Chess Strategy - Chess Tactic - Chess Castling

Chess Strategy and Chess Tactic

In a chess game, tactics refers to "traps", "tricks" or "combinations" that achieve checkmate or material advantage within a few moves, while strategy refers to achieving long-term goals through the proper development or arrangement of the pieces on the board in the absence of any short-term opportunities.

The Opening
The first moves of a chess game are called the ‘opening moves’, and are collectively referred to as ‘the opening’. There are many types of openings:

• Defensive
• Offensive
• Tactical
• Strategic
• Focus on the center
• Focus on the flanks
• Direct
• Indirect

• Develop the pieces
• Gain control of the center of the board
• Protecting the king
• Maintaining a good pawn structure

The Endgame
The endgame, otherwise called the end game or ending, is the stage of the game when there are few pieces left on the board. This stage of the game is taught to beginners first.

In the endgame, the pawns become more important. The endgame often revolves around trying to promote a pawn by advancing it to the eighth rank. The king, which has to be protected in the middlegame owing to the threat of checkmate, becomes a strong piece in the endgame. It can be brought to the center of the board and be a useful attacking piece.

• King and pawn endgames
• Rook and pawn endgames
• Bishop and pawn endgames
• Knight and pawn endgames
• Queen and pawn endings
• Endings without pawns

Basic Chess Strategy

Every early move should be to try to take better control over the center of the board. Another strategy is to develop the knights before the bishops. Try not to move a piece more than once in the opening unless you can capture something or gain something important. Thus it is important to develop before you attack. Do not bring your queen out early. Safeguarding the king should be the top priority. Try to castle early enough in the game. Castling the kingside is done most often, as it is easier to defend. Castling the queenside leaves the king a bit more exposed.

Learning the endgame well helps the player understand the goal much better. Starting with the opening and memorizing a long sets of opening moves is not a good way to learn and is a sure way to lose a game.

The rook is a very powerful piece if used properly. To make the rook as good as possible, move the rook to an open file where other pieces cannot block the rook from moving forward. Rooks are very powerful on open files because they can control the middle and the far reaches of the board. Putting both the rooks on open files is even better.

In the middle of the board, the knight has access to eight squares. On the side of the board, the knight has access to only four squares. In the corner of the board, the knight has access to only two squares. Do not fix pawns on the same color as the bishop.

Unlike the other pieces, the pawns can move in only one direction-forward. Once it reaches the final rank, the pawn can transform itself into any other piece, though almost always into a queen. A second queen is allowed in a chess game and an upturned rook usually represents a second queen. As pawns move forward, they open up diagonals for bishops, protect other pieces and often lead the way for attacks. They can also pry open the opponent king’s side, but spell doom when they become weak and are easily subject to capture.

Basic checkmates

• To deliver a checkmate, the attacking king and queen must work together. This is because the queen cannot checkmate the opponent’s king by itself.
• Delivering a checkmate with two rooks is easy, with one rook delivering the checkmate and the other covers possible retreats.
• Checkmating with a queen and a rook is very powerful. But be careful not to stalemate your opponent. This technique is quite similar to using the king with two rooks, except that the queen guarantees that the opposing king cannot meaningfully approach either the queen or the rook.
• Another checkmating tactic is to use the king and the rook. A king and two bishops can checkmate the opposing king.
• Checkmating with a king, bishop and a knight is rarely used, because a single mistake can make you start over.

Castling

Castling is a special move that involves moving two pieces at the same time. For castling to be legal the following rules must be observed:

• The king and rook should have never moved
• The king should not be under attack
• The king must not be passing through or arriving upon a square controlled by the opponent
• All the squares between the king and the rook are vacant

You can castle if your rook is under attack. You can also castle if the rook passes through a square controlled by the opponent. The notation for castling is O-O on the kingside or O-O-O on the queenside.

• It moves the king into a safer position away from the center of the board
• It moves the rook to a more active position in the center of the board

Thus castling is an important goal earlier in the game.

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