CHESS FOR BEGINNERS

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CHESS BASICS, TACTICS AND

OPENINGS. CHOOSE YOUR STRATEGIES AND START

WINNING

MICHAEL TOWNES
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1. Getting Started
Chapter 2. 21 Essential Tactics to Build your Strategy
Chapter 3. Master These 6 Chess Openings to Elevate Your Game
Chapter 4. The Middlegame Concepts Every Beginner Should Definitely Know
Chapter 5. Endgame
Chapter 6. The 5 Effective Tips That Can Transform a Rookie Into the Next Master
Bonus Chapter. The 17 Golden Rules
Conclusion
 Introduction

People say, "I cannot play chess," and I just look at them and think that is
not possible.

Chess has existed for centuries, and during this time, the sharpest minds and
greatest chess players have developed theories about the game and openings
and shared them with the world. As a result, every chess player can access
this valuable knowledge and improve their game by learning centuries'
worth of theoretical analysis.

At the end of the day, style matters and what you might do in specific
situations matters too. I believe Chess is a discipline masking as a game.

You learn through failure.

Remind yourself that no one plays perfect games, not even professionals, so
we learn from our mistakes. This gives you power, knowing that you can
learn from your failures and turn them into successes. With fortitude, with
tenacity, with determination, you can overcome pretty much anything.

Chess gives you this opportunity every single time you play.

What is Chess
Chess is a board game that has captivated the interest and passion of
millions of people all over the world. Its beauty comes from its inherent
simplicity and complexity. Yes, you read that right. Chess is both simple
and complex; even positions with a few pieces left on the board may
involve deep plans. Because of this, you need to know how to analyze chess
positions and identify their significant elements. The ability to evaluate a
chess position is important if you want to improve as a player.

Chess is simple because its rules are easy to understand. The main goal of a
player is to attack the enemy king and prevent it from escaping. To do this,
chess players often try to achieve a material advantage. Attacking the
enemy king becomes easier if you have more pieces than your opponent.
On the other hand, Chess is considered complex because it involves mental
calculations and serious preparation.

In general, a player cannot touch any piece during the game unless he will
make an official move. This rule requires players to formulate plans and
calculate moves without moving the pieces. Players may have serious
preparation if they want to join chess tournaments. They have to choose the
openings that they will use and sharpen their tactical skills. It would be
extremely difficult to win in chess tournaments without sufficient
preparation.

Reasons to Play Chess

Although Chess can appear to be an intimidating and complicated game, it
is, after all, just a game. Anybody can learn to play a game, and anybody
can become a chess player if they have access to the right tools and
strategies (this book, for example). Take notes while you read and go back
and study them every once in a while. Take some time to apply these
strategies regularly and as often as you can. Even if you do not like the idea
of taking the time to train yourself as a chess player, it will be worth the
time and effort that you put in when you decide to do so. Other areas of
your life will begin to improve as a result of playing Chess (not to mention
that you will be having fun knocking the socks off your opponents in the
meantime!) Did you know that playing Chess improves brain function and
memory? Chess also increases awareness and concentration levels with
regular playing. This can improve your work life (remembering crucial
information at meetings, not forgetting deadlines), personal life
(remembering birthdays and anniversaries), and your overall self-
confidence and mental health. Chess is also known to improve cognitive
abilities in learning a new language or acquiring the speed and agility to
play tennis. This may seem hard to believe, but Chess is a great stimulator
of the brain, and the brain controls everything in the body.

Aside from all of the benefits of being a regular player, playing Chess is
fun! It is an internationally played and understood game that people of all
cultures and backgrounds can gather around together. Two people who don't
even speak the same language can engage in a game of Chess. Chess can
easily increase your social circle, getting you out there and meeting new
people. Take your chess set to the park or a cafe and invite someone to play
a game with you. You can join a community chess club and make some new
friends there as well. If that is not an option, there are many websites where
you can play with virtual opponents at your own time and convenience.
You see, there are no good excuses to avoid becoming a chess player.
Playing Chess will enhance your life in ways not even described here. The
possibilities of what you can do when you stimulate your mind are endless.
It is never a waste of time to learn something new. You never know what is
around the corner in life and what opportunities or challenges may come
your way tomorrow. Learning to play Chess will add to your list of skills
and abilities, increase your competitive edge, and make you smarter!

Sportsmanship and Etiquette in Chess

Beginners looking to become serious chess players need to be aware of
what is acceptable and unacceptable conduct during an official chess
tournament. Here are some of the basic principles that all players should
follow while participating in such chess events.

Do not argue with your opponent: Chess is widely accepted as a

quiet game for strategists. Compare the atmosphere of a chess
tournament, in one sense, to that of a tennis event. You will not be
showing any positive sportsmanship by engaging in arguments
with your opponent.

Do not give or ask for advice: Do not willingly listen to anyone

who wishes to advise you on how to play your tournament games.
Also, do not offer to advise any other player in the tournament. All
thoughts on the tournament play should be kept to yourself. You
will learn as you play.

Do not distract your opponent: Humming, muttering, singing, or

talking to yourself are all discouraged in official chess tournament
settings. Chess is a game that is meant to be quiet for both players
who are competing. Tournament directors will especially notice
 these tactics and will disqualify you if you attempt to distract an
opponent.

Do not rush your opponent: "Hurry up!" "We don't have all
day!" "Move it or lose it!" While chess tournaments follow strict
and rigid schedules, it is proper etiquette not to rush an opponent
during a game. Neither player at the table should take too much
time to make a move, of course, but all players need to be given a
reasonable amount of time to decide which piece to move.

Chess Language
Over the years, chess jargon has been developed to help communicate
certain ideas across. Some examples are:

Rank: A row of squares from one end of the board to the other.

Back rank: The 8th rank for the white or the 1st rank for the
black file, i.e., a column of squares from one end of the board to
the other.

Diagonal: A diagonal of squares (e.g., bishops' move along

diagonals) from one end of the board to the other.

Check: This is a move that places the King under attack.

Checkmate, aka mate: This is a check that the King cannot

escape or parry and, because of this, ends the game (shah mat is
Persian for 'The King Is Dead').

Stalemate: This is a position whereby the player to move cannot

make any legal moves and is not in Check.

Fork: A tactic that attacks more than one piece.

Double attack: It is a tactic that attacks two pieces (a double
attack made by the same piece can also be called a fork).

Pin: A tactic that makes it unfavorable or illegal to move a piece,

as the more valuable piece behind will be under attack

Skewer: A tactic similar to a pin, but the more valuable piece is in

front of the less valuable piece.

Castle (as a verb), Castling: To perform the castling move.

Clearance: A tactic that allows a piece to move to previously

inaccessible squares.

Blunder: A very bad move that will likely lead to a losing

position or throws away a winning advantage.

Blitz: A fast game, usually 5 minutes per side.

Hanging: It means undefended.

Exchange: To capture an enemy piece and, in turn, allow the

opponent to capture back (not the same as an exchange up/down,
exchange advantage).

An exchange up/down: An exchange up is to have an enemy

rook for the price of a knight or Bishop; to have an exchange
down is losing a rook for a knight or a bishop sacrifice, often
abbreviated to sac, i.e., to deliberately lose a valuable piece (most
famously, the Queen) in order gain an immediate or long-term
advantage.

Discovery: A tactic that uncovers an indirect attack against a

piece (e.g., discovered Check: an indirect check, discovered
attack).
Double Check: A move that places the King under attack twice
(not the same as checkmate).

Decoy/Diversion/Distraction/Deflection: It is not really Chess

specific, but you may come across it. It is as it exactly sounds,
e.g., a strategy to tempt or distract your opponent from your
intended plan material, pieces (not the King), and/or pawns.

Transpose: To turn into a similar or identical position.

Tempo: Time or a move.

Undermining: A strategy that attacks the weakest point of

something.

Prophylaxis: A strategy that maintains the balance of the position.

Development: Piece deployment.

Promotion: When a pawn reaches the final rank, it can be

replaced with a more valuable piece (except the King).

X-ray: The umbrella term refers to the pin or the skewer used
either as offense or defense.

Zugzwang: A position where any legal move leads to a bad

position for the player to move.

Zwischenzug (aka intermediate move or in-between move): A

move that poses a threat large enough that forces a move (for
example, a check). If the move is ignored, it will result in a
significant disadvantage, "Kibitz" which is to observe another
chess game.

Patzer: A chess novice.

 Grandmaster (often abbreviated to gm.): The highest title of
Chess, aside from the world champion, that a player can receive

There are other terms, but these are the ones you can keep in mind.
 Chapter 1. Getting Started

The goal of the Game & Board

Chess is a game played between two adversaries on opposite sides of the
table, consisting of alternating colors and 64 pieces. Each player has 16
parts: 1 King, one Queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights. The game
aims to win by checkmating the other King. Checkmate's issue happens
when the King is in a position to be captured and cannot escape from
capture.

How to Put Pieces on the Board

If you have a board in front of you, clear the pieces off, and let's set it up
together.

First, you want to make sure the board is oriented the right way. You can
tell if the board is in the right direction if the square on your close right-
hand corner is White. Here's a phrase to help you remember it: "White on
the Right."

If you have a Chessboard in front of you, go ahead and touch the White
square in the lower right-hand corner now. If you don't have one, point with
your finger at the corresponding square on the screen.
Next, set up your King and Queen. How do you know which goes on what
square? Here's a way to remember it: "Queen on her Color."

For example, if you're playing White, the White Queen goes on the central
White square. The Black Queen goes on the central Black square.

You can check if it's done right by seeing if the Queens are across from
each other directly. If they are, they're set up correctly. See the image
below.

If you have a board, go and place your Queen on her color now. If you don't
have a board, point your finger at the square where the White Queen would
go.

Next, the Pawns are the easiest to remember. They all go in the second row.
They're the front lines in your Chess army.

Set the Pawns on the board now.

Next, I usually place my Bishops. I remember where the Bishops go
because, in Medieval times, the church and the throne often work hand in
hand, so the two Bishops go on either side of the King and Queen. The
Bishops are also the second tallest pieces, so it's easy to think of them
sitting next to the royalty.

The Knights are between the Bishop and the Rook. I usually imagine a
Knight on a horse standing in front of the drawbridge of a castle. This
reminds me that only the Knight is next to the Rook.

Go ahead and set your Knight pieces now.

Then I place my Rooks. The Rooks look like castles. So, I like to think the
Kings, Queens, Bishops, and Knights live inside the castle. So, the castle-
shaped pieces enclose them.

Finish the setup and place the Rooks in the correct position now.

