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The Grandmaster’s Positional Understanding

Lesson 7: “Other Chess Pieces And Important Rules”

And now we are down to the very last lesson of this course.

During the first lessons I’ve told you the general principles of a chess game. Using those principles you can decide what piece must make a move now and
where PRECISELY it should go. It’s very useful to deeply understand those ideas, because they help you to find the best move in any position.

Based on the general principles, we concluded some concrete rules for different typical situations. We discovered the specific rules for pawns and for Bishops.
In this lesson we will talk about all other pieces.
Maybe some of the rules will seem simple for you, but I want that you have a COMPLETE understanding of a chess game. In this case you will understand how
to play chess in general, and exactly how you should play in different typical situations. Then everything will be clear and even obvious for you.

So, the 7th lesson is called Other Chess Pieces And Important Rules. Here we go.

To start off, how should you use your KING effectively?

As we all know, in the opening we should castling. Some say that you should castle NOT because you can BUT because you intended to or you need to. There
are many chess proverbs about castling, BUT bottom line, this is something you should do.

Do you know that in the past a castling was made simply by replacing king and Rook? (i.e. king goes to h1, Rook goes to e1). It was made to activate the Rook
and it’s important to understand this.

Yes, castling keeps your King safe. However, the main idea of castling is to bring your Rook into the game. Without castling, you are playing without 2
Rooks!

Tal M. – Bilek I.

White To Move

In this position, White has an interesting positional sacrifice 15.Ne6. After 15…fe 16.Qh5 White will prevent Black from castling. Does it worth a Knight? What
do you think?

Without castling, you are playing without 2 Rooks also. If you understand it, you will have no doubts in White’s sacrifice. It’s definitely correct! Let’s have a
look at the moves that follow: 16…Kf8 17.Rhf1 Bf6 18.de.

Though it’s black’s turn he can’t do anything really. Black is unable to use his Rooks and this is his biggest problem. On the next move white will play e7 or Rd8
or Rd7 following with Qf7 mate.

There is one funny thing about this position. After 16.Qh5, Black has the only way to survive: 16…Kd7 move. After 17.Qg4 seems like black should resign, but
computer offers totally unbelievable move 17…Kd6!
In an opening we should develop pieces, so the computer looking at the Black’s pieces decided to develop his King. J

By the way, on the next move the king is going to continue his trip and to go to c5! This is one of the craziest variations I’ve ever seen! Nevertheless only
computer can play so, and white has a strong attack anyway.

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Without castling you are playing without 2 Rooks also. That’s why a castling is so important. If you can’t castle, well… YOU SHOULD! What I mean is to
artificially castle.

White To Move

For example, in Benko gambit, White has to move a king in one of the main lines. That’s why after that, White should artificially castle: 9.g3 Bg7 10.Kg2 0-0
11.Nf3 and 12.Re1. Only after bringing the h1-Rook into the game White may breathe freely.

In the endgame, the King becomes an ORDINARY piece. Then the general principles work for a King as well as for all other pieces. Following the principle of
a center, you should bring the King into a center; according to the principle of maximum activity you should move the king as forward as possible.

Quite similar situation happens with a QUEEN.

Following the general principles, you should move it forward and keep it closer to center. However, it’s usually impossible to do it in an early stage of
game. Otherwise a Queen will be attacked by opponent’s pawns and minor pieces.

That’s why in the opening, we have to keep a Queen in safety: on our territory, behind our pawns and pieces. Most often you should place a Queen on the
central squares of the 2nd or 3rd rank.

Here is another useful tip: develop your Queen last of all.

Usually it’s pretty obvious where to develop your minor pieces. In most cases you will develop your Knights to f3 and c3; the bishops will go to the most
forward available squares.

It’s not so clear where to place your Queen. That’s why you should postpone this decision. Make all obligatory moves first, and after that you should be able
to find a better position for a Queen depending on the concrete situation. As I’ve already said, most often you will place a Queen on the central squares of
the 2nd or 3rd rank.

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After some exchanges, you certainly should activate the Queen.

Let’s move on. How to use your ROOKS effectively?

There are 2 main rules here. The 1st rule states: a Rook needs open lines. Therefore if you have a Rook, you should push pawns and open lines. This is a
very important rule.

Maybe you think: “Come on, it’s obvious, everyone knows it.” Then let me show you some examples.

