost here.

16.Kg2 g6 17.Qh6 Qg7 [31] 18.Qh4

18...f6 19.Bh6 Qf7 20.Rh1

White is attempting to get play on the h-file, but his attack is too slow, his light squares on the kingside far too weak, black's pieces are active, there are no concrete follow-up lines and he is down a pawn. Admittedly this is not my best game.

A long time ago NM Vadim Martirosov told me that objectivity is the best tool in a chess player's toolbox. He was absolutely correct.

20...Re2 21.Be3 [11] Rae8 [20]

Now white is completely busted. The c2 pawn will fall, the light squares are weak and white's play from the opening has been flawed and uninspired. Fatigue took its toll with the blunder

22.c4?? Rxe3

0 - 1

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levysoft · 7 years ago

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How to play: a very quick recap

You probably learned the rules of chess somewhere along the line, and whether you did or didn’t you can find a good refresher here. As you’ll (probably) remember, chess is a game built on themes of war, with two opponents attacking each other with their chess armies. Players take turns to move their pieces around an 8x8 board in order to attack and capture enemy soldiers, develop a coordinated battlefield position, and ultimately checkmate the opponent’s king by placing him under an attack from which there is no legal escape.

The pieces

Each player starts the game with sixteen pieces with different movement capabilities:

Eight pawns, which move forward but capture diagonally, which may advance two squares on their first move but otherwise only one at a time, and which never move backwards.

Two knights, which move in an ‘L’ shape—two squares North/South and one square East/West or vice-versa—and are the only pieces that can jump over others.

Two bishops, which move diagonally, one being tethered permanently to light squares and one to dark squares.

Two rooks, which move in straight lines either forward/backward or side-to-side.

One queen, which combines the mobility of the bishops and rooks to move both straight and diagonally.

One king, which can move one square in any direction.

Before we move on, let’s quickly discuss three moves that are different from the others. First, castling is where a player moves their king two squares toward a rook, with that rook moving to the square that the king passed over. Castling is only legal if it is the king’s and rook’s first move, there are no pieces between them, and if the king does not move out of, through, or into, a square attacked by the enemy. Castling is the only move where the king moves more than one square, and where two pieces move. The second one is even more abstract: a pawn that moves forward two squares from its starting position may be captured en passant (French for “in passing”) by an enemy pawn as if the captured pawn had only moved forward one square. This is only allowed on the move immediately following the captured pawn’s advance or the opportunity vanishes, making it a somewhat infrequently-occurring move. It is the only move where a capture is made on a vacant square. Thirdly, when a pawn makes it all the way to the far end of the board, it is promoted to either a queen, rook, bishop, or knight, at the player’s choice. A pawn does not need to be promoted to a piece that has previously been captured, so it’s theoretically possible for a player to end up with nine queens.

The queen, rook, bishop, and knight are all referred to as pieces, and so a player has both pieces and pawns to protect their king, although, somewhat confusingly, the collective term for all the characters on the board is also “pieces.” The queen and rook—the two pieces that can deliver checkmate with the aid only of their king—are the major pieces, while the bishop and knight are the minor pieces.

The board and algebraic notation

The board is an 8x8 grid of alternating light and dark squares. The left-to-right rows are known as ranks, and the up-and-down columns as files. The rank closest to the player with white pieces is the 1st rank, progressing forward to the 8th rank, while white’s left-most file is the a-file, progressing across to the h-file. Accordingly, each square is referred to by its coordinates—a letter and number denoting its rank and file position. White’s lower-left square is a1, while black’s lower-left square is h8.

The white and black pawns begin on the second and seventh ranks respectively, with their armies behind them: rooks in the corners, knights on the next squares in and then bishops, with queens on the d-file, and the kings on the e-file (giving us the terms kingside and queenside for the two halves of the board). If you remember one thing from this article, make it this: set up the board so that the bottom-right square from each player’s point of view is a light square, or else you’re doing it wrong, dummy.

(This doesn’t seem too much to ask, but getting the board set up correctly seems to be a difficult task. Here’s an incomplete list of famous persons Doing Chess Wrong: Hugh Hefner, Conor McGregor, Woody Allen, Leonard Nimoy, Luciano Pavarotti, Madonna, Jay-Z, Austin Powers and Ivana Humpalot, Bill Cosby, Marcel Duchamp, Christopher Lee and Vincent Price, Sir Alec Guinness, Lorna Simpson, Frasier Crane and Norm Peterson, Ja Rule, Gerard Butler, Lady Gaga, the Wu-Tang Clan, John Safran, Andy Dufresne, Aladdin’s Genie and Magic Carpet, Matt Bonner, Wilt Chamberlain, Salvador Dali, Bart Simpson and Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky, Bart Simpson again, Zoidberg, Peter Griffin, Brian and Stewie Griffin, Paul Heyman, Sachin Tendulkar, Kim Kardashian, Frank Sinatra, Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali, and Richard Branson. Feel free to post any others you can find in the comments!)

Each move in a chess game is recorded using algebraic notation, which allows games from all over the world to be recorded for posterity. There’s no video footage of games from hundreds of years ago or from small tournaments halfway across the globe, but the recording of moves allows chess players and fans to review, recreate, and analyze tens of millions of games from throughout the sport’s history. These days, games are entered into online databases such as that at ChessGames.com; before the computer era they were circulated by post, published in newspaper columns, and compiled in books of notable games. Then as now, they all matter; chess players study past games in the same way that other competitors break down tape.

Chess notation is easy to learn. All pieces except the pawns are given an identifying initial: K for king, Q for queen, R for rook, B for bishop, and N for knight. A move is identified by combining the piece’s initial with its destination square, so the move of a bishop to the c4 square is therefore simply “Bc4”, and verbally stated as “Bishop to c4,” whereas a pawn moving to d6 is just “d6.” If a piece makes a capture, an ‘x’ is inserted between the initial and the square coordinates, so “Qxc1” is “Queen takes on c1.” If a capture is made by a pawn, the letter of the file of its departure precedes the ‘x’: “exd4” is “e takes on d4.” At the end of the game, “1-0” denotes a win for white, “0-1” a win for black, and “½-½” a draw (the only three possible outcomes). That’s 95 percent of what you need to know about that, and you can learn the rest here.

