In chess, general principles and rules of thumb are no substitute for accurate assessment of the critical

elements in a position or the accurate calculation of concrete variations. However, these general
principles often serve to guide us as to how to assess those elements, point us in the right direction,
help us formulate and choose a plan, and when presented with more than one equally attractive move,
which to choose. It is hoped that the reader of this collection of chess wisdom and advice will find that
it increases his or her understanding of the game, guides them when playing, and helps them
consistently make better moves.

My advice is that you should read this collection over and over until all of its bits of wisdom become
second nature to you and are an integral part of your chess knowledge. It only takes about 60 minutes
to read through the entire collection. At first, read it every day for a week. Then read it once each week.
Then read it at least once per month. After that, read it before each tournament you play in to remind
yourself of all the advice it contains. You will find that the wisdom contained in these pages will serve
you well and help guide you through many of the challenges and questions you encounter when playing
a game of chess.

A Collection of Chess Wisdom

A thorough acquaintance with the general principles, techniques and methods enriches and sharpens
our intuition. In the course of play, our feelings suggest moves, which correspond to the principles
which are active in the position; the analysis of these possibilities or those ideas helps us to guess the
proper line to take, to find the concrete solution. And the more “learned” the player, other things being
equal, the more successfully and surely his intuition will operate. – Mark Dvoretsky

General Principles and Guidelines

Understanding, not memory is the essential key to chess success. The chessplayer who understands
why will consistently defeat the player who only knows how. Play by sound general principles adapted
to the specific requirements in each position. – Ron Curry

Be aggressive. Try to attack in ways that build your game. Combine defense with counterattack. Don’t
be afraid to gambit a pawn for an opening attack, but don’t sacrifice without sound reasons. Don’t
waste time capturing wing pawns at the expense of development. Use the initiative to apply pressure
against your opponent's position.

Play for the center. Occupy, guard and influence it. Drive away enemy pieces that control it. The more
you control the center, the more you control the game.

Don’t waste time or moves. Make every move count, especially in the opening. Look for ways to
develop with tempo and threats. Play moves that increase your development and hinder your
opponent's, and avoid moves that cause you to fall behind in development.

Use all your pieces. Make only necessary pawn moves to develop pieces. Aim to develop a different
piece on each turn. Move out minor pieces quickly. Castle early. Don’t move the same piece twice
without a good reason. Develop with threats.
Prepare to castle early in the game, especially if the center is open. Avoid moving pawns in front of
your castled king and creating weaknesses there. Castle for defensive and offensive reasons - to
safeguard your king and to connect & activate your rooks.

In general, make only two pawn moves in the opening, usually the center pawns. Move them one or
two squares ahead, preferably two if possible. Bad pawn moves create weak squares and unnecessary
pawn moves waste time that could be better used to develop pieces. Don’t block center pawns by
moving bishops in front of them. Don’t move pawns in front of the castled king position. Trade pawns
to avoid loss of material, to open lines, or to save time.

Develop knights toward the center. White’s to f3 and c3 or d2, and Black’s to f6 and c6 or d7. Develop
them elsewhere only if absolutely necessary or for a specific purpose. In general, you should develop
knights before bishops, since it’s usually much clearer early in the opening where the knights should go,
but you usually have to see how the position develops to know where the bishops should go. Avoid
getting knights pinned to your king or queen by bishops, and by rooks on the e or d file.

Place bishops on open diagonals, don't block them with pawn moves. Use them to guard center squares,
pin enemy knights or defensively to break pins. Flank them if part of a plan to control squares of one
color. Avoid unnecessary exchanges with knights. Use your pieces and especially your pawns to limit
the range of your opponent's bishops.

Put rooks on open files, half-open files, files that are likely to be opened, or behind advanced passed
pawns. Double them, so that they support each other. Use them to attack the uncastled enemy king
along the e-file. Place them on the 7th rank, using them to attack pawns still on the opponent's second
rank and to limit the enemy king to the back row. Use them to cut off the enemy king. In the endgame,
it's often better to sacrifice a pawn and activate your rooks than to tie them down to passive defense.

Don’t move the queen out too early in the game - she is too easily attacked with tempo. Avoid
developing it where it can be attacked. Don’t use the queen for defense if weaker pieces would suffice.
Don't use the queen to go chasing pawns when it takes her away from the scene of the real action. Use
it to set up multiple attacks, alone or in combination with other pieces. Don’t be afraid to exchange
queens to gain some type of advantage, or avoid some type of problem.

Evaluate the major elements: material, pawn structure, mobility, time, space, and king safety. Look for
information about the position by asking yourself questions about each of these factors.

Plan early. Don’t change plans without good reason, but be flexible. Most plans are short-term and for
accomplishing a specific goal attainable in the next few moves. Modify your plan if desirable or
necessary, as the position changes. Base your plan on a thorough and honest analysis and evaluation of
the position, noting strengths and weakness for both sides, and accounting for all threats. Assess the
imbalances and all other factors in the position and form your plan based on these factors.

Your plan must be based on the actual features of the position. Work out what each side should be up to.
You can't attack the King just because you want to. Play where you have an advantage.

There are exceptions to every general principle and law in chess. Knowing when you can violate them
is one of the hallmarks of a strong player.
There's no substitute for tactical ability. The more you study and master tactics, the more you'll win.

Short-term solutions to long-term problems on the chessboard rarely succeed.

Know the rules of chess such as those covering the clocks, illegal moves, three-fold repetition,
insufficient mating material, touch move, the fifty-move rule, and others that commonly arise in
tournaments. A knowledge of these will serve you well in tournament play and help you avoid losses.

Even when a move seems forced, it is worth taking a few moments to see if there might be a better
alternative.

If a move is absolutely forced, don't waste time calculating it. Make the move and calculate the
ramifications on your opponent's time.

Given the choice of two moves, if you calculate that the first move is clearly losing, and the other is
vague and complex, the second move should be played without prolonged calculation. You can
calculate the consequences on your opponent's time.

Don't play a game or even a move if you don't feel like trying your best.

If you worry about your opponent's rating or play to the level of your competition, then don't look at his
rating until after the game.

If you learn to consistently do the little things such as take your time, recognize all threats, examine the
consequences of each move, look for basic tactics, and do a safety check before each move, you will
find that the wins will pile up.

When playing weaker players, simplify and play solidly, reducing their chances to hit you with an
unexpected shot in a complicated position. When playing stronger players, complicate things.

A weakening of your own pawns may be accepted only if it is compensated by a more active placement
of your pieces.

If you get way ahead in material, it is more important to use all your pieces, kill your opponent's
counter-play, and safeguard your King, than it is to try and get further ahead.

Be especially careful after you've made a mistake. It often happens that one mistake soon leads to
another. The realization that something has gone wrong can be a big distraction and lead to a loss of
concentration.

If you blunder, don’t resign. Sit back and figure out how to give your opponent trouble. Go down
fighting.

When faced with a threat, look for even stronger counter-threats first.

Having the 'Bishop Pair' - two bishops when your opponent does not - is worth about half a pawn.

Don't put your Knight in front of your c-pawn in double d-pawn openings.
Don't move your f-pawn until you have castled or your opponent's queen is off the board.

Don't pin the opponent's King's Knight to the Queen before the opponent has castled.

Develop the bishop on the side you wish to castle before the other bishop.

Rooks need open and semi-open files. Don't let your opponent control open files with his rooks.

Attack pinned pieces with pieces worth less than them; never take a pinned piece unless it leads to
some sort of tactic or advantage, or you cannot maintain the pin.

When no tactics are present and there are no immediate threats, improve the position or scope of your
least active piece.

When capturing with pawns, it is correct most of the time to capture toward the center. If the result is
doubled pawns, this is correct even a higher percentage of the time.

When looking for tactics - for either player - look for Checks, Captures, and Threats, in that order - for
both players.

Stay flexible. Always be ready to transform one type of advantage to another, or to switch from tactical
to positional play.

NEVER assume your opponent won't make the best move.

Never, ever assume that your opponent has no threats, even in the most lopsided positions.

Bold, imaginative play, presenting your opponent all sorts of continuous problems, is likely to be well
rewarded.

Presenting your opponent with practical difficulties in over the board play, is just as important as
obtaining an objective advantage.

Concentrate. Keep your attention on the board. Don’t let your mind wander and don’t you wander
either. Don’t leave the board unless necessary.

Use your time to think of specifics and to find the best move. Use your opponent’s time to think in
generalities and of future possibilities. Always make sure you use your opponent’s time productively.

What distinguishes masters and experts from intermediates and novices, is their specialized ability to
think effectively about chess positions.

General principles can be a good guide, but there is no substitute for sound analysis based on concrete
variations.

Playing as error-free as possible is MUCH more effective and important than playing brilliantly, and
will win a lot more games for you. One critical error will usually cost you more than a dozen brilliant
moves will gain for you. Remember, the first step to mastery, is the elimination of errors.
Play to win in as few moves as necessary. Don’t waste time gobbling up your opponent’s pawns when
you’re well ahead. Go for the safest and most efficient mate.

Avoid having a favorite piece.

To improve your chess game, combine STUDY AND PLAY; study and play, study and play, study and
play.

Master the basics before moving on to more advanced material that may be beyond your ability to fully
understand and apply yet.

Improving your middlegame skills will win a lot more games than learning a new opening.

As you improve, you will learn the value of – and develop skill in exploiting – first pieces, then pawns,
and finally squares.

Always play "touch-move" and never take back a move. It is against the rules of chess and is
detrimental to your improvement.

Learn chess notation, then record and review your games.

Review all your games. This is how you learn to find & eradicate the mistakes from your play.

Play stronger players frequently, and learn from them. After a loss, ask them to go over the game and
point out your mistakes. Playing stronger players strengthens your chess.

Avoid playing only weaker opponents. It teaches you bad chess habits and doesn't challenge you to
improve your skills.

Enjoy your wins and learn from your losses. Learn at least one lesson from each loss. You will learn
more from one loss than a dozen wins. Defeats are the greatest teachers.

Do not be overly concerned with your rating. Play your best and work to improve, and your rating will
take care of itself.

Remain calm and alert throughout a chess game. Take mental breaks to ease the tension.

Every position can be ruined with just one mistake.

After losing a game, especially against a much stronger player, ask them to review the game with you
and show you where you went wrong.

Review all your games. Look for patterns in the mistakes you make regularly and work to eliminate
them. Even in games you've won, it's unlikely that you played perfectly. Look for ways to improve
your play.

If something is happening on your board that is strange or you don't understand, stop the clock and get
the tournament director.
Record each move carefully. The only exception is when you are in time trouble. In that case, at least
try to check off each move as it is played. Write down each move before you actually play it on the
board, and each of your opponent’s moves before you make your response, even obvious ones.

Always play touch-move, and call it if your opponent touches a piece. If you touch a piece and your
opponent calls you on it, put the piece back on the board and search for the best move for it. Don’t hold
the piece in your hand while thinking.

