Chess in General

Chess is played on a square board with 64 squares normally talked about as white and black although the vinyl boards typically have red squares as the dark ones instead of black.  Chess is a game with about 10 to the 120th power or the Shannon number of moves.  The pieces are called the Pawns, Bishop, the Knight, the Rook, the Queen, and the King.   Although the King is the game and he doesn’t have a real value, I would say he’s worth 2 points as he becomes a powerful weapon in the end game.   A Pawn is not considered a valuable piece unless it reaches the 8th rank and promotes to a Queen although in some rare situations it may promote to a Knight which is the most common of the underpromotions as it moves in a unique way.

Chess Origination—————————————-

Chess is believed to have originated in India, at the time called, Chaturanga, meaning  “4 divisions[of the military]”, Infantry, Cavalry, Elephantry and Chariotry.  This wiki link about the history of chess can tell you more.  I’ve played this game several times and it differs greatly from modern chess and I would consider it almost unrelated.          

The Setup————————————————–

In the initial position the first row goes, from left to right, as white, Rook, Knight, Bishop Queen, King, Bishop, Knight, Rook.  The second row consists of pawns only.  A diagram of the initial position is in this link about chess.  The first 2 moves can be without moving pawns as the 2 Knights but the next moves are going to have to be pawn moves as no other pieces can jump over pawns friend of foe.

The Play—————————————————-

After the setup you can now begin to play.  White goes first and the players alternate moves one at a time.  There is however an exception and that is to castling.

Unusual Moves——————————————–

Unusual moves include En passant and Castling.  Castling usually comes first as En passant only happens when a white  pawn has advanced to the 5th rank or a black pawn has reached the 4th rank (example given here is for white).  If a white  pawn advances to the 5th rank and the black  pawn advances to the 5th rank on the adjacent file, white  can En passant by moving diagonally one square to the 6th rank onto the square that the black pawn jumped over.  More about En passant in this wiki article.

Castling is easier to describe and can take a minimum of 4 moves to accomplish including the move itself.  After  1 Nf3…Nc6  2 g3…d5   3 Bg2…Be6, white can castle Kingside.  This is notated as 0-0. Castling is done by moving the KING 2 squares towards the Rook and the ROOK hops over the King.  Castling is NOT done by switching the King and Rook.  Castling is not permitted under the following conditions: Neither piece involved in castling may have been previously moved, The King may not castle if he is currently in check, There may not be any pieces in between the Rook and King, None of the squares that the King crosses or the one that he lands on may be under attack by an enemy piece for castling to happen.        

Best Thinking Steps, Chess

If you ask me  to give the best thinking steps then the answer would be ‘look at your opponent’s last move, think about what threats he might be giving.  If you detect none and you feel it is safe, you can start your own attack.  It is important that you resist the temptation to win every piece that you can.  Each one has some sort of threat unless your opponent has made a mistake.’

Chess Tips set # 2

I did a post about chess tips several days ago but I realized I had more tricks up my sleeve than I had posted then.  Some of the most important points that I had not covered in my first post are shown below.

1) Fianchettoing normal is generally a good thing.  It is part of development.  This can be done in mid game or opening.  The Knight and Bishop, if done normal, are lined up with a discovered attack on the long diagonal.  If the Knight were to move out of the way and pose an immediate threat while the Bishop attacked a piece less important than the attack by the knight, the Bishop would win the piece.

2) Fight for the center.  This is vital for defending your king.  Castling can only be done after you develop all of your pieces in between your rook and king (note that when castling, move your King first so your opponent doesn’t claim that your original intention was to move your Rook.)  If you don’t develop properly, you will feel cramped with no developing squares.  Without center squares, you cannot get your knights into your opponent’s camp without moving to the outer files.

3) Attacking comes in the middle game when your pieces are active.  It is important to develop your pieces efficiently so they are focused on various points in the board.  These points are preferably weak points in your opponent’s camp.  But don’t position your pieces for attack only.  Be ready to defend at all times.

4) Be aware that when you loose a tempo even in middle game, especially middle game, it is a point in time for your opponent to attack and potentially win if he takes out all of your pieces.

5) You’ll do best if you place your pieces in the ideal places.  Knights belong in outposts, Bishops are best on open diagonals (owning the long diagonals is like $1000 to me.)  Rooks or Castles are best on open Ranks and Files.

6) As you progress to the endgame, you will no longer need to protect your King.  In fact, he can become a deadly weapon.  Use him to get opposition to win the game, usually by promoting a pawn.  This is done by getting it to the 8th rank.

I hope that these 6 other ideas will help you in your next game.  Any other things that you want answered may be in this link about other chess tips.

