Chess Tips : Development is important

Time and development are very important elements of chess. Development simply means that your primary pieces are moved out from the back rank and in a potion to attack. Though sometimes this can be accomplished by leaving them on the back rank, it is not the normal scenario. Imagine that rook that is trapped on the back rank by a knight and a pawn, it has not yet been developed. The player whose pieces are ready for battle sooner will be able to control the tempo of the game. If you want to be that player, you have to develop your pieces efficiently and quickly to powerful positions.

Many inexperienced players like to move many of their pawns at the beginning of the game to control space on the chessboard. However, you cannot win with pawns alone. Since knights, bishops, rooks, and queens can move greater distances than pawns and threaten more distant targets, it is a good idea to bring them out quickly. This of course is after you have moved enough pawns to guarantee that your stronger pieces will not be chased back by your opponent’s pawns.

Once all the other pieces are developed, it is easier to see what pawns you should move to accomplish your overall plan. It is tempting to bring the queen out very early because it is the most powerful piece on the board. However your opponent can chase your queen back by threatening it with his or her less valuable pieces Instead of just moving pieces out, try to determine the best square for each piece. Then try to place that piece there in as few moves as possible. This may save you from wasting valuable moves later in the game.

Chess Tips : Control the Center of Game

Control of the board cannot be understated. The most valuable four squares on the board are the four directly in the center of the board. In many cases the person who controls the four squares at the center of the board will have the better game and a definite advantage. It is critical to attempt to gain this control of the center.

There are two simple reasons that controlling the center of the board is important. First, a piece in the center controls more of the board than one that is somewhere else on the board. As an example, place one knight on a center square and another in one of the corners of the board. The knight in the center can move to eight different squares while the cornered knight only has two possible moves. Second, controlling the center of the board provides an avenue for your pieces to travel from one side of the board to the other. To move a piece across the board you will often have to take it through the center. If your pieces can get to the other side faster than your opponent’s pieces you will often have an advantage. Being able to mount a successful attack on that side before he or she can bring over enough pieces to defend against your attack results in you having an advantage.

It is often worthwhile in the long run to be willing to exchange pieces with your opponent so that you gain the control of the center of the board. This exchange of pieces may seem wasteful at first, but pays off in the end of the game by you having a control of the tempo. Control of the center of the board also offers an excellent defensive advantage.

Chess Tactic : Center Domination

It is very important in any game of chess to focus on a number of concepts that are proven to be effective. One of these concepts is to control the center of the board. Controlling the center of the board allows you to be very flexible in your game play. When you control the center of the board that you are able to mount a variety of attacks as well as maintain a solid defensive structure. If you have an advantage in the center of the board you have a strong advantage in the game itself and a higher chance of winning.

There are some ideas that a chess player should follow to help maintain domination of the center of the board. First is to not allow your knights to be forced out of the center of the board by your opponent’s advancing pawns. If you allow this to happen you are likely to hand over control of the center of the board to your opponent, who then will have the advantage. Understand that if your knights are limited by the edge of the board or by the back rank on the board, they are rendered much less effective than when they are helping to control the middle of the board where they are a viable threat.

Another idea for helping to control the center of the board is to use flanking pawns to capture your opponent’s pawns instead of using your own center pawns. As much as possible, try to leave your center pawns in the center and bring out pawns from the sides (C and F files) to capture your opponents advancing pawns. This also allows your knights to remain in the center where they belong. Do your best to control the center of the board and you will drastically improve your odds of winning.

Chess Tips : Developing your primary pieces

One of the more obvious and more overlooked strategies in chess is developing your primary pieces. Some players will get distracted with their opening sequence and find themselves getting into what I call pawn battles. Having a solid pawn structure is important and can have a dramatic effect on the game play. However, if all you do is work on your pawn structure and do not develop your knights, bishops, rooks, and queen, then you are giving your opponent a tremendous advantage.

To use an oversimplified example, imagine that a player has moved all of his or her pawns forward at least two spaces, but has not moved any of his or her back row pieces. This is an easy opponent to pick apart. With a sacrifice of a few or your pieces and development of your primary pieces you ill easily win the game. Of course this is an extreme example but it is intended to show you what can happen if you focus too much on pawn structure and not enough on your primary pieces getting developed.

The more you develop your primary pieces, the greater chance of success you will have at winning the chess game. A rook sitting on your back row that is trapped by your pawn and knight serves little to no use for you in the game. The same goes for a knight that cannot move from its original spot because of your pawn structure. Having these powerful pieces and not using them is a beginner mistake that is made rather frequently. A general rule is to try to move every piece that you have once before moving any piece twice. This may be hard to accomplish, but the idea behind it is a solid one that will help you land victories.

