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An Easy And Comprehensive Guide To Chess This fun guide will include: An explanation on how to be able to read and understand a chess game through the use of co-ordinates A brief glossary explaining some basic and essential chess terms. A table explaining the initial value of the pieces involved in a chess fight. A description of the strategies to adopt in the opening , middle game and endgame phases of a chess game with some insightful examples provided by diagrams. A tactical approach to the game included in the explanation and analysis. A detailed analysis of the top games played by the author. An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

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The aim of this product is to produce a fun and easily accessible chess guide for all kids who wish to play chess.

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Page 1: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

An Easy And Comprehensive Guide To Chess

This fun guide will include:• An explanation on how to be able to read and understand a chess game through the use of co-ordinates

• A brief glossary explaining some basic and essential chess terms. • A table explaining the initial value of the pieces involved in a chess fight.• A description of the strategies to adopt in the opening, middle game and endgame phases of a chess game with some insightful examples provided by diagrams.

• A tactical approach to the game included in the explanation and analysis.• A detailed analysis of the top games played by the author.

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

Page 2: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

The basic rules Chess is a game played on aboard with 64 squares. It has 32 pieces (16 pawns, 4 knights, 4 bishops, 4 rooks, 2 queens, 2 kings) and it’s played with two opposing armies of equal size. The enemy pieces can capture each other (by occupying the square that was previously occupied by the captured piece), but pieces of the same army can’t capture one another. Although the starting position is equal under the material point of view, white is allowed the first move, thing which gives him a very slight advantage. Overall, the objective of the game is to capture the enemy king. Once the enemy king is captured it is said that the player which captured the enemy king has given checkmate and therefore has won.

In addition, the pieces have different movements which are:The king:

• If the king is threatened to be captured, it is forced to move as it is under “check”. • The king can move in any direction but only one square (as the diagram on the left

illustrates).• The king, when itself or one of the two rooks hasn’t moved yet, it can castle. The

processes involved in this move are illustrated by the diagram on the right. However, if under check, the king can’t castle.

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

Page 3: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

The queen:

• The queen can move in any direction of how many squares it wishes, but has to stop at the point where it’s blocked by other pieces.

The rook

• The rook can only move horizontally and vertically of how many squares it wishes, but has to stop at the point where it’s blocked by other pieces. It also has the possibility to castle (see section on how the king moves).

The bishop

• The bishop can move vertically of how many squares it wishes, but has to stop at the point where it’s blocked by other pieces.

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

Page 4: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

The knight

• The knight has the property to jump over the other pieces, which is quite a significant advantage.

• It moves as shown in the diagram above, almost forming an “L” shape with its movements. The pawns

• When a pawn reaches the last rank, it can become any piece. • The first time a pawn moves, it has the possibility to move two squares forward. However, it can still move only one square, like it would do normally.

• A pawn can only advance, not move backwards. • A pawn can only capture other pieces vertically in the range of only one square, as illustrated at the left of the diagram above.

• A pawn also has a property known as “en passant”. When a pawn is on the 5th rank it has the possibility to capture an enemy pawn if it advances two squares next to it (only if the pawn that has advanced is on a close file). An example of this can be seen in the right side of the diagram above.

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

Page 5: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

Checkmate!!When you checkmate, you win the game! It’s the whole point behind the game of chess and, therefore, it’s very easy to recognize when you do give a checkmate. A checkmate occurs when you are threatening, with whatever piece, to eat the king and he can’t escape, defend himself or capture the attacking piece by himself or another member of the army. Below are some exciting examples!

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

This is a typical checkmate early in the game. White can do nothing to defend the king and the game is over!

This is another checkmate position. White’s queen is threatening to capture black’s king and black can’t defend himself. Therefore, white won!

This position doesn’t show a checkmate. However, white can checkmate by force in two moves! P.S: The solution is Rxe8+, Nxe8, Rxe8#. :)

HELP!

Page 6: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

GlossaryFile= A row of chess squares disposed vertically. Rank= A row of chess squares disposed horizontally. Square= A location/point of the chess board on which the game can be played. The whole chess board is made up of 64 squares. Co-ordinates= The combination of letters and numbers used in a chess board to annotate the movements and evolutions of the various pieces involved in the chess formation during the game.