In a Swiss tournament, the most important rounds are the first and the last.

Putting out your hand when you offer a draw is presumptuous; always put it out after the draw is
agreed upon, not before.

Focus on the game in front of you, not the one next to you. Good concentration is one of the keys to
success in chess.

Don’t talk to your opponent and don’t allow him to talk to you.

Don’t play chess between rounds of a tournament. This saps your mental energy. Go for a walk instead.

Don’t eat a heavy meal before playing. Keep your energy level up by snacking on healthy items like
fruit or fruit juice. Avoid junk food or anything with too much sugar.

If you blunder, don’t immediately resign, and don’t play as if you’re going to lose. Fight on as if the
fate of the world depends on it. Quite often after you make a blunder, your opponent will relax and let
his guard down, and then make an even bigger blunder himself. If you blunder, take a few minutes to
compose yourself and get your head back into the game. Instead of playing aimlessly, as if the game is
hopelessly lost, take a few minutes to evaluate the position and figure out a strategy to maximize your
chances. Present your opponent with as many problems and difficulties as possible, and make him earn
the win. There’s always a best course of action, even when lost. Make sure you find it.

Expect to win, whenever the opportunity arises – opening, middlegame, or endgame. Win by attack or
win by attrition, but win. Remember that checkmate is the goal.

To find the best moves, and avoid becoming intimidated or overconfident, play the position on the
board, not the opponent.

Stay calm, relaxed, and focused during each game. Tension and panic rout logical thought.

When even or ahead, play hard. When behind, play harder.

If there is only one way you can lose, make the moves to prevent it.

Don't make useless threats. A threat is only useful if your opponent can't meet it, or if he can, it
improves your position or harms his.

Use time wisely. Think and plan on your opponent’s time during the game. Avoid time trouble. When in
time trouble, try to think and play calmly.
Minor details in a game can have huge consequences.

Develop a consistent and thorough thought process to examine all the positional and tactical elements
of a position, choose a move, and do a safety check before making any move.

Do not relax and become overconfident and careless when ahead. Apply the “killer instinct” throughout
the game.

Keep the normal value of the pieces in mind (queen=9, rook=5, bishop=3, knight=3, and pawn=1), but
remember that these values vary according to the position, mobility, and potential of the pieces.
Whether attacking or defending, count the number and consider the values of both attackers and
defenders on a target piece, pawn or square before exchanging or occupying, to insure against losing
material.

Superior force usually wins, so stay even or ahead in material throughout the game (except for gambits,
combinations or sacrifices to force checkmate or a winning endgame).

Chess is not Solitaire. Sound chess begins with respect for your opponent’s ideas, moves, threats, plans
and ability.

One of the surest ways to consistently win chess games is to anticipate, nullify, and frustrate your
opponent’s plans, and to create no weaknesses in your own position for your opponent to exploit. Think
and play prophylactically.

Below the master level, most games aren't lost due to a lack of specific knowledge or understanding of
some concept. They're lost because of oversights, blunders, and tactical errors. Devote most of your
work on improvement to studying tactics and eliminating the errors from your play.

The two most common (and often fatal) mistakes in chess are moving too fast and overlooking your
opponent’s threats. Sit on your hands until ready to move.

Fifty good moves can be wiped out by one bad move.

Determine the purpose of each move by your opponent. Ask yourself, “What is the THREAT?” and
“What has CHANGED in the position?” after each of your opponent’s moves. Concentrate on offense
and attacking, but recognize and answer all threats.

To win a game of chess, you must first not lose it. Avoid mistakes, such as leaving pieces unguarded or
exposing your king. Before each of your moves, ask yourself, “DOES THIS MOVE ANSWER MY
OPPONENT'S THREATS?”, “DOES THIS MOVE IMPROVE MY POSITION?” and “IS THIS
MOVE SAFE?” Avoiding mistakes is the beginning of improvement in chess. THINK before you move!

Make sure EVERY move has a purpose.

Don’t play the first good move you see. Look around for an even better one.

If your opponent is in time trouble, don’t rush your moves. Take some time to find surprising moves
that force your opponent to think.
Don’t play a move you know is unsound unless you’re busted. In that case, you have nothing to lose, so
look for a sucker punch.

Don’t be afraid of higher rated opponents. They have more to lose than you do. Have some fun and go
for the kill.

Take no prisoners. Draw only if you must. If offered a draw, make sure you understand what it will
mean if you accept it. In general, don’t accept a draw unless you’re losing.

Be aggressive, but play soundly. Don’t take unnecessary chances.

If you know your opponent’s style, take advantage of it. But in the final analysis, play the board, not
the person.

Don’t check needlessly. Check only when it accomplishes something useful.

Answer all threats, but do so while trying to improve your position and/or posing a counter-threat.

Never play a risky move, hoping the opponent won’t see it, unless you’re already lost and have nothing
to lose.

The goal in chess is to play the best move in every position.

Winning at chess basically consists of creating and exploiting opponents’ weaknesses.

If your opponent has a well-posted piece, drive it away or exchange it.

In many cases, it is better to allow an enemy piece to occupy a square and then drive it away, as
opposed to preventing him from coming there in the first place. This way, you gain a tempo instead of
losing one. That’s a difference of two tempi.

If your opponent controls more space, advance pawns to gain space yourself.

If your opponent has greater elasticity in his position, loosen your own position, strive for more
freedom or flexibility (perhaps by exchanging one or more pieces), then look for your own least active
piece or pieces and develop a plan to make it or them active.

If your opponent controls the center, challenge it with pawns.

Play slowly. Haste and carelessness are greater enemies than your opponent. Accuracy, not speed, is
essential in chess. Be patient. The reward for speed is a legacy of lost games.

Make sure that every move you play improves your position.

Playing a hasty move because you can't find anything better is almost always a mistake. Take the time
to dig in and look for the right move.

Attack with several pieces. Don't rely on just one or two pieces.
Chess is a creative process. Its purpose is to find the truth. To discover the truth, you must work hard,
be uncompromising, and be brave.

Don’t play automatic moves. Make sure you understand a move before playing it.

There must be no reasoning from the past moves, only the present position. Logically, the previous
moves in a game should not affect one’s play in the slightest, as each move creates a new position.

Respect all opponents, but fear none.

Players usually make their worst oversights in dead won games or in dead lost games. It is surprising
how often a mate in one is overlooked when one’s position is already hopeless or when you are
winning easily.

The best practical rule for a winning game: destroy your opponent's counter-chances. It may be slower,
but it’s surer.

When your opponent is short on time, try to continually present him with problems that will require a
lot of time to analyze.

Never take a risk for material when you already have a win.

The chief factor in chess skill is the storing of patterns in the mind, and the recognition of such patterns
in actual play.

When a move can wait, it is almost always best to let it wait. However, it is nearly always wrong to
postpone a must move if you can safely play it at once.

When forced to choose among moves, play the most necessary one first.

The closer to the time trouble your opponent is, the more tactical your game should be. This way you
will pose the most unpleasant problems for your opponent. He or she is much more prone to
miscalculate in such a situation.

You must do a safety check before each move and ask yourself, “Is this move SAFE?” before playing it.
Developing this habit and applying it consistently will eliminate most losing blunders.

Be serious while playing. Don’t talk to your opponent during the game. If he or she talks to you,
complain. You can socialize after the game, not during it.

Focus on playing your best, rather than on winning. If you consistently do all the little things right, the
wins will follow.

While a stockpile of principles, guidelines, rules, and basic positions can be very useful in any
chessplayer’s arsenal, one should never forget that there is no substitute for analysis. A general idea or
guideline is not the end, but the means to an end.
 The Opening
Your only task in the opening is to reach a playable middlegame. – Lajos Portisch

In the opening, work to: 1) control the center; 2) develop all your pieces to effective squares so that
they work together; 3) safeguard your king; and 4) create an imbalance you can work on and exploit to
your advantage. Every move in the opening should contribute to one or more of these four opening
objectives. If it doesn't, it is probably weak or an outright mistake.

Don’t play the opening casually or automatically, no matter how well you think you know it. Make sure
you understand what’s going on. If your opponent plays a strange looking move, take some time to
analyze it. Fight for the initiative right from the start.

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.

Do not switch from opening to opening. Choose a set of openings and defenses, learn them well, and
stick with them for at least two years. Constantly switching openings means you throw away all the
time in invested in learning previous ones and that you never master any of them.

A solid opening repertoire fosters self-confidence.

Play openings and defenses that give you a sound, but aggressive and active position.

Understand the strategic aims of the openings and defenses you play. These will guide you in choosing
a plan.

Add gambits to your repertoire. They will sharpen your tactics, teach you to use initiative, help you
learn about the importance of piece activity, and develop your resourcefulness.

White has a slight advantage early in the game due to having an extra move. Because of this, White's
goal in the opening is to secure the better position, while Black's goal is to secure equality.

The best way to avoid falling into a trap is to develop your pieces to useful squares where they will not
be in any immediate danger.

If your opponent leaves a piece or pawn hanging in the opening, calculate carefully before capturing it
to be sure it's not a trap.

Don’t make trades that help develop your opponent’s pieces.

An attempt by White to play “Black with a move in hand” can always be resolved by the opponent into
easy equality if one can only find the way. But when faced with the problem over the board without
having studied it or previously met it, the way is not always easy to find.

Proper development does not concern itself merely with placing the pieces where they are effective for
attack. It is equally important to interfere with the range of influence of the opponent's pieces.
If your opponent shocks you with a surprise move in the opening, don't panic and answer too quickly.
Take a deep breath and try to analyze the new move in an objective manner. In most cases, the new
move isn't any better than the normal move. Its main strength usually lies in its surprise value.

Don't be intimidated if your opponent is an expert in a particular opening. Play reasonable moves, and
you should reach a reasonable position.

By all means, choose an opening that you believe will unsettle your opponent, but be sure not to
unsettle yourself in the process.

The purpose of pawn moves in the opening are to control the center, release pieces, defend your piece
and pawn formation, and restrain opposing pawns and pieces. Other pawn moves early in the game are
usually a waste of time and create weaknesses in your position.

Move every piece once before you move every piece twice unless there is a clear reason to do so.

In the opening, if you can drive a knight out of the center by attacking it with a pawn, it is usually
correct to do so.

The poor placement of even a single piece may destroy the coordination of the other pieces

Make only two or three pawn moves in the opening, and maintain at least one central pawn to avoid
being overrun in the center.

Try to establish an ideal pawn center (both center pawns safely abreast on the fourth rank), and support
your pawns with pieces.

Prevent your opponent from castling if possible, or force him to give up some other concession in order
to castle.

Move minor pieces out first, not your Q or R's which can be attacked and lose time.

If the center is blocked, do not automatically castle.

Play to gain control of the center. Attack central squares (d4, d5, e4, and e5) with pawns and pieces.

Develop pieces rapidly and safely toward the center, and develop with a threat when possible, to limit
your opponent's options. Defend by developing a piece when possible.

