About Chess...

Chess is a game of strategy and logic. It improves critical thinking, logic and reasoning skills; it also improves ability of abstract thinking. So we can say chess can also improve mathematical skills. It also refines ones ability to critically examine a situation, cause and effect. And using more rational thinking in examining life has its benefits that will last beyond a game of chess. Chess teaches attack and defense, but also it teaches counter-attack. It teaches the balance between time, material, and position. This game can help to develop ability to solve everyday problems, it can also help to become more patient. After all, this is a game that relies on the mind's ability to find solutions to problems.

WILHELM STEINITZ

Wilhelm Steinitz deserves a name on the list of greatest chess players not only because he spent 8 years as the reigning World Champion (1886-1894), but also because of the contribution he made to the development of the modern chess. In 1873 he unveiled a new style of positional play that sharply differed from the traditional method of all out attack, and it was called cowardly by many but by early 1890’s it was widely considered as superior and was being used by the next generation of players. Also called “Austrian Morphy” by many he became the World Champion by defeating bitter rival Zukertort. Over the next 8 years, Steinitz successfully defended his crown by defeating Gunsberg and Chigorin before finally losing it to Emanuel Lasker in 1894 and unsuccessfully challenging again in 1897. His immense contribution in the standardization of World Championship deserves a special mention. Unfortunately, he died in poverty in 1900.

JOSE CAPABLANCA

Jose Capablanca is often considered a candidate for the greatest player in history. He was the World Champion from 1921-1927. He was also the undisputed master of Blitz Chess (5 minutes per side). He won the title from the World Champion Emanuel Lasker and held it for 7 years before losing it to another great Alexander Alekhine. Though he never managed to get the title again but his claim to being a great does not diminish at all. This can be proved by the following points. In 1922, he gave a simultaneous performance against 103 opponents, winning 102 and drawing 1. From 1916-1924, he lost only 34 serious games including a run of 63 games undefeated, an incredible feat. He was not only a great chess player but he also contributed to the game of chess. After winning the World Championship he set about formalizing the World Championship rules (known as the London rules) to which all the leading players agreed to. He retired from serious chess in 1931; however he returned in 1934, determined to regain the title. While he had some good successes and showed he was still a world class player, he never managed to secure another chance at the title.

BOBBY FISCHER

He could have been the greatest player of all time had he not sabotaged his own career. Bobby Fischer’s worst opponent was usually himself. Beginning at age 14, Fischer won 8 US Championships, including the 1963-64 Tournament 11-0, the only perfect score in its history. He has the distinction of being youngest ever Grandmaster (GM) and the youngest ever candidate for the World Championship. By the early 1970’s, he was dominating his peers on the chess board, winning 20 consecutive matches in the 1970 Interzonal. By 1972, he had won the World Championship from Boris Spassky (his biggest rival) of the Soviet Union. Though his chess skills were legendary he often found himself entangled in lots of troubles. He made anti American and anti Jewish statements. He died as an Iceland citizen, where he lived until his death 3 years later. No player before or since has had such a large margin between themselves and their rivals as Fischer did in the early 1970’s and had it not been for his constant demands over playing conditions and money in World Championship matches, and his relatively brief career, he too could have been a contender for the number one spot.

ALEXANDER ALEKHINE

Alexander Alekhine is among the greatest chess player world has ever seen. Alexander At the age of 16, he was already one of Russia’s strongest players and by age 22 was considered one of the strongest players in the world, winning most tournaments he played in throughout the 1920’s and was dominating tournament play by the early 1930’s. In 1921, he was granted permission to leave Russia for a visit to the West. He never returned. Alekhine’s biggest objective was winning the World Championship from Capablanca which he did. Alekhine won his first World Championship by defeating the legendary Jose Capablanca in 1927. He defeated Capablanca with 6 wins, 3 losses and 25 draws, the longest ever World Championship match until 1984. Alekhine dominated international chess for the next decade, until alcoholism resulted in a noticeable decline of his abilities. Though after WW2, he was not invited to tournaments due to his alleged Nazi affiliation, though evidence suggests this was largely pragmatic.

