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Chess is an ancient Indian game of strategy, played by two individuals on an 8x8 grid. The objective is to maneuver one's pieces so as to put the opposing king in "checkmate". This book will cover the basic pieces of chess, before going on to some more advanced topics.

© Copyright 2003–2006 contributing authors, all rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Document License, version 1.2. A copy of this is included in the section entitled GNU Free Document License.

Contents

If you save this file to your computer, you can click on a link below to go to the chapter.

• Playing The Game
• Notating The Game
• Tactics
• Tactics Exercises
• Strategy
• Basic Openings
• Sample chess game
• The Endgame
• Variants
• Tournaments
• Optional homework
• GNU Free Documentation License

Playing The Game

Overview

Chess, unlike many other games, does not involve direct chance such as the roll of a dice or which card is drawn. The outcome completely depends on the decisions of the players. However, because of its vast complexity, the far-reaching consequences of some decisions are practically unforeseeable.

One player ("White") has the white pieces while the other ("Black") has the black pieces. Sometimes the colors are not black and white (for instance, light and dark, or yellow and blue), but they generally contrast each other. In friendly games the choice of colors can be made by any method, such as flipping a coin. If there is no coin at hand, another typical way of deciding would be to conceal a black piece in one hand and a white piece in the other and ask one's opponent to select a hand. The colored piece selected will be the opponent's color. In competitive games the players are assigned their colors.

Order of play

Once all the pieces have been arranged, White (or the lighter color) makes the first move. White always makes the first move; this is important for notation, and any chess player will insist upon it. After White has made the move, Black will then make a move. The gameplay will continue in alternating fashion, White making a move, followed by Black.

General movement rules

• A move consists of moving a single piece, in accordance with its rules of movement, to a square that is unoccupied or occupied by an enemy piece. A player may never move a piece onto a square already occupied by another of his or her own pieces.
  • Exception: There is a special move called "castling" where two pieces, a castle and the king, are moved; see below.
• If a piece is moved onto a square occupied by an enemy piece, the latter piece is removed from play and the first piece replaces it. The removed piece is said to have been captured or taken.
  • Exception: In en passant capture, a pawn moves to an unoccupied square but still captures another pawn "in passing"; see below.
• Most pieces may only make a move to a non-adjacent square if all the intervening squares are vacant (pieces may not 'jump over' other pieces).
  • Exception: The knight can move to any suitable final square regardless of occupants of other squares.
• No player may make a move that leaves their king "in check" (see below).
• The player is must always make a move when it is his or her turn. In other words, he or she cannot choose not to make a move. If no legal move is possible the game ends in a draw (see below), except when the king is in check - this is called checkmate, and is how the opposing player wins.

Also, when a pawn moves to a square at the opposite end of the board, it becomes a different piece (pawn promotion); all of these exceptions are covered below in more detail.

The board

Traditionally, the game is played on a board of 64 alternating black and white squares turned with a white square to each player's near right-hand corner. "White on right" is a helpful saying to remember this convention. The light and dark squares on the chessboard and the light and dark chess pieces are traditionally referred to as "white" and "black" respectively, although in modern chess sets almost any colors may be used. The horizontal rows of squares are called ranks and are numbered 1-8; the vertical columns of squares are called files and given the letters a-h. This way any single square can be easily identified by its rank and file, making it possible to record games by writing down the starting and ending position of the piece that moves every turn.

The pieces

The movement of the individual pieces is described below. In all the board diagrams shown, the squares to which the piece in question can move are indicated with x's.

King

The king can move one square at a time in any direction, with certain restrictions.

The king is the most important piece belonging to each player, though not the most powerful. If a player moves a piece such that it threatens to capture his opponent's king, that king is said to be in check. If a player's king is in check, he must immediately remove the check by moving the king, blocking the check with another piece, or capturing the checking piece. Players may not make any move which places their own king in check, though they may check their opponent's king. Two kings may never occupy adjacent squares, since they would have put themselves in check by moving there.

If the king is placed in check and cannot escape, it is said to have been checkmated (or "mated" for short). The first player to checkmate the opponent's king wins the game. Note that the king is never actually captured, since it is obliged to move out of check whenever possible (and the game ends when it is impossible).

The White king in the following diagram cannot move upwards or to the left since it would be in check from the bishop, or diagonally downwards which would leave it adjacent to the Black king. Also, as no piece is threatening it if it fails to move, the king is not currently in check.

Capturing Pieces

The king may capture any opponent's piece adjacent to it, as long as doing so does not place himself in check.

Knight

The knight is the only piece that may jump over or "move between" other pieces. The knight has a unique L-shaped move; two squares in one direction either horizontally or vertically, and one square in another direction perpendicular to the first.

Other ways to look at it are

1. that the knight moves to the closest square to it not on the same rank, file, or diagonal, or

2. that the possible knight moves form a "Y" (up, right, down, and left), once like a rook and once like a bishop away from its original position.

Capturing Pieces

The knight captures any opponent's piece that it lands on at the end of its L (or Y) shaped move.

Bishop

The bishop can move any number of squares diagonally. Each side starts the game with one light-squared bishop and one dark-squared bishop. Note that the bishop is restricted to the color of squares on which it began. Each player starts out with a bishop that moves on the light colored squares, and another that moves on the dark colored squares. In the diagram below, the bishop stands on a light square and can only move to other light squares.

Capturing Pieces

The bishop may not jump over any piece of either color. It captures any opponent's piece that it encounters during the movement described above, and then occupies the captured piece's square.

Rook

The rook can be moved any number of squares horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally. Note that like the bishop, the rook cannot jump over any pieces, except for "castling". If the rook attempts to occupy a space already occupied by an opponent's piece, it captures the piece. It cannot occupy a space already occupied by an allied piece.

