Principles of Chess

01. Develop your pieces quickly.

02. Control the center.
03. Try to put your pieces on squares that give them maximum space.
04. Try to develop your knights towards the center.
05. A knight on the rim is dim.
06. Don't take unnecessary chances.
07. Play aggressive.
08. Calculate forced moves first.
09. Always ask yourself, "Can he put me in check or win a piece?"
10. Have a plan. Every move should have a purpose.
11. Assume your opponent's move is his best move.
12. Ask yourself, "why did he move there?" after each opponent move.
13. Play for the initiative and contolling the board.
14. If you must lose a piece, get something for it if you can.
15. When behind, exchange pawns. When ahead, exchange pieces.
16. If you are losing, don't give up fighting. Look for counterplay.
17. Don't play unsound moves unless you are losing badly.
18. Don't sacrifice a piece without good reason.
19. If you are in doubt of an opponent's sacrifice, accept it.
20. Attack with more that just one or two pieces.
21. Do not make careless pawn moves. They cannot move back.
22. Do not block in your bishops.
23. Bishops of opposite colors have the greatest chance of drawing.
24. Try not to move the same piece twice or more times in a row.
25. Exchange pieces if it helps your development.
26. Don't bring your queen out early.
27. Castle soon to protect your king and develop your rook.
28. Develop rooks to open files.

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29. Put rooks behind passed pawns.
30. Study rook endgames. They are the most common and most
complicated.
31. Don't let your king get caught in the center.
32. Don't castle if it brings your king into greater danger from attack.
33. After castling, keep a good pawn formation around your king.
34. If you only have one bishop, put your pawns on its opposite color.
35. Trade pawns pieces when ahead in material or when under attack.
36. If cramped, free your game by exchanging material.
37. If your opponent is cramped, don't let him get any freeing
exchanges.
38. Study openings you are comfortable with.
39. Play over entire games, not just the opening.
40. Blitz chess is helpful in recognizing chess patterns. Play often.
41. Study annotated games and try to guess each move.
42. Stick with just a few openings with White, and a few openings with
Black.
43. Record your games and go over them, especially the games you
lost.
44. Show your games to higher rated opponents and get feedback
from them.
45. Use chess computers and databases to help you study and play
more.
46. Everyone blunders. The champions just blunder less often.
47. When it is not your move, look for tactics and combinations.
48. Try to double rooks or double rook and queen on open files.
49. Always ask yourself, "Does my next move overlook something
simple?"
50. Don't make your own plans without the exclusion of the
opponent's threats.

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51. Watch out for captures by retreat of an opponent's piece.
52. Do not focus on one sector of the board. View thw whole board.
53. Write down your move first before making that move if it helps.
54. Try to solve chess puzzles with diagrams from books and
magazines.
55. It is less likely that an opponent is prepared for off-beat openings.
56. Recognize transposition of moves from main-line play.
57. Watch your time and avoid time trouble.
58. Bishops are worth more than knights except when they are pinned
in.
59. A knight works better with a bishop than another knight.
60. It is usually a good idea to trade down into a pawn up endgame.
61. Have confidence in your game.
62. Play in as many rated events as you can.
63. Try not to look at your opponent's rating until after the game.
64. Always play for a win.

Advanced Chess Concepts

The Basics of Advanced Chess Concepts
What this page will be trying to emprise is that to rise up in your rating levels
there are certain thing you will be required to do. Just like going to collage if
you expect to get a degree in a subject you must master the subject material or
you will not graduate with that degree. You are expected to study on a regular
basis and pass the exams. Of course if your subject is overly simplistic
requiring little study or none at all and you are only going to collage to party,
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meet girls and have fun then good luck to you when you get out. There are
many who do just that and so it is in the chess world also. Which one are you?

How do you study?

One of the secrets about studying chess is that you can only get as much as
you give. So here are some tough questions for you to answer about improving
your chess skills. 1. How badly do you really want it? 2. What are you willing
to give up to get it? 3. What sacrifices are you willing to make to get it? 4.
How much value do you place on it? 5. How much time are you willing to
spend to achieve it?

If you answer not much. Then you should know that Mediocrity means, bare
adequacy. If you want to be like the rest of the below average chess players
and follow in their examples in mediocrity then just continue on at your
present attitude of indifference towards the advancement of your chess skills
into the basics and the heart of chess, the important basic chess principles, of
the Endgame and Strategy.

The Basics
No chess players can ever hope to advance to a higher level of play unless he
has first become somewhat proficient in all of the basics. But the facts seem to
tell us that few average players have made any concentrated effort to do just
that. Many will tell you I don't really have any problems understanding these
basics, but if you were to give them a extensive quiz on these basics you will
find that most have only a general idea of how to solve the problems given
them, they are not proficient in all of them. Of course some will have more
expertise in some areas than others. But few will be really proficient in all the
areas.