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Miles A. – Korchnoi V.

White To Move

How would you play here as White? I mean not only the next move (obviously white needs to move the attacked Bishop), but what is White’s plan? Please,
pause a video now and try to find the right plan for white.

The White player – who is a GM (the first British GM matter of fact) – wasn’t able to find any constructive plan. He played Bc2, Re1, a4 just trying to hold a
position. However, black played f5, transferred the king into center, and won the d-pawn and the game afterwards.

The right plan for White was suggested by Korchnoi. White has 2 Rooks here and the White’s primary goal is to use them… activate them.

For this reason, White should push pawns and open lines. The only way how this can be done is to play: g4, Kg2, h4, then Rh1 and h5.

Maybe this plan doesn’t look great. However, White has to play it. If you have Rooks – you must give them open lines!

Let’s take a look at another example.

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Korchnoi V. – Seirawan Y.

Black To Move

Here is another question for you: how should black play here?
In the game he played 23…g4. There followed 24.e4 fe 25.Qe4 Kh8 26.Bb2. After that White took on e5, won the g4 pawn and continued his attack. Black
lost without any real resistance. Of course, it’s not the best that Black could do.

Let’s go back to the starting position.

Although Black has 2 Rooks, they are totally passive now. Rooks need open lines. Black should find a way to move his pawns and to open a position. His
move 23…g4? rather closes position. Instead black should have played 23…a6! This would open lines on the Queen-side and would give black some counter-
play.

Rooks need open lines. A Rook is the most active on an opening file, so it’s logical to place it there. After that, following the principle of maximum activity,
you should move your Rook as forward as possible.

Ø If you can penetrate into the 8th rank, you will attack opponent’s king.
Ø If you invade in the 7th rank, you will attack all opponent’s pawns. Additionally it often creates a mating net around opponent’s king.

Everything is pretty simple here actually. It’s just a Principle Of Maximum Activity.

Nimzowitsch A. – Capablanca J.R.

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White To Move

It’s White’s turn now. White should white do? Find the least active piece and improve its activity. White certainly should move his a1-Rook. It can go to one
of the open lines: Rc1 or Rd1. Everything is simple when you know general principles of a chess game.

In the game, White played 25.Bd4 however. Now black can use an open line to penetrate into White’s territory: 25…Rc2. Rooks are usually very powerful on
the 2nd rank. By the way, there is nothing special here: according to the ‘Principle Of Maximum Activity’, any piece is MOST active onto opponent’s
territory.

26.Qa6 was played. Now Black sacrificed a pawn to open the d-line: 26…e5! 27.Be5 Rdd2. Connected Rooks are often powerful. 2 Rooks on the 2nd rank are
extremely powerful. They attack opponent’s pawns and create a mating net around his king.

If White protects the f2 pawn 28.Rf1, black has a nice combination 28…Qe3! 29.fe Rg2 30.Kh1 Rh2 31.Kg1 Rch2. The Black Rooks are at their full power!

In the game white played 28.Qb7 Rf2 (attacking the h-pawn) 29.g4-Qe6 30.Bg3-Rh2! See? The 2 Rooks on the 2nd rank restrict opponent’s king and this
creates many tactical motifs.

31.Bh2 Qg4 32.Kh1 Qh3 and White can’t prevent mate.

Here is one more advice: put your Rook in front of the Queen on an open file.

Kuzmin G. – Rukavina J.

White To Move

White set up heavy pieces on an open file in a right order: Rooks in front of a Queen. Generally you are going to use an open file to penetrate into
opponent’s territory.

After such an invasion your piece appears amid opponent’s forces, which can be dangerous. That’s why we should assign a Rook for this risky mission. A
Queen is too valuable for such ‘no-turning-back’ missions.

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In this game there followed 27.Qb4 Ba6. Black is trying to capture the Rook, however white has a strong reply 28.Rd7 (using a pin). After 28…Qa5 29.Qa5-
Ba5 30.Rd6, White is winning. If Black removes his Knight from an attack, White will capture the a6-bishop.

It was all about the 1st rule: Rooks need open lines. Let’s move on to the next rule: keep your Rooks connected. Rooks supplement each other pretty well.2
Rooks on the 7th rank, doubled Rooks on an open line – connected Rooks are the most powerful.

It’s useful to remember this practical tip.

Now let’s make a general conclusion about how to use your Rook.