That's it. You're done! It's important to remember to set up the board the
same every time. If you set up the board incorrectly and don't realize it until
you are several moves into the game, you may have to start over.

The main things to remember from this exercise are White on the right and
Queen on her color, and the rest will fall into place.
How to Name Individual Square

Each square on the chessboard is assigned a unique code. The columns

(files) of squares starting from the leftmost column on the Queen's side
going to the right are labeled 'a-h,' while the rows (ranks) starting from the
White's side are numbered 1-8. The coordinate letter-number pair identify
the position of a piece. For instance, the White Queen's starting position is
on d1, i.e., the square located on the fourth and first ranks. The Black King's
starting position is on e8, i.e., the square on the fifth file and eighth rank.

You will use the following standard symbols in reading or recording chess
games:

K King
Q Queen
R Rook
N Knight
B Bishop
x Captures
+ Check
++ or # Checkmate
ep. En passant
O-O Castling on the King's
side
O-O-O Castling on the Queen's
side

To illustrate this, here is an image of a chessboard at startup, with the

corresponding letter names for the columns and rank numbers for the rows:
White now moves the Pawn to the e4 square:

There is no symbol for a pawn, and the move is recorded as e4. Now, take a
look as the Black responds by moving a pawn to e5:

The initial moves by both players will be recorded as:

e4 e5

White then moves the kingside knight to f3:

The score sheet will be updated to show the Knight's move:

e4 e5

Nf3

In the next diagram, the Bishop is ready and about to capture the Knight on
c6. The capture will be recorded as Bxc6+ since it will also result in a check
to the Black's King.

How Pieces Move

The Chess pieces can add style and enhance the overall feel of any room.
But the best part of a chess set is its game. If you haven't played Chess
before, don't worry. This game is easy to learn and just hard for the teacher.
Surprisingly, chess pieces have not changed since the game began almost
1,500 years ago.

The King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Rook, and Pawn are very symbolic
pieces, each with its own set of rules, movements, and uses.

What many do not realize, however, is that even if they have experience
playing the game, that is why these pieces are called names.

Chess pieces, when the game was first performed in India, were based on
all war elements. Infantry and cavalry, elephants, and chariots were all
represented by infantry, Bishop, rooks, and knights. These pieces played the
game and tried to dominate the army of other players.

As the game expanded in East Asia, the pieces changed somewhat, but they
kept their military themes. The most critical part of this stage, instead of
being named King, was usually called general.

Even when the game was finally relocated to Europe, the game went
nowhere until the pieces were redesigned with a court theme instead of the
famous military version.

Each part of the game has a specific role. When you decide to learn the
sport on your wooden chess set, you will find it easier to understand what
each of them can do. So, take those chess pieces, and we'll look at each one.

There are six different types of Chess. Each piece looks different and
should be placed correctly on the board.
Rook

The two pieces, which look like castles, are Rooks, and in the next part,
they go on the chessboard and are positioned on the bottom row in each
corner, so they are in the outermost squares of that row. Rooks move as
much as they want to move forward or sideways, so only near columns or
rows, not diagonally. Besides, Rooks cannot skip any piece (in fact, only
one can). Record a part with your Rooks, landing directly on the same
square of the opposite section.
Bishop
Bishops stand by knights. The tops of these pieces are usually in the form of
a hat worn by a bishop (imagine that!). Bishops move like rooks, and that is
because they can shift any amount of spaces, but they move diagonally
along the length of rows/columns, such as Rooks move. Bishops are given
the liberty to move as many places as they want, but only in one position
diagonally. Thus, the bishops have their limitations because they always
rest on a square of the same color in which they started the game. However,
their scope is proven to be an asset.

Knights have the most unusual moving conditions of any chess piece. They
are limited to the movement of one or two spaces vertically, one
horizontally or one space vertically and two spaces horizontally, making
their final movement "L" (that is what it looks like). This unique movement
pattern has both a disadvantage and an advantage for both the player and
the opponent. It allows for a unique and meaningful design, which cannot
always be avoided, but this can also be a problem. Just try and create more
when you retire.
Queen

The Queen is sitting next to the King, and if the board is set correctly, it
should be in her color. Probably the most remarkable piece on the
chessboard (at least in terms of movement), the Queen can shift in any
jurisdiction and wherever you choose. Of course, as in other parts, the
Queen cannot jump from other parts, so her power is limited.

When the board is set correctly, both sides should mirror each other. This
means that your Queen must be directly above the Queen of her opponent,
your King from their King, and so on at the base of the chessboard.
Knight
Beside are the knights, who usually look like horses and stand near the
rooks. How the knights move is a little harder. They are "L." Moves. You
can travel one space and then multiple spots toward every path.

Or you can travel both directions from two distances and more than one. It's
the main piece on the board that can avoid another track, but the recordings
are still the same, you must land on the same square as your opponent's
track.
Pawn
You have eight points and are the smallest (and probably the weakest) parts
of the screen. You have to put them in the second row from the bottom to
the end. The first time you move on the board, you can go one or two places
ahead. After that, it can just move each space in turn. When using the Pawn
to take the opponent's piece, you must move one place diagonally.

There is something that makes pawns exceptional, and it is the manner they
move. Another reason that is unusual is that if you receive one of the top
squares of the page, you can claim any part you want. For example, you can
call him a queen and have more queens in the game as a compelling
strategy.

In the next step, we will work the pieces from the bottom row, working
from the inside to the outside.
King
Your King is the largest piece on the chessboard and goes to the Bishop on
your right. The King moves in any direction, but only one row at a given
time, making it a relatively weak piece in terms of movement but still the
strongest part on the chessboard with the least time since the King's capture,
and this is how you can win the match.

Win Lose or Draw

While checkmate itself is a static target, there are as many paths to reach it
as chess players. Some seek to place constant pressure directly on the
enemy king, forcing them to stay on the defensive until they make a fatal
error. Others play the long game, picking off enemy pieces until the King is
defenseless or gaining minor positional advantages until their unsuspecting
enemy is utterly trapped. Every strategy has its advantages and
complications that arise throughout various stages of play. It's up to you to
determine which method is most appealing to your playstyle.

Aggressive players will derive great joy from regularly imposing Check—
the condition under which a king is threatened but can escape by moving
away or blocking with another piece. An opponent forced into Check has no
choice but to respond defensively, making it difficult for them to mount a
counterattack. However, this strategy carries a high risk: placing too much
focus on an opponent's King may leave you vulnerable to an unforeseen
ambush.

With white'sKnight imposing Check from d6, Black's King must move to a
safe location, potentially sacrificing the Bishop on f7 in the process. The
Check can be one of the most effective ways of forcing an opponent to
make an unfavorable trade.

More patient players may prefer to slowly reduce an opponent's forces

while pursuing a long-term positional advantage. While this strategy
generally runs a lower risk in the early and middle games, the longer the
game drags on, the more opportunities your opponent may have to force a
stalemate.

The Stalemate occurs when the player whose turn is to play is not in Check
and has no legal moves available. When a stalemate occurs, the match
immediately ends in a draw. This can be especially frustrating if you've
spent dozens of moves with an upper hand, only to have your victory swept
away and replaced with a draw.
Black may seem to hold an advantage here, but they've let victory slip
through their grasp by allowing white to draw in a stalemate since White
has no moves available that would not put their King into Check.

Apart from a stalemate, draws in Chess are exceedingly rare but not
impossible. Conditions under which a draw can occur include the rule of
threefold repetition. The same board position has occurred three
consecutive times from a particular player in a single match. The fifty-
move rule is also a condition. Each player makes 50 moves (a total of 100)
without a capture or Pawn movement or when a situation arises where a
checkmate is impossible for either player. Additionally, either player may
offer a draw to their opponent at any time during a game. Such an offer can
be accepted or declined at the other player's discretion.
Check and Checkmate

The purpose of a chess game is to place your opponent's King into a

checkmate, a position whereby the King cannot be moved to safety, and
another piece cannot be brought in to play to defend it. There are just three
ways in which an opponent can get their King out of Check:

Move to another position without castling

 Use another piece to block the checkmate

Capture the piece that is threatening the checkmate

Draws

Sometimes a chess game will go to a tie or a draw. You need to know about
these draws if you want to avoid them. The most widely recognized
approaches to draw are concurrence with your adversary; an impasse, where
one player can't make a legitimate move in his turn; or when there aren't
sufficient pieces on the board for one player to checkmate the other. If you
remain unaware of them, your opponent could push a game that you could
have won easily into a draw. Here are five reasons why that may happen:

A stalemate is reached where neither person can move without putting

their King into Check (the King will NOT be in Check at this point). I
am sure that you are aware of what a stalemate entails. While under a
stalemate, the opponent's King isn't threatened in any way. However,
your opponent has no legal moves left. Beginners usually opt for this
method to end the game in a draw. Professionals know that the
chances of players making silly mistakes to end up in a stalemate are
very slim. Hence, they stay away from it. However, there have been
instances where professional players end games in a stalemate.

The two players can agree to draw and halt the game: This is one
of the easiest ways to draw a game. According to this method, both
players mutually agree to a draw. This only happens when both
players feel that they have no chance of winning. Such a situation
arises when a player feels that he can win only if his opponent messes
it up. When you play on a professional platform, you know that your
opponents' chances of making a silly mistake are highly unlikely. This
is when you offer an option to draw the game. This way, both of you
end up with one point each. There are many instances where the
players call it a draw because of the cash prize involved. Some
tournaments offer both players' cash prize if the game ends in a draw.
This is why a lot of tournaments end with a draw because it benefits
both players. However, the players are not allowed to call a draw even
before the game begins.

There are insufficient pieces left on the chessboard to force a

checkmate: This situation arises when both players are left with very
few pieces. When both players have very few pieces, it becomes
impossible for them to checkmate their opponent's King. Hence, due
to the lack of pieces, the players can end in a draw. Some guidelines
need to be met before a player can claim a draw through this method.
This rule can only be used if it is not possible for the player to
checkmate his opponent's King, even after some legal moves. It is
tough for players to prove that they don't have enough pieces to
checkmate their opponent. Hence this method of the draw isn't used
very often.

If the same position is declared three times, not necessarily in a

row, a player may declare a draw: This is a situation known as
threefold repetition. When a player makes the same move thrice in a
match, the opponent can claim a draw. The procedure to claim this
draw is different from the others. However, the principle behind all
the draws is the same. This rule cannot be used to claim a draw after
three checks because a player usually checks his opponent sometimes
throughout a match. However, if a player gives you a check in the
same manner thrice in a row, then you can use this rule to declare a
draw.
Tips to Draw a Game

Now that you have seen the various situations under which a draw might be
offered, let's look at some tips that can help you out in these situations.
Such tips will allow you to claim a draw without antagonizing or hurting
your opponent's sentiments. It is up to you to reject or accept the claim of a
draw. However, you could do it with some grace so that you don't offend
your opponent. These tips will help you draw a game with ease and tact.