What you have to know is that the more you know in each area the more
stronger a chess player you will become. Just knowing the basic ideas of how
they work is not being proficient. What is needed is a program of study on a
regular basis. Just like playing a instrument you become a better player if you
practice each day and conversely a poorer one if you don't. Its just that
simple.

Most will say well I just like to play chess I don't intend to study to become a
master player and so spending a lot of time in this study is just not for me.
That may be so, however if you want to progress to the higher levels of play
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this is what you need to do on a regular basis. You don't have to spend a lot of
time doing this, only that you do it on a regular basis. Remember that practice
makes perfect and Proper preparation prevents poor performance.

Tactics and positions

Mating Combinations
Double Attacks
Sacrifices
Strategy
Forks with Knights
Pins with Bishops and Queens
Discoveries
Rook Development
Bishop Development
Knight Development
Queen Development
Effective Play Based on Pawn Structure
Endgame theory and Practice

The Study of The Openings

Now lets discuss why spending too much time in the study of the openings can
be counterproductive to winning games. Yes you do indeed have to be familiar
with the important main openings that you will encounter or you will be at a
complete loss of how to begin your games and avoid important opening
mistakes and blunders. But what is more important than trying to memorize
variations is instead to try to find out the important ideas behind an opening
and what it is trying to accomplish. Like quickly taking control of the center,
or quickly developing all of your pieces or planning an attack from the wings.
For example the Sicilian is for those that like sharp tactics, a fighting
attacking game and spending a lot of time in the study of the variations. On
the other hand the Caro-Kann is known more for its solidarity and positional
play.

But that is why I say that even if you are not familiar with many of the most
common openings and their variations, you may still gain a good advantage in
the openings if you follow the advice in our very important training page
entitled The Opening Principles. This page has been upgraded four times now
to make sure beyond a doubt that the most important Basic Opening
Principles are clearly pointed out and proctored to stress that if you violate or
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ignored any one of them with indifference, you surely will pay the penalty for
doing so by your opponents who do know them well and uses them to their
advantage.

I have always stressed that in a large part the studying of the openings is
simply memorization. Especially lately in this century much of the opening
theory has come about through a lot of research in the use of computer
analysis. In addition to computer analysis, GM's use a lot of research of what
people have played. They may do very profound, deep tactical analysis, and
strategical analysis of an opening to proctor it to suit their style of play. But
then they may try to memorize these lines and are reluctant to change either
the order of play or the moves of a position when the position calls for it.

Or even after spending months working on a opening they may in a game not
trust all of that work and think that maybe in this position they should deviate
and change the position of a piece to maybe a more advantageous place.
However in many cases that piece, maybe a knight, may have been there in
the first place as a blockade to a pawn to prevent a open file to attack his king
position with a sacrifice of his opponents rook, and then the protection of his
king's position starts to fall apart and eventually like a house of shaky cards
his whole game starts to fall apart and he loses the game because of just one
single mistake of not following his plan and more important to not follow the
basics principles of preventing your opponent from developing.

Amateur players can be even more reluctant to accept change when it is

needed, thinking that if this opening was instrumental in successfully helping
a GM win a game surely it is the correct way to play it.

The biggest problem with the memorization of an opening variation is that

when your opponent does not follow the moves of your memorized opening
variation, then you may be at a loss of how to proceed because now you no
longer have the crutch of following moves that were worked out by highly
skilled chess players who over time may have spent hundreds of hours
developing this variation. GM's may follow certain opening variations to the
letter because they may know all the nuances of a variation opening that an
amateur does not and so are aware of the pitfalls of making deviations. But at
normal average rating levels at most internet chess servers it is not important
and probably makes little difference at all if they are followed or not. In fact
most probably after only the first 4 to 7 moves there is little point in

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memorizing any further because most players are going to deviate from
accepted lines anyway.

Another problem is that if you spend most of all your time in just studying
and memorizing opening variations then when your memorized opening
moves play out you then may be at a loss of how to proceed towards the
middle game and more importantly how to win in the endgame.

However if you study the endgame, you're really studying the heart and soul
of chess. Don't believe that, because you may know a few of the openings very
well, that you can just win the game when you end your analysis of the
opening. You can't. You have to play chess. Many chess players make
mistakes in the moment when their profound opening analysis runs out
because they are not equipped with other basic chess skills that are needed
besides just opening theory.

Now here are some of those very important chess skills to know about for
winning games. My guess is that the average chess player who usually plays
mostly just blitz games is not going to know about these ideas because he is
rarely involved in any complex endgames where he has previously studied
endgame theory so that he might win in the endgame. He is mostly just
interested in winning quickly and not interested in playing longer games for
an endgame win.

