In this article, I will explain everything about chess strategy and chess tactics, and I will also try to explain how can you benefit from these two tools together.

What is a chess strategy?

In order to win chess game, you have to create a strategy, which is also called planing, without creating chess strategy you can not win.

For example if you are playing chess and you do not have a plan for attack or a plan for creating more weakness then how will you win? that’s why you must create a strategy or planning for winning chess game.

There are many chess strategies which works on almost any positions. I will list here some of the chess strategies which will work almost on all of your chess games, but remember that everything also has some exceptions.

Let’s learn these chess strategies with exemplary chess games.

Chess Strategies for Winning Chess Games

1. Control the Center

Control of the center especially in opening is necessary for all chess players, because that’s what the most important area of battles on the board.

What’s the benefit of controlling the center? Well the control on the center gives you power and space which will help you in the attack.

Here is an image of larger center.

Let’s watch game below, which shows the power of controlling the center and how to get benefits from owned center.

Hats Off to Paul Morphy, now I hope you understand the power of the center. In the opening control the center with pawns, and If possible then bring all the powers to the center.

Let’s watch another chess game for learning importance of the center.

In above game, Karpov sacrificed b pawn in order to get fast development of his pieces. after that he dominated the center until he got winning chess position.

2. Develop Your Minor Pieces First

I have analysed many chess beginners’ games and that’s the number one mistake (they do not develop their minor pieces) they made in the opening.

In the opening, you must develop your pieces and do not move pawns until its forced.

If you have the choice to play the pawn move or piece then choose piece move above pawn move, which will surely give you the advantage.

Let’s watch chess game where white players develop his chess pieces and black did not develop properly.

Let’s watch another game, which shows the importance of piece development in the opening.

See how Capablanca centralized his pieces and then launched an attack on the king. Black has blundered to the checkmate but even if he defends he would have created more weakness.

3. Improve Your Pawn Structure

Learning pawn structure is one of the main topic for improvement especially if you are beginner.

Try to learn different pawn structures and master them, pawn structures also help in the  middlegame for the decision of attack.

Let’s watch one game where black has isolated pawn and lost the game because of it.

In above game, white managed to isolated black’s d pawn and converted into winning position.

4. Castle Early When Possible

Castling in chess is one of the main opening task, why should we castle? we castle our king because it is in the center and that’s where most of fights begin, like e4 and e5, that’s why you should castle early in the opening and if you do it, you will get two benefits.

Number one is that you take your king into safety and second is that now your rooks will be connected.

Here is a chess games, where black was not castled early and faced deadly attack from white side.

In above chess game, white castled on move 4 and started the attack on black’s king and converted the advantage of early castling into a win.

5. Rook on Open Files

Rook endgames are one of most important topic in chess, you almost play rook endgame on every chess game.

The one thing you should keep in mind while playing rook endgame is that The Active Rook is better than a passive even if it costs you pawn or two pawn.

Here is the one chess game, where you will see how white activates his rook and make use of it.

That’s about the general rules of chess strategies, now you can use them in your practical chess games and you will get benefits of above knowledge.

Let’s learn about our second topic which is tactics.

How to Learn Tactics for Beginners

How many puzzle do you solve daily? and how much they help you in your real game? how many times you got a tactical position which you have solved in your tactic training?

I hope you got the point, just solving chess puzzles will not help you much and its very rare that you get a solved position on chess board.

So here question arises, how beginners should learn the tactics.

The answer is learn patterns and motifs, because that’s where you develop your logical understanding.

Now I will list some of patterns or motifs below, after studying these pattern you will able to do tactical shot if position arises in your chess games. And these motifs will also help you to solve tactical positions.

Back Rank Mate

This is often neglected checkmate pattern in beginners, when you see that your opponent’s king has castled and did not move one of pawn above the king, that’s where you must feel that there can be back rank checkmate.

Let me explain with the picture.

In above example white is to move, now  white will take his rook and it will be back rank mate because his king can not escape from back rank.

Let’s see this back rank mating motif in action, let’s watch this chess game.

Back Rank Checkmate with Rook

I hope now you understand the motif of back rank and now you know what is the back rank and how to deliver it.

Pin and Win

There is one famous saying which is Pin and Win. That means when you pin your opponent’s piece then you must try win it.

Here is the picture of pin.

In above picture, its white to move and white will play rook to c2 and black is unable to capture that rook because his queen is pinned, if black protects its queen with king then his rook will take either with rook or queen.

So in conclusion, you have many opportunities in chess game where pin is possible but we do not think about it, from now on you will be aware of pin and its uses.

Skewers in Chess

What is a skewer? A skewer in chess is an attack where a powerful piece, like the queen, rook, or bishop, aims at two of the opponent’s pieces lined up. The piece in front has to move to safety, leaving the piece behind open to capture.

Here is picture of skewer, it occurs often in our daily chess games.

For details with exemplary chess games, you may visit this link: https://chessrewards.com/skewers-in-chess/

Hunt F2/F7 Pawn in the Opening

In the opening, the weakest square on the board is f2 or f7, because its not protected by any other piece. Here is the picture of highlighted F2/F7 pawn.