Queen

The queen is the most powerful piece, being able to move any number of squares in any lateral or diagonal direction. It is best described as the combination of a rook's and bishop's movement capabilities.

Pawn

Pawns can move one square straight forward, or optionally and on their first move only, two squares straight forward. The pawn can move one square diagonally forward to capture a piece, but cannot capture a piece by moving straight forward. For this reason, two opposing pawns on a file may become blocked by each other.

In the diagram below the White pawn is prevented from moving forwards by the Black pawn immediately in front of it (in the d file) which it cannot capture, but can capture the adjacent Black pawn by moving diagonally forward.

Special Moves

Pawn Promotion

If a pawn makes it to one of the eight squares along the far edge of the board from their initial position, the pawn is "promoted". Upon reaching the far rank the player announces the piece that the pawn is promoted to, either a queen, a rook, a bishop, or a knight. The player's move ends when the new piece occupies the promoted square. The new piece need not be a previously captured piece. Thus a player can acquire two or more queens, rooks, bishops or knights. (In theory it is possible to get up to nine queens, or ten rooks, etc. since there are eight pawns to promote).

Castling

Castling is a move involving the king and either of the rooks. Castling performed with the king's rook is kingside castling, performed with the queen's rook it is queenside castling.

Subject to restrictions detailed below, a player may move his king two squares towards the rook, and subsequently, on the same turn, move the rook adjacent to but on the opposite side of the king, (onto the square over which the king has just passed).

Note that the king must be the first piece moved; not the rook. If the rook is moved first, then the king must stay where it is. This mainly applies in "strict rules of chess" where if a piece is touched, it must be moved. Moving and letting go of the rook constitutes a legal move, while moving the king two squares is not a legal move by itself.

The restrictions specific to castling are:

1. Neither the king nor the participating rook may have moved previously
2. The king must not be in check at the start of the move, though it may have been in check previously in the game
3. The square over which the king passes must not be under attack ('in check') from an enemy piece. (This would expose the king to a "check" in passing). The rook(s) may be under attack, or the queens' rooks may pass through an attacked queens' knight square.
4. The squares between the king and rook must be vacant

En passant capture

This is French for "in passing"; basically, you capture an enemy pawn as it is passing you.

When a pawn advances two squares onto the same rank as an opposing pawn on an adjacent file, this opposing pawn may, on that player's next move only, capture the advancing pawn as though it had only moved one square (provided the move is otherwise legal). The pawn's ability to move two squares on their first move was a relatively late addition to the game of chess. En Passant was introduced to prevent abuses of the new rule.

In the following example, the Black pawn advances two squares, and is captured by the White pawn which moves diagonally forwards and to the right (as if the Black pawn had been there). This move is only allowed on the turn in which the option is presented.

Initial position

In the initial position each side has eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, a queen and a king arranged as shown in the diagram below. Note that the only pieces on either side which can initially move are the pawns and knights.

Beginners often set up the board incorrectly; it is a complex position to remember. The following mnemonics may help you remember where the pieces go.

• White on the Right It is important that the bottom-right-hand square is light-colored.
• Knights live in castles One knight is placed next to each rook (rooks look like the towers of a castle.)
• Queens on their color OR The dress matches the shoes The White Queen goes on a White Square, Black Queen goes on a Black Square
• Bishops are advisers to the Royalty Bishops surround the King and Queen.
• White King on the Right From the White Player's perspective, both Kings are on the right, and from the Black Player's perspective, the Kings are on the left.

Conclusion of the game

Play continues to alternate between White and Black until one of the following outcomes is reached:

• One player's king is checkmated. The game is lost by that player.
• In a competitive game, one player runs out of time. The game is lost by that player (with two important exceptions, see draws below).
• One player resigns, which is equivalent to quitting the game. A player may resign on either his or his opponent's turn. Resignation is often symbolized by the resigning player knocking down his king.
• The player whose turn it is has been stalemated, meaning that he has no legal move and is not in check. The game is a draw.
• The players agree to draw the game. Either player may offer a draw to his opponent upon completion of his move. If the offer is accepted, the game is drawn. Draw offers cannot be rescinded.
• A player successfully claims that the game is a draw under one of the following criteria:
  • His opponent does not have sufficient pieces to checkmate him by any legal sequence of moves.
  • Both players have run out of time in a competitive game.
  • One player has run out of time in a competitive game, but his opponent does not have sufficient pieces to checkmate him by any legal sequence of moves.
  • 50 moves have been played by each player since a piece was captured or a pawn moved.
  • The current position has occurred twice before with the same player to move.

Chess Etiquette

Generally, chess games at tournaments are conducted under the following rules:

• Touch move - If a player touches his own piece, he must move it, and if a player touches an opponents piece, he must capture it (unless the capture is not possible). If he releases a piece on a square, the move is completed and can't be taken back. If you need to center a piece on its square, it is traditional to say j'adoube (I adjust).
• Be silent when your opponent is on the move - You can only adjust pieces, offer a draw, or claim a draw when it is your turn to move.

A friendly game may be played in any way that is mutually agreeable. Generally it is considerate to avoid distracting your opponent.

Glossary

• Capture - To move one's piece into the same square as one of one's opponent's pieces. The opponent's piece is removed from the board.
• Check - The king is 'in check' when it is being attacked by an enemy piece.
• Checkmate - The player whose turn it is can make no legal move to get his king out of check.
• Stalemate - The player whose turn it is can make no legal move, but the king is not in check.

Notating The Game

Notating chess games is important to any chess student, since it allows him to review his, and his oppenent's, strategy, and to read of classic chess encounters, and follow how the game developed. Further, chess puzzles are often set in magazines, newspapers and online, and their solutions are notated; for an example, see The Times Chess.