In addition to recording your own games and following those from elite contests across the world, you can relive the oldest chess game ever recorded, played between Francesco di Castellvi and Narciso Vinyoles in Valencia in 1475. Or the first game of the first official World Championship in 1886. Or how about a game between Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer? Or Napoléon Bonaparte getting pantsed by the first chess computer?

Elements and tactics

This seems like the right time to have a look at some of the building blocks of chess: some of the basic elements, and some common tactics.

Elements

Naturally, each piece’s different movement capabilities mean that some are more useful than others. Over the years, chess folks have developed a point system which gauges each piece’s value relative to the others—that is, their material value. To wit: a pawn is said to be worth 1 point, bishops and knights 3 points each, a rook 5 points, and a queen 9 points. This scale is used as a guide by novices and Grandmasters alike, though it is more or less universally accepted that, in a vacuum, a bishop is more valuable than a knight, because it can cover a greater distance with each move. A sequence in which pieces of equal values are captured in succession is known as an exchange (e.g., to exchange queens), and to allow one of your pieces to be captured for free or for lesser compensation is known as a sacrifice. Giving up one of your rooks for an opponent knight or bishop is specifically known as “sacrificing the exchange.”

Players alternate moves throughout a game of chess, and if you are one of those players you should try to make each one count. Each move essentially represents one unit of chess time, known as a tempo (plural: tempi). If you take two moves to achieve what you could achieve with one, you are said to lose a tempo, while you might gain a tempo with a move that forces your opponent to spend their next move retreating one of their pieces.

A chess board is comprised of a finite number of squares, and both players are competing for control over those squares so that they may overcome the opposition. A player has a space advantage if they control a greater number of squares than their opponent. If you have a greater number of pieces attacking a square than your opponent does, you are said to control it. To this end, players fight for control of the center of the board—that’s the most valuable real estate in chess, because pieces stationed in or attacking the middle (principally, the d4, e4, d5, and e5 squares) can control a larger area than those stuck near the edges.

The strength of a player’s pawns goes far beyond merely how many they have, and each side’s pawn structure is one of the most important elements in any game of chess. A pawn chain is a strong line of attack in which pawns are connected in a diagonal line, defending one another and forming a formidable barrier. Two pawns on the same file are doubled, which is generally a bad thing, as the hindmost pawn is blockaded by its teammate. An isolated pawn that does not have any friendly pawns on adjacent files is ripe for being captured by the enemy, as it does not have any one-point comrades to defend it. A passed pawn—having no enemy pawns in front of it on the same or an adjacent file—is worth its weight in gold, as it is a prime candidate to stomp to the end of the board and earn that hard-earned quantum leap of promotion.

Tactics

It is not legal to make a move that would leave your own king under attack from an enemy piece, or in check. (Here seems like a good place to clarify a common misunderstanding: there is no rule requiring you to announce “check” when you make a move that attacks the enemy king.) A piece that blockades an enemy piece from attacking its king is said to be pinned, in that it may not legally move out of the way. A pin can therefore be a powerful tactic, as it may cause a piece to be unable to otherwise fulfill a defensive assignment, or doom a valuable piece to being captured.

A piece that is simultaneously attacking two or more enemy pieces is said to be forking them. A fork is a powerful tactic as the opposition player will usually not be able to save both pieces. A fork attacking the enemy king may be especially devastating as the check must be resolved immediately.

A discovered attack is unleashed when the movement of one of your pieces uncovers an attack on the enemy by one of your other pieces. If the moving piece attacks a valuable piece or delivers a check, your opponent will likely be unable to satisfactorily answer both threats.

While we’re here, let’s throw in a few more foreign-language chess vocab words. A piece that is under attack and not defended is en prise (French for “within grasp”). A player repositioning a piece on its square in an over-the-board game should announce “j’adoube” (French for “I adjust”) to affirm that they are correcting the position of the piece and not moving it. A zwischenzug (or intermezzo, German and Italian respectively for “intermediate move”) is an unexpected move interposed into an apparently forced sequence that requires an immediate response from the opponent. Finally, zugzwang (German for “Ahhh, shit”) is an endgame situation where the player to move has only bad options and is losing by virtue of the fact that they may not pass their turn.

Openings, Middlegame, and Endgame

Here is another bit that you already know: chess games are notionally divided into three phases. These are the opening, the middlegame, and the endgame. There is no clear demarcation between these, although the opening generally refers to the initial period in which players are activating their pieces, the middlegame is generally the period during which players are competing for position and material in the middle of the board, and the endgame begins when many of the major pieces have been captured and each player competes to advance a pawn to promotion and mate the enemy king.

Opening

There are several general aims each player is trying to achieve in the opening. The fight for the center of the board is all-important. Castling is essential, as the king is exposed in his starting position and is safest in the opening and middlegame when hidden behind a wall of pawns toward a corner of the board. Players also need to develop their pieces—to activate them from the back rank into positions where they can more fully contribute to the game. Very generally, your knights are often best stationed on c3 and f3 for white and c6 and f6 for black; your bishops will ideally want to seize control over long diagonals; your queen will want a moderately active role before she springs into life in the middlegame; and you will want to “connect” your rooks on the back rank such that there are no pieces between them. You will in short want to fully mobilize your army as efficiently and effectively as possible. The general rule is to not move the same piece twice in an opening.

About that opening: Over time, a hugely dense body of theory has developed on this topic. Since the starting set-up of the board is fixed, it is possible for players to brute-force memorize optimal responses for variations that might be encountered in common openings. Chess players study theory on a huge array of openings, so that on gameday they can draw on their preparation to choose moves that they know to be theoretically sound and that will push the game in a direction that will support their overall strategy. The most common openings are catalogued and coded in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings (ECO).

The moves 1. e4 and 1. d4 are by far the most popular initial moves for white, as they strike boldly into the center and open diagonals for white’s bishops and queen. The English Opening 1. c4 is currently very trendy, and 1. Nf3 is also a good option. Those four are pretty much the only widely-played first moves, although the World Champ busted out the surprise Bird Opening 1. f4 earlier this year and went on to win that game. This is because any other initial move will not capitalise in the center as efficiently as other options and therefore risks wasting white’s first-mover advantage.

