Chess Tips

Offense or Defense?

If you are new to the game of chess you need to understand that a balance between attacking and defending needs to be achieved. Many inexperienced players are quick to go on the offensive and look for the quick crushing defeat of their opponent. While being able to pull this off is impressive and good for the ego, the likelihood of a quick offensive win against a more experienced opponent is unlikely and a bad decision.

The flaw with the all out offensive assault is that an experienced opponent will see the gaping holes in your own defense. Experienced players sit and wait for this type of inexperience to show itself. Think of chess as a war in which you must defend your capitol (your king) while at the same time taking your opponents capitol. An army that simply runs into battle with bravery and no defensive protection may appear as courageous, but they also often suffer a crushing defeat quickly.

A balanced approach is the best when playing chess. Depending on your playing style you will likely lean in one direction, either offensive or defensive. Try to focus on this balance and keep your king protected while slowly applying your offensive strategy. At times the best offensive strategy is to wait for your opponent to begin an offensive front and to find the flaws in their attack. Doing this gives you the wonderful advantage of finding their gaping holes in their defense, instead of them finding your gaping holes. Keep working on improving your defensive skills, as this will lead you to victory more often than an all out offensive assault. Allow your opponent to make the mistakes instead of you and you will find a great deal of success in your game.

God Save The Queen?

The old saying of "God save the Queen" does not always apply when playing chess. While some would argue that keeping the queen at all costs will be the difference between winning and losing, there are others who will tell you that a winning game of chess is all about sacrifice no matter how painful. Some players will spend the whole game trying to protect their queen and will never consider sacrificing this piece during the game. Being ultra protective of your queen can lead to your downfall in a game of chess.

It is important to allow some of your other pieces to begin the attacks and to keep the queen in reserve until an opportunity arrives, but keeping her at all costs is a mistake that many players make. Being the most versatile piece on the board the queen can lead to great offensive attacks. Willingness to sacrifice and trade a queen for a queen will help you to achieve the bigger goal of winning the game against your opponent.

Allow your other pieces to initiate the attacks and bring the queen in to limit the possible movements of your opponent. Try to not waste moves by being overprotective of your queen, because ultimately you only get so many moves in a game and it is important to make each move count. Wasting movements of your queen, or any other pieces will provide your opponent with an advantage. Try to make every move count during your game and do not be afraid to sacrifice the queen for a queen, or to sacrifice other pieces when it will provide you with an advantage. The phrase "God save the Queen" applies in politics, but does not always apply when playing to win in a game of chess.

Bluffing

Bluffing is generally thought of in relation to playing poker, not chess, but it does apply to the game of chess albeit ineffectively applied at times. Many opponents will attempt to place pieces in an open space on your side of the board with no real intent of sacrificing the piece. This is particularly true towards the beginning of the game when your opponent is trying to feel you out. An opponent may run a bishop or knight out to your side of the board as an attempt to establish an offensive front.

If you ignore this piece and allow it to sit out there while executing your own plan, then you are giving your opponent an advantage. Find out if your opponent is simply bluffing and trying to feel you out. Many times if you challenge this piece, your opponent will retreat quickly instead of standing to fight. Similar to a game of poker, your opponent wants to see what type of player you are. They are trying to see if you are an aggressor or a protector of your pieces. Call this bluff from your opponent to find out how badly they want to keep this piece out in the middle of the board.

If you simply allow this piece to sit in waiting as an aggressor, then you are giving your opponent the advantage. In a worst-case scenario you will simply trade a bishop for a bishop, or a knight for a knight. This is still a good protective move by you because leaving that piece sitting out there unchallenged will prove to be a thorn in your side throughout the game. Challenge every piece that comes onto your side of the board and determine how strongly your opponent feels about keeping that piece there, or if they will simply cower and retreat.

Keep from Blocking Yourself

In the game of chess it is very possible to beat yourself and to block your pieces in with poor planned moves. While this is a simple concept that may seem obvious, many players will make this error. For example, moving your bishop in front of your pawn in the very early stages of the game will generally result in retreating that bishop so that the pawn can be freed. This is a waste of precious moves. Any move that has no purpose or strategy is a bad move. You only have so many opportunities to move pieces throughout the game so it is important to make each move count and for each move to be a part of your overall strategy. Waiting for your opponent to make the first mistake is your first mistake.

Another blocking error is when you have two pawns next to each other and you use one pawn to take a piece that is in front of the other pawn. Now you end up with one pawn directly in front of the other. This opens a file (vertical spaces) on the board and seriously weakens both of those pawns. Your level of vulnerability to attack has just increased dramatically. In addition to this, the pawn that is the furthest forward is most likely undefended. This has created a sort of traffic jam for your pieces on the board and will haunt you as the game progresses. An experienced opponent will exploit this open file that you have created.

Always try to be thinking ahead as to what your next few moves should be. Thinking ahead will help keep you from blocking yourself in and from making the avoidable careless mistakes.

Middle or sides?

There are many different opening strategies in chess that you can use. Much of this depends on how you approach your chess game, whether you are aggressive or more defensive in your play. Two of these opening strategies are called open or closed. An open strategy refers to beginning the game with your pawns that are located in front of your king and queen. A closed strategy refers to using the pawns on the sides, in front of your rooks or knights.

An open strategy is a much more offensive strategy. Using this strategy you and your opponent will begin to trade pieces rather rapidly. You and your opponent will have many open lanes that can be used to attack one another. This can lead to a quick defeat, for you or your opponent. If you are a risk taker and like offense more than defense, then this is a strategy for you to consider.

A closed opening strategy is just the opposite. A closed opening of moving the pawns on the sides of the board result in a defensive game play by both you and your opponent. A closed strategy also limits much of the movements that you can make with your more versatile pieces.

