CHESS OPENINGS

FOR BEGINNERS
THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO BECOMING A
CHESS MASTER. LEARN THE WINNING
MOVES AND MASTER THE MOST
SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES

Robert King
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 Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
THE CHESSBOARD
THE CHESS PIECES
BASIC CHESS TERMS
CHAPTER 1: BASICS OF CHESS OPENINGS
CHESS OPENING
TYPES OF OPENINGS
WHITE’S OPENING MOVES
CHAPTER 2: TRICKS FOR SUCCESSFUL OPENING
CONTROL THE CENTER
DEVELOP YOUR PIECES
CASTLE EARLY, CASTLE OFTEN
DON’T MOVE YOUR QUEEN
CHAPTER 3: THE MOST POPULAR OPENINGS
KING'S PAWN OPENING / THE OPEN GAME
KING'S GAMBIT (1. E4 E5 2. F4)
KING'S GAMBIT ACCEPTED
KING'S GAMBIT DECLINED
ITALIAN GAME (1. E4 E5 2. NF3 NC6 3. BC4)
GIUOCO PIANO
TWO KNIGHTS DEFENSE
RUY LOPEZ (1. E4 E5 2. NF3 NC6 3. BB5)
MORPHY DEFENSE
QUEEN'S PAWN OPENING / CLOSED GAME
QUEEN'S GAMBIT (1. D4 D5 2. C4)
CHAPTER 4: RESPONSE TO OPENING MOVES
RESPONDING TO THE OPENING MOVE: E4
THE SICILIAN DEFENSE
THE FRENCH DEFENSE
THE CARO-KANN DEFENSE
THE FRIED LIVER ATTACK
 THE SICILIAN DEFENSE: CLOSED VARIATION
THE SICILIAN DEFENSE: ALAPIN VARIATION
THE SCANDINAVIAN DEFENSE
THE PIRC DEFENSE
THE ALEKHINE DEFENSE
RESPONDING TO THE OPENING MOVE: D4
THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT: ACCEPTED VARIATION
THE SLAV DEFENSE
THE KING’S INDIAN DEFENSE
THE NIMZO-INDIAN DEFENSE
THE QUEEN’S INDIAN DEFENSE
THE BOGO-INDIAN DEFENSE
THE GRUENDFELD DEFENSE
THE DUTCH DEFENSE
THE BENKO GAMBIT
THE LONDON SYSTEM
THE BENONI DEFENSE
CHAPTER 5: OTHER POPULAR OPENINGS
ENGLISH OPENING
SCOTCH OPENING
FRENCH DEFENSE
DUTCH DEFENSE
DANISH GAMBIT
CHAPTER 6: WHAT TO DO AFTER OPENING?
BUILD YOUR PIECES
CONTROL YOUR CENTER
SAFE-GUARD YOUR OWN KING
FOCUS ON QUALITY
CHAPTER 7: CHESS NOTATIONS
SHORTHAND FOR PIECES
MORE SYMBOLS
CHESS NOTATION IN ACTION
CHAPTER 8: TACTICAL THEMES ON PLAYING CHESS
MUTUAL ASSISTANCE
 INDIRECT MUTUAL ASSISTANCE
THE DISCOVERY ATTACK
DOUBLE ATTACK
THE ATTRACTION
THE BLOCKING
THE NAILING
CROSS NAILING
THE COUNTERATTACK
CHAPTER 9: STRATEGIC PLANNING IN CHESS
CHAPTER 10: CHESS RULES YOU NEED TO REMEMBER
BASIC RULES
SPECIAL MOVES
PROMOTION
EN PASSANT
CASTLING
CHECK AND CHECKMATE
DRAWS
CHAPTER 11: PRACTICAL CHESS TIPS
PLAY THE MOVES OUT ON A BOARD
KNOW AT LEAST 1 OPENING VERY WELL, PREFERABLY A LESSER-KNOWN
OPENING
WATCH THE CLOCK
FOCUS
KEEP A LOOKOUT FOR INTERMEDIATE (IN-BETWEEN) MOVES
THINK ABOUT MOVE ORDER
PLAN, PLAN, PLAN
CONCLUSION
 Introduction

Chess is a fascinating board game that has challenged the imagination,

creativity, and analytical prowess of people for thousands of years. Once
reserved for nobility, Chess is now enjoyed by millions of people all over
the world. It is a classic game between two players who have one ultimate
goal in mind: to threaten the opponent’s King with a move that leads to an
eventual capture. The road to victory, however, is usually paved with traps,
decoys, and tricks. A player with adequate preparation, strategic skills, and
mindset will have significant advantages over one who lacks a sound game
plan and plays the game randomly.

Winning chess games consistently requires time, focus, and serious

preparation. This book is designed for beginners and advanced chess
players who want to improve their game and take their skills to the next
level.
The Chessboard
Chess is played by two people using a chessboard with 64 squares of
alternating colors – eight rows and 8 columns. Each player starts with
sixteen chess pieces: 8 Pawns, 2 Knights, 2 Bishops, 2 Rooks, 1 Queen, and
1 King.

Here is how the chess pieces are arranged at startup:

The rows are called ranks while the columns are called files.
The Chess Pieces
The Pawn

The Pawns are usually the first ones to go to battle. From its starting
position, a pawn can move up to two squares forward. Away from its
original square, it can only move one square ahead and can never go
backward. It captures opposing pieces one square diagonally forward on its
left or right side. The pawn may also capture the enemy’s pawn using the
“En Passant” (in passing) rule.

While it has many weaknesses, a Pawn is the only chessman that can be
promoted. A pawn that has reached the back rank of the opponent can be
exchanged for a Knight, Bishop, Rook, or Queen. There is no limit to how
many Pawns may be promoted.

The Knights
The Knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces. This
capability allows it to be the only other piece besides a pawn that can make
the initial move in a chess game. The Knight moves or jumps in an L-
shaped pattern - one square to its left or right and two squares
forward/backward or two squares forward/backward and one square to the
left or right.

The Bishops
The Bishops move diagonally in any number of squares as long as it is not
restricted by other pieces. Each side has two Bishops at the start. One
controls the light-shaded squares while the other moves along with the
dark-shaded ones. The Bishops cannot jump over other pieces like the
Knight.
 The Rooks

A Rook moves on a straight line from left to right or forward and backward.
It can go from one end of the board to the other in one move if there are no
intervening pieces. It cannot jump over other pieces the way a knight does,
however. Along with the King, the Rook takes part in a special chess move
called “castling.”

The Queen

The Queen has the most powerful attacking capabilities on the chessboard.
Except for its inability to jump over other pieces, the Queen combines the
attack moves of other chess pieces. It can move diagonally like the Bishops
and horizontally or vertically like the Rooks.

The King

Although it lacks the attacking prowess of the Queen, the King is the most
important piece on the board. The player whose king is captured
immediately loses the game. A capture happens when the king is attacked
and could not make a legal move or could not be defended by other chess
pieces.

A King has very limited movements. Unless it is castling, a King can only
move one step away from its current position. It can capture Pawns and
other stray pieces and can be used in the end game to strategically restrict
the actions of the opposing King.
Basic Chess Terms
Attack moving a piece to a square where it
can capture an opponent

Double attack an attack moves against two or

more enemy pieces at the same
time

Fianchetto to develop a bishop on the square in

front of the adjacent Knight

Minor pieces bishops and knights

Major pieces queens and rooks

Capture to remove an opponent’s chessman

through a legal move

Check to attack or threaten the King

Chessman all movable figures on the

chessboard

Promotion converting a pawn to a Queen,

Bishop, Knight, or Rook after
advancing to the eighth rank

Queenside the a-d files

Kingside the e-h files

Zugzwang a situation where a player is forced

to make a move that is detrimental
to his position
Back rank a player’s first rank
Chapter 1: Basics of Chess Openings
Chess Opening

Strategies
Openings appear to be psychologically challenging games or chess strategies
that have been implemented to improve control of the actual center of the
exact chessboard in the main starting game. This starting performance starts
along with this primary phase. It ends at any time one participant has
apparent control over the very center surface, which is right after around ten
movements each. Sometimes the middle of any board is composed of four
pieces immediately in the center of all chessboards. Management involved
with the actual centerboard will make it a lot more difficult for the
challenger to attack and advance. As a consequence, treat involving your
middle board would be a definite, remarkably valued advantage.

Since managing a specific centerboard, a well-finished, mentally stimulating

starting game would certainly also allow your current main pieces to help
you get out of this back row to be practiced for an approaching or even
defensive reason. Also, the openings must protect concerning the king (like
the castling king-side) as well as not holding a king in a very uncertain role.
There are a variety of tried and tested "principles" that should be kept to any
time a good start is played actively. As follows:

Immediately advance your knights. Knights can approach many squares and
are excellent for the defense of the middle board.
Don't develop chess pieces on one side only. This tends to encourage the
competition to take advantage of the middle board. Sections of your board
can be more of a profit.

Avoid attacks that are too serious. Keep in mind that there are opportunities
in place to set up security placements.

Please start the backline. Let your essential pieces have room to breathe.
Typical openings include names like Sicilian Defense, British Beginning,
Queens Gambit, 2 Knights Security, and more. All of these and other
openings appear to be identified by a variety of opening outlets, magazines,
and websites. When a player finds new opportunities, they will have a very
welcoming weapon toolbox to set up against his or her opponent.

As a chess player, you tend to lose games from time to time — like other
chess players.
The Bishop or the Knight (3 points) is worth three Pawns (3 points). When
you give up the Knight and get three Pawns in return, you can make it more
or less an even trade. When you lose a Knight (3 points) for only a Pawn (1
score), you have suffered material, and you should lose the game if you play
against an expert.

When you win a Rook (5 points) for a Bishop or a Knight, you get (3
points), and you are said to have "won the Exchange." If you then lose a
Rook (5 points) for a Bishop or a Knight (3 points), you have "lost the
Exchange." The other important feature of reading a chess book is that you
are familiar with chess notation and can count up to 8; this is not a question.
You may have heard scare stories that make chess notation extremely
difficult. This complexity of chess notation is a fallacy spread by people who
are too lazy to learn how simple and logical it is.
There are a hundred words linked to Chess. When you, no doubt, live a
hectic and busy life, having you to sit down and read every possible entry.

However, understanding the words will help you better understand this
fascinating, 1400-year-old game. So, what we did was create a set of bite-
sized collections of Chess Glossary terms.
Types of Openings
Openings can be divided into four types, depending on the pieces involved
in your first few moves. These opening types are the following:

King or Queen Pawn Openings – being the pieces at the front of each
side during the start of the game, pawns are usually moved first.
However, the most common would be moving the pawns directly in
front of the Queen and/or the King. For White, their d and e pawns
will be moving to the fourth row. Aside from providing an open space
so that Bishops can be developed early on, the King or Queen opening
enables the player to gain control of the center area.
Gambit opening – a “gambit” in chess refers to a strategy wherein the
player is offering “bait” (which is often an undefended pawn) to the
opponent. This bait aims to entice the opponent into moving
differently to gain a lead in developing the player’s pieces. A gambit
opening can be Queen’s or King’s, depending on which side the bait
originated. For example, if the opponent (who’s playing Black)
matched your pawn to e4 move with a pawn to e5, you can move your
King’s side pawn to f4, allowing Black to capture the pawn. If Black
accepts the gambit, it will bring a development advantage to your side
because you can now do a Queen Pawn opening to square d4 and
further control the center. A gambit opening can also be used in
combination with the other openings.