Common openings and defences are given names, so, for example, a game that begins 1. e4 c5 (denoting white pushing its e-pawn two squares forward, followed by black doing the same with its c-pawn) would be said to be exhibiting the Sicilian Defense. Depending on the next moves, the game might become an Open or Closed Sicilian, which can then splinter off into different variations (such as the Dragon or the Scheveningen, to name just two). The variations of the Sicilian are in particular extremely well-traversed paths, and so every chess player would know that a Najdorf Sicilian game refers to one that opened with 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6, and would know a range of sound continuations from there. (It’s often said that there have been more books dedicated to chess than to any other game on Earth, and you can find entire books dedicated to Najdorf continuations beginning with 6. Bg5, and on literally thousands of similarly-specific chess topics). Each opening has its positives and negatives according to the specifics and nuances of the position, and some are more solid than others. Theory on the most well-known openings can extend 25 or 30 moves deep. It’s a strange game that way.

As a competitive chess player, you’d need to know theory of many different openings. You might be booked up to the eyeballs on many variations of the Grünfeld Defense (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5), but if your opponent opens with 1. e4 (or responds to your 1. d4 with 1. … d5), you’d need wider preparation to draw on. Indeed, chess players will sometimes try to surprise their opponent by playing an unexpected move from the fringes of theory that the opponent is unlikely to have studied, in the hope that taking the opponent out of book will pay dividends with an error down the line.

Middlegame

In the middlegame, players fight for material, for tactical and strategic advantages, and to prepare for the endgame. The middlegame is far less susceptible to theoretical standardization than the opening and the endgame.

Once you have mobilized your army in the opening, you can start to formulate your middlegame plan based upon an evaluation of the position. You will want to continually improve the position of your pieces, search for combinations that win material, and protect your king. Opportunities might open up on the queenside; that window might quickly close while another opens on the kingside.

Think hard about how to best employ your pieces based on their characteristics. A knight’s strange movements make it versatile, as it can attack any piece (aside from another knight) without that piece attacking it back, and its eight-tentacled reach gives it deadly range. A bishop placed on an important diagonal is a valuable attacker and defender, especially when employed in tandem with its sibling bishop (forming a bishop pair). Rooks are most valuable on open or semi-open files, and are lethal when they invade the seventh rank of the opponent. The queen is the quarterback, facilitating attacking opportunities all over the board, as she is mobile in all different directions and at long distances. Pawns should be used to defend teammates and key squares, prevent enemy pieces from invading your territory, and, at the right moment, to swarm in numbers on your opponent’s defenses in an attack known as a pawnstorm.

Endgame

The endgame sees the last few remaining pieces duke it out to deliver checkmate to the enemy king. While there are many famous endgame scenarios which may be “solved” according to the exact arrangement of the pieces on the board, endgame theory largely revolves around recognizing types of positions that should be winning, losing, or drawing according to theory, and then converting accordingly with principled play. In the endgame, strategy takes precedence over tactics, and each move is precious—one loose move can entirely undo an entire game’s worth of winning play.

The most common aim of the endgame is to usher one of your pawns to the far end of the board in order to promote it to a queen, from which point mating the enemy king should be a formality. Your play will usually be targeted toward this aim, and you will need to take your cue from your and your opponent’s pawn structure, the importance of which is exploited in the endgame but which should be considered right from the opening.

With most of the powerful pieces exchanged off the board, your king is unlikely to be mated before a pawn can be promoted. Therefore, he should be brought to the middle of the board in the endgame, as his omnidirectional attacking capability makes him a valuable weapon. The player who centralizes his or her king first will usually be at an advantage. You will want your king to seize the opposition—facing the enemy king on a rank or file with only one square between them when it is your opponent’s turn to move. Any side-to-side move can be mirrored by your own king, keeping his enemy at bay while you shuffle your pieces around to get your pawn into the endzone.

Thinking like a Grandmaster: Evaluation and calculation

So, what’s the answer to the age-old question: how many moves are chess players thinking ahead? Every Grandmaster will tell you that there’s no fixed number, and also that it’s not really the right question. At each moment, a player is simply trying to make the best move in order to increase their chances of winning. The more relevant question, then, is to ask what an increased chance of winning looks like.

Evaluation

I might be able to calculate what the position would be along a range of different variations, but then what? Is that good? Do I even want to reach that position? What is my best path to winning the game? To answer these questions, chess players must be able to evaluate a position on the chess board.

Evaluation is an incredibly complex art, and one that even super Grandmasters never stop learning. There are no progress scores in chess, and no one-size-fits-all method for securing victory, and so it is not always clear which moves will cause a player to be “winning.” Identifying those moves is what chess is all about.

There’s no definitive list of what needs to be considered in evaluating a position, but the main elements include the following. The easiest to evaluate is material—the collective strength of each side’s army, taking into account the point scale referred to above. (The rule of thumb is that you should aim to exchange pieces when ahead in material, and to exchange pawns when behind.) The king’s safety is paramount, and you’ll almost always want to castle during the opening, to refrain from advancing his protecting pawns unless necessary (to avoid opening up the squares around him to invasion), and defend any potential lines of attack. The activity and coordination of the pieces refers to their position on the board and how effectively they can contribute to the cause—a piece stuck on the back rank or in a far-flung corner of the board may not be as valuable as a piece controlling the center, and well-coordinated pieces will defend each other and key squares while not impeding each other’s movement. Each side’s pawn structure can foreshadow who will have the upper hand in the endgame.

A proper evaluation of a position should lead you toward developing your winning strategy and making the best move. The relative importance of each factor will depend on the totality of the situation, and understanding the dynamics of a position is a fundamental chess skill. Material is certainly important, but a deficit in material may be offset by some compensation in development, position, or danger to the opponent’s king. You can follow an excellent example of a fulsome evaluation of a position here.

Once you’ve evaluated a position and understand where your winning chances lie, you can calculate where your next move might take the game.