Chess Notation

Chess notation is a thing that is required in most chess tournaments especially the ones where you have a rating.  Chess notation is also important for other chess masters to go back and analyze the world master’s games.  My chess teacher likes to have the option of going and looking at grandmaster games.  Without the invention of algebraic notation only animated video could tell him where the pieces move.  Here are the basics of chess notation.

K= King

Q= Queen

R= Rook (also known as a castle but it is still notated as R and not C)

B= Bishop

N= Knight

#= Checkmate (some use ++ but this can mean double check by others and it can get confusing.  Some use≠.  This symbol or the hash sign is least confusing I think)

+= Check

= the Game is equal

?= Bad move

??= Blunder

?!= Move doesn’t look to good but is not immediately rejected

!?= Interesting move

!= Good move

!!= Excellent move

x= Takes or captures

1-0= White wins

0-1= Black wins

½-½=Draw, neither Black nor White is victorious.

The chessboard is like a checkerboard.  A chessboard is a square that consists of 8×8=64 squares, half of them white and half black or on some of the wooden ones, brown.  On most of the vinyl ones the black squares are normally shaded red.  In fact, the vinyl boards with black squares are rare.  Dark green is equally uncommon.  Anyway, the sides are labeled 1-8 and the ends labeled a-h.  By using this notation, one can record his games.  The numbers and letters symbolize the square that a piece is going to.  You can look at a chessboard, find the letter a and the number four.  If you follow the Rank that the number 4 is on and the File that the letter a is on there is a square that they meet.  This square is called a4.  A Knight moving to a4 is is notated as Na4.  Also, using this system can help you at a chess class.   You can write down the defense to a certain opening by using this notation.  Some books are meant to record games and have numbers that note the move number.  The one I have also has the picture of a chessboard on every other page so you can draw the position on the diagram of the board.  Also, my mom has made a book (handmade) that is much like these handmade books in her own online shop.  In fact, these books are also done by my mom.  The book that I have has chess the word chess printed in letterpress that were used like stamps on the cover.  It is made with paper soaked in tea so it brown.  This book is for notes at chess class and yes I do use algebraic notation in it.

The Varation of My Choice for the QGA and the QGD playing Both Sides

I just thought that it would be helpful to have my own variation of the QGA and the QGD.  So I will post it.  First is the QGD that moves into the semi-slav.

1 d4…d5  2 c4…c6  3 Nc3…e6  4 e4 (The Knight on c3 protects the e4 pawn, the Bishop on f1 protects the c4 pawn and the Queen on d1 protects the d4 pawn even though the d4 pawn doesn’t need protection through most of the opening.)  The point of this move is to apply pressure on d5.  If white were to win d5 with out any threats from the c6 and e6 pawns, there would be no question about who had the superior position (for those that need it spelled out, white is superior with far greater development and center control)  4 … Nf6  5 Bf4 (attacking the knight on b8 and guarding the important d6 square ( if black were to put his bishop on the d6 square the important a3-f8 and b8-h2 diagonals would be black’s)) 5…Nbd7  6 Nf3…g6  7 Be2…Bg7  8 0-0 …0-0  9 Qd3 (Black can only watch in dread as white makes the Alekhine’s gun only with the Queen in the front and not the rear)  9…Ng4.  Here is where I end on the QGD.  Now here is the QGA.

1 d4…d5  2 c4…dxc4 (although I would not normally take the c4 pawn as black as white has the superior position.)  3 Nf3 (the black pawn is not going anywhere!)  3…Nf6 (It would be unwise to try to hold the c4 pawn as black.  Be6 protects the pawn but it blocks the e pawn for black and it forces black to fianchetto in order to castle Kingside.)  4 e3 (builds a pawn chain and attacks the pawn on c4 with the bishop on f1)  4…Bf5  5 Nc3…Nc6  6 Bxc4…Bb4 (Pins white’s knight but white has a solution to this minor problem.)  7 0-0…0-0 (black quickly follows suit as not to fall behind in development.)  8 Bd2…Qd6 (this time it is black preparing for the Alekhine’s gun but, through pure coincidence, the Queen takes the nose again!)  9 Bb5…Rd8.  This is followed by Rd7 and then Rad8 (or R8d8).

Chess Tips

I really enjoy a good set of tips so I can do better in games.  So here are some chess tips to help you in your chess games.

1) Attack the center

2) Don’t get your queen out too early.  “A queen out early never comes home”

3) Develop Knights before developing Bishops

4) Try not to move the same piece twice.  After  1 d4…d5  2 c4…c6  3 e3…e6  4 Bd3?… dxc4  makes the bishop retreat so you loose a tempo.

