Chess 101 by Nick Beare
Chess is about space, time, material, pawn structure and king safety.
These elements are considered when assessing a chess position (is white or black better?).
● Space – active, flowing, unobstructed pieces – development, outposts.
● Time – gaining additional moves at your opponent’s expense eg moving a pawn forward to attack a knight.
● Material – Pawn = 1, Knight/Bishop = 3, Rook = 5, Queen = 9.
● Pawn structure - isolated pawns, pawn islands, double/tripled pawns, backward pawns, passed pawns, connected pawns.
● King safety – vulnerable kings, well guarded kings, castling.
The Weapons of Chess
Used to worsen your opponent’s position, improve your own position, win material and checkmate your opponent!
● The Fork – attacking multiple pieces with the same piece. The fork can be performed by any piece, even the king. The knight is known for its powerful fork.
● The Skewer – slicing through one piece to attack another. The skewer can be performed by bishops queens and rooks. The bishop is known for its powerful skewer.
● The Pin – preventing a piece from moving because of a powerful attack on a piece behind it. The pin can be performed by bishops queens and rooks.
● The Discovered attack – moving a piece out of the way to reveal a powerful attack from a piece behind it.
The Opening
In the opening you should abide by the following chess opening principles.
● Develop your pawns and pieces onto active squares which allow them to control the central squares e4, e5, d4, and d5.
● Avoid moving the same piece twice.
● Prepare for castling.
● Generally, you should avoid moving your queen, but there are exceptions to this rule.
The Middle Game
The middle game can be long and complicated. In a nut shell, the general idea in the middle game is to come up with a plan eg a kingside or queenside attack.
The Endgame
In the opening and middle game the king should be well guarded, but in the endgame the king is a powerful piece and should become centralised or active.
Open vs closed positions
● Open positions - In an open position, pieces are unobstructed and able to travel long distances. In open positions it is easier to launch attacks, kings are more vulnerable, and material advantage is less important. Generally, the bishop is more effective than the knight in open positions, but not always.
● Closed positions - In a closed position, pieces are obstructed and generally can only travel limited distances. In closed positions it can take longer to launch attacks, kings are generally less vulnerable, and material advantage can be more important. Generally, the knight is more effective than the bishop in closed positions, but not always.
Exchanging
Don’t exchange pieces unnecessarily. You should only exchange pieces if you believe it may benefit your position or worsen your opponent’s position. Exchanging pieces unnecessarily can benefit your opponent. When the going gets tough, try to maintain the tension in the position for as long as you can, before you decide to exchange.
Sacrifices
Sometimes in chess we make sacrifices, whether it be a pawn, a piece or even a whole Queen. Good chess players sacrifice material to generate attacks or even to strengthen their defences.
For example:
● Attack – a player sacrifices their knight for two kingside pawns to launch a dangerous attack against their opponent’s king.
● Defence – a player sacrifices their last piece, a knight, for two dangerous pawns who are on the verge of queening.
Compensation
If a player who has less material than their opponent is deemed to have an equally as good or better position, it is said that that particular player has compensation. For example, white has lost their g pawn (possibly as a result of voluntary sacrifice) and as a result has one less pawn than black. Therefore black has a material advantage because they are a pawn up. However, in this particular position white is considered equal because they now have the ability to launch a dangerous attack against black’s king using their rook and/or queen on the now semi-open g file (compensation).
The Principle of Two Weaknesses
The principle of two weaknesses is particularly useful in the endgame. It is based on the idea of overloading your opponent’s defences by exploiting two of your opponent’s weaknesses at the same time.
For example, white pushes a passed h pawn down the board, threatening to queen. Black is forced to move his king to capture the pawn. White waits until black’s king is forced far enough away from the remaining black pawns. The white king then moves in to capture black’s pawns and create a winning position.
Decision making when it is your turn to move - stop, relax, think!
The below decision making steps should also be performed by you during your opponent’s turn. It is particularly important that you perform the below steps when moving in the middle or end game. In the opening the pieces are still being developed and therefore direct attacks are less common, but the below steps should be performed after a few moves.
Start by thinking defensively
1. Analyse all of your opponent’s possible checks. Start with the piece your opponent moved last.
2. Next, analyse all of your opponent’s possible captures and again start with the piece your opponent moved last.
3. Now look at what your opponent is threatening, starting with the piece your opponent moved last. This is the most difficult part. You have to look out for discovered attacks, pins, forks, skewers from all of your opponent’s pieces!
Next, think offensively
1. What space did your opponent leave behind with their last move? What squares do they no longer control? This is very important.
2. Analyse all of your possible checks.
3. Next, analyse all of your possible captures.
4. Now look for weaknesses in your opponent’s position. Think about how your next move can exploit (take advantage of), or contribute to the exploitation of a particular weakness.