Algebraic notation

A very common nomenclature for chess games is algebraic notation. There are several older systems of notation, but these are less common.

In algebraic notation, we use

• R for a rook
• N for a knight
• B for a bishop
• K for king
• Q for queen
• no letter for a pawn

Sometimes a pictorial language-independent notation is used, in which a picture of a horse might represent a knight, and so on.

Each square on the chess board is given by a co-ordinate, much like a map. The rows (in chess language, ranks) are labelled with Arabic numerals (i.e., 1, 2, 3,...), and the columns (in chess language, files) are labelled with letters of the English alphabet (i.e., a, b, c,...). A square's co-ordinate is first its column followed by its row. For example, in the board below, black's king is on the square d5.

If black moves his king to, say, d6, the move is notated as kd6, i.e. the king has moved to square d6.

Moves in which a piece is captured, a king put in check, or checkmate have special notations.

• If a piece is captured, the move's notation is followed by an asterisk (*).
• If the king is put in check, the move's notation is followed by a plus sign (+).
• If the king is put in checkmate, the move's notation is followed by a hash (#).

Annotation shorthand

Annotation shorthand is not a notation system. Rather, it a system of symbols for the author to add his descriptions or comments. An author notating a game might wish to highlight an excellent move, question a bad one, or indicate which player he thinks has the advantage.

• If a move is followed by an exclamation mark (!), the author is surprised by the move's quality.
• If a move is followed by a question mark (?), the author suspects the move may have been poor.
• If a move is followed by an exclamation mark and then a question mark (!?), the move interests the author, though it may be sub-optimal.
• If a move is followed by a question mark and then an exclamation mark (?!), the author fears that the move may be conclusive.

Repeating a symbol (e.g. !! or ??) adds emphasis.

Results are written as white's score - black's score. For example, 1-0 indicates that white won, and 0-1 indicates that black won. In the case of a draw, the result is ½-½.

There are some additional symbols for the author to note his thoughts on the game in general, rather than on any particular move.

• An equals sign (=) indicates positional equality between the players.
• A plus-minus sign (+/–) indicates that white is considered to have the advantage.
• A minus-plus sign (-/+) indicates that black is considered to have the advantage.

Ambiguity

Sometimes algebraic notation can be ambiguous - that is, two pieces of the same designation can move to one square. For example, a player might be able to move either of his rooks to the same square. In these cases, it is essential to specify which piece was moved.

The precise move is specified by designating the file (column) that the piece moved from, before the move's final co-ordinate. For example, Nd2 indicates that a knight moved to d2, but Nbd2 indicates that the knight that was in column b moved to d2. If a piece's file is not enough to precisely specify the move, then its rank is used instead.

Special moves

Some special moves are tricky to write in algebraic notation, and must have their own notation.

• Castling king-side is written 0-0.
• Castling queen-side is written 0-0-0.
• En passant capture is written e.p., if there is ambiguity.
• If a pawn is promoted, the pawn's initial move is written, followed by the shorthand for the new piece. Any additional nomenclature or annotation is written after the shorthand for the new piece.

Sample game in algebraic notation

If you have familiarized yourself with algebraic notation, consider this short sequence of moves. Try to follow the game by looking at the moves in algebraic notation, and the boards.

The game has begun, and is nearing the end. White is to move.

White decides to move his bishop from d3 to c4, to check black's king. This is white's thirtieth move. So in algebraic notation, we write

• 30. Bc4+

Since only one bishop could move to c4, the bishop's initial position was not specified. The + indicates the check.

White's bishop is now, unfortunately, in the queen's line of fire. Black decides to capture it. So for black's 30th move we write

• 30... Qxc4

The x signifies that a piece has been captured. When black's move is written separately from white's, an ellipsis (...) is placed between the number and the move. The ellipsis indicates that white's move has been omitted.

The board now looks like this:

White is in trouble now, and decides to flee to f2. His move is

• 31. Kf2

If black checks white's king, by moving his queen to c2, his move is

• 31... Qc2+

Descriptive Notation

An older form of notation you will run into quite frequently is the descriptive notation. It is useful to know because older books use it.

In this form, instead of the files being a, b, c etc., they are Queen rook (QR), Queen Knight (QN), Queen Bishop (QB), Queen (Q), King (K), King Bishop (KB), King Knight (KN) and King Rook (KR). The ranks are labelled from your point of view so that the square e4 (in algebraic) is White's K4 and Black's K5.

To record the moving of a piece, you write the piece, and to where it moves. 1. P-K4 means move a pawn to the 4th rank in the King's file. N-QB3 means move your Knight to the third rank in the Queen's Bishop file. For a capture, you specify the piece taking, and the piece to be taken. QRPxN means pawn in the Queen Rook file takes Knight. Excessive notation is left out so that if there is only one way a pawn could legally take a Knight, the move is recorded as PxN.

In order to compare the two systems, we could look at the same game in both algebraic and descriptive notation.

Algebraic	Descriptive
e4 e6 d4 d5 Nc3 Bb4 Bb5+ Bd7 Bxd7+ Qxd7 Nge2 dxe4 0-0	P-K4 P-K3 P-Q4 P-Q4 N-QB3 B-N5 [1] B-N5ch B-Q2 [2] BxBch QxB KN-K2 PxP 0-0

1.^ Note here that since only one bishop can move to QN5, it is unnecessary to specify the Queen Knight file rather than the King Knight file.

2.^ Check is indicated by "ch".