Perhaps if you are a beginner to chess you should utilize the open strategy to help you learn how the offensive game works in chess. If you are a more experienced player, then the closed strategy may serve you well since you already know the offense. If you are a more experienced player a good defense will lull the inexperienced players right into your traps. Regardless of whether you are new to chess or have been playing a while, continue to focus on finding a good balance for yourself in regards to offensive and defensive strategies.

Skewering and Pinning

Skewering and pinning are essential and favorite moves for many chess players. These are rather basic strategies that often lead to a win. Knowing how to utilize them will help you to improve your game. Your opponent will be forced into situations of either losing their highly valued piece or being placed in check. This gives you the advantage because you are now dictating the game and your opponent is simply trying to survive your advances.

The skewer refers to threatening a highly valued piece such as the queen. Your opponent will likely move that queen and leave a free and open attack to a lesser-valued piece such as a bishop or knight. Picture placing a protected bishop so that it threatens a queen, if that queen moves out of danger the knight is exposed. Your opponent will almost always move that queen, thus allowing you a free victory over the knight. Always take advantage of this. Do not skewer unless you do in fact intend on taking the piece with lesser value.

Pinning refers to threatening a piece that is blocking a file to the king. In other words that piece cannot move, because if it does so the king would be in check and that would be an illegal move. Imagine you have a rook in the same file as your opponent's king, but your opponent has a knight in the file. That knight cannot move because again that would be an illegal move. You are not allowed to place yourself in check. Now you have a choice to take that knight with either your rook or with another piece. Always take advantage of this and capture your opponent's piece. This is a strategy that experienced player's use to successfully win games on a consistent basis.

Castling

Castling is a move that you should not overlook when playing chess. Generally it is better to have castled within the first twenty moves in a game. Castling helps protect your king from intruders. Some think of it as actually the king retreating into the castle where he is safe. By castling you do not have to be as concerned about the kings vulnerability. A king is a very poor offensive piece and a king copes poorly with direct attacks. Castling offers the king the protection that he so desperately needs.

Another good reason for castling is that it allows your rook to develop more quickly. Often without castling, it takes a long series of movements to simply develop your rook. Exercise caution though not to move the rook to far away from the protective role it has with the castled king. The downside of castling is that if you attempt to move your rook out for an attack and you have not yet moved any of the three pawns in front of your kind, he can be trapped into a back row checkmate. Always try to have a piece that can go in and block a check if the king is trapped behind the three pawns.

If, after castling, you find that you need to move your protective rook, then it is a good idea to move the pawn that is closest to the edge of the board up one space. This allows an escape route for your king to prevent the back row checkmate after castling. The side that you choose to castle on usually depends more on opportunity than preference. Choose wisely and evaluate the side that seems least vulnerable to your opponent's attacks. Use castling as a defensive method, just does not allow it to trap your king without protective help.

Put your Pieces to Work

Some approach chess with an extremely defensive mentality. This works in some situations and not in others. Being too defensive leads to your primary pieces being stuck on the back row and being of little offensive value. This is particularly true when your queen, bishops, and rooks are trapped behind the line of pawns. To win a game of chess you need to develop your back row pieces at some point. A plan of how you are going to develop them will offer you a strong advantage.

Think of your primary chess pieces as sleeping soundly in the comfort of the barracks before the war begins. If those most powerful soldiers remain there, they cannot thwart your enemy during the war. Develop these primary pieces in the manner that the game progresses. Typically this means that bishops move from the back row quickly followed by knights, the queen, and finally the rooks. The rooks typically move out when the middle game is starting, or the midpoint of the match.

Too often inexperienced chess players do not get their primary pieces off of the back row soon enough and those pieces are rendered ineffective. A worse scenario is that they are trapped on the back row and left rather defenseless. Think of the rook being in its opening position with a knight beside it. If the pawn in front of the knight has moved forward your opponent's bishop easily, and freely takes that rook through the semi open file. Allow the powerful pieces from your back row to work for you, not against you. Allow them to be offensive as well as defensive and you will have moved towards achieving that all-important balance in your chess game.

The Power of the Pawn

Many in chess underestimate how powerful their pawns can be. Pawns are similar to the foot soldier in a war, while not as awe inspiring as the tank or the heavy artillery, the foot soldiers ultimately win the war. It is the same with pawns in chess also. One very rarely, and rarely know about moves by a pawn is called En Passant. This move can be used only when an opponent moves his pawn forward two squares on its initial movement. When this happens, the opposing player has the option to take the moved pawn "en passant" as if it had only moved one square. This option, though, only stays open for one move.

Allowing your pawns to move forward in small multiple groups can give you an edge as well. It is much more difficult for your opponent to defend against different approaching attacks than just one large one. If you are on a battlefield and have a limited number of troops, it is easier to defend when the enemy comes in one large group. It is much more difficult to try and defend against multiple fronts. This is the same in chess when the pawns are advancing into opposing territory.

Keep in mind that towards the end of many games all that is left is pawns, the king, and perhaps one of your primary pieces. At this point in time pawns become critical defenders and offensive pieces. Combine that with the ability to trade them in for a queen when you reach the 8th rank (other side of the board), pawns become all important. So do not allow your pawns to simply be thrown away as unimportant since they can help you a great deal in the end.

The Double Threat

One of the favorite moves in chess is being able to threaten two pieces at the same time with your one piece. This forces your opponent to decide which piece to sacrifice. An example of this is placing a bishop in diagonal file that threatens to take two pieces. Whichever piece your opponent moves, you will be able to take the other. Another example would be placing a rook in an open file so that it threatens both a knight and a bishop. If your opponent moves the knight, you can take the bishop, if your opponent moves the bishop then you can take the knight.

