How to Improve at Chess

Written by: Clive Ke

Last Edit: 2 June 2018

Copyright © 2018 Clive Ke.

All rights reserved.

Contents

Introduction to the Book

How to Improve

Preliminaries

Rules

Algebraic Notation

Points System

Diagrams

The Opening

Introduction to the Opening

The 7 Rules For Playing A Good Opening

What Does An Ideal Opening Look Like?

A Solid Opening Plan For You To Use

The Common Opening Attacks!

Some Of The Most Popular Chess Openings

Conclusion

The Middlegame

Introduction to the Middlegame

Practicing Tactics!

Middlegame Planning

Middlegames From Our Recommended Openings

Conclusion

The Endgame

Introduction to the Endgame

The 4 Basic Mates

Pawn Endgames

Rook Endgames

Conclusion

How to Think

Illustrative Games

A Few Tips For Online Blitz Chess

Closing Thoughts

Introduction to the Book

Clive Ke has been a chess player for over 15 years and has competed in tournaments nationally. In this book he hopes to show chess beginners how to improve at chess quickly.

Learning chess can be difficult and progress can be slow. Often players can play hundreds of chess games without really getting any better at chess.

In this event a good coach could give you a few pointers and tips which would help improve your chess game dramatically, and this books hopes to do just that for you.

Very often players practice in the wrong ways or spend time learning complex theory that they forget or never understand in the first place. This can lead to frustration and wasted time.

Enough people have done this that the author wanted to show new chess players how to improve quickly in clear, simple steps.

Keenness is not enough alone to make someone a strong chess player. You have to be going in the right direction too. This book will help point you in the right direction, after that your own efforts will determine how good at chess you become.

Eventually any chess beginner can get to a level where they can compete with pretty much anyone. Reading this book will help do that for you.

How to Improve

How do we improve at chess as quickly as possible?

This book is all about how to improve at chess as quickly as possible. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I made, and I don’t you to spend ages playing chess games, reading chess books, learning strategy, or doing other chess-related things, only to realise that you haven’t actually improved much at chess. If you’ve ever heard of the 80/20 principle, you’ll know that many people think that if you practice in the right way, you can get 80% of the results in 20% of the time. That’s what this book is all about - I want to show you the practices which will get you 80% of the results and will only take you a short amount of time.

If you are a beginner I want to get you to a stage where you can beat all your friends at chess easily and relax while you’re doing so. If you’re an intermediate level player I want to show you how to improve your game quickly so you can win more matches and win more tournaments. And we’ll do all this in the shortest amount of time possible.

Most beginners think that playing a lot of chess games is a good way to improve their chess skill. Playing chess games is a decent way to improve if you are an absolute beginner, as you’ll quickly learn from your mistakes and will the basic concepts of chess, but I have seen players who have played hundreds of chess games and are still terrible at chess. It makes me so sad when I see this, because I know that if instead of spending hundreds of hours playing chess games, they had just picked up my chess book and read it for even only a couple of hours, they would learn all of the basic tips and tricks that would help them crush all of the opponents that they are currently struggling with. You could spend literally hundreds or thousands of hours playing chess games and never get an better at chess - OR you could quickly spend 3 hours reading the sections in my book on “The Opening” and “The Middlegame” and learn the 4 basic mates in “The Endgame” section - and be able to beat most of the chess players out there.

Some people think memorising openings is a good way to improve at chess (it’s not) and others spend a lot of money on expensive chess coaches but still don’t improve much at chess. What are all the ways that people try to improve at chess? Let’s have a look at just some of the things people try to improve their chess:

1. Playing chess games - As mentioned before playing chess games might help you improve at chess but doesn’t guarantee it at all

2. Learning opening theory - Some players spend hours memorising opening moves to try to get an advantage in the first few moves of a game

3. Practicing Tactics - This means practicing calculating moves which win material or get you into a better position (Hint: this is a great way to improve at chess)

4. Practicing Endgames - This means practicing positions that commonly occur at the end of a game (Hint: this is also a great way to improve at chess)

5. Reading chess books - reading chess books will of course help improve your chess, but some books are better than others, so if you happen to have picked all the rubbish chess books to read then you’ll get nowhere

6. Hiring chess coaches - a chess coach can help you improve quickly, but only if you find the right coach and also it can be expensive

7. Analysing master chess games - a lot of top players will analyse the games of the greatest players to have ever lived to try to learn new ideas.

8. Reading chess articles - There are loads of chess magazines, journals or online articles which talk about different areas of chess which you can read.

9. Learning chess strategy - strategy means long-term planning and is difficult for even top players to understand. Trying to learn strategy is often confusing and you might waste a lot of time going round in circles.

10. Analysing your own games - Obviously looking back at your own games and learning from your mistakes is a great way to improve at chess, but if you don’t have the right knowledge in the first place then you might not even be able to correctly identify your mistakes.

11. Discussing chess with your friends - This largely depends on how good your friends are at chess. If your friends are terrible at chess, then discussing chess with them is likely going to get you nowhere.

12. Watching chess videos - There are tons of videos online which can teach you about different areas of chess

So which of the above ways of improving your chess are the best? Well, I’ve already given you a massive hint, but the answer is below.

The Answer

Unlike some books which save all their secrets until the end, I am going to tell you the answer to the question “How do I improve at chess as quickly as possible” right now. Are you ready? The best way to improve at chess as quickly as possible is:

“The best way to improve at chess as quickly as possible is to practice tactics and practice endgames.”

Sounds great doesn’t it? Of course, you might not know how to practice tactics, or you might not even know what an endgame is yet if you are a beginner, so that’s what the rest of this book is about.

All of the different ways of improving at chess that we showed above have some uses at some times of course. For example learning chess strategy is a good idea once you become a master-level player, but if you are a beginner then there are much more important things to worry about than learning chess strategy. In this book we will go through all of the basic chess strategy you need to become a very good player, but we won’t go through all of the complex strategic ideas that take ages to understand and frankly might not even help that much once you do understand them.

The problem with the other ways of improving at chess is that playing chess games doesn’t necessarily improve your chess, and learning opening theory really doesn’t help at all as you might have no idea what to do as soon as the opening ends. Reading chess books can help but only if you pick the right books, and hiring a chess coach is only good if you pick the right coach. Analysing master games is a good idea once you become a strong player (which we will be by the end of this book) but if you’re a beginner trying to analyse master games you probably won’t understand what’s going on. Reading chess articles and watching chess videos is usually only going to teach you a specific lesson each time, and won’t necessarily teach you the core lessons which will help you be a better chess player.

In general if you’re a beginner then you want to spend more time practicing tactics if you want to improve as quickly as possible, and if you’re an intermediate level player then you want to spend more time practicing endgames to improve as quickly as possible. This is because if you’re a beginner you might get crushed in the first few moves of a chess game and never make it to the end of a game, so practicing tactics will help you avoid that. Once you’ve learnt all of the basic tactics though, you won’t be getting beaten early on in a game, so practicing endgames is then the best way to learn how to get an advantage over your opponents. Professional players will spend a lot of time analysing master games and analysing their own games, so therefore the best way to improve at chess for each level of player is:

For beginners: Practice tactics

For intermediate players: Practice endgames

For professional players: Analysing master games and analysing their own games.

Practicing tactics and practicing endgames is important for all levels of player however, and even professional players will still spend a lot of time practicing tactics and practicing endgames. If you’re a beginner you probably want to spend 60% of your time practicing tactics, 30% practicing endgames and only 10% playing chess games. If you’re an intermediate level player, then you probably want to spend 60% of your time practicing endgames, 30% practicing tactics and 10% playing chess games. You’ll also want to analyse your own games of course so that you can see what your mistakes were and avoid making the same mistakes twice, but if you don’t understand tactics and endgames then you might not even know what your mistakes were in the first place.

So there we have it. Practicing tactics and practicing endgames is the best way to improve at chess as quickly as possible. If you were to put down this book right now and do nothing else but practice tactics and practice endgames then I would still be happy, because at least I would know that I have helped raise the chess level in the world.

Let’s get started on the book then! In this book I’ll show you how to get through the opening (which is really pretty simple once you know the basics of opening play), I’ll show you how to try to win in the middlegame, and then we’ll practice tactics together and I’ll teach you all of the basic endgame skills you need to become a good player. Once you’ve read this book you’ll be able to thrash all your friends at chess and you’ll be the envy of everyone around you as they marvel at your chess skills. Let’s go!

Preliminaries

Preliminaries

First things first though, before we get into a book about chess we’ll have to go through a few things for all you beginners out there who’ve never read a chess book before. In this section we’re going to go through the rules of chess, how algebraic notation works, and how the points system works. If you’ve read chess books before then you can probably skip this section and just move onto the next chapter.

Rules

Chess is a board game played between two players. The chessboard is a square board made up of 64 alternating white and black squares (also called light and dark squares). At the beginning of the game the chessboard is set up as shown in the diagram below.

The colour of the squares is important when setting up the chessboard. At the beginning of the game the player with the white pieces is supposed to have a black square in their bottom left-hand corner, and a white square in their bottom right-hand corner. This means that the white queen (circled in the diagram above) is supposed to be on a white square. This also means that the black queen is supposed to be on a black square.

The players make alternate moves, and the player with white pieces always moves first. Therefore when the game begins white will make a move, then black will make a move, then white, then black, then white etc. Both players must always make a move when it is their turn, you aren’t allowed to “pass” on your turn.

On each move you must move one of your pieces to a different square. Most of the pieces move in straight lines so their moves are easy to remember, but there a few exceptions.

You win the game by “checkmating” your opponent. Simply put, checkmate means you have captured your opponent’s king.

Let’s now take a look at how each of the pieces move.

The Pawn

Each player begins with 8 pawns and they are generally (but not always) the weakest piece on the board. The reason they are the weakest is because their movement is generally the most limited of all the pieces. The pawn can move in one of 3 ways, depending on the situation (there is actually a special 4th way the pawn can move but it’s a bit complicated so we’ll come to it later):

1. You can move the pawn one square forwards, to the square directly in front of it. The pawn can never move backwards.

2. If a particular pawn has not been moved yet in the game, that pawn can move two squares forwards. Once you’ve moved that pawn of course, you can only move that pawn one square forwards again each turn.

3. Pawns can only capture diagonally, one square to the upper-right or one square to the upper left.

The diagram below shows the 3 ways a pawn can move:

The first pawn on the left has not moved yet, so you can move it 2 squares forwards, to the circled square (you can also move it only 1 square forwards if you want to). The second pawn to the right of it clearly has already moved, as it is not on its starting square, so if you want to move this pawn you can only move it one square forward, to the circled square. Finally, the third pawn which is furthest on the right can capture one of the enemy pieces which are diagonally in front of it. It can either capture the black knight which is one square to its upper-left, or it can capture the black rook which is one square to its upper-right, but it cannot capture the enemy pawn which is directly in front of it. In fact the white pawn is blocked from moving forwards by the black pawn. If you wanted to move this white pawn the only 2 moves you are allowed to make are to either to capture the black knight or to capture the black rook. Pawns can only capture pieces diagonally, they cannot capture pieces in front of them. This makes the pawn the only piece in the game which captures in a different way than it normally moves.

The pawn might seem boring so far, as it generally only plods directly forwards, but the pawn is actually the most special of all the pieces. This is because the pawn can transform into another piece. If you manage to plod your pawn forwards all the way to the end of the board, that pawn is said to be “Promoted” and you can transform that pawn into either a knight, bishop, rook or queen. Almost everyone chooses to transform their promoted pawns into a queen as the queen is the best piece in the game. The diagrams below show this.

In the diagram on the left, both the white pawn on the left and the black pawn on the right are about to promote in one move. The white pawn will move one square forward and reach the end of the board and become a queen, and the black pawn will also move one square forward and become a queen. The diagram on the left shows what has happened on the next move - both the white and black pawns have been promoted and have become queens.

The Bishop

The bishop can move in a diagonal line as many squares as it likes. It cannot jump over other pieces however (in fact, no piece can jump over another piece, except for the knight which we will come to later). It can capture any enemy piece which is on a square that it can move to. The diagram below shows the moves of a bishop:

The white bishop in the middle of the board in the diagram above can move to any of the circled squares. It can also capture the black pawn to its upper-right, but it cannot jump over it.

The Knight

The knight moves in an “L” shape. It moves two squares vertically and one to the side. It’s range is therefore quite short, unlike the bishop. The knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces. It can jump over its own pieces and also enemy pieces. The knight can capture any enemy piece which is on a square that the knight can land on, but of course it cannot move to a square which has one of its own pieces on it. The diagram below shows the moves of the knight.

In the diagram above the white knight has 7 possible moves. It can move to any of the 7 circled squares. The white knight can capture a black pawn, it can jump over the enemy rook or enemy pawn, and it can jump over its own pawn, but obviously it cannot move to the square which already has a white pawn on it.

The Rook

The rook’s move is the simplest to understand of all the pieces. It moves in a straight line, either horizontally or vertically. It can move as many squares as it likes in a straight line. It can capture any enemy piece which is in its way, but obviously cannot jump over other pieces. That’s all there is to know about how the rook moves. The diagram below shows how the rook moves:

In the diagram above the white rook has 12 possible moves. It can move to any of the 12 circled squares. It can capture the black pawn to its right, but it cannot jump over it.

The Queen

The queen is the best piece in the game. It can move as many squares as it likes in a straight line horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. It therefore combines the moves of a rook and a bishop. It can capture any enemy piece in its way, but of course it still cannot jump over other pieces. The diagram below shows the moves a queen can make:

In the diagram above the white queen in the middle of the board has a whopping 26 available moves. It can move to any of the 26 circled squares, and it can capture the black pawn to the right of it. Obviously pawns can also become queens when they reach the end of the board. Because the queen is the best piece, most players try hard not to lose their queen during the game.

The King

The queen may be the most powerful piece on the board, but the king is the most important. If you lose your king then you lose the game. The king can move one square in any direction. It can move up, down, left, right or diagonally, but only one square at a time. Another way to say this is that the king can move to any square which is directly next to it. The king can also capture any piece which is directly next to it. However, the king obviously cannot move to a square where it can be captured by an enemy piece. Well, I guess you could try to move your king to a square where it can be captured, but you would just automatically lose the game, so I wouldn’t recommend it. The diagram below shows the moves of a king

In the diagram above the king has 6 available moves shown by the 6 circled squares. It can move to any of the squares next to it, except it can’t move to the upper-left square because there it could be captured by black’s bishop, and it also can’t move the square directly upwards from it as there it could be captured by black’s pawn.

Capturing

You win the game by capturing your opponent’s king, but to make it easier for you to do that, you generally try to remove as many of your opponent’s pieces as possible. You do that by capturing your opponent’s pieces. If an enemy piece is on a square which one of your pieces can move to, then you can capture that enemy piece. You do this by removing the enemy piece from the board and then your piece moves to the square where the enemy piece was. The exception to this of course is the pawn which as we’ve already mentioned is the only piece which captures in a different way to how it moves. You cannot capture, or jump over, your own pieces. You cannot have two of your own pieces on the same square at the same time at any point during the game. I’ve already shown you a few examples of capturing when I was showing you the moves of the pieces, but to make it extra clear I’ll use another diagram below.

Step 1. It is white’s move and white is very happy because he can capture black’s knight. White will move his rook to where the black knight is and the black knight will be removed from the board:

Step 2. This is the resulting position. Black’s knight has been removed from the board and white’s rook is now where the black knight used to be:

There are lots of different words which mean capture. Commonly chess players will say “captures”, “takes”, “eats”, or even “kills”. These words all mean the same thing - they are used when one piece captures or takes an enemy piece.

That’s the moves of all the pieces, but there are two more special moves in chess that I have to show you. They are called the “castling” move and the “en passant” move

Two Special Moves in Chess

Castling

Castling is a special move you are allowed to make which helps you protect your king. In fact, castling is a very special move, as its the only time in the game you are allowed to move two pieces on the same move.

The castling move is done with the king and rook at the same time, and you are only allowed to do the castling move if both your king and your rook have never moved before. If either your king or your rook have moved, even just once, then you are not allowed to castle ever during the game. To perform a castling move, you move your king two squares to the right and your rook two squares to the left. The diagrams below show how to castle:

Step 1. White is about to castle. His king is about to jump two squares to the right, and his rook is about to move two squares to the right. You must have no pieces in-between your king and rook if you want to castle:

Step 2. White completes his castling move. His king has moved two squares to the right and his rook has moved two squares to the left, all on the same turn. White has completed his move and now it is black’s turn:

The diagrams above showed white castling his king to the right, which is called “kingside” castling. You can also castle your king to the left - this is called “queenside” castling:

Step 1. White is about to castle to the left. Again white must have no pieces between his king and his rook if he wants to castle. To castle white’s king will move 2 squares to the left and his rook will move 3 squares to the right:

Step 2. White completes queenside castling. His king has moved 2 squares to the left and his rook has moved 3 squares to the right. It is now black’s turn:

There are many rules regarding castling however which dictate when you’re allowed to do it and when you’re not allowed to do it.

- Each player can only castle once per game

- In order to castle both the king and the rook which are involved in the castling must both have never moved before in the game. If your other rook has moved before that’s still ok and you can still castle with the rook that hasn’t moved before.

- You aren’t allowed to castle when your king is in check, or if any of the squares that your king moves through are in check. The diagram below shows this. White is not allowed to castle to the left (queenside), because to do so his king would have to move through a square that is under check by black’s bishop, which is shown by the circled square. White is allowed to castle to the right though (kingside) - it doesn’t matter that his rook on his right is under attack by black’s bishop, so long as none of the squares that white’s king has to pass through are under attack, then white can castle:

En Passant

The special castling move which I just showed you might seem a bit complicated at first but once you’ve played a few games you’ll quickly get the hang of it. The “en passant” move on the other hand, is just downright freaky. In fact, the “en passant” move is so hard to understand that a lot of beginner players don’t even know it exists. If you know the “en passant” move you might be able to catch out a lot of your friends when you play against them. I’ll try my best to explain the en passant move here with diagrams, but it will make more sense when we go through examples throughout this book.

En passant is the special 4th pawn move that I mentioned earlier. Normally, a pawn can only capture a piece that is diagonally one square to its upper-left or one square to its upper-right. There is one exception to this and that is the “en passant” capture. This is a special way a pawn can capture another pawn.

Step 1. Here white will in a moment do the special en passant capture but now it is actually black’s turn to move. Black is about to move their pawn two square forwards to the circled square:

Step 2. Black has moved their pawn forward two squares and now it is white’s turn to move. Now white has the opportunity to do the en passant capture. White’s pawn can capture black’s pawn as through it had only moved one square forward instead of two squares forward. White’s pawn will end up on the circled square and black’s pawn will be out of the game:

Step 3. White has completed the en passant capture and this is the resulting position. It is now black’s turn to move. Note that black’s pawn has disappeared from the board but white’s pawn is not on the square that black’s pawn used to be on. This is the only time in chess when you capture a piece but don’t end up on the square that the enemy piece used to be on:

An important thing to note is that you only get one chance to do en passant. Once your opponent has moved their pawn two squares forward resulting in it standing directly to the side of your pawn, you must capture the enemy pawn using en passant immediately if you are to do it at all. If you choose to make some other move, then on your next turn, even if the pawns are in the same position, you are not allowed to do the en passant capture any more. Therefore in the above example white must do the en passant capture on step 2, otherwise he won’t be allowed to do it thereafter

Let’s review the rules of the en passant move again:

- Your pawn must be on the 5th rank if you are white (if you are black your pawn must be on the 4th rank)

- The opponent moves a pawn two squares forward so that it ends up directly side by side with your pawn

- You are now allowed to capture your opponent’s pawn using en passant but you must do it now if at all. On the next move you are no longer allowed to capture using en passant.

- You can capture the enemy pawn using en passant as though it had only moved forward one square instead of two squares.

That’s it for the en passant move. It might be difficult to remember initially but you’ll get the hang of it eventually.

The End of the Game

Check

Check is very simple. If your king is attacked by an enemy piece then you are in “check”. You must now stop your king being attacked by the enemy piece or you lose the game. You can do this in one of 3 ways:

1. You move your king out of the way of the enemy piece

2. You capture the enemy piece which is attacking your king

3. You use one of your own pieces to block the enemy piece from attacking your king.

The diagram below shows an example of check:

Here black’s rook is “checking” white’s king. It is white’s turn to move, and white must get his king out of check by either capturing black’s rook with his bishop, or he can block black’s rook from attacking his king using his knight, or he can move his king out of the way to either of the circled squares.

Checkmate

If you attack your opponent’s king with one of your pieces and your opponent’s king cannot escape being attacked by your pieces on the next move, then your opponent loses and you win the game. This is called “checkmate” and you have effectively trapped your opponent’s king. The diagram below shows checkmate.

In the above diagram white’s king is being attacked by black’s bishop and there is no move white can do to get his king out of check. He cannot capture black’s bishop, he has no pieces which can block black’s bishop from attacking his king, and all of the squares which white’s king can move to are under attack by black’s pieces. White is therefore checkmated and white has lost the game.

The Draw

Sometimes a chess game doesn’t end in checkmate and instead the game is a draw. A chess game can end in a draw in one of 5 ways:

1. Stalemate - Stalemate is very similar to checkmate, but there is one important difference. If it is a player’s turn to move and all of their available moves would result in their king being in check, but their king is not in check at the moment, then the game ends in stalemate and the game is declared a draw. The diagram below shows this:

In the above diagram it is white’s turn to move and he is stalemated. White has some pieces but none of them can move, white’s pawn on the far right is blocked from moving by the enemy pawn in front of it, and white’s knight can’t move anywhere otherwise black’s rook would capture white’s king. The two squares that white’s king could move to are circled, but both of those squares are under attack by black pieces, so white’s king can’t move either. White therefore has no legal moves, but his king is not in check at the moment, so this game ends in a draw by stalemate.

2. Draw by agreement - any player can offer a draw at any point during the game and if their opponent accepts, then the game ends in a draw. You can only offer a draw once per move though, so you’re not allowed to keep badgering your opponent for a draw over and over again if you’re losing.

3. Insufficient material - If both players lose all of their pieces and only have their kings left, then the game automatically ends in a draw as obviously checkmate is not possible.

4. Threefold repetition - If both players repeat exactly the same moves 3 times in a row, then either player can claim a draw. This can be a useful way to get a draw when you are losing a game badly. The diagrams below show this.

Here it is black’s move and it looks like black is losing badly because white clearly has a lot more pieces than black. However black can get a draw because he can use his queen to keep checking white’s king. In the diagram on the left black moves his queen to the circled square and places white’s king in check. White’s king has only one square it can move to and once it moves there black’s queen will go back to where it was and place white’s king in check again. Black can keep checking white’s king for an infinite number of moves so after 3 repetitions black can claim a draw. Getting a draw this way is called drawing by “perpetual check”.

5. Fifty move rule - If 50 moves in a row have been played by both players without either player moving a pawn or making a capture during those 50 moves, then either player can claim a draw.

That’s it for the rules of chess, now you know how to play!

Algebraic Notation

In order for me to show you chess moves throughout this book we will have to use algebraic notation. What is algebraic notation and how does it work? Algebraic notation is simply a way of writing down chess moves. The way it works is simple. Each of the 64 squares on the chessboard is given a coordinate. You can see in the diagram below the coordinates of each of the 64 squares on the chessboard.

The coordinate of each square on the chessboard depends on its file and rank. “Files” are vertical lines of squares on the chessboard. There are 8 files on the chessboard. The first file is made up of the 8 squares on the left-hand edge of the board, and this is called the “a-file”. The file to the right of it is called the “b-file”, and the file to right of that is called the “c-file”, and so on and so forth until you reach the last file which is made up of the 8 squares on the right-hand edge of board, which is called the “h-file. In this way each of the 8 files on the chessboard is given a letter from “a” to “h”.

“Ranks” are then the horizontal lines of squares on the chessboard, and again there are 8 ranks of the chessboard. The first rank is made of up 8 squares on the bottom edge of the chessboard, and this is called the 1st rank. The rank above that is called the 2nd rank, and the 8 squares on the top edge of the board is called the 8th rank.

Each square is therefore given a coordinate according to its file and rank. The square which is on the “d-file” and on the “4th rank” is given the co-ordinate “d4” for example. The square on the “c-file” and on the 6th rank is the “c6” square, and the square on the “h-file” and on the 8th rank is the “h8” square. You get the idea - it’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it. The diagram below shows the location of the 3 squares I just mentioned just to make it clear:

The pieces are given symbols as follows:

King = K

Knight = N

Bishop = B

Rook = R

Queen = Q

The pawn doesn’t have a symbol. Instead, when you write down a pawn move, you just write down the square that the pawn moves to. For example, if you write down “e4”, this means your pawn moves to e4.

To write down a move you simply name the piece that your are moving and then the square it is moving to. For example the move ”1. Nf3” means that the knight (which is denoted by the letter “N”) moves to “f3”, as shown in the diagram below. The number “1.” at the beginning shows what move number it is. If it is move 1, then you would write “1. Nf3”. If it was move 5, then we would write “5. Nf3”, and if it was move 34, we would write “34. Nf3” - you get the idea.

Moves are always written in pairs, because of course on each move both white and black have to make a move. White moves are written first and black moves are written second. For example “1. Nf3 d5” means that white moves their knight to “f3” and black replies by moving their pawn to “d5”, as shown in the diagram below.

The next move might be “2. c4 Bg4”. This means that white now moves his pawn to “c4” and black replies by moving their bishop to “g4”:

And the third move might be “3. cxd5 Bxf3”. The “x” denotes a capture, so “cxd5” means that white’s “c-pawn” captures whatever piece is on “d5”, and Bxf3 means that black’s bishop captures whatever piece is on f3, as shown in the diagram below. Pawn moves always are always written in lower-case letters by the way, so that’s how you can always easily tell if its a pawn move.

Of course if it is black’s turn to move then we would have to skip writing down white’s move. We show this by using 3 dots, for example if it is black’s move we would write “3. … Bxf3”. The “…” shows that white has already moved and we are now showing black’s move, which was to capture whatever piece was on “f3” with his bishop.

That was simple wasn’t it? We’ll try to use plenty of diagrams in the book to make things clear and so you can follow along as you are reading. There are a few more symbols that are used which I have to show you however:

Check = +

Double Check = ++

Checkmate = #

Capture = x

Castling Kingside = 0-0

Castling Queenside = 0-0-0

Good move = !

Bad move = ?

Interesting move = !?

Interesting-but-probably-bad-move = ?!

For example if I wrote “6. Ne4+” that would mean that it is move number 6, and white moved their knight to “e4” and this move checked black’s king. If I wrote “6. Ne4!” that would mean that white’s knight moved to “e4” and it was a good move. If I wrote “6. Ne4+!” that would mean white moved their knight to “e4“ which checked black’s king and also it was a good move.

Castling kingside is shown by the symbol “0-0” so “10. 0-0” means that white castles kingside on move 10:

And “10. … 0-0-0” means that black castles queenside:

That’s pretty much it! Now you can follow along as I show you chess moves throughout this book. There is one other exception which I want to show you though which is rare but it can cause confusion if you haven’t seen it before.

Sometimes you might have a situation where two knights can both move to the same square. This can happen in the diagram below:

In the diagram above both of white’s knights can move to the “e4” square. If I just wrote “Ne4” you wouldn’t know which of white’s knights moved to e4. Instead I would have to write “Nge4” to show you that the knight on the g-file moved to “e4”:

And if both knights are on the same file, as in the diagram below, then I would have to write “N5e4” to show that the knight on the 5th rank moves to “e4”.

And of course the same applies to rooks as well, so you might see me write “Rge1” (the rook on the g-file moves to “e1”) or “Rfxd4” (the rook on the f-file captures whatever piece was on “d4”) from time to time and now you know what it means. This doesn’t usually apply to bishops though, as your two bishops can never move to the same square at the same time, unless you’ve promoted one of your pawns to a bishop but that’s getting a bit crazy.

That’s really it! Now you know algebraic notation and you can follow along the chess moves in this book!

Points System

When beginners are taught chess we usually teach them a points system to show them how much each piece is worth. For example, every beginner usually immediately notices that the queen is by far the best piece on the board, but how much better is a queen than say a rook or a knight? Would you rather have a queen or would you rather have two knights? How about a queen vs. two rooks AND two knights, which would you rather have? To give you a rough guide of how much each piece is worth, chess players have come up with a points system. The pawn is worth one point, and the other pieces are given a number of points to show useful they are:

Pawn = 1

Knight = 3

Bishop = 3

Rook = 5

Queen = 9

Therefore, now we know that a queen is worth roughly the same as two knights and a bishop (a queen = 9 points and “N + N + B” is “3 + 3 + 3” = 9 points). Two rooks equal 10 points and a queen is only worth 9 points so generally you’d rather have two rooks than a queen. A knight is worth roughly 3 pawns which is the same as a bishop. Knights and bishops are generally regarded as equally good, though most players would slightly prefer bishops to knights as bishops have longer range (knights can only move 3 squares away on any given more). Rooks are definitely better than knights or bishops though, which is why rooks are worth 5 points and knights and bishop are only worth 3 points. Two bishops are worth 6 points however, so you’d rather have two bishops (or two knights) than one rook.

So now you know how much each piece is worth. If you get the opportunity to sacrifice your bishop for 5 of your opponent’s pawns, you should definitely take it as 5 pawns (5 points) are way more useful than 1 bishop (3 points). If you’ve sacrificed your bishop for just one of your opponent’s pawns however, that’s a bad move as you’ve just lost a piece that was worth 3 points to capture a piece that was only worth 1 point. These are all generalisations of course though and there will be times when we will sacrifice our bishops, rooks and even queens in order to attack our opponent, but that will come later.

There is a type of trade which is given a special name however which I want to point out. When you trade a bishop for a rook (meaning you sacrifice your bishop to capture your opponent’s rook) or when you trade your knight for a rook, this is called winning the “exchange”. It’s called “winning” the exchange because you’ve lost a piece worth 3 points but your opponent has lost a piece worth 5 points, so you’re doing better. This trade happens a lot in chess games which is why it’s been given its own special name. If you’ve won the “exchange” it doesn’t mean you’re definitely going to win the game or anything but you’ll certainly be at an advantage and you’ll have a better chance of winning than your opponent.

That’s it for the points system. Finally we know that the queen isn’t worth an infinite amount of material, so if you see someone try to sacrifice all their pieces in a desperate attempt to win their opponent’s queen:

You now know that they’re an idiot as they now only have a piece worth 9 points against an army which is worth 30 points.

Diagrams

We’ll use lots of diagrams in this book to help illustrate things along the way but I just wanted to point something out about our diagrams. The dot in the bottom left corner of our diagrams will show whose turn it is to move. For example in the following diagram:

The dot in the bottom left corner is black showing that it is black’s turn to move. If the dot was white then obviously it would be white’s turn to move.

That’s it for the preliminary stuff. Now that you know the rules, algebraic notation, and how much the pieces are worth, we can get started on discussing how we can improve at chess!

The Opening

Introduction to the Opening

I want to teach you how to do well in all 3 stages of the game of chess, which are the opening, the middlegame, and the endgame. Firstly, what is an opening, a middlegame, or an endgame?

The opening is generally the first 10 or so moves of a game. Here both players are trying to get their pieces out and trying to grab space on the board.

Diagram. The Opening

The middlegame begins after the opening finishes and both players have all their pieces out. This is generally where the fight really begins. The players will start trying attack each other’s kings or try to push their pawns to gain space.

Diagram. The Middlegame

The endgame is, unsurprisingly, the stage of the game where the game is nearing its end. The endgame begins after the middlegame ends and this is generally when the queens have come off the board. In the endgame there are usually few pieces left on the board and the players will have to use their kings to attack and and defend in order to win the game. The endgame is the most important part of the game and if you want to improve at chess as quickly as possible, then you want to spend your time practicing endgames.

Diagram. The Endgame

First things first though, before we discuss the middlegame or endgame we’ll have to start with the opening. Even though practicing endgames will help you improve at chess much faster, if you play really badly in the opening and keep losing in the first 10 moves of a game, you might never get to an endgame.

As we mentioned before some people spend hours trying to learn opening theory which means they try to memorise lots of opening moves. This is generally a waste of time, as even if you’ve managed to remember a bunch of opening moves and you play a better opening than your opponent, once the opening ends you might have no idea what to do, so you’ll just get thrashed in the middlegame and endgame. For example, what would you do if I told you to try to memorise the following the moves?:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Bb3 a5 9. O-O d6 10. h3 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bd7 12. a4 Bc6 13. Qd3 Nd7 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Rad1 Nc5 16. Qd4+ Kg8 17. Bd5 Qb6 18. b3 Nd7 19. Qd2 Qc5 20. Kh1 Nf6

If I told you to try to memorise all of that you’d probably either want to punch me in the face or start screaming at me. If you did manage to remember that then either you’re a genius or you have a photographic memory. And that was just one of the variations. You’d have to learn another 10 of those just to get anywhere.

In general any decent chess player can play a solid opening without any problem - even if they are playing against an opponent who is a lot stronger than them. There are a few opening attacks and opening traps which people use to trick beginners into losing quickly, but once you learn the rules of playing a good opening and you learn how to avoid falling into the common opening traps, you’ll be able to get through the opening without any problems. Spending ages trying to learn lots of opening tricks and traps so you can trick your opponents isn’t going to help you much either, as once you come up against decent chess players they are not going to fall for your opening tricks and you’ll just end up with worse positions.

So our plan is very simple. We’re not going to spend too much time discussing the opening because we could improve at chess a lot faster by spending our time learning the endgame or learning tactics, and we’re definitely not going to waste time trying to learn opening theory. Instead I’m going to teach you the principles of opening play so that you understand how to play well in the opening and you’ll be able to do well in all opening situations. I’ll then show you an opening plan which you can use in all of your games so you can always play a solid opening. I’ll then show you some of the common opening attacks and traps so you can avoid falling for them yourself (and you can use them against your friends if you know they really suck at chess). Finally we’ll take a look at some of the most popular chess opening plans so you have a bit more choice if you decide you want to try a different opening plan, and so that you know what’s going on when you watch your friends play chess games.

So let’s get started with the opening! Firstly and most importantly, let’s learn a few fundamental rules of the opening.

The 7 Rules For Playing A Good Opening

The opening is really very simple. Once you know the 7 rules I’m about to show you you’ll be able to play a good opening every time. The most important thing to do in the opening is to develop your pieces and place them on good squares.

1. Develop all of your pieces!

Developing your pieces means getting your pieces out towards the middle of the board (by pieces I mean knights, bishops, rooks or queens - not pawns). Developing your pieces as quickly as possible is by far the most important thing to do in the opening. You want to get your knights and bishops out quickly so that they can attack your opponent. Usually you’ll want to develop your pieces towards the centre of the board because from the centre of the board your pieces can quickly move to either side of the board to attack your opponent or defend your own king.

Let’s show you an example of a good opening from both sides so you can see how to develop your pieces properly:

1. e4 e5

Both players move a pawn to the centre to grab space and help control the centre (controlling the centre is rule #2 which we’ll see soon). This also allows both players to get their bishops and queen out, as if you don’t move any of your pawns then your bishops will never be able to move.

2. Nf3 Nc6

White develops a knight by bringing it out towards the centre and by doing this helps control some central squares and also attacks black’s pawn. Black replies by developing his knight towards the centre and also defending his pawn.

3. Nc3 Nf6

White develops his other knight towards the centre of the board and black replies by doing the same. Now all of the knights on the board are developed in very good positions. In general it is better to bring your knights out before your bishops (rule #6 of playing a good opening) because knights are good at controlling central squares whereas bishops are less good at control central squares.

4. Bb5 Bb4

White develops his bishop by bringing it out to attack black’s knight. Now white’s bishop is out in the open and is pointing towards black’s king, so this is a good move. Black replies by doing the same.

5. O-O O-O

Both sides get castled (rule #4 of the opening). Castling is important because it helps protect your king and also means you can connect your rooks together.

6. d3 d6

White places another pawn towards the centre which helps support the central e-pawn and also allows him to bring out his other bishop on the next move. Black replies with the same.

7. Bg5 Bxc3

White brings his other bishop out to attack black’s other knight. Now both of his bishops are out in attacking positions. Black takes white’s knight on c3 with his bishop. He does this to prevent white playing Nd5 on the next move, which would have made life difficult for black (though I wouldn’t worry too much about why this is at this stage as it’s a bit complicated).

8. bxc3 Bg4

After black has gotten rid of white’s knight he is ready to bring his other bishop out in an attacking position like white.

9. Qe2 Qe7

Both sides develop their queens. Unlike the rest of the pieces, neither side wants to move their queen too far forward just yet as their queen might get attacked or even trapped by their opponent’s pieces if it moves too far into their opponent’s territory (this will be rule #3 in the opening). Therefore both sides move their queens just one square forward. This means that for both sides their queens will slightly closer to the action but not so far forward that it might be attacked by their opponent’s pieces.

10. Rad1 Rad8

Both sides develop one of their rooks towards the centre. The rooks might not be in the centre of the board but they are helping to protect their central d-pawns for both sides from the back rank. Once we reach the endgame and some pawns have been exchanged then there will be more space for the rooks to move and we will see the rooks having a bigger role to play in the game.

That concludes the opening for both sides. Both sides have played the opening well and have developed their pieces as quickly as possible. You can see that both players have done their best to bring all of their pieces out and place them on squares where they can attack the opponent. You can also see that by developing their pieces both players have helped defend their king. White’s king is well protected by his rook on f1, his knight on f3, and his queen on e2.

So that’s the most important rule of the opening - remember to develop all of your pieces. Developing your pieces means they’ll be more useful in attacking your opponent, defending your king, or even both attacking your opponent and defending your king. If you forget to develop 1 or 2 of your pieces and just leave them on their starting squares, you’ll effectively be fighting the rest of the battle of the chess game with less soldiers than your opponent, so you’ll be at a disadvantage right from the beginning. So please, please, always remember that in the opening, develop your pieces, develop your pieces, develop your pieces!

2. Control the centre

It is also very important to control the centre in chess. The reason why is because if you control the centre you generally have more space which means your pieces have more space and freedom to move. When your pieces have more space it makes it much easier for you to both attack your opponent and defend. The centre of the chessboard is defined as the 4 squares in the middle of the board, which are d4, e4, d5 and e5. These are 4 most important squares in the opening and if you manage to control all of them then you will almost always be in a much better position than your opponent.

This is why most good chess players will move a pawn to e4 or d4 in the opening - they do this to try to control the centre.

Also, if you have control of the centre, you have more options in general and you can dictate the pace of the game. For example, if you control the centre, you could decide to cut off one side of the board, inhibiting your opponent from easily moving their pieces to that side of the board, which leaves you free to attack that side of the board yourself. Ill show you an example of what I mean below:

Here white has complete control of the centre and has managed to “cut the board off” by playing e5. Now most of black’s pieces are stuck on the left side of the board (which is called the queenside) and will find it difficult to get over to the right-hand side of the board to defend black’s king. White is completely winning here and will actually win in a few moves by attacking white’s king with the moves Bxh7+ followed by Ng5+ and Qh5.

So that’s rule #2, control the centre using your pawns and pieces

3. Don’t bring your queen out too early

It is important in general not to bring your queen out too early, otherwise it might be attacked by your opponent’s pawns, knights, bishops or rooks, and this will make you waste a lot of moves while you move your queen away from being attacked, and at the same time your opponent will be putting their pieces out onto good squares where they can control the centre and attack you. Unless you have a good reason to, try not to bring your queen out until you have found a safe square for it where it won’t be attacked by your opponent, or unless you see a clear opportunity to attack with your queen.

Here’s a really extreme example of the disaster that can happen when a player brings their queen out too early.

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qd5 Nf6

Here white is desperately trying to use his queen to control the centre and attack his opponent but he’s already in a much worse position because black has developed both of his knights whereas white hasn’t developed any pieces apart from the queen.

5. Qf5 d5 6. Qg5 h6 7. Qg3 Bd6 8. Qxg7 Rh7

Black is now completely winning as he has developed almost all of his pieces whereas white has had to waste time running his queen away from attack, but even worse for white is the fact that his queen is now trapped on g7 and he will now lose his queen.

So remember rule #3 of the opening: Don’t bring your queen out too early.

4. Get your king castled as soon as possible

It is important to castle a soon as possible for 3 reasons. Castling gets your king in a safer position, gets one of your rooks towards the centre where it is more useful in the game, and connects your rooks together so they can defend each other. Your king will be much safer tucked to the side of the board rather than sitting in the middle of the board near where a lot of the fighting is happening. Castling early will also often help prevent you getting checkmated by an early opening attack from your opponent (not always, but most of the time).

Here’s a simple example of an opening for white where white gets castled as early as possible:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. 0-0 Nf6

White has castled after only 4 moves. White’s king is now safe on the kingside of the board and white can now turn his attention to other things such as getting the rest of his pieces developed and trying to control the centre. It’s as simple as that.

Finally, here’s an example of what disasters can occur if you don’t get castled early, just to warn you against the dangers of not castling.

We’ll start in the position below. White has castled his king safely to the side protected by a wall of 3 pawns and a rook. Black hasn’t bothered to castle and his king will now be in a lot of danger, as we’ll now show you.

1. Ng5 a3 2. Bxf7# mate!

Black has neglected to castle and now his king has ended up mated in the middle of the board

So that’s rule #4 of the opening, remember to get your king castled as early as possible.

5. Move each piece only once in the opening

You want to get all your pieces developed in the least number of moves possible in the opening, so it’s best to try to develop a new piece every time it’s your move in the opening, and not to keep moving the same piece over and over again. Of course, it’s a good idea to move the same piece twice in the opening if it helps you win material, or it prevents you losing material, or it helps secure freedom of action for your pieces, but otherwise I’d try to move each piece only once in the opening. The trick is to find a good square to develop your piece and then move it there immediately.

If you keep moving the same piece over and over again in the opening you can fall behind in development, as the following example shows:

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. Bc4 Nf4 4. Qf3 g5 5. Ne2 Nxe2 6. Qxe2 e6

In this example black moved the same knight 4 times in the opening, and now as a consequence black has no pieces developed, whereas white has his bishop and queen developed and is ready to castle next move. White is clearly much better here and is much more likely to win.

So that’s rule #5 of the opening: Move each piece only once in the opening

6. Develop your knights before bishops

This rule is a bit more loose and if you break it sometimes it probably won’t matter too much.

In general it’s better to develop your knights first and then your bishops because knights are better at controlling the central squares early in the game whereas bishops are more useful later on in the endgame.

Also, we usually know the best squares to develop our knights to in the opening - usually they are c3 and f3 (or c6 and f6 if you are black), whereas sometimes its less obvious where the best squares to put are bishops on are. Therefore if you bring your bishop out too early you might end up wasting time moving it again when you later realise it was in the wrong place.

The knights are very useful at controlling the 4 central squares, whereas bishops are less good at doing so.

As I said before though if you forget to bring out your knights before your bishops it probably won’t matter much, and there are plenty of situations where it will be better to develop your bishops before your knights. If you’re just starting out at chess though you might as well remember to bring your knights out before your bishops in your first few games, and then when you become stronger you can learn when to break this rule.

7. Don’t move your f-pawn in the opening unless you have to

Unlike rule #6 though this rule is much more important. The reason for not moving your f-pawn unless it’s necessary is that the f-pawn helps protect your king, and if you move it then it becomes easier for your opponent to attack your king. We will see later that a lot of the common opening attacks and opening traps focus on attacking the f7 or f2 square. Keeping your f-pawn on its original square will make it much less likely that you’ll fall for one of those opening attacks or traps. Of course once the opening is over and your king is safely castled and protected, you can then move your f-pawn again.

Here’s a very quick and deadly example of what happens when black moves his f-pawn too early.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f6?

Black has tried to defend his e-pawn with his f-pawn but this is already a terrible move. By moving his f-pawn black has weakened his king and now white can win with an attack on black’s king.

3. Nxe5! fxe5 4. Qh5+ g6 5. Qxe5+ Qe7 6. Qxh8

Now white has won a rook and white will win easily.

So remember rule #7 of the opening: Don’t move your f-pawn in the opening unless you have to.

Those are our 7 rules of playing a good opening! As long as you follow them you’ll play a good opening every time. Let’s recap them here:

The 7 rules for playing a good opening:

1. Develop all of your pieces!

2. Control the centre

3. Don’t bring your queen out too early

4. Get your king castled as soon as possible

5. Move each piece only once in the opening

6. Develop your knights before bishops

7. Don’t move your f-pawn in the opening unless you have to

What Does An Ideal Opening Look Like?

So what does a successful opening look like? A pretty much ideal opening development plan for white would look something like this:

In this position white has both their e-pawn and d-pawn in the centre, and has total control of the centre. White has all of their knights and bishops developed on squares near the centre of the board, where they are ready to either attack the black king or come back to defend the white king at a moment’s notice. White has castled and his king is tucked away safely behind 3 pawns on the side of the board. White’s rooks are connected and they are on the e and d-files where they are helping to control the centre squares. Finally, white’s queen is behind white’s minor pieces (minor pieces are bishops or knights, major pieces are rooks or queens), ready to support the attack and come out later in the game when it can have more of an influence on the game.

Black hasn’t developed at all and has just been shuffling his knight back and forth between h3 and g8 over and over again. Black’s terrible opening play means that black is now screwed, and white will now crush black in a few moves with an attack on black’s king, for example the position above could continue:

1. Bxf7+ Kxf7 2. Ne5+ Ke8 3. Qh5+ g6 4. Nxg6 Nf6 5. Qh4 hxg6 6. Qxh8

And now black’s king is in all sorts of trouble and white will win easily.

Of course, usually your opponent will never make it that easy for you. Here’s a more realistic example of a player playing bad moves in the opening. Here white will play good moves in the opening and will follow our 7 rules of the opening, whereas black will play bad moves and ignore our 7 rules of the opening. We’ll see why white’s moves are good and black’s moves are bad, and we’ll see an example of what to do when your opponent plays bad moves in the opening:

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d6

Already black has broken rule #2 of our opening rules and has easily allowed white to have control of the centre. Black’s position is still ok at the moment because his pawns on d6 and e6 are controlling the centre a little bit, but black’s bishops are being blocked by his pawns whereas white’s bishops are free and have lots of squares to go to, so white is already a little bit better.

3. Nf3 Qf6

… And now black breaks rule #3 of our opening rules - don’t bring your queen out too early. As you’ll now see white will be able to develop while attacking black’s queen and black will have to waste time protecting his queen.

4. Nc3 Ne7

White develops his other knight. He is following rules #1 (develop all your pieces) and #6 (develop knights before bishops) of the opening. Black finally does develop a piece, but because his queen is on f6, he has to develop his knight to d7 which is a more passive square than f6. By developing his knight to d7 black is also blocking his queen from retreating back to d8, so his queen is more likely to get trapped, as we’ll see.

5. Be3 c6

White develops his bishop to a square where it supports the centre. Black makes yet another mistake in the opening by playing c6, and this time his mistake is fatal. Black was trying to get more control of the centre with the c6 pawn, but all this time he has been ignoring the most important rule of the opening - rule #1 - develop all of your pieces. White can now win by taking advantage of black’s lack of development - as we’ll now see.

6. e5 dxe5 7. Ne4 Qg6 8. Nd6+ Kd7

White sees an opportunity to take advantage of black’s lack of development by opening up the centre and attacking black’s king. Black had to move his queen out of the way of the attack by white’s knight but this allows white’s knight to attack black’s king with Nd6+. Now black’s king can non longer castle because it has already moved, and black’s king is now in danger.

9. dxe5 Na6

Black finally tries to develop some pieces but it is already too late. Black has to develop his knight to a6 because it is the only square it can move to, but this is a bad place to put the knight because it does not help control the centre there.

10. Nh4! f6

Things are going from bad to worse for black as now it turns out his queen is still trapped after all. This shows the dangers of ignoring rule #3 of the opening - don’t bring your queen out too early.

11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. Nf7+ Ke8 13. Nxh8

And now white is up a queen and an exchange (a rook for a knight) and will win easily.

So that shows why it’s important for you to follow our 7 rules for playing a good opening and shows you some of bad things that can happen if you ignore our 7 rules of the opening and play badly in the opening. As long as you follow our 7 rules of playing a good opening you can play pretty much any moves you like and always do well in the opening, but if you want a set of moves that you can use every time in the opening then look no further.

A Solid Opening Plan For You To Use

If you’re lazy like me and don’t want to think too much in the opening, well, you’re in luck because in this section I’m going to show you a set of moves that you can use in your opening in pretty much every game. I’m going to show you a set of moves for white and a set of moves for black. Using these opening moves you’ll pretty much always get a solid opening and you’ll avoid a lot of the common opening attacks and traps which we’ll see later, so you won’t lose games early on. Of course you might not end up with a big advantage using these openings, and you might be able to find better moves if you think for yourself, but you’ll at least be equal, so these moves are great for you to use so you can get through the opening and practice playing middle games and endgames, where you can really practice your chess skills. Sounds good? Let’s get to it!

For White: The Kings Indian Attack

For white I’m going to recommend using an opening set of moves which actually has a name - it’s called the Kings Indian Attack. It’s brilliant because we can basically play exactly the same moves every time as white no matter what moves our opponent makes. The aim is to get a set-up like the diagram above, with a fianchettoed bishop on g2, the king safely castled and knights on f3 and d2 (a “fianchetto” means developing your bishop to b2 or g2 if you are white, and b7 or g7 if you are black. It’s given the special name “fianchetto” because you can castle your king behind your fianchettoed bishop and the bishop will be a strong defender of your king). You can use a lot of different move orders to get to the Kings Indian Attack set-up but we’re going to use these moves for white: 1. e4, 2. d3, 3. Nd2, 4. Ngf3 5. g3, 6. Bg2 and 7. 0—0. That’s all you have to remember! Let’s see how it works in a game:

1. e4 e6

We always start with 1. e4 as white. Black replies this time with e6

2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6

We carry on with our plan as white with 2. d3 and 3. Nd2

4. Ngf3 c5 5. g3 Nc6

We keep on going with our plan with 4. Ngf3 (bringing the other knight out) and 5. g3 (preparing to develop our bishop to g2).

6. Bg2 Be7 7. O-O O-O

We finish our plan with 6. Bg2 and 7. 0-0 and there we have it! We have the Kings Indian Attack set-up that we were looking to get as white. That’s all you have to remember to use the Kings Indian Attack! Just remember the 7 moves - 1. e4, 2. d3, 3. Nd2, 4. Ngf3, 5. g3, 6. Bg2, and 7. 0-0 and you’ll have a solid opening as white every time! We have now developed almost all of our pieces and our king is safely castled and protected by the fianchettoed bishop on g2. Both sides have played well and the position is about equal for both sides. Just to show you what might happen from here, the game might continue for the next few moves like this:

8. Re1 b5 9. e5 Nd7

We get our rook to the centre and gain space by pushing out pawn to e5. Black is looking to gain space on the queenside by pushing his pawns there. Generally our plan as white is therefore to attack on the kingside

10. Nf1 a5 11. h4 b4 12. Bf4 a4

We’ll stop it there. We have developed our bishop to f4 and our knight on f1 can go to h2 and then g4, and then we will attack on the kingside. Black has  gained a lot of space on the queenside and will look to attack there. The game is equal for both sides. By the way, we’ve been looking at the main line for black in the Kings Indian Attack, which means these are the most popular moves for black to use against the Kings Indian Attack, even for professional players. If the Kings Indian Attack works against even the top players in the world, then it can definitely work for you.

Let’s pause for a second here and take a look at our Kings Indian Attack set-up again:

Obviously this is a very solid set-up for us where our pieces are well developed and have a lot of potential. Here’s just some of the potential ideas that our pieces can eventually have in the Kings Indian Attack:

- Our pawn on e4 will advance to e5 in a lot of games in order to gain space (obviously when we do this we have to make sure we don’t lose the pawn)

- Our bishop on c1 can fianchetto on b2, or it can develop to d2 or f4, and sometimes it can even be used in an attack on h6

- Our queen on d1 can come out at some point later in the game to attack the kingside via g4 or h5.

- Our knight on d2 can go to c4 in a lot of positions to help control the centre, or it can also go to b3 to attack the queenside or it can even go to e3 eventually if our rook moves out of the way via f1 and e3.

- Our knight on f3 is attacking the central e5 square and can also jump to g5 or h4 to attack the kingside.

- Our rook on f1 can move to e1, supporting the centre, or if our king moves to g2, our rook can go to the h-file for a potential attack along the h-file.

- Our fianchettoed bishop on g2 is a very useful piece for defending the king, but can also be used to attack black’s queenside if we ever move our e-pawn out of the way, or it can even move to h3 to attack black’s pieces.