1. In the opening, you should castle to bring the Rook into a game.

2. After that you need to finish development and to move your Queen. This will connect the Rooks (connected Rooks are the most powerful).

3. At this point the Rooks are still passive. You need to bring them into a game by placing them on the central lines.

· In the closed openings (after the 1st move 1.d4) Rooks are typically placed on c1 and d1.
· In open positions (after the 1st move 1.e4) Rooks are usually placed on d1 and e1.

4. Next, you should move pawns and provide open lines for your Rooks. Then you will use an open file to penetrate into opponent’s territory and to
start a direct attack.

Of course this is more of an overview of how Rooks should ideally work, but it’s the most typical scenario. It gives you a clear guideline.

Let’s go ahead to the next piece: A KNIGHT

Following the principles of a center and of maximum activity you should keep your Knight closer to center and move it forward.

I hope that it’s obvious for you now.

There is another important rule: a Knight needs strong squares.

We analyzed it in one of the previous lessons. A Knight is a short-ranged piece. That’s why it must stay at the place of action. Therefore it needs a strong
square; otherwise an opponent will kick your Knight away.

A strong square for you is same to a weak square in opponent’s position – this is a square which can’t be protected by opponent’s pawn. Thus a Knight is
usually very active when opponent has lots of weaknesses.

Suetin A. – Keres P.

Black To Move

Here Black took the Knight 17…Bc3!

Generally a bishop is stronger and we should not trade it for a Knight. In this position, however, Black noticed 2 important factors:

· This exchange breaks the white’s pawn structure and black will be able to attack these weaknesses.
· And the 2nd factor: When opponent has lots of weaknesses, your Knight will have lots of strong squares and therefore will be very active.

In the game there followed 18.bc Ne5 attacking the pawn. Also the c4 square is one of the strong squares for a Knight, thus Black wants to place a Knight
there.

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19.Rb1 b5 This closes white’s eventual counterplay and provide a c4 square for a Knight.

20.cb ab 21.Rb2 Qg5 22.Bg5 f6 23.Bc1. White has a couple of weaknesses (f4, e3, d3, c3, c4, a3, a4) and black’s Knight can use all these squares. 23…Kf7
24.Kg1 Ra4 25. Rd2 Ke6 I will show next moves quickly, because they are not so important for our topic.

26.Rff2 Rea8 27.Rfe2 h5 Black is improving his position step-by-step.

28.f4 white tired to wait and he wants to do something. However, it creates new weaknesses and gives new strong squares for a Knight.

28…Nc4 29.Rc2 f5 After an exchange 30.ef Kf5 the Black’s Knight has new strong square d5. 31.Kf2 Nb6 Next black will play Nd5 and will win one of the
white’s weak pawns.

The last rule about Knights is not new for you: in an opening we should develop Knights before Bishops.

This is a logical consequence of a principle of the least active piece. A Knight is less active on its initial position, so you should move it first.

There is one additional argument; I call it the Principle Of Flexibility. Most probably you will develop your Knights to c3 and f3, you haven’t much choice
really. As for a bishop, you can’t be so sure: sometimes it will go to b5 or c4 or even d3.

Therefore it makes sense to play Nf3, because you have to do it anyway. Later you will make a decision about a bishop depending on the future situation.

That’s why we should develop Knights before bishops.

This is all that I wanted to tell you in this lesson and this is the last video lesson in this course. Now you know the whole chess strategy. All of those complex
rules revolve around the general principles I have outlined.

In the first lesson, we analyzed general principles of a chess game. They determine what piece should make a move and where it should go. These are
universal rules, which allow you to find the best move in any position.

In the next lessons, I’ve told you specific rules for every piece. Thus you know exactly how you should use your pieces in different typical situations. Of
course, these specific rules are only logical consequences of the general strategical principles.

That’s why during a practical game, you need to keep in mind only these principles. In 3rd lesson I’ve told you exactly how you should do it. This is your
system of thinking during a chess game.

You’ve learnt all chess strategy. Moreover, you know why it is so. We concluded all the rules based on a general idea of activity. This gave you a REAL
understanding of a chess game on a Grandmaster’s level. Please, accept my congratulations!

Oh! By the way, get ready for the home works! They will surely test your new understanding. J

Now you should go to the practical part of the course. Before that, please, open an e-book for printing and print out all presented materials.

Thanks for your attention! Bye!

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