This is a move that will definitely assist you in winning games. This move only gets better when you are able to threaten two pieces with a pawn. A variation to this move is to utilize a knight so that it places the king in check and the king must move so that it is out of check, allowing you to be able to take a rook or bishop etc. A knight is a wonderful piece to use in creating a double threat because of its versatility and due to the fact that some inexperienced players simply overlook the available moves that your knight has in front of it.

Defending against the double threat consists of two strategies. First is the option of retreating so that both of your pieces are defended by one another. This is not always an available option though. The second defense is to threaten a highly valued piece that your opponent has, generally a queen. If you are being threatened with a double threat and can threaten your opponent's queen, your opponent is likely to defend that queen before taking advantage of the double threat they have laid out.

End Game Ideas

Once most pieces have been exchanged off the board and the end game is reached it becomes impossible to mount direct attacks on the king. When this happens the focus of the game switches to attempting to bring a pawn to the eighth rank and promote it to a queen and at the same time preventing your opponent from doing so. The promoted queen, provided the opponent does not immediately capture it, is enough to bring victory.

If only one pawn is left then both players should attempt to direct their kings in front of the pawn in order to keep the other king away and ensure, or prevent, the pawn's promotion.

In endgames that involve only kings and pawns, the concept of opposition is important. By moving to a square which is horizontally, vertically or diagonally two squares away from your opponents king, you gain an advantage because it forces your opponents king to give way.

A king and one minor piece is never enough to force a win and thus the game will be a draw. A king with two knights against a king is also insufficient to force a win; however, since this inability is partly a result of poor timing inherent in the knight's awkward moves there are circumstances where a win can be forced if the opponent also has a pawn. Although a king and three knights versus king is also sufficient for a win, such a situation rarely occurs because, for such a position to arise, a pawn must have been promoted to become the third knight whereas most players would usually choose to promote the pawn to become a queen to quickly end the game

 

Doubled Pawns

Doubled pawns leads to a weak game for the player who has them. Doubled pawns can is defined as having two pawns directly in front of one another. This is the result of an earlier capture. What is worse is that these doubled pawns often become isolated pawns. Isolated pawns are unable to be guarded or defended by another pawn. If you have two pawns in the same vertical file without an ability to guard them with each other, then you have a major weakness that will most likely haunt you later in the game.

These doubled and isolated pawns are just waiting to be picked off by your opponent. You opponent may elect though to simply ignore them since they are of very little threat unless they reach the back rank and get promoted to queens. This is easily avoided by blocking their path with a pawn of your own. The other disadvantage of having doubled your pawns in the game of chess is that you have also opened a file that your opponent can use to mount an attack onto your back row.

The best thing that you can do is to try and avoid doubling up your pawns in this manner. In order to avoid this mistake you must utilize careful planning from the beginning of the game. Using other primary pieces to be able to capture attackers that your opponent sends out will help you avoid the double pawn weakness. At times it may be unavoidable to double up your pawns, but being aware of the disadvantage it presents and being able to recognize this will help you in your game. Also you should know that you could exploit this double pawn mistake in your opponent and that if your opponent makes this error that you are at an advantage.

End Game Goals

The primary goal of the end game is to achieve checkmate against your opponent. There are other goals that must be accomplished in the end game to make this possible though. One of these goals is to develop and centralize the remaining pieces that you posses. Using a rook to control one of the central vertical files is essential since it limits the movements of your opponent's king. Also you may consider moving your own king towards the center of the board since by the end game there are relatively few pieces left on the board to threaten your king. Controlling the center of the board is important throughout the entire game of chess, regardless of what phase of the game you have reached.

When it is possible to do a balanced exchange with rooks you should do so. It does take away your rooks, which are quite powerful, but it also eliminates your opponent's rooks. Eliminating your opponent's rooks will make it much more difficult for your opponent to place you in check. If the opportunity presents itself try to attack a weakness in your opponents position so that your opponent cannot use a piece. An example of this is a pin whereby a piece cannot be moved or else your opponent would be placed in check.

Other goals in the end game include advancing your pawns further down the board to penetrate and weaken your opponent's defenses. The other reason that you want to do this is so that you can ultimately promote a pawn to a queen by reaching the back rank. At the same time look for opportunities to capture more of your opponent's pawns as this continues to weaken their defense and prevents your opponent from promoting a pawn to a queen.

Middle Game Tactics

After the opening comes the middle game, somewhere around move twenty usually. This is where you and your opponent set off to do battle in the game of chess. A trade off of pieces, sacrifices, pins, skewers, etc characterizes the middle game. The goal of the middle game is to capture more of your opponent's pieces that your opponent can capture of yours. The methods that you use to capture your opponents pieces are referred to as tactics. Tactics are immediate plans, usually completed in a few moves, while strategy refers to longer-term plans in the game of chess.

Utilizing tactics in the middle game boils down to trying to capture your opponent's pieces for free or by sacrificing low valued pieces. Capturing opponent's pieces for free means that you can capture them without losing the piece that you used to take it. Sacrificing for a lower valued piece could be characterized by capturing a bishop or knight with a pawn. Being able to capture your opponent's pieces for free or by a low valued piece sacrifice gives you a great advantage in the game.

When playing more experienced opponent's it will be much more difficult to find free pieces or to sacrifice lower valued ones for higher valued pieces, however everyone is liable to make a mistake during a complicated game of chess. Awareness of the entire board and the openings available for you to attack is a must in the game of chess. Capturing more of your opponent's material than they can capture of yours will help you to ultimately win the game and to do so with ease. Always be on the look out for your opponent's unguarded pieces.

Chart Your Progress

Every chess player, no matter how good or how bad, has strengths and weaknesses in their game of chess. Whether you are an absolute beginner or a seasoned veteran in the game of chess there is room for improvement. One way to improve your strengths and to eliminate your weaknesses is by simply keeping track of your games. This includes wins and losses as well as types of openings you use and endgame strategies that you use.