Calculation

There are more potential sequences of moves in a game of chess than atoms in the known universe. The game-tree of possible variations spreads so broadly that it’s a near-certainty that the next chess game you play will not match a single game in any chess database; I’d wager, though it would obviously be impossible to prove, that it will be totally unique compared to any game played since the beginning of time. Supercomputers have yet to solve chess, though they may do so one day. In other words, brute force calculation of all possible variations is out of the question.

At each position in a game of chess, a player will have a finite number of legal moves available. Many can be immediately dismissed out of hand, because they would forfeit material, achieve a bad position, or simply not achieve anything useful. Players therefore identify candidate moves (a term coined by GM Alexander Kotov in his famous 1971 book Think Like A Grandmaster), which are those that appear to have some merit and that deserve fulsome scrutiny. (The fundamental rule is that at a minimum all possible checks and captures should always be considered.) Each candidate move, in turn, would provide the opponent with an array of legal responses, most of which will again be dismissed out of hand, leaving a field of responses that may be realistically anticipated, and so on. All-encompassing calculations are therefore inefficient and unnecessary; rather, the decision tree is pruned significantly, right from the root.

Chess players therefore look at the board and envision the pieces moving around, calculating possibilities and then evaluating the positions that arise—if I do this, they can do that or that, and then the board would look like this, that’s no good, what about something else. A position might require nearly no calculation—the recapture of a queen, the resolution of a check, staving off mate-in-one—and moves in these situations are said to be forced. In more complex positions, you might have a large number of potential options, to which there might be a number of good responses for your opponent, and so on. The purpose of the exercise isn’t to calculate zillions of moves ahead just for the sake of it, it’s to identify which of your current available moves improves your chances of winning, and which ones don’t. Ideally, you will consider all relevant variations before making your move. In real life, that’s even tougher than it sounds. You’ll hear chess players say things like “I missed that he/she had Qh4 following that combination” after a loss.

So: let’s think about a move in a position.

It’s our move, with white pieces. Let’s do a quick evaluation of the position. Material is equal. Both kings are relatively safe, and there’s no immediate threat to ours nor obvious attack on theirs. Both sides’ pieces are relatively active, with our e-rook sitting on a nice semi-open file. Black’s bishop is somewhat cramped and immobile. Overall, white looks to have a somewhat better position.

Can we find a combination to win some material? Look at black’s pawn on d5. White has three pieces attacking it (pawn, knight, queen), and black has only two defenders (bishop, queen)—a fairly clear indication that we should be able to make a profit out of a combo. Can we take the pawn? Visualize in your mind what might happen next if we do.

If we take the d-pawn with our e-pawn, black’s bishop is under attack and should move—it can’t take our pawn or we’ll gobble up its queen. So, the black bishop takes our bishop, and we recapture with our knight. We’ve won a pawn and a bishop, and lost only a bishop—a handy profit. If the black queen continues by capturing our knight (now on b5), we take the knight on g4 with our own queen and we’re still ahead, with no apparent adequate compensation for black.

However, we’ve also got a better and cooler combination. Let’s capture the d5 pawn with our knight. Now our bishop is undefended and black may capture it with its bishop. But check this out: then our queen captures the knight on g4! Is that a blunder? Can’t the black queen take ours for free? Nope. Queen takes queen, and then we move our knight to f6 and check. Knight-fork, baby! Our knight is attacking both the black king on g8 and the black queen on g4. The king must move to escape check, and we capture the queen, with the result that we netted a pawn (pawn + knight + queen versus bishop + queen), with no obvious compensation for black. A material advantage is greater when there are fewer pieces on the board, so the fact that this exchange removes the queens is more advantageous, and it’s far more fun.

Note that this combination wouldn’t have worked if our rook was still on f1, because it would now be under attack by the black bishop—the little things matter.

Most elite players will say that trusting their instincts is just as important as trusting their calculations. Experienced players can look at the board and feel the best move—the coup d’œil—and rely on intuition as much as calculation, searching for familiar patterns in each position. This produces more creative and original play, and leads to positions which are themselves more intuitive. Plus, in short-format games there is no time for lengthy calculation and playing by feel is essential. It’s far more fun to play quickly and by instinct, anyway!

So, calculation is an incredibly important tool in ultimately deciding on your next move, but it’s a means to an end, not the end itself. You might only need to calculate one move ahead in a position, or you might end up calculating 15 or 20 moves ahead. It all depends on the circumstances—it’s not like Grandmasters have enough RAM to calculate exactly n moves ahead, but not n + 1. (Hey, if we had a magic chessboard with an infinite number of ranks, and you and I both had 1,000 rooks each facing each other on one file, we could both realistically claim to be able to calculate 1,000 moves ahead.)

Here’s an awesome clip of the GOAT talking through his calculations and evaluations from Game 20 of the 1990 World Championship match:

Practical considerations

First-mover advantage

White always moves first in chess, and from there the players alternate moves throughout the game (there is no passing or moving twice in a row). This rule gives white an inherent advantage, as it can develop its pieces faster via its starting tempo and therefore has a greater ability to push the game in the direction that it wants. In the 23,000-plus games in Chessgames’ database from so far in 2017, white has scored about 54.5 percent, winning approximately 37.7 percent of games, drawing 33.7 percent, and losing only 28.6 percent.

Time restrictions

Chess games can be played under different time controls. There’s the classicalformat for quintessential sit-and-think contests—for example, in the 2017 World Cup, each player has 90 minutes for their first 40 moves, and then 30 minutes for the rest of the game, plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 1. (The exact intervals differ from tournament to tournament.) Then, there are much shorter formats—a rapid game might give each player 25 minutes with a 10 second delay each move, and a blitz game might grant five minutes with a three-second delay. If players are even after a series of games, they might showdown in a single knockout Armageddon game, in which the parameters are prescribed so as to give each side the closest thing to a 50 percent chance of emerging victorious—white might receive five minutes to black’s four, with white needing to win and black only requiring a draw.

In each format, players press a button on a chess clock after making their move, which stops their time running and automatically starts their opponent’s.

