How to Analyze Chess Positions Mike Splane © 2008

Levels 1-3 are tactics, things computers do perfectly. You should perform these tasks when it is
your turn to move. Level 4 is positional thinking, which you perform when it’s the opponent’s turn
to move. Positional judgment involves tradeoffs, so deciding what to do is more of an art than a
science.

Level One – Checks and Checkmate Threats

• Find all of your checks. Examine each one. If you see a sequence that leads to a forced win,
play it.
• If you don’t see a sequence that leads to a forced win, then examine all of the opponent’s
checks. If you see a sequence that leads to a forced loss, prevent it.
• Find all of your moves that threaten to checkmate on the following move. If your opponent
can’t stop the mate, play the threatening move.
• If you don’t see an unstoppable checkmate threat for you, then examine your opponent’s
options. If he can threaten to checkmate you, prevent it.
• If there are no dangerous check or checkmate threats, examine all of the possible captures.

Level Two – Captures

• Find all your captures. If any of these win material, find the one that wins the most.
• Find all your opponent’s captures. If any of these win material, find the one that wins the
most.
• Compare. If your best capture wins more material than his best capture, play your capture. If
his best capture wins more material than your best capture, prevent his capture.
• In capturing sequences, watch out for in-between moves where the opponent plays
something other than the expected recapture.
• If there are no checks or captures that win material, look for threatening moves.

Level Three – Threats

Find the biggest threat for each side. If yours is the biggest, play it. If his is the biggest, avoid it.

Examples of Threats
• Simple Attacks (For example a pawn move that attacks a knight.)
• Forks (One piece attacking two pieces in different directions. All pieces can fork.)
 • Skewers (A bishop, rook, or queen attacks two pieces on the same line. A line is a rank, file,
or diagonal. If the attacked piece moves, the one behind it can be captured.)
• Double Checks (One piece moves with check, while a piece behind it also gives check.)
• Discovered and Double Attacks (Your piece moves, exposing an attack by another one of
your pieces against an opponent’s piece. If the moving piece also makes a threat it is called a
double attack.)
• Pins (A pinned piece can often be successfully attacked by a pawn. It also loses control over
squares it would normally control so those squares can be used by the attacker.)
• Trapped Pieces (Pieces that have nowhere to move when attacked by pawns. Bishops are
often trapped by pawns.)
• Pawn Promotion (Safely getting a pawn through to the eighth rank is a common winning
idea.)
• Overloaded Pieces (A piece may be tied down to guarding more than one square. Moving a
piece to one of those squares forces the defender to give up the defense of the other square.
• Clearance sacrifices. A piece moves, often as a sacrifice, to let another piece occupy its
previous square and create powerful threats.

Level Four – Positional Ideas

If there are no checks, captures or threats, look for ways to strengthen your position, or
weaken the opponent’s. There are many positional ideas to choose from. Here are some key ideas.

Opponent’s Plan
Ask yourself, “What does my opponent want to do?” If it is dangerous, stop it.

Piece Placement
Identify your most inactive piece and try to find a better square for it.
• Pieces that can make many moves are stronger than those with fewer choices.
• Pieces that are blocked by your own pawns or pieces are poorly placed.
• Pieces that threaten to capture the opponent’s pieces or pawns are well placed.

Pawns and Squares

• Pawns are strongest when they are side by side.
• Pawns that are doubled, backward, or isolated are weaker.
• It is often a good idea to push the rook pawn in front of your castled king to avoid back row
checkmates. However, this makes it easier for your opponent to trade off the pawns in front
of your king.
• If you are behind in development it is usually a bad idea to make pawn moves.
• If there are no pawns on the central files it is usually a bad idea to move pawns until the
ending is reached.
 • A strong square is one on which your piece can not be attacked by enemy pawns. Usually it
is in the center or in the enemy’s half of the board.
• A weak square is one that needs to be guarded by a piece.
• The squares in front of weak pawns are often weak because enemy pieces can sit there
safely.

King Safety
• If a king lacks pawn cover, or if an attacker has more pieces than the defender in the king’s
vicinity, the king is vulnerable to attack.
• With the center files blocked by pawns a king is often safer in the middle than being castled.
• If one or more of the center files are open, the kings are safer being castled.
• If kings castle on opposite sides, the player whose pawns attack the enemy king fastest
usually wins.
• If the enemy has a queen, or two rooks, keep the king in a safe place.
• When several pieces have been exchanged, the king is usually safe from checkmate and
should be used actively.

Material and Exchanges

If you are ahead in material by a piece or more, you do not need to win more material. Play it
safe.
• The first rule is always “Don’t allow counterplay.”
• Aim for even trades to try and reach a winning ending.
• Protect your king!
• Do not trade off all of the pawns.
If you are behind in material the ending is lost so avoid even trades.
• Your best chance is to try to checkmate your opponent.
• Try to make exchanges which unbalance the material: knight for bishop, rook and pawn
for two minor pieces, and so on. Unbalancing the pieces makes it harder for the
opponent to trade down into a won ending.

General Concepts
• If your opponent has a bad piece, limited in its movements, do not exchange it.
• If your opponent has a piece which can move to many squares or is performing a vital
task, try to trade for it.
• If your opponent has two pieces that need to occupy the same square to be effective,
avoid exchanging them.
• After the opening stage, if your opponent lacks space for his pieces, avoid piece trades.
• The exchange of even one pair of pieces is often enough to relieve a cramped position.