If you use one certain opening sequence and lose every time you use that sequence it may be time to look for a new opening sequence. This may also mean that you need to practice and study your opening sequence in greater detail. It is likely that your opponents are often exploiting the same weakness over and over again. The same ideas apply to your endgame strategy. If you find yourself in similar situations over and over again and continue to fail, then you need to study your game and look at alternative endgame strategies.

Athletes, business professionals, and basically anyone who wants to be successful at something use this kind of reflection to see where they are making mistakes and where they can improve. Use this critique of yourself as a way to improve your chess game. Take the time to write down the openings you are using and the endgames and compare that to your wins, losses, and draws. You may even go so far as to create a chart with opening scenarios and endgame strategies listed in columns and wins and losses listed in rows. Then you can quickly see from the chart what combinations work best for you. Understanding yourself and your approach to the game of chess can only help you to continue to improve.

Deflection

Deflection is a psychological term used to describe a coping mechanism that people use to avoid dealing with troubling feelings or situations. People do this by being able to alternate from one topic to another so that they do not have to deal with either topic in depth. Ok, so what does this have to do with chess? In chess deflection will win you games plain and simple. Players will often use a piece, especially queens, to guard or protect two separate pieces at the same time. This is where the term deflection comes in.

Also sometimes called an overworked piece, deflection is a tactical theme in which one player has a piece that must remain on a square that it is on, either because it defends another piece, or because it blocks a threat. If this guarding piece were forced to move, the opponent's position would crumble. The reason it is sometimes refers to as the overworked piece is because this defending piece is forced to do too many things at once, defending two pieces. By meeting one threat, the other threat is left unattended to and thus leaves this piece at its opponent's mercy.

For example, if a bishop is guarding a queen and is in place to prevent a back row mate from a rook, you can simply move the rook to the opponent's back row and place the king in check. This forces the bishop to move to block the check leaving the queen that the bishop was defending completely unguarded and available for the taking. Seek out deflection that your opponent is using and exploit it. This becomes an even better tactic towards the end game because the chances of your opponent having a single piece defending two is much higher.

Master an Opening

To become a better chess player you need to be able to have one good opening when playing white and one good opening when playing black. There are many different openings that you can use, choose one that is the most comfortable for you to use. Once you have selected your preferred opening begin to practice and then practice some more. The opening that you decide to use for white and the one you decide to use for black do not have to be the same opening sequence, however they can be if you so choose.

Become a master at the opening, or openings, that you have selected. One good way to master these is to play against a computer chess program that will exploit all of the flaws in the opening that you have selected. No matter what opening sequence you choose there will be some weaknesses and flaws that go along with it. If you do utilize a computer program to assist you in this you can gradually increase the difficulty levels within the program. By doing this you will gradually learn most all of the outcomes of your opening sequence and the common problems that can arise with these opening sequences.

In addition to this, find people who are close to your skill level and use these openings when playing against them and play against these opponent's frequently. Once you feel you have the opening sequences down pretty good then add a timer. Force yourself to run through these openings with similar skill level players at a rapid pace so that it can become second nature for you. If you follow these suggestion then you will certainly become a force to be reckoned with in your opening sequences and you will have an advantage over your opponent's.

Defend Yourself

When your opponent attempts to move pieces onto your side of the board you must challenge those pieces. If you allow your opponent to move unchecked onto your side of the board you are asking for trouble. If you are trying to execute a certain opening or gambit, it may still be wise to challenge these trespassers that have come to your side of the board.

You need to defend against these pieces that come to your side of the board either by attacking them, trading, or finding away to drive them away and make them retreat. Any of these methods are good in defending yourself against these trespassers. Letting your opponent place pieces on your side of the board and taking no action allows your opponent to gain an advantage that he or she will likely hold throughout the entire game. If you ignore these pieces that your opponent has placed on your side of the board it will allow your opponent to bring even more primary pieces over to your side of the board and will limit your possible movements.

It is especially important to attack these pieces or drive them away when they are placed in the center of the board. Controlling the center of the board is one of the basic principles in the game of chess. If you see your opponent placing unchecked pieces there you must challenge or attack if you want to have a chance to win the game. Often times if you are able to force your opponent to retreat these trespassing pieces you will gain a tactical advantage. You will have the momentum, or tempo, on your side while he or she is in the process of retreating.

Simplicity

Sometimes when playing chess we are looking for the complex gambits or trying to memorize openings. While chess is a very complex game that requires many complex strategies and tactics it is easy to overlook some of the more simple principles of the game of chess. Staying focused on the basic principles of chess is much more important than being able to rattle off the sequence of your preferred openings. Sticking with basic principles will simply help you to win games when your opponent's may be trying too hard to carry out some ultra complex tactic that rarely works.

One of the basic principles in chess is that when your opponent gives up control over a square you should move into that square. There are only so many squares on the board that you can safely move pieces into. As the game progresses these available squares become much harder and harder to find. Therefore, if your opponent is surrendering one of these precious squares, you should move into it. By moving into this free, or unguarded square, you will be able to mount an attack much more easily. The main thing to watch for when doing this is to make try and determine if your opponent is trying to set a trap for you.

Generally, even if your opponent is trying to set a trap for you, it will be apparent. Most of the time though moving into that unguarded square will work to your advantage. With only sixty-four squares on the board, moving into that free and open spot is helpful. Again, try not to get too focused on the complexities of strategies while forgetting the most basic principles in the game. Successful chess players always stay in touch with the simple and basic principles.

Do Not Fret

If you find yourself in a game where you are trailing a two or three or even four pawns behind there is no reason to worry too much. The number of pawns that you have as compared to your opponent is not as important as how your pawns are situated. It is important to think ahead a few moves when playing chess and to look at how the various scenarios of the next few moves may play out. Once you have carefully considered your options, try to keep your pawns grouped together.