It goes without saying that the shorter contests are chalk-and-cheese compared to classical games—it’s common for players to spend 20, 30, or even 40 minutes on a single move under classical time controls—players get up and have a look at the other nearby games in progress while their opponent is pondering their next move, which I find to be an endlessly amusing quirk—but the compressed formats require players to blitz out their moves without allowing much time for thought, resulting in exciting attacking play, inexcusable blunders, and thrilling races against the clock. (Former World Champion Vishy Anand spent an are-you-crazy 1 minute 43 seconds of his available 5 minutes on the fourth move of the 1994 World Blitz Championship semi-final, and went on to win.)

Mating the king

Unlike in every TV show or movie ever to involve chess, checkmates do not come out of the blue as a surprise to an opponent. Elite players invariably resign when a clearly losing position is reached, and over-the-board mates in competition are very rare. Between Grandmasters, a player losing a piece would usually resign on the spot, because unless they have significant compensation in position or initiative there is no realistic likelihood that their opponent will do anything but inevitably cruise to victory. In endgame situations, the difference of a single pawn can be enough to precipitate a handshake. Similarly, a significant positional advantage or an imminent mate will invariably result in resignation. It is seen as disrespectful to play on in a clearly lost position, and most elite players aren’t interested in suffering through a humiliating forced march to checkmate.

In fact, I can only identify mate being delivered over the board once in World Championship history—chess author and player Jimmy Adams alerted me to Alexander Alekhine’s mate of Efim Bogoljubov in Game 8 of their 1929 World Championship match. However, in an interesting quirk pointed out to me by chess author and player Stewart Reuben, three of the most famous and celebrated games in history did indeed end in mate over the board: The Game of the Century, The Immortal Game, and The Evergreen Game.

By the way, the quickest-possible checkmate can be achieved in just two moves, the so-called Fool’s Mate:

Call it a draw

A game can end in a draw in several ways. It could be a stalemate, where a player with the move has no legal move and his/her king is not in check; or threefold repetition (if a position appears on the board for the third time); by the fifty-move rule (if each player has made 50 moves since the last capture or movement of any pawn); by perpetual check (technically a draw by agreement, occurring if one player can perpetually place the enemy king in check without actually being able to deliver mate); or through insufficient mating material, which is when neither player has enough firepower to checkmate the other, for example if the forces are reduced to a king versus a king and knight.

Most commonly, though, games end in a draw by agreement, where players simply shake hands and agree to split the points based on their evaluation of the position on the board. This makes sense in a lot of endgame positions, for example where material and position are equal; between elite players a final result of a draw for one of the above reasons is inevitable. Far more controversial are early agreed draws. The laws of chess permit agreed draws any time after move 1, while some tournaments may prohibit them before a certain point is reached; in the World Championship, for instance, a draw cannot be agreed before move 30. Often, both players are happy to earn a draw, perhaps for rating purposes or to ensure a solid finish in a tournament, and so might go into a game ready to jump at a draw at the first opportunity, especially if the game follows a well-known line in the opening. Some games end in agreed draws after as few as five effing moves. This tends to raise eyebrows, and also to raise questions as to whether the players are truly giving it their all.

Chess as a metaphor

Chess is often referenced in politics, the arts, sports, and elsewhere as a metaphor demonstrating deep intelligence or intellectual superiority. “I’m playing chess while everyone else plays checkers! I’m thinking two whole moves ahead of everyone else! You’re all pawns in my game! Checkmate!”

As often as not, the most common chess metaphors are off the mark. The laziest trope is that chess skills signify intelligence, and vice versa. You do need to be intelligent to become an elite chess player, but that also goes for just about anything worth being good at. A smart person who has never played chess before will be very bad at chess. Similarly, a person who is triumphantly claiming that they stroll through life like a chess Grandmaster, thinking multiple moves ahead of everyone else, is generally just showing us the Dunning-Kruger effect in action.

To make a good analogy, the objects being compared actually need to be analogous. In chess, there are only two actors, they start with equal firepower, and the circumstances that constitute winning and losing are clearly defined. The rules are fixed, there is no hidden information, and everything unfolds within a closed system with no outside interference. These parameters are rarely perfectly replicated in real-life scenarios. They are rarely imperfectly replicated in real-life scenarios.

It’s not to say that chess metaphors can’t be made, or that only Super Grandmasters should make them. It’s the exact opposite—elements of chess show themselves in the real world all the time, and even casual players will know the lizard sensation of recognizing elements of chess in real-life scenarios. Chess teaches how to think strategically, to map out all available options, to anticipate the consequences of your actions, to plan for contingencies, and to choose when to attack and when to defend. Chess themes show up in every sport, in politics, in business, and in every competition or ecosystem with multiple moving parts. Anybody can learn chess, and anybody can learn from chess. I suspect the issue is that non-chess folks see issues from the real world and are tempted to clumsily try to make them fit into how they think chess operates. That’s doing it in reverse—if you take the time to learn the game of chess, you’ll be amazed at how often you see its themes materialize in front of you.

The Global Context and Chess at the Elite Level

The World Championship

The World Championship is decided every two years in a 12-game-plus-tiebreaks match between the reigning champ and one contender, who is the winner of the traditional eight-person Candidates Tournament. That tournament is just as cool as the World Championship match itself, and the race to qualify—the Candidates field is made up of the previous World Championship runner-up, the two highest finishers in two major tournaments, the two otherwise highest-rated players, and one wildcard—is the most enthralling ongoing storyline of each World Championship cycle. Norway’s Magnus Carlsen has been World Champion since 2013, and most recently defeated Russian Sergey Karjakin in tiebreaks in 2016 to retain his title and take home more than half a million Euros in prize money.

Chess is universal, and there are tournaments held all over the world all year round for players of all strengths and ages. The elite players compete in tournaments ranging from the biennial national-team Chess Olympiad, to the single-elimination World Cup, to the big-money events on the new Grand Chess Tour. There are always tournaments happening all around the world, whether age-limited or open, individual or team, knockout or round-robin or Swiss-system.