In the middle game or opening, you should focus on central pawns that are
fixed when evaluating bishops, while in the endgame; you should focus on all
pawns.

A good way to win in the endgame is to use the very strong endgame principle
of two weaknesses because two weaknesses are just too hard to defend against
and usually result in a losing situation for your opponent. The best way to do
this is to create pawn weaknesses in your opponents pawn structure on both
sides of the board that can allow a passed pawn through and queen. Planning
ahead for this type of endgame by creating weaknesses on both side of the
board in your opponents pawn structure can be a very sharp strategy for you
to plan for.

Knowing this you will get into situations where you may have to know how to
maintain the opposition and know how to maintain the opposition by using
triangulation to lose a move forcing your opponents king back so that you can

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move on a unprotected pawn to take it. These are the kinds of tactics and
strategies you will have to know about and practice if you want to win games
in the endgame.

How to get a passed pawn and other basic endgame principles and procedures
are absolutely essential to know if you expect to win more games against
stronger players you will want to play against to increase your present rating.
When was the last time you visited our Endgame training site and looked at
what is there?

In the Endgame If your Bishop is on the same color of your opponents fixed
pawns then you have an advantage in that you have targets for your Bishops
to try and capture. If your bishop is on the opposite color as those pawns then
you may want to trade off your bad bishop to get rid of that handicap.

You must also consider that if your fixed pawns are targets for your
opponent's Bishop then you will want to capture that opponents Bishop to
save your pawns.

In the endgame you must be aware of the weakness of a bishop in the

endgame. If your opponent only has a dark square Bishop then there's no way
for him to defend all of the light squares and he may have problems defending
his light square pawns. So usually when you are advancing pawns in Bishop
Endgames, you advance them on the opposite color of your Bishop. So that
way, for instance, you can control the light squares with your pawns and your
Bishop controls the dark squares. Or, the light squares with the Bishop and
the dark squares with the pawns - Keep that in mind when playing an
endgame.

Knowing how and when to use your king as a fighting piece can be crucial to
winning games. In the middle-game, you should defend him, and aggressively
protect him; in the endgame you must use him actively as soon as you safely
can because in the endgame a active king over a passive king will win the
game.

It is very important to know that in the endgame the bishop has to guard the
queening square on rook pawns in order for it to be a winning endgame. So if
your pawn is going to queen on a light square in the rook corner on a8 then
you need a light square Bishop to protect that corner or your opponent's king
can occupy it and prevent your pawn from queening and the opposite is true

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for the other corner. You must keep this in mind before trading off your
Bishops if you plan on doing this.

On the opposite side of the board with an a-pawn a light square bishop is
winning because it guards the queening square and a dark square bishop is
drawing because it can not protect it as long as your opponent's king occupies
that corner.

What should you do with pawn weaknesses. The answer is that pawn
weaknesses must be pushed, just the same as passed pawns must be pushed.
When you have pawn weaknesses, you push them up forward and make them
into pawns of strength that now your opponent has to decide how to deal with
them because now they may queen.

Everyone knows that the most difficult endgames of all is rook and pawn. But
how many know what is the most important rule in rook and pawn
endgames? It is that the Rook belongs behind the passed pawn. A lot of
players think you should put a Rook ahead and move towards your Rook.
That would be a bad mistake. the optimal placement of the Rook is behind the
passed pawn.

If you really want to know a lot more on how to win in Rook and Pawn
Endgames you must go to our training page Secrets of Key Concepts and go to
the bottom of that page to see the Discussion of the Rook and Pawn Ending.
This really is a discussion of the secrets of rook and pawn endings because you
will never see this material in any book.

Here you will find that in a rook and pawn ending you should not be
concerned with obtaining just a better advantage but rather in terms of one of
three possible factors.

1. A better rook 2. Better pawns and 3. A Better King position. And here you
will find out all about how the correct play of any ending can be viewed and
transformed into an advantage for you. This is the kind of information that
can win games for you because your opponents do not have access to such
valuable training materials.

When should you trade pieces.

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1. First, you're ahead in material,
2. Second, you have a spatial disadvantage,
3. Third, an exchange will make one of your surviving pieces more powerful,
4. You'll be getting rid of a very powerful piece of your opponent.

When should you trade pieces. You should trade pieces when; 1. First, you're
ahead in material. The reason for this is the more you trade down, the bigger
your advantage actually gets. In other words the ratio in percent gets larger in
your favor the more you trade down. If you're ahead in material, by trading
down, you actually increase your advantage because your advantage ratio
increases.

