Opening Play
Unless there is a tactical reason (e.g. winning a piece, delivering checkmate) not to do so…….
Tip 1. The centre of the board is the most important area to control in the opening. Use pawns to take away squares from your opponent’s pieces (e.g. e4, d4, c4). Bring knights and bishops out before queens and rooks. Put them on squares that maximise their potential (cover more squares than in the starting position). Knights should usually come towards the centre of the board. Keep the queen and rooks behind the knights and bishops.
Tip 2. Castle early to connect rooks and better protect your king in the corner of the board. The king is more vulnerable to attack in the centre of the board.
Tip 3. Do not move pieces more than once in an opening. A game can be easily lost by wasted moves.
Rooks
Unless there is a tactical reason (e.g. winning a piece, delivering checkmate) not to do so…….
Tip 4. Rooks work best when connected. Early castling helps. Do not bring rooks from the back rank too early, especially not in to positions where they can be attacked by pawns, knights and bishops.
Tip 5. To increase the chance of gaining strategic advantages play rooks along files or ranks occupied by your opponent’s king or queen.
Tip 6. Rooks belong on open files where they can advance and penetrate the opponent’s position along the ranks, particularly the seventh rank. Double up your rooks to gain control of open files.
In diagram 1 above if it is black to move then he should prevent Rd7 postioning a rook on the seventh rank. This delays further bringing the rooks together but will allow black to contest the open file by e.g. 1…Ke8 2. Rd2 Rd8 3. Red1 Rxd2 4. Rxd2.
In diagram 2 white should double rooks on the open file by 1. Rad1. It would be a mistake to concede the d file by capturing the black rook.
Queen
Unless there is a tactical reason (e.g. winning a piece, delivering checkmate) not to do so…….
Tip 7. Do not bring your queen out in front of your pawns early in the game because exposing her to attack allows your opponent an opportunity to improve the position of his/ her minor pieces. Keep the queen back during the middle game i.e. behind the knights and bishops.
Tip 8. Do not deliver pointless checks with the queen [or any other pieces] just because you can.
Tip 9. Use the queen behind minor pieces to increase their power (Reti). Over-protect pieces in the middle game (Nimzowitch).
In diagram 3 I was playing a correspondence chess game and had just moved my queen from c2 to b2. This increases the power of the bishop on c3 and gives added protection to the knight on e5. Black responded by playing his knight to b7. Can you see the winning move? (clue: reference tip 7)
Knights
Unless there is a tactical reason (e.g. winning a piece, delivering checkmate) not to do so…….
Tip 8. Knights are weaker on the edge of the board. They are best placed towards the centre, finding squares where they cannot be attacked by pawns.
Tip 9. Knights are particularly useful pieces for forking pieces, so beware!
In diagram 4 the knight on e5 cannot be attacked by pawns or the bishop. It covers 8 important squares in the centre of the board. The black bishop in contrast is blocked in by it’s own pawns. In this instant the knight is more powerful than the bishop.
Bishops
Unless there is a tactical reason (e.g. winning a piece, delivering checkmate) not to do so…….
Tip 10. Bishops are more valuable in positions where they are not obstructed by pawns.
Tip 11. Bishops are ideal for pinning or skewering. Do not give up your bishop for a knight too readily.
Tip 12. Two bishops together cover every square on the chess board. Unless the position is blocked, two bishops are more powerful than two knights or a knight and a bishop.
The two bishops are superior to the two knights because the position is not blocked with pawns. It is worthwhile playing through this position to see if you can win the game for white. Tip: bishops are powerful in end games where the pawns are split on either side of the board.
Illustration game.
In this (correspondence) game my plan was to bring my rook to an open file occupied by my opponent’s king and queen, threatening to pin the bishop with f5. I then wanted to improve the scope of my bishop on c1 by bringing it to b2. Finally, I intended to take advantage of pins down the a1 – h8 diagonal, threating pieces and checkmate (if black castles on the kingside, which I thought was likely!). Tactics were available to me as the position developed.
13. Re1 g6 (tip 5) 14. b3 Rd8 (tip 10) 15. Qe2 O-O 16. Bb2 Rfe8 17. Qe5 Kg7 18. Ng5 Rd7 19. Ne4 Bf5 20. Nxf6 Qxe5 21. Nxe8+ Kf8 (tip 9) 22. Rxe5 Bxc2 23. Rae1 Rd1 24. Nd6 Rxe1 25. Rxe1 Bxb3 26. Re8++
With acknowledgement to the excellent teaching course from Chess in Schools and Communities and ideas from ‘Maximise your chess potential’ by Dan Heisman.