You should claim a draw only during your turn. There are two main
reasons why you should make this offer only during your turn. They
are:

1. It is considered rude if you offer a draw during your opponent's

turn. This is because your opponent will be distracted by your
offer and may end up losing precious time. It will look as if you
were trying to distract him intentionally. He will not only get
offended, but he might also even raise objections. Since
tournaments are clocked, he will lose out on precious seconds
by trying to interpret your claim. If he is distracted, it will be an
advantage to you. Hence, to avoid misunderstandings, you
should claim only during your turn.

2. When you claim your opponent's turn, he will doubt your claim
and start analyzing the reasoning behind it. He will look at your
weak points and as to why you claimed the draw. Hence, it
could lead to him making an aggressive move, making the game
worse for you.

Plan your move first; not many players understand how these claims
for a draw are made and forget about the clock. Hence, they forget to
stop the clock and lose precious time. This is why most beginners lose
time even before their opponent has a chance to accept or reject the
claim for a draw. The ideal way to claim a draw is to make your
move, then make the offer to draw and immediately click the clock so
that the opponent has to think over the offer during his turn and not
during yours. This way, you don't waste time, and your opponent
doesn't take advantage of your offer by not letting you play while he
considers the offer. If your opponent continues playing without
replying to your offer, it is a clear sign that he has rejected your offer
to draw.

Never draw a strong opponent. It is rude to claim a draw when your

opponent is a strong player. Your opponent might get offended. You
may wonder how to figure if your opponent is strong or not. A glance
at his ratings should tell you if he is a strong player or not. If your
opponent's ratings are higher than yours by at least more than four
hundred or five hundred points, then it is safe to say that he is a strong
player. While the main reason to avoid presenting a draw to a strong
player is that it is offensive, there are various other reasons. These
other reasons are:

1. If your player is strong, he will realize that a draw will

benefit you the most and that he would most likely beat you
if the game continued. He will look for your weaknesses and
try to attack you at your weak points. He will not consider
accepting your offer of a draw.

2. You can learn a lot from your opponent, especially if you are
a beginner or if he is a stronger player than you. If you offer
a draw to end the game, you lose out on information and tips
 that you could have learned from your opponent if you had
continued the game. Your growth as a player is also
important, and the only way you will grow is if you play as
many games as possible and observe your opponents during
those games. If you can't observe your opponents, you will
not grow.

Don't offer draws repeatedly during a game. Never offer draws

repeatedly during a game. Make an offer once during a game. If your
opponent rejects it, stop making offers again and try to develop
strategies to beat him. Do not make another offer unless something
changes in the fundamentals of the game and you find a situation
where you feel the opponent might be more likely to accept your
offer. When you make repeated offers, your opponent tends to feel
threatened. This will only distract them and waste their time. Since
time matters a lot in Chess, your offers might make your opponent
lose. When you and your opponent repeatedly look visibly harassed,
the tournament authorities may consider it an offense and might even
ban you from the game. Hence, make sure that you do not offer draws
repeatedly in a game.

Reject offers politely. When your opponent offers you a draw, and
you feel like you could win and want to reject the draw, make sure
you do so politely. Don't make an unnecessary fuss about his offer. He
might have offered the draw just to benefit from it rather than distract
you. Hence, make sure you react politely to your opponent's offer to
draw. Suppose your opponent constantly harasses you with offers. In
that case, you can get in touch with the tournament director or
organizers to resolve the problem rather than responding rudely.
These tips will certainly be useful to you when you have to deal with
withdraws in a tournament. They will help you deal with withdraws
diplomatically and amicably. Therefore, make sure you follow them
whether you offer a draw or if you are being offered a draw. These small
reactions go a long way in how people perceive you and will give others the
idea that you don't let emotions cloud your judgment.
Resign

It is clear that no one likes to lose a game, but sometimes resigning is all
about recognizing the superiority of your opponent and acknowledge that
his/her position is so solid that only through a massive mistake he/she could
face a loss. Somehow, it is also a way to show respect to your opponent by
assuming such an error will not occur.

The big question is: when is the right time to give up and let your opponent
win?

I understand you may be already familiar with sayings such as "it is never
too late to resign" or "no one as ever won a game by resigning." Anyway, a
player should not continue a game in totally pointless positions. Such
behavior could both be disrespectful toward the other player and towards
yourself since you are wasting your energy and time. Energy and time that
you could use to prepare your next game.

Contrarily some positions that look dead lost to us could not be clear for our
opponent, who may not notice the clear advantage and give us the
possibility to turn a clear loss into a draw or even a win. Such positions can
be missed not only by a beginner but also by more expert players. In the
past, it has already happened that top players are so convinced about their
opponent's ability that they resign in a favorable situation that could lead to
a draw or a win.

As a golden rule, I would say that, unless the advantage position of your
opponent is so simple and clear that it would be impossible to be missed, do
not resign too early, and keep playing. Remember to respect your opponent,
but if you see the position unclear, then you should always keep playing.
Special Rules
Castling

Castling is a special move where a King moves toward a Rook of choice

two squares, and the Rook jumps the King to a square on the other side and
adjacent to the King. However, castling cannot occur if the King or the
Rook of choice have previously moved. Even if the Rook or the King have
moved previously and moved back to their original squares, they cannot
castle.

A King also cannot castle if:

He is in Check

Will pass through a square where he is in Check

Will castle onto a square where he is in Check

Castling is an important offensive and defensive strategy.

Promotion

Promotion is when you move your Pawn to the opposite end of the board.
In this case, you can promote the Pawn to a Knight, Bishop, Rook, or
Queen. It doesn't matter if you already have one of those pieces. You can
even have double Queens. The promotion takes place after moving it onto
the final square but within the same turn.
En Passant

En Passant is when an opponent's Pawn is two squares away and diagonal

to your Pawn that has not moved. If you move your Pawn two squares up,
which is allowed only on the first move, the opposing Pawn has the option
to take your Pawn off the board and move onto the diagonal square as if
your Pawn has moved only one square. If the opposing player wants to
make an en passant move, he must make it in the move immediately
following the Pawn's initial two-square move. This special move is not
common, but it can be useful.
Chess Notation
In Chess, players use a system called algebraic notation to designate each
square on the board. The columns are called Files, and from left to right,
they are labeled A through H. The Rows are called Ranks, and they are
labeled 1 through 8.

To identify a certain square, one would first say the file followed by the
rank. For example, if someone wants to identify the square in the bottom
left corner, one would say a1. One would call the square in the top right
corner h8.
There are various types of notations in Chess, depending on the spoken
language and whether you are playing against a real person or a computer.
The most universally used notation is algebraic, as everyone understands
this. The algebraic notation uses one letter and one number for each square
and a chess piece letter.

The board numbering and lettering is biased towards the white side as this
is always the starting side and goes as such:

Starting on the bottom left corner and working horizontally across the
board are the letters "a" through to "h"—these are known as "files."

Starting in the same square and working vertically up the board are
the numbers "1" through to "8"—these are known as "ranks."

Thus, as you face the board from the white side, the bottom left-hand
square is "a1".

Each chess piece is also given a letter:

K for King

Q for Queen

B for Bishop

N for Knight

R for Rook

None for Pawn

The letters that represent pieces are always capitalized, and the square
letters are in lower case.
If a piece captures another piece, the notation includes an "x" in front of the
square the capture was made on, i.e., Bxe5 denotes that a Bishop captured a
piece on square e5. If a pawn is responsible for the capture, the notation
includes the file from which the Pawn started on, i.e., exd5 denotes that a
pawn on file e captured a piece on d5.
 Chapter 2. 21 Essential Tactics to Build your
Strategy

Difference Between Tactics and Strategies in

Chess
Chess is more about tactics. Therefore, you have to improve your chess
strategy. "Chess is ninety-nine percent strategic," said Richard
Teichmann, a celebrated German chess instructor, in 1908, and he was
correct.

Tactics play a major character in all chess games and are the essential
elements of any strategy. A strategy is a general game plan, sentences about
where you need to be at any point during the match. The tactic is used to
implement a strategy. Your opponent will not sit and watch you lead your
strategy without objections. The tactic is used to force your opponent to
accept your moves. The tactic shows one or more moves to gain a short-
term advantage. These are fundamental steps in advancing a general
strategy.

Many tactics can be memorized or learned and applied if necessary. By

setting more tactics, the player's arsenal becomes stronger. When you have
to work on tactics and what combination of tactics works best together,
learning new tactics is a continuous activity throughout a player's life.

The middlegame is the central phase of the chess game. It is the stage of a
chess game that begins after the opening and ends when there are only a
few pieces left on the board (at which point you enter the endgame phase).

We must try to bring attacks on the enemy king, exploit the opponent's
mistakes in the opening phase to make the game turn to our advantage, or
prepare for a favorable ending. In the mid-game, two fundamental aspects
of Chess come into play: strategy and tactics. The strategy consists of
placing the pieces in the best possible position taking into account several
factors, including:

Control of the center: The chessboard center is of fundamental

importance because many pieces control several squares if they are
placed in the central squares. This is why those who control the center
in a game are more likely to win.

Strong squares and weak homes: A strong square is a square

sheltered from attack by enemy pawns, close to the opposing lines,
and controlled by its piece. A weak square is a strong home for the
opponent. In the image next to it, a strong square for White is the
square c5.

The open file: A column is said to open if there are no pawns on it; it
is said to be half-open if there are only pawns of the opposing player.
 (With appropriate attacks, it is easy to transform a semi-open column
into an open column.)

The structure of the Pawns: The pawn structure can make the
difference in a pawn finish. In the figure on the side, we see that
Black has two pawns in the same column. This situation is called
"doubled" and is a disadvantage because the pawns on the same
column cannot help each other. In this case, it could be advantageous
for the white, which has no impediments, to change all the pieces to
arrive at an endgame of pawns.

The passed pawn: A pawn is said to have passed when no opponent

pawn can stop him in his race to the last crossbar. There may be other
pieces that can stop it, but a passed pawn can be very dangerous.

Value of Bishop and Knight: A bishop may be much more important

than the Knight or vice versa, depending on the game. In open games,
the Bishop is more important, but in closed games, he risks being
hindered by his pawns, while the Knight, with its ability to get over
the pieces, becomes important. Often it can happen that a bishop
purchases more importance than the other: for example if the enemy
pawns obstruct the light squares, the dark square bishop will have
more importance than the light square bishop.