For example if you trade down in pawns from eight pawns to your opponents
7 pawns you have a advantage of only one pawn, not much of an advantage in
that difference eight to seven is a small ratio. But if you continue to trade
down and now you have two pawns to your opponents one pawn now
suddenly you have twice as many pawns as your opponent and that is now
double, a two to one ratio.

If you trade down one more pawn, suddenly you have a pawn and you're
opponent has no pawns. A very big advantage. Another reason for trading
down especially in the endgame is that there is less pieces on the board to
worry about as threats and you may have a far better chance of Queening a
passed pawn with the aid of your king.

2. Second, if you have a spatial disadvantage. an exchange will make one of

your surviving pieces more powerful.
The second principle of trading is that "When you have a spatial
disadvantage, it's good to trade". If your position is cramped, trading pieces
will relieve your pressure. On the other hand, when your opponent is
cramped, you want to increase pressure without allowing the liberation of
exchanges.

One of the biggest plusses of having a spatial advantage is that you can
develop freely while your opponent may be cramped and his choices to move
are limited. If you find your self cramped you need to trade off some pieces to
gain some breathing room and shrink your opponents advantage over you.

So, when you have a spatial advantage, you want to increase pressure on your
opponents cramped position and avoid most exchanges. When you're

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defending positions with a spatial disadvantage, on the other hand, obviously
the reverse holds true. You want to trade down as much as possible.

Remember this rule well, if you want to win Endgames. Don't trade off pieces
or pawns when you have a positional or spatial advantage. Why? Because in
the Endgame your king needs to have support pieces in order to queen a
pawn.

3. The third principle of trading: "When an exchange will make one of your
surviving pieces more powerful, it's usually a good one". For example, you've
already learned about good bishops and bad bishops. Well, sometimes trading
off your opponent's last knight will make his bad bishop even worse.

4. The fourth principle of trading is pretty straightforward, "When you'll be

getting rid of a very powerful piece of the opponent"

Let's review the four principles of trading. First of all, you trade down when
you're ahead in material. The more material that comes off the board the
bigger your advantage gets. Next, you trade off when you have a spatial
disadvantage. If your opponent is crunching down on you, by trading off
pieces, you relieve the pressure on your position. Third, you trade when an
exchange will make one of your surviving pieces more powerful. For example,
when trading bishop for knight, will leave you with a position with a very
strong knight against a bad bishop of your opponent's. And fourth, you trade
when you'll be getting rid of a very powerful piece of your opponent.

A basic principle of king safety is that you don't want to push the pawns
ahead of your king, which gives breathing room to your king. It's like a draft,
and the king can feel the draft. Also it gives your opponent an opportunity to
attack your king because his pawn protection is now gone. Except in the end
game where it is essential to activate your king to assist in trying to advance
the pawns.

Most every one knows the principle of a pinned piece. The principle is that
when you have a piece pinned, you should attack it. But, in some positions,
when somebody is relying on you having a pinned piece, a very good way of
responding to it is to attack the pinner! to unpin your piece.

! Making Plans
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Often in a game you may be at a loss on what is the best way to proceed.
Especially if your opponent is poising threats that you may have to defend
against. You think should I defend against this threat or do I create a threat of
my own? However when it comes to trying to decide on how to proceed
against threats you must always keep in mind of how may I defend and at the
same time continue on with my plan. For example, a more obvious way would
be to move a rook in front of your king to protect your king and at the same
time prepare an attack. When ever you are at a loss of how to proceed you
must stop and think what is your plan? What moves must I make to prepare
for this plan. In other words don't just aimlessly make moves because you
think you are attacking. If you have an attacking plan on your opponents king
side than keep focused on that plan and don't let your opponent try to distract
you from it with threats.

Above all else stay with your plan, stay focused don't move any pieces unless
they are going to help you further your development of that plan. This may
sound overly simplistic, and logical, but you would not believe how many
times I see others apparently start with some kind of attacking plan and then
change to some thing entirely different because of an opponents threats. This
may be exactly what your opponent had in mind, because he saw the
advantages you were developing and had to try to distract you from making
more of them and completing your plans.

This is exactly the kind of discipline you will have to work on if ever you
expect to advance to the higher levels of play. And that is to stay focused in the
face of adversity. Keep your cool and try to spend the time to just work out
developing or solving the problems at hand and continue on with your plan..
Don't let your opponents rattle you with meaningless threats.

Often a lesser opponent will make a bad move, or take a piece just for its
shock appeal. Or he may try to use a bad unorthodox opening for its unusual
opening moves to throw you off. Don't panic and just make a knee jerk reply.
Stop and think, calculate out what happens if you instead just calmly look
over the position and see how you can develop and strengthen your position at
his expense. Control the changes, improved your position and take advantage
of his mistakes is what you have to do.

