Chess: Basic Strategy and Terminology

Advancing your game to the next level: understanding key concepts, techniques, and attacking plays.

To master your chess play, it’s nice to know what strategy is out there. Yet, to describe such techniques and concepts, chess also has its own lingo. Here, then, we’ll describe some core introductory ideas to enhance your gameplay, along with helpful terminology that chess players understand universally (which is, actually, quite neat).

The stages of play:

To start our dive into your goals as a beginner, let us approach the entirety of the game from a bird’s eye view. From this perspective, we can divide a game as it transpires into roughly three stages:

  1. The Opening
  2. The Midgame
  3. The Endgame

Quite like their names entail, the “Opening” is the beginning of the game. During this time, your position is like a newborn babe: just setting out, still self-contained, but quickly maturing.

Once you’ve done what we call “developing” your pieces (namely, moving your “major pieces”, which are all of those but perhaps your pawns), and have undergone a few “trades” with your opponent (of taking their pieces followed by them taking yours), the game colloquially enters the “midgame.” This is where the battle reaches its climax.

Following the midgame, when each play only has a few pieces left on the board, is the endgame. Here, tricky and thoughtful plays are often key: a single pawn could make or break your path to checkmate.

Main ideas:

Now, before we continue, let us first mention that since chess has been around for quite sometime (hundreds of years, actually), quite a bit of thought has been put into it. In particular, much analysis has gone into the Opening stage of play, and chess players, with their development of theory particular to the game, have therefore since developed a host of sequences of starting plays that are together known as “Openings”. Such openings are indeed useful and each offers its own particular advantages (and necessary disadvantages). Just the Opening, then, already has a whole slew of standard plays that have even been pre-named. Here, however, we will focus more on general strategy and therefore why such move sequences are even helpful in the first place.

A sampling of but some openings.

Opening Goals:

Generally, as a beginner, intermediate, or even expert player, there are four things that you should be looking to accomplish in the opening as soon as possible:

  1. Controlling the Center
  2. Developing Your Pieces
  3. Castling
  4. Positioning Your Rooks

Let’s take a look at each of these more closely.

1. Controlling the Center:

The center, as it sounds, is the center of the board; and in particular, is the center four squares:

As a result, the vast majority of serious openings in chess have even their first move be attacking the center. (You will often see this either as a move of one of the central two or four pawns by two squares toward the center, or as a knight move with reach of the center). 

Controlling the center in a game is often the key to victory, for doing so ties down your opponent while giving you much space to initiate the attack. In chess, it’s therefore important to consider what room your pieces have: having a queen, for instance, is nice, but if surrounded by pawns in the corner, she won’t do you much good. 

Now, toward the end of gaining the center, or otherwise attacking your opponent, you may often here the term “pushing your pawns,” which simply refers to advancing your pawns closer to your opponent’s side of the board. Pawn pushing is an aggressive, yet likewise risky, business if not done so carefully.

2. "Developing" Your pieces:

Sure, you may start with a whole host of pieces, but they won’t do you any good sitting on your back rank. As a result, you want to get your pieces off that rank as soon as possible, and get them out onto the battlefield where they will actually serve some use. This process is known as “developing your pieces,” and like most starting strategies in chess, is something you generally want to do as early as possible. (Indeed, a piece is only worth what it can accomplish for you. Sitting cramped in its starting position doesn’t do much). 

3. Castling:

Castling is, generally, a mainstay of chess play, and accomplishes two important tasks: it tucks your king safely into the corner (where he can spectate from a distance as the carnage unfolds), and also brings that rook out of the corner and closer to the center of the board, where it will likely be far more useful. 

Also, in regards to castling and gameplay at large, we often use the terms “king side” and “queen side.” The “king side” is the half of the board from where the kings start to the edge, while the “queen side” is the other half, where the queens start and to the opposite edge of the board. Now, in most games, both players will castle king side. However, if “castling on opposite sides” occurs, where one player castles queen side and the other king side, then one can expect an exciting attacking game to ensue.

(See here where we discuss how to castle).

It should in addition be noted that if one castles queen side, that it is often a good idea to use another subsequent turn moving your king one more square toward the corner. This helps prevent any potential threats of your opponents pieces sneaking around with a dangerous flanking maneuver. 