Those are just of the potential ideas for our pieces in the Kings Indian Attack. As we mentioned before we can use the Kings Indian Attack against pretty much any opening moves for black. Here’s another example where black tries a different set of moves and we’re still going to use the Kings Indian Attack:

1. e4 c6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 g6 4. Ngf3 Bg7 5. g3 e5 6. Bg2 Ne7 7. O-O O-O

And there we go! Here black has used a completely different set of opening moves but we still just carried on with our usual Kings Indian Attack plan with e4, d3, Nd2, Ngf3, g3, Bg2 and 0-0, and we got a solid position. If black wanted to take our pawn in the diagram above by playing 8. … dxe4 by the way, we would simply take back with the pawn with 9. dxe4, which replaces our pawn in the centre.

We do have to be a little bit on the lookout if our opponent throws weird moves at us however, for example if black plays 1. e4 d5 on the first move:

We’re obviously going to have to take the pawn and then carry on with our Kings Indian Attack opening as normal:

2. exd5 Qxd5 3. d3 Nc6 4. Nd2 e5 5. Ngf3 Nge7 6. g3 f6 7. Bg2 Bg4 8. O-O Qd7

And we’ll get to a position where we don’t have the pawn on e4 but otherwise we have the same solid Kings Indian Attack set-up

Do make sure you’re a little bit careful with your moves though and not just switching your brain off completely and playing your moves on autopilot. For example your opponent might make a mistake and allow you to win material, such as the example below:

It’s black’s move in the above position and here white has played the usual Kings Indian Attack set-up and black is about to make a big mistake.

1. … Nxe4?

Black thought he could win white’s pawn on e4 but he was mistaken. If you were white here maybe you would recapture black’s knight with 2. Nxe4 without even thinking, but you would miss a much better move.

2. Ne5! Nd6 3. Bxb2 Nxb2 4. Qf3! White wins

White’s queen is threatening checkmate with Qxf7# and also to win black’s knight with Qxb7 so white will win a piece here.

And do also make sure to be careful to not make mistakes yourself when you’re playing the Kings Indian Attack, such as this here:

Here white should really play exf5 to avoid losing his e-pawn. If he tries to defend his e-pawn with his rook instead that would be a huge mistake:

1. Re1 fxe4 2. Nxe4? Qxd1 3. Rxd1 Nxe4 Black wins

… And white has lost a piece.

So there you have it! That’s the Kings Indian Attack. You can use this set-up as white against pretty much any black opening moves and have a solid opening, and you won’t fall for a lot of the common opening attacks and traps and lose early. Just remember the moves: 1. e4, 2. d3, 3. Nd2, 4. Ngf3 5. g3, 6. Bg2 and 7. 0—0 and you’ll be set every time. Now we’re going to look at our recommended opening for black:

For Black: The Kings Indian Defence (against 1.d4 and all other white opening moves) AND The Hungarian Defence (against 1.e4 only)

Diagram. The Kings Indian Defence

Diagram. The Hungarian Defence

Can we just use the same Kings Indian Attack set-up when we play as black? Well we could, and if we do this it’s called the Kings Indian Defence (openings for white are usually called “Opening” or “Attack” while openings for black are usually called “Defence”), but there’s a catch. The Kings Indian Defence doesn’t work if white plays 1.e4 on their first move. You could try it but you’d run into all sorts of problems and complications, so I don’t recommend it.

So instead I’m going to recommend that you use the Kings Indian Defence against most of white’s opening moves, except when white plays 1. e4 on the first move. If white plays 1.e4 on the first move, we’re going to use a different (but equally solid) set-up called the Hungarian Defence.

Let’s start with the Kings Indian Defence as it’s the more familiar of the two. As we mentioned we’re going to use the Kings Indian Defence against almost all of white’s opening moves, whether it’s 1. d4, 1. c4, 1. Nf3… pretty much whatever white’s first move is we’ll reply with the Kings Indian Defence - except if white’s first moves 1. e4 - in that case we’re going to use the Hungarian Defence instead.

I don’t have to tell you too much about the Kings Indian Defence because it’s already familiar to you - it’s basically the same as the Kings Indian Attack except now we’re playing as black.

We’re going to have to change the move order slightly though. Our move order for the Kings Indian Defence will be:

1. … Nf6, 2. … d6, 3. … g6, 4. … Bg7, 5. … 0-0, 6. … Nbd7 and finally we’ll play 7. … e5

(The more eagle-eyed amongst you will know that this move order technically isn’t called the “Kings Indian Defence” any more and actually has a different name but you don’t have to worry about this opening classification stuff)

Let’s see how the Kings Indian Defence would work in a real situation:

1. d4 Nf6

We always begin with 1. … Nf6 to prevent white playing e4 on the next move.

2. c4 d6

White will usually play c4 in order to gain more control of the centre and gain space on the queenside. We play d6 to prevent white pushing forward in the centre and we are also preparing to play … e5 or … c5 later on when we will fight for the centre.

3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e4 O-O

We now continue our plan with g6, Bg7 and 0-0 to develop our kingside bishop and get castled. White gets another pawn in the centre with e4 and it looks for the moment like white has a lot more control in the centre but we will soon hit back

6. Be2 Nbd7 7. O-O e5

Finally we play e5, staking our own claim in the centre and completing our Kings Indian Defence set-up.

And there we go! The position isn’t exactly the same as the Kings Indian Attack though. Usually, because we’ve moved second, we’ve had to allow white to get a little more space, but that doesn’t really matter too much because our position is solid and we can counter-attack white’s centre. As our set-up is the same as the Kings Indian Attack, our pieces have much of the same potential - but there are some differences:

- Our bishop on c8 will develop to d7 in a lot of cases, or we can play Nh5 followed by f5 and after exchanging our f-pawn we can develop our bishop to f5, just like the Kings Indian Attack.

- Our knight on d7 can go to c5 if white pushes their d-pawn to d5

- Our queen on d8 will develop to e7 most of the time in the Kings Indian Defence

Of course, we can use the Kings Indian Defence against most of white’s opening moves. Here’s an example of us using a Kings Indian Defence where white plays 1. c4 as their first move:

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d6 3. d4 g6 4. b3 Bg7 5. Bb2 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. e3 e5

There are a few things to watch out for however. For example if white tries to push forward early in the centre like this:

We can simply exchange pawns and queens and we will win a pawn:

4. … dxe5 5. dxe5 Qxd1+ 6. Kxd1 Ng4 7. Ke1 Nxe5

In the Kings Indian Defence we play 7. … e5 as the final move in our plan and there will obviously be times when white prevents us from doing so, such as the following example:

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d6 3. e4 g6 4. f4 Bg7 5. h3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Bd3

Here obviously we cannot play 7. … e5 as black, as simple counting would tell you it loses a pawn for us, but instead we can play 7. … c5 and attack white’s centre from the side:

So there we go! That’s the Kings Indian Defence. We can use this set-up against pretty much any white first move, whether it’s 1. d4, 1. c4, 1. Nf3 - all except 1. e4. Just remember the moves 1. … Nf6, 2. … d6, 3. … g6, 4. … Bg7, 5. … 0-0, 6. … Nbd7 and 7. … e5 and you’ll be fine. Next we’ll see our set-up against 1. e4 - the Hungarian Defence.

The Hungarian Defence

As we mentioned the Kings Indian Defence doesn’t really work against 1. e4 - so instead we’re going to use an equally solid set-up called the Hungarian Defence. We’re going to reply to white’s 1. e4 with 1. … e5, 2. … Nc6, 3. … Be7, 4. … Nf6, 5. … d6, 6. … 0-0. Let’s see how it works in a game:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6

So far these are very normal development moves from both sides.

3. Bc4 Be7

We bring our bishop to e7, adding some defence to the kingside and also preparing to castle

4. O-O Nf6 5. d4 d6

We add some support to the centre with the move d6. White prepares to push forward in the centre with d4

6. d5 Nb8

White gains space in the centre with d5 and we can simply retreat our knight back to b8. It doesn’t matter that we’re going backwards because white has made so many pawn moves so we’re not actually behind in development.

7. Re1 O-O

And there we go! We’ve ended up with a solid set-up called the Hungarian Defence! Let’s take a closer look at our pieces in the position above:

- Our knight on b8 can develop to the d7 or c4 squares. Sometimes if our pawn on e5 gets exchanged our knight can even eventually go to the central e5 square

- Our bishop on c8 can come out to g5 or we can play b7 and Bb7 and fianchetto the bishop on the queenside.

- We can play c6 at some point to counter-attack white in the centre

- The rest of our pieces are very flexible. Often in the Hungarian Defence we will try to gain space on the queenside by pushing our pawns with … c6, … b5, and … a5, but equally we could prepare an attack on the kingside with … Ne8 and … f5. Our queen can then come out to either side of the board depending on which side of the board we decide to play on. In short the Hungarian defence is a very flexible defence (more flexible even than the Kings Indian Defence) where pretty much any plan is possible for black.

And of course, the Hungarian Defence can be used against many different opening moves for white (as long as white starts with 1. e4 of course) such as this:

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 Be7 4. d4 d6 5. dxe5 Nxe5 6. Be3 Nf6 7. h3 O-O

And we have another, slightly different-looking, but equally solid Hungarian Defence set-up.

If white decides to exchange pawns early such as here:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Be7 4. d4 d6

This will lead to an exchange of queens but we are fine with this and we can cary on development as normal:

5. dxe5 dxe5 6. Qxd8+ Bxd8 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Bg5 O-O

And our position is totally solid here.

So there you have it! Those are our recommended openings for you if you just want a safe, solid opening development plan that you can use every time and just move onto playing middlegames and endgames where you can really test your chess skills.

Just remember our recommended move orders for each of our recommended openings:

For White: Kings Indian Attack

1. e4, 2. d3, 3. Nd2, 4. Ngf3 5. g3, 6. Bg2, 7. 0—0

For Black: Kings Indian Defence (against all white moves except 1. e4)

1. … Nf6, 2. … d6, 3. … g6, 4. … Bg7, 5. … 0-0, 6. … Nbd7, 7. … e5

OR Hungarian Defence (against 1. e4)

1. … e5, 2. … Nc6, 3. … Be7, 4. … Nf6, 5. … d6, 6. … 0-0

Of course if your opponent throws some really wacky moves at you then you might have to adjust your move order a bit, but I’m sure you’ll be able to figure it out no problem as if your opponent is playing wacky moves - then those moves are probably also bad moves.

Next we’ll look at some of the common traps and attacks in the opening so that you can make sure you can avoid them.

The Common Opening Attacks!

A lot of chess players will try to use an opening trap or opening attack against beginners in order to win quickly in the opening. If you know what to watch out for though you’ll never fall for one of these opening traps. So I’m going to show you some of the most common opening traps and attacks now to make sure that you never fall for them yourself. You could also try to use these traps against your friends if you know that they really suck at chess (I wouldn’t recommend you try these traps against a strong player however as you’ll probably end up with a worse position). Of course, you could always use our recommended openings (the Kings Indian Attack for white or the Kings Indian Defence and Hungarian Defence for black) and you’ll avoid most of these opening traps anyway, but it’s good for you to know about these common opening traps just to make sure you don’t fall for something similar.

You’ll see that a lot of opening attacks are focused on attacking the f2 square (or the f7 square if you are attacking the black king). The reason for this is because the f2 pawn is white’s weakest pawn in the opening, as it is the only pawn that is only protected by the king (all of the other pawns are protected by pieces). This is the reason why we have rule #7 of the opening (don’t move your f-pawn in the opening unless you have to) - moving your f-pawn will weaken your king and make you more susceptible to an opening trap or attack from your opponent.

Let’s now look at some of the common opening traps and attacks and how to defend against them!

Opening Attack 1.

Fool’s Mate - The 2 Move Checkmate

Fool’s Mate is the shortest checkmate available in chess, being only 2 moves. It’s called the fool’s mate because white plays the worst possible moves. This is not so much of on opening attack as it is just an example of terrible moves by white. Here is the opening attack for you to see so that you can remember to never ever play the moves that white is about to play:

1. f3 e5 2. g4 Qh4#

Whilst there isn’t much to say about this except for never ever play the moves that white has done above, I would like to point out that the reason white was so easily checkmated was because he weakened the f2 square with his first move - 1. f3. If white had followed rule #7 of the opening (don’t move your f-pawn in the opening unless you have to) then this would never had happened. So remember to follow our rules of the opening, and never let yourself get fool’s mated.

Opening Attack 2.

Scholar’s Mate - The 4 Move Checkmate

Scholar’s mate is the second shortest checkmate available in chess, and it is by far the the most common opening attack seen at beginner level. It is popular because even if the user of the Scholar’s mate attack does not checkmate his opponent, often he can still trick his opponent into losing material.

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. Qh5 Nf6? 4. Qxf7#

Again note how important the f7 square is in the above checkmate. The f7 square is weakly defended by only the king, and therefore often the queen can attack it. Here white’s bishop and queen combine to attack the f7 square and checkmate black. Black saw white’s queen come out and tried to attack it with his knight, but black missed the much more important threat of Qxf7# mate. Scholar’s mate is incredibly common to see at beginner level and many beginners fall for Scholar’s mate every day.

Now back to the earlier point that the Scholar’s mate attack can lead to other opportunities even if not checkmate. For example this could happen:

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. Qh5 g6?

In this example, black has played 3. … g6 which looks like a fairly natural move, as it blocks the white queen from attacking f7 and at the same time attacks the white queen. Unfortunately though black has missed that white can capture black’s pawn on e5, forking the black king and rook.

4. Qxe5+ Qe7 5. Qxh8

And now white is up a rook.

So finally, how do we defend against Scholar’s mate?

In the first example, on the 3rd move black could have played 3. … Qe7 instead of Nf6, which would have defended against white’s attack. For example:

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. Qh5 Qe7

In the above position, black has now safely defended against white’s attack and black can now carry on with his development normally. In fact, here’s an example of how this game might continue if white tries to press too hard for the attack and you can see that this opening will go well for black:

4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Ng5 Bxf2+ 6. Kxf2 Qc5+ 7. Ke1 Qxc4

And now black is a pawn up, he has successfully defended against white’s attack, and white’s king is also unsafe so black is much better here.

There are many other good ways to defend against Scholar’s mate as well. For example, if you were using the Hungarian defence set-up that we recommend against 1. e4, the correct move to play on move 3 is 3. … Qe7, which defends against the white’s checkmate threat and allows us to develop comfortably. For example the game could go like this:

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Qh5 Qe7

4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Qg5 Nd4 6. Bb3 h6 7. Qg3 d6

And here black is better as we have more space, we have a dominant central knight on d4, and white’s queen is running short of squares and has to be careful not to get trapped.

So there you go! Now that you know what to look out for you can make sure you never fall for the 4-move checkmate - Scholar’s mate.

Opening Attack 3.

The Fishing Pole Trap

Onto our 3rd common chess opening trap. The Fishing Pole Trap is actually an example of an opening attack that attacks a castled king, which makes it one of the deadliest traps as usually we are taught that a castled king is relatively safe. In the fishing pole trap the attacker attacks the h2 square. The h2 square is weak after you have castled as it is only defended by the king, leading many players to attack their opponents’ castled kings with their queen and other pieces. Let’s first see a quick example of how the Fishing Pole trap might work

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6

So far these are normal developing moves from both sides

4. 0-0 Ng4 5. h3 h5!?

And here black sets the trap. After white castles black moves his knight to g4, and after white attacks black’s knight it looks like black has accidentally forgotten to save his knight, but this is actually a deadly trap. Black is leaving his knight on g4 as “bait”. If white takes the bait, black will be able to open up the h-file, allowing his rook on h8 to attack white’s king. Let’s see what happens if white takes the bait.

6. hxg4 hxg4 7. Ne1 Qh4

Black’s queen and rook now combine on the h-file on a deadly attack on white’s king and white is actually already lost. There’s nothing white can do to prevent checkmate on h2 or h1. For example the game could end like this:

8. f4 g3 9. Nf3 Qh1# mate

So how do we defend against the fishing pole trap?

White played completely normal and good developing moves until he took the bait and captured black’s knight on move 6. Instead of taking black’s knight, white should just carry on development as normal, and white will just come out ahead in development. Let’s go back to move 6 and see what white should have played instead.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Ng4 5. h3 h5

Here is the position again. White can just carry on development as normal here and ignore black’s knight on g4 for the moment:

6. c3 a6 7. Ba4 d6 8. d4 Bd7 9. d5 Nb8 10. Bxd7+ Nxd7

White can now actually capture black’s knight on g4, as white can now move his knight to g5 as it will be protected by his bishop, and this will block black’s queen from coming to the h-file.

11. hxg4 hxg4 12. Ng5 Qf6 13. Qxg4 Qh6 14. Qh3

And now white has safely defended against black’s threat and white is simply a piece up.

So that’s the fishing pole trap, a very deadly and tricky trap which attacks a castled king. Now you now what to look out for and you’ll now not to take the bait and instead develop normally, and if your opponent tries too hard to trick you then you can eventually just capture the knight at the right time and win a piece.

Opening Attack 4.

The Blackburne-Shilling Trap

Onto something a bit different and a bit more complicated. The Blackburne-Shilling Trap is something you probably won’t see very often in your games but it is good to be aware of the idea just in case someone does decide to throw it at you. In this opening trap we will see how neglecting to castle early can end in disaster.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4!?

Here black sets the trap. It looks like he’s just left the pawn on e5 free. White takes the bait.

4. Nxe5 Qg5 5. Nxf7 Qxg2 6. Rf1 Qxe4+ 7. Be2 Nf3# mate!

After white got greedy and took lots of the black pawns which were on offer, he ended up in a smothered mate against his king.

So how do we defend against the Blackburne-Shilling trap?

It’s simple. Instead of taking the pawn on move 3, white should have taken black’s knight instead. White can then castle and develop normally and white will come out ahead in development.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4 4. Nxd4 exd4 5. O-O Nf6

And here white is safely castled, is ahead in development, and white’s position is already better here.

Opening Attack 5.

The Fried Liver Attack

The fifth and final one of our common opening attacks. The Fried Liver Attack is an attack which white can use when black plays the two knights defence. Again, the fried liver attack is an example of an attack on f7. This is a very common attack to see at the beginner level. Let’s see how it works.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5

Here is the start of the fried liver attack for white. White threatens Nxf7 next move which would attack black’s queen and rook and win at least an exchange. There’s only one move black can play to prevent this, which is 4. … d5.

4. … d5 5. exd5 Nxd5?

This is the mistake from black and it’s a very common one for beginners to make. Black takes the pawn with his knight thinking that everything is ok, but this allows white to sacrifice his knight and unleash a deadly attack on black’s king.

6. Nxf7! Kxf7 7. Qf3+ Ke6

Black has to move his king to e6 otherwise he would lose his knight on d5, but now black’s king is in the middle of the board and is in all sorts of trouble. For example the game could continue as follows:

8. Nc3 Ne7 9. d4 c6 10. dxe5 Kd7

Black is trying desperately to run his king back to safety. Black is still a piece up, but he is already well behind in development and in huge trouble.

11. Bg5 Ke8 12. O-O-O Be6 13. Nxd5 Bxd5 14. Rxd5 cxd5 15. Bb5+ Nc6 16. Bxd8 Rxd8

White has now won black’s queen, not to mention the fact that black’s king is still in danger, and white will win easily.

So how do we defend against the fried liver attack?

Black’s mistake was on move 5. Instead of taking white’s pawn on d5 with his knight, he should have played 5. … Na5! instead. Let’s take a look again.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5

This is the point where black has to be careful. The correct move for black on the next move is … Na5!

5. exd5 Na5! 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6

Here black has successfully defended against the threat and black can develop freely.

8. Ba4 h6 9. Nf3 e4 10. Ng1 Bc5

And here black is well ahead in development and is much better.

So that’s our look through the common attacks and traps in the opening! Now you know what to look out for and how to defend against these common opening traps, so you’ll never have to fall for one of these traps again. Of course, if you use our recommended openings (Kings Indian Attack for white, and Kings Indian Defence or Hungarian defence for black) you’ll avoid most of these opening attacks and traps, but it’s good for your to be aware of them just in case your opponent decides to throw a slightly different but similar trap at you to try to catch you out. As long as you follow our 7 rules of the opening and be careful to defend against your opponent’s threats and traps, you’ll be able to play a good opening every time.

If you’re feeling naughty, feel free to try these opening attacks against your friends if they don’t know much about chess. Using opening traps against weaker players can be fun, though as you’ve seen if you try and use an opening trap against decent player they will likely be able to defend your attack easily and get a better position.

Finally to finish off the chapter, let’s have a look at some of the most common openings that are used by chess players all around the world. If you like the look of one of these openings you can use it for yourself in your own games, though they’ll generally be a bit trickier to use than the recommended openings we showed you. Still, it can be fun for you to try a different opening, and it can be a good learning experience for you, so we’ll show you some of the most popular ones so you have some choice. We don’t recommend you spend too much time learning lots of different openings though, as you’ll improve much quicker by spending your time practicing tactics or endgames. It’s best to stick with 1 or maybe 2 openings and get really good at them, and then spend the rest of your time practicing tactics and endgames.

Some Of The Most Popular Chess Openings

Guioco Piano (Also known as The Italian Game)

Guioco Piano is probably the most common opening in chess and you’ll see why soon. It follows pretty much the most natural opening moves and adheres the 7 opening rules that we talked about at the start of the chapter.

Here are the moves for Guioco Piano

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5

Any opening that starts with these moves is called a Guioco Piano opening. We’ve seen these moves many times before earlier in this chapter as these are the most natural moves for both players to play. The main idea for white in this opening is to develop as quickly as possible, castle kingside, get his pieces towards the centre of the board. Later on white might aim for an attack down the centre with the move d4 at some point, or may try and attack on the kingside with the move f4 and try and open up the f-file for his rook. The ideas for black are similar, which is probably not surprising given that the position is so symmetrical. Black will develop quickly, try to get his pieces towards the centre, and may well try for his own counterattack at some point in the centre with the move d5. Black may also elect to castle queenside when he eventually decides to castle, and try to launch an attack against white’s castled king on the kingside.

The Guioco Piano often results in very symmetrical and equal positions with equal space and chances for both sides. The positions are usually quite open and dynamic allowing fairly quick and active play from both sides.

A typical game in the Guioco Piano may continue as follows

4. c3 Nf6

White gets ready to gain space in the centre and plays c3 to prepare the move d4 next move, gaining space in the centre. Black develops his other knight which also has the benefit of attacking white’s e4 pawn at the same time.

5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+

White does indeed play d4 to try to gain control of the centre. Black presses forward with Bb4+ after the bishop is attacked by the white pawn on d4, which is better than passively retreating the bishop with a move like Bb6.

7. Nc3 Nxe4

White blocks the check with the fairly aggressive move Nc3. This move gets the knight out towards a fairly active square near the centre, but the knight on c3 can be attacked next move, as black duly does with the move Nxe4. Now white’s knight on c3 is attacked by two of black’s pieces. White is happy to allow this in order to get rapid development.

8. 0-0 Bxc3

White is absolutely focused on rapid development and is even willing to give up a pawn to do this. White castles, willingly giving up the pawn on c3 which would be lost after 8. … Bxc3 9. bxc3 Nxc3. In exchange for giving up the pawn, white wants to get his pieces out as quickly as possible, and get ready to play Re1 which will bring his rook into the attack.

9. d5 Bf6

Before white recaptures the piece on c3 however, white plays d5 which is a very important move, as it prevents black from playing 9. … d5 himself next move, which would let black gain space in the centre while also securing black’s knight on e4. Black would then have a very strong position with a strong knight on e4 that would be difficult to get rid of. White playing d5 however prevents this and ensures that white will have more space in the centre.

10. Re1 Ne7

White develops his rook to e1 which gets his rook to the now open e-file, which means white’s rook can now potentially attack black’s king. Remember that white is still down a piece at this point, but he will win back the piece soon as both of black’s knights are attacked. Black brings his c3 knight back to e7 in order to protect his king, and gives up the e4 knight (the e4 knight would have been very difficult to defend anyway given that it is pinned to black’s king).

11. Rxe4 d6

This is where the opening ends and the middlegame battle begins. The game will continue with equal chances. White has better control of the centre, has more space in general, and has the more active pieces. Black has a very solid position, is a pawn up, and white’s pawn on d5 may become a weakness which black could attack.

The Ruy Lopez

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5

The Ruy Lopez is another extremely popular opening seen at the professional level all the way down to the beginner level. It looks very similar to the Guioco Piano to begin with, but the games quickly start to look very different.

In this opening white’s idea is to put pressure on black’s e5 pawn as quickly as possible. However, black can usually reply by attacking white’s e4 pawn, and so the material usually equalises very quickly. For example, after the natural-looking moves 3. … a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. Nxe5 black can play 5. … Qd4! and black will regain the pawn on e4 and now has more space and the bishop pair, and black has a better position. For this reason white will usually wait a bit before trying to take black’s pawn on e5.

The Ruy Lopez again, like the Guioco Piano, often results in fairly open, active positions with equal chances for active play from both sides. The Ruy Lopez is in general a more tactical and more complex opening than the Guioco Piano and so the Ruy Lopez could be a good choice of opening for you if you like tactics.

The main idea of the Ruy Lopez is that white will spoil black’s pawn structure after he takes white’s knight on c6 with his bishop, but black will have the bishop pair.

A typical game in the Ruy Lopez may go like this:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6

White is not too hasty to exchange his bishop for the c6 knight, as we saw earlier that he would not be winning a pawn in the centre anyway.

5. 0-0 Be7

White castles quickly on the kingside in order to develop rapidly. Black could take white’s pawn with 5. … Nxe4, but white would regain the pawn quickly with 6. Re1, and white would soon win black’s pawn on e5. This would also leave black’s king exposed in the centre of the board with white’s rook on the e-file putting pressure on black’s king. For these reasons black elects not to take white’s e4 pawn and instead develops his bishop and gets ready to castle kingside.

6. Re1 b5

White gets his rook to the e-file which is the perfect position for the rook. Here the rook protects the e4 pawn, helps control the centre, and potentially can enter an attack if the e-file opens up. Black gains space on the queenside and drives white’s bishop back.

7. Bb3 d6

White brings his bishop back to the only available square. Black plays d6, solidifying his centre and also opening up a diagonal for his light-squared bishop to join the game.

8. c3 0-0

White plays c3, preparing to gain space in the centre with d4. This move also gives white the added benefit of giving white’s bishop on b3 an additional square to go to on c2. For example, if black plays Na5, white could play Bc2, saving his  light-squared bishop if he so chooses. Black gets castled on the kingside.

9. h3

Here the main line ends. White plays h3 in order to prevent black playing Bg4, which would place white’s f3 knight in an annoying pin. White will play d4 at some point in order to gain space in the centre, will probably play Bg5 at some point and try to swap off the dark squared bishop, and will often try to get his knight on b1 to the kingside via Nbd2-Nf1-Ng3. Black will try to expand on the queenside with moves such as c5 and b4, or may try and counter attack in the centre himself at same point with the move d5. White will try to attack on the kingside while black has more space on the queenside.

The Two Knights Defence

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6

Called the Two Knights Defence for fairly obvious reasons, in this opening black gets both knights out as quickly as possible. This defence is actually an old favourite of the author, who used it all the time as black. This is also a very common opening at club level but not so common at professional level these days. The two knights defence is best played by black players who like tactics, open positions and complications. We will take a look at the main line now (though we’ve already seen a lot of this when we looked at the fried liver attack earlier).

4. Ng5 d5

This is already where the complications begin. The drawback of the Two Knights Defence is that it allows white to play Ng5, launching an attack on the f7 square. White threatens to play Nxf7, which would pretty much win the game as this forks black’s queen and rook. Black’s only move in this position is actually 4. … d4, as this is the only move that defends against the attack on f7.

5. exd5 Na5!

White takes the d5 pawn. Black has a choice between recapturing the pawn with Nxd5 and Na5. In fact, playing Nxd5 here would be a big mistake, as this would allow white to play the fried liver attack with 6. Nxf7 (which we saw earlier in the chapter). This would leave black with a much worse position and black would have to spend all his efforts on defending his king. This means that again, black has only one acceptable move in this position, which is Na5.

6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6

White moves forward with his bishop and black blocks the check with c6, which forces the white bishop back (note that black’s knight on a5 is protecting the pawn on c6 and therefore white must retreat his bishop)

8. Be2 h6

Black kicks the white knight back too with the move h6

9. Nf6 e4

And again black continues to kick around white’s pieces, at the same time gaining more space in the centre

That is the end of the main line of the two knights defence. As you can see in the resulting position, black has sacrificed a pawn, but in return black has a lot more space, especially in the centre and the queenside. Black now has the ability to develop quickly, and he has a range of great squares to choose from to develop his bishops (Bc5 and Bf5 for instance), and black will be the one to attack first. White has advantages too, he is of course a pawn up, and although black has more space, black’s position is a little bit exposed and overstretched, and black’s isolated pawns an a7 and c6 may become weaknesses that white could attack. If white can be get to the endgame safely, then he will be in a better position given his extra pawn and much more solid pawn structure. If you like tactics and attacking positions, then this could be a great defence for you when you are playing black.

The Philidor Defence

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6

The Philidor defence is a very solid though somewhat boring opening choice by black. Here black defends his e5 pawn with d6 which avoids any complications with pieces. White will try to open up the position immediately with d4 to gain space in the centre and try to take advantage of black’s passive play. Because of the passive nature of the opening, this opening is rare at the top level these days. A typical game might go:

3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6

White opens up the centre and now has more space in the centre. Black has a very solid position however and has a very natural development plan.

5. Nc3 Be7 6. Bf4 0-0

Both players play some natural developing moves

7. Bc4 Nc6 8. 0-0 Bd7

The position is fairly equal at this point. As you can see the Philidor defence is a very solid though somewhat passive opening. White has more space but otherwise the position is more or less equal. If you are looking for a very solid opening  as black without too many complications where you won’t have to learn too many variations, and you can live with the fact that your position will be fairly passive, then this may be a good defence for you.

The Sicilian Defence

1. e4 c5

The Sicilian Defence is probably the most common defence seen by black these days at all levels. It is extremely solid and allows black many different choices. The idea for black is that rather than “mirroring” white by replying to 1. e4 with 1. e5, where black will always essentially be one move behind white, black instead chooses to challenge the centre with the c-pawn. Doing this gives black the flexibility to challenge the centre with his d and e pawns later on in the game. The Sicilian defence is an extremely popular opening and has been studied by masters exhaustively. Because of this, there are a huge number of variations of the Sicilian defence, each with their own weird and wonderful names (for example, the Sicilian Najdorf is a popular variation named after the Polish-born Argentinian master Miguel Najdorf, and the Sicilian Dragon is so called because black gets a pawn chain that supposedly resembles a dragon).

Games in the Sicilian often result in complex, tactical positions. The action will usually be concentrated in the centre which often leads to a lot of action and congestion in the centre. If you like, sharp, aggressive openings with equal chances for both sides then this may be a great choice for you as a black player.

Let’s have a quick look at one of the main lines of the Sicilian:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6

White plays Nf3 to prepare d4 next move in order to open up the position. Black plays d6 in order to solidify his centre, control the e5 square, and also open up a diagonal for his light-squared bishop.

3. d4 cxd4

White plays d4 in most of the popular variations of the Sicilian in order to open up the position and gain space in the centre. The drawback however, is that white must of course give up one of his centre pawns for one of black’s non-central pawns.

4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6

Both players get their knights out.

6. Be2 e5

White develops his bishop to a very flexible square where it can go to either side of the board. Black finally stakes his claim in the centre, driving white’s d4 knight back with the move e5.

7. Nf3 h6

White retreats his knight and black plays h6 in order to prevent white playing Bg5, where white could potentially trade off his dark squared bishop, which white would love to do, as white’s dark squared bishop doesn’t really have a good square to go to.

8. O-O Be7 9. Re1 O-O 10. h3 Be6

The position offers equal chances for both sides. Black has better control of the centre and a half-open c-file which he can attack with his rook. White on the other hand will look to attack the semi-open d-file, and attack the weak backward d6 pawn that black has.

The Caro-Kann Defence

1. e4 c6

The Caro-Kann Defence is a very solid but somewhat inflexible opening (you don’t have many options when you’re playing it as black). The idea is to create a very solid centre with a pawn on d5 supported by pawns on c6 and e6. Before black does this however he will try to exchange his light-squared bishop early on in the game before it gets hampered by all his pawns on light squares (c6, d5 and e6). With such a solid centre, black will be very difficult to attack, and if white tries too hard to attack black, black can often launch a lethal counterattack.

The Caro-Kann used to be a favourite opening of the greatest player ever, Garry Kasparov, who used it to great effect. These days however it is mostly seen at club level and is rarely seen at the professional level, as given the lack of options available when you’re playing the opening, you’re unlikely to surprise your opponent when playing this opening.

Let’s have a look at how a game with the Caro-Kann Defence might typically go:

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5

Black immediately challenges white in the centre with a d5 push supported by the c6 pawn. If white chooses to exchange pawns in the centre (e.g. 3. exd5 cxd5), then black will be left with two centre pawns while white will only have one.

3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5

Black exchanges pawns in the centre and then plays Bf5 to try to exchange his light-squared bishop as early as possible.

5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6

White retreats his knight at the same time attacking black’s light squared bishop. After black retreats his bishop, white plays the interesting move h4. Although this move weakens white’s kingside pawn structure, white is getting ready to attack black’s bishop with the move h5 next move. Black now needs an escape square for his light squared bishop, so he plays h6, giving him the option to retreat his bishop back to h7 if it is attacked.

7. Nf3 Nd7 8. h5 Bh7

Both players develop knights. White finally does play h5 and black retreats his bishop to h7, which is the only square it can go to.

9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6

Having gained space on the kingside with his h4-h5 push, white now offers the exchange of light squared bishops which black gladly accepts. Here we will stop our look at the Caro-Kann. White has more space in the position and may be able to use the pawn on h5 to attack on the kingside. Black on the other hand has a very solid position, with a solid centre and an especially tight grip on the d5 square with both the c6 and e6 pawns defending it. Black also has a better pawn structure and would have better chances of winning in an endgame due to his better pawn structure. Black will often castle queenside in this position to avoid his king getting crushed by a kingside attack.

The Caro-Kann might be a great choice of opening for you as black if you want a solid opening where you won’t have to learn too many variations. The Caro-Kann is a fairly tactical opening (though not as tactical as the Sicilan Defence) so it is a good opening if you like tactics, but you often won’t have many opportunities to attack (you will sometimes have opportunities to counterattack though). If you can live with that however, then the Caro-Kann Defence might be a great opening for you as black.

The French Defence

1. e4 e6

The French Defence is a solid and very tactical opening choice for black. Black will aim to attack white’s centre at all costs. Black will play d5 next move, attacking white’s e5 pawn, and black will then look to attack white’s centre further with moves such as c5 and Nc6. The French Defence offers plenty of attacking and counterattacking chances for black, but the variations are often complicated and tactical and you will have to be careful and learn a lot of variations. The main drawback of the French Defence is that black blocks in his light-squared bishop, and this bishop will often have trouble being useful throughout the game.

The French Defence has many variations and is popular all the way from club level to professional level.

Let’s have a look at how a French Defence game might go:

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5

White tries to grab space immediately in the centre and black challenges white’s centre with d5.

3. e5 c5

White advances his pawn in order to gain more space. Although black’s position is now a little cramped, black now looks to take advantage of white’s overextended pawns. White’s e5 pawn helps give white more space than black, but now that it is so far advanced it may become more difficult to defend. Black looks to take advantage of this and will try to attack white’s centre. If black can cause white’s centre to collapse, then black will basically be winning the game.

4. c3 Nc6

White defends his d4 pawn and black brings out his knight to attack white’s d4 pawn further. If black can win white’s d4 pawn, then white’s e5 pawn will fall soon afterwards

5. Nf3 Qb6

White brings his knight out to defend the d4 pawn and black brings out yet another piece to attack the d4 pawn, this time his queen.

6. a3 Nh6

White can’t just sit back while black attacks his centre. He plays a3, getting ready to attack black’s c5 pawn with b4 next move. The move a3 also makes it more difficult for black to develop his dark squared bishop (black’s dark squared bishop can only go to e7 at the moment). Black plays Nh6 which looks like a bit of a strange place to develop his knight at the moment, but the knight will next go to f5 as soon as possible, where it will be yet another piece which attacks white’s d4 pawn!

7. b4 cxd4

White does play b4, gaining space on the queenside and attacking black’s c5 pawn. Black chooses to take white’s d4 pawn.

8. cxd4 Nf5

White recaptures in the centre and black brings his knight to f5, attacking white’s d4 pawn again. Black now has both knights and the queen all attacking the d4 pawn.

9. Bb2 Bd7

White brings his bishop to b2 to defend his d4 pawn and black develops his light squared bishop

Here we will stop our analysis of the French Defence. You can see in the final position that white has more space in general and especially more space on the kingside. White might try to attack on the kingside, while black might try to attack on the queenside as black’s pawns are pointing towards the queenside. Black on the other hand will try to attack white’s centre further and will keep up the pressure on white’s weak d4 pawn and may even play f6 at some point to attack white’s centre. You can see how black’s light squared bishop doesn’t have many squares to go to, as it is blocked by its own pawns on e6 and d5. Black would love to exchange his light squared bishop at some point if he can. The final position is complex and tactical and the French Defence is a great opening choice for those who want a complex opening with plenty of counter-attacking opportunities.

We will now move on to looking at a couple of openings from the second most popular first move for white, which is 1. d4.

The d4 Openings

Playing d4 on the first move as white is just as good as playing as playing e4. This move obviously attempts to control the centre with the other centre pawn. 1. d4 is very popular at all levels, though historically playing 1. e4 has been slightly more popular as 1. e4 often leads to more open, fast-paced, attacking games, whereas 1. d4 often leads to slower, closed games. In fact, the 1. e4 openings are often called the “Open games” and the 1. d4 openings are often called the “Closed games”.

Let’s take a quick look at two of the most popular openings which arise after 1. d4 so that you know what to expect when facing these openings, starting with the most popular of the d4 openings, the Queen’s Gambit

The Queen’s Gambit

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6

In this opening white offers to sacrifice his c-pawn in exchange for control of the centre and easy development. Black usually does not accept the sacrifice, as black does not want to leave white with two pawns in the centre while black only has one. Therefore black usually declines the sacrifice with a move like e6, supporting his centre. White’s c-pawn isn’t that important anyway, so black wouldn’t be getting that much of an advantage if he won white’s c-pawn (the d, e, and f-pawns are much more important as the e and d-pawns control the centre and the f-pawn protects the king).

The Queen’s gambit is very popular at professional level play and leads to complex games where both tactics and strategy are needed to get the most out of the position. The games are usually a bit slower than e4 openings such as the Ruy Lopez or the Guioco Piano, and a lot of the action happens in the centre where things often get blocked.

Let’s have a look at how a Queen’s Gambit game might go:

3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 0-0

So far white’s moves have all been focused on either attacking the d5 pawn, or attacking defenders of the d5 pawn. After white gets his dark-squared bishop out, white plays e3, getting ready to develop his light-squared bishop. Black just gets on with his development with the moves Be7 and 0-0.

6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6

Both players develop their knights. White gets his rook to the c-file, which may well open up soon after the c-pawn gets exchanged. Black attempts to block white’s rook from getting too active by playing c6, which also lends more support to the d5 square.

8. Bd3 dxc4

White develops his bishop to the best square available to it, which is d3. Black doesn’t really want to exchange his central d-pawn for white’s c-pawn, but in this case black sees an opportunity to gain a tempo against white’s bishop (white will have to react to the fact that his bishop is being attacked by black’s pawn, meaning that white will sort of be a move behind black). Therefore black chooses to exchange his d-pawn for white’s c-pawn, which will also give black a little more space, and free up the d4 square for his pieces to jump into.

9. Bxc4 Nd5

White has to recapture the pawn and black jumps his knight into d5, which is a great square for the knight as from the centre the knight attacks a lot of squares on the board, and the knight can jump to either side of the board at a moment’s notice if it wants to.

10. Bxe7 Qxe7

Here we will stop our look at the Queen’s Gambit. White has more space and a semi-open c-file to attack. Black has a very solid position and has the d4 square available for his pieces, though white will probably not allow this for long and may play either e4 or try to exchange the d5 knight. The Queen’s Gambit would be a good opening choice for you as white if you like complex, tactical, and flexible positions and don’t mind playing a slightly slower game.

The Nimzo Indian Defence

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4

To finish our look at the d4 openings let’s have a look at a black defence to d4. This is the Nimzo Indian defence. There are a range of “Indian” defences which can arise after 1. d4 Nf6, many of which are very popular at top level play (of course we’ve already seen the Kings Indian Defence). The Nimzo Indian defence is one of the most popular and most flexible, and is named after the legendary chess master Aron Nimzowich.

The general idea of an Indian defence is for black to delay advancing his pawns to the centre and instead keep his centre pawns back. Black invites white to take control of the centre with his centre pawns, but later on black will attack white’s centre with his pieces. If black succeeds in breaking down white’s centre, then white will be left exposed.

Because the Nimzo Indian defence violates one of our 7 key rules of the opening (rule #2, Control the Centre), this is generally a more advanced opening and I would only recommend you try to use this opening once you become a stronger player. However, it is one of the most popular openings in chess, and you’ll see professional players use it all the time, so let’s take a quick look at it so that you can understand some of the key ideas behind this opening when you see other people use it.

In the Nimzo Indian defence, black brings his dark squared bishop out early to attack white’s knight. This prevents white from playing e4 quickly. Black also keeps a lot of his options open. He can still choose to fianchetto his light squared bishop at some point by playing b6 and Bb7 if he wants, or he can play c5 and attack white’s centre. White plans to take advantage of the extra space he has by establishing a strong centre with d4, c4, and at some point white will want to play e4 too once he is ready.

4. e3 0-0

White solidifies his centre. Black castles, still keeping his options open

5. Bd3 d5

White develops his light squared bishop to a square where it eyes up the kingside. Black finally commits in the centre with the move d5, grabbing some control in the centre and also preventing white from playing e4.

6. Nf3 c5

White develops his other knight. Black strikes in the centre again with the move c5. With c5, however, black sort of traps his bishop on b4 to the queenside. Black will now exchange his dark squared bishop at some point in the future with Bxc3, leaving white with doubled pawns on the c-file which black will look to attack.

7. 0-0 Nc6 8. a3 Bxc3

Both players continue development and then white challenges black’s bishop with the move a3. Black doesn’t want to retreat his dark squared bishop and allow white to gain more space on the queenside with b4, and so instead black exchanges his bishop for white’s knight on c3. Although black has given up his bishop for a knight, which in general you don’t want to do, white will be left with doubled c-pawns which are weak and black might be able to attack them.

9. bxc4 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Qc7

Here we will stop with our look at the Nimzo Indian Defence. White still has more control of the centre, and white will try to gain even more space in the centre by advancing his centre pawns, which will also open up lines for his bishops. Black on the other hand will continue to try to attack white’s centre. Black might play e5 at same point, attacking white’s d4 pawn again, and black may try and put even more pressure on white’s centre by bringing his rooks to the centre and putting his light squared bishop on b7 in order to help control the central light squares. Still, black has plenty of space on both the kingside and queenside and still has lots of options to manoeuvre on both sides of the board if he wants to.

Other Openings

I’ve shown you most of the most popular openings in chess above, which are all openings which begin with either 1. e4 or 1. d4. Ideally now you have an idea of what to do now in lots of different situations regardless of what opening moves your opponent tries. What if your opponent tries some really weird opening moves though? These moves won’t be as good as 1. e4 or 1. d4, but sometimes if your opponent plays weird opening moves you might get confused. The important thing for you to do is just develop your pieces as quickly as possible and follow our 7 key rules of the opening. Let’s have a quick look at some of the rarer opening moves just so you know what to expect.

Apart from 1. e4 and 1. d4 of course, the other 3 sensible first moves for white are 1. c4 (this is called the English opening), 1. Nf3 (This is called the Reti Opening, named after the Austro-Hungarian chess master Richard Reti), and 1. g3 (This is named Benko’s Opening after the Hungarian Grandmaster Pal Benko).

The English Opening

1. c4

The English opening is another solid opening which is seen often at professional level play. The idea is to control the centre with the c-pawn, leaving your centre pawns available to strike in the centre later on in the game. English Opening games are generally slow, complex, and strategic, so if that appeals to you then maybe you’d like to try the English Opening. If you are playing as black and your opponent uses the English Opening against you, you can just reply with 1. … e5, and develop as normal like we showed you before.

Reti Opening

1. Nf3

This is another opening where the idea for white is to delay moving his centre pawns so he can save them to take over the centre later on in the game. White will play g3 and Bg2 at some point, and use his bishop on g2 to attack black’s central pawns. However, white often ends up playing e4 or d4 at some point soon in the game, and the game will often look almost the same as if white had played e4 or d4 on the first move, which are positions that we are already used to seeing. If you are black and your opponent plays the Reti Opening against you, you can use a Kings Indian Defence set-up that we saw before.

Benko’s Opening

The idea here for white is almost the same as the Reti Opening we just saw above. White will fianchetto his light squared bishop on g2 and try to attack black’s centre pawns. If you are playing black and your opponent uses Benko’s Opening then you can play either 1. … e5 or the Kings Indian Defence and just develop normally.

The Really Weird Openings

Apart from 1. e4, 1. d4, 1. c4, 1. Nf3, and 1. g3, all the other first moves for white are just bad, so therefore you don’t have to worry about them. For example, 1. c3 (Saragossa Opening), 1. d3 (Mieses Opening), or 1. e3 (Van’t Kruijis Opening) are just worse versions of 1. c4, 1. d4 and 1. e4 respectively.

The moves 1. b3 (Larsen’s Opening) and 1. Nc3 (Van Geet Opening) are ok, but they’re not as good as 1. e4 or 1. d4 as they don’t help control the centre.

Playing 1. b4 (Polish Opening) or 1. g4 (Grob Attack) leaves you with a weak pawn on b4 or g4.

Playing 1. a4 (Ware Opening) or 1. h4 (Desprez Opening) is basically a waste of a move, as these moves don’t help you develop at all (some beginners will play 1. a4 followed by 2. Ra3 and say that they are trying to develop their rook, but this is a terrible idea because their rook will get attacked and chased around by their opponent’s pieces, so they will lose valuable time while their opponents develop their pieces)

Finally, possibly the worst first moves for white are 1. f4 (Bird Opening) or 1. f3 (Gedult’s Opening). As mentioned before, I would recommend you not to move your f-pawn until after you have castled, as moving your f-pawn weakens your f2 square which is the target of many possible opening attacks from your opponent. 1. f3 is perhaps the worst opening move in chess, as this move weakens your f2 square, weakens your king, doesn’t help control the centre, and blocks your knight from developing to f3. Whatever you do, please never, ever, ever play 1. f3.

Conclusion

So that ends our discussion of the opening. It’s important for you to remember not to spend too much time practicing openings, as you can easily spend hours learning openings, but this won’t really help you much to win games. A much quicker way for you to improve is by practicing tactics (which are coming up in the next chapter), as practicing tactics will help you finish off games, will help you win material, and will help you avoid making mistakes. The other thing you can do to improve quickly is to practice endgames (which are coming up later), as this will help you win games once you get to the endgame, and will help you make plans in the middlegame as you know what kind of positions you want to be in once you get to the endgame.

The most important things I want you to remember from this chapter are that in the opening your main aim is to develop your pieces as quickly as possible. Remember our 7 key rules of the opening:

1. Develop your pieces!

2. Control the centre

3. Don’t bring your queen out too early

4. Castle as soon as possible

5. Move each piece only once in the opening

6. Develop your knights before bishops

7. Don’t move your f-pawn in the opening unless you have to

These rules will make life as easy as possible for you when you get to the middlegame.

We’ve gone through what a good opening looks like and we’ve given you a solid opening plan that you can use for both white or black so that you can play a safe, solid opening every time. We’ve also showed you some other popular openings that you can choose from if you fancy something different.

Now you are in a position to develop your pieces quickly and safely in the opening, and you now know how to defend against quick opening attacks from your opponent so you won’t lose quickly in the opening. We can now move on to the middlegame where the real battle begins!

The Middlegame

Introduction to the Middlegame

So you’ve played a good opening and now you’re in the middlegame, but what do you do now?

This book is all about ”How to improve at chess” as quickly as possible, so I wanted to make this chapter as succinct as possible so that you improve quickly but still have all of the key information to make you a strong middlegame chess player. With that in mind I’ve identified the 2 (just 2) key areas of the middlegame that you have to learn about in order to improve at chess rapidly. These 2 key areas are practicing tactics and middlegame planning. This chapter will therefore be split into roughly two sections. The first section will be about practicing tactics and we will practice tactics together to make you a stronger player. The second section will be about middlegame planning where we will see examples of middlegame plans and you’ll see how to use these plans in your own games. Finally we’ll show a few examples of middlegames at the end. First though let’s discuss the middlegame a little bit so that you have some background:

The middlegame is where the chess battle really begins. In the middlegame you basically have 2 main options. You can either try to:

- Win material so you can win the endgame

- Attack your opponent’s king and checkmate him

Of course, your opponent isn’t going to let you win material or checkmate them so easily.

In fact, pretty much the first thing any player does when they are deciding what move to make is to check that their move isn’t going to allow their opponent to win material or checkmate them (of course you should be doing the same). So therefore trying to hit your opponent with an obvious plan such as “trying to capture their pieces” or “trying to checkmate their king” is unlikely to work a lot of the time, especially if they’re a strong player. Instead we can try to do other, more subtle things to gradually improve our position and make it easier for us to eventually win material or checkmate our opponent. This is called coming up with a “middlegame plan”. Some examples of more subtle things we can do to improve our position are:

- Gain space by advancing our pawns - This gives us more freedom for our pieces to move. More space = more options for our pieces = more opportunities to win material or checkmate our opponent.

- Advance our pawns and try to promote one of them to a queen

- Gain activity for our pieces - We developed our pieces to central squares in the opening but they’re probably not quite in the right position yet to attack our opponent. This is where we get our pieces more active by getting them further up the board (but not too far up the board otherwise they might get trapped by enemy pieces) or try to open up lines for our pieces by exchanging more pawns and giving our pieces more freedom to move. We also want to limit the activity of our opponent’s pieces of course by blocking them with our pawns (or even better, forcing their pieces back so that they are blocked by their own pawns!)

- Fight for control of the centre - In the opening we fought for control of the centre briefly, but our main goal was to develop our pieces. The middlegame is where the fight for control of the centre really begins. If you eventually manage to control the centre you’ll have a lot more space for your pieces and you’re be able to dictate the direction of the game.

- Attack with your rooks down an open file (we’ll talk more about this later)

- Attack your opponent’s weaknesses - Usually this means attacking your opponent’s weak pawns (again we’ll come to this later)

- Checkmate your opponent - Yes, you can still try to do this, but only if the position is right for it

All of those were examples of middlegame planning. Learning how to plan well in the middlegame is a key part of becoming a better chess player, and later on in the chapter we will show you some examples of middlegame plans and how to use them in your own games. As you practice middlegame planning more and more you’ll get better at choosing the right plan to use at the right time - and you’ll recognise when the time is right to switch plans.

Firstly though I want to move onto the other area of the middlegame which we are going to practice and it’s a very important one. Remember that at the beginning of the book we said that the two most important areas of chess to practice if you want to improve as quickly as possible are practicing tactics and practicing endgames. Well, right now we going to practice the first of those - tactics.

Practicing Tactics!

Firstly, what is a tactic? There are basically two types of thinking in chess - the first is tactics and the second is strategy. Tactics are short-term calculations and strategy is long-term planning. A tactic can be a short 2-3 move combination which wins you material or checkmates your opponent (sometimes tactics can be much longer - you might be able to see a 10 move combination is you’re a really strong player). Strategy on the other hand is when you think longer-term about things such as where to place your pieces, what you’d like your pawn structure to be, and what you’d like your long term plan to be. Making a strategic move might not help in the short-term but it might help you 20 or 30 moves later in the game.

Both tactics and strategy are important - but it’s more important to learn tactics, especially if you’re a beginner. The problem with learning strategy is that you can spend a lot of time trying to learn strategy without really improving your chess skill. Learning tactics on the other hand will help you improve your chess skill very quickly and is one of the most time-efficient ways to improve your chess skill. In fact, practicing tactics and practicing endgames (which we’ll get onto in the next chapter) give your the most bang-for-your-buck in terms of chess improvement versus time invested. Spending a lot of time learning strategy is only really worth it for top players. In fact you could become a top chess player just by becoming really good at tactics and not knowing much strategy - but there are no top chess players in the world who are really good at strategy and really bad at tactics.