Look for ways to develop with threats.

If you are ahead in development, start attacking or making threats, and open up lines for your better
pieces. If you are behind in development, don't start anything and keep the position closed until you
have caught up.

With White, exploit the advantage of having the first move and try to gain the initiative. With Black, try
to organize counter-play.
Don't grab pawns or launch attacks until you've completed your development.

Develop each piece to its most effective square – strong, safe squares on which your pieces have scope,
mobility, and aggressive or defensive prospects – and do so efficiently, without moving the same piece
over and over.

Develop all your pieces in the opening.

Aim your pieces at the center, the opposing king and at weak points in your opponent's position.

To facilitate castling, develop pieces first on the side where you intend to castle.

Develop rooks to open files, especially central files.

Develop the queen, but not too early, and usually close to home to avoid harassment by opposing minor
pieces and pawns.

Avoid time-wasting pawn grabbing of wing pawns, especially with the queen, at the expense of
development and position (center pawns are generally worth capturing).

Pawn moves are not development, but only an aid to development.

Make exchanges that result in the gain of a tempo and avoid exchanges that lose a tempo.

Opening moves should always make a useful threat or apply pressure to the center.

Move each piece only once in the opening – do not waste time moving the same piece multiple times,
leaving other pieces undeveloped.

Castle early, usually on the kingside.

Avoid prolonged symmetry in the opening unless trying to draw. Imbalances in the position are
necessary to create winning chances.

Do not lose material without adequate compensation in the opening.

Occasionally, play gambits – sacrifices of material (usually a pawn or two) to gain a lead in
development, control the center, seize the initiative, and open lines for attack – for fun, and to sharpen
your tactics.

Play both king- and queen-pawn openings, and play gambits occasionally.

If you accept a gambit, expect to play some defense – and be prepared to return the extra material to
improve your position after using the initiative to create weaknesses in your opponent's position.

Learn and play standard openings and defenses, which suit your style, whether tactical or positional.

If behind in development, keep the position closed. If ahead, open it up.

In serious games, play openings and defenses you know well. Practice other openings and defenses in
casual games or against a computer.

Specialize in only a few openings and defenses. Build an opening repertoire and play it consistently,
until you know and understand thoroughly, and feel comfortable with it against anyone, and anything
they can throw at you.

Patience is the byword in the opening and early middlegame, especially as Black. Best results are
achieved by first building a solid, strong, active position – safe king, active pieces, strong center, and
sound pawn formations – then seeking tactical and attacking opportunities.

Try to prevent your opponent from castling. Keep it trapped in the center, especially in open games.

The books generally tend to exaggerate the value of a pawn center. If a pawn center really hampers the
enemy pieces, it is advantageous; otherwise not. Things that count against a pawn center are: a) ample
maneuvering space for enemy pieces, even though on a wing; b) a completely open file, which at any
rate means freedom for rooks; and c) exchanges of pieces, especially minor pieces. Real control of the
center is always advantageous, e.g., knights posted there and not vulnerable to pawns. But a pawn
center does not always guarantee such control. All one can say is that it usually helps.

A pawn center is rarely advantageous to the player possessing it if the opponent has moved both his
center pawns two squares. It is advantageous only while the opponent is saddled with a pawn at K3, K2,
Q3 or Q2. Such a pawn impedes its own army.

There is no time for pawn hunting in the opening, except for center pawns.

Developing a knight away from the center is usually a bad idea. Remember, knights on the rim are dim.

In an opening where your only advantage is that your pieces are just a little less restricted than your
opponent’s, the effect of a single exchange can be to equalize the game.

Openings in which White plays a Black formation with a move in hand nearly always have some slight
theoretical flaw, and the problem is to find it in any particular case.

Don’t play automatic moves. Make sure you understand the opening before playing it.

Take advantage of every tempo and use it wisely.

In any opening, it is usually all right for White to give up a clear tempo to isolate Black’s d-pawn. If
Black does it though, he usually falls too far behind in development to take advantage of the isolation.
The d-pawn then becomes more strong than weak.

Make as few pawn moves as necessary. Pawn moves tend to create weak squares. Especially avoid
them around your castled king’s position. When attacking, particularly in open positions, use pieces. If
you don’t know what to do, make an intelligent piece move. Unless there is a specific need or reason,
make pawn moves only to facilitate development in the opening, open lines for attack in the
middlegame, or create passed pawns in the endgame. Every move spent moving a pawn is a move that
could have been used to develop a piece.
If your opponent plays an unusual move, try to understand it before responding. Determine what it
threatens and if it was a mistake that can be exploited.

Never play queen to Q-N3 early in an opening unless it goes there with a threat.

It’s the possibility of a breakthrough that confers the initiative in the opening, not the breakthrough
itself, which should be preceded by development.

When you’ve opened two diagonals for a bishop, but can only use one, there is a move gone to waste.

Develop purposefully, not just for development’s sake. Put pieces on good squares with the first move,
and don’t keep moving them around without good reasons.

Exchanging one of your developed pieces for one of your opponent's undeveloped ones, especially if
the opponent can recapture with development, loses a tempo and is almost always a mistake.

Try to develop with threats, but don’t threaten pointlessly or waste time doing so.

If you take your opponent “out of book”, do it with a bold move, not a lukewarm one.

If your opponent goes out of book, there is usually a reason it's not “book”. After determining if there
are any threats and how to meet them, look for a way to punish or exploit his non-book move.

The importance of getting to a stage where your rooks can see each other is enormously greater in a
position with open files.

In most situations, to advance a rook pawn one square to prevent a bishop from coming to N5 is a
waste of a tempo. By waiting until the opponent has already placed him there before you “biff” the
bishop away, you cause him to waste a tempo.

When one’s opponent has castled kingside, it is nearly always a good idea to pin his king’s knight.

In most cases, it’s a mistake to play bishop to king’s N5 unless the enemy has already castled.

In closed games, it is usually better to be a little behind in development than to develop quickly but
awkwardly.

A good motto in the opening is: No unnecessary concessions!

In general, when a concession must be made in the opening, choose one for which the enemy must
concede the initiative.

The king is best placed on the side where he has the minority of pawns.

Early castling is dubious in a closed game.

Philidor’s ancient principle that the bishop pawns should not be obstructed still holds true in most
positions.
When behind in development, don't open up the position.

When there is no special reason for accepting a gambit, decline it.

Once an imbalance is created in the opening, one's further development must address that imbalance in
some way.

A Stonewall formation should never be adopted without a king’s bishop to strengthen the squares that
the Stonewall weakens.

In any position that is at all open, you should castle quickly.

Pawn-winning strategy in the opening is always a gamble. It invites an attack, against which one error
may spell ruin.

A non-developing move in the opening, however attractive, should always be regarded as guilty until is
proven innocent. The moral: Suspect any non-developing move in the opening unless it forces a non-
developing move in reply.
 The Middlegame
Before the endgame, the gods have placed the middlegame. – Siegbert Tarrasch

Middlegame goals are to; 1) checkmate the enemy king, 2) win material, and 3) establish a winning
endgame.

In the middlegame, active, coordinated pieces, open lines, and aggressive play are the keys to success.

The most important middlegame principle is to establish and maintain a SAFE and ACTIVE position
(passive positions contain the germs of defeat).

When there is nothing you can accomplish by force and nothing you are forced to do, try to strengthen
your position or weaken your opponent’s.

You must think for both sides. Other than outright blunders, most games below the master level are lost
because one side failed to recognize the opponent's plans or threats early enough.

Don't be afraid to sacrifice to press forward to your main strategic goal. An advantageous position does
not win itself against a resourceful opponent, and at some point it may become necessary to "get your
hands dirty" and analyze precise tactical variations.

If you have the advantage, you must use it to attack, seize the initiative, or increase or secure your
tactical or positional advantage, else your opponent will catch up and your advantage will evaporate.

A premature attack is doomed to failure.

A sound attack is justified only when the attacker has a positional advantage in the center and/or the
area of the board where his attack is being launched. When the attack is unsound a vicious counter
attack or correct counter blow in the center will general diffuse it with decisive effect.

In symmetrical positions, a single tempo can play a decisive role. The first player to undertake
aggressive actions can often force his opponent into a permanently passive role.

If playing for a win, create unbalanced positions. If playing for a draw, keep the position balanced.

Always be aware of back-rank mates. If it is possible to make some luft for your king, without serious
loss of time or weakening your king's defenses, it is well worth considering.

A fianchettoed bishop combined with a pawn advance on the opposite wing is a standard technique for
exerting strategic pressure.

If the position is equal, then playing too hard for the advantage is risky.

To consolidate an advantage, eliminating enemy counter-play is more important than grabbing extra
material.

No matter what the position or situation on the board, remain calm. Panic routs logical thinking.
Always be on the lookout for tactical opportunities. Overworked pieces, loose or undefended pieces, a
king with no escape squares, pieces in line with each other, pieces with limited mobility, and an
opponent who is way behind in development are all signs that you should look for a tactical shot.

Playing to win is often less effective at achieving the desired results than simply playing good chess.

Sometimes it is more important to create counter-play than it is to avoid weaknesses. Wounds may not
be fatal, but suffocation usually is.

To gain the initiative you need your opponent to make a strategic, positional or other type of error. Play
in a manner that gives him an opportunity to do just that.

It is usually far more important to activate pieces than to grab pawns.

Originality and surprise moves are powerful weapons in practical chess. Inducing errors is an important
part of the game.

Play aggressively and consistently present your opponent with problems and opportunities to go wrong,
and he usually will.

If your opponent has sacrificed material to gain the initiative, look for ways to sacrifice material back
to go on the offensive yourself, especially if there are weaknesses in your opponent's position waiting
to be exploited.

It is often well worth sacrificing the exchange to disrupt the enemy's pawn structure and deny his king
a safe haven.

An opponent's fianchettoed bishop can exert tremendous pressure along a long diagonal. It is usually
advisable to exchange it, or if that's not possible, to at least restrict it by means of a suitable pawn chain.

Distrust any pawn move. Examine carefully its balance sheet.

Knowing which pieces you want to exchange is a great help in forming a plan and choosing the correct
moves.

If your opponent has a strong or mobile pawn center, the best way to combat it is to attack it with
pawns.

A piece permanently locked out of play is as good as lost.

An enemy pawn firmly embedded in one's position is like a fish bone caught in your throat. Nothing
good can come of it.

Avoid placing your king or queen on the same files as opposing rooks, or on the same diagonals as
opposing bishops, even with intervening pieces (because of discovered attacks).

Piece sacrifices and exchange sacrifices for positional compensation are common. You should always
be on the lookout for them.
Exchange passive pieces for your opponent's active pieces, unless behind in material.

Avoid unnecessary exchanges when behind in material.

Select a plan and stay with it. Don’t switch without good reason.

Never play aimlessly and without a plan and a clear goal in mind.

Avoid a back-rank mate by providing your castled king a safe flight square.

Play difficult positions with determination, and seek counter-play.