Thunderduck use to take a castled pawn with his bishop just for its shock
appeal early in the game before he had developed his pieces to try to quickly
win the game. If you were to let Fritz analyze that position, Fritz will just take
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the bishop and then defend his king. Fritz is now up a Bishop and will proceed
to go on and win the game even at a very low rating setting. Because taking
that castled pawn was not followed up with other pieces to continue attacking
the king, it was a serious blunder and loss of a major piece and instead of
helping to win the game it actually did just the opposite. Often after making
such a blunder the amateur will often bring out his Queen to try to check the
king and bring about an early win. Of course now that queen will be attacked
at the expense of the other player developing his pieces and improving his
position with tempo. Many players panic at such a radical attack and the
psychological effect stifles their ability to calmly calculate the effects of that
mistake.

Schemes and Endgame Planning Plots.

What might be a typical plan for you to follow in the Middlegame? Sometimes
simple and direct plans can work best based on solid principles that we have
previously studied about.

As you have previously learned about the opening phase of the game one of
your goals is to try and create a weakness or imbalance to take advantage of
and work with like a pair of Bishops over knights. We also know from our
discussions of the endgame of the advantage of Bishops over knights in the
Endgame that it would be a good idea if we could create a environment that
favored Bishops in a non-locked pawn structure so that the Bishops have open
lines. Next we want to let our Bishops home in on our opponent's pawns of the
same color of our Bishops so that they will be vulnerable in the Endgame.
Next we want to try to make anti-knight moves taking away the advanced
squares of your opponents knights.

So now we have a long range plan to work with. We have some concrete ideas
that make a lot of sense insofar that they are practical ideas that are going to
be possible to achieve.

Lets go back at this time and summarize what they are so that we don't lose
focus on our goals. Remember it's very important to stay focused at all times
especially in the face of adversity.

Our Plan Summary

1. Create a weakness or imbalance to take advantage of and work with of say

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a pair of Bishops over Knights or at least one Bishop of a color that homes in
on most of our opponents pawns of the same color.
2. Create a environment that favors Bishops in a non-locked pawn structure
so that the Bishops have open lines.
3. Change the pawn structure so that our Bishops home in on our opponent's
pawns of the same color of our Bishops so that those pawns will be vulnerable
in the Endgame.
4. Make anti-knight moves taking away the advanced squares of your
opponents knights so that our Bishop can out maneuver the Knight in the
Endgame.
5. Now it is possible for our Bishop advantage to gobble up our opponents
pawns.

In summary we are going to use the principle of Bishops over Knights to

create an imbalance in an environment that favors Bishops over Knights and
use that imbalance as a distinct and significant advantage in the Endgame
where Bishops can excel over Knights. We are going to use our knowledge of
Chess Basics to win games.

Another simple plan could be to use the principle of two weaknesses in the
Endgame. All that needs to be done here is to try again to get two Bishops or
at least one Bishop over your opponents Knights. Then try to get two passed
pawns, one on each side of the board. Then use your Bishop and King to
protect those pawns or pawn to queen. Your opponents King and Knight can't
stop both pawns on either side of the board from advancing. The two
weaknesses could be those of your opponent's failure to have seen this
possibility of two passed pawns on either side of the board in advance and
provided in advance the necessary steps to have foiled your plan.

High Level Chess

In observing games, one of the ways you can tell who is the weaker player is to
notice who is trying to force things and just concentrates on threats and
attacking. That is often the way to distinguish a stronger player from a
weaker player. The weaker player tends to always force things, push things,
and make drastic changes. The stronger player will just control the changes to
improve his position, work around those changes and take advantage of those
mistakes. In other words the stronger player is playing positional chess by
constantly improving his position, developing his pieces for his plan, and using
the principles of strategy to strengthen his game. Often there is dynamic

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 potential in a position. Whoever changes things drastically will be making
disadvantaged changes within that change and losing the dynamics of that
potential. Instead of improving on that potential the drastic changes may in
fact just reverse it to the players discredit. You have to try to improve within
the dynamic equilibrium that exists and reverse your opponent's mistakes to
your advantage. This is the basis of high level chess.