Practicing tactics will help you see and find more opportunities to win material or checkmate your opponent. Even more importantly, practicing tactics will help you see your opponent’s threats and ensure you don’t make a mistake and allow your opponent to win material or checkmate you. The more you practice tactics the more moves ahead you’ll be able to calculate so that eventually you’ll be able to see 4, 5, 6, 7 or even more moves ahead. I’m about to show you lots of different tactics which you can use in your own games and then we’ll have lots of examples which we’ll practice together so that you can become a strong chess player.

Right let’s get started! We’re going to look at some Material Tactics (where you will win material), then some Checkmate Tactics (where you will checkmate your opponent), and then we’ll look at some more complex tactics.

Think of tactics as like weapons in your arsenal. The more tactics you know, the more different types of weapons you will have to attack your opponent with or defend yourself with. So let’s try to learn as many tactics as possible!

Material Tactics

There are four basic material tactics which will help you win material. They are the fork, the pin, the skewer, and the discovered attack. We will look at these 4 first, and then we will look at more complex material attacks and combinations afterwards.

The Fork

The fork is one of the most basic tactics available. A fork is when one piece attacks two enemy pieces at the same time. In this case the white knight is attacking both the black king and black queen at the same time. We say that the white knight is forking black’s king and queen. Black’s king must move away as it is in check, and white will take black’s queen next move, and white will win easily.

The fork doesn’t have to be done by a knight either. Take a look at these examples:

Diagram. White’s queen is forking black’s king and rook

Diagram. White’s rook is forking black’s king and knight

Diagram. Black’s humble pawn is forking white’s king and queen!

Ok I think we understand the power of The Fork now. Make sure to use The Fork in your own games. Let’s move onto the next Material Tactic, The Pin.

The Pin

The Pin is when a piece attacks an enemy piece which cannot move away. In the above position white’s bishop is attacking black’s queen, and black’s queen cannot move away as it is in front of the black king. White’s bishop is said to be pinning black’s queen, and black’s queen is immobile. White will win black’s queen for his bishop and white will win easily.

Let’s have a look at some more examples of The Pin.

Diagram. White’s rook is pinning black’s queen

Diagram. White’s queen is pinning black’s rook, and white will win the rook next move

Diagram. The Pin doesn’t have to always be against the king either. In this position, white’s bishop is pinning black’s rook against black’s queen. White will play Bxd5 and win black’s rook next move

Pins are extremely useful in chess not only for winning material but also for restricting the movement of enemy pieces by pinning them down. Let’s look at the next material tactic, the skewer.

The Skewer

The skewer is when you attack one piece through another piece. Often this happens when the enemy king is in front of an enemy piece, and by attacking the enemy king you attack the piece behind it too. Have a look at the following examples:

Diagram. In this position, white’s bishop is skewering black’s king and rook. Black must move his king out of the way and white will take black’s rook on g8 next move

Diagram. In this position, white’s queen is skewering black’s king and rook. Black must move his king out of the way and white will take black’s rook on a4 next move

Diagram. In this position, white is skewering black’s queen and rook with his bishop on b2. Black must move his queen out of the way and then white will capture black’s rook on h8.

Skewers present great opportunities to win material. Next let’s look at the 4th and final one of our material tactics, the discovered attack.

The Discovered Attack

The discovered attack is when one piece moves away, which unleashes an attack by another piece behind it. Let’s have a look at some examples.

Diagram. In this position, white’s knight and bishop are in the perfect position to unleash a discovered attack on the black king. It is white’s move and he can play Nf3+, where the black king will be in check from the white queen. Black must move his king out of check, and then white can take black’s queen with his knight

Diagram. In this position, white’s bishop on b2 is on the same diagonal as the black king on h8, and when white’s rook on d4 moves out of the way black’s king will be in check. White can play Rd8+, attacking black’s queen and checking black’s king at the same time.

Diagram. Here’s an example of both a discovered attack and a pin together. White can play Nd4, getting his knight out of the way of the rook, and unleashing a discovered attack on black’s queen which is pinned to black’s king. Black can do nothing to prevent himself losing his queen next move.

So those are four basic tactics we can use to win material, the fork, the pin, the skewer, and the discovered attack. Let’s do some tactics puzzles now so that we can practice using these tactics.

Material Tactics Puzzles

Now we’ll do some tactics together to practice the material tactics we’ve just looked at. To start with these puzzles will be quite easy. Later on in the chapter we’ll do some more complex tactics puzzles. For each of the positions below, can you find the best moves in the position for whichever side it is to move? Remember, the dot in the bottom left hand corner indicates whether it is white or black’s turn to move. The answers are below the puzzles.

Answer #1: White can play Nf7+, forking black’s king and queen!

Answer #2: White can play Qxf6+, forking black’s king and rook!

Answer #3: White can play Qd3+, forking black’s king, rook, and bishop all at the same time!

Simple right? Let’s do a few tactics puzzles with pins:

Answer #4: White can play Rd2, pinning black’s queen and winning it!

Answer #5: White can play Bb3, pinning black’s rook to the black king and winning the rook.

Answer #6: White can play Bc3, pinning black’s rook to the black queen and winning the rook for the bishop.

Right, now let’s do a few puzzles with skewers and discovered attacks.

Answer #7: White can play Bf3+, skewering black’s king and queen and winning black’s queen

Answer #8: White can play Rd2+, skewering black’s king and queen and winning black’s queen

Answer #9: White can play Qc3, skewering black’s rook and knight. Black will have to move his rook out of the way as there is no way to defend his rook on e4, and white will win black’s knight on g7 next move.

Answer #10: White can play Bg6+, checking black’s king and unleashing a discovered attack on black’s queen with his rook at the same time. White will take black’s queen on d7 next move with his rook.

Answer #11: White can play Bc3+, unleashing a discovered check on black’s king and attacking black’s queen at the same time. White will take black’s queen on g7 next move.

Answer #12: White can play Nc3, attacking black’s bishop on b5 while also unleashing a discovered attack on black’s queen at the same time. Since black’s queen is pinned to black’s king, white will win black’s queen next move.

Great so now you’ve practiced looking for tactics to win material in a variety of positions. Doing tactics puzzles like this will help improve your game tremendously, and you’ll be able to see more and more opportunities to win material in your own games. So far the tactics puzzles we’ve looked at have only been one-move tactics, but later on we’ll look at more complex tactics where you have to calculate 2, 3 or even more moves ahead. Next however let’s take a bit of a break from tactics where you win material and look for opportunities to checkmate your opponent instead.

Mating Tactics

What if there’s an opportunity to checkmate your opponent during the middlegame? Checkmating your opponent is better than just winning material right? Sure it is! We’re going to look at a range of common mating tactics that can occur in the middlegame so that you know how to spot a checkmate in your own games. We’ll then practice some tactics puzzles with mating tactics so that you can practice your checkmate skills. Let’s get right to it!

Basic Mating Ideas:

The Back Rank Mate

Probably the most common checkmate that occurs in the middlegame is the back rank mate. This is when a king is trapped behind its own pawns on the back rank, allowing an enemy rook or queen to come down and checkmate him. Have a look at the diagram below for an example of what this looks like:

Diagram. The back rank mate

In the diagram above, black has castled his king, but then allowed his rooks to wander down the board, leaving black’s 8th rank unprotected. This meant that white was able to checkmate black with his rook with the move Rd8# mate. Make sure to look out for opportunities to back rank mate your opponent if they ever leave their back rank unprotected.

Make sure you defend against the back rank mate happening to yourself as well. Note in the position above that white has his rook on e1 defending the back rank, preventing any potential back rank mate happening to himself. Another thing you can do to prevent the back rank mate happening to yourself is to play h3 (like white has done in the position above). In the position above, even if white’s rook on e1 was removed from the board, white could still not be back rank mated as if black played Ra1+, white would be able to escape with his king to the h2 square.

Queen checkmates

The next most common mating tactic that occurs in the middlegame is checkmate with the queen. The queen is the most powerful piece on the board and if you can get your queen next to the enemy king and ensure that the queen is defended by a piece, then a lot of the time it will be checkmate.

Let’s look at a few examples of how this can happen in a game.

Diagram. In this example, white’s queen delivers checkmate on the h7 square. Note that white’s queen is defended by white’s knight on g5

Diagram. In this example, white’s queen again checkmates black’s king on h7, this time defended by the bishop on c2. See how white’s knight on f3 is defending white’s h2 square, preventing white from being checkmated on h2 himself.

You’ll see lots of opportunities to try and checkmate your opponent with your queen. Usually these are quite easy to defend however. In your own games, if you’ve castled your king, try to keep a knight on f3 (or f6 if you’re playing as black) to defend against your opponent trying to checkmate you with their queen on h2 (or h7). Also when your opponent brings their queen out remember to check that they are not sneakily getting their queen into a position where they can checkmate you - this has happened to me many times before!

Smothered Mate

Smothered mate doesn’t occur nearly as much as the back rank mate or queen checkmates but it is still an important idea to be aware of. Smothered mate is when the king is trapped and smothered by its own pieces, allowing an enemy knight to checkmate the the king (as in the diagram above). There is a special type of smothered mate called Philidor’s mate, which is named after the great player François-André Danican Philidor. Philidor’s mate is a great checkmate technique which you’ll almost certainly get an opportunity to use in your own games at some point. Let’s have a look how to do it:

Philidor’s mate

Diagram. Philidor’s mate

In the diagram above, white can force a checkmate in 4 moves, and this checkmate will be the Philidor’s mate. These are the moves:

1. Nf7+ Kg8

This is black’s only move

2. Nh6++ Kh8

This is double-check as both the queen and knight are checking black’s king, hence why there are two plus signs. If black played 2. … Kf8 instead then he would get mated in one move after 3. Qf7# mate

3. Qg8+! Rxg8

This is black’s only move

4. Nf7# mate

Notice how in Philidor’s mate, white sacrifices his queen beautifully in order to make black’s rook smother the black king, allowing white to deliver checkmate next move with Nf7. If you see an opportunity to use Philidor’s mate in your own games, use it!

Rook and Knight Mate

The rook and knight can also combine to checkmate the enemy king, usually in the corner of the board. Let’s look at a few examples of how this can happen in a game.

In this position, white’s king is in the middle of the board, not in the corner, but black is still able to checkmate white as white’s pawn on d2 traps white’s king in

And in this position, white has managed to checkmate black’s king in the centre of the board, as white’s knight on d4 is protected by a pawn. This kind of checkmate in the middle of the board with a rook and a knight and pawns involved can happen quite often, so be careful when putting your king next to an enemy knight (especially if that enemy knight is protected) to make sure there are no checkmates available for your opponent! But also be on the lookout yourself for checkmates such as this one where an enemy king is near your pawns and knight, often a rook move can deliver checkmate in these positions.

Mating Tactics Puzzles

Right, now that we’ve looked at a few common mating tactics that occur in the middlegame, let’s practice a few tactics with mating tactics to get you better at spotting checkmates in the middlegame. Can you spot the checkmates in the following positions? Remember that the dot in the left hand corner of each diagram indicates which side’s turn it is to move.

Answer #13: White can play Rd8# mate. A back rank mate!

Answer #14: White can play Qxh7# mate. A classic queen checkmate!

Answer #15: White can play Nf7# mate. A classic smothered mate!

Answer #16: White can play Rxh7# mate. A rook and knight checkmate!

Answer #17: White can play 1. Qh6! and whatever move black makes, there is nothing black can do to stop white playing 2. Qg7# mate on the second move. This is a great example of a queen checkmate in the middlegame.

Answer #18: The correct moves for white are 1. Rh8+! Kxh8 2. Qh2+ Kg8 3. Qh7# mate. White sacrifices a rook in order to lure black’s king to h8 where white’s queen can attack black’s king with check.

Tactic #19. Black can force a checkmate on white in 4 moves in the above position. Can you find the right sequence of 4 moves for black in the above position? (Hint: this is a Philidor’s mate!)

Answer #19: The correct moves for black go:

1. … Nf2+ 2. Kg1 Nh3++ 3. Kh2 Qg1+! 4. Rxg1 Nf2# mate

Now that we’ve practiced some of these basic mating tactics (the back rank mate, queen checkmates, smothered mate and rook and knight checkmates) we’ll be able to use these mating tactics in our own games to checkmate our opponents. The more of these mating tactics we know the more weapons we will have to checkmate our opponents! Next we’ll look at even more mating tactics so that we’ll have even more weapons that we can checkmate our opponents with!

More Mating Tactics

Ok we just saw some basic mating tactics that we can use. Next let’s look at some slightly more advanced mating tactics, so that you have even more mating weapons that you can use against your opponents!

Anastasia’s Mate

Anastasia’s mate is a beautiful checkmate where your knight and rook combine to checkmate your opponent. To set up Anastasia’s mate, you have to make sure you have the following:

- a knight on e7

- A rook ready to move to the h-file to check the black king

- a queen ready to sacrifice herself on h7

Let’s have a look at an example of how you would use Anastasia’s mate in a game:

In the diagram above white can use Anastasia’s mate to checkmate in two moves. The correct moves for white are:

1. Qxh7+! Kxh7

2. Rh5# mate

Diagram. Final mating position

The queen sacrifices herself on h7 and then the black king must recapture. White then brings his rook to the h-file to check black’s king, and white’s knight on e7 covers the g8 and g6 squares, meaning that the black king is trapped and black is checkmated. This is a great checkmate to use but make sure you don’t fall for it yourself! Especially be careful if your opponent has a knight on e7 (or e2 if you are black).

Damiano’s mate

Damiano’s mate is a checkmate where you sacrifice both rooks in order to allow your queen to get close to the enemy king and checkmate him. To set up Damiano’s mate, you have to have the following:

- a pawn near the enemy king on g6

- two rooks connected with each other ready to sacrifice themselves on the h-file

- A queen ready to come to the h-file

Let’s have a look at an example of how you would use Damiano’s mate in a game:

In the diagram above white can use Damiano’s mate to checkmate in 5 moves. The correct moves for white are:

1. Rh8+! Kxh8

2. Rh1+ Kg8

3. Rh8+! Kxh8

4. Qh1+ Kg8

5. Qh7# mate

In Damiano’s mate white sacrifices both rooks with check just to allow the queen to come to h1 and then deliver checkmate. If white didn’t sacrifice both rooks then black would have time to stop himself getting checkmated by playing a move like Rf6.

The Taimanov Knight Check

The Taimanov knight check is a great move made famous by the great Russian Grandmaster Mark Taimanov. The idea is to check the enemy king with your knight on g6 (or g3 if you are playing as black), which then forces your opponent to open the h-file, leading to their demise. To pull off the Taimanov Knight Check look for:

- Your knight ready to jump to g6 (or g3 if you are black)

- Your bishop defending the g1 (or g8) square

- The enemy king on h1 (or h8)

Example:

In the diagram above black can use The Taimanov Knight Check to checkmate white in 5 moves:

1. … Ng3+!

Black uses the Taimanov knight check and white must capture the knight, as black’s bishop on c5 stops the white king from escaping to g1

2. hxg3 hxg3+

3. Nh2 Rxh2# mate

Legall’s mate

Legall’s mate is one of my favourite checkmates! I’ve won many games very quickly by luring my opponents into the Legall’s mate trap. I like this one because you sacrifice your queen but then checkmate your opponent using your knights and bishops. To set up Legall’s mate make sure you have the following:

- Your bishop is attacking the f7 square, and your two knights are on c3 and f3

- The enemy bishop is pinning your knight on f3 to your queen

- The d5 square is undefended by enemy pieces

Example:

Diagram. Legall’s Mate

In the above position, white can set up the Legall’s mate trap by sacrificing his queen. If black takes the queen, then black is dead. Let’s see how it works:

1. Nxe5! Bxd1

White moves his knight and allows black to take his queen. Black of course takes white’s queen. Who can resist a free queen? Black is probably feeling really happy with himself right about now, but he is in for a huge shock

2. Bxf7+ Ke7

This is black’s only move

3. Nd5# mate!

Your opponent’s will often fall for this trap because most people can’t resist a free queen. If you try Legall’s mate though, do make sure that the d5 square is undefended, otherwise when you move your knight to d5 to checkmate your opponent, it won’t be checkmate, and you’ll have to play on without a queen! Otherwise go and use Legall’s mate on your opponents!

Blackburne’s mate

Blackburne’s mate uses the power of two bishops together with a knight to checkmate the opponent’s castled king. To use it look for the following:

- Your two bishops on the a1-h8 diagonal and the b1-h7 diagonal respectively

- A knight on g5 to support an attack on h7

Example:

1. Qxh5! gxh5

White sacrifices his queen in order to open up the diagonal for his light squared bishop. Black must take the queen otherwise white would play Qh8# mate or Qh7# mate next move

2. Bh7# mate

In Blackburne’s mate you can really see the power of two bishops both attacking an enemy king. If your opponent has two bishops try to make sure you block their path to your king by placing your pawns or pieces in their way, to make sure you do not fall victim to a deadly attack such as this one.

Morphy’s mate

This checkmate is named after the great Paul Morphy. It uses the bishop and rook together to corner the enemy king and checkmate him. To use this checkmate look out for:

- Your bishop on the a1-h8 diagonal

- Your rook on the g-file

- The enemy king on g8 with a pawn on h7

Example:

In the above diagram white will use his rook and bishop in combination to clear out the pawns defending black’s king. White will then be able to checkmate black’s king in the corner.

1. Rxg7+ Kh8

2. Rxf7+ Kg8

White uses this move to take out black’s f7 pawn, which will allow white to checkmate black in a few moves

3. Rg7+ Kh8

4. Rg5+ Qe5

Black is now already lost, but he can block the check with his queen and rook to delay checkmate for a couple more moves

5. Bxe5+ Rf6

6. Bxf6# mate

You can see from this checkmate how powerful a bishop and rook can be against a king in the corner.

Greco’s mate

Greco’s mate involves sacrificing a knight on g5 in order to open up the h-file for your queen to be able to checkmate your opponent. To use it look for the following:

- Your bishop on the a2-g8 diagonal

- Your knight on g5

- Your queen on the h-file

Example:

1. Bc4+ Kh8

The bishop now controls the g8 square

2. Ng5 h6

Black prevents white playing Qxh7# mate by playing h6

3. Qg6! hxg5

White sacrifices the knight and threatens to play Qxh7# mate anyway. To stop this black takes the knight

4. Qh5# mate

Greco’s mate involves a a pretty cool little dance with your queen, first moving it forward to threaten mate, and then bringing it back to deliver checkmate on the open h-file.

The Greek Gift

The Greek Gift is one of the most famous checkmate attacks in chess. It involves sacrificing a bishop on h7 in order to get at the enemy king. The name for the Greek Gift comes from the fact that the bishop you are sacrificing is a “Trojan Horse” - it looks like you are giving your opponent a free piece but in fact you are setting a deadly trap. To use the Greek Gift sacrifice make sure you have the following:

- Your bishop is ready to sacrifice on h7

- Your knight is ready to jump to g5

- Your queen is ready to come to h5

Example:

In the Greek Gift sacrifice, you will sacrifice your bishop on h7, then play Ng5+ and then bring your queen to h5 to threaten checkmate. Let’s see how this works:

1. Bxh7+ Kxh7

2. Ng5+ Kg8

If black played Kh8 he would get mated in two moves after 3. Qh5+ Kg8 4. Qh7# mate

3. Qh5 Rd8

White threatened Qh7# mate with the move Qh5, so to avoid this black played Rd8 to allow his king to escape to f8 if white plays Qh7+

4. Qxf7+ Kh8

White keeps up the checks anyway and takes black’s f7 pawn which helps remove some of the defences around white’s king

5. Qh5+ Kg8

White brings his queen back to keep attacking black’s king

6. Qh7+ Kf8

7. Qh8+ Ke7

8. Qxg7# mate

Notice in this checkmate how white first takes black’s f7 pawn to weaken black’s defences and then comes back to deliver checkmate. The Greek Gift can be used in many different situations and this is just one example.

Two Rooks on the 7th Rank

Two rooks on the 7th rank (or on the 2nd rank if you are playing as black) are extremely powerful as they trap the enemy king onto the back rank, and nothing can really challenge them. Any enemy piece on the 7th rank will just get eaten by the two white rooks. Two rooks on the 7th rank can also deliver checkmate sometimes. Let’s have a look at an example:

1. Rxg7+ Kh8

2. Rxh7+ Kg8

3. Rcg7# mate

You can see how powerful the two rooks together are. They gobble up the pawns on the 7th rank very quickly, and manage to checkmate the black king in the corner of the board.

Ok that’s it for the more advanced mating tactics. You now have a whole host of mating tactics to use against your opponents! Now we’re going to practice your skills at spotting checkmates with some more mating tactics puzzles. By the end you’ll be able to spot opportunities to checkmate your opponent in a range of different positions, which will mean you’ll win a lot more games. Let’s get to it.

More Mating Tactics Puzzles

Now that we’ve seen some more advanced mating tactics, we’re going to do some tactics puzzles which use ideas from both basic mating tactics and more advanced mating tactics. Doing tactics puzzles like these will improve your chess very quickly. We’ll start with simple mate-in-1 tactics puzzles and then move on to more complex mate-in-2 tactics and mate-in-3 tactics.

Mate in 1s:

Answer #20: 1. Qxh7# mate

Answer #21: 1. … Rh4# mate

Answer #22: 1. Qh5# mate

Answer #23: 1. Rg8# mate

Answer #24: 1. Nf7# mate

Answer #25: 1. Ng6# mate

Answer #26: 1. Bxf6# mate

Answer #27: 1. Qh5# mate

Answer #28: 1. Qh7# mate

Ok what did you think of those tactics puzzles? Easy right? Let’s move on to slightly more tricky puzzles - mate in 2 puzzles.

Mate in 2s:

Answer #29: 1. Qh5! Re8 2. Qh8# mate

Answer #30: 1. Qd7+ Kg6 2. Qf7# mate

Answer #31: 1. Qh3+ Kg6 2. Qh7# mate

Answer #32: 1. Qf6 Re8 2. Qg7# mate

Answer #33: 1. Nf5++ Kg8 2. Nh6# mate

Answer #34: 1. Rb8!! Qxb8 2. Nxf7 mate

Answer #35: 1. … Re1+ 2. Rxe1 Rxe1# mate

Answer #36: 1. Rf8+! Qxf8 2. Qxh7# mate

Answer #37: 1. Qxg4+! Kxg4 2. Be2# mate

That was a bit more tricky than the mate in 1s right? Let’s move on to some even harder tactics puzzles - the mate in 3s.

Mate in 3s:

Answer #38: 1. Rg8+! Rxg8 2. Bxf6 Rg7 3. Bxg7# mate

Answer #39: 1. Rxf7+ Rxf7 2. Qxf7+ Bg7 3. Qxg7# mate

Answer #40: 1. Rg1+ Kh4 2. Bg5+ Kh5 3. Qf3# mate

Answer #41: 1. … Ne2+ 2. Kh1 Qxh2+! 3. Kxh2 Rh4# mate

Answer #42: 1. Qxf8 Kxf8 2. Re8+ Kg7 3. Rg8# mate

Answer #43: 1. Nh6++ Kh8 2. Qg8+ Rxg8 3. Nf7# mate

Answer #44: 1. Qh8+ Kg1 2. Qh2+ Kf1 3. Qh1# mate

Answer #45: 1. Rxg7+ Kh1 2. Rg6+ f6 3. Bxf6# mate

Answer #46: 1. Rh7+! Kxh7 2. Qxf7+ Kh6 3. Rh1# mate

Ok those mate in 3s were fairly tricky right? That’s it for the mating tactics puzzles - after that practice you’ll be able to spot a lot more checkmates in your own games and now you know lots of different ways to checkmate your opponent which will help you win a lot more games.

What happens if your opponent is really good at defending though and there are no opportunities to checkmate your opponent in the middlegame? Then we would have to go back to our plan of trying to win material in the middlegame so that we can win in the endgame. Let’s finish off our section on tactics by looking at some more complex material tactics which involve using combinations of moves to win material.

Combinations

Now that we’ve learnt different types of tactics that we can use to win material and to mate our opponents, were going to look at some more complicated material tactics that we can use to win material in the middlegame. These tactics involve using combinations of moves together to win material. Combinations are tricky and difficult to spot for your opponent so the more combinations we can learn the more opportunities we are going to have to win material and the more games we are going to win. Let’s take a look at a few examples of combinations and then we will do some tactics puzzles together involving combinations. Unfortunately most combinations don’t really have easy-to-remember names, so we’re just going to look at some positions where we can use combinations.

Combination #1

In the position above, black is up a lot of material. However, white can actually win all the material back and even more, and leave themselves in a winning position. Let’s have a look how white would do it:

1. Rxg7+ Kh8 2. Rxd7+ Kg8 3. Rg7+ Kh8 4. Rxc7+ Kg8 5. Rg7+ Kh8 6. Rxb7+ Kg8 7. Rg7+ Kh8 8. Rxa7+ Kg8 9. Rg7+ Kh8 10. Ra7+ Kg8 11. Rxa6 and white wins easily as he has an extra rook

Quite a cool combination right? White uses his rook and bishop to unleash a devastating series of discovered checks on the black king, which is basically trapped in the corner of the board. White’s rook see-saws along the 7th rank, each time coming back to g7, where it can unleash another discovered check on the black king. White’s rook eventually eats everything on the 7th rank and finally comes back to finish black’s queen.

Combination #2

In the diagram above, black can win a queen with a rook sacrifice:

1. … Rxh1!

2. Kxh1 Nf2+

3. Kg1 Nxd1 White wins

Sacrificing a rook on h1/h8 can often be used to deflect the enemy king, allowing one of your knights to come and fork your opponent’s king and queen.

Combination #3

Here’s one where white uses the threat of checkmate to win material from his opponent. The best move for white in this position is 1. Nxc6, which opens up the a1-h8 diagonal for white’s dark squared bishop and threatens checkmate by 2. Qxh7+ Kxh7 3. Rh3+ and mate would follow in one move.

Therefore the combination goes as follows:

1. Nxc6 Bg5

Black cannot recapture the knight on c6 because he would get checkmated after 2. Qxh7+

2. Ne7+ Qxe7

Black cannot take the knight on e7 with his bishop again because he would get checkmated

3. Rxe7 Bxe7

4. Qd7 Bxg2

White forks black’s two bishops with his queen

5. Kxg2 Bg5 White wins

And here, with a queen and bishop against a rook and bishop, white will win easily. In this position white used a combination of tactics such as the threat of checkmate along with a fork to come out with a winning position.

Combination #4

In this combination white can sacrifice his rook for black’s bishop on d7, then play Qg4 to threaten a deadly discovered attack.

1. Rxd7 Qxd7

2. Qg4 Qxf5

Black had no way of stopping white playing both Qxg7# mate or Nh6+ which would have won black’s queen, and therefore had to give up his queen to stop both threats

3. exf5 and white wins easily

Combination #5

In this combination white sacrifices a bishop and uses the threat of checkmate to force black to give up his queen.

1. Bxf7+! Kxf7

White sacrifices his bishop. If black had recaptured the bishop instead with 1. … Rxf7 then white would play 2. Ne6! dxe6 3. Qxd8 and white would win black’s queen

2. Ne6! dxe6

White plays Ne6 anyway, which traps black’s queen. If black had tried to capture the knight with his king in attempt to save his queen then he would get checkmated after 2. … Kxe6 3. Qd5+ Kf5 4. g4+ Kxg4 5. Rg1+ Kh4 6. Bg5+ Kh5 7. Qd1+ Rf3 8. Qxf3# mate

3. Qxd8 and white has won black’s queen and will win easily.

Those were just some examples of the huge number of different combinations you can use in chess. You can see that you can combine different types of tactics such as forks, pins, discovered attacks, sacrifices, as well as threats of mating attacks in order to force your opponent to give up material. I look forward to seeing the different types of combinations that you will come up with to win your own games! Let’s do some tactics puzzles with combinations in order to finish this section on tactics. After this you’ll be able to win a lot more of our own games with tactics!

Combinations Tactics Puzzles

Answer #47: 1. Rxf7 Bf5 2. Rxb7+ Kh8 3. Rxb8 and white wins

Answer #48: 1. Nf6+! Kf8 2. Nxd7+ Kg8 3. Nf6+! Kf8 4. Rh8+ Ke7 5. Nxe8 and white has won both of black’s rooks

Answer #49: 1. … Bh4! 2. Qxh4 Nf3+! 3. Kf2 Nxh4 and black wins a queen. If Black tries to keep his queen with 3. gxf3 then he would get mated after 3. … Qxe3+ 4. Kd1 Bb1+ 5. Qxd8 Rxd8# mate.

Answer #50: 1. … Rd3! 2. Qxd3 Nxd3 and black wins a queen. If white played 2. Bxd3 instead then he would get mated after 2. … Qxh3 3. Kg1 Qg2# mate

Answer #51: 1. … Rd5 2. Be8 b5 3. Qxa5 Qxe8 and black wins a bishop

Answer #52: 1. … Ne4+ 2. fxe4 Rf8 and black pins and wins white’s queen

Answer #53: 1. Ng5 Qd7 2. Ne6 Qxe6 3. Qxf4 and white has won an exchange

Answer #54: 1. … Qxd3! 2. cxd3 Nf2+ 3. Kg1 Nxg4+ and black has won a piece. If white tried to save his queen with 3. Rxf2 then he would get mated after 3. … Re1+ 4. Rf1 Rxf1# mate.

Answer #55: 1. … Rxh2+ 2. Rxh2 Rxh2+ 3. Kxh2 Nf3+ 4. Rxf3 Qxd2+ and black has won a queen

So that’s the end of our section on tactics. Practicing tactics is one of the best and fastest ways for you to improve at chess and I absolutely recommend that the best thing for you to do if you want to improve at chess as quickly as possible is to practice more tactics. If you practice tactics, you will see a big increase in your playing strength and rating in just a few days.

We’ve already practiced a lot of tactics together and we’ve seen many different ways to win material and also lots of different mating tactics that you can use to win your own games. Practicing tactics will improve your calculation skills, allow you to avoid mistakes, will allow you to defend better against attacks, and allow you to more easily see moves that will win you material or checkmate the opponent’s king. You’ve already become a much stronger player just by reading this book! By practicing more tactics, your calculation skills will improve even more and you’ll be able to see 5, 10, or eventually even 15 moves ahead!

Ok we’ve learnt how important practicing tactics are for all areas of our chess game. Our next section on the middlegame will be about middlegame planning.

Before we do that though we shall take a little break here to discuss some different types of pawns, namely, doubled pawns, isolated pawns, and passed pawns. Identifying these pawns is key to playing well in the middlegame and endgames.

The Different Types Of Pawns

Doubled pawns

Doubled pawns are when two of your pawns are on the same file. As in the diagram below:

Diagram. Here white has doubled pawns on the e-file

Doubled pawns are generally a weakness and in general you do not want to have doubled pawns. The reason for this is that two pawns on the same file are essentially only as useful as one pawn on a file. Therefore, the second pawn on the file is “wasted”, and two doubled pawns are not as useful as two undoubled pawns.

This is not to say that two doubled pawns are less useful than a single pawn, rather that they are only slightly more useful than a single pawn, and they are less useful than two undoubled pawns.

Isolated Pawns

Diagram. White has 3 isolated pawns

Isolated pawns are when your pawn has no friendly pawns supporting it on either side. In the diagram above, none of white’s pawns have pawns on either side that can protect them, so they are considered weak and isolated. White’s pawns on e2 and e3 are actually doubled isolated pawns - so these pawns are really weak since they are both doubled and isolated. Compare this to black’s 3 healthy pawns which can support each other.

Passed Pawns

Diagram. White has passed pawns on c5 and d5

Passed pawns are pawns that have no enemy pawns able to stop them from queening. Having passed pawns is always a good thing. In the diagram above, white has passed pawns on c5 and d5, and white will look to try to queen them. Black also has a passed pawn on h5, which he can try to queen. Black’s pawn on g6 is not a passed pawn, as white’s pawn on f2 will be able to take it if the g-pawn tries to queen.

Knowing about these different types of pawns will be very helpful for us when we look at middlegame planning next and for when we look at endgames.

Middlegame Planning

Onto the second part of our section on what to do in the middlegame - Middlegame planning.

What happens if you are in a position where you don’t see any tactics available? Let’s say both you and your opponent have played very defensively and you are in a very boring position where there aren’t really many opportunities to win material or attack your opponent? What do you do then? This is where we have to take a slower approach and come up with a plan of how we are going to improve our position and our next 10-20 moves will be spent on trying to carry out our plan - this is middlegame planning. Often if our plan is good, your opponent will be forced into a mistake and you’ll be able to finish the game off quickly with a tactic.

So what’s an example of a plan? Here are some examples of plans:

1. Checkmate Attack! - Move your pieces towards the opponents king and attack and try to checkmate them

Diagram. White throwing all his pieces at black in an attempt to checkmate his opponent

2. Gain Space by advancing your pawns - Advance your pawns on one side to gain space on that side so that your pieces have more mobility and more options and your opponents pieces have less options and may even become trapped, allowing you a chance to attack (advancing pawns on all sides of the board tends to be a rather risky idea)

Diagram. Black advances his pawns on both sides in an attempt to gain space

3. Advance both pawns and pieces towards your opponents king and attack (risky but not unheard of)

Diagram. White directing both his pieces and kingside pawns in an all out attack against the enemy king

4. Advance pawns on a side where you have a majority of pawns - (i.e. a 3 to 2 majority as shown below) in order to create a passed pawn and try to queen that pawn.

Diagram. White has a pawn majority on the queenside and will look to advance those queenside pawns in order to create a passed pawn.

5. Place your rooks on an open file and attack - use your rooks to attack down an open file

Diagram. White has complete control over the c-file which means white’s rooks can go right into black’s position and have freedom of movement to go around the board, while black’s rooks are stuck and have to stay in defensive positions.

6. Attack weaknesses on your opponent’s side (usually this means attacking weak pawns, such as backward pawns, isolated pawns, or doubled pawns)

Diagram. Black has a “hole” on e5 which white’s knight is occupying. Black cannot attack the e5 square with any of his pawns and so it will be very difficult to get rid of the white knight on e5.

7. Control the Centre - Use pawns and pieces to attack the centre so that you can have control of the centre, which will often give you better chances to attack and win material or checkmate the opponent.

Diagram. White has strong pawns in the centre which give him more space for his pieces to move.

In general, when there are no tactics available we look to carry out a middlegame plan to improve our position slowly. Once we’ve improved our position we can look to win material or checkmate our opponent. If we’ve managed to win a lot of material (2 pawns or more) we will generally look to trade as many pieces as possible, as the less pieces are on the board the simpler it is for you to win the game and the harder it is for your opponent to get a draw. Winning by only one pawn however is usually not enough to win the game so you’ll usually be more willing to trade pieces if you’re winning by 2 pawns or more. You’ll then get to an endgame where you are up material and you can finish off the game (coming up in the endgames chapter next).

Now let’s have a look at some examples of these plans, so that you know how to choose a plan and carry out a middlegame plan in your own games.

Example of Planning #1: Checkmate Attack!

The checkmate attack is probably the most basic plan you can carry out, but often it won’t be a good idea, so you must be able to spot when is a good opportunity to try to checkmate your opponent, otherwise you might find that your attempt to checkmate your opponent has made you lose material or has left your own king exposed.

Generally, the things you want to look for when deciding whether to carry out a checkmate attack are:

- An open position

- You have good control of the centre

- The enemy king does not have many pieces defending him

- You are able to open up a file for your rook to join the attack

- Your queen is able to join the attack.

If your position has all or most of these things, then it might be a good idea to try to set up a checkmate attack against your opponent.

Let’s look at an example of a game with a successful checkmate attack so you can learn how to do it yourself. The following comes from a game between the great Paul Morphy and Henri Baucher, played in Paris in 1858

Diagram. After move 19 of the game Morphy vs Baucher

In the position above, Morphy is playing as white and Baucher is black. Both players have developed their pieces and the position is quite open. However, Morphy’s position is better because he has more space in the centre, his pieces are more centrally placed (Morphy’s knights on e6 and c3, his bishop on g3, and his rook on d1 all help to control the centre, whilst Baucher only has a knight on e5 and a bishop on c6 which are helping to control the centre), and he has a semi-open d-file for his rook to attack. In addition, Morphy notices that there aren’t many pieces defending black’s king (the rook on g8 is the only piece that is really defending black’s king) and Morphy can bring his rooks to the h-file to attack black’s king. Morphy therefore recognises that this is a good opportunity to try to go for an all out checkmate attack against his opponent. Let’s see how he does it:

1. Bxe5 dxe5

Morphy’s first action is to remove black’s best piece, which was the knight on e5. The knight on e5 was centrally placed and was helping black to control squares in and around the centre. Morphy exchanges his bishop for the knight, which will make it easier for Morphy to attack black.

2. Rf3 Bd7

Morphy gets ready to bring his rook to the h-file to attack black’s king by lifting his rook to f3 and preparing to play Rh3 next move. Black plays Bd7 to get ready to remove white’s best piece, which is the centrally placed knight on e6. Black wants to play Bxe6 next move to get rid of this knight.

3. Rh3 h6

Morphy does indeed bring his rook to h3 to attack black’s king and black has to play h6 to defend his king. If black didn’t play h6 then he would get mated after 4. Rxh7+ Kxh7 5. Qh5# mate.

4. Qd2! Kh7

Morphy plays Qd2 which both attacks black’s bishop on d7 and also threatens checkmate via 5. Rxh6+ gxh6 6. Qxh6# mate. Black plays Kh7 to defend against checkmate, but there’s nothing black can do to save his bishop.

5. Qxd7 Bd6?

Morphy wins the bishop on d7 and is now a piece up. Black’s position is already bad, but black makes a big mistake here with the move Bd6. Black’s idea was to try to defend his position by blocking white’s rook on d1 from entering the d-file, but he has missed a deadly tactic which Morphy will use to end the game quickly.

6. Rxh6! Kxh6

Morphy sacrifices a rook to expose black’s king. Black recaptures the rook as it is his only move.

7. Rd3 Kh5

Morphy gets ready to bring his other rook to the h-file to attack black’s king. Morphy was threatening checkmate next move with 8. Rh3# mate, so black played Kh5 to avoid this, but black will be mated soon anyway and he is only delaying the inevitable.

8. Qf7+ Kh4 9. Rh3+ Kg4 10. Qh5# mate

Morphy finishes off the game with a flourish. We can see from this game how Morphy recognised that he had good control of the centre and black’s king didn’t have many pieces defending him, and therefore Morphy decided it would be a good idea to try a checkmate attack. Morphy removed black’s best piece and then brought his rooks to the h-file to attack black’s king. Eventually black cracked under the pressure and made a mistake which allowed Morphy to sacrifice material to expose black’s king and then finish off the game with checkmate. Note that even though Morphy sacrificed material in this game, and it looked really cool, it’s not always necessary for you to sacrifice material in your own checkmate attacks - and sacrificing material can be quite risky - so make sure you are absolutely sure before you sacrifice pieces in your games.

Example of Planning #2: Gain space by advancing your pawns

In the above position, both sides are very equal. Black has a plan however and will try to gain space by advancing his pawns on both sides of the board. By doing this black will limit the movement of white’s pieces (especially white’s knight). Eventually black’s far advanced pawns and space advantage allow him to create a passed pawn which he queens and wins the game. Let’s see how black manages to win the game with this plan.

1. … b6 2. h3 Be6 3. Rfd1 c5

Black begins by advancing his queenside pawns, gaining space on the queenside

4. Bg5 f6 5. Bf4 Kf7

6. f3 g5 7. Rxd8 Rxd8 8. Be3 h6

Black starts to slowly advance his pawns on the kingside too, which has the added benefit of chasing white’s bishop back.

9. Re1 f5 10. f4 Bf6

White starts to fight for some space on the kingside too with the move f4. Black brings his dark squared bishop to f6 to support the advance of the kingside pawns.

11. g3 a5!

Black is really starting to gain a lot of space on the queenside now. White’s knight is now running out of squares to go to, and can now only go backwards. Black’s last move a5 also prepares to attack the knight next move with a4, which would drive white’s knight backwards

12. Nc1 a4

White sees that his knight is going to have to go backwards at some point anyway so he brings it to c1 where it might eventually go to e2 and g3 and be more useful. Black really cramps white’s queenside pawns with the move a4, as now white can’t really advance his pawns without losing them.

13. a3 Bc4 14. Kf2 gxf4 15. Bxf4 Bg5

Black places his bishop on c4 to dominate white’s knight on c1. Notice now that whatever square the knight goes to next, black’s bishop will be able to take it if black so desires. Black also gets ready to trade off white’s dark squared bishop, which was white’s best piece, and then black will try to advance his kingside pawns.

16. Bxg5 hxg5 17. Ke3 Kf6

The players trade off dark squared bishops and then both players try to bring to their kings closer to the centre as the kings are about to be very important for both attacking and defending pawns in the endgame.

18. h4 gxh4 19. gxh4 Re8+ 20. Kf2 Rxe1

The players swap off rooks and now black is in a much better position because his king is near the centre of the board and will be able to support black’s f-pawn to queen. Black’s bishop on c4 is also still dominating white’s knight, which can barely move. White’s king is too far away from his h-pawn to help it to queen and so black will win easily. Let’s see how black finishes this game off.

21. Kxe1 Ke5 22. Ne2 Bxe2 23. Kxe2 Kf4

Black trades his bishop for white’s useless knight, but black’s king is so far forward now that it will be able to help black’s f-pawn queen easily and the game will be over in a few moves

24. c4 Kg4 25. Ke3 f4+

26. Ke4 f3 27. Ke3 Kg3 White resigned.

Black will get a queen well before white ever manages to and black will win easily.

Example of Planning #3: Advance both pawns and pieces towards your opponents king and attack

Sometimes when you really want a checkmate attack to work, you can use pieces and advance your pawns in order to attack your opponent’s king. Doing so is quite risky, as if your attack doesn’t work then you can end up with weak pawns and a weak king. However, if your pieces are already in very aggressive positions, and you think you have time to advance your pawns, then this plan might work for you.

Let’s look at an example from a game between the great Bobby Fischer and the great Danish chess master Bent Larsen, played in 1958.

Diagram. Fischer vs Larsen, 1958. After move 20

You can see from this position that both players have gone for all out attack and both players are advancing both their pieces and pawns to attack their opponent’s king. Fischer has an open h-file for his rook to attack, as well as two great bishops on b3 and d4 which are pointing towards black’s king. Larsen on the other hand has dangerous doubled rooks on the semi-open c-file, which look ready to attack white’s king. This position is essentially a race to the death, with both players racing to checkmate their opponent before they get mated themselves. Fischer’s attack is the one that is going to be successful. Let’s see how he does it.

1. g5 Nh5

Fischer starts by advancing his g-pawn to attack black’s knight

2. Rxh5! gxh5?

Fischer sacrifices the exchange in order to break down the defences around black’s king. Black makes a mistake however in immediately recapturing the rook - black could have played 2. … Bxd4 instead and gotten rid of white’s dangerous dark squared bishop, which would have helped his defence.

3. g6! e5

Fischer plays g6, taking advantage of the fact that black’s f7 pawn in pinned, and Fischer will be able to play gxf7+ next to break down the defences around black’s king

4. gxf7+ Kf8 5. Be3 d5

Black tries to gain some control of the centre with the move 5. … d5 which will make it easier to defend his king on f8, and also potentially black would like to attack white’s king along the f-file .

6. exd5 Rxf7 7. d6 Rf6

Fischer’s position is looking very good now. He advances his d-pawn to open up the diagonal for his light squared bishop to be able to attack black’s king, and also he threatens to queen his d-pawn.

8. Bg5 Qb7

Black has to sacrifice his rook on f6 in order to defend himself. For example if black had tried to save his rook with 8. … Rg6 then he would get mated after 9. Be7+ Ke8 10. d7+ Kxe7 11. d8=Q+ Rxd8 12. Qxd8# mate. You can see how powerful Fischer’s bishop on b3 is.

9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. d7 Rd8

Black is completely on the defensive now. In fact he will resign next move.

11. Qd6+ Black resigns

Black’s king is in too much danger and black will get mated in only a few moves. For example the game could continue: 11. … Kg7 12. Rg1+ Kh7 13. Qxf6 Qxd7 14. Qg6+ Kh8 15. Qxh5+ Qh7 36. Qxe5+ Qg7 17. Qxg7# mate

Example of Planning #4: Advance pawns on a side where you have a majority of pawns

Sometimes when you have a more pawns than your opponent on one side of the board you can advance those pawns to both gain space and also try to create a passed pawn which you will then queen. Let’s have a look at an example of white doing this in a game between Gennady Sosonko and Vasily Smyslov in 1982.

Diagram. Sosonko vs Smyslov, 1982, after move 21.

You can see that white has a majority of pawns on the queenside, he has 3 pawns vs black’s 2 pawns on that side. White’s plan is to advance his queenside pawns, restricting black’s light squared bishop, and eventually creating a passed pawn and winning the game. Let’s see how you can do this:

1. a4 Nd7 2. Re2 Nc5

White begins by advancing his a-pawn. Black tries to bring his knight to the queenside to attack white’s pawns, but this ends up backfiring as white’s pawns will just chase black’s knight around, wasting valuable time for black

3. b3 b6 4. a5! Nb7

a5 is a nice move from white, gaining more space on the queenside. if black takes the a5 pawn, he would give white a passed pawn on c4, and black doesn’t want that so he retreats his knight instead

5. a6 Nc5

White advances his a-pawn even further gaining more space and chasing black’s knight around again.

6. b4 Na4

White keeps chasing black’s knight around, and all the time white is gaining more and more space on the queenside. Note that black couldn’t play Nxa6 as then white would play 7. b5! forking black’s knight and bishop and winning a piece.

7. Rd2 Rc8 8. Bd4 Be8

White brings his bishop to the great central d4 square where it can potentially attack black’s queenside pawns. Black is kind of stuck at this point and can’t really move his pieces otherwise white threatens to advance his c-pawn and create a passed pawn.

9. Bb3 Kf8 10. Kf2 f6

Both players attempt to bring their kings closer to the centre of the board, where they may be soon used to attack and defend pawns on the queenside.

11. f4 b5?

b5 is a mistake from black, as this allows white to create a passed pawn. Black was already under pressure anyway, as his pieces couldn’t really move.

12. Bxa4 bxa4 13. Bxa7 Rxc4

White takes black’s knight, and then takes black’s a7 pawn. Black is really in trouble now, as white has 2 passed pawns on the a and b-files, and white’s a6 pawn is really close to queening. Black does have a passed a-pawn himself, but white’s pawns are going to queen a lot faster.

14. Bc5+ Kf7 15. Rd6 black resigns

There is nothing black can do to stop white’s a6 pawn queening in a few moves, and white will win easily. For example play could continue:

15. …  Rxf4+ 16. Ke3 Rf5 17. a7 Re5+ 18. Kf3 Rf5+ 19. Kg3 Rg5+ 20. Kh4 and there is nothing black can do to stop white queening his a-pawn.

Example of Planning #5: Place your rooks on an open file and attack

If you can control an open file often you can use that open file to attack your opponent’s position. Let’s look at an example of how to do this in the game between Alekhine and Yates in 1922.

Diagram. Alekhine vs Yates, 1922, after move 15.

In this position you’ll see that Alekhine, playing as white, has good control of the open c-file. White will double up his rooks on the c-file and move his rooks along the c-file to attack black’s pawns. Black will be forced on the defensive and eventually white will win. Let’s see how white does this.

1. Nb3 a4 2. Nc5 Nxc5

White’s first plan of action is to get his knight to c5, where it will control a lot of central squares. White’s knight will be so good on c5 that black will have to get rid of it, allowing white to double his rooks on the c-file and control the c-file.

3. Qxc5 Qxc5 4. Rxc5 b4 5. Rfc1 Ba6

White got his knight to c5 and black immediately traded it off. After all the trades, white now has doubled rooks on the c-file and has complete control over the c-file

6. Ne5 Reb8

White gets his knight to the great e5 square. This is central square for the knight, where it can move to both attack or defend at a moment’s notice, and also the knight cannot be attacked on the e5 square, as black has no pawns that can attack the knight on e5, and black doesn’t even have a dark squared bishop which could exchange itself for the white knight. Note that black cannot try to control the c-file himself with 21. … Rc8 as white would play 23. Rxc8 Rxc8 24. Rxc8 Bxc8 25. Nc6 and white threatens both to fork black’s king and bishop with 26. Ne7+ and also take black’s b4 pawn, so black would lose a pawn.

7. f3 b3 8. a3 h6 9. Kf2 Kh7 10. h4 Rf8

White now plans to get his king into game to support his rooks. He will advance his king on the kingside and his king will help in white’s plan of attacking black’s kingside pawns. Black has managed to gain space on the queenside and has far advanced pawns there, but because white has controlled the c-file, there is nothing black can do to advance those pawns further. Black’s rooks are a bit stuck at the moment and they have to stay back in a defensive position.

11. Kg3 Rfb8 12. Rc7 Bb5 13. R1c5 Ba6

White’s rooks are now in dangerous positions on c5 and c7, and from here they plan to attack black’s kingside pawns. In particular, white will attack black’s backward pawn on e6. Black is sort of floundering at the moment without a clear plan.

14. R5c6 Re8 15. Kf4 Kg8

You can see how dangerous white’s rooks are now. White’s rook on c7 is trapping black’s king on the back rank, as well as attacking the g7 pawn, and this rook may also attack black’s king at some point. White’s rook on c6 is attacking black’s pawn on e6, which means black’s rook on e8 is stuck there defending the e6 pawn. On the other hand black’s rook on a8 and bishop on a6 are doing absolutely nothing.

16. h5 Bf1 17. g3 Ba6 18. Rf7 Kh7

White plays Rf7 to prepare to get both rooks on the 7th rank, as he prepares to play Rcc7 next move. Having both rooks on the 7th rank (or the 2nd rank if you are playing as black) is extremely good for white as these rooks may launch a dangerous attack on black’s king.

19. Rcc7 Rg8 20. Nd7 Kh8

White’s rooks are both on the 7th rank now and black’s king is in real danger. White now prepares to get his Knight into the attack. Notice how black’s pieces are all in completely defensive positions.

21. Nf6 Rgf8

White gets his knight into the attack and black is soon doomed. Note that black cannot take the knight with 21. … gxf6 as he gets mated in one move after 22. Rh7# mate

22. Rxg7 Rxf6 23. Ke5 black resigns

Black is completely lost now and will be mated in a few moves. For example 23. … Rf8 24. Rh7+ Kg8 25. Rcg7# is mate, or black could give up the rook and try 23. … Bb5 but this still loses after 24. Rh7+ Kg8 25. Rcg7+ Kf8 26. Kxf6 Ke8 27. Rh8# mate

Example of Planning #6: Attack weaknesses on your opponent’s side

Sometimes if you spot a weakness in your opponent’s position you can exploit that weakness to get more space and better squares for your pieces - eventually turning your advantage into a material advantage and winning the game.

The following example comes from a game between Janowski (white) and Kupchick (black) in the Havana masters tournament in 1913. We will pick it up at move 13.

Black has played the opening poorly and now his pieces have a lack of space. In particular his dark-squared bishop on d7 is trapped behind his pawns on e6 and c6 and that bishop will struggle to be useful in the game. Black is about to make another mistake which will create a weakness for white to exploit.

13. Ne4 f5?

f5 is a big mistake from black. Now the e5 square is a weakness for black, as it cannot be protected by any of black’s pawns. At least if black’s pawn was back on f7, then black could chase away any of white’s pieces which land on the e5 square by playing f6. Now if any of white’s pieces move to e5 it will be very difficult for black to get rid of them, and white’s pieces can use the central f5 square freely.

14. Nc5 Be8

White gets his knight to the c5 square, which is another good square for white’s pieces as it is near the centre and it will be difficult for white to dislodge that knight on c5 (though black can eventually play b6 at some point to get rid of white’s c5 knight). White is planning to get his other knight to the very weak e5 square, which will be almost impossible for black to dislodge.

15. Ne5 Rb8

White now gets his other knight to the weak e5 square. From here the white knight attacks a lot of squares around the centre and around black’s king.

16. Re1 Rf6 17. Qf3 Rh6 18. Qg3 Rc8 19. f3 Rc7 20. a3 Kh8

White spends a few moves getting his queen into position to eventually attack black’s king and also makes the precautionary moves f3 and a3 to prevent black’s pieces getting to the e4 and b4 squares. Black has little room for his pieces and resorts to manoeuvring his rooks around. Note that black cannot play Rg6 to attack white’s queen because white’s powerful knight on e4 would take it.