Coordinate Notation

A different type of notation uses only the squares that the pieces were on to denote movements. For example, to denote the earlier 7 moves, the following notes are shown:

1. e2-e4 e7-e6
2. d2-d4 d7-d5
3. b1-c3 f8-b4
4. f1-b5+ c8-d7
5. b5xd7+ d8xd7
6. g1-e2 d5xe4
7. 0-0

ICCF numerical notation

This notation is international because it does not depend on piece names or specific alphabets. A move is denoted by the file, then rank, of its starting square (from 11 at the White queen’s rook square to 88 at the Black king’s rook square). 1. e4 is denoted 5254. Castling is denoted by specifying the king’s two-square move, and pawn promotion with a fifth number specifying the new piece (1=queen, 2=rook, 3=bishop, 4=knight).

Tactics

Guarding

When one of your pieces is placed so that it attacks a square occupied by another of your pieces, the first piece is said to be guarding the other. When your opponent captures the guarded piece, you can recapture with the guarding piece. Note that if you have a piece that is pinned to your king by an opposing piece (see below for a description of pins), it can only guard other pieces against capturing by the enemy king, but not from other enemy pieces, since it is unable to move or capture.

Batteries

Batteries are formed when two or more pieces work together. The most common kind of battery is the doubling of rooks on a file. Other batteries can be formed by rook-queen or bishop-queen.

A triple battery can be constructed with the queen and both rooks. This is known as Alekhine's gun (diagram at right) and can be very dangerous. It is often advantageous to place the queen behind one or both rooks as it is a more valuable piece.

The Exchange

In pretty much any game, a player will have the opportunity to take one of his opponents pieces in exchange for one of his own pieces. This should however NOT be done for its own sake! Initiate an exchange only when it benefits you. Benefits can include, but are not limited to:

• Material advantage - queen for a minor piece, queen for rook, rook for a minor piece, a piece for a pawn or two, etc.
• Doubling pawns - Take when taking back means the doubling (or tripling) of your opponent's pawns on the same file.
• Opening up the king's defenses - Take when taking back means moving a pawn that exposes the king.
• Removing a defender - Take when the piece being taken is providing an essential service for the opponent.
• Blunting an attack - When you are being attacked, often a well timed exchange will leave your opponent with too few pieces to keep up the attack.
• Gaining space - In a cramped position, having more pieces can actually be a disadvantage because the pieces get in the way of each other. If your opponent has a space advantage, exchanging pieces can lessen the advantage and make the resultant less confining.
• Improving a material advantage - if you are ahead material, exchanging pieces will usually benefit you (note - pieces, NOT pawns). Similarly, if you have an extra pawn, trade pieces that may otherwise be used as a sacrifice to prevent pawn promotion.

Forks and Double Attacks

Sometimes a piece can be in position to attack two enemy pieces at once. This is called a fork or a Double Attack. All pieces can fork, even pawns, but knights have a reputation for making especially vicious forks because they can jump over other pieces.

Forking with check

Forks on unguarded squares which attack the king are the most powerful. The opponent must then move his king to safety and the other piece in the fork has no chance of escape.

The Royal Fork

A royal fork is one involving both your opponent's king and queen. In the example shown here, white's knight on f7 has engaged black in a Royal fork. Black will be down the exchange of a queen for a knight.

Forks do not always win material

If every time you saw a fork you played it, you would be making a mistake. You have to examine the different possibilities to escape the fork. In the queen fork on the right white has just played 1.Qd4+ forking the black king and rook. However black can play 1. ...Rg7 blocking the check and moving the rook to safety.

However Qd4 is by no means a bad move. Perhaps white played Qd4 in order to force black to play Rg7 in which white can now play 2.Qd8+ Rg8 (forced) followed by 3.Qxa5 in which case white can push his a-pawn. Here white forked black's king and rook not to win the rook but to win a pawn and pave the way for his a-pawn to become a queen.

Pinned pieces

A pinned piece is a piece that cannot move because it would expose an attack on an important piece by one of the opposing pieces, such that the capture of the important piece would result in material gain by the opponent. A very useful device is to pin the opponent's pieces to his king; this is known as an absolute pin. For example, imagine white's king on e1, a white knight on c3, and d2 empty. Black now moves his dark-squared bishop to b4. The white knight is now pinned and cannot move. A pawn on e4 is no longer guarded by the knight, which could not capture a black piece taking this pawn.

In contrast to the absolute pin, a relative pin occurs when one player's piece is pinned to one of lesser value than the king, such as a queen or rook. If the benefit of moving the pinned piece outweighs the loss of material occasioned by the capture of the exposed piece (for example, if a forced mate may be achieved), then the pin can be disregarded and the pinned piece moved.

The position diagrammed to the right shows the theme of attacking the pinned piece. In this position it is white to move. The white player can look at this position and immediately take the rook and win an exchange. However if he did this he would not be playing the BEST move. If white did this then the material would be dead even; however, white has more pawn islands and it would be a very close game. White can instead play Ng5! The rook cannot move, and black has no way of effectively defending the rook a second time in the next move, therefore in the end result black will lose a rook and not gain anything back. So, if you have pinned a piece take a look to see if you can attack the piece again, and if a piece of yours is pinned take a look to see if your opponent can attack it again. And above all else, if you see a good move stop and look around for the best move.

Skewers

A skewer is similar to a pin, but it is in a sense more powerful. Black has, in a blunderous moment, placed his king on d7 in front of his queen on d8. White may now triumphantly slide his rook (either one) to d1, skewering Black's king and queen. Since Black cannot block the check, the king has to move, exposing the black queen to the attack of the white rook.

Discoveries

A discovery is an attack on an enemy piece which is unveiled by moving one of your pieces. The power of discoveries is that two targets can be attacked simultaneously. If combined with a check they can be lethal.

Note that White's 1.Nd7+ was a double check, a type of discovered check where the piece moving also gives check. Such checks are very powerful, since the king is forced to move (both checks cannot be blocked at the same time). They are also often lethal, as in the above game.

Removing the defender

By first capturing, threatening, or pinning a piece that guards another, you might be able to capture the other piece for free.