MIKHAIL BOTVINNIK

Mikhail Botvinnik held the World Championship title on and off for 15 years, from 1948 to 1963 when he was eventually defeated. He also coached some of the greats, including Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik. Not only a great player, he made significant contributions to developing the World Chess Championship after WW2. He started playing chess at a young age of 12 and from there he went places. At 20 he became the Soviet Champion. He was a strong contender for the Alekhine World’s championship and eventually won it in 1948. He remained champion or a strong contender for it till 1963. He retired from competitive play in 1970 and started training young chess players. He features among the best players for his consistency and ability to remain at the top for such a long period of time.

PAUL MORPHY

Paul Morphy could be easily called the most gifted player in Chess history. Self taught he was considered the best player in New Orleans by the time he was 9. His exploits include defeating General Winfield Scott in 1846 who thought he was made fun of. At a young age of 12 he defeated visiting Hungarian Master Johann Lowenthal in 3 matches, who initially viewed the match as a waste of time. In 1857, he participated and won the First American Chess Congress. By 1858, he had defeated all the English masters, except Staunton, who declined after seeing the young prodigy play. Next he travelled to France and defeated the leading European player Adolf Andersson. Had he pursued his career further, there is no doubt that Paul Morphy would be a contender for the number one spot. It could be easily concluded that he was the most gifted chess player to have ever lived, years ahead of his time in play and theory.

DEEP BLUE

It is a little strange to have a computer among the greatest chess players but that’s exactly what this machine was designed to do, play chess. This computer achieved what was previously unthinkable. By defeating the reigning champion Garry Kasparov it proved that we have been able to design a machine that can outthink us. The rivalry between Kasparov and IBM began in 1989 but it took 8 long years before Deep Blue could defeat a World Champion. Though later Kasparov accused IBM of cheating but no such allegation was found to be true. Kasparov also challenged for a rematch but IBM refused and it dismantled Deep Blue. After the success of Deep Blue it has become common for world class players to use computers as their training partners.

Attack or defense?

Which is more important- attack or defense? In present day chess, this question is extremely topical, and every chess player tackles it own way. Impetuous and inexperienced players are usually keen on clinching the issue by a direct attack. Lures by the luster of combinations, they persistently look for beautiful and unexpected tactical blows. Most experienced chess players prefer strongly protected formations capable of repelling any attack.
Chess fans know that the attacking, or so called romantic style, was predominant in 19th century. At that time, intricate methods of defense were non-existent. If your opponent scarified q pawn or a piece, you were supposed to accept the sacrifices and fight back afterward. It is only close of the century, philosophers formulated the greatest technique of defense.

Method of Attack

Every chess player, regardless of his qualification, feels an upsurge of inspiration, when a position is reached, he can launch an attack against his enemy king. But to organize an attack, one must acquire a skill of positional play and the knowledge of combinational blows.
In most of the games, one side, by gradually accumulating minor positional pluses, obtains so called positional advantage. In such situation, the best way is to proceed from the slow and purposeful manoeuvres to energetic action characterized by offensive operations and constant concrete tactical blows.
This method of chess is called the attack. There are many types of attack, for instance, lightning attacks, requiring two to three moves to decide the game. Most of the time, enemy king is the target of the attack.

Forcing Continuation

Everyone is keen on attacking and creating beautiful combinations, but very few are enchanted by the genuine beauty of subtle positional manoeuvre and profound strategic plans.
The art of positional play is not duly appreciated by the rank-and-file, who often fail to understand why grand masters are so good in carrying out beautiful and effective attacks. Many amateurs can solve, no worse than well-known masters, problems and studies. And only upon plunging seriously into the intricacies of the game, do they realize that the opportunities for the proper attacks and combinations are not, as a rule, spontaneous, but they result from positional play based on the observance of the laws of the chess strategy.
Therefore, who want to succeed in the game of chess should realize that combinative and positional plays do not oppose, but rather complement each other.