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

A diagram representing the initial position of a chess game with the co-ordinates around the board.

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The co-ordinates In chess, being able to use the co-ordinates found on the board easily and efficiently is a very important skill that most masters require and have. In fact, it’s very useful to indicate the movement of the pieces and, therefore, being able to present a game to an audience (as for example through a book) without the need of having to use thousands of diagrams.

How to specify which piece has been moved As it is possible to see from the diagram above, there are enough co-ordinates to indicate every single square on a chess board. To indicate which piece moves to which square, there are some conventions that is very important to keep in mind. In fact, the piece that is being moved has to be specified at every move when annotating a game and, for this process to be made a lot more simpler, some worldwide recognized abbreviations have been attributed to the various pieces.

• Pawn= When a pawn move is made, no annotation apart from the square to which the pawn move is made is required.

• Knight= N. (Not “K” as it would create some confusion with the piece of the king). • Bishop= B.• Rook= R. • Queen= Q• King= K. It is also important to remember that when two same pieces can be moved to the same square, to specify which of the two pieces is moved, the different rank or file of the piece which is intended to be moved has to be specified. A clarification of this point can be seen in the example provided below.

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

A diagram illustrating a typical position when two equal chess pieces can move to the same square.

Letters have to be written first in chess annotations.

We, numbers, have to be written after letters.

Page 8: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

In the case provided above, the annotation required for the white knight on g3 to move to f5 would be “Ngf5”. In fact, the specification of the rank on which the piece intended to move is results necessary to distinguish the knights. On the other hand, if the knights (or any other piece, like the bishop or rook) are on the same file, the rank on which the moved piece is has to be specified. In fact, the annotation required to move the black “c8” knight to e7 (the square to which also the “c6” knight could move) would be “N8e7”.

How to specify the square to which a piece has been moved Obviously, when annotating a chess move, as well as the specification of the piece that is moved, also the specification of the squared to which it is moved is required. Conventionally, after the moved piece is specified, the square to which it will move is stated. In doing so, the file has to be written first (through the use of letters from a to z) and then the rank (through the use of numbers from 1 to 8).

Example An example of how the first 5 moves of a well known opening line (the ruy lopez) would be annotated is provided.

1. e4, e5,2. Nf3, Nc6,Bb5, a6,3. Ba4, b5, 4. Bb3.

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

The position that should be achieved if the co-ordinates provided in the example are followed correctly by the reader

Reading chess co-ordinates is almost like reading a map.

Page 9: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

The value of the pieces In chess there are 6 different pieces which differ in terms of their value, due to their different characteristics, properties and roles. During a chess game, it is very important to keep in mind the value of the pieces to be able to know which pieces it might be convenient to exchange.

Pawn= 1Knight= 3Bishop= 3,25. It’s considered a little bit stronger then the knight but, as we’ll see in the strategy sessions, it depends on the kind of position which is reached. Rook= 5Queen= 9King= Infinite (If the king is captured, the game is lost). However, in the endgame (when the king can become a useful weapon) it is given a value in strength that is worth 4 points.

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

N.B: Before entering this section it is important to have understood properly and meditated properly about the previous section. In fact, the following topics will require a good understanding of the basic chess rules.

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How to win a chess game (brief introduction)

Winning a chess game is never easy, since you have to defeat your opponent’s army and get to his king. To win a game of chess, especially when the level gets higher, some key factors have to be kept in mind and some plans have to be considered in order to crush the opponent and have even more fun! This page will provide some brief introductory explanations concerning what, generally, a chess player has to consider when attacking and defending. However, if any chess player is courageous enough to study the game in even more depth, the following pages are rich with insightful information. Opening During the opening phase a player should just try to do the three following things:• Develop its pieces logically and safely (not creating too many pieces) for them to be ready to

fight throughout the middle game. • Occupy the center, for the opponent to be limited and the attacker’s chances of winning

through decisive breakthroughs (thing which often creates weaknesses) to increase. • Castle, since it puts the king to safety and connects the rooks.

