How to Find the Best Move in Chess

I learned this from an amazing book called "The Amateur's Mind" by Jeremy Silman.

This is kind of a part 1 if you guys want me to continue writing these.

Always look for imbalances

Anyway, the first step is to look for the minor piece imbalances. A minor piece imbalance is something like a Rook for a Bishop and a Knight or a Bishop for a Knight. 

The second step is to look for open files. Open files are, quite literally, open files. You want to get a Rook and conquer these open files as fast as possible. Why? Any space on the board can be used to plant your pieces, which lead the attack on the enemy King.

The third step is to look for potentially weak or damaged Pawn structure. This one is quite self-explanatory, but I'll explain it anyway for you beginners. Pawn structure is the structure that your Pawns make. One very important thing about Pawn structure is color complexes. Color complexes are the color your pawns are all on. If your pawns are on Black squares, you have a weak White color complex and a strong Black color complex, and vice versa. You obviously want a strong color complex on the color your enemy's bishop is on and a weak color complex for yours.

The fourth step: active pieces and bad pieces. If your bishop is trapped in by your own pawns (or you have a strong color complex on your own bishop's color) then it is called a bad bishop. There are three ways to get bad bishops good:

1.  Move your pawns.
2. Move your bishop to a better square. (More active than before, at least.)
3. Trade it for a better piece or one of equal value.

Look for the game-winning moves

There are a few steps to finding the game-winning moves.

1. Always look for forks even if it takes a bunch of moves to get there. Don't waste your moves on it if it takes more than 5 moves, as your opponent will likely see it by then and you might be in some serious trouble on the board.
2. Calculate a plan to win the game or just some material. Cover every move possible if you can. If any pieces come in the way of your plan, feel free to sacrifice material so long as you win it back with a better position. That is such a useful quote, let me repeat it: "If any pieces come in the way of your plan, feel free to sacrifice material so long as you win it back with a better position." 
3. Map out everything. You can take a picture of the board and analyze it like a puzzle. Draw arrows and calculate every check, capture, and threat. For every single piece. (Right click, hold, release over a different square to draw arrows. Ctrl, Alt, and Shift can draw different-colored arrows.)

WOW!

#continue