21 Tactics
1. Fork

In this case, a single unit can attack two rival units in one move.

Two Chess Tactics such as Relative Fork and Absolute Fork are explained
below with images:
 Relative Fork Attack: The Relative Fork Attack is an attack made
by one unit on two or more pieces of the opponent in a single tactic
that excludes the rival King. It is up to the opponent to decide which
piece he wants to rescue and which piece will face the attack. The
following diagram shows how a single move of White's Queen can
put the Rook and the Knight of the Black in danger.

Absolute Fork Attack: In the case of Absolute Fork Attack, the King
of the enemy is attacked along with another piece, or Pawn of the
opponent in a single move. Since the opponent should save his King
as the King is checked and leave other pieces in danger.

The image shows that the white Queen can attack the Black King and the
Rook simultaneously.
2. Pins

This attack comes into play when a lesser important piece or Pawn is ahead
of an important piece.

There are two types of Pin Attack in the form of Relative and Absolute Pin
Attack.

Relative Pin Attack: The less important Pawn or piece is attacked if

it is before an important key piece. Since it is a relative attack, the
important piece is not the King of the rival player.
The White Knight, in this case, is the pinned unit. Such a unit's movement
may disturb the formation to safeguard more valuable pieces and put such
pieces in danger.

Absolute Pin Attack: As the attack is absolute, the King is in danger.

The pinned unit cannot move, as the King's protection is the prime
cause of the game. If such a piece tries to move, it is illegal against
the Chess's rules where voluntary Check is impossible.

In this scenario, the black Queen should be pinned to the black King due to
the white Rook.

3. Skewer

The identification of an attack is made through an important piece before a

lesser important piece or Pawn.

The Relative and Absolute Skewer Attacks are discussed briefly below.

Relative Skewer Attack: The attack is launched on a valuable unit to

capture the lesser valuable unit just behind the valuable unit. This
attack facilitates the movement of an important piece that was a
hindrance to attack the lesser valuable piece or Pawn.
The white Bishop looking to capture the Black Knight should first threaten
the black Rook.

Absolute Skewer Attack: The enemy King is attacked with a Check-

in order to capture a lesser valuable piece behind the King. When a
Check is enforced, the opponent should save the King by moving if
impossible to block with a piece. In that situation, King's movement
opens up the chance to attack the pieces just behind the King.

According to the image, the Rook should be exposed to danger to save the
King from Check. The white Queen would easily capture the Rook once the
King is off the way.
4. Discovered Attack

The two different units of the two opposing players are against each other,
but the King of either player is not attacked. One unit comes into play when
the other unit is pulled out of the way. Only then the unit can attack the
opponent, such as in the case of the discovered unit.

From the image below, we can understand that Bishop is the uncovered unit
or can be called a discovered unit in this scenario.

Discovered Check: Unlike Discovered Attack, in Discovered Check,

the King is in danger. The discovered unit attacks the enemy King in
this case. Since the Black should save the King according to the
diagram, the discovered unit has enforced a Check that leads to the
Black Queen's sacrifice in an attempt to save the King. At the same
 time, when the white Bishop checks the King, the Queen is under the
radar of the White Knight.

Double Check: A Double Check occurs when a king gets attacked by

two opposing pieces simultaneously. Double checks typically occur as
a result of a discovered attack where the moving piece attacks the
King simultaneously as the discovered attacker.

5. Windmill
In the diagram above, the white Bishop will start the ball rolling by moving
to expose a discovered attack on Black's Queen, which is a sacrifice of the
White Queen. If Black refuses the sacrifice, then he either loses his Queen
or is mated in three.

Bf6 Qxh5

Rxg7+ Kh8

White is a queen down, but now the stage is set for one of my favorite
tactics, a series of repeated discovered checks from the Bishop on f6.
Ensure you set this up on a board to appreciate all the captures the Rook is
free to make. This series of moves where the same piece exposes a
discovered check over and over again as it moves backward and
forwards while capturing pieces is known as a windmill attack (also
See-Saw)

Rxf7+ Kg8

Rg7+ Kh8

Rxb7+Kg8

Rg7+Kh8

Rg5+Kh7

Rxh5 Kg6

Rh3Kxf6

Rh4

At the end of that sequence, White has recovered the Queen and is now
three pawns up, with a simple win to complete at master level.
6. Interference

To turn the game around, a player may sometimes need to make sacrifices.
Interference is a tactic that involves placing a piece between the attacking
piece and its defender. The move places the interfering piece under threat of
capture, but the sacrifice has to be made to weaken the opponent's defensive
set up and gain material advantage.
Here is a diagram showing how interference works:

In this setup, white looks ready to promote the Pawn with a8 but could not
because Black's Be4 guards the square. Black's d8 Rook is also defended by
the other Black Rook on d1, effectively preventing white's b8 Rook from
capturing the d8 Rook.

The solution is to sacrifice white's f4 Knight by moving it to the d5 square.

The move will block the connection between Black's rooks and the Bishop's
diagonal path to a8.

If Black elects to capture the Knight with R8xd5, White can proceed with
the Pawn's promotion on a8.

If Black chooses to use the Bishop to capture the Knight with Bxd5, White's
Rook can capture the nearby Black Rook with Rxd8. The move will pin the
Bishop to Black's d1 Rook. White's Rook would then capture the Bishop
and eventually promote the Pawn. In the endgame, White is left with a
Queen-Rook combination against Black's lone Rook. A worthy sacrifice,
indeed!
7. Overloading

With this tactic, you will force an enemy piece to do multiple tasks at the
same time. Since your opponent can only make one move per turn, you may
gain material by overloading his pieces. For instance, your opponent's
Queen is defending a Knight on a5 and a Bishop on d4. You can overload
the Queen by attacking the Knight and the Bishop simultaneously. If you
can capture one of these pieces, the opponent will be forced to recapture
using his Queen, which will leave the remaining piece undefended.
8. Deflecting

Another tactic closely related to taking advantage of overworked pieces and

is very similar to driving a defender away is deflection. In this tactic, a
move is made to draw an important defensive piece away from an important
duty that it is currently fulfilling.

This concept can be better understood by looking at the image below.

This image shows that White's Pawn on f6 is dangerously close to Black's

King. It is easy to see that White can get a checkmate knowing this if he can
move his Queen to g7. Unfortunately, that square is being guarded by
Black's Queen. What is the best move for white?

This is where deflection comes in. The best move for White is to move his
c1 Rook to c8, pinning the black Queen and overworking it because of its
guard duty for g7. Black's only move is to capture the Rook. With the guard
gone, white can proceed with his earlier plan of moving to g7 and win the
game.
9. Decoy

The Decoy Tactic in Chess is commonly used when you want to lure your
opponent's piece to a specific square. To force your opponent to go to that
square and abandon its present position, you will have to sacrifice a
material piece. The decoy tactic may be used to gain material advantage or
positional advantage that will allow you to make more powerful attacks in
subsequent moves.

To illustrate how the decoy tactic works, take a look at the following
diagram:
White will decoy the Black King with Qd8+. The White Queen is
unprotected and the King, in this situation, has no option but to capture the
attacking Queen with Kxd8. White will then press on with Bg5 to expose
the enemy King to a Double Check—from White's d1 Rook and the Bishop.
White moves its King to e8 to escape the threat. The Rook then goes for the
kill with Rd8#!
10. X-Ray Attack

If you've ever broken a bone, then you were probably X-Rayed. The X-
Rays passed through you and helped to take a photograph of the bone
inside. Well, an X-Ray attack is also aiming through one piece to attack a
piece behind it. So, that's a little bit like a pin, which can be more damaging
because the difference is that you are attacking a piece that is more
valuable than the piece behind it. So, when the valuable piece at the front
moves away to save itself, then you can capture the piece behind it.
In the above diagram, White has just played Rh8+, the black King can save
itself, but now white will win a queen in exchange for a rook.

An X-Ray attack is like the opposite of a pin. In a pin, the piece at the front
can't easily move away or get the more valuable piece behind it. However,
with an X-Ray attack, the piece at the front is so valuable that it pretty
much has to move away.

In a lot of books, you'll see X-Rays called skewers. In the rest of this book,
I'll refer to them as skewers. Queens, rooks, and bishops can carry out
skewers.

The "Pin" is mightier than the sword. You need to keep a lookout for any
piece with another piece behind it for both pins and skewers. In almost
every game, a pin will happen at some point. Sometimes it just leads to an
annoying bit of pressure, but the longer a pin goes on, the more chance of
extra attackers arriving. Try to have more pieces attacking than defending if
you are the one doing the pinning.

The best of all is if you can attack a pinned piece with a Pawn, then you can
quickly gain material.
In the example above, Black has two pieces defending the pinned Knight on
f6, but this pin isn't about numbers of attackers; it's about how low valued is
a piece you can attack the Knight with. In this case, our strong central
pawns go for the kill:

e5 is attacking the pinned Knight.

Even if Black captures our Pawn with their d-pawn, we just recapture with
our d-pawn, ensuring that we'll win the Knight for a pawn.
11. Zugzwang

In Chess, there is no way for a player to forfeit their turn. This explains why
games could end in a stalemate because one player can never say "pass."
This is what Zugzwang is. Simply put, if it is your turn to move, you MUST
make a move.

Similar to the example above, if Zugzwang can cause the game to end in a
draw, it can also be used by one player to force the other into occupying a
position that will allow them to win the game.

To better understand how this concept can be applied in an endgame

situation, take a look at the image below.
Assume that you are playing as white, and it is your turn to move. In this
position, it can be seen that White is still winning even if Black is blocking
the square for promotion. White's best move for this kind of situation is to
advance his Pawn forward to f7. Now, Zugzwang will take effect. This is
the best position for Black to prevent the promotion, but he can't skip his
turn, and he must make a move. Since he can still go to g7, he should move
to it. White's King can protect his Pawn by going e7, securing his Pawn's
promotion square. Again, Black needs to make a move. By utilizing this
concept, Black is forced to abandon the position that could have prevented
the opponent from promoting his Pawn.

Another general rule that is being applied in this example is that in a king
and pawn endgame if the Pawn can move to the 7th rank without being
checked by the enemy king, he is in a winning position. In this situation,
even if Black's King is close to White's Pawn, it is being guarded.
Eventually, this led Black's King to move away from the Pawn, removing
the Check and allowing the latter to promote.