Let’s see this pattern in real chess game and you can learn how to do it practically.

Now you can see, how white applied this tactical motif on black’s player.

The tip is that you can try this motif, when you have advantage in development, like you have developed your minor pieces and your opponent did not.

Castling on Opposite side

Yes you read it right, if you are a attacker and want to win game with attack , attack, attack, and win, then you can apply this motif in your game, but there is one condition to it.

The condition is, if your opening theory allows you to castle on the opposite then you can apply this attacking motif in your chess games.

This theme often occurs against Sicilian Defense, so if you are E4 player then here is an example for you.

I hope now you got the point, but you have to remember the rule which is, if your opening theory allows you to castle on opposite side, then you must try this pattern in your real chess game.

For more details of castling you can visit this link: https://chessrewards.com/how-to-castle-in-chess/

The Greek Gift

This is my favorite pattern in tactics, in this pattern you need three pieces to deliver checkmate or winning a huge material advantages.

Number one thing you should know is when you have your pawn on E5.

Because when you have a e5 pawn then his king’s defender knight will not sit on f6 square, that is the number one condition for applying greek gift.

Second condition is, you can sacrifice your bishop on h7, and where black has to take back with king.

Third condition is that your knight f3  can jump to g5 delivering a check to king.

Fourth and last condition is that your queen can join the attack via d3 or g4.

Let’s see all above theory in action.

This is the position where all 4 conditions became true. Here is a tip for finding quick check on greek gift.

When you see your pawn on E5, then you must check 4 conditions in your mind and try it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, chess strategies and chess tactics are connected together, and you should learn these topics one by one.

About the solving puzzles, you must learn theory and motif behind it, if you learn with patterns it will help you a lot in your practical chess games.

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Blackburn’s mate (also known as “Blackburn’s trap”) is named after English chess player Joseph Henry Blackburn (1841-1924) one of the strongest players of the 19th century.

The history of this mate is interesting because it arose from a practical game. Blackburn used this combination in several of his games and it became particularly famous after a game against an unknown amateur in 1876.

The Blackburn’s mate requires the interaction of two bishops and a knight to checkmate the enemy king on the edge of the board.

An opponent’s piece or pawn blocks the king’s only escape route.

One of the bishops protected by the knight declares mate on a square adjacent to the king. The other bishop controls the diagonal.

The knight controls the square of the attacking bishop’s color next to the king (which may also be occupied by an opponent’s piece or pawn).

The opponent’s piece blocks their king’s retreat paths along the edge of the board.

Blackburn was known for his aggressive combinational style of play and this mate well reflects his approach to chess. He often gave simultaneous exhibitions and used similar tactical strikes against amateurs.

You can try to deliver this mate at this link: https://trainer.studychessboard.com/typemate.php?type=blackburnes_mate

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The key to a successful skewer lies in exploiting the line of attack and putting pressure on the opponent’s pieces.

Here is the picture of the skewer in chess tactics.

How to Skewer in Chess

There are two things to do before understanding skewer in chess.

Primary Target

Identify the more valuable piece that you want to skewer. This could be a queen, rook, or any higher-ranking piece.

Secondary Target

Locate the less valuable piece positioned behind the primary target. This piece becomes vulnerable once the primary target moves.

Exemplary Chess Games of Skewers in Chess

Let’s look at the 5 exemplary chess games of skewers in chess and understand how they occur and when should we look at them.

White tricked black player, Skewer Game:1

The black player was happy in the starting that white lost his knight but the white player had a skewer at his disposal and executed the skewer and finally converted it into a won game. The game also shows how to play the endgame when you are exchanged up, let’s watch the game and keep an eye on move 8.

A skewer which won the queen, Game 2:

This game ended in a draw but we are watching this game because of the skewer, white delivered a skewer which forced black to give up his queen. Let’s watch this game.

Conclusion

In chess, skewers are powerful tactics where a more valuable piece is attacked, forcing it to move and revealing a less valuable piece behind it that can be captured.

Skewers can help players gain material advantage and control the game. Mastering skewers is important for improving chess skills and winning more games.

The post Skewers in Chess [with Examples] appeared first on Chess Mars.

The pin in chess is a tactical move that can tie down and paralyze your adversary’s pieces.

In this article, we’ll break down the art of pinning in simple terms and explore how grandmasters have used this strategy to conquer their opponents.

What are pins in chess?

Imagine you have a magician on your chessboard. The magician has the power to freeze one of your opponent’s pieces on the chess board. This magical restraint is what we call a “pin” or pins in chess.

In simple words, when a piece is pinned, it can’t move without exposing a more valuable piece behind it.

Here is a simple image of the pin, the highlighted knight on c6 is pinned and paralyzed at the moment and can’t move.

Opening: Ruy López, Old Steinitz Defense

Types of Pins in Chess

There are two main types of pins in chess.

• the absolute pin
• the relative pin

Let’s learn more about these two kinds of pins.

Absolute Pin

In an absolute pin, a piece cannot move because doing so would expose the king to check.

For example, if a bishop is in line with the opponent’s king, it cannot move because the king is hiding behind it.