The Art of Planning

Before embarking on an activity, almost every person, in order to achieve his objective, contemplates what operations he will have tom perform, and figure out the best sequence of operation. Chess is a model of life. Therefore, planning is an essential feature of the game of chess.
The mate is the ultimate and the most desired object of the game, and ‘play for mate from the first move’ is a wish to satisfy the desire.
Firstly, you should develop your pieces according to a certain pattern to achieve some superiority, in certain areas of chess board.
Then you should increase the pressure, in order to obtain concrete positional or material advantage in game.
And finally, you should be careful in exploiting all your advantages in the endgame.

Choosing the opening

Don’t be in a hurry to read an opening manual- it will only lead you astray. First of all, remember that there is no such thing as ‘the best’ or ’the strongest’ move in the initial position. There are several moves corresponding to the principle of development I the chess openings, and you have to make a choice in accordance to you taste, knowledge and experience.
It is always suggested to start the game with the center pawn. The white Pawn on e4 controls the important d5 square, waiting for reinforcement on d4. As you can see, white’s aims are straight forward and clear cut, and it is natural, that all the opening starting with 1 e4 are referred to as ‘open’ or ‘semi-open’.
The most fundamental reaction is undoubtedly the symmetrical reply with the black king’s pawn. So, one should take care in choosing and opening.

Errors made in initial stage

The main problem face by most of the chess player is that they commit unrecoverable errors in the initial stages of the game. Let us discuss those errors.
First of all, it is important to remember that the most vulnerable points in the King side Defense are those protected by the king alone. In the initial position, these points are the f2 and f7 pawns; after kingside castling, they are the h2, g2, h7, and g7 pawns. Protection of these squares is of foremost importance. Experience shows that, as a rule, it is o these square that disasters occur in even the most sophisticated opening systems.

Avoid disaster in the opening

Having barely learned the basis of the game of chess, every player will notice that the moves in the opening most often predetermine the course of the game, and in some case its outcome.
A chess game, to a certain extent, is similar to military combat, where lot depends not only on the technical abilities and the equipment of the troops, but the ability of the commanders to force the contour of the forthcoming battle and deploy troops accordingly, in order to commit them in due time, and in the most favorable sequence. It for this reason, every player, who directs the action of his wooden troops, ought to know the basic game in the opening.

Dynamism and Initiative

The rules of chess are similar to those of any other sport, and not only sport; success comes to those, who are more active, skillful and resourceful.
Then what is dynamism in the game of chess? In expert’s opinion, dynamism is the strengthening of the positions of one’s pieces with each move and threatening of the opponent’s pieces. To make the move successful, they have to fall within the rule of the game and to be based on a solid tactical foundation.
A chess player, with reputation as energetic individual, normally tries from the very outset to impose his own style on the opponent, forcing him to tackle numerous problems.

The Pawn structures

Though, pawns are the weakest pieces, they often determine the progress of the game and its outcomes. If one side has advantage of two or three pawns, more often than not, this advantage is sufficient to win. Situation is more complex when the number of pawns is same. Then the position evaluation is largely determined by the location of Pawns.
Before the game starts, the opponent pawns are lined up on the original square. While advancing forward, they support each other and restrict the mobility of opponent’s Pieces. Experienced chess player, often make material sacrifices, in order to a mobile, flexible line of Pawns protecting each other.

How to gain space?

Since chess is played on a limited area of 64 squares, the number of squares gained by each side, on which they can freely, positioned their forces. At the star of the game, black and white control the same space. But as a rule, any move in the opening pursues the idea of gaining the control over a large number of squares, especially in the opponent’s territory. Pawns, pressing the opponent pieces, and giving their own pieces freedom to maneuvers, play the main role over the seizure of the space. But the movement of pieces must be accompanied by the support of pieces. Otherwise, the army of pawn will soon perish. An experienced chess player tries to ensure superiority in the central sector of the board by the c- and f-files, since the best position of pieces is situated here.

