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Chess Tips

Strategies for the Classic game of Chess

The origins of chess are uncertain, and generate considerable debate, yet the accepted notion is that it originated and evolved in India around 1500 years ago. The objective of chess is to place your opponent's king in checkmate, a simple concept but challenging to put into practice.

Chess is played on a 8x8 grid of 64 squares, alternating between light and dark shades. The two players each have 16 pieces which occupy the first two rows of opposing sides of the board.

Chess Pieces

Pawns - The eight pawns are the smallest pieces on the board, and can be moved forward one space at a time. There is an exception: if a pawn has yet to be moved in the game, it may move forward two spaces.

Rooks - These can move forwards, backwards or sideways any distance, provided there is nothing obstructing their path. Each player has two rooks at the start.

Bishops - Again each player has two of these pieces, which can move diagonally provided there is nothing to obstruct them. One bishop starts on a light square and one on a dark square, and they will remain on same-shaded squares until they are captured or the game ends.

Knights - The two knights make L-shaped moves, i.e. three spaces in one direction and one space at a right-angle to that line.

Queen - The queen is an extremely valuable piece, due to it having the combined freedom of movement of the bishop and rook. Each player has one queen at their disposal.

King - The king can only move one space in any direction, and cannot move into a position where an opponent's piece can take it on the next turn.

Capturing Pieces

Once a piece has been captured by an opponent, it is permanently removed from the board. Pieces are captured by an opposing piece making a legal move into the same square, with one exception. Pawns are only able to capture by moving diagonally forwards one space - they cannot move if an piece occupies the space directly in front of it.

Special Moves

There are a number of special moves in chess, namely 'queening', 'en passant', and 'castling'. Queening refers to a pawn making it all the way to the other end of the board, where it can be exchanged for a queen or any other piece, although the queen is almost always chosen.

En passant, French for 'in passing', is a little-used move in which a pawn, making its first move of two spaces, can be removed by an opposing pawn as if it had moved one space. This move is only open for one move, and is the only capturing maneuver in chess where the capturing piece does not end up on the same square as the captured piece.

The castling move was introduced in the 1500's to help speed up the game, and is an excellent move in defensive play. It has stringent restrictions: the king or the rook must not have been moved at all in the game, the spaces between the king and rook must be vacant, and the king must not be in check, nor can an enemy piece move into the vacant space between the king and the rook.

The actual move itself involves the king moving two spaces towards the rook to be castled with, with the rook moving into the first of these spaces, effectively performing a 'leapfrog' maneuver. Either of the two rooks may be used for this move.

Check and Checkmate

When a player has maneuvered his pieces so that one or more may take an opponent's king on the next move, the king is in 'check'. The player who's king is in check is left with no option but to get his king out of check, either by moving it or by adjusting one of the other pieces so that the king is no longer under threat. If a player can't move a king out of check in one move, then it is 'checkmate' and the opponent has won the game.

Games of chess can end in draws also - the players may agree that there are so few pieces left on the board that there is no chance of a positive result, or if a player whose king is not in check can only make a move to a position that is in check, then the result is also a draw. Additionally, if the same moves have been performed three times in a row, the game is a draw by 'repetition'.

Chess Strategies

Chess is a highly intricate and intellectually stimulating game, and to progress to high level requires a profound knowledge - many books have been written on the advanced skills of chess. There are, however, a few basic strategies which, if adhered to, can maximise your chances of success with chess.

Starting with the opening phase of the game, you should be looking to take control of the middle of the board as this can give you command over the middle phase. That said, it is a good idea to advance in numbers rather than sending out lone pieces that could be vulnerable to attack, so try not to move the same piece twice in the first eight moves unless absolutely necessary. It is also a good idea to deploy the knights before the other back-row pieces, as the bishops and knights have good long-range value as the game wears on.

You should remember to plan ahead at all times, and all moves should have a reason or motive behind them. The middle game phase follows on from the decisions and moves made in the opening phase, and the key to retaining control in this phase is to think ahead. Take note of what your opponent is doing and consider his intentions also.

Do not forget that the king, despite his limited movement, is useful as an attacking force, especially towards the end of the game where there are fewer pieces remaining. Again it is essential to plan what you are going to do in the endgame phase, and try as much as you can to read what your opponent has in mind.

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