Fine Chess Academy
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One piece attacks two things at once.
Before every move: checks, captures, threats
Most games between beginners are decided by something one player didn’t see. A quick look at the most forcing moves, in this order, catches most of it.
Checks
Every check you can give, and every check your opponent could give you.
Captures
Every capture on the board, for both sides. Which pieces are unprotected?
Threats
What does each side threaten to do next move: win a piece, fork, or mate?
- Ask what your opponent’s last move threatens.
- Look at your own checks, captures and threats, in that order.
- Before you let go of the piece, check your move once more: after it, can your opponent check, capture or threaten something?
Opening basics
- Take the center. Start with a center pawn: e4 or d4 for White, e5 or d5 for Black.
- Develop your knights and bishops toward the center, usually knights first.
- Castle early. It tucks your king away and brings a rook toward the middle.
- Don’t bring your queen out early. She gets chased around while your opponent brings out more pieces.
- Move each piece once in the opening unless there’s a good reason to move it again.
- Connect your rooks. Once the pieces between them have moved out, they protect each other.
Tactics
Short, forcing sequences that win material or give mate. Open any tactic to see the idea, play the key move yourself, then practice it on positions from real games.
The essentials
Pin
A piece can’t move because a more valuable piece is behind it.
Skewer
A pin in reverse: the more valuable piece is in front. When it moves, the piece behind it is lost.
Discovered attack
One piece moves out of the way and uncovers an attack by the piece behind it.
Double check
Two pieces give check at once. Blocking or capturing can’t stop both, so the king has to move.
Removing the defender
Capture or chase away the piece that guards something, then take what it was guarding.
Back-rank mate
A king boxed in by its own pawns can be mated by a rook or queen on its back rank.
Trapped piece
A piece with no safe square left can be won by simply attacking it.
Advanced tactics
The ideas that decide games between experienced players.
Overloaded piece
One piece has two jobs and can’t do both.
Deflection
Force a defender away from the square or piece it’s guarding.
Decoy
Lure a piece, often the king, onto a square where it gets hit.
In-between move
Also called a zwischenzug (German for “in-between move”). Before the expected capture, play a stronger move first, usually a check.
X-ray
A piece attacks or defends through an enemy piece standing in its way.
Interference
Drop a piece between an enemy piece and what it’s defending.
Quiet move
No check, no capture, but a threat the opponent can’t stop.
Zugzwang
Any move makes things worse, but you have to move.
Strategy and endgame ideas
Not every good move wins material right away. These ideas tell you which trades to make, and which to avoid.
Simplification
Ahead in material? Trade pieces to make the win easy.
Opposite-colored bishops
One bishop on light squares, one on dark. Often a draw, even a pawn down.
Chess sayings worth remembering
Pin it to win it.
A pinned piece can’t run away, so attack it again, ideally with a pawn.
A knight on the rim is dim.
From a corner a knight reaches only 2 squares. From the center it reaches 8. Keep your knights central.
To take is a mistake.
Not every capture is good. Before you take, check what your opponent gets in return.
Knights before bishops.
In the opening, bring the knights out first. The best squares for your bishops often become clear a move or two later.
When you see a good move, look for a better one.
The first good idea isn’t always the best. Take a second look before you play it.
The threat is stronger than the execution.
Sometimes keeping a threat on the board ties your opponent down more than carrying it out.
Passed pawns must be pushed.
A pawn with no enemy pawns in its way gets more dangerous with every step forward.
Rooks belong behind passed pawns.
Behind a passed pawn, yours or your opponent’s, a rook keeps more squares under control as the pawn moves up.
Put it into practice
Spot tactics in real positions, learn the mating patterns, and see the classic opening traps.