Opening Principles
1. Capture the centre by ‘e’ and ‘d’ pawns and sometimes by ‘c’ and ‘f’ pawns .
2. Develop the Kingside Minor Pieces ( i.e. Bishop and Knight ) towards the centre of the board in one chance .
3. Castle- Castling has to be played in order to keep the King in safe custody and to bring the Rook in action.
4. Develop the Queenside Minor Pieces ( i.e. Bishop and knight) towards the centre of the board in one chance.
5. Move the Queen to such a square from where it’s access should be through the centre of the board and neither of the
opponent chessmen would be able to attack it.
6. Move the two Rooks towards the centrals files from where they can play through the centre of the board .
General Principles
7. Eight central squares ( i.e. c4,c5,d4,d5,e4,e5,f4 and f5 ) are most important squares on a chess board .
8. The King is like a baby when the game starts. So, it should be kept in safe custody . In the Middle Game King also needs shelter . But, in the End Game King becomes like a man . It comes out to fight the battle .
9. Queen is the most powerful chessmen in the game of chess. It moves like a Rook and a Bishop as well. It’s not good to move the Queen in the opening phase of the game and snatch opponent pawns because opposite side gets very good chance of winning the game as all the chessmen comes out one by one by attacking the Queen and gets an early attack against the opposing King. In general, Queen is the most effective chessman in snatching pawns.
10. Rook needs open file and open rank. Very often rooks are doubled on an open file. Rook is very dangerous when placed on the seventh rank. Rooks are most dangerous when dou75
bled on the seventh rank.
11. Bishop needs long diagonal to operate with. One Bishop moves through the white diagonals is called “ White squared Bishop” or “Light squared Bishop” and another Bishop moves through the black diagonals is called “Black squared Bishop” or “Dark squared Bishop” . Bishop plays it’s best when in open position.
12. Knight is perhaps the most interesting chessman in the game of chess. It is the only chessman which can jump over. It changes the colour of the square with each move. Knight cannot gain Tempo. It has very good ability of Forking. Knight plays it’s best when in closed position.
13. Pawns are the soul of chess. It is the only chessman which cannot be moved back. Characteristics and proceedings of a game depends upon pawn structure. Most important feature of a pawn is – The pawn structure changes with each capture.
14. Try to strive for the initiative from the very first move. Your duty is not only to develop your own piece with some positive intention but also to obstruct and destroy your opponent’s development and intention.
15. Best way to meet an attack is Counter Attack. But sometimes passive defence seems more effective.
16. Double Bishop against Bishop and Knight is an advantage in open and semi-open positions.
17. Knight is very effective in the centre on the fourth and fifth rank. It is more effective on the fifth rank rather than the fourth rank.It’s better if supported by a pawn. Knight is most effective when on the sixth rank and supported by a pawn or piece. Hence, once the First World Champion Steinitz said jokingly – “When your Knight is on the sixth rank you can go asleep.”.
18.Pawn’s playing power decreases from centre towardsthe wing. As-‘e’ and ‘d’ pawn =1point ‘c’ and ‘f’ pawn = .9 point ‘b’ and ‘g’ pawn =.8 point ‘a’ and ‘h’ pawn = .7 point
19. It is difficult to win a won game rather than a lost game.
20. Play the game by watching your opponent’s move only, don’t see how reputed player you are playing with.
21. Exchanging pieces is an art. Try to understand , when to exchange and when not to exchange, how to exchange and how to avoid exchange.
22. Try to find out the best possible square for your piece.
23. Attack is the best defence.
24. Rook should be placed on open or semi-open file or on the open rank.
25. Bishop plays best in open position.
26. Knight plays best in close position.
27. Queen is generally stronger than double rooks with so many pawns on the board as queen snatches pawn very well . But sometimes double rooks are very effective as they can attack the opposing king more powerfully .
28. Three pawns infront of the castled position gives king good pawn guard.
29. All the pieces should be well co-ordinated through out the game .
30. Timing of every move is most important in the game of chess.
Middle Game Principles
31.When you have material advantage exchange pieces and try to reach the end game so that you can win by exploiting your extra material .
32. When you have positional advantage do not exchange pieces so that your advantage may go away with exchange of the pieces .
33. Try to attack at your opponent’s weakest spot .
34.Queen and Knight , Rook and Bishop makes the best possible combinations .
35. Best blockader of a passed pawn is the knight .
36. Lesser pawn island is good .
37. Attack becomes very powerful when most of the pieces takes part in attack .
38. Attacking the opponent king is the main goal in the game of chess . Which is known as “ King Hunt “ in the language of chess .
39. When the centre of the board is open , access and development of the pieces plays main role by making threats and counter threats . Exchange of the pieces also plays vital role in this regard .
40. When the centre of the board is fully closed , attack should be operated through the wings .Generally through the opposite wings but sometimes through the same wings.
41. Apply the theory of making two weaknesses and attack your opponent practically.
42. When opponent is attacking through a wing at first we will try to open the pawn centre by exchanging pawns . But if the centre is fully closed , we should try to attack through the opposite wings . If that also seems impossible we should try to make counter play through the same wing.
43. Try to make proper piece collaboration .
44.Two connected pawns are more active when they stands side by side . But they are most active when stands side by side on the centre of the board .They are called Hanging pawns or Hanging duos . They are powerful when supported from back by the pieces and weak when unsupported .
