"A knowledge of tactics is the foundation of positional play. This is a rule which has
stood its test in chess history and one which we cannot impress forcibly enough upon the
young chess player. A beginner should avoid Queen's Gambit and French Defence and
play open games instead! While he may not win as many games at first, he will in the
long run be amply compensated by acquiring a thorough knowledge of the game" RICHARD RETI
As a beginning to intermediate player, it is much more important to learn tactics than
strategy. Choosing open games lead to games with more tactical play.
Basic Opening Strategy
Control the center
All of your early moves should aim to take control over the center (the d4,e4,d5, and e5squares) ... usually by develop a piece, preferably in a way that threatens something...
perhaps an opponent's piece or to take firm control over the center.
Knights before Bishops
Most of the time, it is fairly clear where the knights ought to be developed. The best
squares for the bishops become apparent only a bit later. Move at least one knight out to
the center of the board before you move your bishop.
Develop before you attack
Try not to move a piece more than once in the opening... unless you can capture
something or gain something important. In other words, don't start attacking until all or at
least most of your pieces are developed.
Don't bring your queen out early
Make sure that you do not bring your queen out early. If you do, you may lose it or at
best lose time moving it around when your opponent attacks it. Wait with your queen
until you are sure you know where it's going.
King safety
This should be obvious, but many beginners forget about safeguarding their king. Lose
your king, and you lose the game! So make it a priority to castle early unless you have a
very good reason to do something else. In most games, players castle kingside because
it's easier to defend. Castling queenside leaves the king a bit more exposed. If you do
castle queenside, you will often want to take time to move the king from c1 to b1 for
added safety. Even on the kingside, it is often a good idea to make the king safer by
moving it from g1 to h1.
10 rules for the opening
1. Get your pieces out into the center quickly. The opening is a race to see who can
get their pieces out first while keeping at least a share of control of the center.
o This is the main point to remember; all the other rules are just footnotes to
this one
2. More detail on winning the race:
o Move pieces not pawns, and
o move them to their best squares in one move if you can, and also
o try to gain time if you can by aggressive moves.
3. Move minor pieces out first, not your Q or RRs which can be attacked and lose
time
4. Get a firm foothold in the center and don't give it up
5. Generally move Knights straightaway to f3/c3 or f6/c6
6. Move your king to safety at the side by castling King's-side (which also gets your
Rook into play)
7. Complete your development before moving a piece twice or starting an attack
8. Keep your queen safe
9. Don't grab pawns or attack if you haven't completed development
10. What to do if there is a lead in development:
o If you are ahead in development, start something going and open up
lines for your better pieces
o If you are behind in development, don't start anything and keep things
closed until you have caught up
Lasker's rules for the opening
1. Do not move any pawns in the opening of a game but the King and Queen pawns.
2. Do not move any piece twice in the opening, but put it at once on the right square.
3. Bring out your knights before developing your bishops, especially the Queen's
Bishop.
4. Do not pin the adverse King Knight (ie. by Bg5) before your opponent has
castled.
Chess Strategy
Excerpt from Chess Step by Step
by Frank Marshall and J.C.H. Macbeth
The intelligent reader may enquire: "Why am I supposed to study Chess Strategy, while I
have only a very slender knowledge of the Chess Openings?" The reply to this question
is, that learning Chess is somewhat similar to learning a language. We all know that
children acquire a certain vocabulary of their native tongue before they begin to delve
into the mysteries of grammar and syntax, and, as a matter of fact, a considerable
proportion of people of all nationalities are content to go through life without troubling
themselves to learn the laws and principles which govern their language. In Chess,
knowledge of the moves and how to play under certain given conditions is equivalent to
acquiring a vocabulary in a language, and the syntax may be said to be the study and
analysis of the Openings, which we have therefore reserved for a later stage, by which
time the student will be better equipped for the task of making himself conversant with
the subtleties and beauties of the many and complex variations in the different Chess
Openings.
Some Opening Principles and Chess Strategies
For the purpose of study and analysis, a game of Chess is divided into three phases – the
Chess Opening, the Middle Game, and the End Game.
The Chess Opening consists of the first six or eight moves, when both sides endeavor to
develop their forces into the sphere of action where they will exercise the greatest power
against the opponent’s defenses. By this time the reader will be in a position to
understand the following principles with regard to the Chess Opening – principles which
experience has proved cannot be deviated from with impunity.
* Avoid Moving a Chess Piece Twice During the Opening is a good chess strategy.
This means that when you have developed a piece, it should not be moved again until the
other pieces have been developed. If a piece has been attacked, it must, of course, be
moved, but this is not a violation of the rule, as the opponent in all probability has
departed from principle in attacking your piece, which will ultimately prove to be
advantageous to you.
* It is Better Chess Strategy to Develop the Knights before Their Respective
Bishops.
This principle does not mean that both Knights should be developed before bringing out a
Bishop, but that it is advisable to play say the King’s Knight before the King’s Bishop,
and similarly on the Queen’s side.
The following is an example of the consequences that may ensue by violating the
foregoing principles and strategies.
White Black
1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 d6
3.Bc4 Bg4
Here Black has violated the strategy principle by playing the Bishop instead of the
Knight.
4.Nc3 Nc6
5.0-0 Nd4
Black has again played contrary to the principle strategy, in moving the Knight twice
during the Opening.
6.Nxe5 dxe5
Best. If at his 6th move Black plays 6...Bxd1, White gives Mate in two moves: 7.Bf7+
Ke7 8.Nd5#, and Knight Mates.