Flank Openings – if, suppose you’re playing White, and your opening
move doesn’t involve moving the King and Queen Pawns first, you are
doing a flank opening. Pieces that are included in flank openings
include moving any pawn on the side of Queen and King (squares a to
c and f to h, respectively) or moving either of the two Knights.
 Irregular openings – opening moves that are rare and are not always
observed in a game can be considered as an irregular opening. Mostly
irregular openings involve the movement of the pawn that does not
take advantage of the “two square moves” from their starting position.

By knowing the first moves of your opponent, you will have an idea as to the
game plan that they are trying to accomplish to win the game.
White’s Opening Moves
White has the advantage of making the first move and being able to set the
pace of the game. Thus, the right preparation must be made if they want to
improve their chance of winning the game.

Colle system
This opening strategy, which can also be called the Colle-Koltanowski
system, was formulated by Edgar Colle during the 1920s and was improved
by George Koltanowski.

The Colle system stemmed from the Queen Pawn opening and features the
following moves (ignoring the moves of the opponent):

Move Queen’s pawn to d4

Kingside Knight moves to f3

King’s pawn to e3

Bishop on b1 moves to d3

Kingside castle

Castled rook moves to e1

C pawn moves to c3

Queenside Knight moves to d2

A pawn in e3 moves to e4

This image will help you to visualize what the board should look like when
using the Colle system (before the pawn in e3 is moved to e4):
 The order of the movements can
be interchanged, as long as all pieces should be in place within 9 moves. The
Colle system allows for a good way to develop your minor pieces (the
Knight and the Bishop), gain some control of the center with the d4 pawn
and a threat from the f3 horse on any piece that will occupy e5, open paths
for your non-pawn pieces (especially the Queen), and move the King away
from the center as early as possible.

Reti System

Another opening system that was developed earlier than the Colle system
but is still an effective opening method is the Reti system. Developed during
the late 1800s by chess player Richard Reti, this opening only involves two
moves for White.

White moves g1 Knight to f3 (Black will most likely move its Queenside
pawn to d5)

White’s C pawn moves to square c4.

In the Reti system, the board must look like this:

In this opening system, it is easy to observe that Reti applies the flank
opening and combines it with a gambit, making use of the “wings” rather
than a direct approach to control the center area. The movement of White’s
Knight to f3 forces Black to avoid making the usual e5 pawn opening. If
Black moves its Queenside pawn, the c4 pawn will be offered as a sacrifice
to the opponent. Even with the early lead of Black in material (if it chooses
to accept the bait), White will be provided with different opportunities. Since
Black’s center control is gone due to the shift in the direction of its pawn,
White can take control of the opponent’s half of the centerboard by simply
advancing its pawns to d4 and e4 and no Black piece to immediately stop
those moves. Another advantage would be that White can opt for an early
check and a fork on the undefended pawn, forcing Black to make a move
that does nothing to develop its other pieces.
Many other variations or defensive movements have stemmed from the Reti
system, making it difficult for opponents to predict what you’ll be doing in
your succeeding moves.

London system
This opening system was named as such because it was mostly used during
the 1922 tournament in London. This system makes use of the Queen’s pawn
opening but does not combine it with the Queen’s gambit (which is a
common opening move). The system shares similarities with the Reti system
in the sense that it also develops the Knight early on, followed by the
Queenside Bishop.

The variations of this system depend on the move of Black. However, if

Black’s movements are ignored, this opening system can be applied by
making the following moves:

Advance Queen’s pawn to d4

Knight in g1 moves to f3

Queenside Bishop moves to f4

This image shows what the board looks like if the system was successfully
used:

The use of the London system presents early

advantages on the side of White. First would be the obvious advantage of
using the Queen’s pawn opening, which leads to automatic protection to one
of your pawns. Another is that the second and third move easily develops
your Kingside Knight and Queenside Bishop, allowing you to check on other
pieces that Black would want to develop, making the opening system also
usable by those who are looking to attack. The pawns on c2 and e2 can also
be advanced one square as the game progresses, allowing you to bolster your
defense in the center and protect the King (aside from castling) while giving
you room to develop your remaining minor pieces and the Queen.

Stonewall attack
To prevent your opponent from getting to your King, you will need to
provide a good defense. If you are interested in a defense-based game plan,
what you need is the Stonewall attack opening.

This system also utilizes the Queen’s Pawn opening and doesn’t utilize the
Queen’s Gambit. But along with the Queen’s pawn, this system involves
moving the other pawns in the center in such a way that they are protected,
either by other pawns or the minor pieces. The pawn’s position in the center
also allows for open lanes so that White can also guard any attacks from the
flank.

To execute this opening, the following moves must be followed:

Queen’s pawn to d4

King’s pawn to e3
Kingside Bishop to d3

C pawn to c3

F pawn to f4

If the moves are followed properly, the board must look like this:
 Using the Stonewall attack allows White to
guard whatever it is that will come to the center square with its pawns,
allowing it to capture opponent pieces that will attempt to occupy the said
area and provide the pieces with enough protection. This makes it difficult
for Black to penetrate White with a direct approach. Unfortunately, flank
attacks are also checked by White’s long-range pieces. And even if Black
does manage to start an attack on the King’s side, it can easily be shut close
by the pawns in columns g and h.
Chapter 2: Tricks for Successful Opening
Control the Center
In the first five moves of the game, you’re unlikely to take any of your
opponent’s pieces without losing one of your own. So, you want to fight for
the next best thing: The Center. Whoever controls the center controls the
game.

Just to refresh. What do I mean by the center? In the picture below, I’ve
highlighted the four squares that make up the center.

At the beginning of the game, every move you make should fight to control
those four squares. Most likely your first move will be one of those center
Pawns followed by your Knights and your Bishops. In the picture below, I
show what your pieces would look like if they were developed to target
those four squares.

Why is it so important to control the center?

Let’s use an analogy to another sport. In Soccer, have you ever seen a team
fight to protect the sidelines? Have you ever seen a goalie stand in the corner
of the goal while an opponent drives up the middle? I hope for your sports
enjoyment’s sake you have not.
Here’s another analogy. In Football, your Pawns are like your Offensive line.
If your Offensive line fails to control the center of the line of scrimmage, an
opposing player is likely to run through and sack your Quarterback.

Center control is closely related to development. They’re two sides of one

coin. If you control the center, it makes it hard for your opponent to develop
his pieces past the center or move his good pieces toward your King. The
center is the fastest and easiest place to damage your opponent from. So, the
person who controls it has far more opportunities to attack.
The image below shows a real beginner game where Black has firm control
of the center while White has not even tried. Notice that the four squares in
the middle are either taken or protected by Black.
 Now
I’m going to show the effects Blacks’ control of the center has over White.

In the image above, Black is dominating the center of the board. See the
corresponding letters in the image above to get a visual of what I’m talking
about:

Exhibit A: White’s Knight would love to move down and gobble up Black’s
Pawn and Fork the Queen and Rook, but White would lose his Knight. If he
had another piece to Protect his Knight (like a Bishop) he would fare much
better. But since Black controls the center, White has no chance of bringing
in a Bishop or any other piece.
Exhibit B: White’s two Bishops (Circled above) are both stuck behind
Pawns. White’s Queenside Bishop could move down and attack Black’s
Bishop, but best-case scenario they would cancel each other out.

Exhibit C: White’s Knight is pinned to the King, so it can’t move. Again, not
helping White’s cause.
Exhibit D: White moves the Rook Pawns, presumably to make room for his
Rook. But all it’s really done is wasted precious opening moves. His Rook is
still stuck.

In summary, when you control the center, you have more moves available to
you. YOU make the choices about how the game proceeds, which you can
convert into winning unequal trades.
Develop your Pieces
Developing your Pieces is moving your attacking pieces toward your enemy.
In the Opening, the main pieces you want to develop are your Bishops and
Knights. We develop these pieces first because they help to control the
center and put pressure on the enemy camp at the same time.

Why not the Rook or the Queen? You don’t want to develop your Rooks or
your Queen in the Opening for two reasons: First, they’re too valuable to
develop first. If you move your Queen out or somehow manage to move
your Rook out, you’ll spend the Opening trying to defend them instead of
developing your other pieces and controlling the center.
In the case of your Rooks, it simply takes too long to move the pieces out of
the way to develop your Rook. So, you might as well develop your Bishops
and Knights first. Then you can Castle and moving your Rook is a lot easier.

Here are some sub-principles of Developing your Pieces.

1. Avoid moving the same piece twice.

Within the first 5 moves, you don’t want to move the same piece twice.
Every time you move a piece twice you lose an opportunity to develop the
rest of your pieces and your enemy has a chance to get closer.

The only time to move your piece twice is when you’re going to lose the
piece for no good reason. But the more you play, the less this happens.
2. Develop your Pieces to Protect your Other Pieces

In order to control the center, you’ll want to protect the pieces that are in the
Center. Remember the bullhead image I showed you in Control the Center?
Those pieces are all protecting other pieces that are in the center and they are
protected by other pieces. That’s how you ensure your opponent can’t take
your centerpieces. It's kind of like Jenga. If you leave too many pieces
dangling unsupported, your whole structure is going to come down.

3. Stay on your Half of the Board

When I show you my top-secret opening, I’m going to show you how you
can break this rule. But for now, just know that you want to stay on your
own half of the board (the half closest to you) in the first five moves because
that’s how you’re going to maintain control of the center and keep your King
safe.

4. Don’t block your own Pieces

It’s important to know anyway. Don’t block your own pieces.

For the same reason you need to control the center, you don’t want to block
your own pieces so you can develop as many pieces as possible. Of course,
sometimes your opponent will FORCE you to block your own pieces. But
you certainly shouldn’t do it without a fight.

5. Develop your Knights Before your Bishops

This is a rule of thumb. This principle assumes Knights are more valuable
than Bishops at the beginning of the game. Knights are great at the
beginning of the game because they can jump over other pieces. Since there
are more pieces to jump over in the beginning as opposed to the end, this
makes them more valuable. Also, Knights tend to protect Bishops, and it
doesn’t usually work the other way around.
Castle Early, Castle Often
I go over this more in-depth in 8 Easy Principles, but I want to touch on it
briefly here. You want to Castle as early as possible. This opens up your
Rook, protects your King, and frees up your Queen. In general, you want to
castle within the first ten moves.
Don’t Move your Queen
It’s important not to move your Queen. Not even one space unless you
absolutely must. Moving your Queen sets you up for problems. Remember,
your Queen protects your King and your other pieces.

