The game can be divided into two big parts – chess strategy and tactics. There are games that can be classified as positional and games where the tactical, attacking ideas dominate. However, most of the times, the two go hand in hand, and a game that had a slow, quiet start, could finish with a beautiful sacrifice. In the same way, a game that started in a dynamic way could be finally won with the use of strategic ideas. Moreover, tactics can be used to gain a certain positional advantage.
The study of basic chess strategy is one of the things that will help you improve your level and become a better player in time. It is amazing to see how many times strong masters win their games against lower-rated opponents by applying the very basics of chess strategy and showing a better positional understanding, overall. When replaying through their games, many of the moves will seem “easy”, but they only make it look so thanks to the hours they have invested in studying and then practicing and polishing their positional skills. It requires a lot of hard work, but the feeling of being in control throughout the whole game and understanding where your pieces should go and why is worth all the effort. [Tip: Missed our post on Chess Strategy for Beginners, well here it is.]
Sacrifices are usually known as the main tactical mean of getting an immediate advantage. The concept is clear – you momentarily sacrifice material in order to get bigger gains or deliver mate a few moves later. Except for the intuitive sacrifices that usually give great initiative and a strong attack, sacrifices can usually be calculated almost until the end.
We often stress how important it is to pay great attention to pawn moves, as they usually leave behind unpleasant weaknesses.
These are small pluses that can be developed during the game – they give something to play against and develop a plan around. In positions where there are no important weaknesses in the opponent’s camp one common idea is to provoke them by creating threats that can only be parried with a pawn advance. Even if this may not look like a big achievement at first, slow play can be developed around them.
Having a deep positional understanding is one of every chess player’s goals and one of the features that make a difference between a master and an amateur. But the strategy is not only about weaknesses and pawn structures; it extends to the pieces on the board as well – a chess player must be able to asses which of his pieces are better and recognize different patterns present on the board.
Have you ever stopped and asked yourself in which positions you feel comfortable? I know that for a long time I did not.
It is all too easy to get carried away with your repertoire, you choose to play the King’s Indian because you have seen a few beautiful games ending in some spectacular mating attacks. Or you go for the Marshall Attack because you get to attack. The variations are so exciting and they require memorization and understanding so the whole effort goes in that direction.
Weakness is probably the most important part of the chess game. Most of the ideas that can surface in a position are usually based on some kind of weakness. Whether it is a pawn, a square or a whole bunch of squares, weaknesses are something we try our best to provoke in our opponent’s position and then exploit at the maximum.
This is one of the most problematic aspects of learning when it comes to playing good chess. If the acquisition of tactical skills is more or less straight-forward: just solve an infinite number of tactical puzzles and you will be fine, the study of positional chess and improving your understanding is less concrete. I will write here about what worked for me. There are probably other ways to achieve a high level of understanding and positional play, especially involving modern technology, but it is always best to talk about something that is personal and actually worked in practice.
Who doesn’t like a good, successful attack?
It is probably every chess player’s dream – to crush their opponent with a well-conducted attack and crown it with a beautiful sacrifice. There are many players who like to attack and it is something we see often especially at the club level.
Attacks are started in most of the games, whether they work or not. We often see “aggressive” pawn moves that aim to build an attack, but which, for the experienced eye, are moves that create unnecessary weaknesses in the position.
In chess, the King is the one piece we try to protect almost throughout the whole game. We castle, we put it into safety and try to weaken it as little as possible, but can it actually help win the game? For most of you, it’s common knowledge that the monarch is a key piece in the endgame. The more centralized, the better.
An active king can, in certain positions, even compensate for a missing pawn.