Zwischenzug or Desperado: There are instances when a player is

forced to make a move in particular because of the action that their
 opponent has made. This is commonly observed in situations such as
when one needs to capture an opponent piece, which captured one of
their pieces that are guarded. However, there is such a thing as an in-
between move (or also known by its German term "Zwischenzug"),
which is a forcing move that is different from what the opponent is
expecting you to play. This is usually done before that player
recaptures one of their opponent's pieces.

To see how in-between moves look like in an actual game, take a look at the
image below.

In this image, we assume that you are playing as White. Your opponent just
made a move with his Queen, and he captured your own Queen in d2. It is
your turn to make a move. Given this situation, it is also natural to capture
Black's Queen immediately before it gets away. However, there is another
move that White can make in order to gain some advantage. The move is
shown below.
Instead of immediately capturing Black's Queen, even if it can be done
safely, white played a forcing move by snatching his opponent's Pawn on e7
and initiating a check. This is what an in-between move is. Black may have
gotten a checkmate by moving its Queen to c2, but he is forced to move the
King to h8 and avoid the Check. After the opponent does so, you can now
make the obvious capture to your opponent's Queen. With this move, white
gets an additional pawn and corner the opponent's King.

Such is the power of the in-between move, which is why it's important to
always keep an eye out for these opportunities. This move can even be
made even if the opponent is not looking to trade and you do not want them
to defend the piece that you are aiming to capture.
12. Undermining
Undermining is also referred to as removing the defender or removal of the
guard.

It involves attacking or capturing a critical defending piece to gain a

significant material advantage or even checkmate your opponent. In this
game, White takes the knight with his Rook. The main idea is to remove the
Knight on e8 from its protection of the g7 Pawn. So after the Rook takes,
queen g7 would be checkmate.
13. Forcing a Stalemate

In Chess, the stalemate is the term used to indicate the situation in which a
player does not have available legal moves that can be made while not
being in Check. The stall determines the immediate end of the game with
the result of a draw.
Often, during the endgames, the player in disadvantage of material or
position can try to find a deadlock to avoid defeat.

In some chess variants, such as the Chess "vinciperdi," the stalemate does
not necessarily determine the conclusion of the game in parity. Depending
on the type of variant, the stalemate can determine the victory of the player
with less material (in case of even material, there is a flap again) or of the
one that is being stalled.

History
The stall rule has undergone a somewhat convoluted evolution. In the
predecessors of modern Chess (such as shatranj), the stalemate assigned the
victory to the opponent of the player who underwent it, this rule lasted for
some time even in modern Chess. According to "A History of Chess"
(Oxford University Press, 1913) by H.J.R. Murray, the current rule in
Britain was that the stalemate resulted in the victory of the player who
suffered. The current rule that associates the stall with the flap was
generally adopted during the nineteenth century.
Assuming as an example that the black King is the one who suffers the
stalemate, the situation of the different rules over the centuries has been as
follows:

The victory of the White (10th century in Arabia)

Semi-victory of the White (eighteenth century in Spain)

The victory of the Black (seventeenth century in Russia and the

nineteenth century in Great Britain)

Black passes the move (Middle Ages in France)

A move that led to the stall was considered illegal (early 20th
century in the Far East)

Flap (fourteenth century in Italy and later spread throughout

Europe, except England until the nineteenth century).

There were attempts to establish that the stall assigned victory to

the player who caused it. The effect of this rule, however, would
have emphasized too much the advantage of the material, an extra
pawn would have been a much greater advantage than it is today;
for example, in the final King and Pawn against King, the player
 with the extra Pawn which is able to defend him would have won
in any case.

If the stalemate meant the defeat of the player who cannot move, the
outcome of some endgames would be different. In these situations, the
stalemate can be forced by the attacking player but can also sometimes be
an important defensive resource.

The final King and Pawn against King would always be won
(unless he could capture the Pawn) since, if the Pawn cannot be
taken or promoted, the defending King ends up suffering the
stalemate (diagram 1).

Two knights and a king can force the stall against a single king so
that the final would no longer be a theoretical draw.

A pawn in the line "a" or "h" and a bishop moving on squares of

color contrary to that of promotion of the Pawn would become a
won position instead of a draw because it is possible to force the
stall (diagram 2).
King and Rook against King and Bishop would be a final victory, always
for the possibility of forcing the stalemate (unlike King and Rook against
King and Knight). A king in the corner of the chessboard could end up
being in a stall position caused by a single bishop or Knight, even if it were
not possible to force the position. The defensive maneuver carried out with
the pawn "a," "c," "f," or "h" in seventh with his King in his vicinity against
the Queen would no longer be possible.

14. Perpetual Checks

A player can force the game to a draw if they can only move to that same
exact position three times. This is when one player keeps on checking the
other, but they can only make one move because doing otherwise can cause
them to get checked. This can also be called a perpetual check.
In this image, it can be seen that Black is close to losing the game by simply
looking at its remaining pieces. At the moment, white's King is in Check.
However, the King can get out of it by simply moving the piece to h2.
Black, on the other hand, can only move to h4 and check the King again, as
doing any other move will cost him the game. Since White cannot move the
King on any other square aside from h2 and g1 to get out of Check, this
becomes a loop. Once both players made the same move three times, the
game ends in a draw due to White's King being in perpetual Check.

Everyone who wants to learn Chess must be familiar with these rules and
possible outcomes. Not only will it teach them how to play the game
correctly, but it will also give them an idea of what to avoid so that their
efforts to win the game will not end in a draw.
15. Underpromoting
In the majority of cases, people promote their Pawn by exchanging it for the
Queen (for obvious reasons—the Queen is the most powerful). However,
there are also instances where it is better to promote the Pawn and exchange
it with a piece of lower rank—this is often referred to as under-promotion.
16. Queen Sacrifice

The following example was taken from a game between Paul Morphy and
Karl Von Braunschweig played in 1858. This is one of the most famous
queen sacrifices in chess history.
There have been numerous instances of brilliant piece sacrifices throughout
chess history, some more spectacular than others. Some Grandmasters like
Mikhail Tal have even made a name for themselves for their regular
spectacular and entertaining piece sacrifices. Generally speaking,
sacrificing pieces should be considered if the positional compensation is
good enough.

Piece sacrifices don't have to be spectacular to be useful. In fact, sacrifices

happen relatively often in normal ways.
Exchange Sacrifice:

Clearance Sacrifice: A clearance sacrifice tactic is used when the

position of one of your pieces is preventing another piece from taking
up a superior position. You will have to move the piece away, but
doing so will give your opponent valuable time. You can avoid this by
moving the obstructing piece to a square where it can directly threaten
the King. The move means you will have to allow your opponent to
capture the piece. The initial loss should be well worth the ultimate
benefits you will gain from subsequent actions.
To illustrate, here's an endgame diagram of the 1936 game between Lisitin-
Zagoriansky. Here you can see that the g7 Rook is preventing white's
checkmate move. White can use the Clearance Sacrifice tactic by moving
the Rook to h7 for a check. The Black King will have no choice but to
capture the Rook. White's Queen can then close in and finish the game with
a Qg7#.

Lisitin-Zagoriansky 1936

17. Exposing Hanging Pieces

Hanging pieces are undefended pieces.

For example, both knights are hanging, but white plays a brilliant two-move
combination. Black's Bishop is forced to an unprotected square, and finally,
after knight c2, both these knight pieces are left hanging.

Black is unable to defend both in one move & eventually, he will lose
material.
18. Trapping a Piece

This is yet another important tactic that you can use to gain material. You
can perform trapping of pieces by using a group of pawns to guide your
own pieces and delivering attacks.

In the first diagram shown above, Black, in an earlier move, had the
opportunity to exchange his Bishop for the White Knight on c3, but he
didn't utilize it. Now, White is going to teach him a bitter lesson. It is the
turn of white to play.

White plays 1 c5. Black cannot use his Bishop to capture the white Pawn on
c5, and as there is another white pawn on d4 protecting it. The other box,
the a5-square available to the black Bishop, is also being protected by the
white Pawn on b4. In this situation, Black's only option would be to lose his
Bishop to a pawn, which is a net loss of 2 points, if we want to talk in terms
of material gains or loss.
19. Support Mate

A support mate is a basic checkmate that occurs simply when a Queen

directly delivers a checkmate receiving support from one other piece.

For example, the white Queen checkmates the black King with the support
of the Knight.

20. Smothered Mate

Philidor's Legacy is a smothered mate pattern where the King is hemmed in

by his own pieces and immediately succumbs to a checkmate move by the
opponent. This pattern usually involves the Queen's sacrifice before a
checkmate move by a Knight.

To see how it works, take a look at this diagram:

With Black to move, White's Queen has just placed the enemy King under
Check. Black has two options at this point—move the King to either f8
square or h8 square. If he moves his King to the f8 square, Black will be
checkmated on the next move with Qf7++. To delay the inevitable, he can
move the King to h8. White then places Black's King under Check with Kf7
simultaneously pinning the Rook. The King can evade the Check with Kg8.
Sensing a bigger deal, white does not capture the Rook but retreats to g5,
which opens the diagonal line and places the enemy King under Check
from White's Queen. The King moves back to h8. White moves his Queen
between the King and the Rook; White places the King under Check with
Qh8+. The Rook captures the Queen. At this point, the diagram would look
like this:
White can finish the game with Kf7++.
21. Back-Rank Mate

The pattern is quite similar, although the rear position checkmate might not
seem much like our first case.

The diagram above is an average example of the Back-Rank Mate. White's

King is so stuck on the initial position and is trapped behind his pawns.
Checkmate can be delivered by Black by Rc1 that it is playing.
 Chapter 3. Master These 6 Chess Openings to
Elevate Your Game

If possible, add all these 6 Openings, rather drop one than forcing 6
Openings written poorly, otherwise if a lot of words are needed, add a little
story introduction to these openings:

Importance of Knowing Openings to Elevate your

Game
Opening 1. Italian Game

A historic opening, containing over 500 years of recorded games, it has

been studied by many of the biggest names in chess history. The
characteristic move of this opening is the move:

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Nc6
 3. Bc4

Sometimes referred to as the Italian Bishop. These games are very often
sharp attacking games with White trying to focus on the poorly defended f7
square (only the King defends it at the start of the game).

Also, note how white has started developing an attack while, at the same
time, preparing to defend with a castle kingside at any moment. A hallmark
of high-level Chess is accomplishing several goals with just one move.