The Pin

The pin is a tactic that can only be performed by a line piece: a Bishop, Rook, or Queen. The line piece directly attacks an enemy unit, the pinned piece, who in turn shields or screens a more valuable piece, standing to the rear. These are the three main actors in a pin: the pinning piece, the pinned piece, and the screened piece. Should the pinned piece move off the line, the screened piece then falls to capture, not at all a desirable prospect for the defender.
Occasionally, the screened objective is not a piece at all, but a critical square, an entry point. Again, if the pinned piece moves off the line, the attacking piece enters the critical square, usually with fatal effect to the king.

The fork

The most common form of double attack is the fork, a simultaneous attack by one unit against two hostile units. The aggressor unit inserts itself at some midpoint, between the two attacked units, and the defender finds, to his chagrin, that he can save one of his men, but not both.
In theory, any chess piece has the capability of forking two enemy pieces. Knight fork and Queen Fork occurs with most frequency, then come bishop, rooks and pawn forks. A fork by the king is rarely seen.
The arrangement of positions is according to the pieces that is doing the forking. Knight forks are trickiest, so they get most attention.

Piece co-ordination

One of the most important chess maxims is: “It is better to play with a bad plan than no plan.” If you have plan, if you are dropping pieces to short combinations, it will do you no good. So it is better to write this slogan in this way: “It is better to see all three-move combinations than to have a good plan.”
This slogan will work until you are at least at expert level. But once you get to strong expert level and want to make move to the master level, you will find that your opponents make fewer tactical errors. You will have to start relying on piece co-ordination to create position in which you tactical ability shine.
Why plans are important? Certainly, they are not necessary to play the game of chess. After all, chess program do not plan, at least not in traditional sense.

Playing dangerously

In addition to continuing to study tactics, critical part of becoming a master is to develop a chess style. Chess style refers to the style of playing.
Once you have developed a chess style, try to focus all your attention on
1) Forcing the game into positions which suit your style and
2) Further developing your style in that style.
If you have followed the chess vision and seven circle drill and have made them your basis chess style, you will prefer:
• Open position to close position
• Unorthodox positions to well-studied one
• Complicate middle game
• Simple opening to theoretical openings
• Pieces endgame to pawn endgames
This style of play has immediate implications for various aspects of your play.

Three key ingredients to become a master

It is not easy to become master in the game of chess. But there are few points that will help you to become master. These are not shortcuts but will certainly help you. The three points are:
1) Play as frequent as possible and against good players.
2) Analyze you game and try to figure out what mistakes that you have committed.
3) Study the tactics and try to implement them without any tactical error.
You should try to play various tournaments. This will help you learning your weakness. Try to implement your plan as fast as possible. By doing this you will commit less mistakes. Try to figure out what is going on your opponents mind.

Post-Mortem

After every game, you should analyze it with a chess program and produce a chess program. Let us take an example. Consider the graph shown in the figure. This graph shows how the computer program evaluate the position every white moves during the course of the game.
With a quick glance at the figure, you can see that the white has a significant advantage early in the game, and then he frittered away and had to regain in the endgame. You can see that the black has a 1.5 pawn error.
Look at the figure. White should have concentrate on the move 16 to 28, during which he lost over one point.

How to implement a plan?

The most important thing in every game is, implement a plan. Chess is like a war and you cannot win this war without making your plans come true. Before implementing a plan, try to remember these four points:
1) Improve the mobility of pieces.
2) Prevent the opponent from castling.
3) Trade off pawns.
4) Keep the queen on the board.
Always force yourself to implement your plan. No “long thinks” are allowed. Just spent about 5 minutes on a position, and win approximately 10 percent of your game, because your opponent gets into trouble. At class level, spending time and creating a complicated plan is often counterproductive. When you are implementing a long plan, you will surely make a tactical error.