Faced with the loss of material, lose the least amount possible (remember the "desperado").

Neutralize (restrict, oppose, or exchange) opponent's fianchettoed bishops, especially when aimed at
your king.

Use threats to drive your opponent's pieces to less useful squares, then work to keep them there.

Keep your weaknesses on the color opposite to that of your opponent's strongest Bishop.

Look for opportunities on every move to limit the mobility & usefulness of your opponent's pieces.

Do not disrupt your king's pawn shelter by moving the pawns in front of your castled king without a
clear, sound reason.

Pin your opponent's pieces, and maintain effective pins until the exchange is favorable.

Attack pinned pieces, especially with pawns.

Avoid being pinned; if pinned, break pins early.

Centralize and coordinate your pieces early in the middlegame. Pieces are effective only when they are
active, and cooperate.

Move knights to outposts, and support them with pawns and pieces.

Seize and control open files and diagonals with pieces.

Double long-range pieces on important files and diagonals.

Double rooks on the 7th rank when possible.

Be certain that all advanced pieces have safe retreat squares.

Gain control of important squares – central squares and the squares around both kings.

Gain space with pawn advances, and seek improved development during exchanges.
Refrain from aimless moves, captures, or exchanges. Move pawns and pieces only to gain an advantage
or avoid a disadvantage.

Avoid exchanging bishops for knights without compensation. Bishops are usually slightly stronger than
knights, except in closed positions.

Exchange your opponent's knight that is guarding his castled king. This removes one of the king's
principal defenders.

Look for tactics on squares of the color controlled by your unopposed Bishop.

If your opponent has fianchettoed a bishop on the side he castles to, try to exchange this piece, as it
leaves a hole that is difficult for him to defend.

Visualize your chess goals in every position. Imagine your pieces and pawns safely in ideal position,
then determine the moves necessary to reach that position.

Be prepared to exchange one advantage for another more favorable one (e.g., exchange a bishop for a
knight to double an opponent's pawns in front of his castled king, or exchange material for a winning
endgame).

Do not make aimless moves. Each move must be part of a definite plan

If no tactics or attacking opportunities are available, try to improve your position – especially by
mobilizing your inactive, or least active, pieces.

Pawn structure is the skeleton of a chess game; strategy is more clearly defined when the pawn
structure is rigid, since options are more limited and pawn targets are fixed.

Attack pawn chains at their base, if possible.

The king is a fighting piece and should be centralized and used actively once the queens are gone.

Establish and maintain strong pawn formations. Avoid weak (isolated, doubled or backward) pawns.

Make exchanges that give your opponent weak pawns or reduce the mobility of his pieces.

An open or half-open file is the usual compensation for doubled pawns. Occupy and control such files
with rooks and the queen.

Usually, capture with pawns toward the center.

Try and gain tempi whenever possible, but without giving up material.

Do not be eager for material gain. The fight for time is much more important than the fight for material,
especially in open positions.

Place pawns on opposite-colored squares than your bishop so as to increase the bishop's mobility.
Simplify by trading pieces when ahead, to make the win easier and more certain. Complicate the
position when behind.

Protect weak pawns by maintaining them on opposite-colored squares than your opponent's bishop.

You cannot win a chess game by resigning. Resign only when the position is absolutely hopeless.

Try to gain a material or positional advantage early, and increase it. Improve your position with every
move, and accumulate small advantages. They add up to a win.

An accumulation of several small advantages is just as effective in winning a game as one big
advantage.

Make all your pieces as active as possible.

The fewer the pieces, the more important the pawns.

Keep a flexible, sound pawn formation. Avoid doubled, isolated and blockaded pawns.

Be aggressive! Attack opponents’ weaknesses! Play forcing moves (checks and captures, and threats to
check and capture).

Play with a series of sound, flexible plans. Plan early and continuously. Base plans of strengths and
weaknesses in the position, and modify as necessary or desirable (plans are made for a few moves only,
not for the entire game).

Disguise your plans – play least committal moves first, especially when preparing an attack.

Do not be myopic and become too involved in your own plans. Play both sides of the board. Analyze
your opponent’s strengths, weaknesses, and possibilities as well as your own.

Have a sound and specific purpose every time you touch a piece. Try to improve your position with
every move.

Every piece and pawn in a chess game should do useful work.

When you have two rooks opposing each other on an open file, with each defended by another rook,
it’s usually best to let the opponent initiate the exchange. That way, after recapturing, you’ll be the one
controlling the file with a rook.

When you find a good move, look for a better one!

The most consistently effective strategy is to win with minimum risk. Avoid risky variations and
speculative lines of play, unless behind. Avoid going for the “flashy” or brilliant win. When ahead, play
for the certain win, even if slower or less glamorous.

When ahead in material or position, reduce your opponent’s chances for counter-play by minimizing
his tactical opportunities.
Seek chess “bargains” by trying to gain more than you give up on every move.

Play aggressively, but soundly. Avoid risky, trappy, and unsound moves, unless desperately behind.

Avoid playing moves that help your opponent.

Hinder your opponent and his plans at every possible opportunity.

If you are one or two pawns ahead, exchange pieces but not pawns. If you are one or two pawns behind,
exchange pawns but not pieces.

Examine and respect the small tactical and positional details in each position. They often contain the
keys to victory.

The sequence of moves is often important. In a series of exchanges, capture with the lowest value piece
first, unless an alternative capture is clearly more advantageous.

Positional play, the control of important squares and lines, involves active piece placement and a sound
pawn structure, as well as creating weaknesses in your opponent’s position.

Sound positional play provides the necessary foundation for effective tactics. Incorrect of inferior
positional play is seldom redeemed by tactical salvation. Positional superiority precedes and supports
effective tactics.

Do not sacrifice material without a clear reason and sufficient compensation (e.g., to open lines for
attack, expose the enemy king, remove key defenders, simplify to a winning endgame, etc.).

Search for multipurpose moves, and recognize possible multipurpose value of your opponent’s moves.

Tactics decide all chess games. Successful tactical play involves recognizing, creating, and attacking
weaknesses to win material, achieve a positional advantage, or to force checkmate. ALWAYS be alert
for tactical opportunities and threats for both yourself AND your opponent. One combination can be,
and usually is, the difference between winning and losing a game.

Examine every possible check and capture – for BOTH sides – on every move.

Anticipate your opponent’s best replies to your moves. Ask yourself, “what move would I play against
this move of mine?” Then other moves by your opponent should pose no problem. While not relying on
an opponent’s errors, do take advantage of any mistakes that occur. Punish mistakes without mercy.

If your position is cramped, try to free your game by exchanging pieces. If your opponent is cramped,
avoid exchanges and keep it that way.

Don’t go pawn grabbing.

Grab a key open file first. With a rook on the file, occupy an anchor point (a safe square on the same
file supported by at least one pawn). Be alert to rook lifts - shifting a rook to the other wing. If you can,
double rooks. If you need, triple major pieces.
Neutralize enemy rooks. Oppose them. If this isn’t feasible, take another file, or open your own. Don’t
exchange rooks if it surrenders the file.

If your king is still in the middle, don’t open the center. If your king is castled and your opponent’s isn’t,
open the center.

Seize open lines. Reinforce and exploit them.

Get a “pig” (a rook on the 7th rank. They’re called this because they eat, and eat, and eat). If defending
against a rook on the 7th rank, don’t advance pawns that elongate the rook’s control of that rank (don’t
lengthen the pig). If your rook is attacking the 7th, reinforce it by doubling rooks. Place two rooks on
the 7th rank and open a sty!

Turn weaknesses into strengths. For example, if your castled king is exposed to attack along a half-
open g-file, move the king to the corner and put a rook on the g-file. Make your opponent sweat and
work for everything.

Accept all sacrifices you don’t understand. Don’t sacrifice without good reason.

Seize open lines and fight to control and maintain them.

Try to pin your opponent’s pieces and avoid allowing your own to be pinned. Don’t capture pinned
pieces until you can benefit from doing so. If possible, try to attack them again, especially with pawns.

Build batteries by placing two or more pieces of like power attacking along a line.

Always play according to the reality of the position.

To gain space, you usually have to sacrifice time. To gain time, you usually have to sacrifice material.

Always be on the lookout for ways to trade your bad minor pieces for your opponent’s good ones.

Try to accumulate small advantages. They eventually add up.

When embarking on a series of moves, make the most non-committal moves first.

Time becomes of small consequence when one side controls all the space.

Don’t take weak pawns; instead take strong pawns - things that can bite if not eaten first.

When a pawn is offered to you, never take it simply for the sake of taking it. Only if the pawn will
annoy you if not taken, or if the opponent gains no advantage by sacrificing it. In other words,
sometimes take threatening pawns, but rarely non-threatening ones if the opponent will get significant
compensation.

Don't give away the Bishop Pair without getting something in return.

Not all doubled pawns are bad.

Contemporary masters often saddle themselves with weak pawns for the purpose of getting freedom for
their pieces. A weak pawn often ties one’s pieces up, but not always.

The policy of parting with the two bishops, when the bishops have no scope is often the only way to
wrest the initiative.

It is almost always unwise to yield any positional advantage for the sake of simplifying.

Rather than submit to a marked disadvantage, always give up material. The loss of a pawn, the
exchange for a pawn, or queen for a rook, bishop and pawn – all these cause absurdly disproportionate
alarm in the majority of players. So long as you have a little positional superiority in compensation,
there is not the slightest need to become timorous or desperate.

Don’t support a threatened piece, move it.

An attacked piece cannot be relied on as a protector.

There’s a general principle that you should not leave a piece where it ties another piece to its defense.

If you are not prepared to calculate deeply, avoid loose pieces.

Threats are the stuff on which wins are built.

In games of opposite castling, the rule is to sacrifice anything rather than time.

Hanging pawns, although weak, are better than one isolated pawn, because as long as they are both
abreast, neither of them can be blockaded. The thing is not to defend them with miserly pusillanimity,
but to capitalize on the control of center squares, which they provide – try to attack.

In practical play, the question of how big or how small a theoretical advantage one side has is not
important. If one side’s moves are easy and the other’s hard, that is important. To have an easy game
means to have a clearly good aim or strategy and no difficult tactical problems to solve in achieving it.

In some positions a player’s skill consists in knowing a win MUST be there. He can leave the finding
of the moves till the situations arise, saving much labor. The combinations will be there. You must have
faith.

When a central passed pawn can be well blockaded, it is of no use to its owner at all.

You need not fear to create a weakness in your own position if it creates or preserves worse ones in the
opponent’s position.

To have one bad piece is not so terrible if all one’s other pieces are going to be good.

One may see all one’s opponent’s threats, but that is not enough. Your opponent may have no threat at
all; but the move you contemplate making will alter the position, and you must always look to see if it
gives the opponent an opportunity that was not there before. Statistics might show that players dig their
own pitfalls almost as often as their opponents dig them for them.
The average player thinks an isolated pawn has to be won, but that is not till the endgame. It must
rather be made an obstacle to the opponent’s forces.