21. h3 g5 22. e4 f4

Black tries to counterattack by pushing his pawns on the kingside, attacking white’s queen and potentially gaining some space for an attack on white’s king.

23. Qf2 Ne3 24. Rxe3! fxe3 25. Qxe3 Nc8

Black gets a good square to put his knight on e3, but white simply sacrifices the exchange to get rid of black’s only good piece. Now white has two powerful knights in the centre of the board whereas black’s pieces are disjointed and backward. Now watch as white moves his pieces into position ready for a kingside attack

26. Ng4 Rg6 27. e5 Rg7

Because white has such good control of the centre he can play the move e5 which opens up squares for white to attack black’s king. Black is reduced to running away with his rook which is being chased around by white’s pieces.

28. Bc4 Bf7 29. Nf6 Nb6 30. Nce4 h6

You can see from the diagram above how good white’s position is now. White’s knight on f6 is a very dangerous threat to black’s king, and is now very difficult to dislodge as it is supported by white’s other knight on e4. Black’s rook on c7, queen, and bishop on f7 are doing very little and have few good squares to move to. Black should have tried to play Nd7 at some point to try and trade off one of white’s powerful knights, though even then black’s position would still have been quite bad. Now all that is left for white to do is open up the kingside so that his queen and rook can attack black’s king.

31. h4 Nd5 32. Qd2 Rg6 33. hxg5 Qf8 34. f4 Ne7 35. g4 hxg5 36. fxg5 Black resigns

Black resigns at this point as there is little he can do to stop white’s threat of Qh2+, which will result in large material losses for black. You can see in the final diagram above how white’s knights on f6 and e4 control so many of the squares around black’s king and really dominate the position.

See how black allowed a huge weakness on e4 and white exploited this weakness to get control of the centre and get a powerful knight on e4. Eventually white had such good control of the centre that he could choose the right moment to launch a kingside attack and end the game. Other times you can use a weakness in your opponent’s position to win material or attack some of their pawns. Spotting weaknesses in your opponent’s position is not always easy however and even strong players sometimes have trouble spotting them. You will get better at spotting weaknesses as you progress as a player. For the moment, try and look for weak squares such as the “hole” that black allowed this game on e4 (a hole is a square that cannot be protected by any of your pawns, either because they are too far advanced or because they have been traded off) or backward or isolated pawns in your opponent’s position. Often these will give you a weakness where you can put your pieces or they will provide a target to attack.

Example of Planning #7: Control the Centre

Diagram. Karpov vs. Kasparov, World Chess Championship 1986, Game 5. Position after 13. … Bxd7

We’ve already talked before about how important control of the centre is, and we saw in the last example how control of the centre can help launch an attack on the opponent’s king. You can also use control of the centre to cramp your opponent’s pieces and gain more space for your own pieces, which can help you get your pieces in a position to win material and win the game. The following example comes from a game in the World Chess Championship 1986 between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov. This is from game 5 of their match, and we will pick it up after move 13 (diagram above).

You can see from the diagram above that white has good control of the centre, with pawns on d5 and c5 (and even the pawns on c3 and e3 are helping to control the centre), and white has an extra pawn. However, on the flip side, white’s king is unsafe in the centre of the board, and black has a passed pawn on the a-file which he can try to promote. It’s white who will get the better of this game however, and we will see how white increases his control of the centre to severely limit the movement of black’s pieces which will eventually allow him to win material. This is a great example of a plan we can try to learn from and use in our own games.

14. e4 f5

White tries to increase his control of the centre with e4 and black tries to break up white’s centre with the move f5

15. e5 e6

White ignores black’s attempt to break up his centre and keeps advancing his e-pawn. Now white has 3 far advanced central pawns on c5, d5 and e5, but white must be careful now as these pawns are so far advanced that they may become weaknesses, and white’s pieces may not be able to protect these pawns if white is not careful.

16. c4 Rfc8

White now has complete control of the centre, but still has to be careful to protect these far advanced central pawns. Black’s plan now is to try to attack white’s advanced central pawns and hopefully win one of them.

17. c6! bxc6 18. d6 c5

A great little manoeuvre from white. White sacrifices a pawn with the move c6 in order to force black to take with bxc6 and thereby block the c-file for black’s rook on c8. This ensures that the the black rook on c8 won’t get any attacking options on the c-file and won’t be able to attack white’s central pawns with a potential move like Rc5. Now white has a far advanced pawn on d6 which controls the centre and is close to queening, but most importantly this pawn traps black’s dark-squared bishop on g7 and stops that bishop from ever getting out and doing anything useful in the game. You can see that the only squares that black’s g7 bishop can move to are f8 and h8, both of which are pretty useless. Black is essentially playing down a piece as his bishop on g7 is completely trapped.

19. h4 h6 20. Nh3 a5

White plays h4 to prevent black playing h6 and g5 in an attempt to attempt to free his trapped bishop on g7. Because the the position is quite closed, white can take his time and try to improve his position slowly. Black’s best piece is his light-squared bishop on d7, and white wants to play f3 to stop black’s light-squared bishop from getting to e4 and becoming an attacking threat. White’s knight is heading to d3 via h3 and f2, where it can help protect white’s e5 pawn as well as potentially helping to stop black’s a-pawn from advancing. Black’s plan now is simple and he must attempt to push his a-pawn and try to promote it.

21. f3 a4 22. Rhe1 a3 23. Nf2 a2

Black carries on with his only plan which was pushing the a-pawn. If white can stop black’s a-pawn, white will have a great position as he has great control of the centre and black’s bishop on g7 is still trapped.

24. Nd3 Ra3 25. Ra1 g5

Black’s position is already in trouble here. His best move instead of g5 was to play Rb8 immediately to try to get some counter-play on the queenside, even though this sacrifices the pawn on c5. As it is black’s play is too slow, and white will soon win white’s a-pawn and then white’s position will be great.

26. hxg5 hxg5 27. Bxg5 Kf7 28. Bf4 Rb8

Black finally does play Rb8 after wasting a couple of moves. It is hard to see what black was trying to do with the move 27. … Kf7 though black’s idea is perhaps to allow his rook to swing to the h-file where it can be an attacking threat in some positions, though these ideas are too slow. White will soon win black’s a-pawn and then the game.

29. Rec1 Bc6

Black tries to activate his light-squared bishop but it is already too late. Black should have perhaps tried to play Ba4 at some point earlier where it could have helped with the queenside attack. As it is black’s bishop on c6 doesn’t achieve much.

30. Rc3 Ra5 31. Rc2 Rba8 32. Nc1 Black resigns

There is nothing to be done. White will win black’s pawn on a2 next move and will win black’s c5 pawn soon after as black’s dark-squared bishop cannot help protect the c5 pawn since it is still completely trapped. White will then be 3 pawns up in the endgame and will win easily.

We saw a brilliantly played game by white there. White established great control of the centre and completely trapped black’s bishop on g7. Because the movement of black’s pieces was so cramped by white’s central pawns, black had only one plan which was to push his a-pawn. Once white dealt with this threat white had a great position and he was able to win black’s pawns easily and win the game. This is a great example of a plan we can use to win in our own games.

So those are some examples of middlegame planning which you can use in your own games. As you practice more you’ll be able to recognise which is the best plan to use at the right moment, and you’ll be able to recognise times when your plan isn’t working and it’s time to switch plans. Practicing tactics is still more important than middlegame planning, and you’ll improve faster by practicing tactics rather than practicing middlegame plans, but as you become a stronger player it will become more and more important for you to practicing middlegame planning in order to beat your opponents. You can find loads of more ideas of middlegame plans by looking at the games of masters - there is a huge database of chess games at http://www.chessgames.com, where you can find thousands of games from the chess masters both past and present.

Middlegames From Our Recommended Openings

Let’s take a look at what happens when you play one of our recommended openings. Let’s say you used our recommended Kings Indian Attack set-up and now you are in the middlegame, what do you do now? Let’s see some examples from games played between professional players.

Kings Indian Attack: Example middlegame

This is a game between the great Bobby Fischer and Uzi Geller, played in Netanya in 1968.

Bobby Fischer VS Uzi Geller

Netanya (1968), Kings Indian Attack

1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. g3 Nf6 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Ngf3 O-O 7. O-O Nc6

Here we are at the Kings Indian Attack set-up that we saw so many times in our Openings chapter. Fischer is playing with the white pieces and Geller is with the black pieces. We’re going to watch as Fischer gains space in the centre and then launches a kingside attack against black’s king. Let’s see how Fischer does it.

8. Re1 Qc7 9. e5 Nd7 10. Qe2 b5

So far these are very typical moves from both sides. White gains space in the centre with e5 and black gains space on the queenside.

11. h4 a5 12. Nf1 Nd4

The plans for both sides are very clear now. Fischer announces his intention to attack on the kingside with the advance of his h-pawn and he prepares to bring his knight to the kingside via f1-h2-g4. Black further pushes on the queenside and offers a trade of knights to open up the c-file so that he can attack along the c-file.

13. Nxd4 cxd4 14. Bf4 Ra6 15. Nh2 Rc6

Fischer accepts the trade of rooks, develops his bishop to f4 and prepares to bring his knight to the kingside via the manoeuvre we outlined before. Black brings his rook to the c-file and puts pressure on white’s c2 pawn.

16. Rac1 Ba6?

Surprisingly this is a slight mistake by black. His idea is to play b4 next to open up the a6 bishop and allow it to attack white’s d-pawn and queen, but unfortunately this allows a tactic for white which opens up the game and hands white the initiative.

17. Bxd5! exd5 18. e6 Qd8 19. exd7 Re6

This nice combination opens up the centre and puts white on the attack. Note that black had to move his queen after 18. e6 as it was under a discovered attack by white’s bishop, and 19. … Re6 had to be played to prevent losing the bishop on e7.

20. Qg4 f5 21. Qh5 Qxd7

The material is equal but white is better here. He has more space and an attack on the kingside, whereas black is having to defend and he has weak, doubled pawns on the d-file, not to mention the fact that his bishop is a6 is completely useless.

22. Nf3 g6 23. Qh6 Bf6 24. Rxe6 Qxe6 25. Be5 Bxe5

Fischer brings his knight into the game (he had originally wanted to bring this knight to g4 but obviously that isn’t possible now so he goes to f3 instead) and after exchanging rooks plays 25. Be5, trying to trade off black’s best defensive piece which is his dark-squared bishop. Note that it looks tempting for white to play 25. Re1 instead, bringing his rook into the game and attacking black’s queen, but this would actually be a mistake which allows black to draw after 25. … Qxe1! 26. Nxe1 Bg7 27. Qg5 Bf6 28. Qh6 Bg7 and white will have to repeatedly shuffle his queen between g5 and h6 to prevent losing it.

26. Re1 f4 27. Rxe5 Qd7

White’s rook, queen and knight are now in very dangerous positions attacking black’s king now. White just has to crack open black’s kingside pawns by advancing his h-pawn and black’s king will be left exposed.

28. h5 fxg3 29. hxg6 gxf2+

Black tries to counterattack white’s king but his pieces are simply not in a good enough position to do so and white will be the one who gets there first. Note that black’s bishop on a6 is still completely useless, and is actually about to become a liability

30. Kxf2 hxg6 31. Qxg6+ Qg7 32. Rg5! Black Resigns

Black resigns as he’s about to lose his bishop on a6 after 32. … Qxg6 33. Rxg6+ Kh8 34. Rxa6. White will simply be a full piece up and will win easily.

So there we saw a brilliant example from Fischer of how to use the Kings Indian Attack. Let’s recap how Fischer carried on after opening with the Kings Indian Attack - we can use similar themes in our own games:

- Fischer gained space by pushing his pawn to e5, and prepared a kingside attack with h4 and bringing his knight to f1-h2-f3

- He then opened up the centre and brought his queen and all his pieces to the kingside

- He controlled the centre with his rooks and traded off black’s best defensive pieces.

- Finally Fischer cracked open black’s kingside pawns by advancing his h-pawn and the defences around black’s king finally crumbled.

Kings Indian Defence: Example middlegame

Now let’s move onto an example of how to play after using the Kings Indian Defence as your opening. Again we’ll be following the great Bobby Fischer, this time as black.

Jan Hein Donner VS Bobby Fischer

Santa Monica (1966), Kings Indian Defence

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nc3 d6 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. O-O e5

Here Fischer has used the Kings Indian Defence set-up that we are already familiar with. Here Fischer will exploit white’s weaknesses, namely the e5 and c4 squares, and place a lot of pressure on white’s centre. Once white’s centre collapses, black’s pieces will come alive and black will end up with a devastating attack. Let’s see how he does it.

8. e4 c6

This is already the start of black’s plan. White expands in the centre and now has more space in the centre, but Fischer’s plan is to counter-attack white’s centre from the sides and break it down. Here Fischer plays c6 to prepare b5 and start breaking down white’s centre.

9. Rb1 a6 10. b4? exd4

b4 is a slight mistake from white and Fischer immediately seizes the opportunity. The problem is that now white’s c4 pawn will be difficult to protect, so Fischer exchanges his e-pawn, allowing his knight to move to e5 where it can attack white’s c4 pawn.

11. Nxd4 Re8 12. h3 Ne5

Fischer now has a strong central knight on e5 but he knows it can eventually be kicked away from there if white plays f4 or Bf4. So instead Fischer prepares to land his knight on the c4 square, where it will be much more difficult for white to remove.

13. Qe2 b5 14. cxb5 cxb5

Now after the b5 advance, Fischer has the c4 square under control and he can put his knight there next, where it will cause white all sorts of trouble.

15. Rd1 Bb7 16. f4 Nc4

Now Fischer’s knight has landed on c4 and it causes white’s position on the queenside to be cramped. White would love to remove this knight but it is surprisingly difficult to do so. He might even think about eventually trading his light-squared bishop on g2 for the black knight on c4 but at the moment his bishop is needed to defend his centre.

17. Qd3 Rc8 18. Kh2 Qc7

White still has more control of the centre for the moment but Fischer is putting pressure on it from all sides. Fischer doubles up queen and rook on the c-file and looks to attack using the c-file. White could actually attack black’s weak d6 pawn but unfortunately he doesn’t coordinate his pieces well enough to do it effectively.

19. Rb3 Re7

White is really putting his pieces in a tangle now. He plays Rb3 to protect his knight on c3 which is crucial to protecting white’s centre, as black was threatening to attack white’s c3 knight with his queen and rook after moving his knight on c5. However, now white’s rook on b3 looks out of place and is doing a purely defensive job. Now that white is putting so much protection on the c-file Fischer gets ready to switch his attack to the e-file instead.

20. Re1 Rce8 21. Nc2 Qc8!

Fischer now switches his rooks to the e-file and he is now putting immense pressure on white’s e4 pawn with both his rooks, knight and bishop all attacking it. Fischer then plays the brilliant but subtle move Qc8! This move looks like it does nothing, but idea is that by moving his queen out of the way, Fischer’s rook on e7 can switch between e7 and c7 quickly and attack both files. We’ll see why this is important in a few moves. Meanwhile white finally prepares to trade off black’s knight on c5, but unfortunately his centre is about to collapse.

22. Ne3 Nxe3 23. Rxe3 Nxe4

Fischer just had too much pressure on white’s centre and there was no way to defend white’s e4 pawn.

24. Bxe4 Bxe4 25. Qxd6 Rd7

Finally out of desperation white takes black’s d6 pawn with his queen. He knows this will lead to his queen being trapped and traded for a rook and bishop, but otherwise black will simply be a pawn up and all of black’s pieces will be active while white’s pieces are all passive, and white’s position will be basically lost. Note that Fischer’s 21. … Qc8! move a few moves earlier now allows his e7 rook to move freely along the 7th rank, where it can now attack white’s queen. Unfortunately white’s queen sacrifice doesn’t work either.

26. Qc5 Rc7 27. Nxe4 Rxc5 28. Nxc5 Bd4! White Resigns

White thought he might be able to draw, but unfortunately all of his pieces are passive and out of position. After 29. Rxe8+ Qxe8 black’s queen and bishop will combine for a deadly attack on white’s king, and unfortunately none of white’s pieces are in position to help defend. For example the game could end: 30. h4 Qe2+ 31. Kh3 Qf1+ 32. Kg4 h6 33. h5 f5+ 34. Kh4 Qh1# mate.

Let’s recap Fischer’s plan in the Kings Indian Defence:

- Fischer attacked white’s centre with … c6 and … b5

- He then attacked white’s weak c4 square with his knight via Ne5 and Nc4

- Fischer then placed a lot of pressure on white’s central pawns by attacking them with all of his pieces

- He then lined up his rooks on the c-file preparing an attack, and when white defended that he switched his rooks to the e-file.

- Finally white’s centre collapsed allowing Fischer’s pieces to penetrate into white’s position and white was unable to defend.

Hungarian Defence: Example middlegame

Finally, let’s take a look at an example of what to do after we play the Hungarian Defence:

Henri Grob VS Efim Bogoljubov

Zurich (1934), Hungarian Defence

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Be7 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 Nxe4 6. dxe5 O-O

Here we have a position which is a little bit different to our traditional Hungarian defence, but nonetheless the ideas are very much the same. We’ll be following the great master Efim Bogoljubov here (he was often called “Bogo” for short so we’re going to do the same) who is playing as black. This is going to be a very open Hungarian Defence game and we’ll see Bogo initially get a lead in development. Bogo will then turn his lead in development into an attack and win the game. Let’s see how it goes

7. b4 Kh8 8. Qd5 f5

A slightly strange couple of moves from white and already black is a little bit better. Instead of following our 7 rules of the opening, white tries to gain space on the queenside and brings his queen out to attack. Instead white should have been developing his pieces and he shouldn’t have brought his queen out so early. Now black will get a lead in development and white will be on the defensive.

9. Bd3 d6 10. Bxe4 fxe4

It’s getting worse for white. By capturing on e4 white has helped black open up the position, which is exactly what black wants because black has a lead in development. When you are ahead in development you want to open up the position as much as possible as this gives your pieces more space to attack. Bogo will now continue to develop rapidly and white will lose time running his queen away from attack.

11. Qxe4 Bf5 12. Qe3 dxe5 13. O-O e4 14. Ne1 Bf6

Here you can already see black is much better. Black has a huge lead in development - almost all of black’s pieces are developed whereas white only has his queen developed! Black has more space and very active pieces. With such a huge lead in development Bogo can just get his pieces forward and attack, which is what he does next.

15. a3 a5 16. b5 Nd4!

White cannot take black’s knight on d4 as after 17. cxd4 Bxd4 white’s queen and rook would be forked. Now black’s knight can join in the attack.

17. a4 Nb3 18. Ra3 Nxc1 19. Qxc1 Bg5 20. Qb2 e3

Bogo trades his knight for white’s bishop, leaving white with two knights on b1 and e1 which basically have no good squares to go to. White’s knight on b1 can hardly move, and black’s pawn on e4 was stopping white’s knight on e1 from moving anywhere. Black has complete control of the e-file also. You can see how much a huge lead in development is really benefitting black! With such a big lead in development, Bogo now plays e3 to open up the position to prepare to attack white’s king.

21. Nf3 exf2+ 22. Kxf2 Be7

Bogo brings his bishop to e7 to prepare a deadly check on c5 next move. If white tries to save his rook, his king would be in huge trouble, for example 23. Ra2 Bc5+ 24. Nd4 Bd3+ 25. Ke3 Bxf1 and as well as having lost a rook white’s king would be in huge trouble. Therefore white must allow black to win the exchange, but black has even better ideas.

23. Kg1 Bc5+ 24. Nd4 Bd3 25. Rd1 Qf6

White’s pieces are all stuck uselessly on the queenside leaving his king almost completely undefended, which is a big problem considering almost all of black’s pieces are attacking white’s king. Bogo’s attack is so strong that he is completely winning here. Bogo chooses to use a neat combination to simplify the position into a winning endgame, though he has lots of different ways to win here.

26. h3 Qf1+ 27. Rxf1 Rxf1+ 28. Kh2 Rxb1 29. Qa2 Bd6+ 30. g3 Be4

Black is now threatening mate with 31. … Rh1# next move and so white has to give up his knight to stop the mate. Black will end up with two rooks and a bishop vs. a lone queen, and will obviously be winning easily.

31. Nf3 Bxa3 32. Qxa3 Bxf3 33. g4 Re8

Bogo finally brings his other rook into play and now his two and rooks and bishop will combine for a deadly attack and overwhelm white’s queen.

34. Qc5 c6 35. Qf5 Rb2+ 36. Kg3 Bd5 37. Qd7 Rf8

White tries hard to get his queen active but it is too late.

38. c4 Rb3+ 39. Kh4 Bg2 White Resigns

White’s king is too exposed and will be mated soon. For example the game could end 40. Qe7 Rxh3+ 41. Kg5 h6+ 42. Kg6 Be4+ 43. Qxe4 Rf6# mate. A brilliant attacking display from Bogo, and an example of how to punish your opponent when they neglect to develop. Let’s recap:

- White initially didn’t develop properly. Bogo replied by developing rapidly and attacking white’s queen as he developed, gaining space and a lead in development.

- Bogo continued to develop rapidly and push white’s pieces back until black had a huge lead in development and white’s pieces were all sitting passively back.

- Bogo continued by getting his pieces as active as possible, getting his knight, two bishops, rook and queen in attacking positions.

- Bogo then opened up the position with the move e3 which gave Bogo an opportunity to attack white’s king.

- Bogo simplified the game into a winning endgame and as he had a material advantage he won the game by attacking white’s weak king.

So there you go! Now you have some ideas of plans you can use when you are using our recommended openings, the Kings Indian Attack, Kings Indian Defence and Hungarian defence.

Conclusion

So that’s our look through the middlegame. Middlegames can be very complicated and time-consuming to learn, but we looked at two important components of the middlegame which can help us improve a lot at chess in a short space of time - tactics and middlegame planning.

Of course the most important part of this chapter was practicing tactics. Practicing tactics is one of our two best ways of improving at chess as quickly as possible (the other being practicing endgames which are coming right up). Practicing tactics will improve your calculation, will help you see more moves ahead, will help you attack, will help you defend, will help with openings and endgames, and will help prevent you making mistakes. We practiced many tactics together and we saw lots of different tactical ideas that you can now use in your own games.

Tactics aren’t available all the time of course, and sometimes when there aren’t any opportunities to attack, you’ll have to be more patient and come up with a plan to slowly improve your position. This is where we learned a little bit of strategy, and we saw some examples of middlegame plans which you can use in your own games to improve your position slowly. We saw that sometimes one plan leads to another plan, and as you practice more you’ll be able to find the right plan at the right time, and you’ll know when to switch plans when you realise your middlegame plan isn’t working

Practicing tactics is absolutely a fantastic way to continue to improve at chess. Practicing tactics by yourself is one of the fastest ways to improve at chess. There are lots of books and websites which have loads of tactics for you to practice. Here are a couple of websites which have loads of free tactics puzzles that you can practice by yourself. If you continue practicing these tactics you will become a very strong chess player.

- www.chesstempo.com/chess-tactics.html - chess tempo has a completely free tactics trainer which anyone can use. The site will bring up tactics puzzles which you can try and solve and the computer will tell you what the answer was afterwards. You can create an account for free and the site will even save your progress.

- www.lichess.org - lichess has a free tactics trainer which again will bring up thousands of tactics puzzles for you to test your calculation skills. Again you can create a free account, the site will save your progress, and will automatically show you harder/easier tactics depending on how you are doing, so you can always practice tactics at your level.

Finally we looked at some middlegames from our recommended openings, so now you know what to do after the opening if you’ve played the Kings Indian Attack, Kings Indian Defence, or Hungarian Defence.

Right, time for the next chapter. For this, I want to introduce a quote by the great Jose Raul Capablanca (one of the greatest chess players ever).

“To improve at chess you should in the first instance study the endgame”

Yes, it’s endgame time.

The Endgame

Introduction to the Endgame

All along this book I’ve basically been telling you that in order to improve at chess as quickly as possible, you don’t want to spend too much time practicing the opening, you don’t want to spend all your time trying to learn complex chess strategy, and instead you want to spend your time practicing tactics and practicing endgames.

We’ve already seen why practicing tactics is so helpful in improving our chess, but why do I keep saying endgames are so important? Let me just give you a few reasons why right now:

- Endgames are the end of a game. If you don’t know what to do in the endgame, then it doesn’t matter how we’ll you’ve played in the opening and middlegame (unless of course you’ve managed to checkmate your opponent very quickly), because when you get to the endgame you’ll just end up losing.

- Let’s say that you’ve played a really good game, you are winning against your opponent, but how do you actually finish off the game and beat your opponent? This is where your knowledge of endgames will help you to win the game.

- Practicing endgames will improve your tactics and calculation

- Practicing endgames will help you find ways to win even when the position in the game is equal for both sides

- Practicing endgames can save you and help you get draws in games even when you’re losing by a lot of pieces

- Practicing endgames helps improve your middlegame play. If you know what a good endgame position looks like, then you can start planning well ahead in the middlegame to make sure that you end up in a good endgame and can win the game

Is that enough for you yet? Basically endgames are super important, and spending time practicing endgames will improve your chess skill very quickly. I’m going to teach you all of the important endgame techniques, tricks and skills to make you a good chess player. We’ll start with the basic endgame checkmates, we’ll then move onto pawn endgames, and we’ll finish off with rook endgames, which are the most common endgames of them all.

To make things simple in the examples we use, in this chapter on endgames, white will always be the stronger side (i.e. white will always be the side with more material).

First you must know how to convert a winning position. Let’s say that you have outplayed your opponent and you are now 2 rooks ahead and your opponent has nothing but a king. How do we checkmate our opponent and win the game? Here we must learn the 4 basic mates.

The 4 Basic Mates

1. Easiest of the 4 basic mates - 2 Rooks VS. King

This is a very simple checkmate, sometimes known as the stepladder for reasons obvious once you see it below.

I will show you below the quickest way to win as white from the position in the diagram above:

1. Rh4 Ke5

As white, our plan is to force black’s king to move towards the edge of the board where we will be able to checkmate him (any edge will do, but in this example we will force black’s king towards the 8th rank). With the move Rh4, black’s king now cannot come towards the 4th rank, and is stuck on the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th ranks. This is called “cutting off” the king because we are “cutting off” black’s king from coming forwards.

Black’s best plan to try to get a draw is to try to keep his king in the centre of the board for as long as possible. In this example however, white will very quickly force black’s king towards the edge of the board and win the game, and there is nothing black can do to stop it.

2. Ra5+ Kf6

We now bring our other rook to check the black king and black’s king is now forced backwards towards the 6th rank. Notice how our other rook on h4 is protecting the 4th rank, stopping the black king from moving forwards, and instead the black king must move backwards.

3. Rh6+ Kg7

We then again bring the rook on the h-file to check the black king and black’s king is forced backwards again onto the 7th rank. See why this checkmate is nicknamed the “Stepladder” now? Our rooks work together, gradually creeping up the board one rank at a time and forcing the black king backwards, and it almost looks like we are climbing our feet up a ladder.

4. Rb6 Kf7

Our rook on h6 was being attacked by the black king so we move it to the other side of the board (but not on the same file as our other rook, otherwise our rooks would get in each other’s way, which is why we moved the rook to b6 instead of a6). Our rooks on the a- and b-files are now ready to continue to “Stepladder” up the board and force black’s king towards the edge of the board.

5. Ra7+ Ke8

6. Rb8# mate

That was easy wasn’t it? The 2 rooks vs king basic mate is by far the easiest of the basic mates to learn, and we saw that in the example above it only took us 6 moves to win. In general it should take you less than 10 moves to win when you have 2 rooks vs a king, and most of the time it will be even quicker than that. Of course, you can use the same technique to checkmate your opponent if you have a Queen and Rook VS. King (just use your queen in the same way as you would use a rook and use the same stepladder technique).

This was a very simple procedure of forcing your opponent’s king towards the edge of the board with your two rooks. The only time you have to be careful is when your opponent’s king is attacking one of your rooks, in which case you can move that rook over to the other side of the board, and then continue as normal.

2. The next easiest of the basic mates - Rook VS. King

In this basic mate we will see a similar procedure as to the 2 rooks vs king checkmate, but this time we must use our king to help push the enemy king towards the edge of the board. The method for white to checkmate black is as follows:

1. Rh4 Kd5

The first thing we must do as white is to cut the black king off from advancing further up the brad. Our plan is force black’s king towards the edge of the board where we will be able to checkmate him, similar to the 2 rooks vs King checkmate that we saw before. To do this we will use our rook to force the black king to the 5th rank, then the 6th rank, then the 7th rank and finally the 8th rank. Blacks best chance to survive for as many moves as possible is to try to keep his king as close to the middle of the board as he can.

2. Ke2 Ke5

We must use our king with our rook in order to force black’s king backwards. Our king is heading towards black’s king.

3. Kd3 Kf5

Right here is where we want to take a bit of care as white. We want black to move his king opposite our king, with one square in-between the kings, like the diagram below.

Once this happens we will be able to check black’s king with our rook and black’s king will be forced to go backwards.

Black will obviously try to avoid this though. If we move our white king directly in front of black’s king, black will just move his king to the side. Therefore we have to force black to move his king directly in front of our king. This will happen when we reach the end of the board - black’s king will have nowhere to go and will have to move directly in front of our king. So now our plan as white is to chase black’s king towards the edge of the board.

4. Ke3 Kg5

And here we go chasing black’s king towards the edge of the board. Black avoids playing Ke5 (which is what we want him to do as it places black’s king directly in front of our king) and instead moves his king away towards the right again.

5. Ra4 Kf5

We move our rook away to the other side of the board as it was being attacked by black’s king. Notice that we want to keep our rook on the 4th rank, to prevent black’s king from escaping to the 3rd rank.

6. Rb4 Kg5

Again we don’t want to move our king directly opposite black’s king, we want to wait until black is forced to move their king directly opposite our king. Because of this, we don’t move our king towards black’s king by playing Kf3, instead we waste a move by shuffling our rook one square.

7. Kf3 Kh5

Now again we continue chasing around black’s king. Black’s king is now forced onto the edge of the board.

8. Kg3 Kg5

Now finally black is forced to put his king directly opposite our king. He can no longer move his king to the right, as he’s reached the end of the board. Now we can check black’s king with our rook and force black’s king backwards.

9. Rb5+ Kf6

We finally get to check black’s king and because our king is directly opposite black’s king, black’s king must go backwards towards the 6th rank. Black still wants to keep his king as close to the middle of the board as he can though, so black chooses to move his king to f6 rather than h6.

10. Kg4 Ke6

We move our king up to meet black’s king and the chase begins again.

11. Kf4 Kd6 12. Ke4 Kc6

And again we chase black’s king towards the edge of the board.

13. Rh5 Kd6

We move our rook to the other end of the board as it was being attacked by black’s king again.

14. Rg5 Kc6

Again we waste a move so that black has an opportunity to move his king directly opposite our king.

15. Kd4 Kb6 16. Kc4 Ka6 17. Kb4 Kb6

And again black is finally forced to put his king directly opposite our king, or go back towards the 7th rank voluntarily. We can now check black’s king with our rook again and force black’s king towards the 7th rank.

18. Rg6+ Kc7

We check black’s king with our rook and black’s king is forced backwards again. We are now getting closer and closer to getting black’s king towards the edge of the board where we can checkmate him.

19. Kb5 Kd7 20. Kc5 Ke7 21. Kd5 Kf7 22. Ra6 Ke7

Again, we move our rook to the other side of the board as black’s king is attacking our rook.

23. Rb6 Kf7 24. Ke5 Kg7 25. Kf5 Kh7 26. Kg5 Kg7

Now black’s king is again forced directly opposite our king and we can check black’s king and force him back. Now black’s king will finally be on the edge of the board and we can checkmate black in a few more moves.

27. Rb7+ Kf8 28. Kg6 Ke8 29. Kf6 Kd8 30. Ke6 Kc8

Again our rook is being attacked by black’s king and we must move our rook to the other side of the board.

31. Rh7 Kd8 32. Rg7 Kc8 33. Kd6 Kb8 34. Kc6 Ka8 35. Kb6 Kb8 36. Rg8# mate

Phew! Even though that was a long-winded checkmate, the method was very simple. We use our rook and king together to force black’s king towards the edge of the board and checkmate him. We have to force black to move his king in front of our king, and when he does so we can check black’s king and force him back. This checkmate is very common because often you’ll have a King + Pawn VS. King in the endgame, and after you promote the pawn you’ll end up with King + Queen VS. King in the endgame. Of course the procedure for checkmating with queen and king is the same as with rook and king, and you can even checkmate quicker with a queen and king.

3. Two Bishops VS. King

Two bishops can actually checkmate a lone king and although you probably won’t be in this position much in your own games it’s still helpful to learn it. The procedure here is not too difficult, the main idea is to use your bishops and king to restrict the squares available for your opponent’s king and slowly force their king towards the corner where you can checkmate your opponent.

The tricky part is sometimes visualising the eventual checkmate position, So we’ll show you one example of a checkmate below so that you know what you are aiming for:

Let’s go back to the original diagram and see the method to checkmate our opponent with two bishops:

1. Be4 Ke7

Our job as white is to use our bishops together to trap the black king and gradually squeeze him into a smaller and smaller space. By using our bishops together, we can trap the black king into an area. In the diagram above you can see white’s bishops are controlling the diagonals to the left and the right and black’s king is trapped to the 6 circled squares. We will gradually make the area smaller and smaller and then force black’s king into the corner where we will checkmate him.

2. Kf5 Kd7 3. Kf6 Kc8 4. Ke6 Kd8

For these past 3 moves we’ve been getting our king involved as well to help with the job. The idea is to force black’s king towards the h8 corner of the board.

5. Bb7 Ke8

This is an important manoeuvre from white. We use our bishop to cover black’s path to the left, which forces his king to move to the right.

6. Bc7 Kf8

And we do it again, this time with the other bishop, forcing the black king to move towards the right again and closer to the h8 corner.

7. Kf6 Ke8 8. Bc6+ Kf8 9. Bd6+ Kg8

This time we check with our bishops in order to force black’s king towards the right.

10. Kg6 Kh8

Black’s king has been forced into the corner now and we are now close to checkmating him. Notice that the white king along with the dark-squared bishop are working together to trap black’s king on the g8 and h8 squares. With so few available moves for the black king, we do have to be a bit careful now not to stalemate black. A move such as 11. Bd5? now looks tempting as it gets our light-squared bishop involved but it would actually be stalemate. So we have to try something else.

11. Bf8! Kg8

Bf8 is the right move here. This allows us to play Bg7+ at the right moment and then finish the game.

12. Bh6 Kh8

Bh6 just “passes” a move so we can play Bg7+ with check next move.

13. Bg7+ Kg8 14. Bd5# mate

So that’s the two bishops vs. king checkmate. Once you’ve seen it a few times you’ll find it easy. Just remember to use your bishops together with your king to trap black’s king and gradually force him into a smaller and smaller space. Then force him into a corner and checkmate him (but be careful to avoid stalemates).

4. Bishop and Knight VS. King

The 4th and last of the 4 basic checkmates. This is really a very difficult mate that even professional players have struggled with! Here the king, knight and bishop must be used in tandem to slowly force the opponent’s king first to one edge of the board, and then towards a corner where checkmate can be delivered. It is important to note that you must force the opponent’s king into the same colour corner as that of your bishop (i.e. if you have a light squared bishop, then force the opponent into a light squared corner). Fortunately this checkmate arises very rarely, so if you find it difficult to remember, don’t worry about it too much at this stage.

Again sometimes the most difficult part is visualising what the checkmate is supposed to look like at the end of the game, so here’s a diagram of the checkmate we are aiming for (note that black’s king is on a dark-squared corner, which is the same colour as our bishop):

Anyway back to the original position. Our first job is to force black’s king towards the edge of the board, which is usually not too difficult, and then to force him towards a corner of the same colour as our bishop and deliver checkmate, which is a lot more difficult.

1. Nb3 Kc6

This shows one example of us using our knight, king and bishop together to force black’s king backwards. Notice that our knight was controlling the square to the left of black’s king and our bishop was controlling the square to the right of black’s king, and our king was obviously controlling the squares in front of black’s king. This meant that black’s king was forced to move backwards. We will repeat this technique over and over again in order to force black’s king towards the edge of the board.

2. Kc4 Kb6 3. Nc5 Kc6 4. Na4 Kb7

And again we used our knight, bishop and king to force black’s king backwards. Black’s king can’t help being forced to the edge of the board so he heads towards the a8 corner, which is a light-square, because he knows that white cannot force checkmate in a corner which is an opposite colour to his bishop.

5. Kb5 Kc8 6. Kc6 Kd8 7. Kd6 Kc8 8. Nb6+ Kb7

Black’s king has been forced towards the edge of the board but now the challenge for white is forcing black’s king towards a dark-squared corner where  his dark-squared bishop can deliver checkmate. White is going to force black’s king towards the a1 corner and this is going to be a difficult process.

9. Kc5 Ka6 10. Kc6 Ka5 11. Bd6 Ka6 12. Bb8 Ka5 13. Nd5 Ka4

We’ve forced black’s king downwards a bit towards the a1 square but now black’s king looks like he’s escaping from the edge of the board via b3 and c2.  This is where we have to keep calm and not panic even though it looks like black’s king is escaping. We are going to use our knight to control some light-squares around the black king and our bishop to control the dark-squares to force black’s king back towards the corner.

14. Kc5 Kb3 15. Nb4! Kc3

Nb4 is a very important move from white which controls the light-squares around black’s king. Now we just have to use our bishop to control the dark squares around black’s king and black’s king will still be trapped towards the corner.

16. Bf4! Kb3 17. Be5 Ka4 18. Kc4 Ka5 19. Bc7+ Ka4 20. Nd3 Ka3

We’re quite close now. Now we have to use our bishop and knight together to finish the job.

21. Bb6 Ka4 22. Nb2+ Ka3 23. Kc3 Ka2 24. Kc2 Ka3 25. Bc5+ Ka2

26. Nd3 Ka1 27. Be7 Ka2

Now that black’s king is in the corner we have to be careful of stalemates. Be7 is a waiting move which just keeps the bishop on the same a3-f8 diagonal. Nc1 would have been tempting but it would have been stalemate. By playing Be7 we can ensure we play Nc1+ on the next move with check.

28. Nc1+ Ka1 29. Bf6# mate

This was a very difficult mate to learn, especially moves 14-17 when it looked like black’s king was escaping. We just have to remember to use our knight, king and bishop together to force black’s king towards the edge (which is usually not too difficult) and then to force him towards a corner of the same colour as our bishop. Once black’s king looks like it is escaping (which will usually happen at some point) just remember to use your knight to control the light-squares around your opponent’s king and your bishop to control the dark-squares (or the other way around of course it you have a light-squared bishop) and your opponent’s king will still be trapped in the corner. Then towards the end remember to watch out for stalemates and you’ll be able to finish the job no problem.

This concludes the 4 basic mates which are needed to finish off and win the game. Before we move on though I wanted to take a break to discuss non-mating material.

Non-mating material

Sometimes though you might have more pieces than your opponent but you still won’t be able to win. It’s important to know what material is needed to win a game and what material is not able to checkmate an enemy king.

Knight VS. King OR Bishop VS. King - Both only a draw

Having just a knight against a lone king is only a draw, as you cannot checkmate your opponent with just 1 knight. The closest you can get is stalemate as shown in the diagram below:

The same is true for a bishop vs a lone king. A bishop by itself cannot checkmate a lone king and the best you can get is a draw:

Interestingly though it is technically possible to checkmate if your opponent has an extra pawn, for example like this diagram:

Or this:

But such a position is extremely rare and your opponent would have to play really badly to allow themselves to be checkmated like this.

In general just remember that having just a knight or just a bishop vs a lone king is a draw so make sure you have at least a rook or a pawn (which you can then promote to a queen) in the endgame if you want to have any chances of winning the game.

Two Knights VS. King - Draw

Two knights cannot force checkmate against a lone king, so this is a draw too. It is technically possible to checkmate your opponent with two knights vs a king, but you cannot force your opponent into checkmate, your opponent has to play really bad moves in order to get into a position where they are checkmated.

Diagram. It is technically possible to checkmate your opponent with 2 knights vs a lone king, as in the position above, but black has to play really badly for this to happen, so most of the time this endgame is just a draw.

In fact if you ever find yourself on the side with just a king against two knights, all you have to do to make sure you draw is keep your king away from the corner of the board. I’ll just show you a short example to demonstrate this:

1. Ng3+ Kg1

All black has to do to draw is try to avoid moving his king to the corner of the board, which is the h1 square. As long as black avoids the h1 square it will be impossible for white to checkmate him. So black chooses to move to g1 instead

2. Ke2 Kh1

Well now white has literally cut off all the other squares so black has to move to h1 as its the only available legal move. It doesn’t matter though, it still isn’t possible for white to force checkmate onto black.

3. Kf2 Stalemate

White has to push black’s king into the corner with his own king in order have any hopes of checkmating black, but as soon as he does he stalemates black. If white tries moving one of his knights instead to prevent stalemate then the black king will start to escape from the corner again via g2 or h2 and then white will have no hopes of checkmating black.

In summary just remember that you cannot win with just a lone knight or lone bishop against an enemy king, and neither can you win with 2 knights vs an enemy king. With 2 bishops vs a king or a knight and bishop together vs a king it is possible to win however.

Onto the next important section of the endgame: pawn endgames. Learning pawn endgames will help you win many, many, many more games, as you’ll be able to win the game if you get to an endgame and have extra pawn. Learning pawn endgames is extremely important, as you’ll know how to draw games even if you have less pawns than your opponent. If you get really good at pawn endgames, you’ll even be able to win games when your opponent has more material than you! Let’s get right to it.

Pawn Endgames

King and 1 pawn VS. King

This is the next simplest endgame to learn and it is a very important endgame to know. There are many important lessons to be learnt here. We will spend a lot of time discussing this endgame as the many important lessons we will learn in this endgame will help us understand the other endgames later on in this chapter.

The first important thing to note is that a lot of the time this endgame is a draw, as long as the player with only a king plays the correct moves.

Remember, throughout this endgame section, for the sake of simplicity and clarity, white will always be the stronger side and black will always be the weaker side. So remember that when I refer to white, I’m talking about the side with the Pawn and King, and when I refer to black, I’m talking about the side with only a King.

To learn this endgame, we will first go through all the positions where if black defends properly, white (the side with the pawn) can only draw. This way you can spot positions where you will be able to draw if you are a pawn down in the endgame. Afterwards we will go through all the positions where white can force a win even if black tries his hardest to defend. This way you’ll be able to spot positions where you can definitely win when you are a pawn up, and you’ll know how to carry out the winning plan.

When can black draw if he is down a pawn in the King + Pawn VS. King endgame?

In general if black can get his king in front of white’s pawn then the game will end in a draw. We’ll show you an example below.

In the position below white has achieved an advantage of a single pawn in the endgame. White is trying to queen his pawn and then checkmate his opponent. However, in this diagram white can only achieve a draw if black plays the best moves. This is still true whether it is white or black’s turn to move - black can still draw.

Let us show a reasonable example below of white attempting to win by trying to push his pawn forward and queen it.

1. e6 Ke8 2. Kd6 Kd8

3. e7+ Ke8 4. Ke6 Stalemate

In the position above, black managed to keep his king in front of white’s pawn at all times and block it from queening on the e8 square. White could not dislodge black’s king from the e8 square and the best white could do was achieve a stalemate and the game ends in a draw.

But black did have to be careful in the position above. Black had to make sure he had “The Opposition”, otherwise he would have lost. What exactly is “The Opposition”? We’ll show you below:

The Opposition

Diagram. In the above position white has the opposition.

In the diagram above, it is black’s turn to move, so we say that white has “The Opposition”, which is a good thing for white. This means that black must move his king to the backwards or to the side, allowing white’s king to advance. To repeat this to make this clear, when the kings are directly facing each other, with one square in-between them, and it is your opponent’s turn to move, then you have the opposition. Having the opposition is good, as your opponent must move his king to the side and allow your king to advance. If the kings are directly facing each other with one square between them and it is your turn to move, then your opponent has the opposition, which is bad, as you must move your king to the side and allow your opponent to advance.

Good tip to remember: Always try to have the opposition. It’s very important to try to get in a position where you have the opposition if possible.

You can also have diagonal opposition. In the diagram below, white has the diagonal opposition, as it is black’s turn to move, and this is a good thing for white. If it was white’s turn to move, then black would have the diagonal opposition

Diagram. Diagonal Opposition.

Ok now we know what the opposition is. Why is the opposition so important? Well in the position we saw above where black managed to draw the game, black had the opposition, and that allowed black to achieve a draw. Let’s go through that position again in more detail and see why the opposition was so important.

1. e6 Ke8

Black’s last move, 1. … Ke8, is actually very important. In fact, it’s the only move for black that allows black to draw! Every other move for black loses. For example, let’s see what happens if black had instead tried 1. … Kd8:

1. e6 Kd8 2. Kd6

Diagram. After 2. Kd6

Now look who has the opposition. White has the opposition! The kings are directly facing each other with one square between them and it is black’s move, meaning white has the opposition. Because white has the opposition, white can now win this game, because black’s king now has to move away, allowing white’s king to advance and take control on the e8 square, which will allow white’s pawn to queen.

3. Ke8 e7 4. Kf7 Kd7

Diagram. After 4. … Kd7

We’ve now reached this position where white’s king now controls the e8 square. White will queen his pawn next move and white will win easily.

Compare this to the position we had before, where black correctly played 1. … Ke8 and managed to draw the game:

1. e6 Ke8 2. Kd6 Kd8

Diagram. after 2. … Kd8

This time black has the opposition, as the kings are directly facing each other and it is white’s turn to move. Because black has the opposition, white’s king must move to the side, and black is able to use his king to block white’s pawn from advancing and black can get a draw.

Ok now that we’ve seen an example of this endgame, let’s go through some rules which will help you decide whether you will be able to win or draw a King and 1 pawn vs King endgame.

Rule 1: White will win if black’s king is too far away to catch white’s pawn

This is fairly obvious. White can obviously win if the black king is too far from the white pawn to block it from queening. Consider the diagram below:

Diagram. White’s pawn is too far away from black’s king and will queen easily.

Simple counting here would tell you that in the diagram above, black’s king is way too far away to be able to stop the white pawn from queening. White is going to play h7, then h8 and get a queen.

There is a quick shortcut to tell whether black’s king will be able to stop the white pawn, and that is the pawn square. The pawn square is an imaginary square with 2 of the corners being the pawn and the queening square. See the diagram below

Diagram. The pawn square

If black’s king can get within the pawn square at any point, then black will be able to catch the white pawn. If black’s king can not enter the pawn square, then the white pawn will queen freely simply by marching forward every move. In the diagram above, black’s king is white’s pawn square, so black’s king will be able to catch the white pawn.

One quick point to note about the pawn square is that a pawn on its starting square on the 2nd rank will have the same pawn square as if it were on the 3rd rank, obviously because of the pawn’s ability to move forward 2 squares on its first move.

Diagram. The pawn square for a 2nd rank pawn.

Rule 2: Black will be able to draw if he can get his king to the square directly in front of white’s pawn, or the square in front of that.

Diagram. If black can get his king to any of the squares marked with crosses before white’s pawn promotes, then black will be able to draw.

There is one exception to this rule, and that is obviously the position below.

Diagram. The exception to Rule 2

Where obviously, even though black’s king is in the square in front of the white pawn, black’s king has to move away from the e8 square and then white will play Kd7 and then queen his pawn next move.

Those are the two easiest rules of the King and 1 pawn vs King endgame. Obviously if black’s king can’t catch white’s pawn, then white is going to win. If black can get his king directly in front of the white pawn, then black will be able to draw. What happens however if black’s king can catch the white pawn, but isn’t able to get to the square directly in front the pawn? Here’s where we introduce rule #3:

Rule 3: White will be able to win if at least 2 of the following 3 conditions are met:

A) White’s king is in front of the pawn

B) White has the opposition

C) White’s king is on the 6th rank

Exception: there is one exception to this rule and that is, if the white pawn is a flank pawn (a flank pawn is a pawn on either the a-file or h-file), then black can still draw, even if all three conditions A, B, and C are met.

Let us see some examples of white winning when 2 or more of the 3 conditions are met.

Example 1. Conditions A) and B) are met. White’s king is in front of the pawn and white has the opposition

In the position above white will win. White has the opposition so black’s king will have to move out of the way. White will then advance his king and get in a position where the white king is on the 6th rank and white has the opposition. White will then win easily as we showed before by advancing his pawn. Let’s see how to win this position:

1... Kb6 2. Kd5 Kc7

Since white had the opposition, black’s king had to get out of the way and white advances his king.

3. Kc5 Kb7

White gains the opposition again with the move 3. Kc5. This is very important and means black has to move his king out of the way again.

4. Kd6 Kc8 5. c4 Kd8

Here black actually has the opposition, but white is about gain the opposition again next move by advancing his pawn, and making it black’s turn to move.

6. c5 Kc8 7. Kc6 Kd8

Again, white gains the opposition with the move 7. Kc6. Black’s king has to get out of the way and now white can move his king to b7 where it will control the all important c8 queening square. White will then just simply have to march his pawn up and queen his pawn.

8. Kb7 Ke8 9. c6 Ke7 10. c7 Ke6

White wins. He’s about to queen his pawn.

11. c8=Q+ and white wins.

Example 2. Conditions A) and C) are met. White’s king is in front of the pawn and white’s king is on the 6th rank

In the position above, even though black has the opposition, white still will win because his king is so far forward. It’s fairly simple to see how to win here:

1. Kd6 Kd8 2. e6 Ke8 3. e7 Kf7 4. Kd7 Kf6 5. e8=Q White wins

Example 3. Conditions B) and C) are met. White has the opposition and white’s king is on the 6th rank.

This is even easier to see that white wins here. White has the opposition here and he will simply march his pawn up the board.

1. … Ke8 2. e7 Kf7 3. Kd7 Kf6 4. e8=Q and white wins

Exception: white’s pawn is a flank pawn.

We have said before that if white’s pawn is a flank pawn then black can still draw even if all three conditions a), b) and c) are met. In fact, if white’s pawn is a flank pawn, black will always draw if the black king can get in front of the white pawn. This is because once black gets in front of the white pawn, black can simply shuffle between the promotion square and an adjacent square forever, and white will white will never be able to dislodge the black king. Consider the following example:

The position is drawn easily by black simply by getting his king to the h8 square as quickly as possible, and then shuffling his king between h8 and any adjacent square over and over again. A short demonstration of white attempting to win might go:

1. Kg4 Ke6

2. Kg5 Kf7

3. Kh6 Kg8

4. h5 Kh8

Diagram. after 4. … Kh8

Now that the black king has reached the white pawn’s promotion square, h8, the black king can now simply shuffle his king between h8 and any adjacent square endlessly and white is powerless to stop him without incurring stalemate. In the next few moves, Black will simply shuffle his king between h8 and g8.

5. Kg6 Kg8

6. h6 Kh8

7. Kf6 Kg8

8. Kg6 Kh8

Can you see a pattern emerging yet?

9. Kh5 Kg8 10. Kg6 Kh8

Yep, black is literally just moving his king between g8 and h8 over and over again. There is nothing white can do to stop this and this game will end in a draw

11. h7 stalemate

The stalemate resulting from this position shows the reason why flank pawns are often unable to queen. Remember that if we reached this same position but the white pawn was on the g-file instead of being a flank pawn, as in the diagram below:

Then the position would not be stalemate. Black would have to play Kh7, and of course white would win easily.

We are now finished with our discussion of the king and pawn VS. king endgame, and this may be of great relief to you, our reader, since you can now appreciate how complex the seemingly simple king + pawn vs king endgame is.

The above treatment of the king and pawn endgame is fairly comprehensive, and once you have understood all the of the above, you’ll be able to recognise at once whether a king and pawn vs king position is drawn or won, and know the correct technique for playing it for either black or white. If you are on the defending position in this endgame (i.e. you are the one with the sole king against king and pawn) then you should know the best way to put up resistance in the position even if white is theoretically winning, because white may slip up and in that case you will be able to pounce on your opportunity to draw.

If the above seems too much to remember at first glance, don’t worry. You can always reread the section another time. But for now, here are rules of the king and pawn vs king endgame again:

The Rules of the King and 1 pawn VS. King endgame

- Rule 1: If the black king can get to the square directly in front of the white pawn, or the square in front of that, black will draw. (there is one exception given in the diagram in the section above)

- Rule 2: White wins if two or more of the following conditions are met:

- A) white’s king is in front of the pawn

- B) white has the opposition

- C) white’s king is on the 6th rank

- (the one exception is a pawn on the a-file or h-file, where black can usually draw if he can get in front of the pawn)

- Rule 3: The worst pawn for white to have is the flank pawn, where invariably black draws

- Rule 4: It is always an advantage to have the opposition for both white and black

- Rule 5: It is always an advantage to have the king in front of the pawn for both white and black

Even if you just remember the rules given above, with some accurate calculation you will be in good stead for all king and pawn vs king endgames.