4. Positioning Your rooks:

The rook, by its nature of moving only in straight lines, may find the opening and midgame to be quite restrictive, due to the mass of pieces that comes to litter the central stretches of the board. As a result, the initial uses of rooks are generally as battering-ram support. Lining them up along “open files” (those which have few or now pieces along them, and for which their reach is thus maximized), or as aid behind a pawn about to be pushed, are key techniques to follow. Thus, after having made your moves toward controlling the center, developing the rest of your pieces, and castling, it’s finally time to position your rooks on the squares of the back rank where you think they may be most helpful. 

In particular, one often used technique to dominate a particular file is called “doubling up” your rooks. This is achieved by putting one rook in front of the other, thereby strengthening their ramming power.

Attacking Basics: Forks and Pins:

Here, we’ll give some of the key methods you can use to quickly gain the upper-hand.

Forks:

A “fork” is generally whenever you simultaneously attack more than one piece (pawn, knight, bishop, rook, king, or queen) of your opponent’s, and they are guaranteed to lose at least one of them as a result (and generally, without equal compensation). 

Forks can be accomplished with essentially every piece, but especially common forks occur as a result of a pawn, knight, or queen. For instance, in the following positions, suppose that it is black’s turn to move. Regardless of what piece black moves, you are guaranteed to be able to take at least one of the attacked major pieces (for except for castling, they can only move one piece per turn).

1. Knight Fork:

2. pawn fork:

(Notice here above how the pawn attacking the bishop and knight is “protected” by the pawn behind it. As a result, even if the bishop takes the pawn here, one of blacks major pieces will still be lost, for the other pawn may take back.)

3. Queek Fork:

(In this situation, notice that one of the knights may be protected (by the rook, or, if not yet at the edge of the board, by the other knight); but one major piece of black’s here is guaranteed to fall unprotected.)

4. King Forks:

Some the deadliest forks occur when a piece is checking the opponent’s king while simultaneously attacking a major piece of theirs which they will not be able to receive equal compensation for. The opponent is therefore tied up having to deal with the check, while that other piece remains up for grabs. For instance, here’s one example:

Pins:

Utilizing check, since your opponent must spend their subsequent move getting out of check (or if not possible, losing the game), is often a helpful way of forcing the other player into an undesirable position. Just-above, we gave forking with the king as a way to directly take advantage of this. However, one can also utilize the concept of an opponent not being able to put themself into check in order to restrict their pieces’ movements. Aligning a piece against the opponent’s king such that they can’t move a piece, or otherwise be put in check, is known as “pinning” that piece. The pinned piece cannot legally move until it becomes “unpinned” (i.e., can move without putting the king into check).

Below are a couple examples:

Here, the rook finds itself pinned…

…and here, the knight finds itself pinned.

Advancing the attack: A step further:

As you confront your opponent on the board, it’s generally a good idea to be both mindful of what is available to you in your current position, and what may be fruitful to pursue in the long run.

"intermediate" moves ("Zwischenzug"):

As an introductory player, it may often be tempting to make the “obvious” move. For instance, if your queen is under direct attack, it may appear to make the most sense to simply move her out of harm’s way as soon as possible. However, many times, there is at least one of what we call an “intermediate” move or “zwischenzug,” which are moves which you can fit in-between dealing with a seemingly-immediate threat. For example, suppose your queen comes under fire from a protected pawn. Instead of simply retreating or repositioning her, however, suppose instead you can slide in with a bishop, dealing a check that the opponent must themself negotiate before being able to take your queen. The result is an “intermediate” move, and which may result in you having a better placed bishop than if you had immediately dealt with the threat to your queen.

SacrificeS:

Arguably one of the most exciting attacking plays is where you “sacrifice” a piece, or “sack,” for short. In such a play, you intentionally become “down the exchange,” of losing pieces (and thereby being worse in terms of a total piece point count), but do so for more daunting aggressive play. 

The more is lost in a sacrifice (or even a series of sacrifices), the more exciting things get; and indeed, likely the most amazing sacrifices are those involving the queen herself. (For some renowned queen sacrifices, check out these videos by YouTuber agadmator on two prominent games featuring them, given just below).