Each of these principles is a guideline to keep you on track for taking control
of the center and taking control of the game. There are always situations
where following the guideline might not be the best thing for you. So, you
must develop the experience to know when you should follow it and when
you shouldn’t. I highly recommend that if you’re learning openings, start out
by following the rules, so you know what it looks and feels like. Later, you’ll
know when to sacrifice for the greater good.
Chapter 3: The Most Popular Openings
King's Pawn Opening / The Open Game
Known as the King's Pawn Opening, this is by far white's most popular
choice historically and empirically. 1. e4 has proven a favorite opening
move by some of the biggest names in chess. It is easy to see why the move
accomplishes all of the main goals we set out for our opening. It controls
the key central squares d5 and f5, as well as allowing the development of
two of our pieces, the bishop and the knight. It is for this reason that it
should come as no surprise that three of our example openings are King's
Pawn mainline variations. When black replies back with the move 1...e5,
this is called the Open Game.
King's Gambit (1. e4 e5 2. f4)

A historically very popular

opening, especially around the 19th century when this opening saw a lot of
play. It has since fallen out of favor somewhat, but is still worth mentioning
to beginners as it keeps to our core opening principles and has a lot of solid
theory and evidence to support its success.

The mainline starts off:

1. e4e5

2. f4

Immediately white contests the center with the sharp pawn advance f4. A
little bit of lingo here for this opening: a gambit is a sacrifice for some
other advantage. In this position, black can simply capture the pawn on f4
immediately if they so choose as white is not defending their f4 pawn.
There are two main variations to the King's Gambit depending on whether
or not blacks accept this sacrifice. They are therefore named the King's
Gambit Accepted if black chooses to take the pawn on f4, or the King's
Gambit Declined, should black instead choose to protect their now
threatened e5 pawn. Let's start off with the King's Gambit Accepted to try
and learn why white would ever want to give a pawn away in the first place.
King's Gambit Accepted
With the moves:

1. e4e5

2. f4exf4

We have reached the first position in the King's Gambit Accepted. It is

white’s turn to play now. If you remember back to our discussion about
controlling the center, white was very happy to have pawns on both d4 and
e4 as this gave them very excellent control of the middle of the board, as
well as options for all of their minor pieces to develop naturally. We will
cover what d4 brings to the table in a lot more detail in the Queen's Gambit
Opening. This is the most usual continuation for white, but sometimes
white will instead elect to play Nf3 followed by Bc4 next turn to both stop
black from advancing their f4 pawn, as well as to prepare to castle
immediately.
King's Gambit Declined
After:

1. e4e5

2. f4bc5

This is the King's Gambit Declined – Classical Defense. Black has

developed his bishop, as well as interfered with white's attempt to castle –
as you cannot castle through check. You may be wondering why white
wouldn't simply capture the black e5 pawn after black neglects to protect it.
Let's take a look at what happens if white takes the pawn.

1. fxe5?? Qh4+

Suddenly white is in some real trouble. They are either going to lose the
rook after:

2. g3Qxe4+

Notice how both the King and the Rook are being attacked? This is a tactic
called a fork. Because black has forked white's king and rook, black is
going to have to move his king and lose the rook.

If instead, white tries to run, the game ends swiftly:

Ke2 Qxe4#
Italian Game (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4)

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. e4e5

2. Nf3Nc6

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 king-side 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.
Giuoco Piano

The Giuoco Piano mainline

continues as follows:

1. e4e5
2. Nf3Nc6

3. Bc4Bc5- Giuoco Piano with Bc5

4. c3

White is playing c3 in order to prepare the move d4, grabbing vital central
spaces away from black. Black will usually try to either counterattack with
the aggressive move 4...Nf6 or hold on to their central control with the
move 4...Qe7. Note that while this is a queen move in the early game, it
doesn't violate our opening principles here, because the queen is being used
far back on the 7th rank, as a support for her more forward pieces. This is a
great and safe way to activate your queen without putting her in immediate
danger.
Two Knights Defense

The Two Knights Defense starts

out with:

1. e4e5
2. Nf3Nc6

3. Bc4Nf6
The most obvious attacking continuation is to continue with move 4. Ng5.
White is increasing the pressure on that f7 square and threatening to win a
pawn by force, as well as messing up black's hopes of castling. The usual
reply from black is:

4.4 Ng5d5
From this position, white has little option but to take on d5 as his bishop,
and e4 pawn are both under attack. After this, there are several different
variations we will discuss later on.

However, black can instead try the exciting move:

4. Ng5Bc5

This is a dangerous counterattack from black. He is ignoring the mounting

pressure upon the f7 square in favor of developing some counterattacking
potential. White has three main variations: 5. d4, 5. Bxf7+, and 5. Nxf7.
Ruy Lopez (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5)

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's knight. 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's knight 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 like 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 move b5. If he wishes to trade a bishop for a 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 and black develops his bishop and
prepares for a king-side castle of his own.
Queen's Pawn Opening / Closed Game
White starts the game off with the great move d4 and achieves several of
our goals for the opening. White again occupies a central square with a
pawn and attacks the two important central squares in c5 and e5. Also,
white can now look to develop their queen-side bishop as the pawn has
moved to allow the bishop to move. It's a bit far away yet, but this move
does also contribute to king safety in the sense that it is the first of several
moves that white could use to facilitate a queen-side castle.

Although there are several good replies for black, very often black will
choose to occupy his central space with a pawn on d5, and there the Close
Game has been reached. All the same good things that applied for white
apply to black as well, so black feels very comfortable in staking a claim in
the center in this way. Next, we will explore a mainline called the Queen's
Gambit. One of the oldest and most exciting chess openings, as it features
exciting chances for both sides.
Queen's Gambit (1. d4 d5 2. c4)

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. d4d5
2. c4

Right away, white is telling black that he intends to fight for the middle
seriously. 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 mainline 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.
Chapter 4: Response to Opening Moves
Responding to the Opening Move: e4
The following openings all start with the most played opening move: e4.
The Sicilian Defense
The Sicilian defense is one of the most popular openings played by black in
response to white’s

e4 move. The opening goes as follows:

Advantages (for black):

Allows black to gain some control in the center of the board

Limits white’s mobility in the center

Gives black good chances of attack

From black’s perspective, the Sicilian defense is a good, offensive opening.
It helps him play for a win.

Disadvantages (for black):

 White has numerous options to counterattack and win the game

In many variations of this opening, white gets great attacking

chances
Example: Boris Spassky VS Bobby Fischer, 1972

This game was played in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1972. Spassky had white
pieces, and Fischer had black pieces.
Spassky won the game in 81 moves.
The French Defense
This is another very popular opening played by black in response to white’s
e4 move. It is named after an 1834 correspondence game between the cities
of London and Paris during which this opening was used. It goes as follows:

Advantages (for black):

Creates a sound structure with a solid pawn chain

Creates possibilities for counter-attack

Disadvantages (for black):

Gives black a space disadvantage

Blocks black’s light-squared bishop from reaching the center of

the board

This is my personal favorite opening when playing with black. It is very safe
and easy to remember.

Example: Alexander Alekhine VS Max Euwe, 1936

This game was played in Nottingham, England, in 1936. Alekhine had white
pieces, and Euwe had black pieces.
Euwe won the game in 81 moves.
The Caro-Kann Defense
This opening gets its name from Horatio Caro and Marcus Kann, who
analyzed it in 1886. It goes as follows:

Advantages (for black):

Creates a neat pawn structure for black

Frees up black’s light square bishop for quicker development

Helps black fight for the control of the center

Disadvantages (for black):

Can lead to a space disadvantage for black

Can allow white to develop faster

There are numerous ways to continue the game from this point, but this is
usually how Caro-Kann games go in the beginning.
Example: Paul Keres VS Osmo Kaila, 1943

This game was played in Helsinki, Finland, in 1943. Keres had white pieces,
and Kaila had black pieces.
Keres won the game in 38 moves.
The Fried Liver Attack
This is a well-known variation of the Italian opening that all beginners
should know about to avoid getting tricked. It goes as follows:
In other words, the Fried Liver Attack can be deadly and must be defended
against carefully. The move played by Fischer in the game above (d5) is an
excellent way to defend against it. The Fried Liver Attack can also be
prevented from earlier moves by playing h6, for instance, to make the move
Ng5 impossible.
The Sicilian Defense: Closed Variation
This is one of the many variations of the Sicilian defense.

Advantage (for white):

Much simpler to play than the open Sicilian

Disadvantages (for white):

Allows black to keep control over the d4 square

Allows black to quickly and comfortably develop his pieces

Example: Anatoly Karpov VS Jan Smejkal, 1966

This game was played in Trinec, Czech Republic, in 1966. Karpov had white
pieces, and Smejkal had black pieces.
Karpov won the game in 28 moves.
The Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation
This is yet another variation of the Sicilian defense.

Advantages (for white):

Forces black to move his knight twice in a row

Can delay black’s piece development

Disadvantages (for white):

Blocks the c3 square, temporarily removing the option for the
move Nc3

Does not develop any piece in the beginning, leading to slow

development

Example: Evgeny Sveshnikov VS Lev O Alburt, 1968

This game was played in Odessa, Ukraine, in 1968. Sveshnikov had white
pieces, and Alburt had black pieces.
The game resulted in a draw after 61 moves.
The Scandinavian Defense
This is one of the oldest recorded openings and is believed to have been
played in Spain during the 15th century.

Advantages (for black):

Attacks from the beginning

Opens the game

Typically clears the path for black’s bishops to come into the
game
Disadvantages (for black):

Black must bring his queen out early in order to recapture on d5

Recapturing slows down black’s development

Example: Eduard Gufeld VS David Bronstein, 1975
This game was played in Kishinev, Moldova, in 1975. Gufeld had white
pieces, and Bronstein had black pieces.
Gufeld won the game in 38 moves.
The Pirc Defense
This opening is named after Slovenian Grandmaster Vasja Pirc.

Advantages (for black):

A very active defense that limits white’s attacking power in the

beginning

Good for setting up tricky attacks

Good for piece development

Disadvantages (for black):

Due to the popularity of the opening, white has many known

ways to combat the Pirc’s defense

Example: Anthony J. Miles VS Yasser Seirawan, 1986

This game was played in Linares, Spain, in 1986. Miles had white pieces,
and Seirawan had black pieces.
Miles won the game in 33 moves.
The Alekhine Defense
This opening is named after chess grandmaster Alexander Alekhine.
Alekhine was the fourth world chess champion.

Advantages (for black):

Very uncommon opening, which can make it harder to play

against

Disadvantages (for black):

Black must move the same knight multiple times.

White can quickly gain significant space on the board.

Example: Michael F. Stean VS Jan H. Timman, 1970

This game was played in Islington, England, in 1970. Stean had white
pieces, and Timman had black pieces.
Timman won the game in 48 moves.
Responding to the Opening Move: d4
The Queen’s Gambit: Accepted Variation
This is one of the most popular responses to the d4 opening.

Advantages (for white):

Immediate fight for the control of the center

Puts pressure on black early in the game

Allows white to gain space on the board

Disadvantages (for white):

If the gambit is accepted, it can take white a long time to

equalize material

Can reduce white’s attack options against the black king

Example: Isaac Boleslavsky VS Alexander A. Kotov, 1953

This game was played in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1953. Boleslavsky had

white pieces, and Kotov had black pieces.
Boleslavsky won the game in 42 moves.
The Slav Defense
The Slav defense was first analyzed during the 16th century. However, it is
only around the 1920s that it became popular.