King + 2 Pawns VS. King + Pawn Endgame

Onto the next endgame we need to know.

In the above position white has 2 pawns and black has 1 pawn. White can win in this position by playing 1. f5 and he can also win by playing 1. Ke4. White however will draw if he tries to play 1. g5, as then black would play 1. … g6, and black’s single pawn manages to hold both of white’s pawns back, as white cannot advance his pawns without losing one of them. This idea of a unit that holds two is very important, and you can use it to effect in your own endgames.

Diagram. After 1. g5 g6. Black draws because he has a unit that holds two.

Let’s see the correct way to win as white then. I will show you the method to win with 1. Ke4

1. Ke4 Ke6 2. f5+ Kf6

It’s usually best to first advance the pawn which is unopposed (which is the pawn which does not have an enemy pawn in front of it). In this case that is the f-pawn, so we advance it first to stop black playing g6 and holding both of our pawns back.

3. Kf4 g6 4. g5+ Kf7 5. f6 Ke6

White succeeds in advancing his pawns slowly. He now has a passed f-pawn to work with. In fact, the only way for white to win is by giving up this f-pawn at the right moment, which we will see shortly. There is no way to try to queen this f-pawn without stalemating his opponent.

6. Ke4 Kf7 7. Ke5 Kf8

And here is the right moment. White can never queen this passed f-pawn, because black will treat this as a king and 1 pawn vs king endgame, and ensure that he always has the opposition, which means white will not be able to queen the f-pawn without stalemating black first. Instead, the way for white to win is by giving up this f-pawn, which allows the white king to get to the f6 square and win black’s pawn on g6.

8. f7 Kxf7 9. Kd6 Kf8 10. Ke6 Kg7

Once black’s king moves, white can get his king to f6 and force the win of black’s g6 pawn.

11. Ke7 Kg8 12. Kf6 Kh7 13. Kf7 Kh8 14. Kxg6 Kg8

Now white has won black’s g-pawn, and white is in a winning king and 1 pawn vs king endgame that you might recognise from before. White is winning because his king is in front of his pawn, and his king is on the 6th rank. Let’s see how to finish this off:

15. Kh6 Kf7 16. g6+ Kg8 17. g7 Kf7 18. Kh7 Kf6 19. g8=Q and white wins.

We’ve now seen an example of how to win if you have 2 pawns vs 1 pawn in the endgame. Not every position is going to be the same as this one of course, but we now know the principles of how to win this endgame. The plan is to advance your pawns together, supported by your king, and always first advance the pawn which does not have an enemy pawn in front of it (which in this case was the f-pawn). This stops your opponent blocking both of your pawns with a unit that holds two. Once you’ve gotten to a position where you can advance no more, you may have to give up your furthest advanced pawn in order to win your opponent’s remaining pawn, and then win the resulting King and pawn vs King endgame. The example we have done together above is actually quite a hard example, and most of the time a King and 2 pawns vs King and 1 pawn endgame will be even easier to win than this one.

Onto the next endgame. We are getting stronger and stronger with every one of these endgames that we are learning.

King + 3 pawns VS. King + 2 Pawns Endgame

The endgame is similar to the endgame King + 2 pawns vs King + 1 pawn endgame. By learning this endgame we will revise some of the techniques we learnt in the king + 2 pawns vs King + 1 pawn endgame, and we will also learn some general principles about playing endgames where many pawns are involved.

As ever, it is usually best to first advance the pawn which does not have an enemy pawn in front of it, which in this case is the f-pawn.

1. f5 Ke7 2. Ke5 Kf7

White is going to try to advance with his pawns and his king.

3. g5 Ke7 4. h5 g6

5. hxg6 hxg6 6. f6+ Kf8

And we get to the same position as we saw before in the King + 2 Pawn VS. King + Pawn Endgame. We already know how to win this position!

King & 3 pawns vs King & 3 pawns endgame

If you have 3 pawns vs 3 pawns, and if the kings and pawns are all one side of the board as below, then in general these endgames are draws. The diagram above is an easy draw for example. One side would have to make a really bad mistake in order to let their opponent win the above position.

What I would like to point out instead is a useful trick to know when one set of pawns are far advanced and the kings are far away from the pawns, as shown below.

Diagram. Black to play and win

In the diagram above it is black’s move and black will win. If it were white’s move then white could draw.

If it is black’s move, the correct move is to win is 1. … g3! 2. fxg3 h3!

Diagram. After 2. … h3!

Here black will queen well before white manages to. If white plays 3. gxh3, then black would play 3. … f3, and black will get a queen with f2, and f1=Q in the next two moves, and then black will win all of white’s pawns well before any of them manage to queen. If white plays 3. gxf4 instead, then black will play 3. … hxg2 and black will queen the g-pawn next move.

If it was white’s move, the correct move to force a draw would be 1. g3! hxg3 2. hxg3 fxg3 3. fxg3 and the position is blocked and this is a draw.

Diagram. After 3. fxg3

The lesson here is the importance of creating a passed pawn, and white here sacrifices two pawns just to create a passed pawn and get a queen well before black does.

The other lesson here is the advantage of having far advanced pawns. It is only because of the the far advanced position of black’s pawns that black was able to sacrifice two pawns and obtain a passed pawn that would queen much faster than any white pawns could. If the black pawns were further back, then white’s pawns might be able to queen just as quickly as black’s pawns, and the game might end in a draw or even a loss for black.

Multiple pawn endgames with pawns on both sides

Diagram. Multiple Pawn Endgame Example 1

Here white has an advantage of a single pawn and indeed, white can win. How does white do it? White will use the old “Bait and Switch tactic”. White will advance his b-pawn supported by his king, and then, at the right moment, he will sacrifice his b-pawn and rush his king over to the other side of the board and win black’s f and g pawns and then win easily.

1. b5 Kb7 2. Ka5 Ka7 3. b6+ Kb7 4. Kb5 Kb8 5. Kc6 Kc8

Diagram. White can use the “Bait and Switch tactic” to win

White has advanced his b-pawn and has pushed black’s king back. White isn’t going to be able to queen the b-pawn, but white can use the b-pawn as bait and abandon the b-pawn while he sends his king over to the other side of the board to win black’s f and g pawns. The time to do that is now!

6. Kd6 Kb7

White abandons his b-pawn. He sacrifices his b-pawn but it doesn’t matter because he’s going to win black’s f and g pawns.

7. Ke6 Kxb6

Black has had to spend a few moves capturing white’s b-pawn. In the meantime white has rushed over to the kingside and he is about to win black’s pawns.

8. Kxf6 Kc6 9. Kxg5 Kd7 10. Kg6 Ke7 and white wins easily

With two pawns vs none, white will win very easily. White will get a queen in just a few moves.

Here’s another example:

Diagram. Multiple Pawn Endgame Example 2

In the position above both players have pawns on both sides of the board, but white has an extra pawn on the kingside. White can win in the above position. The best way to win in these positions is to act immediately on the side where you have more forces. In this case white has an extra pawn on the kingside and so will first advance on the kingside. White will then at the right moment switch his king to the other side and win black’s pawn on the other side and win easily. As always, the rule is to first advance the unopposed pawn, which here is white’s g-pawn.

1. g4 a5

Black is advancing his a-pawn. You might be thinking here is it best for white to block black’s a-pawn or is it best to just carry on advancing on the kingside? In this case it is best to just block black’s a-pawn.

2. a4 Kf6 3. h4 Ke6

If black had played 3. … Kg6 instead then white would simply play 4. Kd4 and win black’s a-pawn and queen his own a-pawn long before black would have a chance to do anything useful

4. g5 Kf7 5. Kf5 Kg7

6. h5 Kf7

If black had tried to play 6. … h6 instead, trying to break up white’s g and h pawns, white would reply with 7. g6! and white’s g and h-pawns would protect themselves. Black’s king could never take white’s h5 pawn because as soon as he did white would play g7 and queen the g-pawn. White could then simply walk his king over to the a-file and win black’s a-pawn, safe in the knowledge that his g and h-pawns could not be touched.

7. Ke5 Kg7

White decides now is the right time to switch to the other side and win black’s a-pawn. Black’s king is far away from challenging white’s g and h-pawns

8. Kd5 Kf7

9. Kd6 Kg7 10. Kc6 Kf7

11. Kb5 Ke6 12. Kxa5 Kf5 13. g6 hxg6 14. hxg6 Kxg6 15. Kb6 and white wins easily.

White will simply queen his a-pawn and win easily.

We saw a couple of examples here of how to win when there are pawns on both sides of the board and you are winning by a pawn. An important idea to remember here is that of using a passed pawn as a distraction, sacrificing that passed pawn at the right moment and then rushing over to the other side with your king to pick off the enemy pawns and win the game.

Trebuchet

Diagram. The Trebuchet Position - whoever’s turn it is to move, that person loses. It is white to move and so white loses in this position.

The above diagram is known as the Trebuchet position. It’s important because whosever turn it is to move in the above position will lose. So you want to make sure that if you ever have to get into a trebuchet position, make sure it is your opponent’s turn to move. For example if it was white’s move in the above position, white would have to move his king away and play something like 1. Kc4 and then black would play 1. … Kxe4 and black would simply queen his e-pawn. If it was black’s turn to move then obviously black would lose because he would have to move his king away and white would win his e-pawn.

Knowing the trebuchet rule will help you in more complex positions. For example take a look at the diagram below. Who is winning?

Diagram. Who is winning here?

Even though it is white’s move, black will win this position because black can make sure it is white’s move when they get to the trebuchet position.

1. Kxh6 Kxc3 2. Kg5 Kd3!! 3. Kf5 Kd4

Black’s second move, 2. … Kd3!! was very important. If black had played 2. … Kd4? instead then white would have the opportunity to make sure it was black’s move when they got to the trebuchet position, by playing 3. Kf5, and then it would be black’s move and he would have to move his king away and lose his pawn.

Keeping the trebuchet position in mind will help you win in positions when you have multiple pawns on both sides of over the board.

Outside Passed Pawn

We’ve seen before that flank pawns are generally a bit rubbish in endgames, as even if you have an extra pawn in the endgame, if that pawn is a flank pawn then your opponent will be able to draw most of the time.

That isn’t always the case though and there are some situations when having a flank pawn can be useful. This is especially the case if you have a flank pawn which is an outside passed pawn. When both sides have multiple pawns, even if they both have the same number of pawns, often the side with the outside passed pawn will win. This is because the enemy king has to move far away from the centre of the action in order to stop the outside passed pawn from queening, allowing you to move your own king to the centre of the action in the meantime and win the game.

Let’s have a look at the following position for an example.

Here white it is white’s move and although both players have the same number of pawns, white will win because he is able to create an outside passed pawn.

1. h4 f4+ 2. Kf3! hxg4

White’s move 2. Kf3 is very important! If white had played the more obvious 2. gxf4 instead then black would play 2. … gxh4! and black would have the outside passed pawn instead and black would be the one who is winning instead

3. gxh4 Ke5

In the above position you can see that both white and black have passed pawns, but white has the outside passed pawn on the h-file, and this will allow white to win the game. White will use the h-pawn to lure black’s king far away from the action and then rush to the queenside with his own king and win black’s pawns.

4. h5 Kf5 5. h6 Kg6 6. Kxf4 Kxh6

Having lured black’s king far from the action with his h-pawn, white will now rush his king to the queenside and win black’s pawns easily

7. Ke5 Kg5 8. Kd6 Kf5 9. Kc6 b5

White’s king will gobble up black’s pawns easily in the next few moves. Black’s king is too far away to stop this and white will win easily.

10. Kxc5 Ke4 11. Kb6 Kd3 12. Kxa6 Kxc3 13. Kxb5 and White wins easily

Let’s go back to the position after move 2, and see what happens if white had made the mistake of allowing black to get the outside passed pawn instead.

2. gxf4? gxh4

In this position black has the outside passed pawn instead and black will win. White has to move his king to the h-file in order to stop black’s pawn and in the meantime black’s king will win white’s f-pawn and then win white’s queenside pawns.

3. Kf3 h3 4. Kg3 Ke4 5. Kxh3 Kxf4

Note how this time it is black’s king which is much closer to the queenside pawns and black will win white’s pawns easily

6. Kg2 Ke3 7. Kf1 Kd3 8. c4 Kc3 9. Ke1 Kb2 10. Kd2 Kxa2

Black has won one of white’s pawns and the rest will soon fall too

11. Kc3 Ka3 12. Kc2 a5 13. Kc3 a4

Black uses his a-pawn to break up white’s pawns and then white’s final pawn will fall soon after

14. bxa4 Kxa4 15. Kc2 Kb4 16. Kd3 Kb3 17. Ke4 Kxc4 and Black wins easily

This is a great lesson to see how outside passed pawns can sometimes be useful.

Bishop draws

If you have a pawn against a lone king in an endgame, but you have an extra minor piece, then you will almost always win. A simple diagram will quickly show why:

In the diagram above, if white’s bishop on d4 didn’t exist (imagine it wasn’t on the board for a second) then the position would be a draw. White would have to play 1. Ke6 in order to prevent losing the pawn, and the black would be stalemated. With white’s bishop on the board however, white wins easily, as white can simply waste a move by moving his bishop anywhere (say 1. Bc5 for example), which forces black to go 1. … Kf7 and then white plays 2. Kd7 and queens his e-pawn easily.

Diagram. After 2. Kd7 white will queen his e-pawn easily

A minor piece and pawn vs a lone king is almost always an easy win, for the reason stated above, but there is one very surprising exception which I want to point out. That is when you have a pawn and bishop vs a lone king but your pawn is a flank pawn and your bishop is the opposite colour to the pawn’s queening square:

Amazingly, in the above position, even though white has a pawn and a bishop against just a king (4 points VS. 0 points), white can only draw. The queening square for white’s a-pawn is a8, which is a light-square. White’s bishop is a dark-squared bishop which means it will never be able to control the a8 square. This means black can just shuffle his king between a8 and an adjacent square ad-infinitum and white will be powerless to stop black’s king blocking white’s queening square. This is yet another example of how flank pawns can be a bit rubbish in endgames. Let’s see some moves and you will quickly see how easily black draws.

1. Kb4 Kb7 2. a5 Ka8 3. Kb5 Kb7

Black is already just shuffling between a8 and an adjacent square. Amazingly white can do nothing to stop with this without stalemating black.

4. a6+ Ka8 5. Kb6 Kb8

6. Be5+ Ka8

White tries to give a check with his bishop in an effort to dislodge black’s king from the queening square but black’s king simply goes back to a8. Now white has to move his bishop away otherwise it would be stalemate.

7. Bd4 Kb8

Here we can end our demonstration. You can see that black can simply shuffle his king between a8 and b8 and there will be nothing white can do to stop this without stalemating black. This is a simple draw for black.

For comparison, let us see the same position but with a bishop of the same colour as the queening square of the pawn

This is the same position as before, but this time white has a light-squared bishop instead of a dark-squared bishop. Now white’s bishop is the same colour as the queening square as the queening square of white’s pawn (a8) and white will win easily, as white’s bishop can dislodge black’s king from the queening square, like this:

1. Bd5+ Kg8 2. a7+ Kc8

And white will queen the pawn next move and win easily.

Knowing about this draw with a bishop and a flank pawn is very useful. If you are in a worse position in an endgame you can sometimes draw the game by trying to get into a position where your opponent has a flank pawn and a bishop of the opposite colour to the pawn’s queening square. If you are in a winning position in an endgame make sure you don’t spoil it by allowing your opponent to trade pieces until you find yourself with a flank pawn and a bishop of the wrong colour and suddenly you can only draw.

To sum up: a King, Flank Pawn, and Bishop of the opposite colour to the queening square of the pawn versus a lone King, is only a draw.

Opposite Coloured Bishops

Opposite coloured bishops offer good drawing chances to a player if he is down 1 or 2 pawns. If you are in a bad position during a game, you can give yourself a good chance of drawing if you can manage to get into an endgame where you have a bishop of the opposite colour to your opponent’s bishop, and there are just the bishops and pawns left on the board.

Here black is down a pawn, but the game is a very easy draw for black. To win the game white must advance his pawn, but as soon as white advances his pawn black will just sacrifice his bishop and play Bxg6 and of course, white will only have a bishop left which is not enough to mate black. There is nothing white can do to stop this, since white’s bishop is of the opposite colour to black’s bishop and cannot block the black bishop from taking the white pawn. The game is a dead draw.

Ok so that was simple enough, but it’s possible to draw even when you are two pawns down in an opposite coloured bishop endgame. Here white is up two pawns, but black can still draw the game with correct play, though he has to be bit more careful. The correct procedure for black to draw is to form a blockade with the king and bishop by placing the king in front of the enemy pawns and attacking the pawns with the bishop.

Diagram. Black can still draw here even though he is two pawns down.

In the position above black’s king is blocking white’s d-pawn from moving so white’s plan is to try to advance his f-pawn instead. Black’s light-squared bishop is keeping an eye on white’s f-pawn so black must keep his bishop on the a2-f7 diagonal to make sure that his bishop can take white’s f-pawn on f7 when it gets there.

1. Kg6 Ba2

White gets his king out of the way so that his f-pawn can advance. Black wants to keep his king blocking the d-pawn for the moment so instead he moves his bishop and keeps it on the a2-f7 diagonal.

2. f5 Bb3 3. f6 Ke8!

This is an important move for black. White’s f-pawn was threatening to queen, so black moves his king to e8 where it blocks both white’s d-pawn and f-pawn from advancing. White cannot play f7 now as black would simply play take the pawn with his bishop with Bxf7. As white’s f-pawn now cannot advance any more, white tries to move his king towards the d-pawn and tries to queen the d-pawn instead.

4. Kf5 Ba2 5. Ke5 Bb3

White moves his king across to the d-pawn and black simply keeps his king on e8 and shuffles his bishop back and forth along the a2-f7 diagonal.

6. Kd4 Ba2 7. Kc5 Kd7!

As white’s king is no longer protecting the f-pawn, black no longer has to block white’s f-pawn with his king and instead blocks the d-pawn with his king. Black’s bishop is stopping white’s f-pawn from advancing and black’s king is blocking white’s d-pawn from moving. Black can just keep shuffling his bishop between a2 and b3 and it is clear that white cannot advance his pawns. This is a draw.

To sum up: opposite colour bishop endings offer good drawing chances, so if you are in trouble, try and get to an opposite colour bishop ending if you can. You may be able to draw even if you are 1 or 2 pawns down.

Rook Endgames

Rook and pawn endgames (also called rook endgames for short) are very, very common and you will encounter them many times during your chess games. Hence it is very important to be good at rook endgames. Unfortunately, rook endgames can be very complicated, even ones that look simple at first glance.

We will of course therefore spend a good amount of time discussing rook endgames so that you will become better at playing them and be able to win more rook endgames when you are in good positions and be able to draw them if you are in bad positions.

We will start by discussing two common rook endgame positions - the Lucena position and the Philidor position. The Lucena position shows us how to win if you are winning by a single pawn, and the Philidor position shows us how to draw if you are losing by a single pawn.

We will then move on to rook endgames with more pawns which are more commonly seen in games and we will discuss how to win these endgames. Knowing how to win rook endgames will allow you to win many more matches and will improve your chess strength dramatically. If you keep practicing and learning rook endgames you will get better and better and simply solely practicing rook endgames can make you a very strong player. I believe you could even reach master level just by being an expert at rook endgames (and I mean Fide Master, International Master or even Grand Master). Studying rook endgames is one of the best ways to improve your chess strength in a short space of time.

Anyway, lets get right to rook endgames!

The Lucena Position

The Lucena position is important to learn because it teaches us how to win an endgame where we have a rook and pawn vs a lone rook.

A Lucena position is defined as follows: white has a pawn on the 7th rank (the pawn can be on any file except on the flanks - if the pawn is a flank pawn then the position is generally a draw) and white’s king is in front of his pawn, blocking the pawn from queening. White’s rook is two files to the side of the pawn, and is cutting the black king off from getting near the white pawn. Black’s rook is behind the white pawn. Below is an diagram of a Lucena position:

Of course we want to know how to win this position as white here, but first let us define what is stopping white from winning this endgame.

The Problem:

White wants to queen his pawn and thus win the game. The problem is that as soon as white steps to the side with his king to make way for his pawn to queen (by moving Kc8 or Ke8), black will check white (Rc1+ or Re1+) and then afterwards play Rd1, threatening to take the pawn again. Let us quickly see an example of this

1. Ke8 Re1+ 2. Kd8 Rd1 3. Kc8 Rc1+ 4. Kd8 Rd1 5. Ke7 Re1+

White is trying to get his king out of the way of his pawn but wherever white’s king goes black’s rook just keeps checking him.

6. Kd6 Rd1+ 7. Kc7 Rc1+

It’s clear white is getting nowhere. Black’s rook is simply checking white’s king as soon as the white king leaves the d-file and then the black rook returns to d1 threatening to take white’s pawn again. If the game carries on like this then it will simply end in a draw.

So let’s go back to the original position, how do we actually win this rook endgame where we are winning by a pawn?

The Solution:

Diagram. The original position

The answer is this: To win white will move his rook to f4 and use his rook to shield his king from checks from the black rook. Once white has blocked the checks from black’s rook, white will then be free to queen his pawn and thus win the game. This technique is called “building a bridge” because white will “build a bridge” with his rook to block the black checks.

Here is the winning procedure in action:

1. Rf4! Rc2

This is the critical move from white. Rf4 looks like a weird move initially, but it is actually a very important for white to win the game. The idea is that white will move his rook to d4 eventually in order to block white’s d-pawn from being attacked by black’s rook. White’s plan now is to move his king to the d5 square where it can support his rook on d4.

2. Ke7 Re2+ 3. Kd6 Rd2+ 4. Ke6 Re2+

It looks like white is not making much progress, but white is slowly getting his king towards the d5 square.

5. Kd5 Rd2+ 6. Rd4!

And here white finally wins the game with the move Rd4. Now white’s rook is blocking the black rook from checking his king and there is nothing black can do to stop white’s d-pawn from queening now

6. … Rxd4+ 7. Kxd4 Kf7 8. d8=Q White wins

And white wins easily since he queens his pawn.

Ok, so we just saw how we can use the Lucena technique to win an endgame where we have Rook + Pawn VS Rook. However, we mentioned right at the beginning that if our pawn was a flank pawn (I.e. if it is on the a-file or h-file), then the Lucena technique would not work and the game would still be a draw.

Why is this still a draw? Well, we will discuss later on in the chapter, as the answer is a bit too complicated for us to get bogged down with now. For now just remember how to use the Lucena technique to win a the endgame as long as your pawn is on the b, c, d, e ,f or g-files.

To sum up: If we are winning by a single pawn in a rook endgame, the correct procedure to win is to set up a Lucena position, and then win by the method shown above. Never again will you find yourself in an endgame with a rook and pawn vs a rook and not have any idea how to finish the game off. Now you know how to win!

Ok, so what if we were in black’s situation here, as in, what if we were the side who was a pawn down in the endgame, and we wanted to try to draw? For this we need to know the Philidor position, which brings us to our next topic nicely!

The Philidor Position

The Philidor position is important to learn because it teaches us how to draw when we have a lone rook vs rook and pawn (essentially the opposite of a Lucena situation).

We saw in the Lucena position above that white was able to force a win (white would have been able to force a win regardless of whether it was white’s move or black’s move). But in the position below (which is the Philidor position), black is able to force a draw with correct play.

Diagram. The Philidor Position - Black to move and black can make a draw if they play correctly

If we were black in this endgame (i.e. we had a rook vs a rook and pawn) we would want to draw. But how do we draw? The most important thing you can do to draw in this endgame is get your king in front of the enemy pawn. If you can get your king in front of the enemy pawn, you may be able to set up a Philidor position, which will allow you to draw the game.

The key features of the philidor position are:

- The defending king (in this case the black king) is in front of the enemy pawn (the pawn can be on any file).

- The attacking pawn is no further advanced than its 5th rank (i.e. if it is a white pawn then it is no further advanced than the 5th rank, and if it is a black pawn then it is not further than the 4th rank)

- The attacking king is no further advanced than its 5th rank

- The defending rook is on the 6th rank, stopping the attacking king from advancing (if the defending rook was a white rook then of course it would be on the 3rd rank).

If these rules are not met (for example if the attacking pawn was on the 7th rank) then you will not be able to draw using the Philidor method that I am about to show you.

The Problem:

Diagram. The Philidor Position again

Black wants to draw the game because he is a pawn down and the best he can hope for is to stop the enemy pawn from promoting. The problem for black is that white will advance his pawn and also advance his king to protect the pawn. Once white’s pawn reaches the 7th rank, white could simply trade rooks and then queen his pawn. Therefore black must do his best to stop the white king and pawn from advancing.

The Solution:

How does black stop white from winning? The key move for black is 1. … Rh6!. This is the key move that draws the game - this is very important to remember. The reason why this move is good is because the black rook is now cutting off the white king from advancing past the 6th rank.

1. … Rh6!

Diagram. After 1. … Rh6! This is the key move for black to hold a draw.

Rh6 is an important move for black as it stops the white king advancing, which stops the white king from supporting the advance of white’s pawn.

2. Rg7+ Ke8 3. Ra7 Rg6!

White gives a check and forces black’s king back. White desperately wants to advance his king, as white’s pawn will not be able to queen without the support of his king, but the black rook is obviously stopping white’s king from advancing. White therefore plays a waiting move with Ra7, but black replies by keeping his rook on the 6th rank with Rg6! The black rook continues to cut the white king off from advancing to the 6th rank, and unless white changes his plan, black will simply shuffle his rook between Rh6 and Rg6 forever, stopping white’s king from advancing and forcing a draw. Therefore white must try something else.

4. e6 Rg1!

And here black uses the final important drawing move. The point of black’s move Rg1 is that black will now check white’s king endlessly via Rd1+, Re1+ and Rf1+ , and there is nothing white can do to stop the checks without losing the pawn. Therefore the game will end in a draw by repetition. For example the game could finish like this:

5. Kd6 Rd1+ 6. Ke5 Re1+ 7. Kf6 Rf1+ 8. Ke5 Re1+ Draw

You get the idea. Black will just continually check white’s king along the first rank and there is nothing white can do to stop it so the game will end in a draw.

If white were to instead try on move 5 to block the checks with his rook, black would still easily draw, for example:

5. Ra4 Rd1+ 6. Rd4 Rxd4+ 7. Kxd4 Ke7

And this is an easily drawn endgame for black as we learnt before, as black’s king is in front of white’s pawn.

What not to do in the Philidor position:

We have just seen the correct drawing technique in the Philidor position, but what happens if you mess up the Philidor position? Let’s say black messed something up and ended up with a passive rook such as in this position:

Well here black is completely lost. Black has allowed his rook to become passive and his rook is stuck on the 8th rank. Black cannot even move his rook away from the 8th rank because then white would play Rg8+ mate.

But how does white win this position? The correct move to play as white here is 1. Ra7! White is threatening mate in 1 with Ra8+, therefore the only move for black is to play Kf8 to avoid being mated. But then white plays Ra8+ anyway, which forces the trade of rooks, and then white will queen his pawn:

1. Ra7 Kf8 2. Ra8+ Kg7 3. Rxh8 Kxh8 4. e7 and white will queen his pawn next move.

So that is the way to win as white when your opponent has got himself into a position with a passive rook. Unfortunately, the method to win above only works when your pawn is a c-, d-, e-, or f-pawn. If your pawn is a flank pawn or a knight pawn, then black will draw even if they have allowed their rook to become passive, as the following example shows:

Diagram. Here black draws even though he has messed up the Philidor position and allowed his rook to become passive

Here black is in a Philidor position but he has messed it up and allowed his rook to become passive. Luckily for black however, the game is still a draw because white’s pawn is a flank pawn or knight pawn (in this case a knight pawn). Here black’s king on b8 both blocks white’s pawn and also stops white’s rook from delivering a back-rank check on a8 and forcing an exchange of rooks.

Compare this to the previous example again, where black’s king had to be on e8 in order to block white’s e-pawn from advancing.

Diagram. The previous example again

In the previous example black’s king had to be on e8 in order to block the white pawn and therefore black can do nothing to stop white playing Ra7 and then Ra8+ and forcing the exchange of rooks and then queening the pawn.

In this example white can play Ra7 but black’s king is on b8 and is therefore stopping white playing Ra8+. Black can just move his rook along the 8th rank and that will be sufficient for a draw. White can never force black’s king away from the a8 or b8 squares and therefore white cannot make progress and the game will end in a draw. For example some moves to end the game could be:

1. Rb7+ Ka8 2. Ra7+ Kb8 3. Rf7 Rh8 and it is clear white cannot make any progress. Draw

Diagram. After 3. … Rh8, Draw

White might even lose the game is he is not careful and tries to advance his pawn. For example:

1. Rb7+ Ka8 2. Ra7+ Kb8 3. b7 Rh6! 4. Kb5 Kxa7 Black wins!

Diagram. After 4. … Kxa7

Therefore it is clear that white cannot advance his b-pawn and must instead settle for a draw.

We’ve just learnt two very important endgame positions, the Lucena position and the Philidor position. Don’t worry if all of that was a bit difficult to remember at first, with a bit of practice you will have no trouble with these positions and you’ll be able to use these techniques to both win games when you are in a better position and save a draw when you are in a worse position.

To sum up our discussion on the Lucena Position and the Philidor Position:

The Lucena Position is a rook endgame which teaches us how to win when we have a Rook + Pawn VS. a Rook.

- The key features of a Lucena Position are:

- White has a pawn on the 7th rank (the pawn can be on any file except on the flanks - if the pawn is a flank pawn then the position is generally a draw)

- White’s king is in front of his own pawn

- White’s rook is at least 2 files to the side of the pawn, and is cutting the black king off from getting near the white pawn.

- Black’s rook is behind the white pawn

Below is an diagram of a Lucena position:

- White wins by using the “building a bridge” technique. White will play Rf4 in the position above, then white will move his king out of the way of his pawn while at the same time dodging checks from black’s rook with Ke7, Kd6, Ke6 and Kd5. Finally white will play Rd4 to block his king from checks from the black rook. White will then be free to queen his pawn and win the game.

The Philidor Position is a rook endgame which teaches us how to draw when we have a Rook VS. a Rook + Pawn.

- The key features of a Philidor Position are:

- The defending king is in front of the enemy pawn.

- The attacking pawn is no further advanced than its 5th rank (i.e. if it is a white pawn then it is no further advanced than the 5th rank, and if it is a black pawn then it is not further than the 4th rank)

- The attacking king is also no further advanced than its 5th rank

- The defending rook is on the 6th rank, stopping the attacking king from advancing.

Below is a diagram of a Philidor Position:

- Black can draw with the Philidor technique. Black will play Rh6 and keep his rook on the 6th rank in order to stop white’s king from advancing any further than the 5th rank. As soon as white tries to push his pawn by playing e6, black will get his rook to the 1st rank and endlessly check white’s king via moves like Rd1+, Re1+, and Rf1+. White’s king will not be able to hide behind it’s own pawn any more and white will not be able to avoid the checks without losing their pawn. The game will end in a draw.

Some tips on rook and single pawn endgames:

- If you are winning by a pawn in a rook and pawn vs rook endgame, try to use your rook to cut off your opponent’s king from getting in front of your pawn. This will usually give you good winning chances.

- Also try to get your king in front of your own pawn, as this will also improve your winning chances, but take care not to lose your pawn of course.

- If you are a pawn down in a rook and pawn vs rook endgame, try to get your king in front of your opponent’s pawn. As long as you get your king in front of your opponent’s pawn, you will usually have very good drawing chances. You can use the Philidor method shown above to draw the game, but as long as your king is in front of your opponent’s pawn (which just to be clear, means your king is blocking the enemy pawn from queening) you will usually have many ways to draw the game, even if you don’t quite remember the Philidor method. If you aren’t able to get your king in front of your opponent’s pawn, then your task of drawing the game becomes much, much more difficult.

We have just seen two of the important positions in rook endgames, the Lucena position, and the Philidor position. The Lucena position teaches us how to win a game where we are a single pawn up in a rook and pawn vs rook endgame, and the Philidor position teaches us how to draw when we are a single pawn down in a rook and pawn vs pawn endgame.

We’ve spent a lot of time discussing these two positions as they are the two foundational positions which will help us understand all other rook endgames. Rook endgames are the most important endgames as they are by far the most common, so if we can learn to be better at rook endgames, we will be better at all endgames, and we will improve a lot at chess.

Let us move on to our next lesson in this rook endgame section - rook and 2 pawns vs rook.

Rook + 2 Connected Pawns VS. Rook

This position is a win for white, but you might be surprised to find that it is not as easy to win as it first seems. Some care must be taken for the side who is up material to ensure they win because there are many tricks the opponent can use to draw.

In general though, this endgame is not too difficult to win when you are two pawns up as long as you play sensibly. We will not spend too much time on this endgame, as it can get very complicated in some situations, and instead I will just try to teach you the correct procedure (which is mostly common sense) and show you an example so you can see the correct procedure in action. We will also show some of the tricks that the opponent can use to draw the game, and how you can avoid them so you will safely win the game. That will conclude our short discussion of this endgame.

The tips to bear in mind in order to win this endgame safely are:

- Keep your king and your pawns close together so that your king can protect your pawns.

- Advance your pawns together, do not just advance one pawn by itself leaving the other pawn trailing far behind

- Having said the above, do make sure to stagger your pawn advances by 1 move so that you will be able to hide your king behind one of the pawns to shield your king from checks. If for instance you advance both pawns to the 5th rank, then your pawns will not be able to shield your king from checks from the enemy rook and your opponent might be able to draw by perpetual check.

- Use your rook to cut the enemy king off from approaching your pawns

Let’s see some example moves to see white putting this plan into action:

1. Kg4 Rf2

White plays Kg4 to get ready to push black’s king back and give his own king more room to advance. Black is trying to keep his rook back so that it will be able to check white’s king from the 2nd rank via Rg2+ and Rh2+ etc and hopefully draw via some kind of perpetual check.

2. Rd6+ Ke7 3. Ra6 Rb2

Both sides move their rooks move far away from the kings. The idea is the same for both sides - keep your rooks far away from the enemy king to give your rook “checking distance”. Black wants to check white’s king from the b-file to hopefully get some kind of perpetual check, while white also wants to keep his rook far away from the enemy king so that it will be able to deliver a check to drive black’s king back at the right moment.

4. Kh4 Kf7 5. g4 Kg7

As you can see in the diagram above, white is carrying out his plan steadily. White is advancing his pawns slowly together, supported by his king, and keeping the pawns and king close together. White will keep advancing his pawns steadily, but once the pawns get to the 6th rank white will have to be careful as there will be some tricks that black can then use to draw, which we will see in a few moves.

It is also important to note here that a big mistake for white here would be to play 6. g5? as then both pawns would be on the 5th rank and the pawns wouldn’t be able to shield white’s king from checks. Black would then play 6. … Rb4+ and then white would really be in danger of getting perpetually checked by black’s rook on the b-file.

6. h6+ Kh7 7. Kh5 Rb6+ 8. g5 Rc5

White has steadily advanced his pawns and black has tried to keep his king in front of the enemy pawns while keeping his rook on the side to be able to check white’s king. So far things have gone fairly smoothly for white, but after the next move things will start to get tricky for white.

9. Ra7+ Kh8

Now in the above position you have to be careful as white. Black puts his king in the corner on h8 and sets up potential stalemate tricks. For example if white were to play 10. h7 now, black would reply with 10. … Rxg5+! 11. Kxg5 stalemate! And black would draw the game.

Instead our plan as white will be to get our king to f7 where we can try to trade the rooks and we will avoid a lot of black’s stalemate tricks. If we manage to trade the rooks then with two pawns vs none we will win easily, but with the rooks still on the board black can still make things quite tricky for us, as we will see.

10. Re7 Rc8

We move our rook to e7 so that it will be able to block our king from checks once our king gets to f6 or f7. Now we will move our king towards f7.

11. g6 Rc5+ 12. Kg4 Rc4+ 13. Kf5 Rc8 14. Ke6 Ra8

These moves are all aimed at getting our king to f7.

15. Rd7 Re8+

You might be wondering why we didn’t just move our king to f7 now and instead played Rd7. Well, that’s because black has another stalemate trick. If we have immediately played 15. Kf7, then black would reply 15. … Rf8+! 16. Kxf8 stalemate, and again black has found a stalemating trick to draw the game. Instead we play Rd7 to allow our king to move to e7 which will allow us to try to trade the rooks with Rd8 next move.

16. Kf7 Rg8

Black could have again tried the stalemating trick with 16. … Rf8+ but after white replies 17. Ke7 black would not be able to avoid white playing Re8 and trading the rooks next move.

Now white has gotten his king to f7 and the winning plan becomes simple. White will push his pawn to g7, then play Re7 followed by Re8 to trade the rooks, and then white will queen the g-pawn.

17. g7+ Kh7 18. Re7 Ra8

White is almost there now. Now white will play Re8 and there will be nothing black can do to stop white’s g-pawn from queening.

19. Re8 Ra7+ 20. Kf8 Kxh6 21. g8=Q white wins

And now, with an extra queen, white will win in a few moves.

So that was a bit of a whirlwind. Now you know how to win with two connected pawns and a rook vs a lone rook. Having two connected pawns and a rook vs a lone rook (connected pawns are pawns on adjacent files, for example the g and h file or the c and d file) is always a win, but although it looks like it might be easy to win at first glance, I think the above example shows you that it can be a lot more difficult than it looks. Now you’ve learnt the example above you can use the method in your own games. To sum up the Rook and 2 connected pawns VS. lone Rook endgame:

- Remember to push your pawns and king together

- Use your pawns to shield your king from checks, which frees your own rook to attack the enemy king and cut it off from attacking your pawns.

- Once your pawns get to the 6th rank, you’ll have to get your king to f7 (or e7) so that you can trade rooks with Re8 (with the rooks traded the resulting endgame with two pawns vs none will be a very easy win) and so that you can avoid stalemate tricks.

- Once you get your king to f7 your winning plan becomes simple. Push your pawn to g7, then play Re7 followed by Re8, and now your rook will block your g-pawn from being attacked and you can queen your g-pawn easily.

Of course the same plan can be used regardless of which adjacent files your two pawns are, be they on the a and b files or the c and d files or wherever. I’ve actually shown you one of the hardest examples with the pawns on the g and h files, and actually it’s even easier to win if your pawns or on say the c and d files (because there are a lot more ways to win). You can look over the example again if you have to and try to remember the various stalemating tricks too so that you might be able to use them to save a draw if you ever find yourself on the side who is down 2 connected pawns in a rook endgame.

So the next logical question might be if we know that 2 connected pawns and a rook VS. a lone rook is a win for white, how about if we have two pawns that aren’t connected and a rook vs. a lone rook? To answer this we’ll have a look at the next example.

Rook + 2 Un-connected Pawns VS. Rook

Ok to answer this let’s first have a look at this example. Here we have two pawns and our opponent has none, but our pawns are un-connected. Both our pawns are flank pawns. Is this winning for white? The answer is no.

This might be surprising to you. After all we are two pawns up right? Surely white should be able to win this position? Well it turns out white can’t win.

Why not? Well, because, to start with, it’s clear white can’t move his rook at all, as then black would take white’s h7 pawn with his rook, and then we would have a position with Rook and 1 pawn vs. Rook, and black would draw easily with the Philidor technique I showed you earlier (see, I told you that all that study of the Lucena and Philidor positions earlier on would come in handy later). Since white’s rook and pawn on h7 are completely stuck, white’s only other plan is to advance his a-pawn, but black’s king on a7 is blocking white’s a-pawn from queening and there’s nothing white can do to move black’s king out of the way. White can also try to move his king all the way over to g6 to protect the h7 pawn, which will then free the white rook to move, but then black will simply play Rg1+! and bat white’s king away from protecting the h7-pawn, and after white moves his king away black will simply return his rook to h1 to keep a watchful eye on the h7 pawn. Those are all the options that white has and none of them help white win. Let’s see some example moves in action just to show you that white really has no chance of winning.

1. a5 Rh2

White tries to advance his a-pawn (since white’s rook on h8 can’t move). Black doesn’t have to do anything for the moment and simply keeps his rook watching over white’s h-pawn.

2. a6 Rh1

Again black doesn’t have to do anything and just moves his rook back to h1. Black just has to keep his rook on the h-file and he is fine.

3. Kc5 Rh2

White now tries to get his king over to the other side of the board to protect the h7-pawn, as this would at least allow his rook to move. Black’s next move is important. Black doesn’t do the obvious thing of taking black’s pawn with 3. … Kxa6??, as this would be a huge mistake. Then white would play 4. Ra8+! and after 4. … Kb7 5. h8=Q Rxh8 6. Rxh8 white would obviously win easily as he has a rook and black has nothing. Black must keep his king on a7 in order to draw (actually b7 would work as well but let’s talk about that later) and therefore black cannot take white’s pawn on a6. Black just has to keep his rook on the h-file for the moment.

4. Kd6 Rh1 5. Ke6 Rh2 6. Kf7 Rh1 7. Kg7 Rg1+!

This is the final important move for black. Once white’s king touches the h7 pawn, black just has to bat white’s king away with a check. Once white’s king leaves the g-file, black just has to return his rook to the h-file.

8. Kf7 Rh1 draw.

It’s clear white can’t do anything else to try to win so this will be a draw.

So that was simple enough to learn right? We just learnt the drawing technique for black in the position above when we have a Rook vs. 2 un-connected pawns and Rook. We just have to keep our king on a7 where it will block white’s a-pawn, and keep our rook on the h-file behind white’s h-pawn. If white’s king ever tries to protect the h-pawn, we just bat white’s king away with a check and then return to the h-file with our rook afterwards.

So we just saw one position where Rook and 2 un-connected pawns vs. Rook was a draw, but how about this position? Is this a win for white or a draw?

Diagram. Rook and 2 Un-connected Pawns VS. Rook. Is this is a win or a draw?

Well it turns out this is a draw too.

The drawing technique for black here is exactly the same as the technique for the previous position, except this time white just has to keep his king on b7 of course instead of a7. Let’s see some example moves again just to make it clear:

1. b5 Rh2 2. b6 Rh1 3. Kd6 Rh2

Again black must keep his king on b7 in front of white’s b-pawn to block it from queening, and black must not take the b-pawn with Kxb6. Black will again just shuffle his rook along the h-file until white’s king gets to the g-file.

4. Ke6 Rh1 5. Kf6 Rh2 6. Kg6 Rg2+ 7. Kf7 Rh2 draw

And again it’s obvious white can’t win.

Ok here’s where things get interesting. How about the next position with 2 un-connected pawns and Rook vs. Rook? Is this a win or a draw for white?

This position actually is a win for white. The problem for black is that now black’s king has to be on c7 in order to block white’s c-pawn, but this allows white’s rook to swing over to a8. Why is this important? Let’s play a few moves to see why.

1. c5 Rh2 2. c6 Rh1

As in the previous examples, white tries to advance the pawn that can move (in this case the c-pawn) and black just keeps his rook on the h-file in order to keep an eye on white’s h-pawn

3. Ra8! Rxh7

This is the critical move for white. Now since black’s king is on c7, it is no longer covering the a8 square, so this allows white’s rook to swing over to a8. Black has to take white’s h-pawn, otherwise it will queen next move. For example if instead black tries something like 3. … Kb7 then white would simply play 4. h8=Q Rxh8 5. Rxh8 and black has lost his rook and will obviously lose.

4. Ra7+ Kc8 5. Rxh7 white wins

And clearly from this position white will win easily.

So you can see from the above example that black’s king must stay on a7 or b7 in order to be able to draw in these positions. This is because having black’s king on a7 or b7 prevents white’s rook from swinging over to a8 (as then black would simply take the rook with Kxa8). If black’s king is on c7, d7, or e7, then white can win with this trick of swinging his rook over to a8 followed by skewering black’s king and rook with Ra7+. This “swing and skewer” trick is actually common in a lot of rook endgames so look out for it in your own games. In this example white had a c-pawn, so black’s king was forced to move away from a7 or b7 in order to block the c-pawn, which meant white could win.

Therefore, the next position where white has a d-pawn, is also a win for white, as white can use exactly the same method as the previous example to win.

And therefore this position is of course a win for white as well:

How about this position? It turns out white still wins but it’s not quite as simple.

The issue is that clearly the trick of swinging the rook over to a8 and skewering doesn’t quite work for white in the same way here, as if white tries, for example, 1. Ra8 Rxh7 2. Ra7+ Kg8, here black’s king is actually protecting black’s rook. Thankfully for white though, white can actually trade rooks here and the resulting King and Pawn vs. King endgame is winning for white, so this is actually the correct way to win for white. Let’s see the correct way to win for white here first and then we’ll explain why other moves don’t work here.

1. Ra8 Rxh7 2. Ra7+ Kg8

Is looks like the old “swing and skewer” trick didn’t quite work for white here, as white isn’t winning black’s rook like in the previous positions. Luckily for white though, he can actually trade rooks here and the resulting King and Pawn vs. King endgame is winning for white.

3. Rxh7 Kxh7 4. Kf6 Kg8

Do you remember our lesson on King and Pawn vs. King earlier on? Well the lessons we learnt back then are coming in handy now. If you remember from before, white can win a King and Pawn vs. King endgame if 2 of the following 3 rules are met:

A) White’s king is in front of the pawn

B) White has the opposition

C) White’s king is on the 6th rank

Here, white’s king is in front of the pawn and white’s king is on the 6th rank, therefore rules A) and C) are met and white can win this position. Let’s see how white does it.

5. Ke7 Kg7 6. f5 Kg8 7. f6 Kh7 8. f7 Kh8 9. f8=Q+ white wins

All white had to do here was control the f-pawn’s queening square with the move Ke7. Afterwards white could just march his f-pawn all the way to the end.

So that was the correct way to win in this position, but we mentioned before that pushing the pawn immediately here actually results in a draw for white. Let’s bring up the original position again and see why.

1. f5 Kg7!

This is the problem for white. Because black’s king is so close to white’s rook and h-pawn here, black can play Kg7, attacking white’s rook and h-pawn at the same time. Now there’s nothing white can do to stop black winning white’s h-pawn and the game will be drawn. For example, the game could continue here:

2. Ra8 Kxh7 3. Ra7+ Kg8

4. Kg6 Rg1+ 5. Kf6 Rb1 6. Ra8+ Kh7 7. Rc8 Rb6+ 8. Kg5 Kg7

And we’ve actually reached a Philidor position which we saw earlier is a draw for black.

Ok so we’ve seen that a Rook, h-pawn, and a/b-pawn VS. Rook is a draw, and a Rook, h-pawn, and c/d/e/f-pawn VS. Rook is a win for white (though the win with the f-pawn is a little trickier), but how about other combinations of pawns? Well any position where black’s king is not on either a7 or b7 and therefore white can use the “swing and skewer” trick, can be won by white. So the following position is therefore a win for white:

Using exactly the same technique as we just saw with the f-pawn and h-pawn. These positions are also won for white:

Using the same technique of swinging the rook over to a8 followed by the skewer. But as soon as you have the black king on a7 or b7, the game is a draw again:

And of course if you reverse the situation the same rules apply. This is a win for white, except this time white wins by swinging his rook over to h8 instead of a8:

And this is a draw, as black’s king stops white’s rook swinging over to h8 and using the “swing and skewer” trick:

Essentially, the thing to remember here is that if you are black in this situation and you are two pawns down, you have to make sure that you can get into a position where you can keep your king on either a7, b7, g7 or h7 (depending on the situation) and therefore draw the game. If you end up in a situation where you can’t keep your king on a7, b7, g7 or h7, then you will lose, so make sure this doesn’t happen.

Summing up:

Going back to our original question: Is a Rook and 2 un-connected pawns VS. a Rook a win for white or a draw?

The above position is a draw

The above is also draw

The above is a win for white, as white can use the “swing and skewer” trick here by playing 1. Ra8!. After 1. … Rxh7 2. Ra7+ Kc8 3. Rxa7 white will win black’s rook and win easily.

These positions are all also a win for white using the same “swing and skewer” trick.

Any other positions where the same “swing and skewer” trick is available for white are all also won for white such as the following positions:

But if black’s king can stay on a7, b7, g7 or h7 then the “swing and skewer” trick isn’t available for white and therefore black can draw so therefore the following positions:

Are draws for black.

Rook and 3 pawns VS. Rook

Ok this is easy. We’ll deal with this quickly and then move onto other lessons which are actually more useful.

We saw earlier than Rook and 1 pawn vs. Rook is sometimes a win for white but often a draw. Rook and 2 pawns vs. Rook is most of the time a win for white but sometimes black can draw. Rook and 3 pawns vs. Rook, on the other hand, is basically always a win for white. I say “basically” because there are some exceptional positions where the game might be drawn, such as this:

Or this, which is about to be stalemate after 1. … Rxc8+ 2. Kxc8.

But barring these exceptional positions, which are extremely rare anyway, basically any other position where you have a Rook and 3 pawns vs. a Rook is a very easy win. Let’s see a very quick example, but I’m sure you’ll be able to figure it out yourself anyway.

The technique to win here is the same as Rook and 2 connected pawns vs. Rook which we saw earlier. Remember to advance your pawns and king together, using your pawns to shelter your king from checks. At the moment all of white’s pawns are on the 4th rank, which means white’s king can’t hide behind them to shield itself from checks. The first thing for white to do therefore is create some space for white’s king to hide.

1. b5 Rh4+ 2. Kc5 Rh5+ 3. Kb4 Rh6 4. a5 Kc8 5. Rd1 Re6

White just continues to advance his pawns together with his king, using the pawns as shelter to shield the king from checks.

6. b6 Rf6 7. c5 Rf2 8. Kb5 Rf8 9. c6 Rf5+ 10. Ka6 Rf7

There are multiple ways to win here. We’re just going to trade the rooks and then queen the b-pawn.

11. b7+ Kc7 12. Rd7+ Rxd7 13. cxd7 Kxd7 14. b8=Q white wins.

So I think that shows you that this endgame is fairly simple to win. Just be careful to watch out for any stalemate tricks once your pawns reach the 6th rank. As long as follow the principles you’ve learnt so far (use your king to protect your pawns, advance your pawns and king together, use your rook to cut the enemy king off from approaching your pawns) and you will win these positions no problem.

Rook and 3 isolated pawns is a little more tricky, but still is a win. You just have to advance your pawns together, use your rook to defend your pawns, and use your king to protect your pawns. Let’s have a look at how to win as white in the following example:

1. g5 Rh7 2. g6 Rg7

Now that black’s rook is stuck behind our g-pawn we can just advance our b and d-pawns. Note that black’s king can’t go over to the g-file to help out the black rook as then we would simply advance our b and d-pawns supported by our king and queen them.

3. b5 Kb6 4. d5 Rc7+ 5. Kb4 Rg7

As the movement of black’s rook and king is so restricted we can simply continue to advance our b and d-pawns.

6. d6 Kb7 7. Kc5 Kc8

Here the tempting move 8. Kc6? would be a mistake as then black would play 8. … Rc7+! 9. dxc7 stalemate and black would draw with a stalemate trick. It’s important for us to be careful and keep on the lookout for stalemate tricks. The correct move here instead is b6.

8. b6 Kb7 9. d7 Rxd7 10. g7 Rd8 11. g8=Q Rxg8 12. Rxg8 white wins

So that’s that. Essentially, Rook and 3 pawns VS. Rook is always a simple win.

Rook + 2 connected passed pawns VS. Rook + 1 pawn

Ok back to something more difficult.

We’re now going to look at Rook Endgames where both sides have pawns instead of where only one side has pawns.

So imagine the following situation. You’ve played well, and now you are a pawn up. You have a rook and 2 connected passed pawns VS. a Rook and 1 pawn, such as the diagram below.

The first thing to note is that these endgames where you have a Rook and 2 connected passed pawns vs. Rook and 1 pawn are usually winning, and in the diagram above white can force a win (if your pawns are not passed pawns however and both your pawns and your opponent’s pawns are all on the same side of the board then the position is usually drawn, as we’ll see in the next example). To learn how to win this, we will need to use some of the lessons we learned in the Lucena position (I told you that study on the Lucena position would help later on).