In castling on opposite sides, a pawn storm against the enemy king is often the best plan. With mutual
pawn storms in this situation, the one who gets there first usually wins.

As a rule, the worst way of taking advantage of a weak pawn is to capture it, because then the opponent
no longer has to worry about it.

The test of a plan is whether it improves or strengthens your position or, if that is not feasible, at least
makes it no weaker. If a plan looks good, it may still be bad, but if it looks bad, it is almost certain to be
bad.

If you have a very exposed king, a queen swap is well worth one pawn.

Always unpin. A safe rule in practically any position is Unpin! Remember though, every general rule
has its exceptions. “Always unpin” is a good general rule, but it can sometimes lead to too many piece
moves.

It is hard to do much against strong opponents unless you “sail close to the wind.” Always look for
ways of ignoring threats.

Acquiescence to your opponent’s plans is no way to win at chess. Try to prove them faulty.

Do not break up your own position. Let your opponent expend some effort in breaking it up.

If you must leave your opponent a good move, leave him more than one. Not only will this consume
time on his clock, but his choice may not be the best one.

Using force and initiative to keep your opponent under constant pressure will almost always cause him
to eventually crack. Give him several chances to go wrong and he eventually will.

In general, act on the wing where you have the initiative.

With only one open file, it rarely pays either side to avoid exchanging rooks.

A checking pin or fork is usually effective, but a pin or a fork in which neither victim is the king can
often be broken. All that is required is that one of the victims should be able to make a move containing
a threat strong enough to deter the capture of the other victim.

Follow Reti’s advice: When trying to win, destroy opponent’s strengths; when trying to equalize, go for
his weaknesses. It doesn’t always work, but it's worth bearing in mind.

Over-protection of strong points is often good. Over-protection of weak points is rarely so.

Never play a good move, however obvious, until you have looked for a better one.

Beware of placing a piece where it has no retreat.

One of the most important considerations in selecting a square for a piece is that it should not obstruct
one’s other pieces.

It is important in practical play to not give oneself chances of going wrong: 1) beware of unnecessarily
accepting a pawn sacrifice; 2) beware of exposing your king; 3) beware of leaving your king no flight
squares. This last is only unsafe sometimes, but look first!

To anticipate a move the opponent is bound to play is always good.

Nothing can be better than a move you know you would be forced to play next move anyway.

Try to maneuver your rooks so that neither one requires protection.

To get the best out of a bishop, avoid clogging his diagonals with pawns.

A weakness that can’t be exploited is of no consequence.

Often, the best way to capitalize on your opponent's isolated pawn is not to capture it, but to tie your
opponent's pieces down defending it.

The middlegame is mainly a battle of the pieces and center pawns. A flank pawn is of slight
consequence and is sometimes better off the board, since its absence creates a file for a rook.

Against a cramped opponent, do not hurry; delay your break till it comes with maximum force. Time is
nothing; space and force are everything.

Don’t allow exchanges if your enemy’s position is cramped.

Post your pieces where they will be most effective if the enemy tries to free himself.

When the enemy threatens something, it may be best to let him do it, but play in such a way that the
threat’s execution will create new opportunities for yourself.

The idea against a player burdened with a cramped game or a bad weakness is to base your plan on the
assumption that he will try to free his game or eliminate the weakness. If you thereby deter him from
doing it, so much the better.

If your opponent can force a freeing move in a cramped position, post your pieces so that you also will
benefit from it.

One should not allow oneself to be cramped for the sake of avoiding a very small theoretical
disadvantage. A small advantage in development will usually compensate for such slight troubles. Play
a game of mobility and do not be scared by small theoretical weaknesses of whose actual significance
you are not fully aware.

A knight blockading an enemy pawn is automatically well placed.

A knight should always be driven back from an attacking position if it can be done so safely.
One should not always prevent freeing moves – prepare for them. Absolute prevention may be bad if
the preventive move is not otherwise useful.

A powerful knight, centrally posted in the enemy camp, pawn-supported, and immune to being
dislodged by an enemy pawn is often worth as much as a rook.

Knights need well-supported advance outposts to be most effective. The way to combat knights is to
deny them these outposts.

An enemy knight in one’s own camp should be driven away as soon as possible.

Better a slight gamble or risk than to accept the certainty of a lasting inferiority.

Tarrasch said, “ A knight on K6 and the game is won.” That is only true if the pawn supporting the
knight can be maintained and the knight can’t be exchanged. This type of knight is often called a “Nail
in the knee.” It is crippling.

Be careful about getting stuck with bad pawns. If the game is otherwise fairly equal, they may seal your
doom in the endgame.

In general, open lines when you are in possession of the two bishops.

Against the two bishops, try to keep the position closed.

When your opponent has a bishop and you don’t, keep your pawns on squares of the same color as your
opponent’s bishop.

Pawns must be kept on the opposite color squares as your bishop.

In open positions the two bishops are murderous. In most other positions they are a strong advantage.

In open or semi-open positions a bishop is usually superior to a knight.

The knight is superior to the bishop in blocked positions or when the bishop is hemmed in by pawns on
the same color squares as the bishop.

The main advantage of having the two bishops against a bishop and a knight consists of the fact that the
possessor of the two bishops can limit his opponent’s mobility by appropriate pawn moves.

Another advantage of having the two bishops is that in order for the opponent to attack, he must open
lines – and that is usually good for the bishops.

In the middlegame, bishops of opposite color are not drawish, but very winnish for the freer bishop
(usually the one with no center pawn in its way). Bishops on opposite colors are a big advantage to the
side with the better bishop, as it cannot be exchanged off.

When both players have both of their bishops, it is usually worth a tempo to prevent your opponent
from exchanging one of yours for a knight.
If your opponent has the two bishops, try to exchange one of them for one of your own knights.

In the middlegame, bishops of opposite color tend to be very useful for attacking, since the opponent’s
bishop cannot directly defend against its counterpart or.

All exchanges should first be examined carefully to determine if they actually improve your position or
avoid worsening it before making them.

It is better to take a sure advantage with some risk of a draw than to permit complications to get so out
of hand that you also have a good chance of losing.

The maxim that it is unwise to answer a K-fianchetto with a Q-fianchetto only applies if the QB is
unprotected. Otherwise it can pay off, as there is all the more chance of swapping off the opposing K-
bishop and thus weakening the castled king.

There are few sights more horrible than a rook sitting on its original square when there is an open file
for it.

Rooks must be aggressive, or they can’t pull their weight.

One of the first maxims of rook play is TAKE! Taking something frees the rook for other work.

If not allowed to be a marauder, a rook never fully functions.

One of the most reliable maxims in chess is never use a rook to defend a pawn. It is different when you
put a rook behind a well-advanced pawn, for you do this rather to back up its advance than to defend it.

One of the hardest things in chess is to put both rooks in the best places first go. That’s where
grandmasters shine.

Let the opponent be the first to speculate if possible. Stick to moves that can’t be bad, as long as they
are available.

Exchanging two pieces for a rook and pawn is usually not a good idea in the middlegame, especially if
the two pieces are your bishops. The two pieces are usually able to create a lot more threats in the
middlegame than the rook and pawn could.

It is a breaking of principle to bring a rook into the middle of the board during the middlegame.

It is better to give up the exchange rather than use a rook to blockade a passed pawn. A rook is a bad
blockader if it can be harassed by minor pieces.

Vacating an open file to avoid exchanges is almost always wrong.

Weak points or holes in the enemy position must be occupied by pieces, not pawns

Remember that the advantage of queen for rook and minor piece is less than that for the exchange, and
draws are quite often the result. For a win, the queen is usually required to be able to get at the king.
Knights are generally poor defenders of each other.

Rooks work best with bishops, and queens work best with knights. These combinations of pieces
complement each other’s strengths instead of overlapping. This only holds for normal pawn formations.
Against a king entirely without pawn shelter, the bishop may be the stronger partner for the queen.

The rule for playing lost positions is this: continuously present your opponent with difficult problems!
This was a big part of the secret to Lasker’s success. Give your opponent every opportunity to go
wrong, and he often will.

It is nearly always better to have superior fighting force against a queen, with a balancing minus in
pawns, than equality in both. In the former case, the queen is usually reduced to creeping tentatively
around the board instead of attacking – her only successful role.

It is useless to try to gain space on the flank unless the center is under control or blocked.

It is nearly always bad to have the front member of a doubled pawn unsupported.

The basic principle of positional play, right from the opening to the endgame, is to use inactive force.

It is a common fault to be too eager to take a second pawn when already one pawn up. The important
point at this point is to secure a good position, or if you already have one, to maintain it. To sacrifice
position for a little more material is to risk a lot for a little.

In general, it is more logical to open a line for a piece and then put that piece on the line, than to put the
piece on the line first – as you may not be able to open the line after putting it there. The common
exception is the mysterious rook move in blocked positions, where you know your opponent will open
the file himself, or you wish to deter him from doing so.

It is good to complicate in a lost position, but if the position is merely unfavorable, it usually pays to
play for restoring the balance.

The value of a pawn center is much decreased by the complete opening of a file, for then the enemy
can mobilize his rooks.

If you’re materially behind, complicate the position. Avoid simplifying moves and exchanges (if you’re
ahead, simplify ruthlessly). Exchange only if you can force a known drawn position. If you are
materially ahead, and if under attack, don’t be afraid to give back some of your material to break your
opponent’s attack. If material is even and you are under attack, swap off a few pieces to lessen your
opponent’s threats. If cramped, look to exchange to free your game. The fewer pieces you have, the less
cramped you are.

With a closed center, you know which wing to play on by noting the direction your pawns point.

The most important feature of most positions is the activity of the pieces.

When you control the center, it is usually a good idea to maintain or increase the tension, rather than
release it.
Advantages do not increase of their own accord. Purposeful play is required to increase an advantage.

In a winning position, work to kill all your opponent's counter-play before undertaking decisive action.

Closed positions must be played with patience and care, often slowly increasing a small advantage,
shuffling pieces, or increasing the pressure. Don't be too quick to release the tension or to launch an
attack until all the conditions are right.

Choose your minor pieces wisely. In open games, prefer bishops. In horribly closed positions, keep at
least one knight. If you have a bishop, place your pawns on squares of the opposite color. Try to anchor
your knights on strong central squares and create advance, supported outposts for them. With bishops
of opposite color, the attacker has the advantage in the middlegame because the enemy bishop can’t
neutralize the opposing bishop. Endgames with opposite colored bishops are often drawn. For attacking
purposes, a queen and knight are often stronger than a queen and bishop, especially if the knight offers
the queen more support points, and when the action takes place mainly on one side of the board.

King safety is always paramount. Avoid exposing him to attack. Protect your king at all times.

Keep pieces and pawns defended. Unguarded pieces and pawns are targets.

If you have a winning position, but the win isn't immediate, the best way to continue is to kill all your
opponent's counter-play.