5 Best Advanced Chess Strategy

Chess is a strategy game, and the more strategies you know and
understand, the better your chances at outsmarting your opponent. When
combined with good playing tactics, advanced chess strategies can help
you gain an edge and win the game. Chess strategy involves setting and
achieving long-term goals in the game, and tactics require you to focus on
the immediate move. They always go together, since strategic goals are
typically achieved with good tactics, and tactical opportunities are based
on a previous strategy of play. Chess lessons can be a great way to
develop advanced chess strategies and improve your tactics. Here are the
five best advanced stress strategies you are likely to learn by taking up
chess lessons:

 By not moving a chess piece a lot of times during opening, you are
developing that piece, and you should not move it until after developing the
other pieces. Remember to develop pieces that can coordinate properly with
one another. Otherwise, your attack may not be strong enough and cause you
to fail.
 Fight the urge to make premature attacks on your opponent. Beginners
typically lose because they disregard that principle. Keep in mind that an
attack must never be done until you have enough force in your field to ensure
its success. Attacking prematurely usually results in the move backfiring.
 Stay grounded and do not be selfish. There are times when you may
encounter an easy pawn, but it could be a poisoned pawn or a trap, which

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 could give your opponent the opportunity to make a powerful attack. To
neutralize the attack, return the material instead of holding on.
 Look for a weak spot in the position of your opponent. This is one of the most
important abilities you must learn in advanced chess strategy.
 Do not make exchanges that can lead to your opponent developing another
piece. Instead, exchange an inactive piece with the same but active piece
from your opponent.

200 Principles Every Chess Player Should

Know!
This is the TL;DR version of the book: The Tao Of Chess, by Peter Kurzdorfer, it is very good
especially for beginners.

 1: If you control more than half of the squares on the board, you have
an advantage.
 2: A knight on the rim is grim.
 3: Place your pawns on the opposite color square as your bishop.
 4: The path from a1 to a8 is the same length as the path from a1 to h8.
 5: Leave the pawns alone, except for center pawns and passed
pawns.
 6: In order to get the most from your knights, give them strong
support points.
 7: To be at their best, bishops require open diagonals and attackable
weaknesses.
 8: Rooks require open files and ranks in order to reach their full
potential.
 9: Don’t bring the queen out too early.
 10: Connect your rooks as soon as you can.
 11: Develop a new piece with each move in the opening.
 12: Don’t move the same piece twice in the opening if you can help it.
 13: Develop knights before bishops.

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 14: A wing attack is best met by a counterattack in the center.
 15: Before beginning a wing attack, make sure your center is secure.
 16: Centralize your pieces to make them powerful.
 17: When choosing between two pawn captures, it’s generally better
to capture toward the center.
 18: Play to control the center, whether Classically or in the
hypermodern style.
 19: Castle early and often.
 20: Do not move pawns in front of your castled king.
 21: Pay particular attention to the f2- and f7-squares.
 22: A queen and a rook will always checkmate a naked king.
 23: Do not pin your opponent’s f3- or f6-knight to his queen with your
bishop until after he’s castled.
 24: Never a mate with a knight on f8.
 25: When ahead in material, trade pieces, not pawns.
 26: When behind in material, trade pawns, not pieces.
 27: In situations with three healthy pawns versus a minor piece, the
piece is usually superior in the middlegame, while the pawns are
usually superior in the endgame.
 28: An extra pawn is worth a little trouble.
 29: In positions with an unusual disparity in material, the initiative is
often the deciding factor.
 30: Passed pawns must be pushed.
 31: Doubled pawns are a weakness in that they are immobile, but a
strength in that they offer half-open files for rooks.
 32: Look to liquidate backward and isolated pawns.
 33: Fewer pawn islands means a healthier position.
 34: If you must accept pawn weaknesses, make sure you get
compensation in one form or another.
 35: Location, location, location.
 36: Exchange pieces to free your game when cramped.
 37: Avoid piece exchanges when you control more squares.
 38: Break a bind in order to free your pieces, even if it costs a pawn.
 39: The move ... d7-d5 is the antidote for the poison in many gambits.
 40: Don’t attack unless you have the superior game.
 41: You must attack when you have the superior game, or you will
forfeit your advantage.
 42: Every move is an opportunity to interfere with your opponent’s
plans, or to further your own plans.