White’s plan here is to use his king to support the advance of his 2 pawns. Eventually white will trade one of his pawns for black’s g-pawn and end up with a winning Rook and pawn VS. Rook position (which will actually be a Lucena position). Let’s see the correct way to win from white:

1. Kf2 Kf5 2. Kf3 g5

White’s king is essential in winning this endgame. White starts to get his king towards his two pawns to support them.

3. Re8 Rb1 4. Rf8+ Ke6 5. Ke4 Re1+

White is not too concerned with black’s g-pawn for the moment. White moved his rook to e8 in order get his rook behind black’s g-pawn with Rg8 next, so that his rook can keep an eye on black’s g-pawn. White continues to move his king to the queenside in order to support his pawns.

6. Kd3 Rd1+ 7. Kc4 g4 8. Kc5 g3

White’s king is now in the correct position to support his pawns and white can now start to advance his pawns.

9. Rg8 Rg1 10. c4 g2

Black’s g-pawn is close to queening but white’s pawns are shielding white’s king from checks from the black rook. As long as white keeps his king in front of his pawns white’s king will be shielded from checks and therefore black won’t be able to move his rook with check and free up the g1 square for his pawn to queen.

11. d5+ Kd7 12. Rg7+ Ke8

White plays Rg7+ to force black’s king back and allow his own king to advance.

13. Kd6 Rc1 14. Rg8+ Kf7

White now plays Rg8+ in order to force black’s king away from the e-file to make sure black’s king cannot block white’s pawn from queening.

15. Rxg2 Rxc4

Now is the correct time for white to trade his c-pawn for black’s g-pawn and were left with the position in the diagram above. White will now get into a Lucena position which you’ll be able to recognise more clearly in a few moves.

16. Kd7 Rd4 17. d6 Rd1 18. Rf2+ Kg7 19. Ke7 Re1+ 20. Kd8 Rd1 21. d7 Rc1

Do you recognise it now? This is exactly the same position as we had in our Lucena position example earlier on in the endgame section! Of course white can now win easily, and I’m sure you remember how to win from here right? For those of you who want a quick reminder on how to win a Lucena position, we will play through a few more moves to see how to win again.

22. Rf4 Rc2

Remember moving our rook to the 4th rank is the key move that “builds a bridge” and allows our king to escape from black’s checks

23. Ke7 Re2+ 24. Kd6 Rd2+ 25. Ke6 Re2+

White’s king is slowly heading to the 5th rank where white’s rook will finally be able to block it from checks

26. Kd5 Rd2+ 27. Rd4 Rxd4+ 28. Kxd4 Kf7 29. d8=Q white wins

Summing up:

That was simple right? Here’s a quick reminder of the method to win in these positions.

- It is important to use your king to support your 2 pawns if you want to win. Get your king in front of your pawns so that they can shield your king from checks, and only then advance your pawns supported by your king.

- Get your rook behind your opponent’s pawn so that your rook can keep an eye on it (you don’t have to use your king to block your opponent’s pawn, as long as your rook is keeping an eye on it things will be fine).

- Finally at the right moment you can trade one of your pawns for your opponent’s pawn and get in a winning Rook and pawn VS. Rook position (which will often be a Lucena position)

Rook + 2 pawns VS. Rook + 1 pawn

When you have a Rook and 2 pawns vs. Rook and 1 pawn and all the pawns are on the same side of the board however, usually black is able to draw. The correct principles for black to try to draw the position are to keep his king in front of the enemy pawns, then trade a pawn at the right moment and get a Philidor position (which we know is a draw). Or black can trade rooks and a pair of pawns and get into a drawn king and pawn endgame. In general trading pawns helps black to draw these positions, as long as black’s king is in front of white’s pawns so that black can get into a Philidor position.

In the diagram above it is black to move and black can draw. This position is a very quick demonstration of how black can draw in Rook and 2 pawns vs. Rook and 1 pawn positions. Let’s have a look at some moves:

1. … b6!

b6 is a very important move for black to draw. This move stops white’s pawns from advancing. If black hadn’t played b6 then white would have played c5, gaining space for white and potentially threatening a back rank mate on black’s king in some positions, and it would have been much more difficult for black to draw.

2. c5 Rh4+

White plays c5 anyway as there’s nothing really else he can try to do to win. Black plays Rh4+ which is a very useful move because it forces white’s king back before black takes white’s pawn on the next move, though to be honest lots of other moves also draw here for black, Rh4+ just happens to be the simplest.

3. Kb3 bxc5 4. Rc6+ Kb7 5. Rxc5 Kb6

Now you can see why Rh4+ was such a useful move for black. White’s king is now cut off from the 4th rank! Now white’s king cannot get past the 4th rank and cannot support his pawn. As long as black keeps his rook on the 4th rank, white will never be able to advance his pawn.

6. Rg5 Rf4 7. Re5 Rh4 Draw

You get the idea, black can just shuffle his rook along the 4th rank here forever and white’s king will never be able to advance. White’s rook has to stay on the 5th rank otherwise black will simply take white’s pawn on b5 with his king, so this game is a draw.

The next position is also a draw:

Here white’s pawns aren’t connected anymore, but since they are close together black’s king is still in a position to stop both of them and this is still a draw. Black’s rook on a5 is stopping white’s pawns from advancing, as black’s rook would simply take them if either the e-pawn or g-pawn tried to advance, so white has to first try to force black’s rook off the 5th rank.

1. Rd5 Ra4

If black had played Rxd5 it would have been a huge mistake, as after exd5 white would have a passed pawn and white would win. Instead black moves his rook to the 4th rank and pins white’s f-pawn to white’s king. White has to advance somehow is he wants to try to win so white’s only other plan is to advance the g-pawn instead

2. g5 fxg5+ 3. Rxg5+ Kf6

White advances the g-pawn but unfortunately this will just lead to a Philidor position which we know is a draw. For example the game could continue:

4. Rf5+ Ke6 5. Rh5 Ke7 6. Rh6 Ra5

And this is just a Philidor position, so this is a draw.

The next position is bit more complicated:

This position is still a draw for black, but it is much more difficult because white’s pawns are far advanced and therefore black’s king has much less space. Black can’t force a Philidor position here, so the way for black to draw this position is to trade a pair of pawns and keep his rook active by pinning white’s pawns and checking white’s king. Black will end up with a position which is sort of similar to a Philidor position but black’s rook will not be able to control the 6th rank, so the position is much harder to draw. We will call this position a “Passive Philidor Position” and we will come back to the “Passive Philidor Position” later on as it is important for you to learn how to draw these positions. For the moment let’s have a look at how black draws this position:

1. Kg5 Rc5!

White plays Kg5 to get his king out of the way and allow his f-pawn to advance. Black’s move Rc5 is very important as it pins white’s e-pawn and threatens to take it if white advances his f-pawn.

2. Rb7+ Kf8 3. f5 Rxe5

It turns out white has to advance his f-pawn anyway if he wants to try to win as otherwise black would just put his king on g7 and shuffle his rook along the 5th rank forever and white can make no progress. White gives up his e-pawn but is about to win black’s f-pawn.

4. Kf6 Re1!

Re1 is another important move for black. Black is about to lose his f-pawn but he can still draw by moving his rook to the 1st rank and giving it lots of checking distance. Black is keeping his rook active and giving it the option of attacking white’s pawn and also bombarding white’s king with checks from a distance

5. Rxf7+ Kg8 6. Rg7+ Kh8

Black moves his king to h8 instead of going back to f8 because if black’s king is on f8 then white can threaten mate with a move such as Rb7 and then black’s king will be forced to h8 eventually anyway.

7. Rb7 Rf1!

This is the “Passive Philidor Position” that I was referring to earlier. As mentioned we will return to this position later as there are lots of useful lessons we can learn from this position that will teach us how to save draws in positions such as this. For the moment however we will just take a quick look at the basic drawing method.

With the move Rf1 black puts his rook behind white’s pawn to prevent it from advancing. This is a very important move as it basically stops white’s king from going anywhere. If white’s king moves to the side on either the e-file or g-file then black’s rook will just start bombarding white’s king with checks, and if white’s king tries to advance with Kf7 then obviously black will just take the white’s f-pawn. Therefore white has to try something else to win.

8. Rb8+ Kh7 9. Rf8 Ra1!

White tries to win with the move Rf8 as white now threatens to play Ke7 followed by f6 and advance his pawn. Black now switches his rook to the a-file to prepare to bombard white’s king with checks from the side with moves like Ra6+, Ra7+ etc.

10. Re8 Rf1 Draw

White moves his rook to the e-file to prepare to block black’s checks from the side with Re6, but black just moves his rook back to f1 and it’s clear that they are just going to repeat moves so this game can be agreed a draw.

Summing up:

Unlike the positions with Rook and 2 passed pawns vs. Rook and 1 pawn, which are usually a win for white, positions with Rook and 2 pawns vs. Rook and 1 pawn where the opposing pawns are opposite each other (and therefore white does not have a passed pawn) are usually able to be drawn by black. These positions can be varied and complex but following these rules will help make sure you can draw in these positions if you are down 2 pawns to 1:

- Try to advance your pawn if you can to stop your opponent advancing his own pawns and gaining too much space. If you allow your opponent to advance his pawns far forward and cramp your king’s space then your defence becomes much more difficult

- Keep your king in front of your opponent’s pawns so that your king can block them

- Keep your rook active, use it to pin opponent’s pawns or give it checking distance so it can bombard the opponent’s king with checks

- Trade a pair of pawns and try to get a Philidor position

- Trade material and get to a drawn King and pawn endgame

Rook + 3 pawns VS. Rook + 2 pawns

Here the principles are similar to the lesson before in Rook and 2 pawns vs. rook and 1 pawn. Again, in endgames where all the pawns are on the same side of the board black will usually be able to draw by trading off pawns and getting into a drawn Rook and 2 pawns vs. Rook and 1 pawn endgame, where we’ve already seen that black can draw by getting into a Philidor position. Again it is key for black not to allow white’s pawns to advance too far forward as then black begins to run out of space and black will find it much harder to draw.

Positions where the pawns are on different sides of the board are more complicated and the won’t look at them in this book.

In the position above it is black to move and black can draw by advancing his own pawn to stop white from advancing his pawns.

1. … g5!

This is an important move from black which stops white’s pawns from advancing. Now if white tries to advance with 2. f4 then black will just play 2. … gxf4+ 3. Kxf4 Kg6 and we will get to basically the same position as we saw in the previous section with Rook and 2 pawns vs. Rook and 1 pawn, which we saw was a draw:

Diagram. This is a similar position to one we saw in the previous section which we saw was a draw

So instead white has to try to get black’s rook off the 5th rank so that white can advance his pawns.

2. Rd5 Rb3!

Again black avoids trading rooks with 2. … Rxd5 which would be a huge mistake as white after 3. exd5 white would be left with a passed pawn. Instead the right move for black is Rb3, which keeps his rook active and pins white’s pawns to white’s king to stop them from advancing.

3. e5 fxe5

White has to advance somehow to try to win but this leads to an easily drawn position for black.

4. Rxe5 Kf6 5. Ra5 Kg6 6. Ra6+ Kg7 Draw

This position is an easy draw for black since even if white manages to trade pawns, black will just get a Philidor position which we know is a draw.

The next position shows what to avoid in Rook and 3 pawns vs Rook and 2 pawns positions. Here you can see the dangers of allowing your opponent’s pawns to advance too far forward.

Diagram. Black is lost here as he’s allowed white’s pawns to advance too far forward

Here black has allowed white’s pawns to advance too far forward and black is completely lost as white can threaten a back rank mate as well as other things.

1. Kh5 Rd8

With the move Kh5 white was threatening a back rank mate in two moves with  f6+ followed by Ra8#, and so black had to move his rook to the back rank to prevent this. Now black’s rook will be stuck on the back rank and white will win easily.

2. f6+ Kg8 3. Kh6 Rb8

Black’s rook has to stay on the back rank otherwise white would just mate black with Ra8#.

4. Ra7 Re8

White was now threatening to play 5.e6 on the next move as after 5. … fxe6 6. Rxh7 white would queen his pawns in a few moves. Black tries to get his rook to the e-file to try to stop this but it doesn’t help.

5. e6! fxe6

White plays e6 anyway as black can’t play 5. … Rxe6 because he would get mated in 2 moves after 6. Ra8+ Re8 7. Rxe8# mate.

6. f7+ Kf8 7. fxe8=Q+ Kxe8 White Wins

So that shows you the dangers of allowing your opponent’s pawns to advance too far forward. Remember that if you allow this kind of thing to happen you will probably lose.

Summing up:

Rook and 3 pawns vs. Rook and 2 pawns positions (with the opposing pawns on the same side of the board) follow almost exactly the same principles as Rook and 2 pawns vs. Rook and 1 pawn positions. In general black can draw in these positions as long as white’s pawns are not too far advanced. The technique to draw in these positions is almost exactly the same as we saw in the Rook and 2 pawns vs. Rook and 1 pawn positions:

- Try to advance your pawns to stop your opponent advancing their own pawns and gaining too much space

- Remember to keep your king in front of your opponent’s pawns so that your king can block them

- Keep your rook active, use it to pin opponent’s pawns or give it checking distance so it can bombard the opponent’s king with checks

- Trade a pair of pawns and try to get to a Rook and 2 pawns vs. Rook and 1 pawn position, or trade more pawns and get into a Philidor position

- Trade material and get to a drawn King and 1 pawn endgame

Rook + 4 Pawns VS. Rook + 3 Pawns

As you may guessed, again this is similar to rook and 3 pawns vs rook and 2 pawns, and black will usually be able to draw by trading off pairs of pawns, leaving white with one pawn in a Philidor position which we already have learnt how to draw as black.

In the diagram above we’ve given black the move as black’s first move is an important idea which I want to show you.

1... h5!

h5 is an important drawing move from black. Other moves for black also work too but h5 the simplest way to stop white from advancing. Now any attempt from white to advance with g4 will lead to a pawn trade, which obviously gets black closer to drawing. White can’t advance his f-pawn as black’s rook is pinning it to white’s king so white will have to try to advance with g4 anyway and trade pawns.

2. h3 Rb2

White prepares the g4 advance with h3. Black keeps his rook active on the 2nd rank, continuing to pin white’s f-pawn

3. g4 hxg4 4. hxg4 g5!

g5 is a great move from black as again black follows the principle of advancing his own pawns before white can advance his pawns. With the move g5 black temporarily freezes white’s f and g-pawns, and if white tries to advance his f-pawn then this will lead to another pawn trade which obviously gets black even closer to drawing. Nonetheless advancing the f-pawn is the only plan white has (white can’t try to advance his e-pawn by itself as it would be easily stopped by black’s king) so that’s what white tries.

5. Rc3 f6 6. Kg3 Kg6  7. f4 gxf4+ 8. exf4 Rb1

Again black tries to keep his rook active. By placing his rook on b1, black allows his rook the option of checking white’s king from the side and also from the back rank

9. Rc7 Rg1+ 10. Kh3 Rh1+

These rook checks from black might simply look like a minor annoyance but actually they’re quite important for black. Black is trying to force white’s king away from the white pawns. This means that in a few moves black’s king will be able to attack white’s pawns without white’s king being there.

11. Kg2 Ra1

Once white’s king leaves the 3rd rank (and therefore leaves the side of the pawns), black’s rook returns to the side to give itself checking distance.

12. f5+ Kg5 13. Rg7+ Kf4

Now we finally see the point of black’s annoying rook checks on moves 9 and 10. Black was trying to force white’s king away from g3 so that black’s king would be able to go to f4 now and attack white’s pawns (if you imagine white’s king was back on g3 now, then on move 13 black wouldn’t have been able to play 13. … Kf4, and instead would have been forced to move his king to h6 as in the diagram below

And now black would be losing as white would play 14. Rg6+ followed by 15. Rxf6 and white would be up two pawns to none.

After the move 13. … Kf4 it looks like the position might be a bit difficult for black as his king is behind white’s pawns instead of in front of them, so it looks like white might be able to advance his pawns, but actually black is drawing easily as we will see.

14. g5 Kxf5 15. g6 Ra8 Draw

White tries to advance his g-pawn but after black plays Ra8 in the diagram above white cannot move his rook without losing his pawn so black will draw easily.

Summing up:

As you’re probably not surprised to find out, Rook and 4 pawns vs. Rook and 3 pawns positions are similar to Rook and 3 pawns vs. Rook and 2 pawns positions, and of course are also similar to Rook and 2 pawns vs. Rook and 1 pawn positions. Most of the time black will be able to draw by trading pawns and eventually getting into a Philidor position (or something similar to a Philidor position). We’ve seen a slightly different example here of a method that black used to achieve a draw, but the basic principles in all of these Rook endgames with multiple pawns on the same side of the board are the same:

- Remember to try to advance your pawns to stop your opponent from advancing their pawns and gaining too much space.

- Try to keep your king in front of your opponent’s pawns so that your king can block them

- Keep your rook active, use it to pin opponent’s pawns or give it checking distance so it can bombard the opponent’s king with checks.

- Trade pawns and try to get to a Rook and 3 pawns vs. Rook and 2 pawns position, and then trade more pawns until you get into a Philidor position

- Trade material and get to a drawn King and 1 pawn endgame.

We have now seen a range of common rook endgames, and we have learnt the basic methods of how to win the endgames which can be won, and how to draw the endgames which can be drawn when you are down material. These lessons will help you immensely during your games as you will often come across positions which are very similar (if not the same) as the examples we have gone through.

The next logical thing for us to do is to move onto the Rook and multiple pawn endgames, which are the most common endgames you will see in chess, but also some of the most complex endgames in chess. To understand Rook and multiple pawn endgames, we will have to draw upon all the lessons we’ve learned in the rook endgames section so far, which is why we’ve spent so much time learning rook endgame lessons such as the Lucena position, the Philidor position, Rook and 2 pawns vs. Rook, and Rook and 2 pawns vs. Rook and pawn.

Before we move onto Rook and multiple pawn endgames however, I wanted to quickly show you 2 important rook endgame concepts which are useful to know for all rook endgames. These are “Pigs on the 7th rank” and “The Tarrasch Rule”.

Pigs on the 7th/2nd rank!

Having “Pigs on the 7th rank” simply means having both of your rooks on your opponent’s 7th rank if you are white (and obviously if you are black then you will want both of your rooks on the 2nd rank). We’ve already seen the importance of having two rooks on the 7th rank in the Middlegame Chapter, but  it’s worth exploring it again here because it’s a very important concept for the endgame. Having 2 rooks on your opponent’s 7th rank is extremely strong because those 2 rooks are basically unstoppable. In the diagram above white’s rooks on the 7th rank are unstoppable and can basically eat all of black’s pawns on the 7th rank (this is why they are called “pigs” as they “eat all the pawns”) and black can do nothing to stop this. In fact the position above is even worse for black as white can actually mate black in 3 moves:

1. Rxg7+ Kh8 2. Rxh7+ Kg8 3. Rdg8# mate

Even if black had the move it wouldn’t help as there is nothing black can do to block white’s rooks. If it was black’s move and he played 1. … Rf7 for example, it wouldn’t help as white would just take the rook with 2. Rxf7. You can see why pigs on the 7th are so powerful here, as you can’t block them with a piece because they will just take the piece.

If white wasn’t able to mate for whatever reason white would still be completely winning. Let’s change the position slightly so that this time white isn’t able to immediately mate, but he’s still completely winning.

In the diagram above white isn’t able to mate but he can just win most of black’s pawns instead:

1. Rxc7 b5 2. Rf7+ Ke8 3. Rxg7 Rxg7 4. Rxg7 Rd8 5. Rxh7 White wins

As you can see white just won 3 of black’s pawns and will win easily

Two pigs on the 7th rank can also threaten a back rank mate too.

In the diagram above white can’t checkmate black in the middle of the board with Re7+ (with either rook), as white’s king can just shuffle between d8 and e8, but white can instead checkmate black with 1. Rh7!, and now the threat of Rh8# mate next move is unstoppable.

Of course, having pigs on the 7th isn’t always that useful. In the diagram below white has pigs on the 7th, but black’s king is in the middle of the board and there are no pawns on the 7th rank for white to attack, so there’s no real reason for white’s rooks to be on the 7th rank.

Diagram. White has pigs on the 7th rank but it doesn’t really help in this situation.

Pigs on the 7th are only really useful when they trap the opponent’s king on the back rank or when there are lots of your opponent’s pawns on the 7th rank, which is often the case.

Summing up:

So the lesson is, if the opportunity presents itself, try to get your rook (or both of your rooks) onto your opponent’s 7th rank (or 2nd rank if you are black), as you will probably be able to mate your opponent or, if not, at least win most of his pawns.

- Having a rook on the 7th rank is strong

- Having 2 rooks on the 7th rank are often an unstoppable force, especially when they trap the opponent’s king on the back rank and there are lots of enemy pawns on the 7th rank to eat.

Tarrasch rule

The Tarrasch rule is simply this:

Always place your rook behind a passed pawn.

This applies whether the pawn is your own pawn or your opponent’s pawn, it is almost always a good idea to have your rook behind the passed pawn.

Two Diagrams. In the first one (left), white is following the Tarrasch rule, as white’s rook is behind his passed pawn, and therefore he has good chances to win. In the second diagram (right), black is following is following the Tarrasch rule, as black’s rook is behind white’s passed pawn, and therefore black can draw.

Why? Well if the passed pawn is your own pawn, protecting the pawn with your rook in front of the pawn means your rook is blocking your pawn’s queening square. This means at some point your rook is going to have to move out of the way of your own pawn in order to queen it, which means at some point your pawn is going to be left undefended.

Diagram. White has a passed h-pawn, but his rook on h8 is stuck in front of it, therefore as soon as white’s rook moves black can just take white’s h-pawn. White has not followed the Tarrasch rule and therefore cannot win this game, and this will end in a draw.

If your rook is behind your own pawn on the other hand, then your pawn can queen freely:

Diagram. The same position as before, but this time white is following the Tarrasch rule and has placed his rook behind his passed h-pawn. This time white can win as his rook is free to move while black’s rook on h8 is stuck.

If the passed pawn is an enemy pawn, you still want to have your rook behind the passed pawn, as this will allow your rook more mobility and keeps your rook more active, which can be crucial in saving a draw or winning a game. The reason for this is that if you have your rook behind a passed pawn, as that pawn advances the mobility of your rook increases.

Diagram. Here both sides have a passed pawn, white has a passed a-pawn, whereas black has a passed h-pawn, but it is white who is following the Tarrasch rule.

In the diagram above both sides have a passed pawn, however, it is white who has done the right thing by following the Tarrasch rule, placing his rook behind black’s passed pawn. Black has not followed the Tarrasch rule and has placed his rook in front of his passed pawn instead of behind it. Because of this black will lose. White will play 1. a7 next move and there is nothing black can do to stop white queening his a-pawn.

Let’s see a quick example to see why the Tarrasch rule is so important. We’ll use one of the previous diagrams as an example:

We mentioned before that white can win in this position as his rook is behind his passed pawn. Let’s see how white does it:

1. d4 d6

White’s plan is to trade a pair of pawns and then win black’s remaining pawn using the greater mobility of his rook.

2. Rh6+ Ke7 3. Kd3 Kd7 4. dxe5 dxe5

White has traded a pair of pawns and now white’s rook on h6 is cutting off black’s king from defending his remaining pawn on e5. White can now simply walk his king over to e5 to scoop up black’s pawn.

5. Kc4 Ke7 6. Kd5 Kf7 7. Kxe5 Kg7

Black’s last hope at getting a draw is to get his king over to g7 and win white’s passed h-pawn. Unfortunately this doesn’t help, as even if black wins white’s h-pawn, the resulting position is a won king and pawn endgame for white.

8. Rh2 Rxh7 9. Rxh7+ Kxh7 10. Kd6 Kg7 11. e5 Kf8 12. Kd7 Kf7 White wins

The game is over. White can just march his e-pawn in the next few moves with e6, e7 and e8 and get a queen.

Summing up:

Remember the Tarrasch rule: Always place your rook behind a passed pawn, whether it is your pawn or your opponent’s pawn.

Rook and Multiple Pawn Endgames

Ok this will be almost the final lesson in our endgames section. Rook and multiple pawn endgames are the most important endgames for any chess player to learn because they are the most commonly seen endgames in chess, but they are also the most complex of all endgames to learn. That’s why we’ve left Rook and multiple pawn endgames until (almost) the end of the endgame section, as we’ll have to use all of the Rook endgame lessons we’ve learned so far to understand these endgames properly. To put it simply for you, if you can master Rook and multiple pawn endgames, you’ve mastered chess.

So, with all that being said, I do want to warn you that this section on Rook and multiple pawn endgames will be complicated, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t understand all of the moves on your first look through this section. In fact, even master players often won’t understand everything that’s going on in these rook endgames that we’re about to see. Instead, I just want you to look at how masters play these rook endgames that we’re about to see, and just make a mental note of how a master player manages to do things like win pawns in these endgames, or get their pieces active, or finish the game. You probably won’t remember everything on your first look through this section, but with practice you will get better and better at Rook and multiple pawn endgames, and with more practice you will be well on your way to becoming a master.

Oh, and in this section, white won’t always be the side who is winning, we will actually show some examples where black wins instead (as some of the examples I’m about to show you are actually taken from real games between masters). So I just wanted you to bear that in mind.

Let’s take an example from one of the greatest endgame players ever - Jose Raul Capablanca.

We will see in this game how Capablanca (who is playing as black) will attack white’s pawns and keep the opponent’s rooks tied down to the defence of the white pawns. Then, Capablanca will quickly shift his attack over to the other side, and given the greater mobility of Capablanca’s pieces, white will not be able to shift quickly enough to defend.

In the diagram below, Capablanca is black and it is black to move

Capablanca’s plan as black is to play h5 then h4 to fix white’s kingside pawns. Capablanca will then attack white’s weak isolated queenside pawns, forcing white to bring his rooks and king to the queenside in order to protect the a and c-pawns. Then, at the right moment, Capablanca will quickly switch his rooks over to the kingside and attack white’s kingside pawns and win them. Let’s see how he does it:

1. … Re4+ 2. Re2 Ra4 3. Ra2 h5

Capablanca gets the first part of his plan into motion. He is attacking white’s queenside pawns with his rooks and has just played h5, planning to play h4 next and freeze white’s kingside pawns.

4. Rd1 Rda5 5. Rda1 h4

Capablanca has now completed the first part of his plan. White’s rooks are stuck behind the a3 pawn defending it, and Capablanca has played h4 to prevent white’s kingside pawns from advancing.

6. Kd2 Kg7 7. Kc2 Rg5

Now that white’s king has left the kingside, Capablanca senses that this is the right moment to switch his attack to the kingside. He moves his rook to g5 in order to attack white’s kingside pawns.

8. Rg1 Rf4

Now both of Capablanca’s rooks have switched sides and are now attacking the kingside.

9. Kd3 Rf3+

White can’t take black’s rook with gxf3 because the g-pawn is pinned to white’s rook on g1. After 10. gxf3 Rxg1 11. Ke2 Rh1 black will win white’s h-pawn and will be winning.

10. Ke2 Rxh3

Casablanca has won a pawn and because of the much better position of his rooks the game is actually already won for black. In the real game white resigned a few moves later but we will play on for a few moves to see how the game might have continued.

11. f3 Rhg3 12. Ke3 h3 13. a4 Rxg2

Black has won another pawn and now he has a passed h-pawn which will easily win him the game.

14. Raxg2 Rxg2 15. Rh1 h2

White’s plan is to get his king over to g3 in order to win black’s h2 pawn but black will happily give up his h2 pawn in order to win white’s other pawns.

16. f4 Kf6 17. Kf3 Rc2 18. Kg3 Rxc3+ 19. Kxh2 Rc4 20. Kg3 Rxa4 Black wins

Now black is 3 pawns up and will win easily.

Ok that example was complicated but we took it step by step and hopefully you can see how Capablanca masterfully outmanoeuvred his opponent to win white’s pawns. Don’t worry if it’s a little too difficult to remember all the details of that example, I really just wanted you to see the first 10 moves so you could see how Capablanca attacks a weak pawn on his opponent’s queenside and then how he quickly switches the attack over to the other side at the right moment. This is a great technique which you can use in your own games once you become strong enough to recognise the right moment to do it. We’ll take a look at another example so you can get more practice with these rook endgames.

Example 2:

The following position is from a game between Capablanca - Janowski, New York, 1913

This is another example from Capablanca. In the above position Capablanca (white) has a slight advantage due to his extra central pawns, though with most players this position would probably end in a draw. Capablanca was no ordinary player however and we will watch as Capablanca creates some winning chances by attacking black’s pawns and thereby keeping black’s rooks on the defensive. This gives white’s rooks more options to attack whilst black’s rooks are stuck defending their own pawns. Black’s position will become more and more cramped as black struggles to defend all his pawns and eventually Capablanca will win some of black’s pawns. Let’s see how he does it.

1. g4 b6

Capablanca wants to play g5 and black is preparing to play c5

2. b4! Kb7 3. Kf2 b5

Capablanca plays b4 to prevent black playing c5. Black’s plan is to play Kb6, a5 and axb4, thereby opening the a-file for the black rooks

4. a4! Rd4

Capablanca plays a4 to prevent black’s plan. If black had replied with bxa4, then black’s queenside pawns will all be isolated and weak.

5. Rb1 Re5

Black plays Re5 to prepare c5. This would allow black to swap off his doubled c-pawn for white’s healthy b-pawn

6. Ke3 Rd7 7. a5 Re6

Capablanca has now managed to fix black’s queenside pawns - black’s queenside pawns now essentially cannot move. His next plan is to create a passed pawn.

8. Rbf1 Rde7 9. g5 fxg5 10. Rxg5 Rh6

Capablanca has now managed to obtain a passed pawn (e-pawn), and because of this has a real chance of winning. He also has a better king position, with his king in the centre of the board ready to quickly move to either the kingside or queenside if needed.

11. Rg3 Rhe6

Black plays Rhe6 to prevent white playing d4

12. h4 g6 13. Rg5 h6

Black plays h6 in order to drive Capablanca’s rook away. Capablanca was threatening to play h5, forcing an exchange of pawns and leaving black with a weak isolated h-pawn which white would attack and win. Capablanca’s next plan of action is to advance his passed e-pawn to gain more space.

14. Rg4 Rg7 15. d4 Kc8

16. Rf8+ Kb7 17. e5 g5

Capablanca begins to advance his passed pawn. Black’s move g5 seems like a mistake as it doesn’t achieve much, but perhaps black is just trying get some space for his rooks which are very cramped at the moment. By now white is in a very good position, his rooks are active and have lots of mobility, and he is soon about to win a pawn

18. Ke4 Ree7

Capablanca improves his king position

19. hxg5 hxg5 20. Rf5 Kc8

The black pawn on g5 cannot be defended and will be won by white

21. Rgxg5 Rh7 22. Rh5 Kd7

Capablanca is of course open to trades as he is the side up material

23. Rxh7 Rxh7 24. Rf8! Rh4+

Rf8 is a great move from Capablanca keeping his rook active and threatening to play Ra8 next to win more of black’s queenside pawns. Black throws in some checks to try to drive the white king away.

25. Kd3 Rh3+

26. Kd2 c5

c5 is a rather feeble attempt by black to break up the white pawns so that black can attack them, but the game is basically lost now anyway

27. bxc5 Ra3 28. d5

In the real game black resigned here. Capablanca’s c, d and e-pawns will be too much for black to handle and at least one of them will promote. For example the game could have finished:

28. … Rxa5 29. e6+ Ke7 30. Rf7+ Ke8 31. d6 cxd6 32. cxd6 Ra3

The game is totally lost for black as white will quickly queen one of his pawns.

33. d7+ Kd8 34. Rf8+ Kc7 35. d8=Q+ White wins

So that was again another masterful example from Capablanca, although this example was a bit more complicated. Even though it might be difficult for you to remember all the details of that example during your first look-through, I want you to remember the main themes of good rook endgame play that Capablanca displays:

- Firstly remember to keep your rooks active, use your rooks to attack your opponent’s pawns and try to make sure that your rooks are on squares where they are able to move freely and have lots of options. You don’t want to be stuck in a position where your rooks are stuck defending your pawns and your rooks can’t move.

- Secondly try to advance your pawns to stop your opponent’s pawns from advancing. In this example Capablanca “froze” black’s queenside pawns with the moves b4 and a4-a5. Because black’s couldn’t advance his queenside pawns, black had less opportunities to counterattack on the queenside which would have given black more chances of saving a draw.

- Thirdly get your king in a good position where it can help with the attack. In endgames your king becomes a crucial attacking piece and often you want to try to get your king towards the centre where it can quickly move towards any direction of the board where it is needed. In this example Capablanca’s king was centrally placed on e4 where it could help with the advance of white’s passed e-pawn whereas black’s king was often stuck sitting defensively on the back rank.

- Fourth try to advance your pawns to provoke weaknesses in your opponent’s pawn structure. In this example Capablanca advanced his h-pawn which forced a trade of pawns on the kingside and then Capablanca easily won black’s remaining weak isolated g-pawn.

- Fifth once you are in a strong position you can try to trade material which will make your task of finishing off the game simpler. Once Capablanca had won a pawn and had a strong passed e-pawn he recognised that he could trade a pair of rooks and then finishing off the game become relatively simple for him.

We’ll look at another Rook and multiple pawn endgame example so you can see more of these themes being used. The more practice you can get with Rook and multiple pawn endgames the better. This is yet another example from Capablanca (we probably should have warned you that the author is a bit of a fan of Capablanca).

Example 3

The following example is from the game Carranza - Capablanca, Buenos Aires, 1911.

Here Capablanca is playing as black and it is clear that black has a lot more space, though if played perfectly this position probably should end in a draw. In this example Capablanca will advance his pawns to gain yet more space and put pressure on his opponent. When his opponent cracks under the pressure Capablanca will take full advantage of his mistakes. Let’s see how Capablanca does it:

1. Kg1 Kf7

The first order of business for both players is to get their kings towards the centre of the board where they can be more involved in the game.

2. Kf2 Ke6 3. Ke2 b5

Once Casablanca has gotten his king towards the centre his next plan is to advance pawns on both sides of the board to gain yet more space and put pressure on his opponent.

4. Kd2 g5 5. h3 h5

Capablanca has now gained a lot of space with his pawns and now white’s position is looking a bit cramped. Maybe because white was feeling the pressure of being squeezed he makes a mistake on his next move, which makes winning the game much easier for Capablanca.

6. g4? h4

The move g4 is a mistake from white and the reason is simple. You can see from the diagram above that white has allowed black to freeze white’s kingside pawns, and now white has a permanent weak, backward pawn on f3 that he can’t move. White will now have to constantly defend his weak f3 pawn while black is free to do whatever he wants.

7. Ke2 Rf7 8. Rf2 Rfa7

Capablanca’s plan becomes clear now. He doubles his rooks on the a-file and is preparing to play a4 to open up the a-file. Capablanca will then have control of the a-file and will use this to enter white’s position and attack white’s pawns with his rooks.

9. Kd3 a4 10. bxa4 c4+

11. Kd2 Rxa4 12. Rb1 Ra1

Capablanca is in complete control now. He offers a trade of rooks as he knows he is completely winning and trading a pair of rooks would just make winning the game simpler for Capablanca. Capablanca has complete control of the a-file and his far advanced queenside pawns are cramping white and giving him no space. White can’t move any of his pawns and his rook basically can’t go anywhere either, not to mention the fact that white still has a permanent weakness on f3. Capablanca can now simply advance his queenside pawns further and threaten to promote one of them.

13. Rff1 Rxb1 14. Rxb1 Ra2 15. Kd1 b4

White’s position is looking very cramped now and white’s rook and king are running out of moves. When your opponent is running out of moves you'll usually be close to winning, as you'll be able to make any moves you like to improve your position while your opponent is stuck sitting back and defending. Capablanca will now bring his king over to the queenside to support the advance of his queenside pawns.

16. Kd2 Kd6 17. Kd1 Kc5 18. b3 c3

Capablanca’s queenside pawns are very close to queening now and the game will be over in a few moves.

19. Rc1 d3 20. cxd3 Rh2

White is forced into playing cxd3 as he has very few other moves, which shows just how cramped his position is. Moving his rook with 20. Rb1 would have fallen into a fork with 20. … dxc2+, where black’s pawn forks white’s rook and king, and moving his king with 20. Kd1 allows another fork with 20. … d2+, again forking white’s king and rook.

21. Rc2 Rh1+ 22. Ke2 Kd4

In the real game white resigned here as his position is completely hopeless. White’s king and rook are hilariously stuck - amazingly he can’t move either of them anywhere otherwise black would play Rh2+ and win white’s rook. White’s only move therefore is f4 which just gives up a pawn. Let’s see a few more moves to see now this might have finished.

23. f4 exf4 24. Kf3 Rxh3+ 25. Kg2 Rxd3 26. Rc1 Kxe4 Black wins

Black is now 3 pawns up and will win in a matter of moves.

Summing up:

Rook and multiple pawn endgames are the most important and most commonly seen endgames in chess. They are also the most complex of all endgames, but spending time studying them will improve your chess skill very rapidly. Even professional players will spend a large amount of their time studying Rook and multiple pawn endgames and trying to get better at them. Even though Rook and multiple pawn endgames are complicated, remembering these tips will help make sure you do well in them:

- Keep your rooks active, placing them on squares where they are attacking your opponent’s pawns and able to move freely.

- Advance your pawns to gain space or to stop your opponent’s pawns from advancing

- Get your king in a good position where it can support the advance of your pawns. Usually getting your king towards the centre is a good idea.

- Attack your opponent’s weaknesses

- If your opponent doesn’t have any weaknesses, advance your pawns to provoke weaknesses in your opponent’s position.

The Lucena position with a flank pawn

This lesson might seem a bit out of place. You may be wondering “We were just discussing rook endgames with multiple pawns, why are we going back to endgames with just 1 pawn and rook?”. The Lucena position with a flank pawn is not very common and therefore not as important to know as the material we have studied before. But it is fairly straightforward to learn, and it is still good knowledge to have, so I have decided to put it here at the end.

We mentioned before that the Lucena position where the pawn is a flank pawn is generally a draw. We are now going to see why this is.

The above diagram is of a Lucena position with a flank pawn. White’s king is in front of its pawn, which is a flank pawn on the 7th rank. White’s rook is cutting the black king off from approaching the pawn. With correct play, black will be able to draw this endgame.

The problem:

White will attempt to win by queening his pawn. To do this white must move his king away from a8, and then queen his pawn. White’s king cannot move anywhere at the moment because the black rook is cutting him off. Therefore white must try and block black’s rook with his own rook. Black will counter this problem by getting his king to either c7 or c8, where the black king will trap the white king even if the black rook cannot do so. The game might go such as this:

1. Rh2 Kc7

Black must move his king towards the c7 or c8 squares as soon as he gets an opportunity. In this position it does not matter so much because black will actually have plenty of opportunities to move his king to c7 or c8, but if the black king was further away from the white pawn, moving immediately towards c7 or c8 might be critically important

2. Rh8 Rb3

Once black’s king is on c7 or c8 he must stay on one of those two squares if he can. Black’s rook must also stay on the b file if possible. Rb3 is therefore just a passing move from black

3. Rb8 Rc3

As soon as the white challenges black’s rook on the b file, black must move his rook to the c file in order to stop white’s rook from getting there. This will be explained further in move 8. There are other moves for black which also draw here, but this is by far the simplest

4. Rb7+ Kc8 5. Rb8+ Kc7 6. Rb7+ Kc8 7. Rb8+ Kc7

Obviously white’s checks are getting white nowhere, I just included these moves to illustrate that these checks do not help white win. Now white must try something else. White will try to check black’s king to get him to move away from the c-file, allowing white’s king to move away from a8

8. Rb1 Rc2!

Finally we see the point of our move 3. … Rc3. Black blocks white’s rook from checking him on the c-file, therefore allowing the black king to stay on the c7/c8 squares where black’s king traps white’s king on a8.

9. Rh1 Rb2 Draw

As soon white’s rook leaves the b file, black’s rook will return to the b-file to cut off the white king from moving. The game is clearly drawn since now it is clear that white has no way to free his king which is trapped on a8, and white will never be able to queen his pawn.

Let’s summarise the defensive technique for a Lucena position with a flank pawn again:

1. Black must keep his rook on the b-file (or g-file if the enemy pawn is a h-pawn) to cut off the white king from moving. Black can just shuffle their rook along the b (or g) file.

2. As soon as there is an opportunity for black to get his king closer to the c7 or c8 square (f7/f8 if the enemy pawn is a h pawn), black must take it. Black must move his king closer to c7 or c8 and once he is on c7 or c8, black must keep his king on either of those 2 squares if possible in order to trap the white king.

3. If black’s rook is challenged by the enemy rook on the b-file, black must move his rook to the c (or f) file to protect his king from checks.

4. If the white rook leaves the b-file, black must return his rook to the b-file. The game will be drawn because white’s king can never move and white will never be able to queen his pawn.

Ok so we’ve seen that in the above Lucena position with a flank pawn, the game is a draw. In fact in most Lucena positions where the pawn is a flank pawn, black is able to draw. Lets remember this:

Rule: Most Lucena positions where the pawns is a flank pawn, black is able to draw.

The Solution:

The only time white can win is when black’s king is cut off by 4 files or more, such as the below diagram:

Diagram: White can win a Lucena position with a flank pawn only if the black king is cut off by 4 files or more.

The winning procedure for white is to first get his rook to b8 where it will chase away black’s rook on the b-file and then white might have a chance of freeing his king from a8. Once white’s rook is there however black has a few more tricks to try to draw which we will see.

1. Rc1 Ke7

White’s rook is heading towards b8 and as in the previous example black tries to get his king towards c7

2. Rc8 Kd6 3. Rb8 Ra2

White’s rook is now on b8. The next step is to try to free his king

4. Kb7 Rb2+ 5. Kc8 Rc2+ 6. Kd8 Rh2

Black’s rook now switches over to the h-file to set up some checks from the side. White can promote his pawn in 1 move, but at the moment black is threatening mate in 1 move with Rh8# mate, so white has to drive black’s king away first

7. Rb6+ Kc5

Now white has driven black’s king away and black is no longer threatening mate, so white could promote his pawn. However, if white did promote his pawn with 8. a8=Q black would just skewer the king and queen with 8. … Rh8+ 9. Ke7 Rxa8 and the game would be a draw. Fortunately, white has a trick which wins the game quickly

8. Rc6+! Kxc6

Rc6 is a very nice trick from white. He sacrifices his rook to force black’s king onto a square where white’s pawn will promote with check on the next move. If black chooses not to accept white’s sacrifice black would still lose as now white’s rook can get to c8 and white’s king can hide behind it, for example: 8. … Kb5 9. Rc8 Rh8+ 10. Kc7 Rh7+ 11. Kb8 and now black has to give up his rook to stop white’s pawn from queening so white will win comfortably.

9. a8=Q+ White wins

And now with a queen vs. a rook white will win.

Summing up:

I think that shows you that there are many tricks in even simple-looking rook endgames and practicing rook endgames will teach you a lot about chess and will quickly make you a better chess player. To summarise the Lucena position with a flank pawn:

- Most of the time, a Lucena position with a flank pawn is a draw.

- Black draws by getting his king towards c7 (or f7), trapping the white king behind its pawn. Black keeps his rook on the b-file (or g-file), which also helps trap white’s king. If black’s rook is challenged then he moves to the c-file, and returns to the b-file as soon as he can.

- The only time when you can win a Lucena position with a flank pawn is when the enemy king is cut off by 4 files or more.

- White wins by getting his rook to b8 in order to free his king from a8. Once he’s done that white will have to play carefully and dodge white’s tricks in order to avoid drawing.

The Passive Philidor position

Finally, this really is the last lesson in our endgames section, and it’s a difficult one, but we’ve included it because it will teach you a lot about how to draw in rook endgames. Hopefully this lesson will help you save a lot of draws when you find yourself down 1 or 2 pawns in a rook endgame.

We’re going to go back to the Philidor position - well sort of anyway. If you remember from earlier the Philidor position taught us how to draw when we are down a pawn in a rook endgame. Here’s a diagram of a Philidor position again just to remind you:

Black places his rook on the 6th rank, cutting white’s king off from advancing. If white advances his e-pawn, black will just play Rh1, preparing to bombard white’s king with checks from the back rank and the game will end in a draw by perpetual check.

But what if you mess up the Philidor position, and up in a position where white has control of the 6th rank instead?

Well it turns out you can still draw here if you are black, but it becomes much, much more difficult, which is why you want to try to get into a proper Philidor position if you can when you are down a pawn in a rook endgame. Now white will be able to advance his king, and black will have to play very carefully to avoid losing. The key idea for black is to get his rook to the back rank via Rh1 and then get his rook behind white’s e-pawn. White will still have many tricks to try to win though, as we will see:

1. Ra6 Rh1

Black can’t stop white’s king from advancing and so he gets his rook to the back rank immediately where it will potentially have checking distance to check white’s king and also so it can head to e1 where it can keep an eye on white’s e-pawn

2. Ra7+ Ke8 3. Kd6 Re1

Black has gotten his rook to e1 but white has many tricks to try to win.

4. Ke6 Kf8!

Black had to move his king prevent white mating him with Ra8#, but why was Kf8 a better move for black than Kd8? The answer is that eventually, black’s rook on e1 will no longer be able to stop white’s pawn from advancing, and when that happens, black will want to move his rook to the side to either the a-file or the h-file to set up some perpetual checks on the white king from the side. In fact, in this case black wants to get his rook to the a-file as this gives his rook more checking distance. Black wants to check white’s king from the left side of the board, but if black’s king is also on the left side of the board then black’s king might get in the way of black’s rook and block black’s rook from checking white’s king. Therefore, black moves his king to f8, towards the right side of the board, so that black’s king definitely won’t be in the way when black eventually starts checking white’s king from the a-file. Got that? That might seem complicated now but it will be more obvious in a few moves.

5. Ra8+ Kg7 6. Kd6 Kf7!

White plays Kd6 to prepare to advance his pawn. Black of course wants to keep his king as close to white’s pawn as possible so as soon as white’s king moves out of the way, black plays Kf7 to get as close as possible to white’s pawn. Now white can’t advance his pawn as after 7. e6+ black would just reply with 7. … Rxe6+. Instead white will repeat the position and then try a different approach to win.

7. Ra7+ Ke8 8. Ke6 Kf8 9. Ra8+ Kg7

White gets back to the same position as we had a few moves ago, but now tries a different way to win.

10. Re8 Ra1!

Finally you can see what we were talking about back on move 4. Black gets his rook to the a-file and prepares to bombard white’s king with checks from the side. This is why Kf8 was a better move for black than Kd8 back on move 4. You can see that if black had played Kd8 then his king would be on the left side of the board and it might have blocked black’s rook from checking white’s king. Ra1 is a very important move for black and keeping his rook on the e-file would not have worked. If black had kept his rook on the e-file, white would have played Kd7 followed by e6 and white would be close to promoting his pawn or setting up a Lucena position which we know is a win for white. Now if white tries to block black’s checks from the side with 11. Rd8 black would just return his rook behind the pawn with 11. … Re1. Therefore, white tries to make a run for it with his king.

11. Kd7 Ra7+ 12. Kc6 Ra6+ 13. Kb5 Ra1

As soon as white’s king touches black’s rook, black returns his rook to a1. Now white’s king is too far away from his pawn to support it so white tries to get his king back to support his pawn.

14. Kc6 Ra6+ 15. Kb5 Ra1

But black says no to that and as soon as white’s king leaves the b-file black’s rook checks white’s king from the side. Therefore white tries to advance his pawn in a last-ditch attempt to win.

16. e6 Rc1! 16. Kb6 Kf6 Draw

Black cuts off white’s king from supporting his pawn with Rc1 and without the white king white’s pawn will never be able to advance. White’s rook can’t move anywhere otherwise black’s king would just take white’s pawn with Kxe6. Black can just shuffle his rook along the c-file and white will never be able to make any progress, so this will end in a draw.

Summing up:

If you’re a pawn down in a rook endgame, the best way to try to draw is to get your king in front of your opponent’s pawn and try to get a Philidor position. Even if you mess up the Philidor position though and allow your opponent to get control of the 6th rank, you can still sometimes draw if you play correctly. The correct way to draw can be difficult to find, but remembering these principles will help:

- Get your rook to the back rank and then behind your opponent’s pawn.

- If your king is forced away from blocking your opponent’s pawn, move your king to the “short side” of the board (the side with less files on it) rather than the “long side” of the board, so that your king won’t get in the way when you prepare to use your rook to check your opponent’s king from the side.

- If you opponent moves his rook in front of his pawn in order to protect it, get your rook to the side of the board and prepare to check white’s king like mad from the side.

Conclusion

So that is the end of our section on endgame skills. It was a long ride but we learnt many lessons that will help you win games or save a draw when you are in a worse position. As we said before, practicing endgames is one of the best ways to improve at chess as quickly as possible and if you remember nothing else from this book after reading it then please just remember this: To improve at chess as quickly as possible, just practice tactics and practice endgames.

We first learnt the 4 basic mates which taught us how to finish off a game when we are up material. We then learnt pawn endgames and although they look simple at first glance, we quickly saw that endgames with just kings and pawns on the board can be very complex. Finally we moved onto rook endgames - the most common endgames of them all, where we learnt many techniques and tricks which will help you win rook endgames or save a draw when you are desperate. Rook and multiple pawn endgames are the most complex of all endgames but because they are so common, and you will see them in your games time and time again, they are also the most important of all the endgames to study. You could become a master-level chess player if you did nothing else but study Rook and multiple pawn endgames.

Remember what Capablanca (one of the greatest players of all time) said:

“To improve at chess you should in the first instance study the endgame”

He said this because if you become good at endgames, then you will have better chances of winning when it gets to the end of a game, but even if you’ve played really badly in a game and are down a lot of material, if you are good at endgames then you might be able to save a draw even when you down 1, 2 or 3 pawns or even more. Being strong at endgames will also make you better at the middlegame, as even when you are in the middlegame you will be able to plan ahead and get towards a position in the endgame which you know you can win. Improving your endgame will help you win in the end of a game, will help you know what moves to make in the middlegame, and will basically improve every area of your chess game.

How to Think

Before we take a look at some examples of games from master players, I want to take a break to quickly talk about how to think when you’re playing chess. I want to talk about exactly what to think about when you are deciding what move to make during your games. After all, you've learnt lots of different lessons, tactics and endgame skills throughout this book, but there will still be many times during your games where you will be unsure exactly what move to make.

I’m going to give you a short checklist to go through every time you make a move, to help make sure you don’t miss good moves, or make big mistakes. This way you’ll know exactly what to think about and what not to think about when you are making your moves, so you can make moves that actually improve your position instead of making it worse. This will also help make sure you don't get confused during your games, or get distracted by a butterfly flying across the room (yes this has happened to me before), and then forget that your opponent can take your queen (this has definitely happened to me before).

So here’s a guide to the correct thought process for you during a chess game, shown in 6 easy steps

The 6 step checklist to deciding what move to make

1. Check for threats! (Think about what your opponent is trying to do)

As soon as your opponent has made a move, the first thing you want to think about is “What is my opponent trying to do?”. Did their last move attack one of your pieces? If so then you’ll want to defend or move that piece. Did their last move prepare to attack your king? If so then you’ll want to check how dangerous their attack is and if you decide it is dangerous then maybe you’ll want to bring some pieces to defend your king. Did their last move look like it did nothing? Be careful, sometimes your opponent will play moves that go backwards or don’t seem to achieve anything, but they’re really preparing a deadly attack or tactic.

Here’s a classic example. In the diagram below it is black’s turn to move.

Black plays 1. … Nc5, which looks like black attempting to develop his knight, or maybe even attack white’s bishop on a4. White replies with 2. Bb5, trying to preserve his light-squared bishop. Unfortunately, white has missed that black’s knight move has discovered an attack on his queen by black’s bishop on a1. White will now lose his queen after 2. … Bxf3 and he will have no-one to blame but himself.

After he’s done crying to himself, white will remember in the future to always check for his opponent’s hidden threats whenever his opponent makes a move. Many a queen has been lost to a sneaky long-range bishop in chess clubs around the world.

Here’s another more interesting example. In the following diagram it is white’s move.

White plays the harmless looking move 1. Qd1. This move seems to leave white’s knight on e4 under attack, and white’s queen is going backwards, so black thinks he can take white’s knight safely. However, this is a trap, and after 1. … Qxe4 2. Qh5! black realises he’s been tricked, as now black cannot stop being checkmated on h8.

Had black remembered to check for his opponent’s threats, he wouldn’t have been so quick to take white’s knight and instead would have played 1. … Qg6, which would have stopped white’s queen coming to h5 and would have defended against white’s checkmate threat.