Avoid tactical and positional weaknesses, and remedy any weaknesses promptly. Especially avoid
knight forks, double attacks, and discovered attacks. Avoid being pinned or skewered, and break pins
early.

Don't use several moves to create a threat that can easily be met by one move. This is a waste of time.

Defend only as required, and avoid cramped and passive positions.

Always analyze variations with double checks very carefully, no matter how improbable they look.

Active counter-play is better than passive defense.

When your opponent turns defense into counterattack, don't panic. Calmly reassess the position and
look for the best continuations.

Once you've started an attack, especially one that involves a sacrifice, there may be no turning back.
Your only hope is usually to press on, no matter what.

Don't automatically capture a sacrificed piece. Look first for a zwischenzug that can be played, or
another strong move.

The elimination of defensive pieces is often the key to a successful attack.

When mopping up after a successful attack, don't get carried away trying to force mate. Just
concentrate on finding a clear, efficient way to win or a way to consolidate your advantage.
When under attack, always try to find the most active, constructive defensive moves.

Don't be intimidated by extremely messy positions. The play still tends to be based on simple tactical
ideas – just a lot of them.

Don't automatically recapture material if doing so distracts you from your attack.

The more combinational patterns you are familiar with, the easier it will be to recognize them at the
board.

Positional play creates the conditions for tactics. Knowing the basic principles of positional play and
how to use them to create weaknesses in your opponent's position, constrict his pieces, and maximize
the scope of your own pieces will greatly increase your tactical opportunities.

It's not the material on the board that counts, it's the material at the scene of the action. If your
opponent's pieces are far away from the area of your attack and unable to participate in the defense,
especially when you're attacking the castled king, sacrifices are almost always warranted.

When you have sacrificed material to seize the initiative, don't rush to win it back. Crank up the
pressure and force more concessions.

Try to analyze all forcing sequences to the end. There may be a "sting in the tail."

Even when your main plan is a direct attack, it is good to keep other options available as long as
possible.

Tactics don't just appear out of thin air. Unless your opponent simply blunders, they're the result of a
superior position.

When you are under pressure, don't panic. Tackle each problem in turn, and don't be in a hurry to try to
solve all your difficulties in one fell swoop. Such solutions rarely exist.

Sometimes, you have to rely on your intuition when you can't calculate a combination clearly to the
end, especially when a sacrifice is involved. Just knowing that a win is there, somewhere, is all you
need.

When defending, always be on the lookout for a zwischenzug or a chance to counterattack. Tactics are
not the sole possession of the attacker.

When all else fails, fall back on stubborn defense instead of lashing out with desperate tactics.

If the enemy king is cut off from most of his defenders, it may be well worth sacrificing a lot of
material to get at him. It is the local superiority of force that counts in a successful attack.

Offside pieces should be brought back into play as quickly as possible.

In a direct attack on the king, what matters is not the overall material count, but how many pieces are in
the actual battle area.
Be careful with clever little tactics and finesses. After your opponent's reply, you may not find them
quite so clever.

In general, attack in the direction your pawns are pointing.

Whenever possible, attack. If you must defend, try to defend actively and while counterattacking.

Control of the center gives you the freedom to operate on either side of the board. You can safely and
easily shift your pieces and thus your attacks from one side of the board to the other. Your opponent,
having less room to maneuver, will find it difficult to defend both sides, due to his inability to move
easily from one side to the other.

An attacking complement of four pieces will generally be sufficient to force the mate, allowing one of
them to be sacrificed along the way.

If attacking, avoid the exchange of attacking pieces, except to eliminate important defenders or to
expose the enemy king. If under attack, swap off some of the attackers.

An attack on a wing is usually best met by a counterattack in the center. Close the center before
embarking on a wing attack.

When kings are castled on opposite wings, pawn storms to open lines toward both kings are the usual
method of attack.

Successful attacks are based on weaknesses in the opponent's position. Identify and target specific
weaknesses to attack.

The usual sequence to attack a king is: open lines, penetrate with pieces, restrict the opposing king,
eliminate key defenders, and then deliver winning checks.

Open lines (with pawn exchanges and sacrifices or, if necessary, piece sacrifices) when attacking. Close
lines when defending.

Try to expose and restrict the opponent's king. Move your pieces into its vicinity, and then penetrate
with your pieces to weak squares around the enemy king.

Attack with several pieces, rather than only one or two. Bring every piece you can into your attack.
Invite everyone to the party!

When attacking, play forcing moves (checks, captures, and threats to check and capture) to limit - and
increase the predictability of - your opponent's moves.

When meeting a threat with an in-between move, make certain that your threat equals or exceeds your
opponent's.

Play to maximize your advantage. Win all you safely can.

In most cases, attack with pieces not pawns.

Attacks are only justified by existing or potential weaknesses. Avoid useless checks and premature
attacks that waste time and scatter pieces.

In tactical situations, always analyze each candidate move to a quiet position – one in which all checks
and captures have been exhausted or neutralized (your “horizon”).

If your opponent attacks on the flank, counterattack in the center.

Every successful tactic, combination, sacrifice, and attack is based on one or more weaknesses in the
opponent’s position.

Sometimes, defending a weakness, such as a weak pawn, can ultimately cost you more than simply
letting it go.

Logical sequels are often fatal, but on the whole it pays, once you have embarked on an unsound attack,
to carry on regardless. If you shilly-shally you are almost sure to lose, whereas an unsound attack
boldly executed will often fool the defender.

In general, during a tactical exchange, take with the least valuable piece first.

Over-caution in chess is the height of recklessness. The gods do not forgive those who scorn their
favors. It is unforgivable to throw away good attacking chances.

It’s usually a bad idea to attack a fianchetto castled position without first exchanging off the fianchetto
bishop to weaken the squares it was protecting. If you can force the fianchetto bishop to retreat to R1,
that is almost as good, as it leaves you in control of his R3 and restricts the bishop to only one diagonal

Do not release pressure on any point unless you can see a certain gain. If you transfer pressure from
one point to another, you are generally using up a move without improving your position

A wing attack will usually not succeed unless you can control the center or clog it up.

A common error is refusing to sacrifice the exchange for a pawn in order to get out of trouble. This is
such a very small sacrifice in a position without any fully open files (therefore, not yet good for rooks)
that it is almost always better than getting pushed around.

Refrain from passive defense involving retrogression of pieces if there is some way of ending the
pressure by a small sacrifice. Of all sacrifices, the smallest is a minor piece for three pawns.

Rooks work best with bishops, and queens work best with knights. These combinations of pieces
complement each other’s strengths instead of overlapping. This only holds for normal pawn formations.
Against a king entirely without pawn shelter, the bishop may be the stronger partner for the queen.

Many opportunities of avoiding disaster by giving up the queen for some of the enemy’s attacking
forces are missed because the queen is so much overrated.

An attack against the king is an end in itself, but an attack in another part of the board is only a means
of gaining space or mobility.
When a queen and bishop battery is looming, you should move the rook to give your king flight
squares. Avoid playing pawn to knight 3 if possible, as this only weakens the castled position unless
there is a fianchetto bishop there.

When you have superior attacking forces aimed at the enemy king, it’s often well worth the sacrifice of
one, or even two pieces to strip the king of his pawn cover.

An open a-file is rarely enough for a Q-side attack, which requires a general breakthrough in order to
be effective.

A Q-side attack usually has no greater goal than a gain in space or mobility, so that it is the height of
folly to push ahead with one without securing your king first.

Be ultra careful when you lack pieces on your castled side.

Do not rely on slow routine development to nullify a coming kingside attack.

Counter-attack is rarely a desirable defense unless the thing counter-attacked is more valuable than the
thing being attacked.

The best defense is a good offense. Look for counterattacks. If you must defend, try to combine
protection with counter-play, making sure to reply to all enemy threats. Issue threats of your own to
seize the initiative. The best way to upset your opponent’s plans is to become menacing.

Having your opponent’s king exposed (especially if he’s in the center of the board) and under attack is
usually well worth a piece.

Passive defense is futile in a game of opposite side castling. A pawn storm is also useless if your
opponent’s is already well under way. The only hope is to expose the enemy king, usually by a piece
sacrifice.

Good judgment and stiff defense in lost positions are two of the hallmarks of a master.

In chess, the threat is stronger than the execution.

If your opponent offers a sacrifice, accept it, unless you can see clearly that it would be bad to do so.

The best way to stop an enemy threat to your own king is to attack his.

When preparing an attack, bring the distant rook into the attack.

It can be well worth the sacrifice of a pawn to gain a superb square for a piece, especially if it is near
the enemy king.

Great ingenuity is needed to break through a defensive wall. It may be necessary to loosen the
opponent's position by play on both wings, and to sacrifice material to divert crucial defensive pieces.

In wild complications, piece activity is often more important than a material count.
A queen on an open board can often overpower a large number of uncoordinated pieces, especially if
one of them is a king.

When facing a massive sacrificial attack, keep calm and try to find ways to interfere with the smooth
operation of the attacking pieces. This may mean striking at the reinforcements, rather than the
advanced units.

If your opponent has sacrificed material for an attack, it may be possible to blunt his attack by returning
the extra material.

When defending, developing your pieces is usually more important than grabbing material.

If your opponent's position is hanging together by a thread, use all your ingenuity to find a way to cut
that thread.

If your opponent is building up an attack, it is essential that you take defensive measures in good time.

Positional superiority is almost always a necessary prerequisite to decisive tactics.

The introduction of a queen into an attack often has a devastating effect.

An attack based on the gradual advance of a central pawn majority may take a long time to develop, but
generates tremendous force.

Defend actively, rather than passively. When attacked, consider counterattack first.

Be certain that your defenders are not pinned, overworked, unstable, or too valuable.

Defend against short-term threats with moves that promote your long-term goals.

Proper timing is often the key to effective defense. Defending too soon dissipates the initiative,
defending too late is ineffective.

Defend as economically and permanently as possible, and remember that a pawn is the cheapest
defender.

Close lines, and keep lines closed, when defending your king.

When in check, always consider all three escape methods – capture the attacker, interpose, or move the
king. Do not automatically move your king.

Brilliant defense can be just as powerful and imaginative as brilliant attack.

Correct analysis is the foundation of strong chess. Accurate and complete analysis of each position –
for both sides – enables a player to develop sound plans and effective moves. When analyzing a
position, search for the central features – especially identify and examine weaknesses – and base your
plans on these features. Look at king safety, material status, possible tactics, piece placement and
mobility, pawn structure, time, and control of significant squares.
 The Endgame
To be capable of conducting an endgame to the distant goal with clarity, firmness, and complete
familiarity with all its tricks and traps is the sign of the first-class master. – Jacques Mieses

Endgame goals are to: 1) checkmate the enemy king, 2) promote pawns, and 3) create passed pawns.

The general principles of endgames are different than those for the opening and middlegame, so you
usually can't play the ending as if it were a middlegame.