Having one island of pawns, or one connected group of pawns, is much more significant than having the most pawns. Consider a player who has more pawns, but has possibly three different islands of two pawns each. This player is not as strong in his pawn defense as one who is able to keep four or five pawns in one single island. The defensive capabilities of pawns are well known. As you have seen when playing chess, a player who has a large single group of connected pawns can severely limit the number of possible moves for his or her opponents primary pieces. These connected pawns are able to defend each other and slowly advance to your opponent's side of the board.

Pawns are not the most powerful pieces on the board by any means, but as a group pawns can be a real thorn in the side of your opponent. When you keep your pawns working together as a team, complimenting one another, then the pawns are able to limit the opposition. Take care in your opening strategy and your middle game so that you do not create multiple small islands of pawns for yourself.

Take Advantage of Your Opponents Doubled Pawns

We all know that having pawns doubled up on the board is not the best scenario for the player whose pawns are doubled. Doubled pawns refer to having one pawn directly in front of another, or even on the same file. This happens when you use one pawn to take an opponents piece, thus leaving that pawn on the same file as another one of your pawns. Sometimes during a chess game this appears to be an almost unavoidable option for either you or your opponent.

When your opponent has doubled up their pawns, as described above, one of the best moves that you can make is to block their path with a pawn of your own. This of course assumes that you have a pawn on that same file to block with. Blocking the doubled pawns path, as opposed to simply taking one of the pawns creates a situation for your opponent where their primary pieces are limited in their movements. Considering that your opponents doubled pawns present relatively little threat to you in the overall scheme of things, capturing them may not be as helpful as one would first assume.

Anytime that you can limit your opponent's movement of his or her primary pieces you have a tactical advantage. If you find yourself with doubled pawns it may be prudent to simply sacrifice the front pawn quickly. Typically capturing one of your opponent's pawns does this. This results in a slightly weakened defense for your opponent as well as providing you with the freedom to move the back pawn as you normally would during the course of a chess game. Doubled pawns are not ideal, but doubled pawns are sometimes the only apparent option when we find ourselves getting at a stuck point in a game.

Memorizing Openings?

Many players spend a great deal of time memorizing long opening openings for their chess game. Memorizing openings, especially for the more inexperienced player is generally a waste of time. It is good to see what the opening options are, but sticking with the same opening and ignoring the play on the board is a mistake. The inexperienced players often do not apply basic opening principles, like consistently getting all their pieces involved in the game before starting a battle. Ironically, these same players also often repeat the same general opening mistakes even though these opening mistakes should be relatively easy to identify and avoid.

No matter how many specific chess openings you learn, you should always consider general opening principles. For example, many players start middle game activities without their rooks, and do so game after game, year after year, ignoring "Move every piece once before you move any piece twice, unless there is a tactic", or the opening concept of "Keep your entire army active at all times." Others will delay castling until it is too late, create needless weak squares, or do not use break moves to give pieces early middle game mobility. If you follow proper chess principles you will be surprised how well you can play without knowing all the latest theories of chess.

After each game, or set of games, look up every opening you play and ask yourself "If someone played the same moves again, where would I differ?" This results in you gaining dramatic insight into how you can rapidly improve your game. It has been said, in a variety of forms that repeating the same mistake over and over and expecting different results is insanity. Try not to repeat the same tactical mistakes in your games and expect to improve.

Winning a Won Game

Winning a game of chess is not easy, especially for the inexperienced chess player. One difficulty that many newer players face is how to capitalize on an advantage that they have in a game. If you are in the lead in the game, you have momentum, and you are ahead in pieces, but have difficulty placing your opponent into checkmate then you are having trouble winning a won game.

Many inexperienced players get up a piece but have no idea how to proceed. Instead of following important chess guidelines, inexperienced players will often to the opposite of these basic chess guidelines. Sticking with the basics is probably the best way to make sure that you win your won games. Trying to get overly complicated, or trying a new theory that you read about will not help you to gain the victory that you are looking for. Some of the basic concepts to stick with include controlling the middle of the board, using tactics such as pins and skewers, and keeping your pieces properly defended.

Sometimes when an inexperienced player is winning the game that inexperienced player will get in a hurry and simply make a silly mistake. Other times the inexperienced player may get overly confident that they will win and forget that they are playing a competent opponent who is looking for any possibility to win the game or create a draw. Chess can be somewhat ruthless since it is generally a good idea that if you are defeating your opponent, to go for the kill and to not "let up" on your opponent. Play smart chess and stick to basics and you will likely win your won games the majority of the time. Study checkmate basics to help from finding yourself chasing your opponent around the board for ten turns.

You Are Going to Lose

Some chess players hinder their ability to improve by being too concerned about losing or worry too much about their chess ratings. Worrying too much about your win and loss record or your chess ratings are going to hold you back from learning how to better play the game. Ratings and records are just numbers. The good news is that you will lose some games of chess. You will probably lose many games of chess before you start to dramatically improve.

You improve your chess game when you add something positive or subtract something negative. Do not take losing personally; take the view that any chess game where you do not learn something is the real bad game, not your losses. When you lose at a game of chess it is likely that you have done something identifiably wrong during the game, so work on learning from that mistake so that you do not repeat the same mistake in the future.

A chess player who worries too much about losing often seeks out weaker chess opponents who will not force the player to learn from his or her mistakes. It may be gratifying to rack up a number of wins, but the lessons that you learn are not there. While playing almost exclusively against players who are rated above you can be demoralizing and hinder your chances to learn good technique, a mixture of about sixty-five to seventy five percent of games played against higher rated players than you and the rest equally rated or less seems to be about right for a positive learning curve. Do not tempt yourself into going for the easy wins; you will not improve your game very much at all.

A Winning Attitude

A chess player's attitude probably has as much to do with winning and improving their chess game than anything else. A chess player can spend months reading books, practicing games, and memorizing openings, but if that chess player does not posses the winning attitude he or she will only advance so far in his or her abilities.

