LoneKiller
Well-known member
I'm certainly no GM, but I'm hoping that this thread will be fun for all of us and we may learn some things from each other. Please by all means, if you have something to add, do so. I'm always looking to learn new things.
To begin with I'm just going to post some basic rules for those who might just be starting, and some for those who are in the intermediate class like me.
Piece Values
------------
These are just the base value of the pieces. Their true value depends on their role in any given position. If the position is locked up with pawns and such, the knight usually is better to have than a bishop in that particular position. If the position is wide open, bishops usually prove to be better.
Pawn= 1
Knight= 3.0
Bishop= 3.1
Rook= 5
Queen= 9
King= Infinite
The 3 Stages Of A Chess Game
------------------------------
"Opening"= The moves made at the beginning of the game. Usually, the 1st 10 moves or so.
"Middlegame"= This is the stage where most of the pieces are developed and the magic happens. By "Magic", I mean any random player's level of skill and thought that takes place.
"Endgame"= The stage where most of the pieces are gone leaving mostly pawns and maybe a minor piece or rook. This can often be a very difficult stage of the game. Quite often a mistake, however minor, can cost you the game.
General Tips
------------
1. Respect your pawns. Far too many players ignore them only to regret it later in the game. Especially the "Endgame". They're baby queens.
2. Don't move just for the sake of making a move. Always have a reason behind moving it.
3. Castling early is usually a good idea, but not always.
4. If you have a winning position, finish it. Don't **** around and get fancy about it.
5. Just because you can capture an opponents piece, doesn't mean that you should.
6. Bringing the queen out too early can result in your opponent attacking her with his pieces while getting the benefit of developing his or her pieces quickly as well.
7. During the "Middlegame" you should start thinking about the "Endgame". Look at your pawn structure. If you feel that it is solid, keep it that way.
8. Never set a trap and just hope that your opponent will fall into it. It's a quick way of weakening your position and may result in you going down a piece.
9. If you are up in material, it's usually a good idea to exchange pieces off so that your "Endgame" will be in most cases, an advantage. If you are down in material, try not to exchange.
10. Play your very best always. Not doing so is disrespectful to you and your opponent. If your opponent finds out that you took it easy on him or her, it takes all of their pleasure of thinking that they played well against you away.
CHESS TERMINOLOGY
---------------------
www.chessebook.com/glossar.php
I thought that I'd begin with the "Opening" stage of chess. In chess, there are so many openings around it's almost unbelievable. Depending on what style of play you are comfortable with, there is an opening that will accommodate you.
If you find one that you like, play it every game you play. This makes it easier for you to learn the theory behind it. You are going to experience a fair amount of losses while learning your chosen opening, but stick with it. Don't give up. It's all part of learning new openings.
If you know what style of chess player your opponent likes, try and play the opposite. Some players are good at more than one style, so beware.
When choosing an opening, keep in mind how it will affect your middlegame. What kind of pawn structure it leads to, things like that.
If players offer you some info on your opening of choice, take it. Learn as much about it as possible. Another thing that openings have are many, many different variations of a particular opening. Think of them as curve balls. These exist because not all players are going to play any exact "Book" opening moves. You must be ready in case your opponent plays a different move than you expected.
Below are the 3 parts of chess position analysis.
1. "Time"
2. "Space"
3. "Force"
TIME: The least number of moves it would take for the given piece to get to the square it's currently on.
SPACE: The number of squares any given piece of yours is attacking up to the 4th rank. (A "Rank" is the 8 horizontal squares across. A "File" is the 8 vertical squares up and down.)
FORCE: Simply the amount of your pieces compared to your opponents.
There is a pawn move in chess known as "En Passant"(In Passing).
We all know that pawns have an option to move 1 square or 2 squares on their 1st move. Say that you have a pawn sitting on the 5th rank. If your opponent decides to move 1 pawn from either side of your pawn 2 squares, it will end up right beside your pawn sitting on the 5th rank.
If this occurs, you are allowed to capture his pawn by doing what is called "En Passant". This means that you move your pawn directly behind the pawn of his that just moved up beside yours and capture it.
Should you decide not to do so, you can't use "En Passant" later. It must be done right away, or never.
Judging by the members that I have played thus far, it seems like they all like to be very aggressive, so I'm going to post some tips on attacking your opponents king with the purpose of checkmate in mind.