Advantages (for black):

Opens the door early for black’s light-squared bishop to enter
the game

Gains space for black on the board

Gains black some control in the center

Disadvantages (for black):

Black’s development is slower

Black cannot play Nc6, because he has a pawn occupying the c6

square

Example: Anatoly Vaisser VS Evgeny Sveshnikov, 1973

This game was played in the USSR in 1973. Vaisser had white pieces, and
Sveshnikov had black pieces.
Sveshnikov won the game in 54 moves.
The King’s Indian Defense
This opening was very unpopular until the mid-1930s, when it became
frequently used by chess grandmasters Alexander Konstantinopolsky, Isaac
Boleslavsky, and David Bronstein.

Advantages (for black):

Often leads to unusual positions

Often gets an early attack going again white’s king

Disadvantages (for black):

White usually gets a space advantage

White usually applies strong pressure on the queen side

Example: Semen Furman VS Lev A. Polugaevsky, 1959

This game was played in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1959. Semen Furman had white
pieces, and Lev A. Polugaevsky had black pieces.
Polugaevsky won the game in 47 moves.
The Nimzo-Indian Defense
This opening was developed by Aron Nimzowitsch, who introduced it to the
grandmaster level early in the 20th century.

Advantages (for black):

Quickly develops black’s pieces

Limits white’s control of the center

Disadvantages (for black):

Gives white a good chance of getting a bishop pair advantage

Example: Paul Keres VS Alexander A. Kotov, 1940

This game was played in Moscow, Russia, in 1940. Keres had white pieces,
and Kotov had black pieces.
Keres won the game in 55 moves.
The Queen’s Indian Defense
This opening is very similar to the Nimzo-Indian defense, as it aims to limit
white’s control of the center.

Advantages (for black):

Quick development of black pieces

Limits white’s control of the center

Disadvantages (for black):

Often leads to draws

Can allow white to establish and maintain a space advantage

Example: Rafael A. Vaganian vs Gennadi P. Kuzmin, 1971

This game was played in the USSR in 1971. Vaganian had white pieces, and
Kuzmin had black pieces.
Vaganian won the game in 57 moves.
The Bogo-Indian Defense
This opening was named after chess grandmaster Efim Bogoljubov.

Advantages (for black):

Simple to memorize and play

Quick development of black pieces

Disadvantages (for black):

Gives white a good chance of getting a bishop pair advantage

Can allow white to maintain a space advantage

Example: Semen Furman vs Lev A. Pologuaevsky, 1969

This game was played in Moscow, Russia, in 1969. Furman had white
pieces, and Pologuaevsky had black pieces.
Furman won the game in 34 moves.
The Gruendfeld Defense
This opening was first played in May of 1855.

Advantages (for black):

Very sound defensive opening

Disadvantages (for black):

Gives white a good control in the center

Gives white a space advantage

Example: Boris Spassky vs Viktor Korchnoi, 1955

This game was played in Moscow, Russia, in 1955. Spassky had white
pieces, and Korchnoi had black pieces.
Spassky won the game in 41 moves.
The Dutch Defense
At a grandmaster level, this opening is no longer used as often as other d4
openings, but it was popular during the 20th century.

Advantages (for black):

Gives black control over e4 and great flexibility for his other
pawns

Disadvantages (for black):

Can weaken the defense around black’s king

Can damage black’s pawn structure by leaving holes in the

center of the board

Can block the development of black’s light-squared bishop

Example: Kiril Georgiev vs Lev Psakhis, 1984

This game was played in Lvov, Ukraine, in 1984. Georgiev had white pieces,
and Psakhis had black pieces.
The game resulted in a draw after 21 moves.
The Benko Gambit
This opening was very popular in the 1930s and can be regarded as a
variation of the King’s Indian opening.

Advantages (for black):

Can lead to unusual positions and is difficult for white to defend

against

Disadvantages (for black):

White has many options for declining the gambit

Example: Gennadi P. Kuzmin vs Lev O. Alburt, 1971

This game was played in the USSR in 1971. Kuzmin had white pieces, and
Alburt had black pieces.
Kuzmin won the game in 39 moves.
The London System
This opening became popular during the 1922 London tournament, hence
the name “London System.”

Advantages (for white):

Difficult for black to prevent white’s moves

Makes it hard for black to take the initiative

Disadvantages (for white):

Puts little immediate pressure on black at the beginning

Exposes the bishop on f4 and makes it difficult to preserve
throughout the game

Example: Vlatko Kovacevic vs Predrag Nikolic, 1979

This game was played in Bjelovar, Croatia, in 1979. Kovacevic had white
pieces, and Nikolic had black pieces.
Nikolic won the game in 37 moves.
The Benoni Defense
This opening gets its name from a book by Aaron Reinganum, written in
1825, called Ben oni, which is Hebrew for “son of my sorrow.”

Advantages (for black):

Good for challenging white’s control of the center.

Disadvantages (for black):

Can lead black to losing tempo

Example: Mark E. Taimanov vs Nukhim N. Rashkovsky, 1975

This game was played in Kishinev, Moldova, in 1975. Taimanov had white
pieces, and Rashkovsky had black pieces.
Taimanov won the game in 50 moves.
Chapter 5: Other Popular Openings
English Opening

The English Opening is just ever so slightly off-beat, much like the English
themselves. They foment a national image of stoicism, gentle self-
deprecation, and keeping a stiff upper lip, yet beneath the surface are a
people with a most idiosyncratic sense of humor.

1. c4 was pioneered by everybody’s favorite mutton-chopped 19th century

chess-playing Englishman, Howard Staunton. Staunton used the move six
times when playing as White in his 1843 match against the Frenchman
Saint-Amant at the Café de la Régence, although with mixed results.
Staunton won the first two times he tried it, but Saint-Amant got better with
experience, and Staunton could only draw two and lose two of the next four
games where he started with 1. c4.

Today, the English Opening is White’s fourth most popular choice of the 20
possible first moves, but for many years it was given no respect at all. Ruy
López noticed 1. c4 centuries ago and thought it so bad that no player of any
skill would use it. Staunton’s peers in the 1800s thought it was a bit strange
too, and it didn’t catch on with others, despite Staunton’s influence.

The hypermodern school of chess meant that interest in 1. c4 grew in the

early 20th century. If flank attacks like the Sicilian Defense could work for
Black, then why not for White? Another advantage of the English Opening
lies in its flexibility – it has strong potential to transpose to other openings,
depending on what Black does.
A chess game can last hours, and keeping one’s concentration throughout
this mental marathon has always been a key test of a player’s mettle.
However, some of Staunton’s 19th-century compatriots took things to an
extreme. In the days before chess clocks, each player could take as long as
he liked to ponder their move before making it, leading to games of ten
hours, twenty hours, or even more.

The Even More Complete Chess Addict recounts the encounters between
Elijah Williams and James Mucklow at the 1851 London tournament where
both players were on the verge of falling asleep, such was the lengthiness of
their contemplation. It got so bad that one of the games needed to be
adjourned for an evening so that everyone could go to bed.
Scotch Opening

Like the drink that bears its name, the Scotch is a rich, flavorsome way to
play. It is an uncomplicated and direct opening, much like the stereotypical
Scotsman.

The separate kingdoms of Scotland and England joined to form the United
Kingdom in 1707. England has always been the dominant force within the
union with the much larger population of the two. Still, the Scots maintain a
distinct character of their own, and there is nothing they love more than
beating the English.
In 1824, Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, challenged London to a chess
match. London was a little taken aback by the temerity of Edinburgh, for the
upstart Scottish club had only been formed a couple of years prior. Yet here
they were, throwing down the gauntlet to the most eminent players of
Britain’s largest city. Nevertheless, the challenge was accepted. The match
took place by mail correspondence, a terribly slow business in those days,
before inter-city rail transport and the invention of the telegraph. Each move
needed to travel the hundreds of miles back and forth between London and
Edinburgh by horse and carriage.

The clubs played five games between 1824 and 1828. The games were
published in newspapers and keenly observed by the public like sports are
today. Everybody expected a lopsided victory for London, but the Scots
surprisingly prevailed. Three of the five games started with what we now
call the Scotch Opening, including the decisive fifth game where Edinburgh
played it as White and won. Their victory was sealed, two wins to one, and
the opening came to be known as the Scotch.
During the second game, London controversially tried to retract a move after
it had been mailed. The post office refused London’s attempts to stop the
letter’s delivery. Then, Edinburgh refused to acquiesce when they received
the original move and London’s second letter pleading for an alteration.
Edinburgh went on to win the game.

The Scotch Opening allows for easy piece development. The d4 pawn is
pushed ahead boldly and normally provokes 3. …exd4 from Black. The
center is cleared, and both sides are left with a great degree of freedom. As
anyone familiar with the blockbuster film Braveheart will know, “freedom”
was the clarion call of William Wallace in the 13th-century Scottish war of
independence against England. Fitting, then, that it was another battle – of
the chess kind – between the two that gave the Scotch Opening its name.
French Defense

France occupies a central place in chess history, and the French Defense is
one of chess’s most solid and resilient center pawn openings.

The French embraced the game like nowhere else in the 18th and early 19th
centuries. Chess cafés were incredibly prolific there, and French players
monopolized the mantle of world preeminence for generations: Legall de
Kermeur, François-André Danican Philidor, Louis-Charles Mahé de La
Bourdonnais, and Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint Amant all followed one
another in succession until the 1840s. Today, the international chess
federation is known as “FIDE,” which is a French acronym for Fédération
Internationale des Échecs. French words also appear in other parts of the
game, such as the en passant pawn capture rule and j’adoube, said when
adjusting a piece’s position on a square without violating the touch-move
rule.
The French Defense may seem that Black is too timid to push the pawn all
the way to meet its opposite, but the next moves reveal more aggression.
White usually continues with 2. d4, which Black may meet with 2. …d5.

Position after
2. …d5.

What White does next can vary, but often Black will target White’s d4 pawn
by playing c5 at some point – just the kind of flank attack that the French
general Napoleon Bonaparte was famous for in his early conquests through
Europe.

Napoleon, the Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, had a deep love for
chess. It is, after all, a game of war, and over the years, many battle
commanders have turned to chess for inspiration. On the real battlefield,
Napoleon had an uncanny knack for sensing the intentions of the enemy and
controlling the course of the battle, but on the chessboard, he was mediocre
at best. Perhaps the fact a military commander’s prowess does not transfer to
ability at chess is unsurprising – a game with fixed rules played in silence by
two equal forces on a square board is a long way removed from the chaos of
actual combat.

The French Defense got its name from a correspondence match between the
cities of London and Paris in 1834. Chamouillet, one of the players of the
Parisian team, persuaded his team to play the (at the time) quite novel 1. …
e6, which proved to be the Londoner’s undoing. For the Paris club, winning
must have been particularly sweet given that France’s defeat in the
Napoleonic Wars was still fresh in the memory. At last, a French victory!
Dutch Defense

The Netherlands is a small northern European country known for its tulips,
windmills, bicycles, canals, and wooden shoes. Strangely, the words for the
country and for the people who come from there do not match up. We have
Norwegians from Norway, Australians from Australia, and Japanese from
Japan, but when it comes to “the Netherlands,” we call them “Dutch.” To
confuse matters further, the word “Holland” is often bandied around.
“Holland” (when properly used) refers to just two of the 12 provinces of the
Netherlands: Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland.

