#Best free online chess for beginners how to#

However, even though not badly placed, the white knight is the only piece that is not actively participating in white’s attack and seems, in fact, isolated from the rest of the army. White’s pieces are visibly more active and occupy better squares than his opponent’s. Kasparov, G – Yermolinsky, A, Yerevan 1996 Knights are strong on central squares, but they also need certain stability, which is usually provided by pawns. In this sense, there are several ideas to keep in mind.įor example: Tip I: Keep Your Knight in the Center Usually, better, more active squares will become available for your pieces during a game and it is up to you to spot them and bring your pieces on them. Chess Strategy 2: Look for Better Squaresīe constantly on the look for better squares for your pieces and try to improve their position throughout the whole game.Ĭontrolling the center and developing your pieces towards it is an important guideline, but you should not stop there. In the same manner, the defending side will do so easier with central pieces. Imagine, for example, that you are trying to build an attack against the opponent’s king – a central knight can easily be re-routed to both kingside or queenside, depending on where the rival has castled. They cooperate better with each other, but you can also bring them faster on the side where you need them. Secondly, central, well-placed pieces have very good mobility. They are long-range pieces and can usually do the same job (most of the time even better!) from afar. Bishops or rooks, on the other hand, don’t have to be right in the middle of the board to make use of a dangerous diagonal or open file. They are short-range pieces and you need carefully to place them in order to control important squares. To understand this better, think about knights. Some can do this from afar and be equally effective. You do not need to place all pieces in the middle of the board in order to control it.

However, a piece placed on the side of the board will have fewer and significantly fewer active squares to control or jump on. It controls more squares and can create more damage in the opponent’s position. This happens for a few reasons.įirstly, a central piece is an active piece. In most cases, the side that controls the middle of the board better will keep a small advantage. Whether the position on the board calls for an attack or positional play, you won’t be able to successfully do anything if you don’t have a good grip over the central squares. One of the things you have to understand right from the start is that the center of the board is of utmost importance. Once you have achieved that, you can keep adding more “bricks” and continue improving your level.īut let’s start with the basics of chess strategy: Chess Strategy 1: Controlling the Center It will help you develop a healthy playing style and understand what to look for in the middlegame, once the opening phase is over.

#Best free online chess for beginners how to#

Also, you will learn how to identify and use in your favor the small pluses in a game. Basics of Chess StrategyĬhess strategy will teach you how to develop a position. Whilst tactics allow you to immediately punish your opponent’s mistakes, the chess strategy helps you understand and use in your favor the more permanent aspects of the position. Having steady tactics and a chess strategy foundation will help you build a good chess understanding and improve as a player. In fact, it is very important to familiarize yourself with the basic chess strategy right from the beginning. However, one shouldn’t forget about the positional side of chess or the so-called chess strategy. They are certainly beautiful, satisfying to go through (and even more to deliver!) and highly instructive. Tactical shots, sacrifices, and mating attacks are usually the most appealing to those who are just starting in chess. Here is a quick overview of the strategies we are covering: You can also use combinations to get a better structure, weaken your opponent’s position or force the trade of one of our bad pieces, for example. Moreover, you can use tactics to gain a certain positional advantage.Īlthough we are mostly used to looking for tactical ideas in order to winmaterial, keep in mind that this is not always the case. In the same way, a game that started in a dynamic way could be finally won with the use of strategic ideas. However, most of the time, the two go hand in hand, and a game that had a slow, quiet start, could finish with a beautiful sacrifice. There are games that can be classified as positional and games where the tactical, attacking ideas dominate. Chess Strategy and Tactics are two big parts of this game.