5) To complete your developing and King safety, you need to castle.  I like to castle Kingside But there is more to that move toward King safety than just castling.  Castle opposite your opponent’s pieces even if it means castling Queenside especially if your pieces are only active on the Queenside .

6) There is one key thing about the pawn chain and that is that you will make a weak Bishop and you will also have distinguished a strong Bishop.  Weak and strong Bishops or good and bad bishops have their advantages and their disadvantages.  The bad bishop you might want to trade for a knight if you have something else to win.  The good bishop you will want to keep.  This also gives your opponent a target and a goal to win the good bishop.  There are pros and cons to this.

7) It really helps if you keep your rooks on open ranks and files.  Your opponent will feel cramped and cannot safely activate his own rooks and queens.

8) If you can only open 1 rank or file try doubling your rooks or making the “Alekhine’s gun“.  It can blow up your opponent’s camp.  My worst fear in chess is that my opponent will make this Alekhine’s gun.  Really dangerous.

Queen’s Gambit Accepted, Chess

I don’t know as much about the QGA (Queen’s Gambit Accepted) as QGD (Queen’s Gambit Declined) but I know a little.  The QGA goes along the lines of  1 d4…d5  2 c4…dxc4  3 Nf3 (e4 is also an option as it attacks the pawn on c4 with the bishop on f1.)  If e4, then 3… Nf6.  I don’t know if this is the correct thing to do in this situation or not but I do know that you would end up exchanging pawns, and the black one on c4 ( taken with the Bishop on f1) and the white one on e4 (taken with the Knight on f6.)  Nunn’s Chess Openings is a book to explore if you are interested in different openings.  I researched the King’s Gambit in it because I needed to defend against e4 (this was before I knew about the Scandinavian Defense and honestly I felt like I had found a city of gold when I heard about it.  The perfect defense for e4 that opened on the Queenside!)  Many of the King’s Gambit Declined I didn’t like because it seemed slow and boring.  The KGA (King’s Gambit Accepted) is just as bad, if not worse, because if you don’t capture when you can, it seems, you will almost automatically fall behind in material.

Queen’s Gambit Declined, Chess

The Queen’s Gambit declined as black is my specialty.  After playing 1 d4…d5 2 c4, you can play dxc4 which is met with Nf3, e4 or e3 or you can play e6 which is the Queen’s Gambit Declined.  You can also play the defense c6 which is moving into the Semi-Slav defense in which black pushes both c6 and e6.  in the Slav defense only c6 is pushed.  My variation for both sides is  1 d4…d5  2 c4…c6  3 Nc3…e6  4 Bf4…Nf6  5 Nf3…Nbd7  6 g3…Bb4 (pining  knight) 7  a3 (or Qb3 which is not quite as good due to premature Queen development (if Bd2 then …Bd6 grabs the important b8-h2 and a3-f8 diagonals)) 7…Be7  8 Bg2…0-0  9 0-0…Qa5  10 Ne5…Nxe5  11 Bxe5…Ng4  12 Bf4…dxc4.  The combination that white did, g3 and then Bg2, is called a Fianchetto .  Fianchettoing is generally a good thing as it allows you to castle, in this case it is Kingside.  Castling Queenside is not as ideal because it leaves the king in a slightly dangerous position if you don’t move him to the b-file.  In most pawn structures, after a series of pawn exchanges, the c file is often left open.  Castling Queenside leaves the King on that weak rank.

Scandinavian Defense, Chess

I have been involved in chess for a good while now and I have learned the Queen’s Gambit Accepted (QGA) and Queen’s Gambit Declined (QGD).  Then I found myself as black (white always goes first) and white had gone with e4 preparing for the King’s Gambit.  Having practiced opening  on the Queenside (with 1 d4…d5  2 c4…dxc4) and not the Kingside, I needed a different reply than e5 which opens on the Kingside.  Luckily there was an opening with 1 e4…d5.  This defense is called the Scandinavian Defense or the Center Counter Defense.  After 1 e4…d5 comes 2 exd5… Qxd5 or Nf6.  All of this d4…d5 exd5 stuff is called Algebraic Notation.  Hopefully the link will help any beginners viewing my site.  After Qxd5 comes Nc3.  This is typical because it attacks the queen and gains a tempo, hence white has a slight advantage.

Some of my favorite chess books include: How To Beat Your Dad at Chess and the sequel, Chess Tactics for Kids.  Nunn’s Chess Openings by John Nunn is a book that has a lot of complicated Algebraic Notation and is not for beginners.  But if you can manage to comprehend it it becomes a wonderful book.

Also I want to acknowledge Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess.  The book helped me see different ways of checkmate.  Even though it is only a book of puzzles, it’s diagrams help me see different positions and visualize different defenses to different positions.