- Can you capture the enemy king? Do this. You win. This is highly recommended.
You can't checkmate right away. But you don't have to calculate 12 moves deep to make a good chess move. In fact, most chess players only look two or three moves deep on any given move.
Start breaking down the mystery into simple components by remembering this each move:
- Read story the board is telling, then
- Make one piece happier
You don't have to understand everything that's going on. Here are 3 big sub-plots in every game that are easy to read.
1.Strength:
Simply add up the "score" of each army. Here is the general way chess players (and computers) score the relative strength of chess pieces:
Pawn: 1
Knight: 3
Bishop: 3
Rook: 5
Queen: 9
King: infinite
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If your score is higher: Congratulations! You're probably winning. You're happy to trade pieces (but try to keep some pawns). Keep up the pressure, but don't go too crazy!
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If your score is lower: Best to avoid trades if you can. And be a pest: find the move that would annoy you the most if you were on the other side.
2.The Center-Control mini-game.
Imagine the board as a hill, where the 4 squares in the middle of the board are the top. Whoever is controlling these squares is probably having a better overall game. Start trying to control these squares from move 1!
3.King Security.
Until most of the pieces are knocked off the board, kings should be tucked away near a corner, behind a solid wall of pawns, as quickly as possible. Kings that are stuck in the center and/or have open squares around them should be scared!
If all else is fails, just concentrate on improving the life of one piece. Here are your the things your pieces love the most.
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Pawns don't want to be alone or stacked in a column. They like to hold hands in horizontal or diagonal lines so they can protect each other.
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Knights prefer tricky tight spaces and attacking up close.
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Bishops prefer open spaces and attacking from afar.
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Rooks prefer open columns and rows, and each other's company.
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Queens are happy everywhere, but if they get too confident, they can get harassed and have to constantly retreat when you'd really rather be doing something else.
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Kings are happiest hiding in the corner, behind a wall of pawns.
Follow these steps, and you might look like you actually have a strategy.