So always remember, the first thing you want to do when it’s your move is check for your opponent’s threats!

2. Look for tactics!

If you’ve checked and decided your opponent isn’t threatening anything at the moment, now you can look for your own tactics. The obvious first things to look for are if you can checkmate your opponent or if you can win material. In fact, a great tip when trying to calculate tactics is to look for the most forcing moves first. Check is the most forcing type of move, as you know that if you check your opponent they will immediately have to protect their king. Therefore when looking for tactics you want to be looking for moves in this order:

- Firstly, look for checks (most forcing)

- Secondly, look for moves that threaten checkmate

- Thirdly, look for moves that capture pieces or attack pieces

Here’s an example. Imagine you were playing as white in the position below:

Firstly we check that our opponent (black) does not have any threats, and he doesn’t, so now we can look for tactics of our own. At first glance it might seem like black’s position is quite solid and there are no tactics available, but we remember to check for tactics anyway, just to make sure we don’t miss a good move. When we are looking for tactics we remember to look for the most forcing moves first, so we first look for checks. There are only two moves here that deliver check, Qxf7+ and Bxh7+. Qxf7+ clearly just loses our queen, but Bxh7+ attacks black’s king and puts it in some danger. In fact, after a bit more calculation we realise that Bxf7+ is a fantastic move, as it threatens to checkmate our opponent after:

1. Bxf7+! Kxh7 2. Qh5+ Kg8 3. Ng5

And now we are threatening to checkmate black next move with Qh7# and black will have to sacrifice his queen with 3. … Qe4 in order to stop checkmate.

Here’s another example. Imagine you were playing as white in the position below:

Here it’s still early on in the game, so we might not think are many opportunities yet. However, we still want to check to make sure we don’t miss anything, so after checking that our opponent doesn’t have any threats, which he doesn’t in the above position, we then turn our attention to looking for tactics. We first look for moves that check the black king, and there aren’t any. We then look for moves that threaten checkmate and unsurprisingly, with our pieces so far back at the moment, there are no moves that threaten checkmate right now. We then look for ways to attack or capture pieces. We notice that our opponent’s bishop on b4 is looking a bit trapped at the moment. Perhaps we could try to trap it with a move like 1. a3, but unfortunately that doesn’t work at the moment because black can simply reply 1. … Bxc3 and exchange his bishop for our knight. We can win this bishop in another way however, and after some thinking we realise the best move in the position is 1. d5!, and after black moves their knight with 1. … Ne7 we can play 2. Qa4+, forking black’s king and bishop.

So after checking for our opponent’s threats, remember to look for tactics!

3. Development, development, development!

When looking for a move you could spend ages looking for tactics and strategical ideas, but if you haven't developed all your pieces yet then all of that thinking is likely to be a waste.

Here’s an example. In the position below it is black’s turn to move.

Black is 3 pawns up, and he’s feeling very confident. He notices that white’s king has no white pawns protecting him, and he thinks he can attack white’s king, so he plays 1. … Ng4, preparing for a fork on f2 next. Unfortunately, black has missed the more important point, which is that he’s well behind in development, and this puts his king in a lot of danger. White can now win with a ferocious attack on black’s king, like this:

1. … Ng4 2. Nd5 Qd8 3. Ng5 Bxg5 4. Qxg4 d6 5. Nxc7+ Qxc7 6. Bxf7+ Qxf7 7. Qxc8+ Bd8 8. Rxf7 Kxf7 9. Qxb7+

And white is simply going to win all of black’s pieces. Had black been more careful, he would have remembered to check his opponent’s threats. Instead of spending a lot of time thinking about how to attack his opponent, black would have realised that he is well behind in development, and it was more important for black to try to stop his opponent’s threats and develop his pieces than for him to try to attack white with only a few pieces. A better move for black instead of 1. … Ng4 would have been 1. … d6, preparing to develop his light-squared bishop, but white would still have a better position because of his huge lead in development.

Here’s another example. It’s white to move in the below position.

Here white has gotten very excited because it seems like he can win a pawn with 1. Nxd5. Unfortunately he’s forgotten to check for his opponent’s threats and has neglected to develop his pieces. Because white does not have many pieces developed at the moment he can’t actually afford to take black’s pawn on d5 yet, as black quickly shows him:

1. Nxd5 Nxd5! 2. Bxd8 Bb4+ 3. Qd2 Bxd2+ 4. Kxd2 Kxd8

And black has won simply won a piece. White should have realised that he doesn’t have many pieces developed yet and therefore he has to be careful before trying to look for attacking ideas. A better move for white instead would have been 1. Nf3, simply carrying on with his development as normal and bringing more pieces into play.

So remember, once you’ve checked for your opponent’s threats and checked whether you have any good tactics, if you still have pieces undeveloped then you probably want to develop those pieces first before you start planning anything else.

4. Look for piece activity!

Once you’ve checked for your opponent’s threats, checked whether you have any tactics, and have made sure all your pieces are developed, the next thing you want to do is look to get your pieces more active.

Let’s give you an example to show you what I mean. In the following position it is black’s move and he desperately wants to get his pieces more active.

Black has checked that white isn’t threatening anything immediately, and black doesn’t have any tactics available at the moment. Black has already developed his pieces, but he has a difficult, cramped position and his pieces don’t have much space to move. His knight on d2 can only move to b6 or b8, and his bishop on b7 can’t really move at all. Therefore black’s best move in the position is actually 1. … d4!, sacrificing a pawn so that his bishop has more squares to move to. After white replies with 2. Nbxd4 black’s bishop has come to life, and it is not only attacking the central d5 and e4 squares, but it is also attacking white’s king.

Black’s bishop on b7 has suddenly become a dangerous piece and may be potentially used in an attack on white’s king in the future. Black has a comfortable game here, despite the fact that he’s down a pawn for the moment.

Here’s another example. The following is taken from a real game (Topalov - Aronian, 2006). Imagine you were white in the position below.

The first thing you’d notice if you were white is that black actually has better piece activity than you at the moment. Black has a very strong knight on e4 which is difficult to remove and is attacking a lot of your pieces (you bishop on c3, pawn on f2, and pawn on g3 for example). Therefore, in the real game white actually sacrificed his rook for black’s knight with 1. Rxe4!. After 1. … dxe4 2. Ne5! now the tables have completely turned.

White has gotten rid of black’s most active piece which was his knight on e4, and now white himself has a very active and powerful knight on e5. Black will want to kick white’s knight away at some point in the future with … f6, but for the moment black has to spend several moves defending his weak pawns on c6 and e4, and meanwhile white will be able to get the rest of his pieces into more active positions. Granted of course white is down an exchange for the moment, but he has the much more comfortable position with more options and space for his pieces. White went on to win this game.

5. Think about strategic planning

Once you’ve exhausted all of the options above, only then is it time to look for strategic plans.

Here’s an example we saw before. Below it is white’s move, and this position is taken from the game between Alekhine and Yates in 1922. Alekhine is white in this position.

Here Alekhine has checked for his opponent’s threats, and his pieces are already on active squares with his two rooks controlling the c-file and his knight centrally placed on the e5 square. He doesn’t have any tactics available yet though which would win him material, so now is the time for him to start thinking of strategic plans. He played the move 1. f3 here, preparing a plan to advance his kingside pawns and gain space on the kingside. Of course as we saw earlier, Alekhine executed this plan beautifully and went on to win the game.

Here’s another example from before. In this game between Sosonko - Smyslov, 1982, it’s whites move.

Here white has checked that his opponent doesn’t have any threats, white’s pieces are probably about as active as they can be in a closed position like this, and white doesn’t really have any attacking ideas. Therefore it’s time for white to think about a strategic plan, and so white comes up with the move 1. b4, planning to advance his pawns on the queenside and gain space. After 1. … Na4 2. Rd2 Rc8 3. Bd4 white is starting to gain space on the queenside and black’s knight on a4 is a bit trapped. White of course went on to win the game.

6. Check for threats again!

Finally, after you’ve done all of that thinking in your head - remembering to check for your opponent’s threats, then looking for tactics, then checking your pieces are developed, then thinking about getting your pieces active, and finally looking for strategic ideas - you might have forgotten the most important thing, which was to check for your opponent’s threats.

I have done this many times in my chess career I’m afraid to admit. There I am sitting at the chessboard lost in thought about deep calculations and complicated plans. When I finally make a move I sit up with a smug smile on my face, convinced that I’ve thought about everything in the current position, only to be shocked when my opponent takes my queen on the next move.

If you’re still not convinced, then take a look at the following example, taken from a real game. It’s black to move.

Here black was probably thinking about deep tactical ideas for ages or maybe he had plans to eventually attack with his rook along the c-file. Black probably didn’t want to play Bc5, which would block the c-file for his rook. So black developed his bishop to e6 instead with 1. … Be6?. Unfortunately black forgot to check for his opponent’s threats, and this move loses a piece immediately after white replied 2. Qd1, forking black’s bishop and knight. Black resigned immediately.

But the most shocking part is that the black player in this game was none other than former chess world champion Anatoly Karpov. Even one of the greatest chess players of all time can blunder a piece in one move, so all of the rest of us must be extra careful and do one last double-check to see if our opponent is threatening anything before we make a move.

So that’s a quick guide to how you want to be thinking when you’re playing chess. Remember the 6 step checklist to go through every time it’s your move:

1. Check for threats! (Think about what your opponent is trying to do)

2. Look for tactics!

3. Development, development, development!

4. Look for piece activity!

5. Think about strategic planning

6. Check for threats again!

Illustrative Games

We’re coming towards the end of this book now, so let’s look at some example games to observe and learn how great players won their games.

We’ll start with easy, shorter games that are easy to understand, and move onto more complicated games that require more time and effort to understand

By the way, the titles for the games below work like this:

Anyway, without further ado, let’s look at some games.

1. Paul Morphy VS Duke Karl/Count Isouard

Paris (1858), Philidor Defence

Paul Morphy was one of the earliest chess masters and is my favourite player of all time. He was born in New Orleans in 1837, when chess was not fully popularised across the world and there were no official world chess championships. There’s no question however that he was easily the best player of his time, and one of the greatest players of all time. He traveled round the world to play all comers from across the globe, in most cases trouncing the living daylights out them. Having beaten all serious opposition across the world, he returned home to New Orleans still in his early twenties and announced his retirement from chess.

It’s a tragedy that Morphy retired from the game so early after being unable to find any serious opposition, but his brief but brilliant career will still be there for us all to enjoy. You can find his games (or any other famous player’s games for that matter) at the huge chess database at: http://www.chessgames.com.

Morphy’s playing style was simple. Attack attack attack! That’s why the author likes him so much! His tactics were impeccable, but his strategy was never really tested since people in those days didn’t understand chess as deeply as they do now. But if we want to learn how to attack, we look at Morphy’s games.

Ok, in this game Morphy was just 21, and was playing an exhibition match against 2 people: Duke Karl and Count Isouard, who were allowed to talk with each other. The Duke and the Count are not chess masters, and Paul Morphy was, so this match was never likely to end well for the two noblemen. We’ll see just how quickly Morphy dispatches with the Duke and the Count, and we’ll see why his moves are better than those of his two opponents.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6

We’ve already seen why e4/e5 and Nf3 are very common opening moves in chess. These moves establish a pawn in the centre, open up a diagonal for a bishop to develop, and even open up a diagonal for the queen to potentially develop later on (but as mentioned before, it’s generally best not to bring the queen out too early). Nf3 is played to develop the knight and attack the black e-pawn, and the most common response is for black to play Nf6 to develop their own knight and defend the black e-pawn. However, in this case black has played d6 to defend the e-pawn, and this is the Philidor Defence. With this move black shuts off the diagonal for his dark squared bishop, but opens up the diagonal for his light-squared bishop, and also places another pawn near the centre of the board.

3. d4 Bg4

Morphy responds to black’s boring opening by playing d4, breaking open the centre. Breaking open the centre usually results in more space for the pieces, for both white and black, leading generally to a more attacking and open game

4. dxe5 Bxf3?

Morphy captures the black e-pawn and with this officially breaks open the centre. Black chooses to exchange his light-squared bishop for the white knight on f3 which is probably a slightly bad decision. Generally bishops are very slightly more valuable than knights, even though they are both worth 3 points. As mentioned before this is because bishops are generally more useful than knights in the endgame, because bishops have long range and can move from one side of the board to the other quickly, whereas knights cannot. Also having a pair of bishops can be very powerful, whereas a pair of knights is generally not as powerful. Therefore, in general it is wise not to exchange your bishops for your opponent’s knights unless you have a good reason to. In this game there is no good reason for black to exchange his light-squared bishop for the white knight and so it is probably a slightly bad move

5. Qxf3 dxe5

Morphy could have recaptured on f3 with either his g-pawn or his queen. He chose to recapture with his queen because this develops his queen to a more attacking square. Also, capturing with the g-pawn would have left Morphy with a hole in his pawn structure, which would weaken his pawns and make them more susceptible to attack

6. Bc4 Nf6

White develops his bishop to the c4 square where it is attacking the f7 pawn. This move also gives white the threat of playing Qxf7# next move which would have been checkmate. Black plays Nf6 to block the white queen from taking f7 and also helps black develop his knight. While these are good reasons to play Nf6, unfortunately in this case 6…Nf6 is a bad move because black has missed a tactic that white can do next move. A better move for black would have been 6…Qf6, which protects the f7 pawn. Now white can attack both the black b-pawn and the f-pawn with his next move, and black will have no way to defend both pawns

7. Qb3! Qe7

As discussed in the move before, Morphy plays Qb3 which attacks both the black b-pawn and f-pawn. Black has no way of defending both pawns so he chooses to defend the pawn closer to his king

8. Nc3! c6

But wait, Morphy chooses not to take the free black b-pawn! Why has he chosen not to take the free material on offer? Because he recognises that his opponent is on the back-foot and that there might be an opportunity to attack. Black’s pieces are all in a defensive position, he has weaknesses he must defend on b7 and f7, his dark-squared bishop will take time to develop and he is still at least 2 moves away from castling. All of these things make Morphy believe that he has an opportunity to attack black and gain an even bigger advantage than just a free pawn. Black plays c6 to defend the b7 pawn and also prevent the white knight from entering d5 and attacking the black queen

9. Bg5 b5?

Morphy develops his other bishop and pins black’s only active piece, the knight on f6. Black responds with b5, which seems on the face of it like a good move. He finally has gotten rid of his weakness on b7, and is now driving away white’s light-squared bishop. Unfortunately, black has spent too many moves moving pawns instead of developing his pieces, and because white has such a huge lead in development, Morphy can now afford to sacrifice some pieces to keep up the attack

10. Nxb5! cxb5?

A brilliant sacrifice by Morphy. Of course all of Morphy’s moves so far have been brilliant - with every move he is always finding a way to both develop his pieces and attack at the same time - no move is wasted. Morphy is sacrificing his knight for two pawns - which under normal circumstances of course would be a bad move, but in this situation white is far ahead in development and can afford to sacrifice some pieces to keep him in an attacking position. Morphy also recognises that after sacrificing the knight, white’s pieces will all be in attacking positions whilst black’s pieces will be stuck in defensive positions. White’s pieces would then be free to move wherever they want and carry out any plan Morphy wanted them to - whilst black would not be able to move his pieces without losing material.

With all this in mind, black should have recognised that he was in danger and should not have taken the white knight. 10…cxb5? Is a mistake, black should have played 10…Qb4+ which forces white to exchange queens. After the exchange of queens, it is much more difficult for white to attack quickly. Of after 10…Qb4+ of course white would still be winning by a pawn and would probably still have won, but at least it would give black more of a fighting chance

11. Bxb5+ Nbd7

Morphy recaptures the pawn and black blocks the check with his knight

12. O-O-O Rd8

Morphy castles and with this move also further attacks the black knight on d7 with his rook. Black defends the d7 knight with the only piece available - his rook. Now black is really starting to look like he is curled up into a ball

13. Rxd7 Rxd7

Morphy removes another defender of black’s king. He knows that black’s dark squared bishop and rook on h8 are never going to be able to defend black’s king in time

14. Rd1 Qe6

Morphy places more pressure on black’s pinned rook on d7 - it is always a good idea to put more pressure on pinned pieces. Black plays Qe6 to try to unpin his knight on f6 and also to try to exchange queens - but it is too late - his pieces are too defensive and he is too far behind in development. He should have done this on move 10 like we mentioned where he still might have had a chance. Now watch the final few moves as Morphy finishes it off in style

15. Bxd7+ Nxd7 16. Qb8+!! Nxb8

Morphy finishes the game with a queen sacrifice. Black replies with his only legal move - Nxb8

17. Rd8# mate

Key lessons:

- Development, Development, Development! - The key lesson is to learn from how Morphy always develops his pieces. In the early stage of the game all of Morphy’s moves were aimed towards development and at the same time attacking his opponent’s pieces - which keeps his opponent on the defensive and gives Morphy more opportunities to further develop his pieces and further attack

- Sacrifices - See also, how under the right circumstances, a sacrifice can give you an attacking advantage and help you win. Of course sacrificing material in the wrong circumstances will just end up in you losing material for no reason. But if you think that sacrificing some material will give you a strong attack, will give you more options and keep your opponent on the defensive for at least the foreseeable future, then it might be a good move.

- Don’t Sacrifice Your Queen Unless You Are Sure - Finally, don’t sacrifice your queen like Morphy did unless you are absolutely sure it will lead to you winning

2. Adolf Anderssen VS Lionel Adalbert Bagration Felix Kieseritsky

London (1851), King's Gambit: Accepted

The Immortal Game

Ok so onto our next game and it’s probably the most famous one of all time - as you’d expect from a game nicknamed “The Immortal Game”. In 1851 Anderssen was considered probably the strongest player in the world - even though there were no formal world championships. Paul Morphy would have still been only 14 years old in 1851 and would not come to prominence until a few years later. Kieseritsky was born in Dorpat in Livonia (a country which doesn’t exist now and is probably considered part of Estonia) and was also a very strong chess master. This game between Anderssen and Kieseritsky was actually a friendly game played during a break during a tournament in London.

There’s a bit of context to understand before we dive into the game. In 1851, the style of chess was much more attacking than it is today. It was what we call the “romantic era” of chess - where players would throw pieces at each other and attack wildly and sacrifice all kinds of material in order to gain the initiative. No-one really paid much attention to defence. You’ll see that this will therefore be an exciting game - and the finishing attack is what has given this game the nickname “The Immortal Game”.

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4

This opening is called the King's Gambit. Anderssen sacrifices his f-pawn in exchange for more control of the centre and more attacking chances (but this move violates rule #7 of our opening rules so I wouldn’t recommend you try it). You can already see that players in Anderssen’s day didn’t show much respect for material. Kieseritsky accepts the pawn

3. Bc4!? Qh4+

White develops his bishop to c4 which in my opinion is a very adventurous move, since he is allowing black to play 3…Qh4+ where white will be forced to move his king and therefore won’t be able to castle. Bc4 is a very attacking move by white - already on the 3rd move white is paying no attention to defence and is purely aiming to develop his pieces and attack as quickly as possible

4. Kf1 b5?!

White of course must move his king since if he instead tries 4. g3 fxg3 5. Nf3 g2+ 6. Nxh4 gxh1=Q, black has gained back his queen and will also be up a rook. White instead must therefore move his king, and f1 is probably a safer square than e7. White of course will not be able to castle anymore having moved his king. Black plays b5 which is an attempt to give back material to catch-up in development. The idea is to lure white’s bishop away from centre, thereby placing white’s bishop out of position. It’s questionable whether it was worth a whole pawn just to achieve this though

5. Bxb5 Nf6

White recaptures the pawn and black develops his knight

6. Nf3 Qh6 7. d3 Nh5

White solidifies his centre which of course he has more control over since he has 2 centre pawns and black only has 1. Black’s move Nh5 threatens a fork next move by Ng3+ and also protects the f-pawn, but on the downside it moves his knight to the edge of the board where it is less useful. A developing move such as 7…Bc5 would have been better

8. Nh4 Qg5

White’s move stops the black threat of Ng3+, opens up a line for his queen to come out and also white is looking to get his knight to the f5 square where it will attack the black queen and control critical centre squares. Black moves his queen to a more active square where the white knight will not be able to attack it next move, and also threatens white’s bishop

9. Nf5 c6

White gets his knight to f5. Black’s move c6 attacks white’s bishop, unpins his d-pawn and controls the d5 square

10. g4 Nf6

11. Rg1! cxb5?

Rg1 is an piece sacrifice from white, sacrificing his bishop on b5. Black accepts, but now his queen is trapped away from the action, giving White a lead in development.

12. h4!  Qg6

Black’s queen is now trapped by white’s pieces and will find it difficult to get into the game

13. h5 Qg5 14. Qf3

White now has two threats: Bxf4, trapping Black's queen (the queen having no safe place to go); and e5, attacking Black's knight at f6 while simultaneously exposing an attack by White's queen on the unprotected black rook at a8.

14. … Ng8

This deals with the threats, but leaves Black even further behind in development - now the only black piece not on its starting square is the queen, which is about to be put on the run, while White has control over a great deal of the board.

15. Bxf4 Qf6

Black is a piece up in the above diagram but you can see how white has a huge lead in development. It’s no use having an extra piece if none of your pieces are in the game! White is much better here.

16. Nc3 Bc5 17. Nd5 Qxb2

White responds to the attack with a counterattack. Nd5 threatens the black queen and also Nc7+, forking the king and rook. Black replies by taking a pawn on b2, threatening to win white’s rook on a1 next.

18. Bd6! Bxg1?

White ignores the attacks on both of his rooks and goes for an all out attack on Black’s king. Black duly accepts one of the rooks, but really he should be more concerned about defending his king

19. e5! Qxa1+

White sacrifices yet another white rook. This move blocks Black’s queen from coming back to defend the king, and threatens mate in two: 19. Nxg7+ Kd8 20. Bc7#.

20. Ke2 Na6

The Black knight tries to cover the c7 square as White was threatening checkmate, but it’s too little too late for Black

21. Nxg7+ Kd8 22. Qf6+!!!

We’ve given this move 3 exclamation marks because it’s so amazing. White sacrifices his queen to finish off the game

22... Nxf6 23. Be7# mate

At the end, Black is ahead in material by a considerable margin: a queen, two rooks, and a bishop. But the material does not help Black. White has been able to use his remaining pieces - which are only two knights and a bishop - to force mate.

Key Lessons:

- Development (again) - Development is so important that I’m just going to repeat it again and again. In this game that we’ve just seen notice how black’s lack of development cost him the game even though he was up lots of material.

- Tactics - Anderssen would never have been able to pull off his amazing finishing attack without calculating very precisely that he could afford to sacrifice so much material in order to mate his opponent. If he had misjudged his attack then he might have found that he could not checkmate his opponent and instead was left down a lot of material.

- Always look for checkmate - Anderssen found checkmate where others would see nothing. Whenever your pieces are near your opponent’s king there are often checkmate opportunities, so train yourself to look for them all the time.

3. Adolf Anderssen vs Jean Dufresne

London (1852), Evans Gambit

The Evergreen Game

A year after his brilliant sacrifice in the immortal game, Anderssen was back in brilliant sacrificial form with this game against Jean Dufresne

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4

This is the Evans gambit, which used to be a very popular opening in the 19th century and is still quite popular today at club level. The first 3 moves follow the incredibly common Italian game that we have seen numerous times already. White then offers black a pawn with 4. b4, luring black’s pieces away from the centre, and allowing white to play 5. c3 and 6. d4 to gain quick control of the centre. Unfortunately this opening is not as popular these days at top level because people now think it is doubtful whether this quick control of the centre is worth the sacrifice of a whole pawn.

5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 exd4 7. 0-0 d3

White offers yet another pawn by castling instead of recapturing the pawn and does this for further rapid development. Black declines this offer and tries to slow down white’s development a little bit with 7. … d3, which stops white playing cxd4 which would give him control of the centre and also free up the c3 square for white’s knight.

8. Qb3 Qf6

White elects not to take the d3 pawn and carries on with his development.

9. e5 Qg6

Black cannot take white’s e5 pawn. If 9. … Nxe5 then 10. Re1 d6 11. Qa4+ and white forks the black king and bishop.

10. Re1 Nge7 11. Ba3 b5

Black offers a pawn in order to activate his b8 rook with tempo.

12. Qxb5 Rb8 13. Qa4 Bb6

Black wants to castle as soon as possible but can’t at the moment because Bxe7 would win a piece for white. Black therefore plays Bb6 to protect his bishop and therefore allow him to castle next move.

14. Nbd2 Bb7?

Black’s really should have castled now with white’s pieces in threatening positions. Bb7 is therefore a bit of a mistake.

15. Ne4 Qf5?

White moves his knight to the fantastic e4 centre square where the knight is ready to jump to a number of squares in order to attack. Black’s Qf5 is a bit of a waste of a move to be honest, I’m not sure what he was thinking. The queen will have to move again next move.

16. Bxd3 Qh5 17. Nf6+! gxf6

A dramatic sacrifice from white. Let us see what he has planned.

18. exf6 Rg8 19. Rad1! Qxf3

Rad1 is a very subtle move which sets a trap for black. Black walks right into the trap with Qxf3, but there are hardly many better moves available for black anyway.

20. Rxe7+! Nxe7?

White sacrifices his rook and with this begins his final winning combination. Black’s move Nxe7 is actually a mistake, black could have put up more resistance with 20. … Kd8. White however would still be winning in any case after 20. … Kd8 with 21. Rxd7+ Kc8 22. Rd8+!! Kxd8 23. Bf5+ Qxd1+ 24. Qxd1+ Nd4 and white has won black’s queen.

Now watch final 4 moves as white finishes black with a powerful combination. At this point black cannot avoid being mated.

21. Qxd7+!! Kxd7

Another queen sacrifice! Black will be mated soon now, he cannot avoid it.

22. Bf5+ Ke8

Bf5+ is double check and therefore the black king is forced to move

23. Bd7+ Kf8 24. Bxe7# mate

The final mate using just the rook and two bishops is very pretty indeed, especially as if black had just one more move he could deliver checkmate himself.

Key lessons:

- Evan’s gambit - you might like to try the Evan’s gambit at some point even though these days it’s not good enough for very top level play. Still the idea of a gambit is very useful to know and the Evan’s gambit is a classic example - sacrificing a non-centre pawn in order to gain a tempo and quick control of the centre and get rapid development.

- Development (yet again)! - see how both sides will often forgo material in order to get their pieces out as quickly as possible

- Importance of castling - white was able to win because he developed his pieces rapidly, and black developed his pieces quite quickly as well but not as quickly as white, and black left castling too late. White was able to take advantage of black’s exposed king in the centre and attack quickly before black could get his king safe.

4. Robert Steel vs Not Known

Calcutta (1886), Steinitz Gambit

Moving on from professional games, this is a game between Robert Steel, who was a member of the executive council of the Viceroy of India, against an unknown player. The game was played in Calcutta in 1886. This game doesn’t have a special name unfortunately like the “Immortal Game” and the “Evergreen Game” that we’ve seen before - this is just a regular game, but it is still quite well known among chess fans.

In this game watch out for how aggressive and attack-minded white is, so much so that he completely disregards his own safety and just risks it all on attacking black.

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 exf4 4. d4 Qh5+

This is the Steinitz Gambit, very similar to the king’s gambit (as you may have noticed) except white actually allows black to play the dangerous Qh5+ move and harass white’s king. If you recall, in the openings chapter we discussed that you as white do not want to allow black to play this move, as your king will be harassed and you can often find yourself in all sorts of danger. However, Robert Steel was a very daring character, and he plays this very risky opening allowing black to play Qh5+. His king will now have to move, and he won’t be able to castle anymore, but in return he gets full control of the centre which will give him space to get his pieces out quickly and launch a quick attack. This opening is not very popular these days, as people now think the control of the centre you attain is not really worth the indignity that your king has to suffer, and personally I wouldn’t recommend it myself.

Black’s plan is to attack white’s already exposed king, so you’ll see both players attack like crazy in this game and it will be a race to see who can pull off a successful attack first.

5. Ke2 d5

White is forced to move his king (if white plays 5. g3 then black plays 5. … fxg3 6. Nf3 g2+! 7. Nxh5 gxh1=Q and black has won a rook) and can no longer castle.

Black sacrifices his d5 pawn in order to break up white’s centre and open up the e-file to attack white’s king.

6. exd5 Bg4+

White accepts black’s sacrifice by playing exd5 and exposes his king to potential attacks from black rooks along the e-file. Black attacks white’s king and develops his bishop in the same move.

7. Nf6 0-0-0!?

A very interesting move from black, who elects to develop rapidly by castling and thereby sacrifice his knight. His idea is to get his rook onto the e-file as quickly as possible to attack white’s king.

8. dxc6 Bc5

White accepts the knight on offer. Black develops his bishop to c5 where it attacks the d4 pawn and also potentially would help in attacking the white king soon (of course white cannot take the bishop on c5 because the pawn on d4 is pinned to the queen). The game is now finely in the balance, white is a whole piece up, but his king is exposed and in a dangerous position, and black has many more pieces developed than white, with black’s two bishops, queen and rook all coming to attack the white king soon.

9. cxb7 Kb8!?

This move may surprise you. Instead of taking white’s pawn on b7, black actually chooses to hide behind white’s b7 pawn and use it as shelter! Now white cannot check black’s king along the b-file, because his own pawn is in the way! This is actually a common idea in a lot of master games.

10. Nb5 Nf6

White places his knight nearer the black king in order to potentially threaten it and at the same time protects the pawn on d4. Black brings his knight out and completes his development - he is now ready to throw everything at white.

11. c3 Rhe8+

White protects his pawn on d4. Black brings his h rook into the game and attacks white’s king along the e-file.

Who is winning here? If it were me looking at this position I would say black now looks very strong. White’s king is un-castled in the middle of the board, black has an open e-file which he can use to attack the white king, and all of his pieces are out and ready to attack, compared to white who is still largely undeveloped. However this game is full surprises, and white will play some very interesting moves now to get himself out of a tight spot.

12. Kd3 Bf5+

White only had two options, Kd2 or Kd3, which both look pretty scary (Kd2 would have been met by Qf2+). He chose Kd3 instead.

13. Kc4 Be6+

Where is the white king going! He’s going for a walk! This is not to be recommended in your own games, but Robert Steel was a chess master and calculated that he could get away with this. Bear in mind that white is still a full piece up so if he can find a way to survive this then he’ll be winning the endgame.

14. Kxc5 a5!

Black sacrifices his bishop in order to lure white’s king even further away from safety. White accepts the sacrifice and is now 2 pieces ahead, although white’s king is now in black’s half of the board. Black then plays a5!, offering to sacrifice his queen which is sitting on h4 and being attacked by the white’s knight, in order to stop the white king moving back towards its own pieces where it would be safer. However, white cannot take black’s queen on h4 otherwise he would get mated, for example, 15. Nxh4 Ne4+ 16. Kc6 Bd5#.

15. Nxc7 Qh5+

White now offers to sacrifice a knight and give back some of the material in order to break down the defence around black’s king. Black chooses to save his queen for the moment instead of taking the white knight immediately

16. Ne5!? Nd7+

White blocks the check with his knight which offers to sacrifice his queen sitting on d1! However, this move is not as strange as it initially seems, as white calculated that even if black took the white queen on d1, white would win the queen back very quickly. For example if black played 16. … Qxd1 then white would play 17. Nc6+ Kxc7 18. Bxf4+ Kxb7 19. Rxd1 and white has won his queen back, or the game could go 17. Nc6+ Kxb7 18. Ba6+ Kxa6 19. Rxd1 and again white has won his queen back. Black therefore checks with the Knight to move white’s king to a worse square, and then black will take the white queen on the next move

17. Kb5 Qxd1

White moves his king out of check and Black now finally takes the white queen

18. Bxf4! Qxa1

White sacrifices a rook in order to bring another piece into the attack against black’s king. Black accepts the sacrifice.

19. Ka6! Nxe5

White’s king has now become an attacking piece!

20. Nxe8 f6

With Nxe8 white was threatening mate by 21. Bxe5. Black therefore defends the mate by playing f6

21. dxe5 f5

White takes Black’s knight and black cannot take back the pawn on e5 otherwise he will be mated after white plays Bxe5. Therefore Black plays f5 instead.

22. Be3 Rxe8

White switches his bishop to another diagonal in order to attack the black king. Black finally takes the white knight, now that it is safe to do so.

23. Bb5! Qxh1

White sacrifices another rook in order to bring his other bishop to attack the black king. Black accepts the sacrifice

At this point the history books are in some dispute over what moves were played next. Apparently people say that the actual game ended in a draw from this point, as white played 24. Bc5 Rd8 25. Ba7+ Kc7 26. Bb6+ and the game ended in a draw by perpetual check as white will play Ba7+, Bb6+, Ba7+, Bb6+ etc. until the game is drawn by threefold repetition. However, Robert Steel himself published the following variation in which he thinks he could have won the game, and this variation is much more exciting so it is the one we shall show below

24. Ba7+ Kc7 25. Bc5 Rd8?

After 25. Bc5, white was threatening to play 26. Bd6+ Kd8 27. b8=Q+ and black would be mated in a few moves. So to defend this, black played 25. … Rd8 so that if white played Bd6+ black could then play Rxd6 and still remain a full queen ahead. However 25. … Rd8 turns out to actually be a big mistake, as the next move will show.

26. Ka7! Black resigns

An extraordinary position. There is no defence for black to the threat of white eventually playing Bb6+ mate (black can play some delaying moves such as giving up the queen but eventually white will mate black with Bb6+).

Instead of playing 25. … Rd8, which was black’s final mistake, black could have saved the game by playing 25. … Rc8! where white’s best move at that point would have been to take a draw by giving perpetual check by 26. Bb6+ Kb8 27. Ba7+ Bc7 28. Bb6+ Kb8 etc.

Key lessons:

- Tactics (again) - This was a very tactical game with lots of sacrifices being offered by both sides in order to bring more pieces to attack quickly against the opponent’s king. We can learn a lot from the tactics on show in this game and this game shows that complex positions can be a good thing

- The king can be an attacking piece! - now walking your king into the middle of the board is really not be recommended for most people. However, it can work as Robert Steel shows here. Steel allows his king to be harassed in exchange for control of the centre and quick development. If you are going to try something like this however, please make sure that you calculate very, very carefully, otherwise you might find yourself mated before you know it.

- Attack, attack, attack! - in this game Robert Steel gave no thought to defence and his sole objective was to get his pieces out and attack the black king, even if that meant his king got chased all the way up the board! I am not saying it’s a good idea to be as aggressive as Robert Steel was in this game, but if you calculate very accurately, and make sure that your attack is stronger than your opponent’s attack, then you can win games this way.

5. David Janowski vs Jose Raul Capablanca

New York (1916), Queen’s Gambit Declined

Jose Raul Capablanca (1888-1942) was one of the greatest players of all time. Look at any list of the greatest ever chess players and he will likely be in the top 3, if not number 1. He was born in Havana, Cuba, and, like Paul Morphy years before him, completely dominated chess during his time. We’ve already seen a few games from Capablanca in our endgames section, and now we’ll look at a full game from him.

Capablanca was World Chess Champion from 1921 to 1927, and he actually went 8 years undefeated between 1916 and 1924. Capablanca was known for his simplicity of play, his incredible skill in the endgames, and he would often make winning the game look very easy, which often disheartened many of his opponents. He was also known as a bit of a character during his time. While many people considered him a genius at chess, he was also confident, charismatic (almost to the point of being a bit cocky) and was known as a womaniser.

The following game is against Janowski who is an opponent that Capablanca played many times, with Capablanca winning most of the time. Capablanca is black in this game and we will watch as he plays a very simple game and slowly improves his position by manoeuvring his pieces to strong squares where they control many squares. Once Capablanca’s pieces are in better positions than his opponent, he can then choose to attack the weak pawns in white’s position. Let us see how Capablanca does this.

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 c6

This opening is the Queen’s Gambit Declined. It’s the same as the King’s Gambit that we saw earlier except that white offers to sacrifice a pawn on the queenside rather than the kingside. Black chooses not to take the pawn that white is offering, and that is why the opening is called the Queen’s Gambit Declined (if black chose to take the pawn that white offered, then the opening would be called the Queen’s Gambit Accepted).

The Queen’s gambit is actually more often declined than accepted. Why is this? Well if you remember in our discussion of the King’s Gambit, white offers to sacrifice his f-pawn, which would weaken his king’s defences and leave black a pawn ahead, and because of this black often accepts pawn in the King’s Gambit. In return however, white gets control of the centre and rapid development. In the Queen’s gambit however, white offers to sacrifice his c-pawn, and doing so doesn’t weaken his king’s defences, but still does give white control of the centre and rapid development. Because accepting the pawn on offer in the Queen’s gambit does not weaken white’s king, it is not so attractive for black to accept the Queen’s Gambit.

4. Nc3 Bf5 5. Qb3 Qb6

Both players play some normal developing moves, getting their pieces out towards the centre. Notice that with the last move, 5. … Qb6, Capablanca is inviting a trade of queens. This was typical of Capablanca, he often liked to simplify the game as much as he could, as he knew that in the long term, his technique and exceptional endgame skill would win him the game.

6. Qxb6 axb6

White accepts the trade of queens. Black now has doubled pawns on the b-file, which are usually a weakness. Has Capablanca made a mistake already by allowing himself to have doubled pawns? Actually in this case Capablanca decided that although his doubled b-pawns look potentially weak, they are actually very difficult for white to attack. If you look at the position, it is very difficult for white’s knight to get to a4 or c4 where it could attack the b-pawns (both a4 and c4 are controlled by black), also white’s dark-squared bishop cannot get to a position where it can attack the b6 pawn as it is hampered by its own pawn on d4, and white’s rooks may be able to get to a position to attack the b-pawns eventually but it would take many moves. In the meantime, Capablanca already has a plan to use his b-pawns. He wants to put his knight on c4, where it will attack many squares in white’s position, and he will move his pawn to b5 to support the knight.

7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Nxd5 cxd5

Both players exchange pawns and knights in the centre.

9. e3 Nc6 10. Bd2 Bd7!?

White plays a couple more normal developing moves. Capablanca develops his knight and then retreats his light squared bishop to d7. Why has he done this? It looks like he’s going backwards no? Well actually remember Capablanca’s plan of moving his knight to c4 and then supporting it with a b5 pawn? Capablanca wants to first protect the b5 square with his bishop and then move his pawn to b5. Because the queens are off the board and there is no immediate danger, Capablanca has calculated that he has time to carry out this plan, even though yes, he is going backwards.

11. Be2 e6 12. 0-0 Bd6

Both players play a couple more developing moves. White develops his bishop and gets castled. Capablanca supports his central d5 pawn and then moves his dark-squared bishop to d6 - a great square for the bishop in this position, as from here it can see all the squares down the a3-d6 diagonal and also the d6-h2 diagonal.

13. Rfc1 Ke7

Capablanca decides not to castle and instead puts his king on e7. This is because in this position, with the queens off the board and the pawns in a closed structure, Capablanca sees that his king is quite safe in the centre. When it gets to the endgame, Capablanca’s king will be closer to the action and will be able to act first - which could give him an edge in the endgame.

14. Bc3 Rhc8 15. a3 Na5

White plays a couple of fairly boring moves. White doesn’t seem to really have a good plan yet. Capablanca on the other hand is getting ready to move his knight to c4.

16. Nd2 f5

White senses the danger of the black knight coming to c4 and plays Nd2 to try to protect that square. Capablanca plays f5 to lock down on the central e4 square, trying to make it difficult for white to play e4 and open up the centre

17. g3 b5

Capablanca finally plays b5 and is getting ready to move his knight to c4

18. f3 Nc4!

White plays f3, preparing to play e4 anyway and open up the centre despite Capablanca’s attempts to stop him. Capablanca finally gets his knight to the c4 square!

19. Bxc4 bxc4

White decides that the black knight on c4 is too dangerous and takes him off immediately. Capablanca may have lost his knight on c4, but in return look how much space he has on the queenside. His c4 pawn supported by his d5 pawn, as well as his rooks controlling the a-file and c-file, mean that white basically can make no progress on the queenside.

20. e4! Kf7

After a few fairly mediocre moves from white, e4 is actually a good move from white. If black takes on e4 then the centre will open up, and black’s king is in the centre so this could potentially expose the black king to attack. If black does nothing, then white can take on d5 or f5 and the e-file will open up, which again could expose the black king to attack, or white could even play e5, gaining space for himself in the centre and also chasing black’s dark-squared bishop back. Because of this, Capablanca has to make a compromise, and decides to put his king on f7 where at least it will be sheltered from checks along the e-file.

21. e5 Be7 22. f4 b5

White chooses to play e5 and chase black’s bishop back. White then solidifies his centre with f4, and black prepares to attack on the queenside with b5.

Let’s have a look at the position here. Which side is better? The answer is that Capablanca’s black side is a little bit better. Although white has more space in the centre, black has complete control over the queenside and can decide when to attack on the queenside. Black also has a very strong dark-squared bishop on e7, which is controlling many squares along the a3-e7 and e7-h4 diagonals. In contrast white’s dark-squared bishop is pretty useless at the moment, being blocked by its own pawns, and white’s knight will find it difficult getting to a square where it can attack black’s pieces. For these reasons Capablanca’s position is better at the moment.

We will now watch as Capablanca will choose his moment to attack on the queenside, and then, having lured white’s defences to the queenside, he will quickly switch his attention to the kingside and attack the undefended kingside.

23. Kf2 Ra4 24. Ke3 Rca8

White spends a couple of moves getting his king towards the centre where it can start to be used in attack (notice that Capablanca moved his king to the centre immediately and therefore saved himself time). Capablanca doubles his rooks on the a-file and is now threatening to play b4, which would break up white’s position and allow black to attack white’s weak b2 pawn.

25. Rab1 h6 26. Nf3 g5!

And here we go! As we mentioned before, having lured all of white’s pieces to the queenside, Capablanca now opens up the kingside so that he can now attack on the kingside.

27. Ne1 Rg8 28. Kf3 gxf4 29. gxf4 Raa8

White is planning to move his knight to g2 where it will protect the f4 pawn and stop the black rook from going to a4 where it could attack white’s a2 pawn. Capablanca opens up the g-file and gets ready to double rooks on the g-file

30. Ng2 Rg4 31. Rg1 Rag8

White gets his knight to g2 and then gets his rook to g1 to protect from black’s attack on the g-file. Capablanca doubles his rooks on the g-file.

32. Be1 b4!

Surprise! Capablanca switches his attack back to the queenside, having made white think that he would now be attacking the kingside. He sacrifices his b4 pawn so that his light-squared bishop can now join the attack.

33. axb4 Ba4 34. Ra1 Bc2

White switches his rook to attack the now open a-file. Capablanca infiltrates his light-squared bishop into white’s position via a4 and c2, and his bishop is now headed for e4, where it will attack many squares in white’s position.

35. Bg3 Be4+!

White moves his bishop to g3 in an effort to strengthen his defences on the kingside. Capablanca moves his light-squared bishop to the e4 square, where it dominates the position.

36. Kf2 h5!

Capablanca threatens to now play h4, trapping the white bishop, and white now has simply no way to stop this. If white tried to block black’s pawn by playing 37. h4, black would simply play 37. … Rxg3 and take white’s bishop.

37. Ra7 Bxg2 38. Rxg2 h4

Capablanca finally plays h4 and now white has no way to defend his bishop. White decides to instead sacrifice the exchange so that he will have Rook and Bishop vs Rook and Rook, which he thinks will give him slightly more chances to draw, but by this point the game is more or less lost for white anyway, and Capablanca will finish the game off fairly easily in the next few moves.

39. Bxh4 Rxg2+ 40. Kf3 Rxh2 41. Bxe7 Rh3+

White hopes that his rook and bishop combination will be able to harass black’s king enough to maybe give white some drawing chances, but these hopes are in vain. Capablanca will finish off the game in the next few moves. He is preparing to take white’s b2 pawn and then he will get his other rook to join the attack against the white king.

42. Kf2 Rb3 43. Bg5+ Kg6 44. Re7 Rxb2+ 45. Kf3 Ra8

Capablanca is threatening mate-in-one with Ra3#.

46. Rxe6+ Kh7 White resigns

White is completely lost and will get mated soon. After 47. Re7+ Kg8 white has now run out of checks. He could then try 48. Kg3 but then 48. … Ra3+ 49. Kh4 Rh2# is still mate. A brilliant display of strategic planning by Capablanca.

Key lessons

- Planning - notice Capablanca’s brilliant strategic planning throughout the game. There are many different types of plans that you can use to win your own games, but Capablanca shows us a brilliant example of a plan in this game, which he adapted over time as the game evolved. He first planned to expand on the queenside, pushing his pawns supported by his bishop. Then once he had control of the queenside, he used his queenside attack as a diversion tactic to quickly attack on the kingside. He then switched his attention back to queenside in order to get his light-squared bishop in to join the attack. Poor white at this point had no way to defend against all these threats and untangle his pieces properly, which eventually led to Capablanca winning material and then winning the game

- Getting your pieces to good squares - once you have developed your pieces it is important to then look for good squares for them to eventually go to where they could control a lot of squares and threaten your opponent. Capablanca showed two great examples of this with the knight on c4 (move 18) and his bishop on e4 (move 35)

- Stay on the attack - in general it is better to try to stay on the attack if you can rather than defending threats from your opponent all the time. This is simply because you will likely have more options and more space if you are attacking, while your opponent will likely have less options and will have to cramp up their pieces together to try defend. The more options you have, the more chances you will have to win the game. Capablanca showed a great example of this in this game. Notice that Capablanca was almost always the one on the offensive in this game. First he was probing down the queenside for weaknesses, then he switched to attacking on the kingside while his opponent struggled to get his pieces to defend the queenside and then quickly come back to defend the kingside. In the end white’s pieces were in a bit of a mess, and that allowed Capablanca to win material and then win the game. It is possible to win from a defensive position, but it is more difficult to do and in general I would recommend you to try to stay on the attack if you can as it will make life easier for you.

6. Jose Raul Capablanca vs Rafael Blanco Estera

Havana (1913), French Defence

After seeing the last game where we saw Capablanca execute a simple plan almost perfectly, let’s see another game of his where he uses the same principles, this time a slightly shorter game, where he again goes about a simple plan, attacking a weakness in his opponent’s position, and then finally using that threat as a diversion to attack the other side of the board before his opponent can react. In this game Capablanca is playing as white.

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6

Capablanca’s opponent (Mr. Blanco) chooses to play the French defence. Black chooses to open up the centre with 3. … dxe4 which will lead to a more open game and potentially more attacking game. So far both players have played some fairly normal developing moves and both players have developed their knights.

6. Nxf6 Nxf6 7. Ne5 Bd6

Capablanca plays 7. Ne5 which is the first really interesting move in the position. At first you might be questioning what Capablanca was thinking when he played this move, as he voluntarily moves his knight twice in the opening, and of course as we discussed before, it is usually a bad idea to move a piece twice in the opening as you want to get all your pieces out as quickly as possible and you don’t want to waste time moving the same piece twice. In this case however Capablanca plays Ne5 in order to stop his opponent playing b6 and then developing his bishop to b7, which means black has no good square to develop his light-squared bishop to (if black played b6 then white would play Bb5+ and black would have to play Bd7 and give up his light squared bishop, which is usually an important piece for black in this opening). Capablanca also gets his knight to a central square where it controls a lot of squares around the centre. Although Capablanca is wasting time by moving the same piece twice in the opening, he decided that the benefits of this move outweighed the downside of wasting time in the opening.

8. Qf3 c6?

Black plays c6 which is a very defensive move and doesn’t accomplish much. Black’s idea is to lock down on the d5 square and also open up the a5-d8 diagonal for his Queen to come out, but his queen won’t be much use if it develops to b6 or a5 anyway, so c6 was a bit of a waste of a move.

9. c3 0-0

Capablanca played c3 to defend against black’s threat which was to play 9. … Bxe5 10. dxe5 Qa5+ 11. Bd2 Qxe5+ which would win a pawn for black. Now black has no queen check on a5 and cannot use this tactic anymore. Black gets castled.

10. Bg5 Be7 11. Bd3 Ne8

Capablanca brings both bishops out to attack black’s king position. Capablanca now has his knight, two bishops and his queen all attacking the black king, and black is now on a very defensive mode. He brings his dark-squared bishop back to defend the knight on f6, which is a very important defender in this position. Then with Ne8, black is attempting to trade some pieces which will help lessen the attack from white.

12. Qh3 f5

Capablanca plays Qh3 which threatens mate-in-one with Qxh7# mate. Black plays f5 to block this.

13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. 0-0 Rf6

Black has managed to defend Capablanca’s kingside attack, and with black’s queen, knight and rook all defending the kingside, Capablanca will no longer be able to attack black’s kingside successfully. However, this has come at a cost for black - black has created a weakness for himself - and that weakness is his weak e6 pawn.

Now Capablanca’s plan is that he will spend the next few moves doing everything he can to attack black’s weak e6 pawn. Black will then have to cramp together all of his pieces in order to defend the weak e6 pawn, which will give Capablanca the freedom to move and place his pieces on ideal squares. Capablanca’s position will get better and better while black has to focus on defending his weak e6 pawn. Now let us watch as Capablanca executes his plan.

15. Rfe1 Nd6 16. Re2 Bd7 17. Rae1 Re8

Capablanca doubles rooks on the e-file, getting ready to attack black’s e6 pawn. You can see black already having to cramp his pieces together around the e6 pawn in order to defend it.

18. c4 Nf7

Capablanca plays c4 and gets ready to play d5, which would put more pressure on e6

19. d5 Nxe5 20. Rxe5 g6

Black played g6 in order to defend the f5 pawn, as white was threatening to play 21. Bxf5 Rxf5 22. Qxf5 exf5 23. Rxe7 Rxe7 24. Rxe7 and white would be easily winning

21. Qh4 Kg7 22. Qd4 c5

Capablanca skilfully manoeuvers his queen to the central d4 square where it threatens the pawn on a7 and also threatens dxe6, where black would not be able to recapture on e6 because his rook on f6 would be pinned by the white queen, and any recapture black tries would lead to him losing substantial material (for example 22. Qd4 b6 23. dxe6 Bxe6 24. Rxe6 Qf7 25. Rxe8 and black is simply a rook down and completely lost). Because of this black is forced to play c5 in order to defend against both threats.

23. Qc3 b6

Capablanca’s position is much better than his opponent’s position, as Capablanca’s pieces are free to move, whereas black’s pieces are pretty much stuck trying to defend the e6 pawn.

24. dxe6 Bc8 25. Be2! Bxe6

Capablanca plays Be2! which at first looks like a mistake because it allows black to recapture the e6 pawn. However, Capablanca’s plan is to eventually get his bishop to the d5 square, at which point all of white’s pieces will be in attacking positions and all of black’s pieces will be more or less unable to move.

26. Bf3 Kf7 27. Bd5 Qd6

In this position you can now see how dominant Capablanca’s position is. Black’s pieces are more or less stuck defending the bishop on e6, whereas white’s pieces are free to move. Now that black’s pieces are stuck, Capablanca’s plan now is to get his queen to h6 (attacking the now undefended h7 pawn) and then play h4 and h5, breaking up the pawns defending the black king.

28. Qe3 Re7

Capablanca is getting ready to play Qh6 and attack the h7 pawn, whereas black is simply shuffling around trying to defend.

29. Qh6 Kg8 30. h4 a6

With black unable to move any of his pieces, he simply plays a6, which accomplishes nothing. This just goes to show how bad black’s position is now.

31. h5 f4 32. hxg6 hxg6 33. Rxe6 black resigns

Black is completely lost. After 33. … R7xe6 34. Rxe6 Rxe6 35. Qxg6+ Kf8 36. Qxe6, Capablanca is simply a piece and a pawn ahead in the endgame, and will win easily. Another brilliant display of a simple plan carried out beautifully by Capablanca.

Key lessons

- Planning (again) - Again we saw brilliant planning by Capablanca throughout the game. Capablanca always had a plan of how to try to improve his position, and he was willing to adapt his plan as the game went on. First he tried to get his pieces out to attack black’s kingside. Black managed to defend the kingside attack, but at a cost of creating a weakness for himself which was a weak e6 pawn. Capablanca then went about bringing all his pieces to attack the weak e6 pawn, which forced black to go on the defensive and cramp his pieces together. Once black’s pieces were all stuck trying to defend e6, Capablanca was free to move and attack other weaknesses in black’s position (which were the a7 pawn and the weak h7 pawn). Once Capablanca was able to remove black’s h7 pawn, the defences around black’s king collapsed, and the game was won.