Sacrifices

A sacrifice is an exchange of a piece for a non material advantage:

In the first diagram, White just moved 1. Kh1 to get out of check.

Black sacrifices his queen with 1...Qg1 for a winning positional advantage - White is in check and can not take with his king because the knight guards the queen.

2. Rxg1 - forced - this smothers the king - he cannot move because his own pieces are on every square he could go to - any check on an unguarded square now is mate.

2...Nf2# Checkmate. This queen's sacrifice was an example of a smothered mate (in which a knight delivers a checkmate that is caused by the king's inability to move anywhere).

In-between moves

An in-between move or Zwischenzug is one that is made unexpectedly in the midst of a sequence of moves. But not just any series of moves, one in which the player falling for the Zwischenzug feels the sequence is forced, while his opponent demonstrates to him that it certainly isn't! Most commonly these fall in between trades where a recapture seems to be the only proper means of play.

Such in-between moves often have a surprising and pleasing effect of increasing the potency of a combination beyond the opponent's expectations.

Borisenkov-Mezenev (diagram, Black to play), went 1... f2, threatening to queen, which White countered with 2. Rg8, intending 3. Rf8+, and 4. Rxf1. But White resigned after the zwischenzug 2... Bb1! which allows Black to queen (3. Kxb1 f1Q+ or 3. Rf8+ Bf5).

Tactics

Chess is, of course, a game of tactics and strategy, and the tactics described in the Chess/Tactics entry are important to any chess player. The right tactics can allow you to make quick gains of material, can protect you from quick losses of material, and can, ultimately, help you to win chess games.

Tactics Practice

Good chess players, then, must practice tactics. Consider the chess boards below. In each board white can win material by force, if he chooses his moves wisely and utilizes the tactics described in the Chess/Tactics entry.

Play white first in each board (unless, of course, it is otherwise stated), and force material gains for white with the right tactics. The solutions are at the bottom of this page.

Solutions

1.

• 1. d5 + Ne7 (White threatens knight with pawn, black moves knight, knight no longer guards b4.)
• 2. Qa4... (Fork tactic; queen checks king, and threatens bishop. Black must concede bishop.)

2.

• 1.Rxd7+ Nxd7?? (Rook captures knight, knight captures rook.)
• 2.Qe8# (Guard tactic; queen checks king, and is guarded by bishop. Checkmate.)

3.

• 1.Rf8+ Rxf8 (...Ka7? 2.Bxe3+ b6 3.Rxh8) (White's rook forks check and black's rook, and discovers threat on black's knight from white's bishop.)
• 2.Rxf8+ Ka7 (Rook checks king. King moves diagonally.)
• 3.Bxe3# (Bishop takes knight, and checkmates king, with the rook.)

4.

• 1.Bf4 + Ned7 (???, not sure about this sequence of moves, Ned7 seems like a bad move.)
• 2.e5 ... (Pawn forks knight and rook.)

5.

• 1.Qb3+ Kh7 (...Rf7 2.Qxf7+ Kh7) (White checks king with queen. King moves away.)
• 2.Rh1+ Qh5 (White checks king with rook. Black blocks with queen.)
• 3.Rxh5+ gxh5 (White exchanges rook for queen!)

Note the importance of white's knight in this exchange. It guarded f7, preventing a simple defence of the intial check with Rf7.

6.

• 1.Nf6+ Kf8 (...gxf6? 2.Bxf6 Nxa1 3.Rh8#) (Nf6 checks, and threatens two rooks. A naive defence of gxf6 would result in checkmate.)
• 2. Nxd7+ Bxd7 (White can now move the rook on a1 to safety.)

7. 1.Rh3+ Kg8 2.e7+ d5 3.exd8=Q Rxd8 4.Qxc5 Bxh3 5.gxh3

8. 1.Rh8+ Kxh8 2.Qxf8+ Kh7 3.Qxg7# - Also 1.Qe6+ Rf7 2.Rf1 (Black's rook is pinned) Black cannot stop 3.Qxf7#

9. 1.Rh7+ Kg8 2.Rcg7+ Kf8 3.Bd6+ (Computer give the better 3.Bh6 ... 4.Rh8# is better and logical!) ...Re7 4.Bxe7+ (With mate following, this was what I saw and played. Bh6 is better but it might be to hard for all to find, both lead to mate)

10. 1.Rxf8+ Kxf8 2.Qf3+ Kg8 (...Bf4 3.Bxf4 exf4 4.Qxf4+) 3.Qxg3

11. 1.Nf6 Qe7 (...Bxf6? 2.Qxf6 ... 3.Qh8#) 2.Nxe8 to win an exchange (Nxh7+ is better not hard to see, Qe7 is forced because Qc8 gives white mate in 7[of course with Nxh7,Kg7;Qxf7+ etc.])

12. 1.Ne7+ Kh8 2.Nf7+ Qxf7 3.Rxf7 Or 2.Nexc8! (Threatening back rank mate with Rf8#) Bf3 3.Rxf3 4.Qxf3 gxf3

13. 1. ...Bh4 2.Qxh4 Nf3+ 3.gxf3 Qxe3+ 4.Kd1 Bb1+ 5.Qxd8+ Rxd8#

14. 1. ...Bxg3 2.fxg3 Rxg3+ 3.hxg3 Qxg3 4.Kh1 (4.Kf1 Qf3+ 5.Kg1 Rg8+ 6.Kh2 Qg2#) Qh3+ 5.Kg1 Rh8+ 6.Kf2 Rg2+ 7.Kf1 Qh1#

15. 1. ...Bxb3 2.cxb3 Qxd1

16. 1.Qe6+ Kf8 (1. ...Kh8? 2.Rxh7+ Kxh7 3.Qxg6+ Kh8 4.Rh1# or 4.Qh7#) 2.Rxh7 Bg7 3.Rdh1 or 3.Bxg6 with mate following. There are different moves Black can play, White is likely to play both Rdh1 threating rook sacrifice on h8 followed by mate and Bxg6 which is threatening Qf7#. 1.Qxd4 is also winning for White. 1. ...Ng7 2.Rxh7 Kxh7 3.Qh4+ Kg8 (3. ...Nh5? Qxh5, g pawn is pinned) 4.Bxg6 Kg8 With mate following.