Black, on the other hand, will usually try a strong counterattack in order to
try and prove White was overzealous in their efforts. While more modern
variations such as the Ruy Lopez have gained popularity, it is still worth
examining this opening as there are great attacking chances for both sides.
The two main variations branch depending on how black decides to respond
after white moves their Bishop. After 3...Bc5, we reach a position known as
the Giuoco Piano, and after 3...Nf6, we instead reach a position called the
Two Knights Defense. We will be exploring each one separately.
Opening 2. Ruy Lopez
It can be said that the Ruy Lopez is the go-to option for many professional
chess players when it comes to the Open Game (1 e4 e5). Unless black
plays with perfection, it can be very tough for them to achieve equality.
This is one of the key reasons why many black players choose to use the
Sicilian Defense in response to 1. e4 instead.

After 3. Bb5, let's take a moment to analyze the relationship between

White's Bishop and black'sKnight. Imagine for a moment that the Pawn on
d7 didn't exist or had already moved to d6 or d5. If you notice, white's
Bishop would attack black'sKnight and have the King lined up right behind
it. This maneuver is called a pin. Pinned pieces can't move, or they will
expose a valuable piece of it (King, Queen, or Rook usually, but pawns can
be pinned to other pieces too!) to danger. Black someday has hopes of
making a break in the center with a move like d5, but with the white Bishop
attacking the Black Knight, that is an issue for Black to think about. Let's
see how Black typically likes to respond:

1. e4e5

2. Nf3Nc6

3. Bb5a6- Morphy Defense

Named after the great chess player Paul Morphy during the 1800s, this is
the most popular response for White. This move forces white to clarify their
intent with the b5 move. If he wishes to trade Bishop for Knight, Black has
taken no steps to prevent this exchange. If white retreats back to c4, Black
has won a tempo back from White by forcing him to move his Bishop
twice.

The most common line is called the Closed Defense and goes as follows:

4. Ba4Nf6
 5. O-OBe7

Ba4 from White to retreat away from the attacking Pawn, note that Black
can still, at any time, kick the Bishop away with the move b5. In some
variations, the white Bishop may find itself trapped in the corner, and care
must be taken to allow room to escape a possible b5 pawn thrust by Black
at any moment. Nf6 increases black's central pressure by attacking the e4
Pawn, as well as supporting that d5 move black has in the back of their
mind. White castles away to safety; Black develops his Bishop and prepares
for a kingside castle of his own.

Opening 3. Queen's Gambit

The Queen's Gambit is one of the oldest studied openings with well over
500 years of written history to support it. Another gambit opening, which, if
you remember from the King's Gambit, means some kind of sacrifice in
material for a positional advantage.

Play starts out:

1. d4 d5

2. c4
Right away, White is telling Black that he intends to fight for the middle in
a serious way. He is offering an undefended wing pawn on c4 in exchange
for that ever-tempting double pawn center of d4 and e4. The difference is,
unlike the King's Gambit that takes place on the relatively undefended
King's side, this gambit takes place on the Queen's side, and that means the
Queen can get involved much more readily if the need arises. Because of
this difference, it is not a true gambit, as Black can't actually hold on to
their Pawn on c4 after the exchange, which we will cover below. Just like
the King's Gambit, the Queen's Gambit has two main line variations
depending on whether or not the offer on c4 is accepted by black, and they
are called Queen's Gambit Accepted and Queen's Gambit Declined. We will
cover each variation in some detail.

Queen's Gambit Accepted

To recap, the position is:

1. d4 d5

2. c4 dxc4
The Queen's Gambit Accepted has been reached after these sets of

moves. As I promised you earlier, this was not a "true" gambit, and I told

you that Black couldn't hold on to their current pawn advantage. Let me

first demonstrate that to you now.

3. e3 b5?

The move e3 is played if white aims to recapture the Pawn immediately, as

it opens up the light-square Bishop onto the c4 square, threatening the
opponent's Pawn already. Also, it helps solidify the white's center, which
can be useful in ensuring that White's plan goes off without any interference
from Black. The play would continue:

4. a4 c6?

5. axb5cxb5?

6. Qf3!

After that dazzling queen move, Black is going to lose a piece. This isn't the
main line, but I wanted to show you how black's best chances are to accept
that the Pawn isn't going to stay around and play objectively good Chess
instead.

White's most common play here is actually 3. Nf3.

White recognizes that the Pawn on c4 is doomed and instead focuses on

getting a slight lead on development. White will usually move to recapture
the c4 Pawn in their upcoming turns as follows:

3. Nf3Nf6- Black's most common reply is to develop their own Knight

 4. e3Nc6

5. Bxc4c5

6. O-O

This position leaves both players with solid chances. White has regained its
missing Pawn and has developed their pieces to effective spaces. Black, on
the other hand, managed to get through the opening with equality in terms
of development and space and should feel satisfied with his chances of
going into the later stages of the game.

Queen's Gambit Declined

While technically, any move that is not 2...dxc4 is considered a Queen's

Gambit Declined game, we will be focusing on the orthodox response as
follows:

1. d4 d5

2. c4 e6

By moving his Pawn to e6, Black is able to defend his central Pawn,
holding on to his control of the center. In addition, this allows black the
option to develop his dark-squared Bishop along the a3-f8 diagonal, also
getting him one step closer to eventually castling to safety kingside.

While this is a solid and defensible position for Black to play from, and
indeed many players with the black pieces have found success here, white
will try to prove that Black's light-squared Bishop does not have an
effective square to find a meaningful place in the game. Black, on the other
hand, will try to either release the Bishop, trade it off, or find a useful
supportive outpost for it and try to use it in the end game.

Another option for Black to try is 2...c6, which is called the Slav Defense;
we will examine it from Black's point of view in an upcoming chapter.

The main line continues thus:

3. Nc3Nf6

4. Bg5Be7

5. Nf3

White develops his queen-side Knight to its ideal square behind the c4
Pawn where it can exert great control over the middle of the board. Black
takes the opportunity to get his kingside knight into the game and help
prepare his kingside castle. White tries to take advantage of Black's last
move by creating a pin on Black'sKnight onto the Queen. Black is forced to
develop his dark-squared Bishop to e7 to free black'sKnight from this pin
(now, if the black knight moves, the bishops will face off instead of leaving
the Queen exposed).

White then develops their knight to a good square and helps solidify the
Bishop's position on g5 against a potential discovered attack from the
knight against the previously undefended bishop. A discovered attack is
when the movement of one of your pieces will expose an attack from
another piece behind it. These maneuvers are an excellent tactic to watch
out for as it can come as a real shock to an unsuspecting opponent (or you if
you get caught in one yourself!).
Opening 4. French Defense

The French Defense is a fairly recent opening that began to see more
prominent play in the early 1800s. This is a bit of a slower start compared
to some of the more flashy openings and can lead to some very technical
closed games.

The main line opens as follows:

1. e4e6

2. d4d5

White gets his classical double pawn center, but black intends to fight back
from the very start with an early pawn advance on d5 supported by his first
move e6.
White has several responses. The most popular is 3. Nc3 to protect the
attacked e4 pawn.

Another common try is 3. Nd2 is called the Tarrasch variation, which is

similar to the usual move 3. Nc3 in that it defends e4, but also different in
the sense that the knight has a broader scope for its second move, and the
dark-squared bishop has been blocked in, meaning it cannot be developed
until a solution is created.

There is another variation known as the Advance Variation, where white

plays 3. e5 taking the space given by black's second move and avoiding the
exchange of central pawns.

Finally, there is the exchange variation that can be tried after 3. exd5, which
leads to a symmetrical pawn structure, with each player having a pawn on
d4 and d5, respectively. The exchange variation leads to a position that is
objectively equal for both sides, and either side will have to try to
unbalance the position if they hope to achieve a win instead of a draw.
Opening 5. Sicilian Defense
Easily the most popular and statistically successful opening for black to the
nearly universally played 1. e4 from white. While visually similar to the
English Opening: Reverse Sicilian, this is a much older opening with a full
and rich history. Indeed, enough has been said on the Sicilian to fill several
books in their entirety with this opening alone. Let's start by analyzing the
opening move from black c4; just like in the Reverse Sicilian for white,
black aims to control the center of the board from a flanking wing pawn,
keeping their important d and e pawns for a potential break in the middle
later. Again, if black could ever trade their c pawn for white's d pawn, he
could see that as a slight advantage over white, as he could then have a
central pawn majority over the white player. As we have seen before, the
advanced c pawn also provides a great outpost for black's queen-side knight
that is a major factor in how the game usually plays out.

From a theoretical standpoint, black is starting to lay a claim to the dark-

colored squares in the center of the board. Imagine for a moment that black
could achieve their goal of a Knight on c6 as well as the eventual move e5.
Notice the grip that black would have on all those central dark squares. The
c pawn gives control over b4 and d4, the hypothetical pawn on e5 targets
the d4 and f4 dark squares, and a knight on c6 could exert its influence on
a5, b4, d4, and helps protect e5. This is a very common theme for black to
try and have a rock-solid grip on the dark squares, especially d4, where
white would otherwise have plans of eventually making a break with moves
like c3 and d4. Lastly, to further show dark-square dominance, a common
strategy for black will be to fianchetto their dark square bishop at g7,
giving them even greater control over those squares.

There are two main line variations to the Sicilian Defense, called the Open
and Closed Variations. Let's take a look at the Open Sicilian first:
Open Sicilian Defense

The main Open line goes as follows:

1. e4 c5

2. Nf3d6

3. d4

White develops their king-side knight, preparing to castle shortly. White is

also taking a chance to control more of the center of the board, especially
those dark squares we know black is so keen on in d4 and e5. Black has
other options for his second move other than d6; however, this is the most
common reply. The move d6 by black creates a pawn chain with the c5
pawn, solidifying the defense of that pawn. Additionally, it opens a path for
the light-square bishop to activate along the c8-h3 diagonal. Finally, this
move actually prepares black to play their king-side knight to f6. Notice
how if black played, the knight move immediately, as in 2. Nf3 Nf6, white
could cause some real problems for black with the simple move: e5,
threatening to capture our freshly developed knight and taking a lot of
central space. Best to avoid that scenario with the preparatory move d6.
There are, of course, many other ways black could respond after Nf3. From
here, the main continuation is:

4. d4cxd4

5. Nxd4Nf6

6. Nc3

Black has achieved one of his goals of exchanging his c pawn in for white's
d pawn. Black continues to develop the king-side knight now that white
can't disturb it with their e pawn because of the d6 pawn protecting the e5
square for us. White continues development with Nc3.

In this position, black will try to prove that his central pawn majority is
winning and has a clear advantage. White, on the other hand, has a
significant lead in piece development, as well as more control over the
center of the board, which he will argue, giving him more than fair
compensation for his d pawn.