Middlegame

When attacking... If you are attacking, you should try to push your pieces and pawns against the enemy formation to create weaknesses, gain space and eventually capture the king! In trying to do so, the pieces have to co-operate well together and try to give each a contribution to the battle, as for example by occupy some key squares for the infiltration of other pieces.

When defending... Nobody likes to defend in chess! In fact, it often means that the defending side has a worst position and the highest probability of loosing. However, if this is the case, care, precision and especially steel nerves are required! The defending side should often try to recompose its position by re-coordinating its pieces to a defensive function and try to cover or heal all the weaknesses. Endgame This is probably the most technical and complicated phase in chess. There are many logical key principles to follow that will allow to win many endgames but, in this case, it is also necessary to be aware of some very few key positions.

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

This page is a summary of the main ideas and themes in the main phases of a chess game.

Page 11: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

Get ready for

something very exciting!

Page 12: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

The opening The opening phase is at the beginning of every chess game, when the pieces’ jobs in the chess games are defined and both armies start developing themselves. Throughout the opening it’s very important to play in a logical and accurate manner as if the pieces are developed badly and the position is already seriously compromised, the chances of success throughout the rest of the game will diminish significantly. At very high levels, openings are studied by heart along the lines of what is known as opening theory because any minor inaccuracy in deploying the forces could cost the game. Nonetheless, at amateur levels not such a high level of accuracy is required and most players could manage to play some good level of chess by simply following three basic, easy and healthy principles.

The principles to follow are these ones: • Develop your pieces safely and logically on active squares as close to the center as possible,

in order for them to be ready to fight once the middle game will have been reached. • Occupy the central squares with your pieces and pawns, as it’s generally the area of the

board where the action takes place and a good control of the centre can be used to further on launch attacks through pawn pushes, etc.

• Castle and put your king to safety. In fact, leaving the king at the center of the board is often a great strategical error, due to the fact that most pieces have easy access to the center and, therefore, it is often very easy to concentrate all one’s forces on an exposed central monarch.

At this point, most of the readers might be confused and bored by these very superficial and confusing explanations. However, I will try to explain in more detail and with some insightful examples these points that, if understood well, will allow anybody to play chess at a very decent level.

1. Develop your pieces safely and logically and castle or if not... Develop your pieces safely and logically and castle, what does this mean? Which squares are logical and safe? What is meant by this? How can we do it? If our opponent doesn’t follow this rule, how can we take advantage of it? Well, these are all very good questions, but it’s not as hard as it seems.

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

Black has misplayed the opening in an evident manner as now it’s clear that, even though black with correct play will not loose, will have a worst position.

This is really bad for us!

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To explain the following principle, let’s just take in consideration the above position. Although at first sight it might not be so easy to notice for the novice chess player, white is completely winning. The reasons are the following:

• White’s pieces are already developed towards the center• White is already occupying some key central squares with the pawns and pieces• White (since it’s his turn) could immediately make pushes with the pawns like “e6”. Such a

decisive move allows to crack definitely the enemy position, open lines for the attack, limit even more the enemy position and leave the king undefended. After such a move. The weak f7 square is attacked and a capture by white (assuming that black doesn’t make any move for progress) with check would result deadly as the right to castle would be lost and the king would be stuck in an area where it can be very easily attacked.

• Black has not castled so at least one rook can’t take part in the game and the king is not safe.

Therefore white has two options apart from loosing a pawn:If black advances the threatened f7 pawn, the e8-h5 diagonal would remain undefended and white will have a very strong point from which to place his pieces thanks to the pawn.

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The piece is removed and now white attacks the exposed king, a consequence of the pieces not being developed naturally.

The f7 pawn advances, weakening the king.Now white has a free h5-e1 diagonal and control over the f7 and d7 squares.

The decisive push is made by white to break open the white position, just as in the previous example.

Black takes the apparently free piece (although the position is already desperate) and...

The knight is sacrificed to allow the decisive attack. Either white looses material after Nf7 (double attack) or takes but this will allow to take advantage of the weak and undefended squares.

Forced by black and... CHECKMATE!! :)

Page 14: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

• Capturing by black is a clearly better option. However, it would still be leading to a loosing position as in the current position, even assuming the best moves are played.offers very bad prospects for black.