17. 1.Nd2+ Kc2 2.Nf3 (There is no way for White to avoid giving up an exchange.)

18. 1.Qh5+ Kg8 2.Qxh7+ Kf7 3.Qxf5+ Kg8 4.Qh7+ Kf7 5.Rf3# (1.Qxh7? Re5 2.Rf3 Ke8 and game continues)

19. 1.Nf5+ Kg8 (1. ...Kf8? 2.Rh8#) 2.Qg4+ Kf8 3.Rh8#

A Highly Tactical Position

What follows is a complex board.

The board arose after the opening moves

1.e4 e5

2.Nf3 Nc6

3.Bc4 h6 (Ask yourself, was h6 a bad move?)

4.Nc3 Na5 (Ask yourself, was Na5 a bad move?)

5.Bxf7+

Even an experienced player might struggle to calculate all the possible moves and their consequences. One way to improve one's tactical vision is to set-up this board, or indeed any board, choose an opening move, and then continuing, picking the best moves possible, and noting the success of the initial move.

Consider the h6 and the Na5 moves, and note their weakness. Indeed, the Na5 move's tempo renders black's only developed piece useless, and the h6 move weakens the King's side and scuppers a future defensive g6 move. Black may have anticipated a Fried Liver Attack, and made a pre-emptive denfense, though such an attack should threaten black.

Now consider how the game might develop. Black is in check. He can take the bishop (Kxf7), but this might not be tactical. If Black moves Kxf7, there is an inevitable knight check (Nxe5). White might then play Qh5 which may be played with check.

Studying the many variations, and the patterns of movement, will be beneficial for any chess player, especially once white's queen is active. There are many mate threats that can be created, and many guarded squares that black cannot move his king to.

Here are possible scenarios. First, Ke7, where white moves his king forward, and out of check, which is discussed in some detail. Second, Kxf7, where white captures black's bishop, which is left as an excercise for the keen reader.

• 1...Ke7 Declining the Bishop capture 2. Nd5+ now the King is forced to capture the Bishop (or play Kd6 with no lose of material for white), 2...Kxf7. It was bad for black to decline the sacrifice because white was able to muscle black into accepting it, and now white has an additional knight bearing down on the black king. 3. Nxe5+ Ke6 (3...Ke8 Would lead to mate with 4. Qh5 g6 5.Qxg6#) 4. Qh5 (White now threatens 5. Qf5+ Kd6 and 6. Nf7+ winning the Black queen the following move) 4...Qg5 (it is plausible that Black will play this in attempt to trade queens and greatly reduce White's attack) 5. Qf7+ Kd6 (The e5 Knight is immune from capture from the King, for two reasons. 5...Kxe5 is met with a.) 6. f4+ forking the Queen, so long as f4 is defended by a white piece, and b.) 6. d5+, this is good because it facilitates the development of the dark square bishop, but white is likely to lose the bishop so long as the queen is protected by the h pawn. There are two ways but only 1 black queen you might say, regardless it is still good to have two ways. What this means is if white can utilize his knight and queen for different things since they aren't tied down to the defense of the f4 square, and the d5 knight will remain immune. That means white is more flexible and can respond to blacks defenses in more ways) 6. Qxf8+ (vacates the f7 square with tempo) Ne7 7 Nf7+ (forking the King and Queen) Black's position is hopeless.
• 1...Kxf7 See if you can work out what can happen here.

Strategy

Strategy Basics

You may choose different strategies depending on what type of opponent you are playing, and what kind of player you are. Strategy starts with the opening, and continues through the middle game, and on to the end game.

Games are considered open if the central pawns have been captured, and closed if they have not. Semi-closed games refer to games where some mix of the center pawns have been captured. These games are called open or closed because there is more mobility for one’s pieces in open games, and usually determine the complexity of the game. Specifically, recognition of open versus closed games is important because closed games are more conducive to Knights, whereas open games see more involvement with longer range pieces such as Bishops, Queens, and Rooks.

Strategic Openings: If you choose to play a long-range, theoretical sort of game, you may want to choose a complex opening such as the Queen’s Gambit, the Ruy Lopez, or the English. In these types of games, especially when you are playing the closed variations, you are likely to venture into close positions where positional maneuvering predominates over tactical shots. From there, you can focus on strategic elements like controlling files, pawn structure, and other long range development considerations.

Tactical Openings: If you are more interested in sharpening your tactical play and focusing on combinations, you may choose a more tactical opening. Some of these openings include the Sicilian Defence (especially the Dragon and the old main line of the Najdorf), the Grünfeld Defence, and the older variations of the Two Knights' Defence.

By initiating exchanges you can always simplify the game, and it will become more computational. If you don’t want that to happen, you have to be very guarded and conservative.

You should always be thinking about how many squares a piece controls (i.e. can attack), and which squares are controlled. In the beginning you should aim to control the center of the board. As the game progresses you may want to attack one flank, especially if the King has castled onto that side.

Material

Having more pieces on the board than your opponent means you have a material advantage. If your position is equal, you will be more likely to win. Since not all pieces are equal, many people use the following point system to determine which player has a greater advantage.

Letting the pawn be the basic unit of value, you have the following relative values:

• Pawn = 1
• Knight = 3
• Bishop = 3
• Rook = 5
• Queen = 9

These are simply relative values; each piece's value must be treated in a case-by-case system.