Threaten to make new queens by advancing passed pawns. Force your opponent to tie up his pieces or
surrender material trying to stop you. Activate the king as soon as you safely can. Trade pieces, not
pawns, when ahead in material, and trade pawns, not pieces when behind. Place rooks actively behind
enemy pawns. Place them on the 7th rank. Keep them active and don’t tie them down to defense.

Familiarize yourself with the endgames likely to stem from the openings you play.

Endgames, and some middlegames, are all about creating and advancing a passed pawn. Either the
pawn queens, or your opponent gets so tied up in knots trying to stop it that they lose something else.

K + P and R + P endings make up the majority of all endgames. Know them and you'll win a lot more
games.

Exploit advantages and minimize disadvantages.

Be dynamic.

Don’t play aimlessly. Don’t waste moves. Don’t give pointless checks.

Deploy & activate all your pieces. Get your king into the fight.

Cut off lines and cut down enemy threats. Restrain your opponent.

If winning, intensify your efforts. It can be hard to win a won game.

If losing, look for positional draws, fortresses, stalemates, swindles, and sucker punches.

Inflict multiple weaknesses on your opponent, preferably in different sectors, and set up winning
double threats.

Avoid weakening pawn moves.

If you have weaknesses, liquidate them.

If an enemy pawn is weak, don’t trade it. Win it!

Create a passed pawn. Use it.

Passed pawns must be pushed.

The outside passed pawn is an advantage: in K & P endings it is decisive.

Rooks belong behind passed pawns.

Without pawns, you must be at least a Rook ahead in order to force mate in most cases.

If you are just one pawn ahead, in 99 cases out of 100 the game is drawn if there are pawns on only one
side of the board.

If you have an advantage, leave pawns on both sides of the board.

The easiest endings to win are pure pawn endings.

The easiest endings to draw are those with opposite colored bishops.

Knights are better when all the pawns are on one side of the board or when the pawns are mostly
blocked.

Don’t dilly-dally. If one of your pawns can be attacked, be ready to defend it.

Don’t hurry, but if there’s a race, win it!

Escort passed pawns. The king clears the way.

If the king can’t get in front, get behind. Get somewhere.

If the king can’t blockade, block out.

Zugzwang your opponent. Achieve meaningful oppositions.

When mobilizing a pawn majority, push the unopposed pawn first.

If stalled, open a second front. Create another passed pawn. Decoy your opponent.

Don’t make too many extra queens. Two queens are enough.

If ahead by a pawn, exchange pieces, not pawns. If behind by a pawn, exchange pawns, not pieces.

In the opening, a piece is almost always worth more than three pawns. In the endgame the three pawns
are usually worth more than the piece.

Avoid getting stuck with rook pawns, unless it’s a special case.

Corral. Bishops should restrict knights.

With opposite colored bishops, blockade to draw, create passed pawns to win.

Anchor your good knight.

Don’t put pawns on the same color squares as your bishop.

Fix pawns to impede the enemy bishop.

With two bishops, swap one to get a winning minor piece ending where appropriate.

Activate rooks. To insure activity, you may have to sac a pawn or two.

Attack with rooks from far away. Keep the “checking distance.”

Put rooks behind passed pawns. If not possible, flank-attack them.

In rook endings, if your king must bail out, flee to the short side of the enemy pawn. Keep the long side
for your rook.

Shelter your king from enemy rooks. If necessary, build a bridge.

Blockade with the king, not the rook.

In pure queen endings, centralize your queen and choke the enemy’s.

Avoid greed. Cede extra material if it eases the win.

Trade to simplify, avoid exchanges to keep complex. If winning, clarify. If losing, complicate.

Play to shut down all your opponent’s counter-play.

When pawns are far advanced, close to promotion, be on the lookout for tactical tricks involving
promotion.

Passed pawns should not be blockaded by the king. The only piece which is not much harmed by
watching over an opponent's pawn is the knight.

A rook on the seventh rank is usually worth a pawn.

Tactics, combinations and mating attacks are a part of endgame play too. Always be on the lookout for
opportunities.

Normally, the player with a bishop against a rook (with no pawns) should be able to draw by heading
toward a corner of the opposite color as his bishop.

In the endgame, sound, mobile pawn structures and an active, aggressive king lead to victory.

The minimum mating material against a lone king is a king and rook.
Planning is especially important in the endgame, since king position is usually critical and pawn moves
are irreversible.

If you have an advantage do not leave all the pawns on one side.

If you are one pawn ahead, in 99 cases out of 100 the game is drawn if there are pawns on only one
side of the board.

Do not place your pawns on the color of your bishop.

Bishops are better than knights in all except blocked pawn positions.

Two Bishops vs. bishop and knight constitute a tangible advantage.

Passed pawns should be blockaded by the king; the only piece which is not harmed by watching a pawn
is the knight.

A rook on the seventh rank is sufficient compensation for a pawn.

To win an endgame with only pieces remaining, you must normally be at least minimum mating
material ahead.

Activate your king (usually by centralizing) early in the endgame – for both offense and defense – and
maintain an aggressive king position throughout the endgame.

Learn and apply endgame fundamentals: queening square, opposition, triangulation, and zugzwang.

Seize and maintain the opposition in king and pawn endgames. The opposition determines whether the
game is a win or a draw.

Avoid moving your king outside the queening square of opposing passed pawns.

Keep your rooks active in the endgame.

Place rooks behind passed pawns.

Bishops of opposite colors are drawish in the endgame, since they can be sacrificed to prevent a solo
opposing pawn from queening.

Every pawn is a potential queen, and every new queen was once a passed pawn. Do not lose pawns
carelessly.

Develop queening threats on both side of the board. The enemy king is not elastic!

Create an advance passed pawns at every safe opportunity, and promote passed pawns to new queens as
quickly as possible.

To promote pawns, advance unopposed pawns first, especially those farthest from the defending king.
An offside (away from the kings) pawn majority can produce a winning passed pawn – either a new
queen or an effective decoy.

Capture or blockade opposing passed pawns early, before they threaten to queen.

If an opposing passed pawn reaches the sixth rank, strong measures should be taken immediately!

If you are only one pawn ahead in the endgame, exchange pieces, not pawns. Save your valuable pawns
for promotion to queens.

Kings lead pawns to queening in a king and pawn(s) endgame.

In queen and pawn endings, it is helpful to place the king in a fianchetto formation and station the
queen on the long diagonal. This makes it very difficult for the opponent to achieve any counter-play.

In a king and pawn endgame, a king on the sixth rank ahead of a safe pawn on the same file (except a
rook file) is a certain win.

Remember, a king and a rook-pawn (even with a bishop of opposite color than the pawn's promotion
square) is a draw if the defending king can reach the promotion square.

Be alert for endgame tactics, especially sacrifices.

With only one pawn against your opponent's none in an endgame with minor pieces remaining, protect
against your opponent's sacrificing a minor piece for your solo pawn and forcing a draw by insufficient
material.

Avoid stalemating your opponent. Leave him moves when his king is not in check.

Remember the option of under-promoting a pawn, to avoid stalemate (rook or bishop) or give a
winning check.

Remember and apply the five types of draws: insufficient mating material, stalemate, threefold
repetition, 50-move rule, and by agreement.

Do not resign prematurely. Play for a draw when behind. Aside from hopelessly drawn positions, offer
a draw only when behind or in time trouble. Accept draws only after careful reflection.

In the endgame, make good use of your king. Keep your rooks active. They work best from far away.
Don’t let your rooks idle in defense. Try to create a meaningful passed pawn. Convoy it home. Don’t
make lots of extra queens. One, or at most, two will do. Otherwise, you increase the chance of
stalemate. With an extra queen, mate as soon as possible. If lost, find a stalemate shot, a swindle, or set
up a fortress.

One of the best destroyers of counter-chances is a well advanced passed pawn. There is always a
danger in letting the enemy have a pawn one square nearer to queening than you have.

To win, keep pawns on both wings.

A very advanced pawn has almost the status of a piece and should be removed if possible.

When ahead in material, exchange pieces.

When behind in material, exchange pawns.

When way ahead, beware of your opponent's stalemate opportunities.

The general rule in endgames is when trying to win, exchange pieces; to draw, exchange pawns.

Before ever beginning to think of making a passed pawn, or advancing already made passed pawns that
cannot yet advance safely, get all your pieces into the best position possible.

In the middlegame, one feeble piece may not be a serious handicap, for it is only one unit among many.
But in the endgame, with few pieces on the board, the immobility of one piece means a proportionately
bigger burden to carry.

The beginning, middle and end of endgame theory is the importance of passed pawns.

Even the very slightest advantage often suffices to win a knight vs. knight ending with pawns on both
wings.

In the endgame, bishops of opposite color tend to be drawish.

In the endgame, bishops tend to be stronger if there are pawns on both wings, while knights tend to be
stronger if pawns are on only one wing or in the center. The reason is, bishops, with their long-range
mobility, can cover both sides of the board, whereas knights, while unable to cope well with far-flung
pawns, can cover squares of both colors.

In those cases where the opposite-colored bishop is blockading the passed pawn, the attacking side’s
plan consists of getting his king through to the pawn. But sometimes, this can only be achieved by
means of a feinting attack on the other wing.

The possibility of making play on both wings is the winning factor with bishops of opposite colors. If
play can be made on both wings, there is sometimes a win even with equal pawns.

In rook vs. rook, the enemy rook often rules out the cooperation of king and rook because a too-
venturesome advance by either king permits a marauding raid. An additional knight or bishop, however,
may guard a vital square and permit the coordination of all three pieces.

A cardinal rule for the best use of rooks in endgames: use the rook to cut off the enemy king. A bishop
alone can never cut off a king, but a rook can.

In general, you want to push the pawn that stands next to your most advanced pawn.

For drawing purposes, there is nothing like denuding the enemy of pawns on one wing.

Zugzwang is the great enemy of knights and kings in the endgame.

In an endgame with only a few pieces, a very mobile rook tends to be almost the equal of a bishop and
knight, or of two knights. With a plus of a pawn, it is usually their superior.

The rule for the defending player in queen endings is to have your king close to the scene of action, so
that he can afford to exchange queens, or to have his king as far away as possible, so as not to limit his
choice of checks or flight squares.

As soon as you get to the endgame, activate the king. Bring it back to the center or somewhere useful.
If there are rooks on the board, please make sure to avoid back-rank mates by making luft or
centralizing the king. Try to create a passed pawn and make a queen, or force your opponent to give up
material to prevent you from doing so. Keep your pieces active. Rooks are effective from far away.
Don’t place your pawns on the same color squares as your bishop. In king and pawn endings, try to
clear paths for your pawns with your king. Remember the value of diagonal king moves. With them,
you can often cover more territory and accomplish multiple aims. Don’t waste time making a lot of
queens. Once you get an extra queen, force mate.