Closed Sicilian

The main line looks like this:

 1. e4 c5

2. Nc3Nc6

And here, black will develop similarly to in the open Sicilian but not always
in the same order. Black has goals they wish to accomplish and not a rigid
attack plan requiring a strict move order.

We want that knight on c6, and usually, we want our bishop to fianchetto on
g7 (Notice how the black pawn chain is otherwise in the way for black to
put their bishop on a meaningful square. Fianchetto is a great way to solve
this problem!). We get our queen-side knight into the game on its favorite
square now as well. This is a great example of why knights like to be
behind pawns. Look at the difference between the two knights on the c file.
Notice how black's c pawn has contributed to his plan in a significant way.
White would love to be able to play moves like c3 and d4 and grab some of
that juicy center, but right now, his knight on c3 is in the way! This is one of
the major draws for players who enjoy playing flank openings such as the
English and the Sicilian.

Let's see what is considered to be the main line, but again this move order
can vary significantly:

3. g3 g6

4. Bg2Bg7

5. d3 d6

Both white and black have the same idea here: My pawns are in the way,
and I need to get my king-side bishop into the game somehow. Once again,
fianchetto is the answer, and in this case, both sides will usually opt for this
strategy, as they are both being walled in by their pawn chain. White's pawn
on e4 is still on the way—for now. White can at any time open a discovered
attack with a cheeky move like e5, both attacking black's pawn chain
(assuming it is played after d6 from black) and disrupting the scope of
black’s bishop. Both sides solidify their pawn structure by creating pawn
chains in turn 5 with d3 and d6, respectively.

From here, both sides will develop their last pieces and castle, and we have
reached a stable and about equal position to start a mid-game. Both sides
have great chances here, and many fantastic positional games have been
reached from this opening.

Opening 6. Slav Defense

The Slav Defense is one of the main ways black can play against the
Queen's Gambit. If you remember from our discussion during the Queen's
Gambit Declined, one of the problems black could face quite often was
having his light-colored bishop end up trapped behind the pawn chain.
Another possible weakness of traditional defenses when it comes to the
Queen’s Gambit Declined is that the traditional black’s pawn structure is
left with clear targets for white to focus on during the mid-game. The Slav
Defense is an attempt to deal with these issues as black.
The main line looks like this:

1. d4c5

2. c4c6

3. Nf3Nf6- 3...e6 is an opening called the Semi-Slav

4. Nc3e6/dxc4/a6

5. a4Bf5

Everything looks normal—both sides are developing in a usual manner,

white choosing often to deploy both knights back-to-back in turns 3 and 4.
Black has three usual moves to choose from on turn 4.

As mentioned, the move e6 transposes into an open known as the Semi-

Slav. This central pawn move is to maintain a solid pawn chain after an
eventual pawn exchange on d5. If you notice, however, one drawback with
this position is that the black pawns trap the light-colored bishop, and black
may struggle to find meaningful gameplay with that bishop.

The next possible choice is the pawn exchange with dxc4. White is happy
to trade their wing pawn for a central pawn, the main point of the Queen's
Gambit. The usual follow up here would be 5. a4 to stop black from trying
to reinforce the advanced pawn on c4 with the move b5. The typical next
move for black is to develop the bishop to f5, preventing white from
pushing the pawn to e4 next turn.

The last option for turn 4 a6 plays into the same idea for black: an early b5
play to add increased pressure onto the queenside. Black aims to follow up
very shortly with b5, and even if white tries to hold on to his space
temporarily with a move like c5, after b6, we see that black is going to start
tearing down that center one way or another.
One of the reasons players have begun to favor a6 is because it does not
create that problem for the light-squared bishop becoming inactive. Black
can keep the c8-g3 diagonal open and find scope for the bishop soon.
 Chapter 4. The Middlegame Concepts Every
Beginner Should Definitely Know

Choose Your Opening

Make sure you choose an opening that suits your style of play. If you are a
tactical player, use an open opening, which allows you to get twists and
tactics. Do not use hedge openings.

Learn to Use Your Opening

There are some openings that can take years to handle with mastery. See,
for example, the Sicilian Defense, which is, in my opinion, one of the most
valid defenses against 1.e4 but at the same time one of the most
complicated to play due to its infinite variations that can arise. If you do not
have time to study such an opening thoroughly, then I suggest you choose a
more compact opening.
Develop Your Strength First
Before proceeding with a targeted attack on your opponent, make sure you
have distributed your forces well within your line-up. Remaining pieces at
their starting positions means to stay with pieces that do not actively
participate in the battle. Develop your strength!

Fight for the Center

Always remember that the most important area of the chessboard is the
center. A piece positioned at the center has greater possibilities of attack
compared to a piece positioned on the board. Struggle for the center
(although hypermodern chess has re-evaluated this theory).

Know the Gambles

Legs are sacrifices of pawns in the opening phase. If you accept this
sacrifice, make sure you know the continuation. Otherwise, you risk ending
up in bad waters soon.

Know When to Transition

The chess game consists of 3 phases: Opening, middlegame, and endgame.
When you are about to leave the opening, take some time to understand
what is happening and how to set up the middlegame. The same is true for
when you are going out of the midsummer to proceed to the endgames.

Ask What Does It Do

If you always ask yourself this question, you will have won. Always
remember that chess is played in two, and sometimes being able to
understand what your opponent is planning can guarantee you victory.
Prophylaxis can be one of the strongest weapons in this game. But be
careful not to be afraid of ghosts and to get defensive at every maneuver of
your opponent.

Develop the Sixth Sense

We are not computers (unfortunately), and as we calculate a position, we
get tired, and our sight becomes “blurred.” The more we calculate, the
greater the oversights we will make with the progress of the match. So, try
to develop a sixth sense that allows you to sniff out the moves that are
worthy of being taken into account and then calculate them. This sixth
sense develops a lot from playing Rapid games.

Do Not Stop
If you are analyzing a position and proceeding with the calculations, do not
stop too early but go deep. Try to see that for the next 3 or 4 moves,
everything will be fine. One of the greatest advantages you can have
towards your opponent is this depth of calculation that can guarantee you
victory in many cases.
Have a Plan
Some players often forget that playing a game of chess means planning.
Sometimes it's okay even to play move by move, but it's also good to
occasionally draw a picture of the situation, understand what the
weaknesses of the opponent are and what yours are so as to know how to
formulate a plan of attack or defense.

Know the Role of the King

Always remember that in the endgame, the King is an extra piece. It is no
longer a poor helpless piece but rather a ruthless weapon of attack.

Calculate in the Endgame

The ending is perhaps the most complicated game phase. There are a few
pieces at stake, so it's an opportunity to calculate more easily and more
thoroughly. Do not let your opponent surprise you with a combination you
have not taken into consideration.

Study the Endgames

All of us are obsessed with books about openings. Chess players’ bookstore
usually has at least 60% of books on openings. But the endgames are not to
be underestimated. The high-level matches almost all happen during the
endgames, and it is there that you play pure technique. Often, the transition
from a national category to a masterly can only be credited to a more in-
depth study of the endgames.

Avoid Pressing the Clock

Clockwork is a must in chess tournaments. Time is an essential component
of this game so try to manage it to the fullest. If you know the opening by
heart, then do not waste precious time there and make your first moves in
total speed and safety to save precious minutes for the endgame.

Analyze Your Games

Another phase that you should not miss is to review your games, especially
those where you lost, allowing you to improve yourself for the next game.
 Chapter 5. Endgame

How to Endgame with Queen & King

By learning common routines that show up time and again in matches
among the most effective methods to better your chess is. By constructing
this pattern recognition, by recognizing simple routines in places that are
more complex, you will begin to see more improvements in your games.

Our first example uses the Rook and a Queen jointly to give checkmate.
This same routine could be carried through with any two important pieces.

Any two important pieces readily checkmate a lone King from the border of
the board. While the King is prevented by one piece from moving far from
the border, another can go to the same position or file as the King to give
checkmate.

How to Endgame with 2 Bishops & King

Checkmates can be delivered by minor pieces by themselves, also. A couple
of bishops can function together efficiently; collectively, they can control
the whole board, as each you can be dominant on squares of one color.
In the diagram, the White King is in a precarious situation. He is prevented
by his pawn while Black's dark-squared bishop halts him. Right now, his
only squares that are safe lie on the light-squared diagonal, plus one strike
along that line will spell catastrophe.

How to Endgame with Knight and Bishop

A bishop and a knight also can work jointly to ensure a checkmate from
their particular pieces or from a few handily put defenders.

The diagram shows a knight and a bishop working collectively to trap a

castled King. White's pieces obstruct the majority of his King's possible
escape squares while the nicely set Black bishop takes away h1 and g2.

A check by Black's knight will spell the end for White, as White's King
does not have any strategy to escape.
 Chapter 6. The 5 Effective Tips That Can
Transform a Rookie Into the Next Master

Do you ever ponder about the number of chess players on the planet?

All things considered, 700 million individuals on the planet share a similar
love called chess; a large number of them even share the light of chess
information with others, spreading and building up this Indian game.

Playing chess resembles craftsmanship, where you make magnum opuses,

push ahead, think, investigate, cause a triumph, lose, reconsider, and gain
from disappointments. Chess resembles an "egocentric" game when you
start your game; you make a plunge, overlook everything and everybody
entering a major universe of chess.

Everybody in this world is a one-of-a-kind character and doesn't have

similar character lines that others have, so in like way is in chess, each
Chess Champion is remarkable, both with its very own style, technique, and
strategies. Here we show you some Chess tips and deceives that will assist
you in improving your strategies.

1. Chess Pieces
What you should consistently remember is that each chess piece is worth
and a piece of our 16-trooper armed force

In spite of the fact that the pawn has just 1 point, it is the indispensable
piece of a decent opening since it is significant in Chess. It is where you
ought to acquire your pieces and set them in assaulting positions. So, the
continuation of the center game and endgame relies upon it.
To begin a decent opening, you should begin with a pawn and step by step
open up your game by moving the pieces in the middle where they will
have unlimited oversight of the most extreme number squares.

2. Possess the Middle

While building up your pieces, your main obligation is to involve focus
before allowing you to adversary do as such. How about we take the case of
Kasparov and Short?

Here you can see that White pieces have a preferred position because of the
pawns in the focal squares (c4-d5-e4-f3). In the event that you control
focus, your odds are enormous for a superior game on the grounds that here
you have more control of the board than your adversary, for instance, in the
event that we take a knight.

A knight on the inside controls eight squares, so eight potential moves.