1. If you feel as though your pieces are in position to mount an attack on your opponents king, make very damn sure that you are prepared in case your attack fails. Too many people don't think about what happens if their mating attack fails, and are unprepared defensively, it can often cost them game. This is very important to keep in mind.
2. Sometimes players will "Sac"(Sacrifice)a piece in order improve their chances of getting at their opponents king and to remove the defending pieces from it, and deliver the final blow that results in checkmate. Sacrificing a piece should be taken very, very, seriously. You must be absolutely sure that it will work. Don't sacrifice a piece just for flash. Don't get fancy about it. I did that once and lost a game that was 4 hours in.
3. Watch your opponents bishops and how they relate to the protection of his or her king. The human eye isn't trained to look diagonally, which is why so many players hang pieces to them.
4. If your opponent has the position all locked up with defenders surrounding his king, it's usually a good idea to keep your knights handy.
If most of his or her pieces are surrounding their king in defense, try to attack his or her king indirectly. This means to attack the other side of the board where less defenders are. Now your opponent has 2 problems. Defending their king and defending their weak side. It's a truly dire state of affairs for them.
5. Every time a pawn is pushed, one diagonal line opens up, and another one closes. Watch out for the bishops! A pawn push can be responsible for opening up a diagonal line giving their bishop more range and power.
6. Try not to tie down your minor pieces defending pawns. If you are careful about it, pawns are great for defending each other.
Books I Highly Recommend:
Chess Fundamentals
No player should be without this gem. A wonderful and simple masterpiece.
Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess
A terrific all around book authored by in my opinion, the best player to ever play.
How Not To Play Chess
A cute but potent book. Full of great tips!
Pawn Power In Chess
Pawns are very important in chess. Many players don't give them the respect that they deserve. Often games are won or lost over pawn play. This boo is an essential piece of work for beginners and advanced players.
I'm going to use this post to discuss "Reading" your opponent. Yes, people do still play offline and in the flesh. lol
Poker and Chess have a lot in common. Especially "Reading" your opponent.
Just because it may look like chess players are deep in concentration and staring down at the board for 3 hours doesn't mean that they aren't glancing up at you in an effort to discover some "Tells".
When moves are played or the cards are dealt, different players have different reactions. Having a "Poker Face" in chess is important as well.
I'm going to list some different kinds of reactions players have during a game and it's particular situations that I have experienced. Just like the Doyle Brunson's or the Gus Hansen's of "Texas Hold 'Em",
there are the Gary Kasparov's and Anatoly Karpov's of chess. They're are considered legends in my books. Players at that level in their respective
games are tough to beat for so many reasons that I dare not try and list them all for fear of accidentally leaving important reasons out. Pressure
plays a huge role in these two games. Some players can deal with pressure much better than others. How they react to the pressure is of extreme importance.
1. If your opponent reaches for a piece to move then withdraws his hand 1, 2, or even 3 times often indicates that they aren't sure what to do.
2. Often looking to the side of the board where the captured pieces usually are, is a habit of many middle strength players. Even though I know I know better, I still do it from time to time myself out of the habit from when I 1st started playing. It's done by players because they are factoring the captured pieces into their analysis of the active pieces.
Look at what's on the board, not what's off.
4. When some amateur players make a blunder and finalize their move by hitting their clocks, only to realize their mistake afterwards, they know it's too late to take it back, and they will quite often have an obvious reaction, which tips their opponent off that something isn't kosher. In chess tournaments there is a rule known as "Touch Move". This means that if you touch a piece, you are required to move that piece as long as it isn't an "Illegal Move".( i.e Say that your knight is on the square right in front of your king, and your opponent's queen is on the square in front of your knight. You can't move his knight because doing so would place your king in "Check". The knight it known as being "Pinned" to your king, thus causing an illegal move.) Just because a player makes a blunder doesn't always mean that his or her opponent is going to see it. Stronger players who make a blunder often don't display any visible signs of their mistake.(Poker Face)
5. Look for things like shaking their head after a move, a verbal response to that move, adjusting themselves in their chair, leaning back on their chair, breathing differences, scratching the back of their heads, tapping the table with their hands, how hard they slam the pieces down when they realize that they may have been a little too quick to touch the piece and are required to move it.(Touch move)
This site is where I play under the name: Clinton_1
http://www.chess.com/
My apologies to kamya for not being able to include his awesome Youtube chess related videos he so kindly added in the original thread.