Time management in the game of chess

Here are few steps that will provide you with an upper edge in the game of chess.
1) Make a physical movement. You can shuffle your legs, move around in your chair, move your arms up and down, or wiggle your toes. This will provide you relaxation. (5 seconds; total time: 5 seconds)
2) Look at the chess board with a vision, the ability developed by going through micro-level chess drills. (10 seconds; total time: 15 seconds)
3) Understand what the opponent is threatening. (20 seconds; total time: 35 seconds)
4) Write the opponent moves on the score sheet. (5 seconds; total time: 40 seconds)
5) If the opponent has serious threat, then respond. If not, then calculate the tactical sequence. If no tactical sequence exists, implement a plan. (70 seconds; total time: 110 seconds)
6) Write down my moves. (5 seconds; total time: 115 seconds)
7) Imagine the position after I make my and use chess vision to check the position. If chess vision does not locate any problem, make the move and press the clock. If chess vision does locate a problem, go back to step 1. (10 seconds; total time: 125 seconds)
8) Make sure that you have pressed the clock.

Alternatives to CT-ART 3.0

If you do not have access to a computer, you should make effort to get it. New computer can be purchase with a monitor for under $400 and used computer can be purchased with a monitor for under $200. If, you are not able to buy a computer, then you can solve the problems directly from a book.
Combinational Motifs by Blokh is an excellent book. Even the software CT-ART 3.0 is based on this tome. Unfortunately, it is arranged by theme, so you will have to jump around the book to order the puzzles by difficulty. Solve this problem by photocopying the book and the counting out the tactical puzzles and rearranging them by difficulty.
The Manual Of Chess Combination by Sergey Ivashchenko is also a goog introductory book with over 1,300 positions.

CT-ART 3.0-A Great program for seven circles

For seven circle method you will need a program known as CT-ART 3.0. It is a great program with a excellent teaching tool and has a built in chess program. The teaching tool provides hints when errors are made and the built-in chess program is available to analysis alternate variation. This program will save you hundreds of hours. Since, you did not have to enter complicated positions manually into the chess program. CT-ART 3.0 is available on the internet. It consists on about 1209 tactical puzzles and with a built-in seven circle schedules. After you are finished with seven circle schedule, you will find great improvement in your chess playing capabilities.

The Seven circles-Improve your tactics

It is rightly said that until you are at least a high class A player, your first name is ‘tactics’, you middle name is ‘tactics’, and your last name is ‘tactics’. If you ar4e ale to follow the seven circles improvement strategy, you will experience a vast improvement in your calculation and pattern recognition in a four-month period.
Before starting the seven circles, you will need to collect about 1000 tactical problems. Then you will go through this set seven times. You will take 64 days to make the first pass through all of the problems, averaging about 16 problems a day. Then you will cut the amount to 32 days and go through the problems again. You will repeat this problem and end up doing all the 1000 problems in one day.

How to create your own chess vision drill?

First of all, you must understand the essential feature of chess vision drill and its simplicity. The goal is to strip away the complexity that is usually presented on the chess board and focus on just one concept at a time. Once that feature has been isolated and a chess vision drill has been created that captures that feature, the drill is repeated over and over.
As long as you follow these steps- simplification followed by repetition- you can create your own chess vision drill to work on the weakness in your game.
The diagram shows a position to understand the importance of chess drill.

The Knight Attack Drill

The king attack chess version drill improves your ability to attack the king. After you finish this drill, your ability to finish off the attack when opposing king is exposed will be greatly improved.
Place a white queen and the black king on the board. Put some pawns in front of the black king. Now moves the queen in the minimal number of positions where it can checks the king and cannot be captured.
In the diagram, there are many possible two moves solution: e4-e8, e2-e8, b2-h2, f5-f8, f2-f8 and g6-e8 are just some of them.
Once you have found a solution, move the queen to another square on the board and repeat all the process. Continue until you have calculated a check from every square on the board.