Try to occupy the center or else... Grabbing the center with your pawns is extremely important to successfully come out of the opening phase. ! It’s like preparing your soldiers for attack and assuring not to create yourself any major weaknesses. If both sides follow the same principles, then the opening should end approximately equal and the middle game phase would begin. Nonetheless, if one player forgets to do what required, he will inevitably be teared apart! The following position shows a typical situation in which one army can take advantage of the opponent’s misplay for not having developed the center.

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The pawn is captured which, as discussed previously, is black’s best option to survive!

OBVIOUSLY. White captures back! :)

White captures with the bishop, limiting black’s position and chance to castle due to the presence of the rook and the pressure on the e file.

The pawn is pushed and the decisive breakthrough is made.

Black captures back, not to loose a pawn.

Black plays Nf6. However, because of the opening inaccuracies white has a terrible pressure on the e-file, which compromises the monarch’s safety and, after Qe2, black won’t be able to castle as the e pawn will be captured without the king defending it.

Page 15: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

The diagram above represents the key position which we will discuss to understand the opening. The situation is very good for white, since he has a very good control of the center with his pawns (a key objective of the opening), he has got space and is ready to attack! If only black would have also pushed his pawns to the center in the opening and would have undermined white’s control, then he would have probably not have faced this problem! In this game white didn’t develop all his pieces yet and didn’t castle but instead he obtained a very strong center and, since black is not in a situation to attack him (practically, in fact, even though white didn’t castle his king is not in danger), he can now easily use this to win the game. How will he attack? What pieces will attack, how will he be able to deliver checkmate from such a position? Probably most of the readers are thinking about these critical questions at this point but no worry, I will explain!From this point on, white won in only 7 more moves! Hard to believe, right? However, I will explain in detail every move.

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

White takes advantage of the central square provided by one of the many central pawns to check the king (and make him loose the right to castle) without getting captured.

Here black moves the king to f8. However, in doing so black looses officially the right to castle and develop his rook from the corner.

White develops more pieces to attack the weak king position and play moves such as Ng5, which, for example, would immediately win the h7 pawn.

I just can’t

wait to get to “F6” and check the king. Black

is toast!

Page 16: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

White plays “d6” to try and create space for the development of the bishop and try to destroy white’s center. However, white is too quick and black plan’s too slow.

By playing Ng5, white threatens to take the h7 pawn with check that can’t be defended as black’s pieces are squashed on the last ranks. White’s more space and more development is resulting very strong.

Black captures the pawn hoping somehow to brake the center. However, the situation is already desperate.

White obviously captures back the pawn, also to support the knight on f6.

Black exchanges queen hoping to reduce the attack and achieve a playable endgame, but this won’t happen.

Black tries to develop the king, for white not to be allow to capture with check!

White plays Rh3 to develop the rook on the d file where it would be able to control the file and harm the king.

“b6” is an attempt to then develop the bishop to b7 and take him out of his initial position.

Page 17: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

The Middlegame An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

We all worked together as

a family to destroy black, once we had obtained the

advantage of a very strong pawn center.

Victory is ours!

White achieves a winning position.

Page 18: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

King The king is the most important chess piece during a chess game. In fact, the side which manages to capture the opponent’s king wins. Therefore, during the middle game section there are a couple of things to keep in mind, for the king to remain safe and protected. • The king should be protected constantly and under whatever circumstance.• The king should be kept safely behind the pawns.• The pawns in front of the king should not be pushed, for the king’s safety not to be

compromised.

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

This position is approximately equal, since white’s king is relatively safe and protected by the knight and pawns.

In this position white’s king is extremely exposed and black can infiltrate with Qh3+, Kg1 and Qxg3. In this line black, apart from having an extra pawn also has a good attack, that he will be able to continue by bringing other pieces in the game.

Page 19: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

Queen The queen is the second most valuable piece in a player’s army as it is very useful in defending and attacking. To use appropriately this very powerful piece there are some very useful tips which have to be kept in mind:

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Page 20: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

The Rooks

After the queen and king, rooks are the most powerful and important piece in a chess army. Therefore, it’s extremely important to play well with rooks and allow these pieces to reach their full potential during a chess battle. To be able to do this, there are a few important tips which should be followed during a chess game:

• Rooks should be placed on open files, for them to control a significant amount of chess squares, limit the opponent’s pieces and potentially prepare to infiltrate in the opponent’s position.