45. When the centre is closed- fully or partly , pawns play the main role in wing attack or opening up the centre .
46. When the centre is open pieces play the main role and attack is generated straight forward to the opposing king .
47. There are five types of central pawn structure . They are – 1. Open Centre , 2. Closed Centre , 3. Fixed Centre , 4. Mobile Centre and 5. Dynamic Centre .
48. Stalemate and Perpetual Check are special features in the game of chess . The side materially heavily down desperately searches for these options .
49. In Semi- Open pawn structures like Queen’s Gambit Declined, Exchange Variation – Minority Attack plays the main part .
50. Try to understand The Defending Piece and The Attacking Piece ratio in the Middle Game.
51. Piece regrouping is a very important part in the Middle Game and sometimes in the End Game .
52. Sometimes in a game when castling cannot be played , King and the concerned Rook has to be moved accordingly to make a castled type position if needed . This position making is called “ Artificial Castling “ .
53. There are three parts in the game of chess – 1. The Opening, 2. The Middle Game and 3. The End Game .
54. There are two types of players as far as playing style is concerned - 1) Positional Attacking and 2) Attacking Positional .
55. Two types of games are played as far as characteristics of a game is concerned – 1) Combinative- Tactical and 2) Strategic- Positional .
56. There are three fishes of chess mastery – 1) Combinational Vision , 2) Power of Calculation and 3) Positional Assessment .
57. Don’t make any pawn move when you are in bad position .
58. you should be very careful when launching a King-side Attack because you are weakening your King’s position .
59. Do not move your eye from the board when in time pressure .
60. Waiting Move is essential in some positions . Be aware of that, waiting move is very often necessary in the end game .
61. Intermediate move is very effective in some positions .
62. Piece value is not stagnant in the game of chess . There are some positions when a pawn can be stronger than a Queen . Piece value is variable throughout a game of chess .
63. Tempo Gaining Move is very important in the game of chess. Knight cannot gain tempo.
64. “ En Passant “ is a special feature of pawn capturing . But sometimes “En Passant “ is not a good move to play .
65. You must attack when in good position . Otherwise, there is every chance of losing the advantage .
66. Pawn’s capturing move should be played towards the centre of the board .
“End Game Principles"
67. King should take active part in the end game . It should be centralized .
68. Rooks should be placed behind the passed pawn in the end game . If the Rook is placed behind a pawn of the opponent attacking side’s Rook becomes more active with each pawn move . Defending side’s Rook gets more space while standing behind the pawn instead.
69. Try to make proper piece manoeuvring when needed.
70. In the Opening and the Middle Game a minor piece ( Bishop or Knight ) is stronger than three pawns but in the end game three pawns are generally stronger than a minor piece.
71. Doubled pawns are good while defending , especially infront of the castled position . But doubled pawns are bad while attacking as the pawn behind cannot move forward freely .
72. Isolated Pawn is bad , especially in the end game . It should be exchanged with any other opponent pawn in the middle game.
73. Backward Pawn is bad , especially in the end game and on the base rank because opponent gets chance of attacking it and “ en pass” while standing on the fifth rank of adjacent file of
the backward pawn .
74.” Distant Passed Pawn” in the End Game often becomes deciding factor .
75.” Far advanced passed pawn” often becomes deciding factor in the end game and sometimes in the Middle Game.
76. Poor pawn structure generally leads to defeat in the end game.
77.As weaker the pawns , less active the pieces in the end game .
78.Pieces should be activated at their best in the end game and should work accordingly .
79. Always try to create a passed pawn far away from the opponent king .
80. Opposition is one of the prime factors in the end game.
81.Triangulation is also an important factor in the end game .
82. “Everybody should be aware of “The Square Rules” in the end game .
83.Queenside pawn majority is advantageous in the end game .
84.Double Bishop Advantage should be taken into account .
85.Creation of new pawn structure by exchanging could be advantageous or disadvantageous .That should be handled with care.
86. Slow and prolonged manoeuvring is a common feature of end game . Players should not hurry at all.
87. Position should be analysed thematically.All the elements to be considered.
88. Principal of two weaknesses should be applied in thinking process. Long thinking is very much needed in the end game.
89.Struggle for the initiative should be carried out in the end game also.
90. Supressing the opponent’s counterplay by considering the most obvious form of prophylaxis which starts from Waiting Moves as Nimzovitch expressed .
91. Isolated –d pawn should be handled with great care by both sides .
92. End game should be played slowly and cautiously .
93. Before promoting a pawn to the last rank try to understand the theme or combination lies within and take the most necessary piece which might not always be Queen .
94. Try to understand the opposition in the end game and the theory lies within that position.
95. Try to understand Triangulation of the King in the end game when needed.
96. Do flanking of the king in the end game when needed.
97. When playing the opposite colour Bishop and pawn end game, try to create passed pawns on both flanks or atleast one on the flank and the other on the centre.
98. Most of the same colour Bishop and pawn end game gives result .
99. Try to gain decisive material advantage or checkmate the opponent king while playing “ Pawnless Endgame “ .
100. Do not try to make out a win by force to a drawn endgame . There is every chance of losing that game. Most of the time you will lose.