The Dutch Defense was originally named for Elias Stein, who wrote a 1789
book that recommended 1. …f5 as the best response to 1. d4. Stein was
actually born in France and published his book in French, but because he had
settled in The Hague, it was the “Dutch Defense” name that the chess world
picked up.

The only time that a Dutchman won the world chess title was when Max
Euwe unexpectedly defeated Alexander Alekhine in 1935. The match took
place in the Netherlands, and the best-remembered game (the 26th of the
match, commonly referred to as “The Pearl of Zandvoort,” after the town the
game took place in) was appropriately a Dutch Defense, won by Euwe, the
Dutchman.

The true linkage the Dutch Defense has with the real-life Dutch lies in their
shared quirkiness. These people eat chocolate sprinkles for lunch, delight in
wearing blackface around Christmas time, and hold a reputation for being
highly conservative with money despite their seemingly contradictory
relaxed attitude to sexuality and drug use.

The Dutch Defense is similarly esoteric. Throwing the f-pawn forward on

move one is not for the faint of heart. Usually Black will castle kingside,
which leaves the king with no pawn on f7, representing a significant hole in
Black’s defensive dyke. The diagonal between c4 and g8 is often a
weakness. But the Dutch have always been a nation of traders, and the
compensation for Black is the opportunity to launch an immediate kingside
assault. It is an exciting opening and can throw the White 1. d4 player off
balance if he were expecting a symmetrical center pawn game.
Danish Gambit

The Danish Gambit is named for the nation of Denmark, not the delicious
sweet Danish pastries. Although given White is inviting Black to gobble up
a couple of pawns, perhaps a double entendre is at play.

The opening is most strongly associated with a Danish chess master, Martin
Severin From. From was active as a player in the mid-to-late 19th century
but is better remembered as an analyst and administrator. From wrote an
essay on the sequence of moves now known as the “Danish Gambit” while
playing in a very strong 1867 tournament in Paris. Perhaps he penned it as a
ruse to distract attention from his own play, as he came equal last out of the
thirteen entrants. In a way, this makes From’s achievement in immortalizing
the Danish Gambit even more remarkable – it’s one thing to popularize an
opening thanks to winning a tournament with it, but it is surely even more
challenging if the player has performed poorly.
An interesting quirk of this 1867 tournament was that it used a different
scoring system to the one today’s players are most familiar with. Almost
universally, present-day chess tournaments award 1 point for a win, both
players get ½ a point for a draw and 0 points for a loss. Chess has been
scored this way for such a long time that it’s hard to imagine an alternative,
but other scoring systems do exist. In Paris 1867, it was 1 point for a win, 0
points for a draw, and 0 for a loss. Drawing a game was as bad as losing.

This system may hint at a solution to the scourge of modern chess; at the top
level especially, there are far too many draws. When playing with the Black
pieces, emerging with a draw is considered a fine result in contests between
elite grandmasters, so they often try to lead the position towards a drawish
end rather than play sharp lines and risk a loss. There’s also the so-called
“grandmaster draw” – a draw by agreement where, early in the game, both
players simply agree to shake hands and share the point before things even
get interesting. Such a safety-first approach is not great for the game’s
followers who want to see the danger, excitement, and decisive results.
 Chapter 6: What to Do After Opening?

What is Next? We looked at the various significant openings that You could
use in a game of chess. Now, let's have a fast discussion about what to do
after those first crucial moves.
Build Your Pieces
The very first guidance would be to build pieces quickly. This Concept
involves memorizing your distinct opening tactics literally by hub and
understanding which place is advantageous to every piece. You should be
ready using a game program if you would like to get a fantastic beginning
to your game rather than going to it with no strategy.
Control Your Center
The next thing to do would be to control the middle of the plank. You
understand it's very important to balance the board in any way time. At no
time in the game if you stay confused about your bits and their
advancement. The best way to put your pieces in the middle of this board is
what's going to determine the way your game will precede forward.

There are two types of scenarios that can arise if you want to garner control
within the middle of your board. One is called the open center, and the other
one is an obstructed center. The open center is just one at which you and
your opponent both have an equal chance in controlling the middle, which
means you've got to swiftly progress all your significant portions into the
epicenter; this is going to make certain you get fantastic control over the
plank.
The obstructed center is one at which the competitor has put all of her or his
significant pieces, and it's hard for you to transfer any of your bits ahead.
This isn't a good situation, and you must do your very best to prevent it by
producing a puzzling situation for your competitor. You have to make these
scenarios for your competitor, but if they do not come around, then you
have to quickly re-strategize. Attempt to search for an opening and
strategize ways to take charge of the center when possible.

Aside from these two, there’s another situation called the lively center. The
lively center is just one where the 2 players are not certain of that actually
hold the middle of the plank. In this circumstance, it's crucial to find out
who has the faster route to acquire control of the middle, and you could do
by visiting whose crucial pieces have a positional advantage.
 Safe-Guard
Your Own King
The next thing to do would be to quickly transfer your king to security. You
understand, your king is the main part of the game. At no time should it be
vulnerable or exposed. For this, you need to immediately move him into a
secure location. But do not forget that the transfer ought to be significant.
Do not only move him in this way that it threatens his place. If he's secure
wherever he is, then let him stay there.

It pays to the castle early in the game as you can normally place your king
in a secure place. For this, you have to purposely move all of the bits which
lie between the king and the rook and exchange their rankings, which is just
another reason why theory Lopez" opening is really common. One other
important concept is to ship an entourage with your king.

This means that you transfer a Couple of Security bits together with your
own king in the event you would like to transfer him from the customary
spot. Therefore, if you move the king ahead, your next move will be to put
something in front of him. This way, you protect your troops and have the
opportunity to help them stay secure. Even if your opponent kills the shield,
your king could easily kill another person's part.

However, Make Certain you understand what You're doing because it might
Be a snare. The competitor will purposely kill your shield to excite you to
make a mistake, so think it through once you put a defensive bit before your
king. Another benefit of a historical castle is growing your bits. This can
allow you to move them around rather than getting them in their own place.

Many new players dread moving their large bits like bishop and knight
believing they'll endanger those, but if they aren't transferred, then you are
going to endanger your troops and slow down your offensive assault. This
way recalls you should transfer them onto the board when possible; this can
also be called developing them.
 Focus on
Quality
The upcoming important issue is to focus on bit quality. It follows that you
concentrate on the worth of this item before transferring it on the board.
Each bit has distinct values, so as you probably already know, and you need
to set them on the board in this way in which the values have been spread
on the plank rather than being lumped all together.

Do not fall to the pawn-moving snare early on. That is where most novices
fail. They begin moving the lien around and do not recognize it is very
important to precede the other bits too. Bear in mind that a bit that isn't
active on the board is just as good as not getting the item in any way. You
have to steer clear of the error and begin moving your other bits early on.
As was mentioned, you have to transfer your pawns into the Middle of the
plank.
 Chapter 7: Chess Notations

Learning chess notation is important because it helps you to easily decode

and record the various moves that are being made in a particular game
while it is still in progress. You would want to ask, “Why would anyone
want to record the moves made during a particular chess game?”

Well, the answer is: when you record a game using chess notation, you can
always refer to the record later for the purpose of practice. Additionally, you
can easily identify where you made mistakes as well as the good moves you
made in a game. With chess notation, you can relive a game and enjoy its
most crucial moments.

You can do more with chess notation than just studying or looking at your
past game. If you understand chess notation, you read through, enjoy and
learn from games played by and annotated by the greatest chess players. A
simple search on the internet will lead to repertoires of annotated chess
games by the best players that you can study and learn from.
Having looked at the importance of chess notation, you will be learning and
familiarizing yourself with chess notation. The signs used in annotating
chess games are algebraic signs or notations, so they are quite universal.
This means that learning and understanding chess notation shouldn’t be
hard for you.

It is assumed that you are already familiar with the coordinate system used
in identifying any position, square, or location on the chessboard. In
learning chess notation, we will be making use of the coordinate system a
lot more.
So, a recommended practice is that you should get yourself a chessboard.
Then sit by the board, point to different squares on it, and represent each
square using the coordinate system. This is highly necessary if you use a
chessboard that the ranks and files are not labeled. Practicing and
familiarizing yourself with the coordinate system will help you to
understand how to annotate a chess game.

To do notation, you simply need to learn how to combine the coordinate

system with algebraic notations, and you are good to go. In chess notation,
algebraic symbols are used before coordinates to indicate a move. In other
words, an algebraic symbol can be used in front of a coordinate to indicate
which piece is moving to which location or square on the board.
Shorthand for Pieces
In chess notation, every piece is represented with either a letter or a figurine
or symbol. In this book, we will be making use of letters to represent pieces
because doing the symbolic representation of every piece at every mention
of the piece will be a herculean task.

That being said, here is a table that shows the different pieces and their
representation in symbols.

In the table shown above, you can see the different letters and symbols that
represent each chess piece. The lettering is quite straightforward and should
not be hard for anyone to understand. As mentioned earlier, in this book, we
will be using letters instead of figurines to represent the chess pieces.
However, when you start annotating games, you can choose to use
figurines, especially if you feel artistic.

With that being said, let’s get to business and start annotating chess moves.
If you move the queen, for instance, to a4, you can annotate that move as
Qa4. A bishop moved to b5 will be recorded as Bb5.

While you can use a letter to represent the movement of all other pieces,
when moving a pawn, you don’t need to include a letter before the
coordinate system. So, if you move a pawn from g4 to g5, you will simply
record the move as g5 instead of Pg5.
More Symbols
Here is a table that shows more symbols used in annotating chess games.

The above table shows some important chess symbols and their meanings.
In the table, you will notice that a checkmate can be represented with a # or
simply written out as mate. So, when you see “mate” and #, they basically
mean the same thing.

Also, the last six symbols on the table are not used to annotate games –
rather, you can use them to comment on the quality of a move. In other
words, those symbols are an economical way of describing the quality of a
chess move.

So, if you are reading a chess notation document and you come across a
sign like Qg5!!, what it means is that the queen was moved to the g5-square
and the person annotating the game believes it is an excellent move.
Chess Notation in Action
One of the best ways to understand and get familiar with chess notation is
to review an annotated game. While doing so, don’t pay much attention to
the quality of the moves. You should be more interested in understanding
the game's notation.

That being said, let’s see notation in action.

1 e4

The above notation simply shows that White moved his pawn to the e4-
square. Remember, when annotating pawn moves, you don’t precede the
coordinate of the square where the piece is landing with a symbol of the
piece. So, in the above move, we didn’t write Pe4; rather, we simply wrote
e4.

Notice that there is a “1” before the move; it simply means that the move
recorded is White’s first move in the game.

1…e5

The three horizontal dots mean this is Black’s first move, which follows
White’s first move. The e5 in the annotation means that Black is moving his
pawn from e7 to e5.

2 Nf3 Nc6

This annotation paragraph means that the two players, White and Black,
just moved their knights for the first time. In chess, this first knight move is
referred to as “developing the knight.” The “2” that’s preceding the symbol
shows you that the move is both White and Black’s second moves of the
game. White moves his knight to f3 while Black moves his knight to c6.