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White’s active rooks are very strong. In fact, they are controlling fully the d file and stopping pieces from making progress on it, they are threatening to enter the 7th rank and win a pawn (they would be threatening the b and f pawn at the same time without chance of saving both) and they are supporting the d-file squares for their knight to enter the attack for example through moves like Nd5.

White here has not an advantage as his rooks are not currently active and black could quickly play moves like Rd8 which would take control of the d file. In fact, white now hasn’t got a massive control of the d file which would stop black from having any play on it, like in the previous diagram.

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• Rooks, should always try to be infiltrated on ranks where there are many pawns, for them to be able to munch them all, not allowing the pawns enough time to run away.

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Black has clearly played worst than black and has reached a bad position, in which he clearly hasn’t been able to put pieces on the d and e file to stop or limit white’s rook infiltration. However, if white by playing well manages to reach such a position he is lost since moves such as Re7 by white would inevitably cause black to loose many pawns without remedy. You can even try to look for a move yourself, after Re7 there is not way black can avoid the loss of pawns.

This position is clearly not what any side should be playing for. White clearly doesn’t have the advantage he had in the previous diagram, since his rooks are not well developed.

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• Rooks should always be kept in open space, for them to move freely and avoid risking to be lost.

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

Black in this position is clearly better since his rooks (and knight) are active and ready to join the fight and attack. On the other hand, white’s rooks are stuck and the knight is misplaced. To remediate it would take white many moves, by which black might have already obtained a crushing position.

Sweet nibblets!

White’s rooks are almost like frozen, because they can’t move. Especially this applies for the rook on a2.

Page 23: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

The Bishops

The bishop is a less important piece then the rook, queen or king. However, it is considered of approximately equal strength with the knight but, nonetheless, of inferior value to the pawns. To play well with a bishop, the following tips have to be followed:

• Develop bishops on open diagonals for their potential to be fully expressed.

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

In this position the two white bishops are aiming at black’s king and black will loose.

Black plays the only move which doesn’t loose immediately. However, because of the courageous white pawn on h5 (as well as obviously the bishops), black’s castle will be ripped apart.

White removes the g6 defender and now has to take with the h pawn, because the f pawn covers the king from the bishop.

Black is still in danger since the two bishops have removed every escape square for the king and he has no escape.

CHECKMATE! Black, because of the two bishops, can’t capture with the “f” pawn (otherwise the king would be under check) and has no escape square. This position has clearly explained how powerful the two bishops can be if they work together, eying a certain area of the board.

White wins especially because of the bishops, which are very powerful.

Page 24: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

The knightsThe knights have approximately the same value of the pieces. However, to work well, knights need the following things:

• Advanced operation bases from which to work. This weak squares of the opponent, over which he has no control have to be used as advanced homes for knights especially (and sometimes bishops).

• Knights at the center of the board which can control many central squares.

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From this position, clearly white has obtained all the advantage since he has two advanced knights that are supported by pawns and pieces and that are ready to capture the e7 weak pawn. This is a clear example of how two advanced knights can truly squash an enemy army and take advantage of all his weaknesses. On the other hand, black is cramped, his pieces are inactive and can’t stop the loss of the e7 pawn.

Here white’s knight is a lot more active than black’s knight on h8. In fact, it is controlling 10 squares whilst the knight on f8 only 2. For example, it is stopping the black queen from moving to f5 and begin any aggressive plans.

Black has a lot less space than black because also of the powerful knight.

White has a lot of space, an open position and a lot more squares than black.

Black has a lot less space than black because also of the powerful knight.

White has a lot of space, an open position and a lot more squares than black.

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The pawns The pawns are the least valuable pieces in a player’s chess army. However, pawns are very numerous and, therefore, it’s very important to be able to play with them well to win a game.

• Pawns need to be together and support each other.

• Pawns need to give advanced squares (outposts) to their pieces, whenever they have a chance to become advanced.

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Pawns need to be together. They are like friends, together they are stronger. In fact, in this position pawns support each other and can’t be captured by other pieces , because the piece would re-capture any piece daring to take a pawn.