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 43: A sustained initiative is worth some material.
 44: The initiative is an advantage. Take it whenever you can, and take
it back when you don’t have it, if at all possible.
 45: A rook on the seventh rank is sufficient compensation for a pawn.
 46: Superior development increases in value in proportion to the
openness of the game.
 47: Attacking two weaknesses on opposite sides of the board
simultaneously will stretch out the defense.
 48: The bishop pair is usually superior to a bishop and a knight or
two knights in an endgame with pawns on both sides of the board.
 49: Opposite-colored bishops will usually give the weaker player a
good chance to draw a bishop-and-pawn endgame, but can often be
a virtual extra piece for the attacker in a middlegame.
 50: Don’t grab the b-pawn with your queen—even when it’s good!
 51: The double attack is the principle behind almost all tactics.
 52: Ignore your opponent’s threats whenever you can do so with
impunity.
 53: Doubled rooks have more than twice the power of one rook.
 54: Hit ’em where they ain’t.
 55: Relentlessly attack pinned pieces, weak pawns, exposed kings,
and other immobile targets.
 56: The threat you do not see is the one that will defeat you.
 57: Always check, it might be mate!
 58: Never miss a check!
 59: Be aware of the numbers and types of attackers and defenders in
a convergence.
 60: Sacrifice your opponent’s pieces.
 61: If you sacrifice material for the initiative, make sure that initiative
is enduring, or at least that it can be exchanged for some gain
elsewhere.
 62: Accept a sacrifice not with the idea of holding on to the material,
but with the idea of later gaining something by giving the material
back.
 63: The only way to refute a gambit is to accept it.
 64: A knight, firmly ensconced in a hole deep in the opponent’s
territory, is worth a rook.
 65: Three minor pieces are usually much stronger than a queen.
 66: Maintain the tension in the position rather than dissipating it too
soon.

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 67: The threat is greater than its execution.
 68: Pawn majorities should be marched forward with the candidate
leading.
 69: Attack the base of a pawn chain.
 70: Rooks belong behind passed pawns.
 71: Blockade isolated, backward, and passed pawns, using a knight if
possible.
 72: Use a minority of pawns to attack a majority of pawns with the
purpose of destroying the pawn structure of the majority.
 73: The best defense is a good attack.
 74: In Alekhine’s Defense and other hypermodern openings, White
has his initiative to defend.
 75: Good attacking play wins games. Good defense wins
championships.
 76: Look through the pieces’ eyes.
 77: Play blindfold games.
 78: Concentrate on forcing moves.
 79: Never miss a chance to attempt to solve any position you come
across.
 80: Decide on your candidate moves and look at them each in turn.
 81: Place your pawns on the opposite color square as your bishop.
 82: Place your knight and pawns or your knight and bishop on the
same-colored squares; that way they can control more squares.
 83: A good knight will overwhelm a bad bishop in an endgame even
worse than a good bishop will.
 84: Possession of the bishop pair is often compensation enough for
weak pawns.
 85: A queen and knight complement each other and are often
superior to a queen and bishop.
 86: Trade off your bad bishops.
 87: Trade your passive pieces for your opponent’s active pieces.
 88: Trade your opponent’s attacking pieces in order to break the
attack.
 89: Trade pieces, particularly major pieces, when your pawn
structure is healthier than your opponent’s.
 90: Exchange your opponent’s blockading pieces in order to make
room for passed pawns to march.
 91: Exchange your opponent’s defending pieces in order to make
room for your remaining attacking pieces to infiltrate.

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 92: A bad plan is better than no plan at all.
 93: A good plan incorporates many little plans.
 94: In isolated d-pawn positions, the plans are clearly spelled out.
 95: Keep your plans flexible.
 96: In pawn chain, opposite-side castling positions, attack where your
pawn chain is pointing.
 97: Your only task of the opening is to get a playable middlegame.
 98: When caught in an opening you don’t know, play healthy,
developing moves.
 99: In open games, get the pieces developed and the king safe, and
do it quickly.
 100: In queen pawn games, do not obstruct the c-pawn.
 101: As Black, play to equalize.
 102: The transition to the middlegame will often require a lot of
thought.
 103: Look to the pawn structure in order to come up with a plan.
 104: Make sure all your pieces are defended.
 105: Build up small advantages when a combination is not available.
 106: The king is a fighting piece—use it!
 107: The aim of most endgames is to promote a pawn.
 108: Make use of Zugzwang, triangulation, and coordi- nate squares
in endgames.
 109: A crippled pawn majority will have difficulties creating a passed
pawn.
 110: When in doubt, do anything but push a pawn.
 111: Style can be more important than strength.
 112: Strive to get into positions you are comfortable with.
 113: Know your limitations.
 114: Know your strengths.
 115: Choose the competitions best suited to you.
 116: Strive for positions that make your opponent uncomfortable.
 117: Don’t be intimidated by a high rating or strong reputation.
 118: Don’t take your opponent too lightly.
 119: Don’t let your opponent distract you.
 120: Don’t feel sorry for your opponent.
 121: Play blindfold chess every chance you get.
 122: Attempt to solve any position you come across, anytime,
anywhere.

