Notes from the series by Chess.com.
Opening
10 rules for opening:
- Develop
- Develop
- Develop
- Control the center
- Don't move a piece twice
- Castle early (before move 10)
- Don't bring the queen out too early
- Develop with purpose
- Think about your opponent's moves and threats
- Connect the rooks
Tactics and strategy
- Chess is 90% tactics, and you need to know these fundamental tactical patterns.
- Fork / Double attack - a piece attacks multiple enemy pieces simultaneously.
- Pin - a defending piece cannot move without exposing a more valuable defending piece.
- Skewer - like pin, but more valuable piece is under attack.
- Discovery - a direct attack revealed when one piece moves out of the way of another.
- Discovered check - a discovery that comes with a check.
- The basic checkmate patterns often occur at the end or as the climax of many tactical combinations. They are:
- Smothered mate
- Support checkmate
- Back-rank mate
- "Tactics are the servant of strategy" - Mikhail Botvinik
- A good piece leads to good tactics:
- How many squares does my piece control?
- Is it safe?
- Long term "strategical plans" are based on recognizing and attacking pawn weaknesses:
- Doubled pawns
- Isolated pawns
- Backward pawns
Endgame
- Two factors dictate the play of all roughly equal endgames:
- King play and power
- Passed pawns
- "In the middlegame, the king is but a mere extra but in the endgame, the king is a principal." - Aaron Nimzowitsch
- Activate your king at the earlist opportunity.
- Use your king to help protect your passed pawns as they advance.
- Remember "king on the 6th, pawn on the 5th".
- "Pawns are the soul of chess." - Danican Philidor
- Recognize the potential of your pawn majorities.
- Remember:
- Protected passed pawns,
- Outside passed pawns,
- And... push, push, push your passed pawns to victory!