Pawn mines drill

The pawn mine drill is opposite to the Pawn grab drill. Instead of focusing on the capturing of the pawns, you should focus on moving a piece to a target square without landing on any square that a pawn attacks.
For example, see the example given.
What are the minimal moves the rook must makes to reach h5 without landing on a square where it can be captured by a black pawn? Note that h3-h5 does not work because on h3, the rook can be captured by the g4 pawn. Another two-move path, c5-h5, does not work because the rook can be captured by the b6 pawn.
The shortest number of moves is three. The path c2-h2-h5 is an example, as are c1-h1-h5 and c8-h8-h5. For drill try to focus on finding all the minimal paths.

Pawn Grab Drill

This drill will help you to see the quickest way to move your piece to capture your opponent’s pawns. This drill is particularly useful for the rook and the pawn endings.
To work this drill place a white rock on the square and then place any number of black pawn on the board. See the diagram given.
Now I your mind’s eye, calculate the shortest number of moves required for the rook to capture all the pawns. Now moves the rook to each square on the board and repeat the process.
After you have gone through each square on the board with this particular pawn, set-up yourself and you will notice different patterns.

The knight flight Drill

The knight flight is the grown up version of the knight sight. Here, instead of moving the knight along the shortest path between adjacent square, you will work on being able to see the shortest path between any two squares.
To execute the knight flight drill, start with the knight on a1 and move it to b1 in the shortest number of moves, just as the knight sight drill. As with the knight sight drill, physically hit the knight moves to, but do not move the knight itself.
Once you have completed the a1-b1 circuit, move the knight from a1-c1. The shortest path is now just two moves; b-c1. As above physically hit the b3-square and the c1 square with your finger.
With the knight on a1 continue through the standard loop, going through the entire square on the board.

The Knight Sight

This micro drill is known as knight sight. It is designed to make the squares that a knight can move to ‘pop out’. Begin by placing a knight on a1 and physically hit the square that it can move to (c2 and b3) with your finger. See the given figure for your reference. Then move the knight to a2 and repeat the process. Continue until you reach a8 and then move back to b1, going row by row until you reach h1.
Once your knight meets your standards, you are ready to move on the next step. Place the knight on d5 and calculate the minimum number of moves that it takes the knight to d4. You can prove that it takes exactly three moves. By doing this you will be able to move to every position on chess board, when required.

Concentric Square- the Chess Vision Drill

Let us practice this thing with the help of an example. Start with placing the black king on d5 and a black rook on d4. Now start placing the white queen on every square where the queen can safely forks the Black King and Rook. Once you have determined that there are no such square, move the rook in a square around the king i.e. square e4, e5, e6, d6, c6, c5 and c4, and look for the fork and skewers. When you are able to find such a square, physically lift up the white queen and place it on the square. Note that the black king can recapture the Queen after Queen Capture the rook is not valid option. Focus only on the position in which the capture of the rook is safe.

The overworked piece

It is the basic rule of nature that no man can serve two masters. And in chess, no piece can simultaneously guard two pieces without becoming a target of attack. The principle is clear and simple: a piece which is performing more than one function is especially venerable to hostile attack.
Let us understand this concept with the help of an example. In the given diagram, the black Queen plays a vital protective role. Consequently, white can win by constantly harrying The Black Queen until it is forced to give up its protective function. Everything is clear from the given diagram.

Queening combinations

This is one of the most important of all the tactical themes. For successful queening of the pawn is equivalent to being a Queen ahead. And even if your opponent loses “only” a piece in getting rid of the new Queen, he has suffered a disastrous material loss.
Since successful pawn promotion is so valuable a resource, it offers considerable scope for striking sacrifices of material. Thus, it is well worth while to sacrifice one’s queen in order to promote to a new Queen which gives checkmate in the act of queening.
In the given figure, it is interesting as showing how the potential queening possibility can inspire a player to create a whole series of pretty tactical stokes. Given a clue of the situation- in this case the location of a pawn on the seventh rank- a player can think up one resourceful move after another. But the initial impetus is the most important of all, and that is why it is of great value to be well aware or the enormous power of the pawn promotion.