See the image below.

3 Bb5 a6

This paragraph shows that White moved his bishop from f1 to b5, while
Black moves his pawn from a7 to a6. With Black’s move, his pawn on a6 is
incidentally attacking the white bishop on b5. Again, the “3” preceding the
move indicates that it’s White and Black’s third move of the game.

4 Nxc6

The knight on b5 captures the bishop on c6. Remember that the “x,” when
used in annotation, depicts capture.
4…dxc6

The three horizontal dots (…) in the annotation shows that Black is moving
a piece after White has done so. The above paragraph shows that Black
captured White’s bishop that is sitting on c6. We would have used d7 to
represent the pawn that did the capturing, but since the pawn is already
sitting on the seventh rank, we only needed to use only “d.” For instance, if
black had used the b7 pawn to recapture the bishop on c6, the annotation
would have been “4…bxc6”. The reason remains the same – the b7 pawn
moved from the seventh rank.

5 0-0

The above paragraph shows that White just made his 5th move. In this
move, White performs a castle along the kingside. This move helps to keep
White’s king in relative safety.

5…Bg4

Following White's castling move, black develops his bishop – this means
that he moved his bishop for the first time in the game from c8 to g4.

6 h3 h5!?
Remember, in notation, when a pawn is moved, you don’t include P or any
symbol before the coordinate. So, in the above annotation paragraph, White
pushed his h-pawn, which hasn’t made the first move to h3. Notice that in
this new square, the h-pawn on h3 is attacking Black’s bishop that is sitting
on g4.
Now, it is Black’s turn, and he pushes his h-pawn two squares forward to
h5. The other signs you see in the annotation means that Black’s move is an
interesting one.

7 hxg4? hxg4
For his seventh move, White uses his h-pawn to capture Black’s bishop that
is sitting on g4. The question mark you see in the notation means that the
recorder is questioning that move. Black retaliates by using h-pawn to
capture White’s pawn sitting on g4.

Now, the question mark in the notation means that White’s move is not
particularly good because while capturing a bishop with a pawn is good,
however, by doing so, White opened up his king to possible attack.

See the diagram below.

8 Kxe5 ??

For his eighth move, White uses his pawn on f3 to capture Black’s pawn on
e5. Notice that there is a double question mark on this move, meaning that
White just committed a blunder. The blunder is that he just made it easy for
Black to deliver a forced checkmate to his king.

8…Qh4 !
Black returns White’s move by moving his queen to h4. The recorder
comments, stating that the move is a good one. Notice that Black’s queen
and rook are now on the same h-file. On his next move, Black may possibly
checkmate White’s king.
9 f4

For his ninth move, White moves his f-pawn to f4, creating a small
breathing space for his king.

9…g3!

Black responds to White’s ninth move by moving his pawn on g4 to g3. The
move is an interesting one, according to the comment.

10 Nf3

For his tenth move, White moves his knight from e5 to f3. It is now the turn
of Black to make a move. If Black mistakenly moves his queen to h2-
square, Black will capture the queen. But Black has another intention.

10…Qh1 mate

Responding to White’s tenth move, Black moves his queen from h4 to h1,
and that’s checkmate. Can you notice that it is a checkmate? Look at
White’s king and see that he has no escape. If White’s king tries to capture
Black’s queen on h1, then there is Black’s rook sitting comfortably on h8
waiting – so there is no way out for White. The game is over for him.

This last move can also be written as 10…Qh1 #. The hash at the end of the
statement is the same as “checkmate.”

Notation for ambiguous chess moves

While the symbols and annotations we have used to depict chess, moves are
correct and universal; sometimes, however, you might encounter some
ambiguous moves, and you would need to amend your notation a bit to
clarify things.

For instance, look at the first diagram above. If it is White’s turn to make a
move, and he shifts the rook on a1 to d1. The notation will look like, Rd1.
Notice that on that same first rank, there are two different white rooks – so
simply using Rd1 will not specify which of the white rooks was moved to
d1. So, in such a situation, you could introduce another symbol to clear the
ambiguity.
The best way to write such a notation would be Rad1. This notation simply
means that it is the rook on the a-file that was moved to d1. If we now want
to show that it is the rook on the f-file that was moved, the notation will
look like, Rfd1.

Now, look at the second diagram, if Black decides to use his knight on f7 to
capture the pawn on e5, the notation would be, …Nfxe5. If you look
closely, you will see that this notation is still ambiguous. Why? Because
Black has two knights on the file, and the notation doesn’t specify which of
the knights did the capture. The better way to record the move would be …
N7xe5. As you can see, the three vertical dots show that Black is making a
move after White had made one. So, the “7” in the notation shows that it is
the Black’s night on the seventh rank that did the capture.
 Chapter 8: Tactical Themes on Playing Chess

A tactic is a recurring and themeable mechanism that is based on the

fundamental properties of the pieces (an impossibility for the king to
engage, ability for a piece to control several squares at the same time, the
impossibility for certain pieces to cross an occupied square, etc.).

Tactics are part of the pitfalls, combinations, and sacrifices. Studying them
allows you to progress yourself and better appreciate the play of others

Here is the list of the most common tactical themes. It is not a question of
remembering the position of the examples by heart, but of understanding
the general idea behind it.
Mutual Assistance
Definition and example.

Reciprocal protection between two parts.

Example of mutual assistance

The white tower simultaneously attacks two unprotected

black horsemen.

By playing 1… Ch6-g8, the black knights manage to protect each other.

The black riders assist each other.

Analysis and complements.

There are eight theoretically possible cases of mutual assistance. We can

count them as follows:

1. a Queen supported by another Queen (after promotion)

2. a Queen supported by a tower

3. a Queen supported by a madman

4. a queen supported by a pawn

5. a tower supported by another tower

6. a bishop supported by another bishop of the same color (after

promotion)

7. a bishop supported by a pawn

 8. a rider supported by another rider.

It will undoubtedly have been noticed that a king can never participate in a
tactic of mutual assistance. This impossibility arises from the fact that a
king cannot be left in the grip.
Indirect Mutual Assistance
Definition and example.

Indirect mutual assistance: Protection that two unprotected pawns ensure

each other that the opposing king cannot capture one without letting the
other go-to queen.

Example of indirect mutual assistance

Image 1: The black king threatens to take the pawn in f5.

Playing 1. h5-h6, white protect this piece by threatening to go quickly to the

Queen with the "h" pawn if the king takes f5.

Image 2: And after 1… Kf6-f7, a move from the white king, 2… Kf7-g8, 3.
f5-f6, and 3… Kg8-h7, it is the turn of the pawn "f" to protect his friend by
advancing from f6 to f7.

The pawns assist each other at a distance.

Analysis and complements.

While mutual assistance is based on a relationship of reciprocal protection

between two pieces of the same camp, indirect mutual assistance is, in fact,
based on the defensive and offensive limits of the opposing king.

To speak of indirect mutual assistance, it is necessary:

1. be in the presence of two past pawns and a stripped king

 2. that the pawns are separated from each other by at least one column

3. that the pawns are both unprotected

4. that the king is not outside the promotion square of one of the two
pawns.

This type of assistance then occurs in three specific cases:

1. when the two past pawns are separated by a single column and the
most advanced is not attacked by the opposing king

2. when the two past pawns located on their initial squares and the king
is between them

3. When the two passed pawns are separated by three or more columns
and the opposing king is on the same crossbar as them.
The Discovery Attack
Definition and example.

Discovery attack: Attack produced by the movement of a part which is

found to unmask the action of another.

Example of a discovery attack

The black tower is on the same diagonal as the white

bishop but is not attacked by him due to the pawn, which obstructs the
bishop's line of fire.

Playing 1. f6-f7, white releases the active power-mad and threatens to take
the black rook on the next move.

They carried out a discovery attack.

Analysis and complements.

More general than discovery failure, discovery attack relies on the same
mechanism: the movement of one part unmasks the action of another.

While the piece moved can be of any type, including a king, the piece
whose action is unmasked can only be a long-range piece such as a queen,
rook, or bishop.

There are four conditions required for a discovery attack to occur:

1. a vulnerable piece must be in the extension of the line of fire of an

opponent's long-range piece
2. there should be only one piece between the target and the long-range
piece

3. this piece must be on the same side as the long-range piece

4. this part must be able to move.

Double Attack
Definition and example.

Double attack: Simultaneous engagement of two unprotected opposing

pieces unable to protect each other.

Double attack example

The black fool and the black rider are in no way engaged.

By playing 1. Kf5-g6, white comes to attack both of them at the same time
with the same piece.
White made a double attack.

Analysis and complements.

Essentially, the double attack relies on the property of one piece being able
to control multiple squares at the same time. It can therefore be done with
any piece, except a tower pawn, which only controls one square.

There is a simple way to distinguish the double attack from similar cases. In
a double attack, there is only one attacker, while there are always two in the
case of a double failure or in the case of a double threat.
In colloquial terms, the double attack made by a pawn or a knight is called
a fork.

It should be noted that one cannot speak of the double attack when one of
the two pieces is protected or when there is an adequate defense allowing to
save them both.
The Attraction
Definition and example.

Attraction: Obligatory sacrifice by which a piece is forced to go to a square

where it becomes vulnerable. Note: the attraction forces a piece to come and
occupy a specific square, while the deviation, on the contrary, forces it to
leave the square it occupies in order to go to any square.

Example of attraction

The Black King cannot move, but there are no white pieces
able to subdue him yet.

By playing 1. Th5-h8 +, White forces the king to win the corner by 1…

Kxh8 then gives the final blow by 2. Tf5-f8 mat.
Before subduing the Black King, White lured him to the corner. Hence the
name “attraction.”

Analysis and complements.

The attraction aims to attract a piece on a square to attack it. The deviation
or the gap, on the contrary, aims to attract it to make it leave a defensive
function.

Example of attraction
 After 1. Tf6-f8 +, black is forced to play 1 ... Te8xf8 to
parry the mate.
In doing so, the black tower arrives on a square where it is no longer
defended.

She becomes the prey of the white Queen who only has to rush on her to
conclude the game. 2. Qf5xf8 checkmate follows.
Before capturing the black tower, white drew it to a square where it was no
longer defended. Hence the name “attraction.”
The Blocking
Definition and example.

Blocking: Blow by which one lodges a piece in front of a pawn to stop its
march.
Example of blocking

The white pawn threatens to surrender to the queen quickly

enough if nothing is done to prevent it.

By playing 1… Ce6-g7, black posts their knight in front of the pawn to stop
its march.

They made a blockage.

Analysis and complements.

Because it does not interfere with their activity, it is usually the bishops or
the knights that are used to block the opposing pawns.
The Nailing
Definition and example.

Nailing: Total or partial immobilization of a pawn or a piece. Notes: Any

nailing involves an attacker of one color, as well as a nailing unit and a
hostage of the other color. The attacker is always a long-range piece. The
hostage is always a piece of greater material value than the nailed unit. And
the nailed unit is a pawn or a piece other than the king, which the attacker
engages, and which cannot move without engaging the hostage.
Example of nailing

The black rider still enjoys all his mobility.