Relative Pin

A relative pin occurs when moving a pinned piece would expose a more valuable piece, but it’s not the king. For instance, if a queen is in line with a rook, moving the rook would expose the queen to capture.

How to Use Pins in Chess Effectively

Now that we understand the basics, let’s see how you can use pins to your advantage:

Identify Vulnerable Pieces

Look for enemy pieces that are loosely guarded or have important pieces lined up behind them.

Create Absolute Pins

Place your pieces in positions that force your opponent to move a piece, exposing their king to check. Bishops and queens are excellent for creating absolute pins.

Exploit Relative Pins

Pin a piece that, if moved, would expose a more valuable piece. This can lead to gaining material or positional advantages.

5 Exemplary Chess Games of Pins

Here are 5 chess games regarding our tactical theme “The Pin”. Please watch these games carefully to learn these patterns.

Exploiting the Pin, Game: Schlechter vs Leonhardt 1912

Watch out move 42, when white sees a pin and exploits it and black resigns it.

Getting Extra Pawn with Pin, Game: Capablanca vs Alekhine 1927

At move 32 Capablanca won the pawn by seeing the pin, can you see it yourself? check out this game below.

Pinning with Checkmate Threat Game: Evans vs Bisguier 1958

This is a very interesting example of the pin because of the checkmate threat!

A Pin Wins the Rook Game: Ljubojevic vs Ivanchuk, 2019

You must practice the pin enough or at least when you can see a pin 2,3 moves before, Ljubojevic saw the pin and the won the game. Let’s watch this game below.

How to Pin and Win the Game: Smirin vs Grischuk, 2005

This game shows the power of the pin and how difficult is the suffering of the pin. In this game white player sees the opportunity few moves ahead and easily executes the pin, we can follow this example and we should apply the pin theme in our games. Let’s watch the game.

Conclusion

In conclusion, The pin is a tactical theme in chess, where you trap an opponent’s piece, making it stuck and restricting its movement.

This strategic move opens up chances for you to attack and gain an upper hand in the game. Learning how to recognize and use pins gives you a smart advantage and improves your overall chess strategy.

In the end, I would suggest that you should look for the pin in your next game and you should apply this theme.

The post What are Pins in Chess [A Practical Guide] appeared first on Chess Mars.

A fork in chess is a tactical move where a single piece simultaneously attacks two or more opponent pieces, creating a double threat.

This forces the opponent to make a difficult choice, either sacrifice one of the attacked pieces or find a way to defend both.

Forks are powerful tactical weapons, often leading to material gain and strategic advantages.

Understanding Forks

Forks are a manifestation of the tactical aspect of chess, where players exploit the vulnerability of opponent pieces.

They can occur at any stage of the game, from the opening to the endgame, and can involve various pieces such as knights, bishops, rooks, and even the queen.

The key elements of a fork include

Here are the key elements of fork which include double threat, material gain, and coordination.

Double Threat

A fork involves attacking two or more opponent pieces simultaneously. This places the opponent in a challenging position, as defending both pieces may be impossible.

Material Gain

The primary goal of a fork is to gain material advantage. By capturing one of the opponent’s pieces, the player executing the fork aims to tip the balance of material in their favor.

Coordination

Forks often rely on the coordination of pieces, exploiting the opponent’s lack of coordination or poor positioning.

Exemplary Chess Games of Forks Theme in Chess

Let’s explore a couple of exemplary chess games where forks played a crucial role.

Example 1: Paul Morphy vs. Count Isouard and the Duke of Brunswick (1858)

One of the most famous games played by the legendary Paul Morphy involved a fork. Let’s watch the game.

Here, at move 7 white attacked the pawn on f7 and b7 at the same time and this is called Fork in chess where you attack two enemy pieces at the same time. The question that arose here was why white didn’t capture the b7 pawn, I will leave this question for you, submit your answer via comments below.

Example 2: Spassky vs Averkin (1973)

In this game, at move 27 Spassky forked rook and pawn on g7 with checkmate threat. Let’s watch the game until you reach move 27.

I hope you found the fork and its meaning, basically when you attack two pieces at the same time and your opponent has only the option to save one of them that is called the fork.

In our chess games, we have a lot of ideas and options to fork but we do not think about it, on the contrary, all the title players have a good ability to find weaknesses in the opponent’s camp and they exploit it very easily.

Example 3: Dueckstein, Andreas vs Johannsson, Ingi Randver (Knight Fork)

In this game at move 28 white delivered a classical fork with the knight. The knight is a very powerful piece when it comes to the fork because the knight attacks many squares simultaneously. Let’s watch the game.

Example 4: Yates vs Reti [Double Threat with Knight]

Again in this example knight’s fork forced the player to resign, let watch the game.

Example:5 Karolyi vs Ruf [Find the move]

This game ended as a draw but can you find the tactical shot that white has, it’s also related to fork, when you find it post it in comments below.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the fork in chess stands out as a tactical masterpiece. It’s a strategic move where a single piece simultaneously attacks two or more opponent pieces, forcing them into a tough choice. The effectiveness of the fork lies in creating a dilemma for the opponent, often leading to a favorable exchange of material.

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