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 123: In figuring out a tactical sequence of moves, choose the
candidate moves first. Only then follow them through to their logical
outcome, one at a time.
 124: In order to see ahead with any clarity, it is necessary to
concentrate on forcing moves (those that change the material or
pawn structure of a position).
 125: Keep every little detail straight in comparing a position in your
head with the one on the board.
 126: Have the courage of your convictions.
 127: Play those positions you know, even if you think your opponent
knows more about them.
 128: Inferior positions are actually the easiest to play
 129: Don’t offer a draw to a superior player when you are winning,
unless a draw secures a big prize.
 130: Unless you stand to gain big-time, don’t offer or accept a draw
early in the game or any time there are chances for both sides,
regardless of how strong your opponent is or which color you have.
 131: There are no signposts such as “White to play and win” during a
game to alert you.
 132: Be on the alert at all times for opportunities in any game that you
play. They come up when least expected.
 133: Strike while the iron is hot.
 134: Don’t get bogged down so much in little details that you miss the
bigger picture.
 135: Trust your intuition—it’s usually right.
 136: Check all of your analysis a second time.
 137: Check for yourself any published analysis you are relying on
using.
 138: Combinations and complicated tactical play will usually turn out
in favor of the side with the sounder position.
 139: Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. They are inevitable. Rather,
get in the habit of learning from them.
 140: Mistakes tend to come in bunches.
 141: After you’ve made a mistake, take some extra time to calm
yourself and reassess the position.
 142: Don’t overlook subtle mistakes, such as taking too much or too
little time for a move, carelessness in researching your openings or
opponent, failing to eat right or get enough sleep, and so on.
 143: Don’t ever expect your opponent to make a mistake.

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 144: Transition positions (from the opening to the middlegame or
directly to the endgame, from the middlegame to the endgame) are
the most difficult to handle.
 145: React to an unexpected, strong move by reassessing the
position calmly.
 146: React to any major change in the position by reassessing the
position calmly.
 147: Know the difference between a strategic position and a tactical
position, and react to each accordingly.
 148: Nobody ever won a game by resigning.
 149: The hardest game to win is a won game.
 150: Physical stamina is sometimes more important in chess than
knowledge or analytical ability.
 151: Try to get the most you can from any position, at any time.
 152: Don’t give up the game until there’s nothing left to play for.
 153: Make your decision, then live or die with it.
 154: When you see a good move, wait. Don’t play it. Look for a better
move.
 155: Spend some extra time on an important decision, when the result
of the game is on the line. There’s no sense rushing now.
 156: Stay out of time-pressure situations unless they are your bread
and butter.
 157: Take more time on transition positions and decisive moments.
 158: Don’t go into a long think over routine moves.
 159: Rely heavily on intuition rather than calculation in rapid games.
 160: When your opponent is under time pressure, do not rush your
moves to minimize the time she has to think during your thinking
time.
 161: Keep your mind on the game.
 162: Focus your chess thinking.
 163: Compare your position with similar positions you remember.
 164: Think along strategic lines when it is your opponent’s turn and
along tactical lines when it is your turn.
 165: Use the question and answer format.
 166: If you aren’t concentrating because of some dis- traction,
perhaps the fault lies with your powers of concentration rather than in
the distraction.
 167: Find a way to proof yourself against distractions.

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 168: Disciplining your thinking will go a long way toward improving
your concentration.
 169: Don’t pay any attention to psychological aspects during a game.
 170: Sit on your hands. Think it through first, then take action.
 171: Be particularly patient with your pawns.
 172: Be patient while waiting for your opponent to move.
 173: (Missing)
 174: Be patient in your calculation.
 175: Be patient in reacting to times of crisis during your games.
 176: There are all kinds of situations where luck plays a part in chess.
 177: Fortune favors the brave.
 178: The good player makes her own luck.
 179: Practice makes perfect.
 180: Play an opening first, then look up what theory there is on it.
 181: There is nothing that will teach you more than a good drubbing
by a strong player.
 182: Always play at your best.
 183: Practice playing endings if you want to master the intricacies of
opening and middlegame positions.
 184: Devour the games of the masters.
 185: Get a teacher, colleague, or even a computer to check all your
analysis and ideas.
 186: One of the best ways to learn is to subject your own games to
intensive analysis.
 187: Study the game notes of top players. Learn the way they think in
various positions, and imitate them.
 188: Supplement your study with practice. The combination of the
two is indispensable to a true understanding of the game.
 189: Thoroughly enjoy the game.
 190: When you have an emotional stake in the game, you work
harder, remember more, and come up with better ideas. Losses hurt
more.
 191: Putting your all into a game will make you a dangerous
opponent.
 192: You cannot know all there is to know about chess.
 193: Understanding is more important than memory.
 194: Understanding, supported by memory, is still better than mere
understanding.
 195: Know the basic endgame positions.

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  196: Know the basic tactical themes.
 197: Making excuses for losing will not help you win more games.
 198: Find the real reason things went wrong, and work to make sure
it doesn’t happen again.
 199: Learn from your defeats, your draws, and your victories.
 200: You will get out of chess what you put into it.

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