Here white’s pawns are all separated and can’t support each other when attacked. In fact, here the d4 and b3 pawns are under pressure and, since no pawn can support the attacked pawns, black will probably end up devouring them.

Pawns and pieces are working very well together, threatening pieces and pawns.

We were the

army’s pivot!Hehe.

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• Pawn pushes (if done carefully and without leaving weak squares) can be used to weaken the enemy position by attacking, for example, the pawn barrier in front of the pawn chain.

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This is a typical position in which white has advanced his pawns, has a good bishop, an active queen and rook behind his pawns and just has to make the final winning moves. Well, how? The answer is simple:

The most natural move, but black still looses due to a superb move!

White pushes the pawn, gaining a tempo on the bishop which now has to move.

Black’s knight retreats, as black would loose material if he would give a knight away for a pawn.

KA BOOM! White threatens xh7+ and Qg7 checkmate. If h6, xf7+, rxh7 and Qxg7 checkmate.

QXG6. Now checkmate can’t be stopped in any way and the queen can’t be taken with the pawn, because then the white bishop would c be able to capture the king.

In some positions where a side has active pieces ready to support an attack, he has to try and push pawns to try and create weaknesses in a chess structure. In fact, this is what happened in this example.

YOU SHOULD PUSH PAWNS!

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More things you should know about chess and how to win good positions Having a plan means having an idea of what to do and play for during whatever chess position. Previously, we have discussed what every piece tries to achieve during a chess game and, now, we will explain generally what is necessary to do to actually win a game with an advantage. There are a few simple rules.

• Know which pieces to exchange.

• When you have a good piece setup and your pieces are in a good position, you should attack the weaknesses:

An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

Here white has a much worst position. The bishop is a lot worst and obviously out of play, as well as blocking the rook. On the other hand, the knight is extremely powerful and puts pressure on the pawns. Think about it, the rook and bishop are in prison. In fact, if the knight would capture the bishop, all black’s advantage would be lost.

I am stuck!

Here there is a chance to win the pawn, but white has to carry on threatening this weakness of black! How would he do it? Well, clearly with Nf4 or Nc3, white would get that pawn.

Aim at the weaknesses of the enemy position!

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An easy and comprehensive guides to becoming chess experts and beating your friends!

White’s pieces have all a very good position. The pawns are connected, the rooks are on an open file, the bishops control open diagonals against the king and the queen is ready to attack. However now white has to, concretely, take advantage of the situation.

White exchanges the only bad piece (isolated knight at the side of the board) for the only good piece (the strong bishop). Now, white is even better.

Black seeing no appropriate way to defend, since his pieces are on the other end of the board and pushing his pawns would weaken the position by creating holes, he decides to at least create an escape route.

White eyes the h7 square and now black has nothing left to do then try to escape.

Black captures back.

White tries to re-coordinate his pieces and try to attack the h7 weak square, which is the weakness of black’s position.

White captures the pawn and gets a totally winning position, also because of black’s exposed king.

Even if there is a small weakness in the enemy position, you should try to take advantage of it through your pieces and pawns, trying to apply the principles of chess strategy learned so far.

Page 29: A FUN AND ENTERTAINING CHESS GUIDE FOR KIDS!

The Endgame The endgame is probably the most technical phase of the chess game, because a lot of knowledge concerning many different technical chess positions is required. Some of the principles and ideas are equal to the ones in the middle game, but others are completely different.

• Passed pawns (Pawns which are not blocked by other pawns) are an essential factor for winning and each army has to try create as many passed pawns as possible.

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White here has a pawn which is not stopped by other pawns and therefore has higher chances of becoming a queen also being help, in this case, by the white king and knight.

This position is equal and white here has not got any advantage. There is no way in which white can win.

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• Rooks have to support passed pawns from behind on their march to promotion.

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Here white will easily win by attacking the rook on c8, forcing it to move and eventually promoting it. In fact, it would reach the rook before the black king. Also, if the black king would reach the d file he would be chased away by checks on the d file.

Here white can’t win. In fact, to promote he would have to move the rook away from the last square but the problem is, black would capture the pawn. Therefore, this is why to support the advance of passed pawns from behind the pawns.