(Note: Yasser Seirawan in his Pro Mentor DVD emphasizes that one should attribute

• King = 3.5

and the knight and bishop's value are only 3 in his opinion. When calculating the value of a position, dividing the board in Queenside and Kingside, it will be seen that it matters that the king is worth 3.5 points. The calculation of forces on either side will determine the stronger side. This side, usually can become the attacking one, all other things considered.)

The value of the pieces also changes as the game progresses, because there is less material on the board to get in the way of some pieces. Rooks usually become more powerful because there are fewer pawns in the way, and a rook has the opportunity to control more squares. Bishops can travel great distances if unobstructed, while knights have a more local presence. So, knights shine when the board is cluttered in a closed game because they can "jump" over pieces whereas Bishops are generally stronger in open games where they have the run of the board.

The King especially changes in value as the game progresses. Its strength as an attacking piece becomes greater in the endgame. It is generally reckoned to be stronger than a knight or bishop but weaker than a rook, but assigning a point value doesn’t make sense since this one piece is the object of the entire game!

Knights are more powerful if they have a safe outpost in enemy territory - a knight on the 6th rank that can not be attacked by opposing pawns can be as powerful as a rook in the right circumstances. This type of knight, if guarded by a pawn, is called “a home away from home”.

A bishop never leaves its own color, so if one of the bishops is captured, half the board is now out of reach of a bishop. So trading 1 bishop for a knight tends to favor the person losing the knight, who is left with two bishops. However, trading the second bishop isn't quite so hurtful. So trading a Bishop for a Bishop where one side has only 1 bishop to begin with helps the side with fewer bishops.

Knights can not cover both sides of the board at the same time, while a bishop can, so in an endgame where there are pawns on both sides of the board, the bishop is stronger.

Bishops can not attack pawns that are on the opposite color, while a knight can. Furthermore, in a game where there is a short pawn chain, a knight can stand at the head of the chain and attack the pawn supporting it, so a knight is often more effective attacking pawns as long as they are limited to one side of the board.

It is important to keep in mind what sorts of positions will benefit the pieces that you have. For example if you have 2 knights and no bishops and your opponent has 2 bishops and no knights then it would be good for you to keep the center cluttered with pawns by avoiding pawn exchanges. If you do this then your opponent's bishops will have hampered mobility whereas your knights can hop over the pawns. Also if you have the bishops and your opponent has knights then you should play to keep the center clear so your bishops can have more mobility. Also, this idea can help you decide on whether or not to trade a bishop for a knight or vice versa.

Usually more pieces are more valuable -- two bishops beats a rook, two rooks beat a queen -- but this is conditioned on proper co-ordination between the pieces. It may be worthwhile to sacrifice two pieces for a rook if this results in long-term damage to the enemy's piece co-ordination. Usually this means tying down the extra pieces to the defense of weak pawns, so that they cannot cooperate in attacking friendly pawns.

Compensation

Material values only matter in the context of position. Compensation is a term used in chess to describe the trade off between material and positional advantage. A strong position can make up for a material deficiency. For example if your opponent has all their pawns on white squares, a black bishop is worth more than a white bishop.

Typically having compensation for a piece means that an attack against the enemy's king or strong points cannot be repelled or may only be repelled by the enemy returning the material he is up. Often compensation can refer to having the initiative or in trapping the opponents king in a vulnerable position. A pawn majority on one wing or a passed pawn can also sometimes be considered compensation for a minor piece. Generally the player who is down on material has to act quickly and avoid exchanging pieces to prevent the enemy from making his material advantage count.

Pawn Strategy and Pawn Chains

Main article: Elements of chess strategy/Pawn structure

In the end game, pawns gain strength as they advance because they pose the threat of promotion, so a pawn on the 6th or 7th rank is worth significantly more than a pawn on the second rank - often as much as a piece. However, in the opening and middlegame, an advanced pawn is less likely to queen and more likely to be in need of being defended. It is also unable to defend the center and often leaves "holes" in your territory that can serve as outposts for your opponent's pieces. An overadvanced pawn is then often a liability.

In the opening and middle game, pawns in the center of the board block paths and support outposts. So they tend to be more valuable than end pawns. However, in the end game, a wing pawn is usually the hardest to get to and block or capture and is therefore more likely to queen. So in the endgame, the edge pawns are often more valuable than the middle pawns (Note: this is not necessarily true in some basic pawn and king endings, where a pawn on the edge leads to only drawing options).

A passed pawn has only pieces stopping it from queening, so it is considered more valuable - especially if it is protected with other pawns.

Tempo

Tempo is the effective number of moves required to reach the position on the board. Moving a piece twice to reach a position it could have reached in one results in a net loss of one tempo - moving a piece back to its starting place usually results in a loss of all its tempo - unless other pieces moved that could not have moved otherwise. Also the capture of a piece means all of the tempo it gained is lost as well.

Essentially, tempo is one way of showing how many effective moves you have made. So the gain of a tempo is basically like getting a move for free. Three tempi is usually considered equivalent to a pawn in terms of advantage.

Example:

In the position above there have been 2 tempi played on each side, play continues with:

3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. e4 Nf6

Now white still has 2 Tempi (one for d4 and 1 for e4) while black only has 1. The captured pieces lost the tempo they had gained in moving and the knight lost the tempo it had when it captured.

For argument's sake, lets assume play went as follows:

5. e5 Nd5 6. Bc4 Nb6 7. Qd3 Na4 8. Nc3 Nxc3 9. Qxc3 e6

Now black still has only 1 tempo (e6) while white has 6 (2 queen moves, 3 pawn moves and a bishop move). This has let white develop 2 pieces, control the center and give black a cramped position. Also, while both sides can castle kingside in the same number of moves, White can connect his rooks (position them so there is nothing between them on the back rank) 2 moves sooner than black. Chances are, white will complete development and launch an attack before black is able to. This means white will have an advantage when the middlegame is reached.