The venerable first rank

Some of the most brilliant combinations ever made have come about exploiting the venerable first rank. This happens when the castled king is hemmed by pawns in front of him, and his first rank is unprotected by a queen or rook.
Let us explain this with an example. Observe the given diagram. Here white can offer his queen and the rook, relying on the weakness of the Black’s unprotected first rank. Such sacrifices look startling, but they become quite obvious, once you are familiar with the weakness which they will exploit.
learn this scarifies and you will teach your opponent a nice lesson.

Surprise move

Occasionally we see moves that are so remarkable that they do not fit into any systematic classification. Or even if they do, they are so astounding that their surprise value is the most impressive thing about them. Still other surprise moves are notable because they violate a standard rule.
To consider the last group first, examine the given diagram. It is well known that a rook is helpless against far-advanced passes Pawns, and our first impulse would be to dismiss this position as a perfect case in point. Yet White does not resign; he allows black to queen, and then sacrifices his Rook. Suddenly it turns out that White has a mate in three! Instead of being dismayed at this violation of general principles, we are of course delighted.

Defensive combinations

This may seem a surprising subject for a book on tactical motifs. But defense is not merely passive, and in fact the best defense is never merely passive. Resourceful defense often calls for a through mastery of tactics. Without such mastery, many a desperate position would utterly collapse.
Let us explain Defensive combination, with the help of an example. See the given diagram. In this diagram, White, who is just about to lose his Queen, seems on the point of resigning. Yet he evolves a neat plan for winning Black’s Queen in return. And in the last analysis, this plan depends on a Knight Fork.
It has been best said that counter attack is the best defense.

Trapped man

The most common example of this theme is the trapping of bishop in net of pawns. This case of trapped man can be best explained with the help of example. Trapped man example has been show in the diagram. This opening trap is also known as “The Nosh’s Ark Trap.”
But other units can be trapped, too, and strangely enough the queen, the mightiest of all the pieces, is particularly venerable to a pincer movement executed by pieces of lesser value.
This is one of the best attacks you will see in your chess game. Nevertheless, this attack is old, but it is quite effective.

Queen sacrifice

No matter how experienced and sophisticated a chess player may be, he is always thrilled by a queen sacrifice. This is understandable, for the queen is far and away the strongest of all the chess forces.
Precisely because the queen is so powerful, the sacrifice of the piece must necessarily bring in substantial returns. Mate in usually the sequel of queen sacrifice. Let us explain this with an example. See the given diagram. Here White offers the queen in a manner which is surprisingly but hardly generous. He threatens mate, and when the queen id captured, he mates just the same. Still, such a sacrifice deserves our praise, for it take real imagination to see the possibilities in such a position.

THE HELPLESS KING

When you are subjecting your opponent’s king to a very powerful attack and he lacks adequate support by his pieces, you can make all sorts of brilliant sacrifices.
In the given diagram, black runs into one of the most curious checkmates ever performed on the chess board. His king is driven right down the board and mated by a castling move. Such extraordinary happenings are to be expected when a king has already been harried toward the center of the board.
Even in the endgame stage, with material simplified, the king may be exposed to serious tactical dangers. So we should take a care of these things.

Attacking the guard

This is universally true that attack the one first which guard the opponent. It is a very important chess logic which means if piece A guards piece B, then attack the piece A first and chances are that you win one or the other.
Generally there are some hostile pieces in the opponents closet, with the motive of of stopping your attack to the other crucial pieces.
for e.g. in figure, Black's Knight at King 5 is attacked by Queen and Bishop and defended by Queen and Bishop. So White removes the guarding Bishop in order to attack the Knight.

Interference move

It is again a type of attacking move, making the opponent feel helpless. It comes into ply when defender is forced to block him self. He will have a choice to move one of the two pieces to the same critical square. So whichever piece is moved to that square, it blocks the operation of other piece. In this, there is INTERFERENCE in the moves and the opponent is left helpless.
For e.g. in diagram, White’s first move leaves Black in utter confusion. If he captures the Rook with his King pawn, he is subjected to mate. And if he captures with his Queen, the result is again same.