The move in the text leaves him a pawn minus and an inferior position.
* A good chess strategy is to Develop Both Knights before the Queen’s Bishop.
* A good chess strategy is Do Not Develop your Chess Pieces Exclusively on One
Side.
* A good chess strategy is as a Rule Do Not Play a Piece beyond Your Own Side of
the Board in the Opening.
This last principle means that you should not play a piece beyond its 4th square, until by
development you have the other pieces ready to back up any incursions the piece may
make into enemy territory. In some forms of Opening, however, this principle is
disregarded, notably in the Ruy Lopez, but in that case, it is attacking an important piece
which the opponent is supposed to require for his defense.
* A good chess strategy is if You Have Castled Do Not Permit the Opponent to
Open a File on Your King.
* A good chess strategy is to Avoid Pinning the Opponent’s King’s Knight before
He has Castled, Especially When You Have Yourself Castled on the King’s Side.
* A good chess strategy is to Avoid Making Exchanges which Develop Another
Piece for the Opponent.
It might be thought that the wisdom of this last principle was self-evident, but many
beginners constantly disregard it. If, however, the piece which is developed by the
capture is the Queen, compensation for the loss of balance in the development of the
forces may be obtained by attacking the adverse Queen, which should not, as a rule, be
brought too early into action.
* A good chess strategy is to Avoid Exchanging Bishops for Knights Early in the
Game.
We have seen that in the early stages of a game the Bishops have a longer range than the
Knights, so it is clearly advisable to keep them in the field as long as possible. The
disparity between the two pieces gradually tapers off as the game progresses, until in the
End Game the Knight is frequently more powerful than the Bishop because its action is
not limited to one color of square as is that of the Bishop.
* A good chess strategy is to Avoid Premature Attacks.
It is probable that more games are lost by beginners through disregard of this principle
than from any other cause. An attack should never be launched until there is sufficient
force in the field to carry it to a successful conclusion, and a premature attack almost
inevitably recoils on the head of the attacker. The following is a classic example of the
result of violation of some of the foregoing principles, and the position brought about
may be reached in a number of different ways.
White Black
1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bc4 Nf6
4.0-0 Bc5
5.d3 d6
6.Bg5 h6
White’s 6th move clearly violates the principle of avoiding the pin of the adverse King’s
Knight before Castling, and after he himself has Castled on the King’s side. If instead of
retreating the Bishop after Black’s 6th move, he takes the Knight, it is evident that he will
violate another principle, for after 7...gxf6, Black will have a open file for his Rook,
bearing directly on White’s King.
7.Bh4 g5
8.Bg3 h5
White’s game is now as good as lost. He is threatened with the loss of his Bishop by
9...h4, and if he plays 9.h3 to make an opening for it, 9...g4 by Black will perforce open a
file for Black’s menacing and powerful King’s Rook.
9.Nxg5 h4
With all his forces ready for an onslaught on the White King, Black ignores the threat of
10.Nxf7, attacking his Queen.
10.Nxf7 hxg3
11.Nxd8 Bg4
12.Qd2 Nd4
Now play as he may, White cannot escape from disaster.
13.Nc3 Nf3+
14.gxf3 Bxf3
Black Mates in a move or two.
White cannot escape the consequences of his ill-advised Opening by playing as his 13th
move 13.h3, as Black’s reply will be 13...Ne2+ 14.Kh1, then Black plays 14...Rxh3+, and
after 15.gxh3 Bf3# Mates.
If, instead of moving his King, White at Move 14 in this variation plays 14.Qxe2, then
14...Bxe2 will leave Black a piece to the good with a winning position.
* A good chess strategy is Seeking a Weak Spot in Opponent’s Position.
Suppose that both sides have developed their game without disregarding any of the
foregoing principles, and that the stage of the Middle Game has been reached, sooner or
later one of the players makes a doubtful move which weakens his position, and success
in Chess, in a great measure, depends upon the ability of the opponent to detect this
weakness, and then take full advantage of it.
It is only by experience derived from assiduous practice and observation that players
acquire the knowledge which is requisite to enable them accurately to gauge a weakness
in the opponent’s position, and the only assistance we can render is to give some
examples, taken from games actually played, and demonstrate the weak points in the
positions, and how advantage was taken of them. In order that the reader may derive the
greatest possible benefit from these examples, he should always set up the pieces from
the various diagrams, and, before consulting the text, endeavor to find out whether White
or Black has the better position, what weakness exists, and finally how to direct the attack
on that weakness. It will be practically useless merely to set up the position and then
proceed right away to play the moves that are given.
This position was reached in a game between Johner and Marshall at the International
Tournament at Pestyen, in 1912. A cursory examination might lead to the conclusion that
as White has a pawn to the good, and Black’s c-pawn is weak and unsupported, the
position is favorable to White, but White cannot play 1.Rxc5 without losing the game.
White Black
1.Rxc5 Ne2+
2.Kh2 (best) Qf4+
3.g3 Nxg3
It is clear that White’s position is hopeless.
There is, however, a great weakness in White’s position, inasmuch as he is defending his
Bishop with his Queen, which, with all the open files at his disposal, is a fine target for
Black’s Rooks. The following moves indicate how swiftly and inexorably Black availed
himself of this weakness.
White Black
1.Kh2 Rfd8
2.Qe4 Re8
3.Qd5 Re5
Resigns
White resigns, because if he plays 4.Qd7 to protect his Bishop, Black will play 4...Re7
again attacking the Queen and the Bishop is lost.