- Attacking a weakness - we saw in this game a perfect example of Capablanca finding a weakness in his opponent’s position, and bringing all his pieces to attack it. In this game, once Capablanca recognised that black’s e6 pawn was a weakness, every move thereafter was designed to either attack the e6 pawn or exploit that weakness. This kept black on the defensive while white’s pieces had freedom to move, giving Capablanca the freedom to choose what he wanted to attack or what plan he wanted to use to try win the game.

- Getting your pieces to good squares (again) - Capablanca again showed the importance of getting your pieces to good squares, and there were some brilliant examples in this game. Firstly Capablanca’s knight on e5 (move 7) turned out to be a real nuisance for black and controlled a lot of squares around the centre, as well as of course the e5 square, which prevented black from playing e5 and trying to get rid of his weakness on e6. Then, Capablanca’s queen on d4 (move 22) both attacked the a7 pawn and threatened to pin black’s rook on f6. On top of that the queen was able to move anywhere it wanted to on the board from that central d4 position. Finally, Capablanca’s bishop on d5 (move 27) occupied a central square, attacked black’s bishop on e6, and threatened to attack black’s king all at the same time

7. Donald Byrne VS Robert James Fischer

New York (1956), Gruenfeld Defence

“The Game of the Century”

We now move on to the 2nd greatest chess player of all time, Bobby Fischer (we’ll see the player that most people consider to be the greatest of all time, Garry Kasparov, a bit later. Capablanca is often considered the 3rd greatest chess player of all time).

Bobby Fischer (born 1943 - died 2008) was born in Chicago, United States. He was a chess prodigy, and by the age of 13 was already able to compete with adult master level players. At age 15 he became the youngest ever chess grandmaster at that time (a record which has since been surpassed. The current record for the youngest grandmaster is held by Sergey Karjakin, who in 2002 became a grandmaster at only 12 years old!). Fischer won the world championship in 1972 against Boris Spassky of the USSR, in one of the most famous world chess championships of all time, as it was seen as a fight between America and the USSR during the height of the cold war (we’ll see one of the games from that famous world championship in the next game).

Bobby Fischer was known for being a logical player and simply tried to play the best move in every position. He was very creative (you’ll see in this game many moves that you probably weren’t expecting!) and his style was fairly aggressive (though not as aggressive as Paul Morphy). He was strong in the endgames and also preferred bishops over knights. Many times he would get to an endgame where he would have a bishop and pawns and his opponent would have a knight and pawns, and Fischer would try to win the endgame from there.

Unfortunately in his later years Fischer began to exhibit strange behaviour and mental problems. After winning the world championship in 1972, Fischer more or less disappeared from the chess world. As he grew older he started to exhibit more and more outbursts of rage and was known for his very outspoken anti-Semitic views, despite the fact that his mother was Jewish. He died alone in Iceland at the age of 64.

During his chess career though, Fischer was an awesome player. The following game where Fischer plays black, was against Donald Byrne, who was one of the leading American chess masters. At the time this game was played, Donald Byrne was 26 years old, and Bobby Fischer was just 13! The game was later nicknamed the “Game of the Century” - and you’ll see why now. This game was a tactical masterpiece from Fischer, and you’ll see lots of complications and complex tactics during this game. It might be difficult to follow initially, but we’ll try our best to explain why the moves were played - in particular we’ll try to explain the weirdest-looking moves.

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. d4 0-0 5. Bf4 d5

White plays a fairly normal opening, getting his knights out to f3 and c3, his bishop to f4, and his central pawns out to c4 and d4. Fischer goes for a setup with his knight on f6 and a fianchettoed bishop on g7, an opening plan that he used in a lot of games as black. The idea of this setup that Fischer chooses is that although white has more pawns in the centre, black will eventually use the bishop on g7 to attack white’s centre pawns, and instead of white’s centre pawns being a strength as is usually the case, black will target them and turn them into a weakness. Fischer will eventually win those white centre pawns, but not before we see quite a few fireworks first.

6. Qb3 dxc4

With dxc4, Fischer is luring white’s queen to a square where it can be more easily attacked.

7. Qxc4 c6 8. e4 Nbd7 9. Rd1 Nb6

White establishes two pawns in the centre and now has control of the centre and more space for his pieces. White’s position therefore looks slightly better on the surface, but Fischer has better development which does compensate somewhat for his lack of control in the centre (Fischer has already castled and he only has to bring out his bishop to complete his development). Fischer is patiently biding his time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike at white’s position.

10. Qc5 Bg4

White moves his queen to c5 which is a bit of an awkward square for the queen. If white is not careful he could find his queen trapped as his queen is running low on squares to go to. Fischer now has all his pieces out (apart from his queen, which unfortunately doesn’t really have a good square to develop to which is why Fischer has left his queen at home) and is ready to attack. White really should castle soon to get his king safe, as Fischer’s pieces are already in position to attack white’s king which is still in the centre, but instead Byrne chooses not to castle and makes a mistake.

11. Bg5? Na4!!

White plays Bg5 which is his only big mistake of the game. White really should have prepared to castle by playing 11. Be2 followed by 12. 0-0, which would get white’s king safe as quickly as possible and prevent Fischer from launching the devastating attack that he does with Na4! White’s idea with Bg5 was to prevent black from playing 11. … Nfd7 12. Qa3 e5, allowing black to break open white’s centre, but white missed that Fischer could play Na4.

11. … Na4!! is a brilliant move from Fischer. Fischer offers a knight sacrifice, but white would be unwise to accept the sacrifice. If Byrne accepts the sacrifice and plays 12. Nxa4, Fischer would reply with 12. … Nxe4 and Fischer’s position would be much better no matter what white plays next. For example, from then on white could play 13. Qxe7 Qa5+ 14. b4 Qxa4 15. Qxe4 Rfe8 16. Be7 Bxf3 17. gxf3 Bf8 18. Qb1 Rxe7+ and in this position, although the material is equal, white’s king is unsafe, white’s pawn structure is ruined (black would very likely win many of the weak pawns in white’s position), and black has the attack. Black would be easily winning from this position. Or, for another example, white could try to retreat his queen with 13. Qc1 but then black would follow with 13. … Qa5+ 14. Nc3 Bxf3 15. gxf3 Nxg5 and Fischer would end up a pawn ahead and again white’s king is unsafe, and again Fischer would be easily winning. Basically, if white were to accept the knight on a4, his position would be almost lost no matter what moves he tried afterwards.

12. Qa3 Nxc3

White wisely declines black’s knight sacrifice and instead retreats his queen to a3. Fischer takes white’s knight on c3 which was the only defender of white’s e4 pawn.

13. bxc3 Nxe4!

Fischer again offers to sacrifice material with the move Nxe4! Fischer is tempting white to play 14. Bxe7 Qd5 15. Bxf8 Bxf8 where white would seem to win an exchange, but actually Fischer would end up winning the material back after 16. Qb3 Re8 17. Qxd5 cxd5 18. Bd3 Nxc3+ 19. Kd2 Nxd1 and Fischer would be a pawn up with a better position.

14. Bxe7 Qb6 15. Bc4 Nxc3!

White again wisely declines Fischer’s sacrifice and chooses not to take the rook on f8. But Fischer offers to sacrifice a knight again with Nxc3! If white accepted the knight on offer and played 16. Qxc3, Fischer would play 16. … Rae8 and Fischer would regain the piece as white’s dark-squared bishop on e7 is pinned and there is no good way for white to defend it. Once Fischer had taken the bishop on e7, Fischer would again be a pawn up with a better position.

16. Bc5 Rfe8+

White again refuses Fischer’s sacrifice, choosing to play Bc5 instead, attacking black’s queen. Fischer gets his rook on the e-file and attacks white’s king. Get ready for Fischer’s next move however, which will definitely surprise you!

17. Kf1 Be6!!

Fischer offers to sacrifice his queen with 17. … Be6!! This move is what made this game so famous and it is one of the most famous moves in chess history. Fischer calculated that he would win a lot of material for his queen, and he was correct. This time, white accepts the sacrifice, so let’s see what happens next.

18. Bxb6 Bxc4 19. Kg1 Ne2+

White is now up a queen, but Fischer will now unleash a “windmill” series of unstoppable discovered checks with the knight and bishop combined, and he will pick up as much material as he can along the way.

20. Kf1 Nxd4+

21. Kg1 Ne2+

You can see how Fischer uses his bishop and knight to launch a discovered check on the white king. The knight then goes off to pick up some material, and then returns to e2 to launch another discovered check on the white king.

22. Kf1 Nc3+ 23. Kg1 axb6

Finally Fischer stops with the discovered checks. He now stops to take the white bishop on b6, and will soon thereafter take white’s rook on d1 with his knight.

24. Qb4 Ra4

Fischer plays another useful move with Ra4, saving his light squared bishop.

25. Qxb6 Nxd1

Let’s have a look at the position now. Fischer now has a rook, two bishops and a pawn for the queen that he sacrificed - which equates to 12 points vs 9. Fischer has so much material that this game is already completely won. White could have resigned at this point, but let’s see how Fischer finished the game off.

26. h3 Rxa2 27. Kh2 Nxf2

Fischer wins a couple more pawns. He is now the equivalent of 5 pawns ahead

28. Re1 Rxe1 29. Qd8+ Bf8 30. Nxe1 Bd5

Fischer coordinates his pieces together. Look how almost all of Fischer’s pieces (apart from the b7 pawn) are defended, which means white has nothing to attack.

31. Nf3 Ne4 32. Qb8 b5 33. h4 h5

Fischer defends his b-pawn with the move b5 and then prevents white trying to break down his king’s defences with h5.

34. Ne5 Kg7

White was threatening 35. Nd7 which would win black’s pinned bishop on f8. Fischer plays Kg7 to break the pin and therefore prevent this from happening, which also allows Fischer’s dark-squared bishop to join in the attack against the white king.

35. Kg1 Bc5+

36. Kf1 Ng3+

Fischer starts to launch his mating attack with Ng3+. White will be mated in a few moves and there is nothing white can do to stop it at this point.

37. Ke1 Bb4+ 38. Kd1 Bb3+

Fischer’s bishops form a mating net around white’s king.

39. Kc1 Ne2+ 40. Kb1 Nc3+ 41. Kc1 Rc2# mate

Key lessons

- Creative tactics - Fischer showed ingenious tactics in this game (at only the tender age of 13!) and some of the calculation strength that he showed is truly phenomenal. He offered many sacrifices which caught his opponent by surprise, and of course the spectacular move 17. … Be6!!, offering a queen sacrifice, finally put the nail in the coffin for black. If you practice your tactics you too might be able to play creative sacrifices like Fischer does in your own games.

- Importance of castling early - although Fischer played brilliantly in this game, Byrne did make one crucial mistake early on in move 11 where he played 11. Bg5 and neglected to castle. This left white’s king in the centre and allowed Fischer to play the tactics that he did. Had Byrne castled earlier, Fischer’s tactics would not have worked and Byrne would have saved himself a lot of trouble. It’s important for us to remember to castle early unless there is a very good reason for us not to.

- Piece co-ordination - during the latter stages of the game, we saw a great example of piece coordination from Fischer (move 27 onwards) where he brought all of his pieces together so that they were defending each other and could work together to attack the white king. If you have the opportunity to do it, it is always a good idea to try to bring your pieces together so that they are defending each other and ready to attack a specific point together.

8. Robert James Fischer vs Boris Spassky

Reykjavik (1972), Queen’s Gambit Declined

World Chess Championship 1972, Game 6

Onto our next game and for this one we have another from the great Bobby Fischer. This game is from the famous World Chess Championship in 1972. This World Championship Match was famous not only for its chess, but more importantly for its political significance. The match was played at the height of the cold war, with tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union running at all time highs. Fischer obviously represented the United States, Spassky was from the Soviet Union, and it was thought that whichever nation won this chess match would prove that they were intellectually superior to the other. Both nations were therefore desperate for their representative to win the match, and both the public and politicians from both nations urged their players to do everything they could to win.

As to the match itself - it became famous for Fischer’s eccentric behaviour. For a start, he turned up to Iceland late, and the organisers had to postpone the match for two days just for him. He then made a series of unreasonable and bizarre demands, firstly demanding a percentage of the gate receipts before the match, then demanding that the chess board used be a specific one made by Jacques of London, and then complained about the spectators and the cameras distracting him in the playing room during the match, and demanded that the cameras be removed. Many people think that Fischer was making such a scene just to play mind-games with Spassky and throw Spassky’s concentration. Whatever Fischer’s plan was, he lost the first game and then refused to turn up to the second game, so he started the match 2-0 down. Despite the atrocious start, Fischer eventually won the match by 12.5 points to 8.5 points, and became the first ever American-born World Chess Champion.

This game is game 6 from the match, and is considered the best game of the match, due to Fischer’s brilliant play. You’ll see Fischer exploit a weakness in black’s position - on e6 again actually, similar to the Capablanca game that we saw earlier (game number 6 in this chapter)

1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d4 Nf6

This is another Queen’s Gambit Declined opening, similar to the Capablanca game we saw earlier in game number 5.

4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 0-0

Both players continue with normal developing moves.

6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 b6

Black kicks the white dark-squared bishop away with h6 and then plays b6, preparing to develop his light-squared bishop via fianchetto on b7. So far the game has been pretty normal.

8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Nxd5 exd5

After the exchanges in the middle, black’s pawn on d5 is blocking the b7 to h1 diagonal, and so black changes his mind and decides to develop his bishop on the c8 to h3 diagonal instead of fianchettoing it on b7. Fischer now has a semi-open c-file for his rook to use.

11. Rc1 Be6

Fischer gets his rook to the semi-open file and black develops his bishop to e6.

12. Qa4 c5

Fischer develops his queen and black then plays c5, a good move, threatening to break up white’s pawn centre, and also threatening perhaps to play c4, gaining space on the queenside. If black was allowed to play c4 then perhaps he might think about advancing his b and a-pawns and starting an attack on the queenside. However, Fischer doesn’t allow this

13. Qa3 Rc8 14. Bb5 a6

Fischer plays 14. Bb5 in order to bait black into chasing the bishop away with a6. Black takes the bait. The reason Fischer wants to lure black’s pawn to a6 is that he envisions the the a6 pawn becoming a weakness for black at some point in the future, which Fischer could then attack.

15. dxc5 bxc5 16. 0-0 Ra7

Fischer’s bishop, having done its job of luring the black pawn to a6, now has to retreat as black’s a6 pawn is no longer pinned and is threatening to take white’s bishop

17. Be2 Nd7 18. Nd4 Qf8 19. Nxe6 fxe6 20. e4! d4

Fischer offers to sacrifice a pawn with 20. e4! but black does not want to take the e4 pawn as it would leave him with 4 weak, isolated pawns on a6, c5, e6 and e4, which Fischer could attack and he would probably end up winning a few of those weak pawns. Black plays d4 instead which gives him a passed d-pawn, but at a cost of creating a weakness - the weak e6 pawn. Fischer will now block the e6 pawn to make sure that black’s e6 weakness stays weak.

21. f4 Qe7 22. e5 Rb8

Fischer has now blocked white’s weak e6 pawn from going anywhere and now that the e6 pawn is stuck, Fischer will bring his pieces to attack it.

23. Bc4 Kh8 24. Qh3 Nf8

Black is now heavily on the defensive and having to bring his pieces back to defend the weakness on e6, while Fischer brings his bishop and queen to attack black’s e6 pawn

25. b3 a5

Fischer takes a moment to play a defensive move to solidify his position. Fischer plays b3 in order to stop black having any sort of counterattack on the semi-open b-file.

26. f5 exf5

Fischer now plays f5, opening up the f-file and allowing his rook to join into the attack.

27. Rxf5 Nh7

Black’s move Nh7 looks very passive and shows that black is now getting a little bit desperate. The idea of the move is to defend against Fischer playing Rf7, as then black could play Ng5 and fork white rook and queen.

28. Rcf1 Qd8

Fischer doubles his rooks on the f-file and is getting all of his pieces into the attack. You can see that black is starting to run out of options and starts to defensively shuffle around his pieces for the next few moves.

29. Qg3 Re7 30. h4 Rbb7

Fischer plays h4 in order to stop the black knight going to g5. Similar to the Capablanca game we saw earlier, Fischer is slowly removing squares for his opponent’s pieces.

31. e6 Rbc7 32. Qe5 Qe8

Fischer plays e6 which opens up a central square for his queen, as well as getting his pawn to a dangerous square where it is only two moves away from queening. Black continues to shuffle around trying to defend.

33. a4 Qd8 34. R1f2 Qe8 35. R2f3?! Qd8

I have no idea why Fischer shuffles his rook around with R1f2 and R2f3, instead of just moving his rook to f3 in one move. Perhaps he was just messing around. In any case black has no better moves than to shuffle his queen back and forth anyway, which just shows how bad black’s position is at this point. It is only a matter of time now before Fischer finishes off the game.

36. Bd3 Qe8 37. Qe4 Nf6

After messing around for a couple of moves, Fischer plays Bd3 and gets his bishop (which was previously blocked by Fischer’s e6 pawn) into the attack. Black can’t take white’s e6 pawn on move 37 because he would get mated, for example, 37. … Rxe6 38. Rf8+ Nxf8 39. Rxf8+ Qxf8 40. Qh7# mate.

38. Rxf6! gxf6 39. Rxf6 Kg8

Fischer plays a final tactic to finish off the game. Fischer shatters the defences around black’s king and, although black is up an exchange momentarily, he has no good way to defend his king properly.

40. Bc4 Kh8

Fischer puts his bishop back on c4, threatening Rf7, which would then threaten Qh7# mate.

41. Qf4 Black resigns

Black will get mated soon no matter what, for example 41. … Kg8 42. Qxh6 Rcb7 43. Rg6+ Rg7 44. e7+ Qf7 45 Rxg7# mate

Key lessons:

- Creating a weakness - We saw before how Capablanca masterfully exploited weaknesses in his opponent’s position, and Fischer did the same here. However, while Capablanca put pressure on his opponent’s position and waited for weaknesses to appear, Fischer actually made moves to try to create a weakness in his opponent’s position. First, he played Bb5 (move 14) to try to lure black’s a-pawn to a6. Then, he played dxc5 (move 15), breaking up the pawns on black’s queenside. Finally, he played e4 (move 20), which forced black to have a backward e6 pawn, and Fischer first blocked that pawn from advancing to make sure that that weakness stayed a weakness, and then brought all his pieces to target that weakness on e6. If you’re struggling to find a weakness in your opponent’s position in a game of your own, then you can try and create a weakness like Fischer did!

- Stay on the attack - Although Fischer played brilliantly and Spassky’s position was difficult once Fischer had created the weakness for black on e6, it must be said that Spassky did play very defensively towards the end, and black might have had a better chance at fighting on if he had tried to find some counterattacking opportunities. For example Spassky’s move 24 (when he brought his knight back to the back rank in order to defend with Nf8) seems far too passive - he is bringing his pieces backwards to defend and at this point it seems difficult to imagine how Spassky will ever get to bring his pieces back to an offensive position. Spassky could have for example tried to play 24. … Rxb2, which gives up black’s e6 pawn, and white is still better in that position, but at least it creates some counterattacking opportunities for black which could have given white more of a challenge. As it is, Spassky’s position got more and more defensive, and eventually he had nothing better to do than to shuffle his queen around, which meant that finishing off the game was fairly easy for Fischer.

- When one avenue of attack is blocked, try another! - In this game we saw Fischer adapt his plan beautifully. First he was trying to induce a weakness for black on a6 and create weak black queenside pawns that he could attack. Then he saw an opportunity to create a weakness for black on e6 and made sure that he concentrated all his forces on that weakness. Once black had defended that weakness, Fischer played f5 (move 26) to open up the f-file and allow his rooks to join in the attack. Finally, when he found that his bishop on c4 was blocked by his own pawn on e6, Fischer switched his bishop to the d3-h7 diagonal, where it could attack the black king, then once black had to compromise his position in order to parry the threat of the white bishop on d3, Fischer returned his bishop to c4 in order to finish off the game

9. Deep Blue VS Garry Kasparov

Philadelphia (1996), Sicilian Defence

Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov exhibition match, Game 1

We move onto the player that most people consider to be the greatest player of all time - Garry Kasparov.

Garry Kasparov was born in 1963 in Azerbaijan. He became the youngest ever World Chess Champion in 1985 at the age of 22 by beating Anatoly Karpov. He was so dominant during his time that from 1986 to 2005 when he retired, there were only 3 months during that period when he wasn’t the world no.1 ranked player! On top of this, Kasparov has won the Chess Oscar a record 11 times, which was an annual award given to the best chess player each year, voted for by chess journalists across the world.

Kasparov was known for his extremely accurate playing style. Like Fischer before him, he dedicated his life to chess and spent almost all of his time studying chess. His style was, like Fischer, fairly aggressive, but Kasparov also knew how to balance his game. He knew when to attack but also he knew how to defend carefully when he accidentally got himself into trouble. He prepared his openings extensively and played sharp positions right from the opening (this made him different from say, Capablanca who often played simple and even boring openings and just tried to win in the endgame).

Deep Blue was a chess supercomputer created by IBM, capable of making 1 billion calculations per second. IBM had started a project in the 1970s to try to build a chess computer capable of winning a tournament against the world’s best chess players, but so far had failed. Up until this point in 1996, the top human players were still considered better than the best chess computers in the world. Garry Kasparov, who at the time was the best player in the world, had never lost a classical full-length tournament game against a computer.

That all changed in this 6-game exhibition match played in 1996 between IBM’s supercomputer Deep Blue and the world chess champion, Garry Kasparov. Kasparov lost the first game which was the first time he had lost a full-length classical game against a computer, and this is the game we are about to see. This represented the first time that a computer was able to beat a World Chess Champion in a full-length classical match. Kasparov eventually won the match by 4 games to 2 games after identifying some weaknesses in the computer’s strategical play. A rematch was held in 1997 in New York, and Deep Blue won the rematch by 3.5 games to 2.5 games, which was the first time a chess computer had beaten the world’s best human player in a full match. From then on, chess computers went from strength to strength, and nowadays chess computers are considered stronger than even the best human chess players.

We’ll be following Kasparov in this game, even though he eventually loses, and we will see how the computer is a master in calculating tactical situations. Kasparov makes just a few small mistakes and Deep Blue punishes them ruthlessly.

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4

Kasparov chooses a fairly sharp but solid opening with this variation of the Sicilian Defence. The position is quite open and both sides have a lot of space for their pieces, which should lead to a fast, attacking game from both sides. Kasparov’s plan is to eventually play cxd4 and then attack white’s d-pawn afterwards, which will then be isolated.

6. Be2 e6 7. h3 Bh5 8. 0-0 Nc6

Both players continue with fairly normal developing moves

9. Be3 cxd4 10. cxd4 Bb4

Kasparov finally plays cxd4, leaving white with an isolated d4 pawn. That d4 pawn will become a focal point for both players. If Deep Blue can keep that pawn, it will be very useful as it controls central squares. Kasparov on the other hand wants to attack that d4 pawn and try to win it eventually.

11. a3 Ba5 12. Nc3 Qd6 13. Nb5 Qe7 14. Ne5 Bxe2 15. Qxe2 0-0 16. Rac1 Rac8

White has a decent amount of pressure along the c-file. He threatens to play Nxc6 and create a weak c6 pawn for Kasparov, which white could then attack. For this reason also, Kasparov is reluctant to kick the white knight away on b5 with the move a6, as this would potentially mean that Kasparov would have two weaknesses, both his pawn on c6 and his pawn on a6.

17. Bg5 Bb6 18. Bxf6 gxf6

White’s position is already starting to look a little bit better than Kasparov’s. White has managed to disrupt Kasparov’s kingside pawn structure (if Kasparov had tried to recapture with his queen with 18. … Qxf6 then white would have forked Kasparov’s queen and rook with 19. Nd7) and white still has some pressure along the c-file. Kasparov still does have some advantages to his position, he has potential to attack white’s d4 pawn and his bishop and knight are already attacking it.

19. Nc4! Rfd8

White in the end chooses not to take on c6 and create a weak c6 pawn for himself to attack, and instead plays Nc4. Why has white done this? Well because if he had played Nxc6, his important pawn on d4 would have become difficult to defend. After for example 19. Nxc6 bxc6 20. Nc3, white’s knight on b5 has been kicked away from defending the d4 pawn, and now there are no white pieces defending the d4 pawn. Black would bring his rook to the d-file and soon win white’s d4 pawn. With white’s move of Nc4, white is preparing to play Nxb6, removing Kasparov’s bishop which was one of the attackers of d4. After Nxb6, Kasparov will also be left with doubled pawns on the b-file, which means that white’s knight on b5 can no longer be kicked away with a6, meaning that white’s b5 knight can stay defending the d4 pawn.

If you’re wondering why Kasparov doesn’t play 19. … Nxd4 in this position and win a pawn, that’s because white would then play 20. Qg4+ Kh8 21. Nxd4 Bxd4 2.. Qxd4 and white would win a piece.

20. Nxb6 axb6

White takes black’s bishop on b6 as mentioned before, and removes an attacker of d4 as well as leaving black with doubled b-pawns

21. Rfd1 f5

White’s rook comes to support the d4 pawn. Kasparov plays f5 to solidify his central pawn structure and also this allows his queen to come to f6 where it attacks white’s d4 pawn

22. Qe3 Qf6

Kasparov brings his queen to f6 and now has 3 pieces attacking white’s d4 pawn, but white has a surprise for him

23. d5! Rxd5 24. Rxd5 exd5

White sacrifices the d4 pawn that Kasparov was trying so hard to win. Now, although white is a pawn down, after sacrificing the d4 pawn he has left Kasparov with 5 isolated pawns on b7, b6, d5, f7 and f5, which white can now target. In particular, white knows that he will win Kasparov’s b6 pawn very soon (Kasparov has no good way to defend his weak b6 pawn), which will make the material even again, and soon after white will win the b7 pawn too.

25. b3 Kh8

White calmly defends his b2 pawn, which was attacked by Kasparov’s queen, by moving it to b3. Kasparov moves his king to h8, which allows his rook to come to the g-file and potentially attack white’s king.

26. Qxb6 Rg8

White gobbles up Kasparov’s weak b6 pawn and soon will win the b7 pawn too. Kasparov gets his rook to the g-file

27. Qc5 d4?

White moves his queen to c5 in order to protect his rook on c1. If white didn’t defend his rook on c1, Kasparov would have played Qg5, which would fork white’s g2 pawn and white’s rook on c1, and white would have to defend his g2 pawn to avoid getting mated, and therefore white would have lost his rook on c1.

Kasparov tries to advance his passed d-pawn in order to create a threat, but this turns out to be a small mistake (although a very understandable mistake). The problem with this move is that it allows white to infiltrate with his knight by playing Nd6 (which he does next move). This means white’s knight gets to join in the attack. The best move for Kasparov instead would have been 27. … Rd8, which would stop the white knight getting to d6

28. Nd6 f4

White gets his knight to d6 and is now threatening to take Kasparov’s b7 pawn. Kasparov plays f4, and his plan is to then play f3 to try to attack white’s king.

29. Nxb7 Ne5

White takes the b7 pawn. Kasparov plays Ne5, getting his knight ready to join the attack against the white king

30. Qd5 f3

Qd5 is another very important defensive move from white. If white had not played 30. Qd5, then Kasparov was again threatening to play 30. … Qg5. White would have had to reply with 31. Qd5 to avoid getting mated, and then Kasparov would play 31. … f3 32. g3 Qxc1 and white would lose his rook and the game.

After white played 30. Qd5, if Kasparov had still tried to play 30. … Qg5 instead of the move that he did play (which was 30. … f3) , then white could play 31. h4, which would chase black’s queen away from the dangerous g5 square, and black’s queen would no longer be threatening to fork white’s g2 pawn and white’s rook on c1

31. g3 Nd3

White plays g3 as it is the only sensible move to defend against Kasparov’s threat of Rxg2. Kasparov gets his knight in position to try to launch a mating attack against white’s king

32. Rc7 Re8

It is now becoming a race to see who can checkmate the other team first. Kasparov plans to launch a mating attack against white’s king with a combination which could go something like 33. … Re1+ 34. Kh2 Nxf2 and then 35. … Rh1# mate. The computer (white) is getting ready to launch an attack of his own, with all of his pieces near the black king. Unfortunately for Kasparov, the computer doesn’t give him a chance to carry out his mating attack.

33. Nd6 Re1+

White gets his knight ready to attack Kasparov’s king. Kasparov carries on with carrying out his mating attack, but unfortunately the computer is going to get to Kasparov’s king first.

34. Kh2 Nxf2

If Kasparov had one more move, he could deliver checkmate with Rh1# mate, but of course the computer doesn’t give him the chance

35. Nxf7! Kg7

You might be thinking why Kasparov didn’t play 35. … Qxf7, since white would not be able to take back the queen as Kasparov would play Rh1# mate if white did. Actually, 35. … Qxf7 would be losing for Kasparov after white plays 36. Qd8+ Qg8 37. Qf6+ Qg7 38. Qxg7# mate. In any case, Kasparov’s king is in a lot of trouble now and the game is almost over for Kasparov.

36. Ng5+ Kh6 37. Rxh7+ Black resigns

Kasparov resigns at this point. His king is under heavy attack and his position is hopeless, and white is about to stop Kasparov’s mating attack. After 37. … Kg6 (the only move) white would then play 38. Qg8+ Kf5 39. Nxf3 and Kasparov no longer has a mating attack, he is 3 pawns down, and his king is a lot of pressure from white’s pieces. A brilliant display of accurate calculation from Deep Blue.

Key lessons:

- Calculation - this game showed the importance of accurate calculation in your own games. Towards the end of this game both sides rushed to attack the opponent’s king, giving little thought to defending their own king, and it became a race to see who would carry out a successful attack against the enemy king first. Deep Blue, the computer (playing as white) was able to calculate just that little bit further than Kasparov and this allowed Deep Blue to win the game. Deep Blue calculated that he would be able to attack Kasparov’s king first, and then would be able to stop Kasparov’s mating attack before Kasparov could carry it out. By the time Kasparov realised that Deep Blue could stop his mating attack it was too late, and Kasparov had to resign.

- Creating weaknesses in your opponent’s pawn structure - in this game Deep Blue played a fantastic move on move 23. with 23. d5!, sacrificing his central d-pawn. Deep Blue calculated that the central d-pawn would have been very difficult to keep with Kasparov putting so much pressure on it, and trying to keep it would probably have come at a cost of putting his pieces in a tangle for Deep Blue. Instead Deep Blue decided to sacrifice the d-pawn and by going so created isolated d and f-pawns for black, which gave Deep Blue more weaknesses to target.

- Prevent your opponent getting their pieces to active squares, by controlling those squares - Kasparov made a mistake on move 27 that we can all learn from, with the move 27. … d4. This allowed white to get his knight to the d6 square, where it threatened 3 of Kasparov’s pawns and was in a good position to attack Kasparov’s king. A better move for Kasparov would have been 27. … Rd8, which would defend the d6 square and prevent white’s knight from getting to such a threatening position.

10. Magnus Carlsen VS Sipke Ernst

Wijk aan Zee (2004), Caro-Kann Defence

Finally, to finish our look through some of the interesting games throughout history, we will take a look at a game from the current World Champion, Magnus Carlsen.

Magnus Carlsen (born 1990, in Norway) was a chess prodigy from an early age. He earned the title of chess Grandmaster in 2004 at the age of only 13, at the time making him the 2nd youngest grandmaster in history! In January 2010, Magnus Carlsen became the world number 1 ranked player, at the age of just 19. He lost his world no. 1 ranking for a few months in 2011, but regained it in July 2011. Since July 2011 up until today, Carlsen has been ranked world no. 1 for the entire time! He won his first Chess World Championship in 2013, at the age of 22, and became the youngest player ever to win the World Championship. Since then he has defended the World Championship twice, in 2014 and 2016. He is also the highest rated player ever, with a peak FIDE rating of 2882, which he achieved in 2014 (though ratings have tended to go up over time, so this doesn’t necessarily mean that he is the best player in history).

Off the board, Carlsen is known as the biggest celebrity in chess. His good looks earned him a modelling contract with G-Star Raw, and outside of chess he continues to make money through multiple sponsorships. He is also known for being outspoken and having a somewhat fiery temperament. He openly criticised the FIDE Chess Federation for their poor organisation of the qualifying tournament for the 2012 World Championships, and because of this withdrew from the 2012 World Championship qualifiers.

Carlsen’s playing style is heavily focused on the endgames, where he is extremely strong. His opening play is surprisingly somewhat weak compared to other top players, and he will often come out of the opening slightly worse than his opponent. When it gets to the middlegame and endgame however, that is when Carlsen’s strength shines. His position will slowly improve throughout the middlegame and if he has a slight advantage by the time he gets to the endgame, he will usually convert this into a win. That said he is known for experimenting with some “interesting” openings (and by interesting, I mean bad) and he can sometimes get himself into big trouble in the opening. However, his endgame play is so good that even if his opening has gone really badly, he can often salvage a draw in a really bad position. His style is quite similar to Capablanca’s style, who was also very strong in the endgames.

The game we are about to see was played at the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee when Magnus was 13 years old. His opponent is Dutch chess master Sipke Ernst, who was 26 years old at the time (double Carlsen’s age!). In this game we will see a brilliant attack at the end of the game by the young Carlsen, where he will checkmate his opponent.

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5

Black plays the Caro-Kann defence, a very solid but somewhat boring opening choice. Black will have a very solid centre and will have complete control over the d5 square with pawns on c6 and e6. On the flip-side, white will usually have a bit more space than black. We will see in this game how Carlsen uses his space advantage to attack.

3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6

Both players continue with their development normally. Black develops his light-squared bishop and now plans to play e6, locking down on central the d5 square, which will help make his position solid and defendable.

6. h4 h6

Carlsen plays h4 which is a common move in this opening. The idea is to play h5, attacking black’s light-squared bishop and also gaining space on the kingside. Black plays h6 to give his bishop a a square to retreat to when it is attacked.

7. Nf3 Nd7 8. h5 Bh7

Carlsen does play h5 and black retreats his light-squared bishop to the only square it can go to.

9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6

Carlsen chooses to swap-off black’s most active piece, which was black’s light-squared bishop. Black has a lockdown on the central d5 square and a solid position, but Carlsen has better development and more space.

11. Bf4 Ngf6 12. 0-0-0 Be7

Carlsen finished his development before his opponent and now looks to get his pieces to active squares in order to attack. In particular, although his opponent has strong control over the central d5 square, Carlsen has the e5 square available to him, so he will look to put a piece there. The e4 square is also attractive for Carlsen, so he will put a piece there next.

13. Ne4 Qa5 14. Kb1 0-0

Carlsen plays Kb1 to defend the a-pawn, which was under attack from black’s queen. Black finally finishes development with the last move.

15. Nxf6+ Nxf6

Carlsen swaps off the knights in order to get black’s knight off the d7 square, where it was defending the e5 square. Now Carlsen can put his knight on e5 and it will be unchallenged by enemy pieces. Note that black would not want to recapture with his bishop with 15. … Bxf6, because then Carlsen could play 16. g4 followed by 17. g5 and launch an attack on black’s king. By capturing with the knight, black stops white from playing g4.

16. Ne5 Rad8

Carlsen as planned puts his knight on e5 where it occupies a central square and presents a threat to black’s king. Black gets his rook to the semi-open d-file and pins white’s d4 pawn.

17. Qe2 c5

Carlsen gets his queen out of the way of the pin on the d-file, but he also sets a sneaky trap with this move. His queen is now on the e-file, where it can potentially attack black’s e6 pawn. This may not look like much of a threat at the moment, but watch what happens on the next move.

18. Ng6! fxg6

Finally Carlsen springs his trap. He sacrifices his knight in order to get an attack against black’s king. Carlsen’s queen will now infiltrate on e6 (now we see the point of the sneaky Qe2 move on the previous move) and Carlsen’s queen, bishop and rook will combine to attack black’s king. We will now see a masterful tactical attacking display by Carlsen.

19. Qxe6+ Kh8 20. hxg6 Ng8

Black brings his knight back to g8 in order to protect the bishop on e7 and lend support to the h6 pawn. Carlsen will attack the h6 pawn anyway.

21. Bxh6! gxh6

Carlsen sacrifices yet another piece in order to shatter the defences around the black king

22. Rxh6+! Nxh6

And again Carlsen sacrifices another piece in order to break down the defences around black’s king further. This time he sacrifices his rook for the black bishop, but Carlsen has calculated that black will have to give a piece back on the next move in order to prevent himself from being checkmated.

23. Qxe7 Nf7

Black had to play Nf7 and give a piece back to Carlsen in order to prevent Carlsen from playing Qh7# mate next move.

24. gxf7 Kg7

Carlsen takes the knight and black moves his king to get out of the way of checks from the white rook on the h-file.

25. Rd3 Rd6

Carlsen lifts his rook to the third rank getting ready to check black’s king. Black brings his rook on the d-file to the 6th rank ready to block these checks from Carlsen’s rook (Carlsen cannot take black’s rook on d6 with his queen because this would leave the e1 square unprotected and black could then play Qe1+ and Carlsen would be checkmated)

26. Rg3+ Rg6 27. Qe5+ Kxf7

Carlsen is close to checkmating his opponent now. Carlsen’s queen and rook are a powerful combination and will work together to checkmate black. On black’s last move (move 27), black had only three legal moves, 27. … Kh7 (which would have resulted in black being checkmated very shortly after 28. Qh5+ Rh6 29. Qf5+ Kh8 30. Qe5+ and black will now obviously be checkmated within the next two moves), 27. … Kh6 (which would have resulted in mate in 1 with 28. Rh3# mate), and 27. … Kxf7 (which was the move that was played)

28. Qf5+ Rf6?

Black’s last move was a mistake. Black could have survived for a bit longer if he had played 28. … Ke7 instead of the move 28. … Rf6 that black played, but Carlsen would have had a forced checkmate anyway so black would have just been prolonging the inevitable. The move that black plays allows mate in one.

29. Qd7# mate

A brilliant display of tactics and attacking chess by Carlsen at the end of the game.

Key lessons:

- Attacking chess - we saw a brilliant attacking display by Carlsen where he sacrificed a lot of material in order to weaken the defences around black’s king. We must remember however that if we want to sacrifice pieces in our own games, we must first calculate very carefully to make sure that we are making the right decision, otherwise we will have lost material for no reason. When Carlsen sacrificed pieces in this game, before he did so he calculated that he would either win the material back at some point or he would have a very dangerous attack against black’s king which would probably end in checkmate.

- Queen and rook combination - if you have a queen and rook together attacking an almost completely exposed black king (as Carlsen had at the end of this game), just remember that queen and rook together will often be enough to checkmate your opponent, as was the case in this game. The lesson here is be on the lookout for opportunities where you can get your queen and rook attacking an exposed enemy king.

- Quiet moves - in this game Carlsen played a very subtle retreating move on move 17 with Qe2. This move looked harmless but actually packed a serious punch, as Carlsen’s queen was then in a position to attack black’s e6 pawn. In your own games look out for opportunities to play these “Quiet moves” where it looks like you are going backwards or doing nothing but you are actually preparing a veiled threat. Another lesson we can learn from this is that whenever our opponent makes a retreating move, do not be lulled into a false sense of security and instead check for threats that your opponent could be preparing.

So that finishes our look through some of the illustrious games throughout history. Now you’ve seen plenty of examples of games from the best chess players in history. Learn from the masters, copy their moves, copy their ideas, and copy their plans, and go out and play chess like a master!

A Few Tips For Online Blitz Chess

With so many people playing blitz chess online these days (blitz chess is a chess game where you have only 5 minutes or less to make your moves), I thought I’d give a few pointers on how to play blitz chess online.

1. Time! Time! Time!

Perhaps the biggest misconception that players have when they play blitz chess online is that blitz chess is the same as proper chess. It’s not. Playing blitz chess is probably only 50% to do with your chess skill and 50% about how quickly you can move. Even if your position is much better than your opponent’s position and you are winning by a lot of material, you’re still probably going to lose if you only have 10 seconds left on your clock and your opponent has 2 minutes left on theirs. Remember that it doesn’t matter how good your moves are or how good your position is, if you run out of time, you don’t win the game.

They say that in blitz chess, a minute on the clock is worth about 2 pawns. Therefore if you’re playing a blitz chess game, and your position is about the same as your opponent’s position, but you have 2 minutes on your clock and your opponent has 3 minutes on their clock, then it’s as though your opponent has a 2 pawn advantage. With your limited time left on the clock you’ll struggle to find good moves.

Another saying is that in blitz chess, playing bad moves is acceptable, but playing slowly is not.

In short, try to make sure that you always have more time on your clock than your opponent when you’re playing blitz chess.

2. Activity is probably more important than material

In blitz chess its important to find decent moves as quickly as possible. It is usually a lot easier to find decent moves quickly when your pieces have a lot of activity. Therefore it's important to get your pieces active, even if you sometimes have to sacrifice a pawn, two pawns, or even a whole piece in order to do so.

If your pieces are active you'll usually have more attacking moves which will put your opponent under pressure and force them to waste a lot of time on their clock while they think about how to defend. So sometimes in blitz chess it’s better just to give up some material to allow your pieces to become active rather than sitting back and trying to defend everything.

3. When you're low on time - Pre-move!

Once you're down to less than 20 seconds on the clock, unless you're clearly about to checkmate your opponent, then the position on the board isn't that important anymore and now your main concern is just moving as fast as possible. You want to be pre-moving for most of your moves - which is where you guess what move your opponent will play next and make your move even before it's your turn - as pre-moving doesn't use up any time on your clock. It doesn't even matter if your moves are bad at this point as long as you're making moves quickly, though try not to make absolutely terrible moves otherwise you might still end up getting checkmated.

If you're down to less than 10 seconds left on your clock, now the position on the board is more or less irrelevant, and you may as well pre-move almost every single move. At this point it becomes less of an actual chess game and more of a race to see who can move their mouse faster.

4. Never resign!

In blitz chess blunders happen all the time - even for very strong players. The current world chess champion Magnus Carlsen once even blundered mate-in-1 in a blitz game and got himself checkmated. Therefore you should never resign in an online blitz game, even if you blunder and lose a piece, or even 2 pieces, or even 3 pieces, because when your opponent is low on time they might just blunder right back. Even in the very worst cases, if you have no pieces left, your opponent might end up being careless and stalemating you and you might get a draw.

5. Keep calm and enjoy it!

Some players get angry and frustrated if they lose an online blitz chess game. This is of course, pointless, blitz chess is just a game to play for fun, and it's not even that indicative of your actual chess skill. Some players do well in online blitz chess just because they're able to move their mouse really fast towards the end of a game - not because they're actually any good at chess. If chess teaches us anything, then it's how to keep calm and think logically about your best next move. Therefore when you're playing blitz chess you may as well keep calm and try to think logically about what your best move is. If you're not having fun playing blitz chess anymore, then it's probably best you stop playing for the moment.

Closing Thoughts

So that’s it! We’ve come to the end of the book. We looked through the basics of playing a good opening, we practiced tactics and middlegame planning to improve our middlegame play, we learnt all the basic skills and techniques in the endgame to make us good players, and finally we looked at some games from the masters to give us examples of how to play chess well.

Remember, the important message of this book is how to improve at chess as quickly as possible. To do this, you want to focus your time on practicing tactics and practicing endgames. Remember what we said at the beginning of the book, the best way to improve at chess for each level of player is:

For beginners: Practice tactics

For intermediate players: Practice endgames

For professional players: Analysing master games and analysing their own games.

Beginners will probably want to spend about 60% of their time practicing tactics, 30% practicing endgames and only 10% playing chess games if they want to improve at chess as quickly as possible. Intermediate players will probably want to spend 60% of their time practicing endgames, 30% practicing tactics and 10% playing chess games in order to improve as quickly as possible. You’ll also want to analyse your own games of course so that you can see what your mistakes were and learn from your mistakes.

Let’s do a quick recap of what we’ve learnt through this book:

Recap

The Opening

Remember our 7 rules for playing a good opening:

1. Develop all of your pieces!

2. Control the centre

3. Don’t bring your queen out too early

4. Get your king castled as soon as possible

5. Move each piece only once in the opening

6. Develop your knights before bishops

7. Don’t move your f-pawn in the opening unless you have to

Remember our recommended openings if you want a solid opening plan that you can use every time

For White: Kings Indian Attack

1. e4, 2. d3, 3. Nd2, 4. Ngf3 5. g3, 6. Bg2, 7. 0—0

For Black: Kings Indian Defence (against all white moves except 1. e4)

1. … Nf6, 2. … d6, 3. … g6, 4. … Bg7, 5. … 0-0, 6. … Nbd7, 7. … e5

OR Hungarian Defence (against 1. e4)

1. … e5, 2. … Nc6, 3. … Be7, 4. … Nf6, 5. … d6, 6. … 0-0

The Middlegame

To improve in the middlegame remember to keep practicing tactics:

Material tactics

Make sure you look for forks, pins, skewers and discovered attacks.

Mating tactics

Remember to look for different mating tactics, for example Anastasia’s mate, Legall’s mate, Greco’s mate, or smothered mate

Or look for combinations of tactics:

When there are no tactics available in a middlegame you’ll have to use middlegame planning. By practicing middlegame planning while you are playing your games you’ll get better and better at it. Here are some examples of middlegame plans you can use:

1. Checkmate Attack! - Move your pieces towards the opponents king and attack and try to checkmate

2. Gain Space by advancing your pawns - Advance your pawns on one side to gain space on that side so that your pieces have more mobility and more options and your opponents pieces have less mobility

3. Advance both pawns and pieces towards your opponents king and attack (risky but not unheard of)

4. Advance pawns on a side where you have a majority of pawns - (i.e. a 3 to 2 majority as shown below) in order to create a passed pawn and try to queen that pawn.

5. Place your rooks on an open file and attack -  use your rooks to attack down an open file

6. Attack weaknesses on your opponent’s side (usually this means attacking weak pawns)

7. Control the Centre - Use pawns and pieces to attack the centre so that you can have control of the centre, which will often give you better chances to attack and win material or checkmate the opponent.

The Endgame

Remember the endgame lessons that we learnt:

Remember the 4 basic mates:

1. Two Rooks VS. King

2. Rook VS. King

3. Two Bishops VS. King

4. Knight and Bishop VS. King (Ok, it doesn’t really matter if you don’t remember this one - it’s very difficult)

Pawn Endgames:

Pawn endgames skills are very important to remember. We learnt a lot of pawn endgame lessons but these ones in particular are important for you to remember:

King + Pawn VS. King

This is a very important endgame for you to remember. Remember our rules of the King + Pawn VS. King Endgame:

- Rule 1: If the black king can get to the square directly in front of the white pawn, or the square in front of that, black will draw.

- Rule 2: White wins if two or more of the following conditions are met:

- A) white’s king is in front of the pawn

- B) white has the opposition

- C) white’s king is on the 6th rank

- (the one exception is a pawn is a flank pawn, where black can usually draw if he can get in front of the pawn)

- Rule 3: The worst pawn for white to have is the flank pawn, where invariably black draws

- Rule 4: It is always an advantage to have the opposition for both white and black

- Rule 5: It is always an advantage to have the king in front of the pawn for both white and black

King + 2 Pawns VS. King + Pawn

Remember how to win this endgame. Advance the pawn with no pawn opposing it first, then at the right moment you’ll have to sacrifice one of your pawns in order to win the game.

Multiple pawn endgames with pawns on both sides

Use the passed pawn as bait and then switch your king over to the other side to win your opponent’s pawns.

Remember to act immediately on the side where you have more forces (in this case the kingside)

Remember important pawn endgame concepts: The Opposition, Trebuchet, and Outside Passed Pawns

The Opposition

Here it’s black’s move and black’s king has to move away, so white has the opposition. It’s usually an advantage to have the opposition, so try to make sure you have it.

Trebuchet

The Trebuchet Position. Whoever’s turn it is to move, that person loses. It is white to move and so white loses in this position.

Outside passed pawn

White will win here by creating an outside passed pawn which he can use as bait and then switch his king over to the other side to win black’s pawns.

Bishop draws

Remember that a bishop and a flank pawn with a queening square of the opposite colour to the bishop cannot force mate on a lone king. This can help you save a draw even when you are losing by a lot!

Opposite coloured bishops

Opposite coloured bishops offer good drawing chances to a player if he is down 1 or 2 pawns. Your opponent’s bishop cannot control the squares that your bishop is controlling so you have good chances of stopping your opponent’s pawns.

Rook Endgames:

Rook endgames are the most important endgames of them all because they are so common. We looked at a lot of different rook endgame skills some of which were very complex, but even if you forget everything else try to remember the Lucena position, the Philidor position, Pigs on the 7th rank, Tarrasch rule, and Rook and Multiple Pawn endgames:

The Lucena position

The Lucena position is important to learn because it teaches us how to win an endgame where we have a rook and pawn vs a lone rook.

Definition of a Lucena position: white has a pawn on the 7th rank (the pawn can be on any file except on the flanks - if the pawn is a flank pawn then the position is generally a draw) and white’s king is in front of his pawn, blocking the pawn from queening. White’s rook is two files to the side of the pawn, and is cutting the black king off from getting near the white pawn. Black’s rook is behind the white pawn.

White wins by the “building a bridge technique”. By playing Rf4! in the above position white’s king can come out and white’s rook can eventually block white’s king from checks.

The Philidor position

The Philidor position is important to learn because it teaches us how to draw when we have a lone rook vs rook and pawn (essentially the opposite of a Lucena situation).

Definition of a Philidor position:

- The defending king (in this case the black king) is in front of the enemy pawn (the pawn can be on any file).

- The attacking pawn is no further advanced than its 5th rank (i.e. if it is a white pawn then it is no further advanced than the 5th rank, and if it is a black pawn then it is not further than the 4th rank)

- The attacking king is no further advanced than its 5th rank

- The defending rook is on the 6th rank, stopping the attacking king from advancing (if the defending rook was a white rook then of course it would be on the 3rd rank).

Black draws by keeping his rook on the 6th rank. Once white advances his pawn, black moves his rook to the back rank and bombards white’s king with checks from the back rank perpetually.

Pigs on the 7th/2nd rank!

Having 2 rooks on the 7th rank is a very good idea.

Tarrasch rule

The Tarrasch rule is simply this:

Always place your rook behind a passed pawn.

This applies whether the pawn is your own pawn or your opponent’s pawn, it is almost always a good idea to have your rook behind the passed pawn.

Rook and multiple pawn endgames

Studying Rook and multiple pawn endgames will make you a master chess player.

How to Think

Before you make each move remember our 6 step checklist to deciding what move to make:

1. Check for threats! (Think about what your opponent is trying to do)

2. Look for tactics!

3. Development, development, development!

4. Look for piece activity!

5. Think about strategic planning

6. Check for threats again!

Finally…

That’s it! We’ve reached the end of the book! I know, I know I’m sad too. What next for you though? If you want to continue to practice tactics and practice endgames to improve further as a chess player I’ve provided some links below to some good resources where you can continue to practice tactics and endgames. All of them are free right now, so you can log on and practice to your heart’s content in your own time.

Resources:

Practicing tactics

- www.chesstempo.com/chess-tactics.html - chess tempo has a completely free tactics trainer which anyone can use. The site will bring up tactics puzzles which you can try and solve and the computer will tell you what the answer was afterwards. You can create an account for free and the site will even save your progress.

- www.lichess.org - lichess has a free tactics trainer which again will bring up thousands of tactics puzzles for you to test your calculation skills. Again you can create a free account, the site will save your progress, and will automatically show you harder/easier tactics depending on how you are doing, so you can always practice tactics at your level.

Practicing Endgames

- Capablanca’s best endgames - http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1002457  - You can learn a lot about the endgame just by analysing Capablanca’s games as he was one of the greatest endgame players of all time. A list of 60 of Capablanca’s best endgames is complied here and you can go through his games, look at how Capablanca moves his pieces in the endgame, look at how he uses his king in the endgame, how he uses his pawns in the endgame, and how he creates and attacks weaknesses in his opponent’s position. By analysing Capablanca’s endgames you’ll develop a really deep understanding of how to play the endgame.

- More Capablanca games - http://www.chessgames.com/player/jose_raul_capablanca.html - You can find all of the games that Capablanca played here, if you want to analyse more Capablanca.

- Set up endgame positions and analyse them yourself - you can always set up a position on the board with a few pieces for either side, for example a Rook + Bishop + 2 Pawns VS. Rook + Knight + 3 Pawns, and analyse the position yourself in your own time. Doing this will teach you the right things and the wrong things to do in the endgame

Analysing master games

- Once you become a strong player you’ll want to analyse games from the chess masters in order to learn more ideas. You can find a huge database of master games at http://www.chessgames.com.

Copyright © 2018 Clive Ke. All rights reserved.