In short, then, it is best to play sacrifices if you can immediately see how they will give you the upper hand (and to not otherwise get overly carried away). 

"Zugzwang":

Such a position is one of the most unfortunate for a player to be in. “Zugzwang” essentially refers to when a player has no good move; and oftentimes, this means every move they can make only worsens their position. 

“Zugzwang” can be achieved through a combination of aggressive yet thoughtful play: bringing your pieces up the board while being mindful to gradually take away what squares your opponent has available to them, if allowed to continue by your opponent, will likely have them wind up in such a position. In particular, advancing one’s pawns (“pawn pushing,” as we described earlier) is a prime way to tie down your opponent toward this goal. (But, again, one must always be careful).

Toward the endgame:

Supposing that the game of wits has brought you to the endgame, now is the time to truly make use of each and every of your few remaining pieces.

In particular, when reaching the endgame, there are some basic checkmating patterns you should know. For the following checkmating endgame sequences, suppose that your opponent has no other pieces but their king left on the board.

King and queen:

In this scenario, you are fortunate enough to still have your queen. Also, for simplicity, suppose your opponent has no other remaining pieces. In this scenario, what you wish to do is force your opponent’s kind to the edge of the board, where you king may keep the other pressed while the queen delivers the checking blow.

If you reach this endgame, then it is key to use your king and queen to “box” in your opponents king toward a far side of the board. To achieve this, imagine the rectangle of squares that your queen is limiting the opponent’s king to. Then, whenever given the opportunity, move your queen so as to make this rectangle smaller, or otherwise narrower. Repeating this process will eventually force the king to an extreme rank or file, where checkmate may then be delivered.

Two Bishops:

You may at first be surprised that one may force a checkmate with two bishops and a king in such an endgame; but indeed, it is quite feasible. 

In this mating pattern, similar to those of a queen, rooks, or a mixture thereof, the goal is utilize your remaining pieces to force the opponent’s king to an edge file or rank. From there, one piece can deliver the check, while the others keep the king from moving off that edge.

In particular, mating with two bishops requires a little more thoroughness: rather than simply forcing the opponent’s king to an edge to deliver the mate anywhere along it, one must force the king into the corner. Your king, as in the above mates, will keep the other king from coming off the edge rank or file, while one of your bishops will deliver check and the other prevents the king from sliding to the side out of that corner. The result is checkmate. 

Two knights, or a bishop + knight:

Sadly, the possibilities of forced mating patterns stop with two bishops. It is simply impossible to force an endgame checkmate with just two knights, or just a bishop and a knight. However, with that said, if your opponent does not play the best moves, then it is possible.

And with fewer pieces, such as just a knight or bishop, a mate is not possible (unless your opponent has other piece(s) that blockade their king when in check).

Pawn endgames:

Now, some of the most exciting endgames are those that come down to where one or more pawns must deuce it out. (Indeed, in the film Searching For Bobby Fischer, Josh, the main character, and his opponent both rush their pawns to promotion in a dramatic feat of anticipation during the championship game). Much theory goes into such endgames; for instance, depending on the positioning of both kings and a single pawn that remains, one may know right from there whether there is a chance for victory or only a draw. My recommendation for understanding these endgames is to simply practice: there are a host of possible ending positions when it comes to pawns and kings, and there are a number of excellent resources for learning their ways. (Here, I mention some useful resources, and in particular, I recommend the following page of video chess lessons from Chess.com that specialize in the matter.)

As one note on the topic, however, there is something that you should certainly be familiar with in any pawn and king endgame, which is the concept of “the square.” The square is that imaginary square formed by an advanced pawn of your opponent’s and the rank it must reach to promote, as shown here:

If your king is not within the square of that pawn, then it will not be able to reach it in time to prevent its promotion. It’s best, then, to keep track of these little guys and not let them slip past you.

Onwards with your chess:

Hopefully then, the above has served useful to you as you begin your dive (or excursion, whichever you prefer) into chess and its awe-inspiring possibilities. But do get ready, for the fun has only just begun.