But after 1. De5-g5, the knight cannot move without putting his own king in
check.

The coup of the whites, therefore, will have had the effect of nailing the
black rider to his king.

Analysis and complements.

The nailing is absolute or relative, depending on whether the hostage is the
king or another piece. And in the latter case, it is most of the time a Queen
or a tower.

It should be noted that what nailing takes away from a part is its mobility
and not its power of action. Thus, even when nailed, the knight in the
diagram above would prevent the white king, for example, from advancing
to f5 or h5.

But with mobility lost, it is the ability to take hold that is also cut off. A
nailed pawn thus becomes much less able to play its role of protector of the
king, as the following example shows.
The weakening of a nailed pawn

Riveted to the protection of its king, the g7 pawn cannot

take the queen in h6.

After 1… f7-f6 (failing which White mates by Qxg7), it follows 2. Bf5xf6

g7xf6 (if not Qxg7 mate again) and the knockout 3. Qh6-f8 mat.
Finally, when the attacker is in his turn nailed, we are in front of a cross
nailing.
Cross Nailing
Definition and example.

Cross nailing: blow by which the person responsible for a nailing is in turn
nailed.
Example of cross nailing

The white bishop nails the black Queen to her king and
threatens to capture her on the next hit.

But by playing 1… Bf8-e7, black nails the white bishop to his king and puts
an end to this threat.
By nailing the opponent's piece, which is nailing one of their own pieces,
black has done a cross nailing.

Analysis and complements.

When the nailed piece proves more valuable than the attacker, the threat of
capture makes the nailing even more awkward. But if the attacker gets
nailed in turn, not only does the threat of capture he posed vanish, but he is
now at risk of getting caught. So, this is why the cross nailing is not without
making think of a form of counterattack.
The Counterattack
Definition and example.

Counterattack: Equally aggressive attack, if not more, that comes in

response to another attack.
Example of counterattack

White has just played 1. f4-f5, which takes both turn as a

fork.

Replying with 1… Tg6-h6, black attacks the white queen without fearing
for their turns, since 2. Dh8xh6 would be followed by 2… Te6xh6, and that
b5xe6 would be followed by Th6xh8.
Responding to an attack with an even more serious attack, Black carried out
a counterattack.

Analysis and complements.

Most of the time, the opponent is expected to resist an attack or threat by
trying to find an adequate defense. But one rarely thinks that this defense
could consist of an attack.

Yet this is what happens in a counterattack. Because by creating an

emergency greater than that which weighed on him, the adversary finds
himself out of the situation. At least for a while.
Much better, he happens to have reversed the roles: threatened, he, in turn,
becomes threatening; pursued, here he becomes a pursuer. Whoever thought
to take is then taken. Hence the effect of surprise almost always
accompanies a counterattack.
 Chapter 9: Strategic Planning in Chess

Chess being a pure strategy game, it stands to reason that being able to have
a really good plan is important. If you read our other book on openings (you
really should if you haven't!), you already know how much planning has
gone into just the first handful of moves in the game. Chess masters never
stop their study of the opening to always approach games with a better plan.
We have already touched on all the vital points needed in order to start
making smart chess plans. You have the tactical know-how to deliver
punishing attacks to unsuspecting opponents. You have positional
knowledge about controlling light and dark squares. We talked about good
and bad bishops, as well as bishops being a vital part of controlling your
weak squares. Technically speaking, we addressed the different principles
to follow when playing ahead or when playing from behind. You have
opened your mind to think about sacrifices a viable tactic or another tool in
your tool-belt. Finally, we discussed how piece valuation and the evaluation
of a position itself is not a static thing. The value of pieces changes
dramatically throughout a game. The player that understands this best will
be able to prepare accordingly.

The most effective way to begin forming a plan is by thinking about the
imbalances in the game. Sometimes these can be positional, and other times
they can be material imbalances. What's important is even very symmetrical
positions often have small differences (even if it's the only tempo at the
moment) that can be the difference between a draw and a win. When
thinking about which move to make, choose a move that addresses multiple
elements in the positions at once. Try to make moves that can improve your
position, while simultaneously limiting the options given to your opponent.
These are the best moves that will have a meaningful purpose in your
games.

Once you leave your knowledge of the opening game, the goal is to find not
only a good move for the position but hopefully the best move. One really
great way to practice finding the best move in any given position is to
practice with chess puzzles. These compositions by other players are
designed to challenge the player to find the best move or moves in the
position. If you practice with this often, you will be able to look past other
decent looking moves to make sure you have found the very best move
possible. The best part of these puzzles is that they explain the reasoning
behind each move, so even if you didn't find it for yourself, you still have
the opportunity to learn and get familiar with the process.

Let's take a look at a puzzle now to give you an idea of how they work:

In this diagram, it is White’s turn to

move. A lot is going on in this position, and if you play hastily, Black has a
definite possibility for counter-play. Take a moment to review the position
and think about what can do to press their advantage. Hint? White doesn't
have any time to lose, and they need to act now if they're going to
capitalize.

Okay, let's go over the position together. A tempting move in this position
might be the move Rh3, but black can punish us for playing slowly after
Qd1. We can block with Bf1, but our king is too far away to help, Qxf1#.
Another tempting idea might be to go after Black's queen with a move like
Rd3. But after g6, our own queen is in trouble, and after the queens get
traded, Black still has the back-rank mate option with their rook. Too slow
again. Notice that our pawn on f6 takes away the g7 square from black. The
king is hemmed in the corner with nowhere to go.

The winning move is Qxh7+! Black's king is under attack and must capture
the queen to avoid checkmate – Kxf7. Then we can finish off the black king
with the rook move Rh3#. The king has nowhere to run because of our
crafty pawn on f6.

Let's check out another example.

White’s turn to move. Here, your hint is that it is checkmate in 2 for White.

Okay, so in this position, the king cannot move and is nearly checkmated.
We need only to deliver an attack, and the game will end. It may be
tempting to play Rxh5, and while this is a clear winning position, it isn't the
best move. It allows Black to play c3, open up some room and see if they
can generate a little counterplay with pawns on the queenside or to catch
you making a mistake. In fact, it isn't the rook at all who is the star of this
puzzle, but the bishop. The winning move is Bh3! If Rxh3, Rg5# wins, and
if Black tries Rxf2, Nxf2#wins, and finally if black tries something else like
a3 or c3, then Bf1# delivers the finishing blow.

This one was a little more challenging and less decisive than the last
example, but still, always think about playing the best possible move. No
point in giving your opponent counter-play if you don't need to!

Here are some additional guidelines you can use to help you make informed
plans for your future games. These are not hard rules that must always be
obeyed, but in a general sense are usually good in a given position.

Central pawn structure should determine your area of attack. If your

pawn chain points into the enemy king-side, for example, you should
consider attacking the king-side. Not only do you control that space
already with your center pawns, but you can usually progress easier
where your pawns open.

There is a saying with passed pawns, and it goes: ‘Passed pawns must
be pushed.’ This rule applies to the endgame, and it refers to what
you should do given several different options. Pushing a pawn on the
5th or 6th rank when it is one of several possible moves, is almost
always going to be the best for a player. By getting ever closer to
promotion, your opponent must give this lowly pawn considerable
attention or lose outright to another queen on the board.

Another point with passed pawns is: ‘Rooks belong behind passed
pawns.’ Whether it’s your past pawn or the opponent’s, it does not
matter, your rook ought to be behind it. Your rook is the escort that
will control the file and pave the way to promotion or prevent that
queen from doing anything dangerous should it come down to it. If
the pawn is yours, anyone wanting to mess with the pawn will get
picked up by the rook. Let your other minor pieces or the king pave
the path ahead of minor pieces if need be. Rooks should be the ones
behind.

Have the bishop pair open up the position to give better scope to your
bishops. This will help you coordinate your long-range pieces to start
picking off key targets. In an open endgame, the bishop pair is
considered to be a decisive advantage even if all other material is
even. The potential range and combo of bishops are not to be
undervalued in a wide-open position.

If you have knights instead, keeping a closed position might favor

you, especially if your opponent is the one with the bishop pair. Also,
knights belong on outposts where pawns will never remove them
from that square. When the board is tight and cramped, consider
looking for a tactic called ‘poisoned squares’ and get the most value
from your knights.

If the kings are castled on opposite sides of the board, games tend to
be sharp offensive games with both sides aggressively attacking with
pawns in what’s known as a ‘pawn storm.’ This tends to be a bit of a
race to see who can checkmate the other first.

A ‘poisoned square’ is a square that would be detrimental for your

opponent to occupy with one of their pieces. Maybe, it can allow a
devastating knight fork by aligning the king and queen, or maybe it
will pull aside the vital defender of the weakest point in the defense.
The point is to look for ways to force your opponent into moving
there anyway. Often, sacrifices are very effective at forcing an
opponent into a poisoned square.

There is a saying with knights that is best to follow unless you have a
specific reason to break it, and that is: ‘Knights on the rim are dim.’
The meaning and reason behind this saying are that knights on the
side of the board have half as many squares to move to compared to a
knight in the center of the board. Even worse are knights in a corner
that only have two possible squares they can maneuver to. Knights
belong in the center unless they are fulfilling a very specific goal for
you along the edge.

A major theme in mid-game development is ‘connecting the rooks.’

(Removing any pieces between the rooks on the back rank.) Not only
does this let the rooks defend each other on open files, but also allows
the possibility of ‘doubling rooks’ on an open file to start a big attack.
This is also sometimes called a ‘rook battery.’

You can create ‘batteries’ by connecting a queen and the bishops in

the same manner, and it is a very common way to deliver a potential
checkmating attack. Also, you can add a queen into a rook battery for
more firepower and exchange potential.

A rook on the 7th rank that is supported by another rook is excellent

at both cutting lines of defense from the opponent, as well as
providing squares for your other pieces to combine for even more
attacks!

‘Doubled Rooks’ on the 7th rank have a special nickname called

‘swine.’ If you can get both your rooks on the enemy’s 7th rank, you
have all kinds of firepower at your disposal, and this is incredibly
difficult to hold off defensively.

When evaluating exchanges and considering how you will be left in

the endgame, it is helpful to know that bishops of opposite colors tend
to lead to draws, even in positions where one side is up a couple of
pawns, as long as those pawns are close together. Bishops of the same
color tend to lead to winning positions for one side or the other.

Home in on the weak pawns and put pressure there: isolated pawns,
backward pawns, or any tactic that can apply to the pawns. This gives
you great places to start your planning.

Look at the imbalances in the position. Quality of pieces and the

status of how safe the king is and use those elements in your ideas.
Make your moves count by trying to accomplish multiple goals in a
single move. Try to think proactively against your opponent's likely
plans while developing your own ideas.

If your king is safely castled and your opponent is trapped in the

middle of the board, maybe you can open up the position with a
sacrifice before they have a chance to scurry away!
Chapter 10: Chess Rules You Need to Remember
Basic Rules
The game of chess is won when you force your opponent’s king into
checkmate, which means they have to be captured. Checkmate is a position
in which the owner of the king cannot make any move whatsoever to get
their king to safety, be it moving the king or moving another piece in to
defend it. If a player makes a move against their opponent’s king and leaves
in such a way that the king can be captured on the next move, this is called
check, and the opponent must save their king on their next move.