I am not going to suggest that you need to be an overly joyous soul to be good at chess, but you do need to work on some attitudinal skills such as confidence, respect, determination, discipline, etc. All of these traits can help make you a better chess player and perhaps a better person. Confidence in your game and your skills does not equal an arrogant person, confidence means that you know you are an intelligent person with some chess skills who could beat anyone on a given day. Confidence means that you are approaching the game with an attitude that you can in fact win the game at hand if you play well.

Respect for other players is important as well since you do not want to take an opponent so lightly that you do not try your best when you play. Determination means that you are willing to put in the practice and time that it takes to become a great chess player. If you look towards grand masters as people you would like to emulate, then understand that they got to where they are by practicing, studying, and learning from their mistakes.

Finally discipline is needed to have a winning attitude. The discipline to critically think through your moves, the discipline to sit and analyze the games that you have played, and the discipline to analyze the games of the chess greats is needed to develop a winning attitude. Disciplining yourself into good study habits will definitely help improve your game and your attitude.

Develop Your Pieces

When playing a game of chess it is important to develop all of your primary pieces early on in the game. If you have primary pieces that are still sitting on the back rank by the time you reach the middle game, then you have given your opponent an advantage in the game. All pieces need to be developed in order for you to have the tactical advantage in the game. Often times a player will leave a rook sitting on the back rank doing absolutely nothing. If you find yourself doing this, then you need to change. A rook is a very valuable piece and leaving it sitting safely tucked in the back rank is creating a situations where you are basically giving your opponent a one piece advantage.

A general rule of thumb is to move each piece once before moving any piece twice. This may seem very difficult to achieve in game play, but it does provide a great advantage to you if you are able to carry out this strategy. If you are able to safely develop all of your pieces early on in the game you will definitely have a lead in tempo over your opponent. Conversely, if you play too conservatively, you will allow your opponent to gain tempo and your opponent will be able to put you on the defense for the entire game.

Do not forget to develop your king by castling. Generally this is done on the king's side, not the queen's side. This is also usually done during the opening, or within the first fifteen moves of the game. A winning strategy is one where you are able to develop and cautiously advance your pieces before your opponent has the chance to do the same.

Ways to Protect an Attacked Piece

There are many methods to protect your pieces when they come under attack from your opponent. Not all of these methods will work in an actual game, but all should be considered depending on the situation that you find yourself in.

The first method is to move the piece to a safe square. This would be a square where your opponent cannot attack the piece or where it is guarded by another piece of yours.

A second method to protect an attacked piece is to capture the attacking piece. This may be one of the best methods because not only do you eliminate the threat from your opponent, but you also gain material and tempo in the process. Your opponent will have gone from an offensive front to a defensive posture in this one move.

The third method is block the attack. This does not work with all pieces such as knights. If you opponent is attacking with a queen, rook, or bishop this method will work. This is where you simply move another piece in the path of the attacker so that your opponent cannot capture your primary piece.

The fourth method is to simply guard your piece that the opponent is attacking. Moving another piece does this, so that if your opponent does attack, you will be able to capture the opponents attacking piece the very next move.

The final way to protect an attacked piece is to counterattack. Pinning or skewering your opponent can do this. For example, if your opponent threatens to take your rook, but you are able to threaten to capture your opponent's queen, then your opponent is likely to surrender the attack and to defensively move his or her queen.

What is Your Opponent Trying to do?

This is a question that you should ask yourself each and every time your opponent makes a move in a chess game. Too often players will overlook this simple question and focus far too much on what he or she is trying to do, not what their opponent is trying to do. Ignoring the strategy that your opponent is trying to implement is similar to going to war and only focusing on your army's goals while ignoring the goals of the enemy.

You are trying to capture your opponent's queen in these next few moves because it appears to be weakly guarded. This can be a good or bad strategy depending on what your opponent is trying to do. If your opponent is attempting to lure you into focusing all of your attention on that poorly guarded queen while setting you up for checkmate, then your attention is focused in the wrong place. Of course you are not a mind reader and do not always know what your opponents strategy is, or if he or she even has a strategy in mind. However, it is critical that you consider what you believe your opponent is trying to do.

When playing chess your goals in the game need to become somewhat secondary to countering the goals that your opponent has. If you see that in two moves you can place your opponent in checkmate, but fail to realize that in one move he or she can capture your attacking pieces, then you have failed to examine what your opponent is trying to do. Once again it is the all-important balance between offense and defense that you are working towards in the game of chess. Focusing all of your attention on one area or the other is a mistake. Find a good balance between the two styles.

When to Capture a Promoting Piece

Picture yourself playing a tough chess game and your opponent is threatening to promote a pawn. When should you capture this pawn? For most of us the answer would probably be to capture it as soon as possible, or when it is convenient for us. Typically a player will capture that pawn quickly to eliminate the threat that it presents by being able to be promoted. If the pawn has a few moves to go before it can be promoted a lot of players will wait until they are in a good defensive position before going after that pawn. What if both of these tactics are mistakes though?

Often times a better option to capture that promoting pawn is to wait until after it has promoted. This means that you take it the very next move, after it promotes. You must eventually capture the promoting piece, but doing so too early may cost you a win or, at worst, a draw. Most chess players face a promoting piece late in the end game where pieces and moves are extremely valuable. The end game situation makes it even more critical that you plan ahead and that you do not hurt yourself in capturing that promoting piece. Of course, do not wait to capture the promoting piece if your opponent is threatening to block your capture.

Instead of capturing the promoting piece too soon, try to gain tempo in the game so that you have your opponent forced into a more defensive stance. A tempo advantage often wins games. Tempo is when you are a move ahead of your opponent and you are able to threaten your opponent due to your solid defense. Being too hasty in reacting to your opponent's advances can be very destructive.