Ratings

Players earn ratings according to how strongly they perform in tournaments. Chess’s international governing body FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs, pronounced “fee-day”) bases ratings on the Elo rating system, a complex mathematical scheme also employed in other sports and in the algorithm underpinning the predecessor to Facebook. A rating is simply a number that represents a player’s chess ability—the larger the rating the better the player—and which fluctuates up and down after every game according to the player’s results relative to their opponents’ ratings. Players are ranked by their ratings: as of the December 2017 list, Carlsen is currently ranked No. 1 with a rating of 2837 (his May 2014 rating of 2882 is the highest ever recorded), six others are rated just above or below 2800, and the world No. 100 clocks in at 2652. A beginner who understands the rules but not much else would probably be rated lower than 600.

Titles

FIDE awards titles to elite players based on their performance in classical tournament play. In order of increasing prestige, players can become a Candidate Master (carrying the honorific ‘CM’), FIDE Master (FM), International Master (IM), or a Grandmaster (GM). There are separate women-only titles corresponding to each. All titles are granted for life. The byzantine technical criteria which must be fulfilled to achieve Grandmaster status essentially boil down to two requirements: achieving a minimum rating of 2500, and achieving three norms, which are 2600-level results—say, a tournament score of 7/9 against a field of average 2380 rating—in tournaments against diverse and highly-rated opponents, where the field features players from several different nations, at least one-third GMs, and no player rated lower than 2200. Got all that? There are currently 1,570 Grandmasters in the world, although many are now retired or inactive. The countries with the most Grandmasters are Russia (220), Germany (90), USA (89), and Ukraine (86).

Seconds

Just like all sportspeople have coaches and training staff, elite chess players hire other chexperts (chessperts?) to act as seconds—essentially, coaches and assistants to help them prepare for important matches and tournaments. Seconds usually have a particular expertise in certain areas, and may be either active players or semi- or fully-retired. They might be tasked with studying particular opening lines, coming up with novel attacking themes, addressing their player’s weaknesses, or studying a future opponent’s past games, all with a view to briefing their player so that they are fully prepared on game day. Seconds might be engaged on a permanent or ad hoc basis, and many players don’t like disclosing who they’ve got on their team for fear that their seconds’ profiles will hint at what they have prepared.

Supercomputers

You knew this one was coming. The advent of chess engines—supercomputers that calculate millions of possible variations stretching many moves ahead—has fundamentally changed the game of chess, in the same way that the three-point line fundamentally changed basketball. Chess engines are orders of magnitude more powerful and less susceptible to error than even the strongest Grandmasters, and have broadened analysis and research beyond what was ever thought possible. Magnus Carlsen’s ascension to World Champion marked the dawn of a new era in chess, as he is the first champ to have forged his playing career entirely in the age of supercomputers.

At each position in a game, chess engines calculate the best continuations, spitting out recommended moves in order of their strength, and listing the first few moves in the strongest continuation thereafter. Their evaluation functions estimate the chess equivalent of a progress score based on all the factors described above. If an engine evaluates that, all things considered, black has an advantage worth the equivalent of exactly one and a half pawns, the evaluation of the position will yield a “score” of -1.50, with negative numbers indicating an advantage for black and positive an advantage for white.

The open source engine Stockfish, for instance, evaluates the starting position at +0.23 because of white’s first-mover advantage. Chess fans can follow chess games from around the world live on websites such as Chess24, which reports the moves accompanied by Stockfish’s evaluations and calculations, which adds a cool layer of context and analysis (follow the calculations and evaluations of the final game of the 2016 World Championship match here). It’s a lot of fun when a game reaches an extremely complex position, and while the players calculate with furrowed brows we at home can yell things like “I can’t believe he/she hasn’t seen Bxg4 already! It’s so obvious!”

The advent of supercomputers has had an immeasurable impact on chess. It one sense, it has somewhat levelled the field between players, because a player with lesser inherent chess instinct can paper over that gap to a degree with extensive research and preparation. Supercomputers have advanced opening theory by light years, and some variations have fallen out of favor amongst elite players because computer analysis has shown them to be susceptible to a certain attack or defense.

Of course, players have to make the moves on the board based on their own brainpower, and an over-reliance on computer study at the expense of understanding the game of chess can be a player’s undoing. The computer’s recommended move might not always be the best one for a human to make, because it might be reliant on a 35-move combination that a human simply can’t calculate. One challenge for elite Grandmasters is to figure out how best to use engines in their preparation; that is, as a tool to make them better and not as the endpoint of chess itself. One challenge for the chess authorities is to ensure that players aren’t clandestinely using engines during matches—in big tournaments, players are required to walk through airport-style metal detectors before and after games to make sure there’s no funny business.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour around the black and white of chess. More than that, I hope you dust off that old chess board you’ve got lying around, play some rapid games against other players online, or download one of the millions of available chess apps. If you’ve got kids, teaching them chess has enormous educational benefits, and it’s never too late for you and them to get started. Spend 10 minutes learning the main lines of some cool openings, like the King’s Indian and the Dragon, and while you’re at it, pick an opening to play just because it has a cool name, like the Pterodactyl, or the Hippopotamus Defense. Try some chess puzzles, borrow a beginner’s strategy book from the library, and attack the enemy king like you’re Mikhail Tal, even if it won’t always come off. Talk some trash, win and lose a few games, have some fun.

Ben is a Deadspin reader who likes chess.

#chess

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minecraft-llama · 1 year ago

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Chess Blog Day #31 - The Sicilian Defense

The Sicilian Defence is defined by the moves 1.e4 c5

This opens up a line for the queen and attacks a central square.

One of the reasons people play the Sicilian is because of the lack of symmetry. Grandmasters often play this opening when they're in a must win situation with black. Having a position where neither side is better but both players can attack each other in different ways is called an "imbalance". This isn't an advantage for either side, but it usually means a draw is less likely.

The aim of the Sicilian is to gain and maintain a space advantage on the queenside.

Okay, a couple of new terminology concepts. We've talked about kingside and queenside castling before, but it's also important to note that the terms "kingside" and "queenside" refer to the respective halves of the board.

"Space" in chess refers to the amount of control a player has over the board or a part of the board. It doesn't have a precise definition but you know it when you see it.

You can see that black already controls two queenside squares in the enemy half of the board, while white only controls one.

Another idea in the Sicilian is to trade off your c pawn for white's d pawn and to have two central pawns to white's one.