The king is never actually physically captured. It is the responsibility of

both players to ensure that there are no available moves that will help stop
the king from being captured or put into checkmate. When you place your
opponent’s king into check, you must say the word “check.” This will warn
the other player that their king is in danger. Likewise, if you place their king
into checkmate, you must say, “checkmate” when you do it. One thing you
must never do is expose your king in such a way that your opponent can
place it in to check.

As you play the game, you must try to capture your opponent’s pieces to get
them out of the game. This clears the way for you to attack their king with
the least amount of opposition. To capture a piece, you move onto the
square that the piece occupies and replace it with your piece. You cannot
capture your own, and you cannot have two of your pieces on the same
square.

White always starts the game of chess and, from then on, each player takes
turns to move a piece. You must make a move on every turn. There is no
such thing as passing in a chess game unless you are castling. This is a
particular move made in which two pieces are moved in a bid to protect the
king – this move will be explained in greater detail a little later.

Be aware that not every game will end in a win for someone. Some games
end up as draws or ties. These are called stalemates, and it occurs when
neither player has their king in check, but neither can make a legal move
without placing their king into check. Remember, you cannot put yourself
in check and, if your only move would let that happen, the game must end
in a stalemate.
Special Moves
There are a couple of special moves and abilities that some pieces have in a
game of chess, and you would do well to learn them and use them.
Promotion
This only applies to pawns. No other piece has this unique ability. If you
can get one of your pawns successfully across the chessboard to the other
side, it can be promoted into any other piece you desire. This means that
you can promote it into any piece on the board. Most people choose to
promote their pawns to queens as it gives them a distinct advantage. It is
also not true that you can promote your pawn only to a piece that has
already been captured by your opponent. If you are talented enough and
plan your game carefully, you can end up having multiple queens on the
board.
En Passant
This also applies only to pawns. En Passant means “in passing” in French
and, in this move, if you move your pawn two squares out on its first move
and that move puts you directly beside your opponent’s pawn, the opponent
can use his pawn to capture yours. As a rule, pawns can only capture
diagonally unless this situation arises. In a typical situation, your opponent
can capture your pawn only if it is diagonal to his pawn. Using this method,
your opponent can capture your pawn when you are next to his pawn.
However, that pawn must be captured on the next move. Otherwise, it
cannot be done. A player doesn’t necessarily have to capture his opponent’s
pawn if he has a better move, but if this is the only legal move, then he must
capture his opponent’s pawn. This is the only capture move where the piece
that captures does not take the place of the captured piece.
Castling
This is the move that allows you to move two pieces in one go. First and
foremost, it is a move designed to keep your king safe or to move it to
safety if need be. Secondly, it also allows you to bring the rook away from
the corner square and into play. When it is your turn, and you chose to make
this move, you transfer your king two squares to the side - either side- then
move the rook to the opposite side of the king. For example, move your
king from E1 to G1 and then move the rook from H1 to F1. Some
conditions must be true to the castle:

This must be the very first move that your king makes
It must also be the very first move that the rook makes

Castling can’t be done if there are any pieces between the king and
the rook

The king cannot be in check or cannot pass through check

When you castle to the side that the king is nearest to, this is called castling
kingside. When you castle to the side that the queen is on, this is called
Castling queenside. Irrespective of which side you choose to go, you may
still only move the king two squares.
Check and Checkmate
As I explained earlier, the purpose of a game of chess is to place your
opponent’s king into 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. 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 happens only 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 the chances of your
opponent 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 be used only if it is not
at all 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.

50 moves have been played consecutively without either player

capturing a piece or moving a pawn.

Not many players know this rule, or even if they do, they do not understand
how it works. According to this regulation, if in a specific game, the game
displays no sign of advancement for both players at the finish of fifty moves
separately, then either one of the players can claim to end the game in a
draw. When I say progress, it means the movement of a pawn or the loss of
a piece. If the game doesn’t show any such signs of progress, then the game
can end in a draw. However, this rarely happens because no professional
player would make fifty useless moves. In a game between two beginners,
such a situation could arise.
 Chapter 11: Practical Chess Tips

By now, you can tell that there is a lot to learn about chess. Depending on
your motivation, it’ll take at least 1 to 2 years to become a reasonably good
player (when I mean good, I mean a club level player ELO 1600 – 1800). If
you’re thinking of becoming a master level player, which is ELO 2300 and
beyond, you will need to take chess seriously and spend at least 3 hours
studying & playing chess every day.
However, there are certain things that good players always keep in mind,
and this definitely helps you win more games, reduce your losses, and
ultimately helps you improve faster.

(ELO – an international rating for chess. It indicates how strong of a player

you are – the higher the number, the better you are theoretically)
Here are some practical tips for playing chess:
Play the Moves Out on A Board
When you’re just starting out, you’re probably not going to be able to
remember many moves in your head. It’s a good idea to have a chess set
with you, whether it’s a physical chess set that you can touch or with a
chess program because this will help you see the moves more clearly and
understand the ideas behind certain combinations or plans.
Know At Least 1 Opening Very Well, Preferably A Lesser-
Known Opening
Your opponents may eventually be able to predict your moves easier and
prepare against you, but it’s better to play what you’re comfortable with.
Also, you’re not likely to be playing against grandmasters, so you can
afford to play sidelines and also get away with minor inaccuracies.
Watch the Clock
Some players simply take too much time on the clock and end up losing
because of being “flagged” (another term for losing on time). You should
play safe, sensible moves, instead of always trying to find some highly
sophisticated tactical shot that will end the game in 16 moves by force,
simply because you won’t have the time in the end. This is especially true
in blitz games
 Focus
If you’ve ever played in tournaments, you may see some players get out of
their seats to watch other games. This is good for bodily circulation, as well
as just relaxing your mind from the mental challenges posed in your game.
However, it is very easy to lose focus and make a huge mistake when you
return to your board, so be mindful when you find yourself relaxing too
much!
Keep A Lookout for Intermediate (In-Between) Moves
Being able to use intermediate moves won’t necessarily win you the game,
but it is often quite surprising to an opponent, simply because it’s a move
they won’t really expect. These kinds of moves are great for setting up
tactics or getting out of trouble. Due to its surprise element, it can give you
a psychological edge since it disrupts the rhythm of your opponent. Just
don’t go checking your opponent to death because it might lead to a
perpetual.
Think About Move Order
Sometimes, certain tactics don’t work because you’ve calculated them in
the wrong move order.
Plan, Plan, Plan
One of the most well-renowned world chess champions, Mikhail Botvinnik,
taught his students to always plan, even in blitz games. It might be daunting
at first to always have to think of so many options, but it will train you to be
thinking on the right path, and eventually, this will become second nature to
you to the point where you won’t even have to consciously plan at all.

Above all else, the greatest advice I can give you is to practice playing

chess with all kinds of people. If you’re just a beginner, play against

someone who is also a beginner or slightly better than you. Chess is after all

a contest between 2 players, and simply reading books or even playing

against the computer will only be so much. Humans play differently to

computers, and you’ll also be able to try out different openings and

strategies with human players, more so than computers. Also, it will be nice

to be able to talk during a friendly game, as opposing to staring into a

voiceless computer screen.

 Conclusion

Thank you for reaching the end of this book.

As a parting gift, I would like to leave you with these common mistakes
that you need to avoid and additional tips. Hope these will help you in your
journey in the world of chess.

Let’s face it – some chess matches will be grueling. The masters and

grandmasters of this game don’t get fazed so easily if a match lasts for more

than an hour or so. However, beginners may not have the same amount of

patience as veterans have. So, most of the time, beginners and intermediate

players will want to finish the game quickly.

However, in order to do that, you should be able to spot the mistakes your
opponent has made and capitalize on them. Sometimes all it takes is just
one or two wrong moves, and your opponent can be beaten really soon. You
should be able to spot the mistakes your opponent makes and capitalize on
them.

The other thing you need to learn is the different chess tactics that you can
use to expose and take advantage of any weaknesses or mistakes your
opponent makes. In short, you spot the mistakes or weaknesses, use them to
your advantage, and then end the game as fast as you can.

The Most Common Mistakes that Newbies Make

The following are some of the most common mistakes that players usually
make. These are the errors that you must learn to spot in other players.
Obviously, these are also the mistakes that you yourself should also avoid
making.

Making Too Many Pawn Moves in the Opening

Starting your opening with a lot of pawn moves in the opening makes you
lose momentum. An opponent that does this will lag behind. If you are
playing black and your opponent develops too many pawns from the start,
then you can take the momentum when you develop higher ranking pieces
and take key positions on the board.

Making Random Pawn Moves in the Opening

If you are familiar with the well-known chess openings, then you will easily
recognize if your opponent is just winging his pawn moves. Some players
who don’t know what to do just move a pawn (any pawn!) forward just to
wait and see what you will move next.

The bad news is that they can’t take that move back – pawns only move
forward, remember? Moving too many random pawns forward will cramp
their position. Note that pawns are strongest when they follow a structured
link (think of them as your defensive wall). Any lone or stray pawn is free
for the taking. If you see two pawns one in front of the other, then that is
going to cramp the structure. That will create holes where your bishops and
knights can go through.

Forgetting to Castle

Castling tucks your king away safely in one corner of the board – hopefully
away from the action. Not castling when all the other pieces have been
developed exposes your king to attack. It is a risky strategy, and you’re
making the king a really easy target. Remember that when the King is
checked, you must deal with it before making other moves – that typically
foil plans and you’re timing.

Bringing Out the Queen Too Early

Developing the queen too early in the opening will just make the usually
powerful queen into a target. Ideally, you should first develop your bishops
and knights first before developing the queen. When the queen becomes a
target, you will be moving her around the board while your opponent gets
the opportunity to develop his pieces and place them in strategic positions
on the board.

The King on the Hunt

A king that goes out of the safety of the wall of pawns or is forced to leave
the backside of the board is a prime moment in any game. The king is
exposed, and the idea is to attack quickly and effectively. Keep checking as
much as you need to just to force the enemy king into the right spot. Doing
so will allow you to take a better position, capture more of your opponent’s
pieces, and perhaps get a checkmate.

Forgetting the King in the End Game

The king should come out during the end game. During the end game, most
of the board will be cleared out. There will be fewer enemy pawns and
other pieces that can attack your king. The remaining pieces will need some
help to capture the opposing king, and your king should come out to help. If
you fail to do so, then you fail to take advantage of an essential resource.

Making Blunders

The game of chess begins in perfect equilibrium – everything is balanced.

White made the first move, but black will be able to equalize if he follows
through with the principles of the opening. The first player who strays from
that will make blunders that can cost him the game.

Forgetting that a bishop or a knight is aiming at your queen is a mistake.

Any player will exchange either of these pieces for a queen. Failing to
notice a knight that can fork a king and other important chess pieces will
mean that you may end up losing important chess pieces.

In case you’re the one who notices the blunders made by your opponent,
then it is your chance to take advantage of the situation. During such
situations, you can finish your opponent quickly by capturing enemy pieces,
closing in on the enemy king, and if possible, go for a checkmate.

That will be all. Again, thank you, and good luck.