When losing, avoid the endgame unless you can achieve a positional draw. You can trade, for instance,
to reach an endgame with bishops of opposite colors. Such endgames are often drawn, even if one
player is ahead by a few pawns. You also can exchange if you can saddle your opponent with a rook-
pawn and a bishop that doesn’t control the pawn’s promotion square. If the endgame comes down to a
minor piece and pawn vs. a minor piece, you may be able to sacrifice the minor piece for a draw. In
general, fight on tooth and nail. Make your opponent earn the win. No one ever won by resigning.

The secret to endgame play is to play like a python. Take your time and choke all the life and counter-
play out of your opponent.

Play as if the future of humanity depends on your efforts. It does.

 A Collection of Chess Wisdom – Elements & Lists
Strategy requires thought, tactics requires observation. – Max Euwe

It's important to know all the different elements of chess and regularly remind ourselves of them so that
we keep them in mind when playing. If you aren't thinking about all the different tactical or positional
elements and themes, then you're probably not thinking about ways to use them and are overlooking
opportunities to do so in your games.

Tactical Elements

Tactical Weaknesses:

Exposed king
King with no escape squares
Castled king without pieces protecting it
Weakened pawn-shield in front of the castled king
Open lines to your king
Vulnerable back rank
Unguarded pieces and pawns
Inadequately guarded pieces
Pinned pieces and pawns
Pieces in a line that can be skewered
Pieces vulnerable to knight forks
Pieces vulnerable to a discovered attack
Pieces with limited or no mobility
Pieces vulnerable to attack by enemy pieces of lesser value
Behind in development
Overworked defenders
Unstable defenders
Vulnerable vital guards
*When you see any of these weaknesses, look for a way to exploit them tactically

Tactical Themes:

Pin
Knight fork
Double attack
Sacrifice
Skewer (or X-ray)
Overloading a target
Discovered attack
Deflecting defenders
Overworked defender
In between move (Zwischenzug)
Trapped piece
Zugzwang
Removing defenders
Clearance
Desperado
Interference
Back rank attack

Positional Elements

Positional Strengths:

Control of the center

Center pawn on our 4th rank vs. enemy pawn on his 3rd rank
Superior development
Greater mobility
Greater space control
Strong outpost
Control of open diagonal
Control of open file
Doubled rooks
Rook(s) on the seventh rank
Half-open file
Bishop pair
Bishop vs. knight
Mobile pawn wing
Offside pawn majority
Advanced pawn
Advanced pawn wedge
Advanced pawn chain
Passed pawn
Protected passed pawn
Outside passed pawn
Better king position
Available tempi

Positional Weaknesses:

Restricted king
Open lines toward the king
Cramped position
Bad bishop
Isolated pawns
Doubled pawns
Backward pawns
Hanging pawns
Holes in the pawn structure
Weak square complex
Permanent Advantages:

Material
More pawns in the center
Passed pawn
Weak enemy squares (whether or not occupied)
Healthier pawn structure
More appropriate minor pieces

Temporary Advantages:

Vulnerable enemy piece

Superior coordination
Control of the center
Control of a line
Advantage in space
The initiative

Positional Play
Improve Your Position:

Maximize the mobility of your pieces

Gain more space with pawn advances
Improve your king's safety
Put your pieces on better squares
Activate dormant pieces
Improve your pawn structure
Eliminate weaknesses in your position
Gain control of key lines or squares
Create and use strong outposts
Trade your bad pieces for your opponent's good ones

Prophylactic Play:

Anticipate and frustrate all your opponent's plans

Hinder your opponent's piece coordination
Limit the mobility of your opponent's pieces
Deny your opponent control of key lines or squares
If your opponent controls a key line, block it or challenge it
Deny your opponent any outposts
Drive away or exchange your opponent's well placed pieces
Fix weaknesses in your own position in order to give your opponent nothing to attack
Strengthen and protect the strong points in your own position
Imbalances:

Superior minor piece

Pawn structure
Space
Material
Control of key lines or squares
Lead in development
Initiative
Opposite-side castling

Planning:

Plans should have specific goals

Plans can be offensive or defensive
Plans should be based on a realistic assessment of the specific features of the position
Plans are usually made for only a few moves at a time to accomplish a specific goal
Plans should be flexible, and modified or replaced when necessary
Planning is constant – every move in a chess game should fit into a definite plan

Silman Thinking Technique:

1. Figure out the positive and negative imbalances for both sides.
2. Figure out the side of the board you wish to play on. You can only play where a favorable imbalance
or the possibility of creating a favorable imbalance exists.
3. Don't calculate. Instead, dream up various fantasy positions that you would like to achieve.
4. Once you find a fantasy position that makes you happy, you must figure out if you can reach it. If
you find that your choice was not possible to implement, you must create another dream position that is
easier to achieve.
5. Only now do you look at the candidate moves you wish to calculate.

Finding Good Moves

All that matters on the chessboard is good moves. – Bobby Fischer

The majority of games lost by players below the master level aren't lost because of a lack of knowledge
or understanding, but because of blunders and oversights. A structured system of examining the
position and selecting a move, then ALWAYS doing a blunder check before playing it, if followed
consistently throughout your games, will greatly reduce such errors and profoundly improve the quality
of your play.
 The Purdy Player
You aren’t playing in a tournament to paint pictures, but to win points. – C. J. S. Purdy

A dyed-in-the-wool Purdy Player…

1. Always unpins
2. Always makes a blunder-check
3. Checks each possible move of the opponent’s pieces and pawns while it is the opponent’s turn
to move.
4. Tries to find ways to ignore the opponent’s threats, i.e., looks for stronger counter-threats of his
own.
5. Prefers to move an attacked piece rather than defend it.
6. As Black, loves to play …f5 when the opponent has a pawn on e5.
7. Never plays the queen to the b-file early in the opening unless it goes there with a threat.
8. Makes no unnecessary concession in the opening.
9. Handles rooks very aggressively; Take! Take! Take!
10. Never vacates an open file to avoid exchanges.
11. When he can’t think of anything better to do, he looks for a plan to activate his own worst-
placed piece (the plan may simply be to put the piece on a better square).
12. Looks for ways of using the king as an active piece as early in the game as possible.
13. Gives up material rather than submitting to marked positional disadvantages.
14. When in possession of a winning game, acts to destroy counter-chances.
15. Does not postpone a must-move that can safely be played at once.
16. Acts on the wing where he has the initiative.
17. Never takes a risk for additional material when already in possession of a win.
18. Makes plans a few moves at a time and frequently revises those plans.

Bad Chess Habits

Bad chess habits cause many discouraging losses. Search the following list with an open mind and a lot
of honesty, and dedicate yourself to remedying the ones that apply to you. Following is a list of some
common bad chess habits:

1. Playing too fast and being impatient (sound chess requires time).
2. Neglecting to castle.
3. Failing to develop all pieces early.
4. Moving the same piece multiple times in the opening.
5. Underestimating the importance of controlling the center.
6. Trying to win in the opening by playing premature attacks.
7. Unwise pawn grabbing at the expense of development and position.
8. Giving useless checks and making idle threats.
9. Relying on opponents' errors or inferior moves.
10. Making hasty or careless moves (I'll just see what happens").
11. Making unsound trappy moves ("Hope he doesn't see it").
12. Attacking with only one or two pieces.
13. Exchanging pieces or pawns without a specific, sound purpose.
14. Creating weaknesses in your position that can be exploited.
15. Not asking yourself after each of your opponent’s moves, "What is the threat?"
16. Not asking after each of your opponent's moves, "What has changed in the position?"
17. Making careless blunders by not asking before each of your own moves, "Is this move safe?"
18. Believing a significant early material deficit can always be overcome.
19. Not keeping accurate account of material at all times.
20. Being mentally lazy and not looking far enough ahead or anticipating opponents' best moves.
21. Having no systematic method of searching for a move.
22. Failing to analyze each position accurately and completely.
23. Not analyzing the consequences of all possible checks and captures for both sides on each move.
24. Not planning (playing only move-to-move).
25. Inflexibly persisting with inappropriate or faulty plans.
26. Becoming so involved in your own plans and threats that you ignore or underestimate your
opponent’s plans and threats.
27. Playing inadequate defense by not breaking pins early, leaving pieces and pawns undefended,
walking into knight forks, not taking steps to defend against or blunt your opponent’s attacks, and not
considering all possible defenses to threats.
28. Ignoring or discounting positional possibilities such as open files and diagonals, outposts, rooks
on the 7th rank, and strong or weak pawns for both sides.
29. Ignoring or underestimating the value of pawns and the importance of pawn play (passed pawns,
pawn majorities, pawn exchanges and sacrifices, weak pawns, and holes in the pawn structure).
30. Being too passive, such as not seizing positional and tactical opportunities, or always retreating
rather than advancing or counterattacking when threatened.
31. Being too willing to trade queens without a good reason.
32. Always accepting sacrifices without analyzing the consequences.
33. Never playing sacrifices.
34. Not creating, protecting, and advancing passed pawns.
35. Not activating your king early and using him aggressively in the endgame.
36. Playing the opponent, rather than the position on the board.
37. Becoming intimidated and playing too cautiously or passively against stronger opponents, or
becoming too overconfident and playing carelessly against weaker opponents.
38. Concentrating on staying ahead of your opponent on the clock more than on the board.
39. Not relaxing by taking frequent mental breaks during a game.
40. Always playing to win, even in situations where only a draw is realistic.
41. Resigning prematurely.
42. Agreeing prematurely to draws.
43. Becoming overconfident and careless in winning positions.
44. Carelessly allowing losing opponents to achieve stalemate.
45. Not recording and reviewing your own games.
46. Not studying chess regularly.
47. Not trying new ideas, even in casual games.
48. Studying and training in a random, haphazard manner.
49. Playing only weaker opponents.
50. Becoming emotionally upset after losses instead of learning a pertinent lesson to improve your
future play.
10 Things That Will Improve Your Play

1. Learn all the various tactical motifs and study them until you've mastered the ability to instantly
recognize tactical opportunities in your games and exploit them accurately. Continue studying tactics
regularly in order to keep your tactical skills sharp.

2. Increase your knowledge and understanding in all aspects of the game. Study material that is
appropriate for your level and master the basics before moving on to more advanced material.

3. Play slow games against moderately stronger opponents, and avoid playing blitz. Fast games
encourage poor playing habits and shallow analysis.

4. Review and analyze all your serious games in order to determine your mistakes and weaknesses,
then work hard to correct the shortcomings in your play.

5. Choose a solid repertoire, learn it well, and then stick to it for at least two years, learning all the
subtleties of it before adding new lines or switching openings.

6. Play over annotated master games to understand how strong players play.

7. Learn to manage your time wisely during play. Don't play too quickly and not use enough time to
choose the best moves, but don't play too slowly and get into time trouble.

8. Learn to use all your pieces. Activate them and make them work together. Maximize the use of all
your material.

9. Play in over-the-board tournaments on a regular basis.

10. Develop a sound, thorough thinking process when playing. Don't make moves without analyzing
them to the best of your ability to determine their consequences. Eliminate most of the mistakes from
your game by following this thinking process consistently and learning to do a safety check before
EVERY move.