An example of this is the very common 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4

And black gains that two versus one central advantage.

Plenty more openings to cover!

Tomorrow: The London system.

#chess #board game #opening #strategy #sicilian #sicilian defense

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raymondchouplayschess · 7 years ago

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An Attempt to Consolidate Opening Moves

So since most chess openings consider it foolhardy to open with the same piece more than once, it is a good idea to consider the first move of each piece at each player’s disposal. Then, memorizing openings is simply a matter of recollecting the story of why each move is played. Perhaps this will form a more coherent system.

My memory with music is insane because I have the ability to listen to it on repeat, but I do not have that same ability with chess. Perhaps, if I tell a story, then that would make it much easier.

The a pawn

As white/black: a3 or a4 to potentially stop an a or b-pawn advance, possibly to control the b4 square, as the black queenside knight could go Nc6 -> Nb4

The b pawn

Support the c pawn usually, there’s no real reason to play this pawn early, or it’s moved forward one square because a queen is attacking them since someone played their queenside bishop out. Or you’re fianchetto’ing.

The c pawn

Used to support the d-pawn, as in the French defense or the Slav, or sometimes tossed out as a Gambit pawn. Allows free movement of the queen, and is usually played before the C-knight move, as a move like Nc3 or Nc6.

The d pawn

Control the center, or support the e-pawn.

The e pawn

Control the center, or support the d-pawn if it was played first.

The f pawn

Don’t play this pawn unless King’s gambit. That’s how you die.

The g pawn

Usually you only play this pawn to fianchetto...unless you castle queenside. No real reason to move this pawn early unless you Fianchetto.

The h pawn

Used to kick knights along the g-file, or whatever piece made their way all the way over.

Knight Moves

I’ll just cover them as white, since they serve a similar purpose as black.

Nc3: Good fight for the center. Attacks two of the four center squares. Does not obstruct the movement of our pieces. Nd2: Will block the c-bishop unless being fianchetto’d. A slightly more defensive move, only attacks one of the center squares, but protects f3, where our other knight might go. Nf3: Same as Nc3, but on the kingside. A solid developing move in general. Ne2: Blocks the f-bishop unless it was played first. Connects with the other knight if Nc3 was played. Very good if they’re putting pressure down the diagonal containing f4 and g3.

Bishop Moves

c-bishop

Ba3: Don’t know why you’d do that. Seems silly to me. Indirectly attacks their f-bishop I guess. Bb2: The queenside fianchetto. Controls the a1-g8 long diagonal, and potentially allows you to dip in there and fuck up their g8 rook. Bd2: Protects the king by being a bodyshield, but interferes with the Queen’s defense of the d-pawn if the queen was unmoved. Be3: Protects the pawn on d4 if it was played, and is supported by the f-pawn, which traditionally should not move. Bf4: Not a very good move in general; especially if they played e5. And even if they didn’t, upon you doing so may prompt an advance from them. Maybe okay if you played Ne2 first (provided you’re not blocking the f-bishop), but doesn’t really get at anything otherwise. Bg5: Usually can pin the f6 knight to their queen, but easily kicked by ...h6. Complements the move Nf3 very well. If the knight’s first move was Nf3, then Ng5 is supported by the c-bishop Bh6: Great way to lose a bishop to the g pawn

f-bishop

Bh3: attacks their c-bishop if they moved the d-pawn - that’s about it. Bg2: The kingside fianchetto. A solid option, controls the a8-g1 long diagonal, attacking their rook on a8. Be2: Protects the queen; completely smothers the d1-h4 diagonal. Bd3: Blocks the queen’s defense of the d-pawn, but can stop harassment from their bishop or something Bc4: In moves like the Italian game. Complements Nf3 very well, as it attacks the f-pawn, where a knight could potentially jump in. Bb5: The Ruy Lopez. Attacks their queen indirectly, but very very very prone to being kicked. Ba6: Bad.

That’s all that’s really necessary tbh

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chess-coaching · 3 years ago

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Chess Strategy for Beginners: Complete Guide

The game can be divided into two big parts – chess strategy and tactics. There are games that can be classified as positional and games where the tactical, attacking ideas dominate. However, most of the times, the two go hand in hand, and a game that had a slow, quiet start, could finish with a beautiful sacrifice. In the same way, a game that started in a dynamic way could be finally won with the use of strategic ideas. Moreover, tactics can be used to gain a certain positional advantage.

Although we are mostly used to look for tactical ideas in order to win material, keep in mind that this is not always the case.

Combinations can be also used to get a better structure, weaken our opponent’s position or force the trade of one of our bad pieces, for example.

Chess Strategy vs. Tactics

Tactical shots, sacrifices, and mating attacks are usually the most appealing to those who are just starting in chess.

They are certainly beautiful, satisfying to go through (and even more to deliver!) and highly instructive. However, one shouldn’t forget about the positional side of chess or the so-called chess strategy.

In fact, it is very important to familiarize yourself with the basic chess strategy right from the beginning.

Having steady tactics and chess strategy foundation will help you build a good chess understanding and improve as a player.

Whilst tactics allow you to immediately punish your opponent’s mistakes, the chess strategy helps you understand and use in your favor the more permanent aspects of the position.

Basics of Chess Strategy

Chess strategy will teach you how to develop a position, how to identify and use in your favor the small pluses in a game.

It will help you develop a healthy playing style and understand what to look for in the middlegame, once the opening phase is over. Once you have achieved that, you can keep adding more “bricks” and continue improving your level.

But let’s start with the basics of chess strategy:

Chess Strategy 1: Controlling the Center

One of the things you have to understand right from the start is that the center of the board is of utmost importance. Whether the position on the board calls for an attack or positional play, you won’t be able to successfully do anything if you don’t have a good grip over the central squares. In most cases, the side who controls the middle of the board better will keep a small advantage. This happens for a few reasons.

First of all, a central piece is an active piece.

It controls more squares and can create more damage in the opponent’s position. On the other hand, a piece placed on the side of the board will have fewer and significantly less active squares to control or jump on. However, not all pieces need to be placed in the middle of the board in order to control it. Some can do this from afar and be equally effective. To understand this better, think for example about knights.