Pinning

Pinning is a term for a chess move that many chess players already know how to execute. If you do not know this move it is vital that you practice it, learn it, and look for opportunities in games to execute it. This is a fundamental tactic to use in games. It is known by different terms including pinning, double threat, and the pin.

Pinning is being able to threaten two pieces at the same time with your one piece. This forces your opponent to decide which piece to sacrifice. An example of this is placing a bishop in diagonal file that threatens to take two pieces. Whichever piece your opponent moves, you will be able to take the other. Another example would be placing a rook in an open file so that it threatens both a knight and a bishop. If your opponent moves the knight, you can take the bishop, if your opponent moves the bishop then you can take the knight. A knight is a wonderful piece to use in creating a pin because of its versatility and due to the fact that some inexperienced players simply overlook the available moves that your knight has in front of it.

Defending against the pin consists of two strategies. First is the option of retreating so that both of your pieces are defended by one another. This is not always an available option though. The second defense is to threaten a highly valued piece that your opponent has, generally a queen. If you are being threatened with a pin and can threaten your opponent's queen, your opponent is likely to defend that queen before taking advantage of the pin they have laid out.

Plan Ahead

Every good general that goes into a war has a plan. A general would not haphazardly send troops into battle and make decisions on the spur of the moment. The general knows exactly why he is executing a plan and knows what responses from the enemy that he may face with each move he makes. The same is true of a good chess player. A good chess player has a solid plan to carry out in the game in order to achieve victory. Some inexperienced chess players though will stumble through a chess game looking for minor opportunities without executing an overarching plan.

If you threaten something here in one move and something over there in the next move your opponent will have an easy time defending against this attack. Your pieces have to work together to be effective. When you develop a plan your pieces can work in harmony. For example, you might plan to attack your opponent's king; one piece alone probably would not be able to do much, but the combined strength of several pieces makes a powerful attacking force. Another plan could be taking control of all the squares in a particular area of the board. Think of the chess pieces as your team and to be a good coach you have to use all of their strengths together.

A good general uses the specialized skills of his soldiers in a war and you should use your soldiers working together as well. Use the pieces for what they are best at, whether it is attacking your opponent or defending your king. Stick to your long-term plan and try not to fall into the trap of taking the short-term opportunities. Remember that you are here to win the war, not just the battle.

Retreat

In times of war a good commander understands that there are times that one should retreat. Retreating is not as glorious as the all mighty attack, but retreating is what smart commanders will do when they are overpowered. This same idea applies in the game of chess. There are times when one must retreat in order to win the game. A failure to retreat could cause you to lose the game. Remember the saying that it is not important to win the battle, but to win the war. Look at the big picture in your chess game just as a military commander looks at the big picture in a war.

A smart military commander always has an option for retreating. A good chess player needs to keep this retreat option available also. One mistake many chess players make is that they do not leave an open square for a valuable piece to retreat to. This is a fundamental mistake. While it is difficult to remember this in a game it is vital to winning. Leaving a square to move a piece back to, if it comes under an overpowering attack, is always a smart move. Giving up a primary piece without a trade is a poor move. Most chess players attempt to cover every piece with protector, or a piece that will capture the attacking piece if they lose a primary piece. But what happens if your opponent has a double attack? Then you must be willing to retreat in order to stay at least even with your opponent in the number of pieces you have.

The second part of this is that you must be willing to retreat when the time is right. Being overly aggressive and losing pieces to your opponent out of frustration hands the win over to your opponent. Chess players must be willing to play the retreat in order to win the war, instead of focusing on the battle.

Take a Risk

Playing chess is meant to be fun for the players. It can be quite fun to watch how your game and your rating improves over time and to know that you are a much better chess player today than you were a year ago. To improve your game, it is important to play against players who are better than you at chess. Higher rated players will exploit the mistakes that you make in your game that a lower rated player may not recognize. Playing against higher rated players will allow you to learn from these mistakes so that you do not repeat them in the future.

Focusing only on your rating or your winning percentage is a mistake if you truly want to improve your chess game. I can go undefeated in chess or have a very high winning percentage if I only play against those who do not even know the rules of the game. What would I learn from doing this though? Play games against those rated higher than you and learn from those games.

It is often recommended that you sit down with that more experienced player and ask them to help you identify the flaws in your game that allowed him or her to win. This is a great learning tool for less experienced chess players. The higher rated player will be able to tell you at what point you lost the tempo and gave away critical positions. This more experienced player will also be able to give you suggestions as to what you can do differently the next time you face the same scenario in a game. Try to find a more experienced player who is willing to sit down with you and review the game and your chess playing skills will grow immensely.

The Skewer

A skewer is similar to a sacrifice that your opponent is forced to make. You are able to threaten a primary piece that your opponent will likely want to retain. If your opponent attacks and captures your piece that is doing the threatening, your opponent will lose the piece he or she used to capture your threatening piece. As you know, it is not wise to capture a bishop with a queen and then lose that queen the very next move.

Think of threatening a highly valued piece such as a queen or rook. Your opponent will likely move that piece and leave a free and open attack to a lesser-valued piece such as a bishop or knight. Picture placing a protected bishop so that it threatens a queen, if that queen moves out of danger the knight is exposed. Your opponent will almost always move that queen, thus allowing you a free victory over the knight. Do not skewer unless you do in fact intend on taking the piece with the lesser value.

Always skewer when the opportunity arises. To not skewer when you have the chance is just silly, unless you have a checkmate that you are able to carry out. The opposite effect of this of course, is to not allow yourself to be placed into situations where your opponent is able to skewer your pieces. We have all had it happen to us, where we have to decide which of our pieces we are willing to lose, because we will be losing one of them no matter what. When we are forced with this decision it always gives our opponent quite an advantage in the game. Look at what you believe your opponent is trying to do in the next few moves to help guard yourself against being skewered.