Clearance Sacrifce

Sacrifice is crucial in every aspect and same holds true in the game of Chess.
Sometimes, you have a very attacking plan in your mind but due to non availability of a specific square, you are not able to apply it. So making a sacrifice, in order to clear the way for your plan is known as CLEARANCE SACRIFICE.
For e.g. in diagram, White clears its square King 5 by sacrificing Knight. Though this move seems senseless but it was necessary and further it is followed by a Queen sacrifice. So after these two senseless moves, the Black is subjected to double Check and a Check mate. So now you can say, these weren't senseless moves.

Resourceful defense

There are books always compelling on various attacking positions but less stress is laid on the defense moves. It should be noted that defense is never passive. Even masters find it difficult to apply their tactics for a resourceful defense. Such a defense is necessary to avoid collapsing at the crucial moments of the game. For e.g. in diagram, when White is about to lose its Queen, seems very helpless and about to resign. But you can notice, he plans a technique to take away Black’s Queen in return. You can see, this plan is implemented on Knight fork.

Compelled Move

Sometimes in a game of chess, you are in a position that you will be in loss as soon as you will make a move. This situation is called Zugzwang. It is a German word, meaning compelled to move. For e.g. in diagram, White's first move still leaves Black secure. But note carefully, any Black move will cost it a material loss. Hence, it is restricted to pawn moves only. So in this situation, once Black has made all the pawn moves, it will have to lose material.
Usually a move considered as a blessing in the chess game, but this one is a curse..!!

Chess Community

You can find a place to play online chess games, compete with your friends round the globe, listen to the guest chess lectures and many more adventurous chess activities. These places are generally known as chess communities known at international level. Also there is a facility to maintain your own chess ratings, invite your friends for a personalized network competence and many more things.

Chess game timings ranging from as low as 10 seconds to unlimited time can be played using the online software of these communities. Furthermore, you can have a detailed analysis of your game from an online chess master available with the chess community.
So every chess lover should be a member of at least one international chess community to get the latest happenings in chess round the globe.

Digital Chess Clock

Digital Chess clocks have replaced the traditional mechanical clocks.These type of clocks are very useful. These have some added advantages over the earlier time clocks.It contains large moving lever for changing turn. It is easily noticeable with large 12-13 mm time display. There is a single front button to reset the time. Most important, it has a battery back up of up to 10 hours. Also, there is a facility of exceed time display i.e. negative count. There is a different time display for each player. Few other functions are :

# Also there is warning sound for last 5 seconds.
# Sound function can be switched off and on during the game
# 4 years battery life with 2 X AA batteries used.
# Dimensions: 14.4 cm X 13.4 cm X 7 cm.
# Clock and Battery weight: 250 grams

X-ray or Skewer attack

X- ray attack is just opposite of Pin attack. In the X-ray attack , there is a movement of respective pieces. In this, a piece attacks a hostile piece that is situated on a line with the another piece but with lesser value. Furthermore, when the attacked piece moves off the line, it exposes the second piece to capture. This process is really very effective as shown in the diagram.

For e.g., when White’s rook maneuvers the Black forces into an X-ray position. There upon White’s Rook X-rays the Black’s king and thus wins the black rook.

Funny but true...

Here are few funny but true daily life chess quotes, just have a look:


I had lunch with a chess champion the other day. I knew he was a chess champion because it took him 20 minutes to pass the salt.

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Chess may be the deepest, least exhaustible of pastimes, but it is nothing more. As for a chess genius, he is a human being who focuses vast, little-understood mental gifts and labors on an ultimately trivial human enterprise.

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I failed to make the chess team because of my height.

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Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find outside an advertising agency.

The Weak Castling move

No doubt in almost 90 percent cases, castling makes the king safe from the opponent’s attack but it is a mistake, assuming that castling makes the king absolutely safe. For example: In fig, the king is exposed to attack even when it is castled, due to the gap in the castled pawn position.
This type of mistake offers make you lose devastatingly. Further more, there are numerous attacks that may make use of open lines, leading to the hostile king. This way, even castling move cannot save your king from opponent forces.