Quality

Active and passive pieces

An active piece is one that has the potential to make a threat. A passive one is usually relegated to defending a piece (or worse - a pawn).

In this example, white's bishop on g5 is considered active, while black's bishop on e7 is considered passive.

Piece activity depends on whether it can move and attack. A piece can be rendered passive if it is stuck protecting another piece or if it is restricted from being able to get into play by its own pawns.

Good vs. Bad Bishops

Main article: Elements of chess strategy/Minor pieces#Good bishops vs. bad bishops

As noted above, a bishop can only travel on squares of one color. This leads to a situation wherein one bishop may be effectively blocked out of the game by the pawn structure. In general it is better to have your pawns on the opposite colored squares to your bishop. For example, if you as black have pawns on e6 and d5, your queen's bishop is likely to be a "bad bishop." It is bad because it is hard to do anything constructive with it; developing it to g4 is impossible and "fianchettoing" it via b7 is ineffective since your pawn on d5 blocks any influence it may have over the centre.

When one has a bad bishop there are two methods to improve the game: exchanging the offender and freeing up the game. In general it is profitable to try to exchange your bad bishop for an opponent's bishop or knight, as your bad bishop has little value. However, it is important to bear in mind that in the end game having two bishops is considerably stronger than have two knights or a bishop and a knight. Therefore you should always be wary of exchanging bishop for knight in situations where an endgame is likely. The other method to rid yourself of this weakness is by freeing up the game through making pawn moves.

Overloaded pieces

Overloaded pieces are pieces which defend too many other pieces and therefore cannot be considered to defend all of them at once. For example, a rook can defend up to 4 pieces, but if one is taken, and the rook takes the offending piece, 2 of the other pieces are undefended.

Initiative

Main article: Elements of chess strategy/Development

Main article: Elements of chess strategy/The positions of the kings

The player with the initiative is the player who is making the threats to which the other person must respond. Having the initiative is advantageous because it forces your opponent to place his pieces in essentially defensive formations. A piece that is defending a square generally has less mobility (freedom of movement) than a piece attacking the same square.

Having the first move, it is generally white who has the initiative in the early part of the game. Therefore trying to maintain the initiative would be prudent strategy.

Zugzwang

A Zugzwang situation occurs when any move a player makes will weaken his/her position, but he/she is compelled to move in accordance with the rules. An example of the zugzwang is as follows:

White moves the pawn, making a zugzwang and forcing Black's king to move.

The black king is forced to move away from his current position because he now has no other move.

White gains a queen and wins the game easily.

Combining attack with defense

A winning strategy in Chess often involves balancing several considerations against each other. Moves that maximize immediate material gain might expose a vulnerability or yield a difficult position as the game progresses. Similarly, material sacrifices for position may be disadvantageous if they cannot be parlayed into an effective attack. Thus, a key consideration should be balancing attack with defense. A profitable move would be one that both furthers your attack and solidifies your defense.

Basic Openings

The following is an overview of the aims of an opening and some standard openings that you can try in your games. All of them are playable and should lead to reasonable games with best play.

Aims of an opening

Before looking at some of the more common openings played today it is important to consider what you are trying to achieve in the opening of a chess game.

In some cases, one player will sacrifice a pawn, or in some cases even more, to accomplish the goals listed below. Such an opening is called a gambit.

Development

You should attempt to move your pieces away from their starting positions to squares in which they can participate more fully in the game. Obviously a Knight at c3 is more effective both defensively and aggressively than a knight on b1. Avoid moving pieces more than once in the opening as this allows your opponent time to develop another piece while you are wasting time. Also avoid moving your queen in the opening, it can too easily be chased around the board by other pieces which aids your opponents development while wasting moves for you.

Control the Centre

The squares in the centre of the board are critical for two reasons. The first is that pieces in the centre are able to move to more squares than pieces on the edges. (Note a knight on a3 can move to only 4 squares, whereas a knight on c3 can move to 8.) Secondly, if you control the centre it is easier to move pieces from Kingside to Queenside quickly.

One of the great truths in chess is that attacks along one wing are destined to fail if the centre is not sufficiently controlled. This is because the defender with a strong centre will generally be able to muster enough defence on that side and at the same time mount a counterattack in the centre and/or on the other wing. So if you plan on mounting an attack make sure you control the centre.

Traditionally it was thought that the ideal situation is one where you have a pawn majority in the centre, especially with pawns on d4 and e4 (for white). However it has been shown that an equally valid strategy is to control the centre with pieces and make minimal pawn moves. The thinking is that central pawn moves often lead to permanent positions and can block attacks. "Fianchettoing" a bishop by moving it to b2 or g2 after b3 or g3 allows the bishop to keep a watchful eye on the centre without fixing a pawn in the centre.

Castle

A King in the centre of the board is open to attack. It is generally a good idea to castle your king so as to be able to defend it more easily. Some players will sacrifice material in order to prevent the enemy king from castling and to attack it ferociously due to its vulnerability. Castling also has the added benefit of bringing the rooks together on the first rank so that they are able to combine in defence and attack. Once your pieces are developed, king is safely castled, and your rooks are combined, the opening is over.

Protect the King

It is not always necessary although highly advisable to protect the king through castling. That being said, there are other ways to go about protecting the king than castling although they are less efficient and will often result in pins.

King's Pawn Openings (open and semi-open games)

Ruy Lopez (aka Spanish Opening)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 the main line continues 3...a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0

The move 3...a6 works because if white plays 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.Nxe5, Black can regain the pawn with 5...Qd4 forking the e4 pawn and the knight.

Italian Game

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4