The Unopposed Bishop

Knowing which pieces to sacrifice and when to sacrifice them is probably a matter of opinion as much as anything. There are of course exceptions where a sacrifice is just plain silly. When and why to sacrifice a bishop is often a matter of opinion since some players see a bishop as being highly valuable while others see it as having little value.

One way to gauge that value is to look at what is called the unopposed bishop. An unopposed bishop is one whose counterpart on the opponent's side has been taken. In other words, if you have your dark square bishop and your opponent does not, then you have an unopposed bishop. The opposite of this is true if you have lost one of your bishops and your opponent still has theirs that is on that square color then your opponent has an unopposed bishop.

The primary way that an unopposed bishop is dangerous is that if you are being attacked by an unopposed bishop you cannot block with your own bishop. If your opponent has an unopposed bishop then your opponent can also use its to start taking down your pawns and your primary line of defense. An unopposed bishop becomes even more effective in the endgame with its ability to threaten the opponent's king without having to guard against the opponents bishop of the same color square.

An unopposed bishop can become quite a valuable asset if you are aware of how to best utilize it. Often though many inexperienced players will sacrifice a bishop in order to keep a knight. This may be an appropriate move in some circumstances. The point is not to surrender your bishop and to allow you opponent to get away with an unopposed bishop.

The Trade Off

Trading pieces of equal value in chess is a normal during the progression of the game. Sometimes though a chess player wonders when it is appropriate to trade off pieces and what pieces are relatively equal. The obvious trade off would be a bishop for a bishop, a rook for a rook, but what about a bishop for a knight? Is this a good trade off? To answer this lets look at the values of the pieces. Typically the pieces are ranked from highest to lowest as follows: queen, rook, bishop, knight, and pawn.

The relative value of the knight and bishop can change during the games progression. In the beginning of the game the knight is more valuable than the bishop due to the knight's ability to jump over a crowd. Towards the middle game the bishop becomes more important due to his ability to cover the board. A rook is generally not much of a threat in the beginning of the game, but is often critical to the end game since is can attack open files quite easily. Keep in mind that the value of a piece will change with the progression of the game.

Deciding whether or not to complete the available trade off is not always an easy question to answer. The final answer is that it depends on the game situation that you are in Trading off pieces with your opponent should add to your overall strategy instead of being done just for the sake of clearing spaces on the board. The only general rule in regards to trading pieces is to always trade up. If you can sacrifice a bishop for a rook, do it. Sacrificing a knight for a queen is always a good idea. Think out the benefits that the trade off will provide then decide whether or not to do it.

The Strategic Sacrifice

The strategic sacrifice is a strategy of getting out of losing a primary piece to your opponent. At times your opponent is going to be attacking one of your primary pieces and that primary piece of yours is unprotected. If you have no way for you to protect that primary piece against the ensuing attack, or no option to retreat, then a strategic sacrifice may be in order. An inexperienced player may simply allow the threatened primary piece to be captured and move on, but this does not have to be the case.

When you find yourself in this situation you may be able to threaten one of your opponents primary pieces on the very next move. If you are able to do this it is a good idea since you cannot retreat and cannot move a piece to protect your threatened piece. For example, you can slide your bishop up to attack his unprotected rook. This places your opponent in a difficult situation. Your opponent must decide if he wants to save his primary piece that you are threatening, or go ahead and take your primary piece that he has threatened. Of course, he may decide to take your primary piece anyway, at which point you take his primary piece. This results in a compromised loss for you in that you at least gain one of his pieces instead of none at all. If you moved correctly, perhaps your bishop is now only one move away from protecting your original piece assuming your opponent decided to protect his threatened piece. This is a good way to keep the pieces on the board more even if you do find yourself in this type of situation during a game.

Hidden Attacks

If you can utilize the element of surprise in a game of chess you are at a great advantage over your opponent and have a winning edge. However, surprising more experienced players with a hidden attack can be tough to do, but may be worth the try. A hidden attack is one which your opponent does not see coming and is unprepared to respond to. Implementing a hidden attack on an opponent's king is particularly effective.

A hidden attack is one where you have a primary piece, such as a rook, that is not threatening your opponent at all. In front of this rook you have one of your knights in the same file. Your opponent may be concerned about where you will be moving that knight, but not concerned about the rook due to its position on the board. This is where you can make your hidden attack. Move your knight so that the rook is now threatening one of your opponent's primary pieces or even your opponent's king. If it appears to your opponent that you are going after, say their queen, your opponent may be focused primarily on that, and not realize that you are actually threatening their king through a hidden attack.

It is important in chess to not telegraph your strategy if at all possible. This means concealing your threatening strategy by way of making it appear that you are simply defending your own pieces. The best defense mechanism against falling victim to hidden attacks is to analyze the entire board and think broadly. If you can see what options your opponent has in he next two or three moves, instead of just the very next move, you can do a good job of defending against hidden attacks.

Understanding the Three Stages of a Chess Game

There are three distinct stages to the game of chess that you need to know in order to be a winning chess player. These three stages are the opening, middle, and endgame. Each stage has different goals and objectives.

The opening you want to get a rapid development of your primary pieces. You also want to safe guard your king, generally by castling. It is in this phase of the game that you want to try and achieve dominance over the middle four squares of the board. Generally the opening lasts between ten to twenty moves roughly.

The middle game is when you begin to coordinate your primary pieces and attack your opponent's weak spots and open files. The goal is to win primary pieces from your opponent or even be able to checkmate your opponent. The middle game is approximately from the end of the opening phase until around move forty.

The end game

Good tips sir. I believe this will help a lot especially for all who are new to Chess. Thanks for providing this one. Keep it up. GODSPEED.

i bet you are already a master. thanks for the tips.

got nosebleeding.........acheche