In the event that you have made the inside, your next stride ought to utilize
pressure (recall your adversary is attempting to take control) on the middle.
So you should compel your rival to move away from the inside

3. Assault in the Center Game

At the point when you have built up your pieces and have unlimited
authority over the focal piece of the load up, it's certainly time to assault.
You should have ideas about how to catch an adversary’s pawns and any
piece that he isn't ensuring. Yet again, here, you ought to recollect the
significant thing is to figure what will occur in the event that you take his
piece in light of the fact that there is constantly a dread of not being caught
yourself. Bit by bit, accomplishing into a position where you can assault the
rival's the best.
4. Anticipate Your Adversary's Moves
While playing chess, it is significant for each chess player to watch the
moves of the adversaries and start posing an inquiry to yourself and think.
"What plan does my adversary have at the top of the priority list" or "For
what reason did he pick that move" and so forth. For having that sort of
capacity, you ought to consistently rehearse on yourself by playing against
yourself, which will offer you the chance to feel the entire board. Also,
obviously, it will give you the experience of intuition for the two players
simultaneously.

5. Win the Endgame

The endgame is the last phase of chess, and for having a triumph over the
adversaries, what you ought to do is rehearse your endgame methodology.
Since your last objective is the keep your King and checkmate the rival
king.

The king, during which the opening and middlegame stage is frequently a
weight since it must be safeguarded, then becomes a significant and
forceful piece in the endgame, and the amateur ought to understand this and
use his king however much as could reasonably be expected.

In the endgame, you ought to be quiet and investigate your moves for not
showing up a well-thought trap.
 Bonus Chapter. The 17 Golden Rules

These rules don’t necessarily apply in all the situations, but they provide a
general game plan of how things should look like during a game.

1. In the opening, don’t play multiple moves with the same piece:
Every move in the opening should be connected with the development
of a new piece. Your primary goal should focus on developing your
minor pieces and freeing the squares required to bring your king to
safety by castling. In order to achieve this goal, you should not waste
precious time in the opening by moving the same piece more than
once.

2. Don’t play with your queen too early: As mentioned in the first
rule, your objective is to develop minor pieces and castle ASAP.
Playing with your queen early on in the game is not recommended.
You will end up wasting precious time. Another important drawback
of moving the queen too early might result in an attack by the
opponent’s minor pieces. Your opponent will develop his pieces with
tempo, and this is not something you want to allow.

3. Castle ASAP: The castling move was introduced in the 14th century.
Until this move was introduced to chess, games were usually much
shorter than today. This is because the king was often attacked or even
mated in the center of the board. With the castle move, you normally
bring the king to safety where it is protected by the pawns, far away
from the center where all the action usually happens at the beginning
of a game. Another benefit of castling is it allows you to bring the
rook into play from the edge of the board.
White correctly developed his minor pieces and is ready to castle on the
king-side.

4. Fight for the central squares (e4, d4, e5, d5): The 1. e4 and 1. d4
moves are considered the best options for White. It is not a
coincidence that. We fight for the central squares so we can have
space to develop our minor pieces. Think of your starting moves as
giving your minor pieces some air to breathe; the more breathing
space they have, the better. Try to create difficulty for your opponent
by taking central squares away from him in order to complicate his
development.

5. Put the rooks on open or half-open files: Similar to minor pieces,

the rooks also need breathing space. Better yet, they need the freedom
to participate in the battle on the board actively. They are best placed
on an open file.
Both White and Black rooks are placed correctly—both on an open file
where they are most active.

6. In an open position, the bishop is better than the knight: In an

open position, bishop activity is greater than knight activity because it
covers more squares than the "slowish" knight.

7. The bishop is better than the knight when the pawns are on both
wings (flanks): Because the bishop is controlling more squares and is
able to do damage on both sides of the board at the same time, it
makes it superior to the knight when pawns are on both wings.
 8. The knight is stronger in a closed/blocked position: If the position
is blocked, then bishops are usually limited by pawns. Since bishops
can’t jump over pawns while knights can, knights become superior
pieces in blocked positions.

9. In the endgame, the king is one of the most important pieces: In

an opening, you want to castle and take your king away from the
action. This is because the king is very vulnerable with all the pieces
on the board. However, when the game reaches the endgame, then the
king can be transformed into a beast.

10. Don’t put the knight on the edge of the board: The knight’s
activity usually suffers if they are located on the edge of the board. In
 this case, it only controls four squares. If they are closer to the center,
i.e., on c3, then they end up controlling eight squares! “A knight on
the rim is dim.”

11. In an endgame, you should not put the rook in front of the
pawn—either yours or the opponent: Generally, the best place to
put your rook in an endgame is behind the pawn. If it is your pawn, it
will be much easier for you to push it down the board. If it is the
opponent’s pawn, that’s still the best way to control it while still
staying active with the rook.
12. The materially superior side should try to exchange pieces
(but not pawns!): If you are two pawns up in a middlegame and you
have an option to exchange all the pieces (except pawns and continue
being two pawns up in a pawn endgame), then that would be a dream
come true. Since pawn endgames with extra pawns are most often
winning positions, it is definitely something to strive for.

13. The materially inferior side should try to exchange as many

pawns as possible: Doesn’t it make sense? Well, let’s look at another
example. You are in a middlegame and are facing a very difficult
position with a whole minor piece down. Being a piece down is no
fun, but what would happen if you were able to exchange all the
pawns and stay in a bare king against the opponent’s king and a minor
piece? It does not matter whether it’s a bishop or knight; the position
would be a dead draw because there isn’t enough material to win the
game.

14. When you have finished with the development of minor

pieces, move the queen to connect the rooks: Remember rule
number 2, which states you should not move your queen too early.
Now is finally time for you to move it. When the development of your
 minor pieces is completed, it is time to connect both rooks by
developing the queen. Rooks gain more power if they are connected
because they defend one another.

15. If your king is under attack, try exchanging queens: The

Queens are the most powerful attackers in chess. By exchanging
them, you severely limit the attacking potential of your opponent.

16. Try to change bad (inferior) pieces for good (superior)

pieces: Try to keep superior pieces and don’t exchange them for
weaker ones. Amateurs blindly take or exchange the first piece they
see. My advice to you is to take things slowly. Calm down and think
about the situation. Evaluate your piece activity and potential
compared to that of your opponent’s. Only then should you decide
whether the capture would be beneficial.

Of course, if you come to the conclusion that your opponent’s piece is more
active and has better potential, then it is definitely in your best interest to
swap it off the board.

The knight on d5 is better than his colleague on d7.

Black to move should play 1 Nf6 or 1 Nb6 and exchange it.

17. Rooks belong to the 7th rank: Rooks are ideally placed on
the seventh rank. There they are the most active because it allows
them to attack the opponent’s pawns and the king. A fair comparison
of strength is reflected in the saying that "In the endgames, the rook
placed on the seventh rank is worth a sacrificed pawn."
 Conclusion

By reading this book, you have gained a basic understanding of chess, and
you now know how to properly start a chess game and improve your
chances of winning.

When it comes to chess, strategy is the name of the game. Throughout the
whole game, one is continually evaluating moves, both for their short-term
benefits and their long-term place, within your overall strategy. From the
opening to the endgame, the strategic plan is what helps you to beat your
opponent, allowing you to create a checkmate.

This game doesn’t just provide strategic mental stimulation; it also has a
long history dating back to before the 6th century. As a part of the social
construction of many cultures, it has stood the test of time, tying together
humanity with a game of strategy.

You have to note that this is just an introductory book on chess. Every point
we have presented to you up to this point in this book are those we deem
important to you as a beginner. There is no need to fill your head with more
information that may end up leaving you more confused than you were
before you picked up this book to read.

So, what should you do with the little information you have gotten so far?
You should put the information into practice. Get yourself a chessboard and
get familiar with all the components of the board. Try and memorize all the
squares, ranks, and files. Once you are done doing that, the next thing you
should do is to arrange the chess pieces on the board correctly.
Start by playing with yourself; you will need to play the White and Black
pieces yourself. This is a great way to perfect a new skill you just learned.
The more you practice with an actual chessboard, the more you will master
how the different pieces move on the board. While playing, make sure you
apply all the techniques you have learned in this book. Make use of forks,
pins, and the many other techniques we have talked about.

If you cannot get your own physical chessboard immediately, another good
way to practice what you have learned is downloading a chess game on
your mobile phone. There are many free mobile chess games you can
download and start playing immediately. Just visit the app store for your
mobile operating system, type "chess" into the search bar, and download
one of the games that will pop up in the search results. Make sure you read
reviews before choosing the one to download.

Some online games will allow you to pair with another player online. Once
you have paired with someone, you can compete with this person and win
virtual points. Participating in such competitions is a great way to sharpen
your skills.

However, when you are just starting, I would recommend that you shun
online competitions entirely. You need to learn on your own first before
engaging in competitions. Many mobile chess games allow you to play with
the system as your opponent, and that’s one of the easiest ways to learn how
to play chess.

Open the game you have downloaded, select the option that allows you to
play with the system, choose a side, either White or Black, and then start
playing. When doing so, you should not only pay attention to what you are
playing, but you should also pay attention to the moves that the system is
making against you. You will learn a lot from the system’s moves. Keep
practicing and improving your skills, and don’t forget that chess can be
quite addictive.

Remember, this book has given you the basic foundation you need; it is left
for you to leverage this foundation and turn yourself into a chess master.

That being said, there are tons of materials you can find on some of the
moves, techniques, tactics, defense methods, etc., that we have introduced
in this book.

As you play more, you will grow inquisitive, and this is what will make you
try to seek out more information on how to surmount a particular challenge
you face.

Obviously, chess is a very complex game, and mastering it takes a lot more
than just reading about it. Playing, losing, and learning are the best ways to
improve your game. So, pick out your favorite openings and read about
them several times to make sure you fully understand the theory behind
them and remember the sequence of moves that comprise them. Do not
forget to put what you have learned to practice by playing games.

By now, you know how important it is to create a strategy right from the
beginning of a match and follow it through to a devastating conclusion.
Take your chess skills to the next level by knowing what NOT to do and
make sure the win is in your pocket.

The various opening moves and tactics, along with strong middle-game
evaluations, endgame follow-through, can get you to a win. But along the
way, you have to use a plan and follow it to the end. No plan when playing
chess puts you in a position of weakness with your opponent, and a sound
plan can put you in a position of strength. While you have to react to your
opponent’s moves, remember they are also attempting to execute their plan
to a successful conclusion. To get that checkmate, you just have to execute
yours better!

Lastly, whenever you are playing, don’t feel shy to refer back to any section
of this book for clarifications on how best to make a move. This book is
like a reference guide for beginners, so you should be able to refer to it
from time to time.

Thank you, and best of luck with your chess.