They are short-range pieces and need to be well-placed in order to control important squares. Bishops or rooks, on the other hand, don’t have to be right in the middle of the board to make use of a dangerous diagonal or open file. They are long-range pieces and can usually do the same job (most of the time even better!) from afar.

Secondly, central, well-placed pieces have very good mobility.

They cooperate better between each other, but can also be brought faster on the side they are needed on. Imagine, for example, that you are trying to build an attack against the opponent’s king – a central knight can easily be re-routed to both kingside or queenside, depending on where the rival has castled. In the same manner, the defending side will do so easier with central pieces.

Chess Strategy 2: Look for Better Squares

Be constantly on the look for better squares for your pieces and try to improve their position throughout the whole game.

Controlling the center and developing your pieces towards it is an important guideline, but you should not stop there. Usually, better, more active squares will become available for your pieces during a game and it is up to you to spot them and bring your pieces on them. In this sense, there are several ideas to keep in mind.

For example:

Chess Strategy Tip I: Keep Your Knight in the Center

Knights are strong on central squares, but they also need certain stability, which is usually provided by pawns. Let’s take the following position:

Kasparov, G – Yermolinsky, A, Yerevan 1996

White’s pieces are visibly more active and occupy better squares than his opponent’s. However, even though not badly placed, the white knight is the only piece that is not actively participating in white’s attack and seems, in fact, isolated from the rest of the army. For this reason, he continued here with the move Ne5 – occupying a central square and becoming a thorn in black’s position.

After this move, all white’s pieces are harmoniously cooperating and he will be able to increase the pressure over black’s position.

Here is another typical maneuver of improving the position of the knight:

Harrwitz – Staunton, London, 1846

Here, too, the position of the black knight on f6 can be improved.

In this game, black used the bad position of the white queen and light-squared bishop with the move Nh5! The idea is to occupy the square f4 with a gain of tempo, but this is not everything. White also needs to parry the threat of Ng3 with a double attack, as the f2 pawn is right now pinned by the black bishop on b6.

Chess Strategy Tip II: Place Your Rooks on Open Files

Rooks are best placed on open or semi-open files. If there are no such files in the position, they could be placed behind the central pawns, offering them support.

Take the following position:

Carlsen,M – Artemiev, V, Moscow 2019

White has just played Rab1, activating his rook by occupying the only semi-open file he has available in this position. He has done so with a gain of time, as now black will have to defend the pawn on b7.

This is another example of chess strategy for improving the rooks in the middlegame:

Rubinstein,A – Tarrasch, S, Bad Kissingen 1928

In this case, only one of the white rooks occupies a semi-open file.

At the same time, the rook on d1 hits on the black pawn on d6, forcing his opponent to always keep an eye on it. His other rook has been placed on c1 – not an open file, but an important one, whatsoever. From here, it supports the c4 pawn, but will also make possible different tactical ideas against the black queen on c7.

Chess Strategy 3: Take Care of Your Pawn Structure

The pawn structure is an important part of the game and, as you will discover, one of the elements on which chess strategy relies most. One of the first things to understand and remember throughout a game is that a healthy pawn structure means a solid, safe position.

With time, you will understand how much a pawn move can influence the game or how their disposition can dictate the type of play in certain positions.

A few things to know from the beginning are:

Chess Strategy Tip I: Ideal Pawn Placement – Side by Side

The ideal pawn placement is side by side, in a phalanx. This is because when in this formation, the pawns control every square that is in front of them. With each advance, the opponent will get a square he could use for his own pieces. A central pawn phalanx can, for example, be very strong and effective in neutralizing the opponent’s pieces.

In the following diagram you can see how such a pawn formation can give a big advantage:

Greco,G – N.N, 1620

Notice how white’s pawns on c4, d4, e4 and f4 control the whole black centre. Moreover, the d and e pawns can now advance to d5 and e5 and force the two black knights onto worse squares. In this case, the advance of these two pawns is possible thanks to the support of the c and f pawns.

Chess Strategy Tip II: Avoid Splitting Your Pawns

Avoid, if possible, splitting your pawns. Split pawns cannot protect each other anymore and will be easier attacked and eventually picked up by the opponent.

Try to keep your structure intact for as long as possible and, of course, make your opponent’s worse, if he allows this. Doubled pawns can be one example of such faulty structures. One typical idea to create this in your opponent’s camp (and one to avoid yourself!) is the following:

Rozentalis, E – Zischka, M, Berlin 1999

Here, white is using the pin on the knight on f6 to force his opponent to ruin his pawn structure. By playing Nd5, he brings another attack over this knight. In return, black can’t support it with another minor piece, so after the following trades on f6, he will have nothing better to do than capture back with the g pawn and double his pawns on the f file.

The problem with this is not only that now this pawn will be easier to attack for white, but the black king will also become an easy target for the first player.

After the exchanges on f6, the following position was reached:

What’s the best chess strategy for white?

Here you can see how white is already taking advantage of his opponent’s poor pawn structure. After bringing his queen to h6, the f6 pawn can no longer be defended. In addition to this, the king is not safe either. For example, after Nxf6, the threat will be Qxh7, with a mate.

Chess Strategy Tip III: Improve Your Pawn Structure

Make your pawn structure better if you have been forced to worsen it at some point in the game.

One thing you have to remember is that a bad pawn structure doesn’t have to be forever. Don’t be disheartened if you have been forced to ruin yours, but look for ways to improve it.

For example, one popular chess strategy for getting rid of the doubled pawns is to trade one of them:

Find a winning chess strategy for white

Here, white can exploit the pin over the d5 pawn by playing the move c3-c4! This move has two important purposes. First of all, white is happy to get rid of one of his doubled pawns by forcing trades on the d5 square.

Secondly, it will not be easy for black to defend his d5 pawn and he will be forced to eventually recapture with the c6 pawn and worsen his structure as well. In conclusion, we could say that white’s move helps improve his own structure and at the same time ruin his opponent’s.

These are some of the basic positional concepts to keep in mind throughout the game. They represent the foundation for many other important elements that you will discover in your journey for improvement.

Looking for more advanced stuff? Read our post on Chess Strategy for Club Players

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