Popularity of Chess on the Internet

The rise of the internet has caused widespread sharing of information and trends that had traditionally been centered in certain areas. Chess is no exception. Though chess has maintained a constant popularity worldwide for the last several centuries, the always helpful Google Trends gives as an interesting, and perhaps unexpected, look at the number of chess queries over the past six years or so. One of the most surprising things about these searches is the inclusion or exclusion of certain countries. Russia, for instance, who dominated the chess field for several decades in the twentieth century, isn’t even on the top ten list of countries where “chess” is most commonly searched, while the Russian language is only ninth on the list of languages in which “chess” is most commonly searched, though there is certainly a good representation in the Nordic and Slavic areas. There are a few explanations for this trend however: it is quite possible that the popularity in internet trends reflects more a popularity among a younger generation, excluding popularity among older generations, or that the exclusion of some countries could reflect higher accessibility to chess clubs where chess is played in person, and less accessibility to internet chess resources. Overall, however, Google Trends shows an undeniable drop over the past six years in searches relating to chess, with just a few spikes along the way. The most recent data shows that chess queries are the most unpopular they’ve ever been, for as long as Google Trends has been keeping records. That said, there are clearly a number of countries who are still gaga for chess, and their dominance is chess queries on Google is clearly shown.

1. Philippines

With the fifth highest population of countries in the world, the Philippines only narrowly edged out India for the number one country where the most “chess” searches come from. Additionally, Tagalog, one of the more common languages of the Philippines, is the number one language in which said chess inquiries are entered.

2. India

India has the second highest number of chess related queries of any country, while Delhi, India holds the top place as city with the highest number of chess searches. Because of the wide variety of languages spoken in India, no exclusively Indian language makes the top ten languages in which chess is most commonly searched, though Arabic is a distant eighth.

3. Norway

Norway is the third highest country in terms of the number of chess searches, while Oslo is the second highest city. Norwegian also takes second in languages in which chess queries are most commonly made.

4. United States

While the United States actually comes in ninth in terms of countries from which chess queries come, English is the third most commonly used language to search chess. This could be because of the wide number of English speaking countries (South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand also make the top ten list), but it is important to know that five of the top ten cities from which chess queries most commonly come are in the United States.

Chess Tips : Studying is Hard Work

To really make major improvements in your chess game you need to study a variety of concepts. You have already started by reading this. Reading about games, tactics, strategies, etc. are proven methods of improving your chess game. There are also software programs to visually teach you tactics and multiple web sites with a variety of learning tools.

The important thing is to try and stay interested in learning. Playing chess is great fun. Studying concepts and strategies is not always as fun as playing an actual game against a good opponent. Try to stay interested in your studies by utilizing a learning method that you enjoy. If you enjoy reading, then get some chess books to read through. If you are a more visual learner, then some of the software programs or websites may be more your style.

Think back to your school days, or your current school days. It was always easier for me to do well in courses that I enjoyed because they held my interest. The same idea applies to studying and learning about chess. Learn about the things that interest you the most. Those could be gambits, tactics, strategies, focusing on the end game etc. Then use the methods that hold your attention the best. If you are a visual learner, reading may not be the best method for you. If you are more of a conceptual thinker, you may like to reconstruct games in your head and play through all of the possible options that were available. Whatever methods you choose try to make learning about chess fun for you because after all that is what games are all about.

Chess Tips: Which Forked Piece to Capture

A fork is when you are able to threaten two pieces at the same time with ONE of your pieces. Knights are notorious for being able to do this, especially against rooks. For an example, you have your knight forking two rooks. Does it matter which of the two rooks you capture? Are you sure? Should you capture one of the forked pieces immediately?

These are the types of questions that you need to know the answers to if you want to consistently win games. When to capture a forked piece depends on what your opponent does with them. If your opponent leaves the pieces sitting there you can simply wait. If your opponent moves one of the two forked pieces then the answer is simple. Take the piece that you still threaten and take it now. But what if your opponent threatens your forking piece?

Using the example mentioned, let us suppose that your knight is now under attack and you must act. Which of the two rooks do you capture? The answer is to capture the rook that is doing the least on the board. If one of the rooks is simply stuck on the back row and the other rook is pinning one of your pieces, then capture the rook stuck on the back row. This will result in your opponent taking your knight with the other rook, thus unpinning your pinned piece, or it will result in you getting a “free” capture because your opponent simply allows you to take the rook. Always take the piece that is doing the least amount of work and always wait to capture until you are forced to capture, or until your opponent removes one of the forked pieces.

Explore Variety

An inexperienced chess player may be well served to learn an opening and stick with it until he or she learns the basic concepts of chess. Once you have mastered the basics, or once you seem to be at a sticking point in your rankings it is time to try different things. In order to have a well-rounded game it is important that you learn and experiment with a variety of tactics and strategies. Getting stuck in a rut will keep you at the same rating that you have been at. An old saying that I like says, “If you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting what you are getting.” In short, you will not improve your chess game unless you learn new ideas to improve your game.

That opening that you have been using for a year now is a functional opening, but now it is time to learn other openings and to experiment with them to see if they work for you or not. If you are using the same end game strategies that you used in your first dozen chess games, then it is time to learn some new end game strategies. The more that you know about chess and the various concepts the better your game will be.

It is easy for all of us to get stuck into a rut because many of us think “If something works why change it?” The reason to change your methods is because they may not be the best methods or techniques. The more you learn about chess and the options available, the more versatile you can be during your games. Knowledge is power and the game of chess has mountains of knowledge available for us to learn.