Have you ever wanted to get better at chess and tried and found it difficult and just gave up? Don’t worry, many people have done this and for many who enjoy chess, they spend their entire lives trying to get better at it!
In theory, getting better at chess is simply a case of learning to find the best move to play in each position for each player. The player who finds the least good moves usually loses.
However, even this model is flawed. In chess you need to think and look ahead. In many positions, the best move in that position will not be the best move after at least 2 or 3 more moves from the opponent. This means that for each position, once you decide on the likely best move for that position, you should consider at least 2-3 moves ahead of your opponent’s best game. This is where the calculation becomes more difficult.
Also, to begin with, you need to be able to assess and assess each position for strengths and weaknesses and rate which side is better or if there is equality. If this evaluation is not correct, subsequent move calculations and considerations will also not be correct! To make a solid assessment, you need to understand the nature of chess, which includes chess principles, tactical, positional, and strategic chess game factors.
All these areas that make up the game of chess can be learned by playing and with the advice of other chess players and from books, videos and chess courses.
Once a player learns the basics of these areas and plays regularly, the importance of the 3 distinct phases of the game of chess, the opening, the middlegame and the endgame, becomes apparent. All the chess factors described above apply in each of the phases of the game. However, each phase of the game has special considerations.
In the opening, the goal is to develop all the pieces paying attention to the safety of the king with the throw and also paying attention to the control of the center of the board.
In the middlegame, players improve the position of their pawns and pieces and also try to weaken the position of the opponents (capturing pawns or pieces and making good exchanges of pieces and creating damaged pawn structures).
At the end of the game, king activity becomes important along with achieving pawn promotion and getting passed pawns to promote. Checkmate patterns become important to know and understand. The end game must end with checkmate, but watch out for stalemate if you’re winning. If you lose, you may want to play to a stalemate and draw.
However, it is vital to see a chess game as a whole, ideally consisting of all 3 parts. The moves, strategy and tactics made in the opening greatly influence the middle and endgame and it is important to plan ahead to take this into account. Short-term gains can be nullified by a longer-term strategy (e.g. exchanging a bishop for capturing a knight, perhaps a poor decision depending on the type of game, open, semi-open or close, that results) bringing more advantages.
A great way to improve is to study well known and famous chess games and try to learn the tactical, strategic and positional elements that they use. There are so many to choose from, but try to find a few that use your favorite opening or defense. Paul Morphy’s “Night at the opera” game is a very famous game that shows how one player’s good grasp can beat the other player’s average moves.
Also, studying the games of world chess champions will help you improve your game. Some think that Bobby Fischer was the greatest player of all time and he liked to play 1.e4 with White. Studying his games will improve your chess. Similarly, Garry Kasparov is thought by many to have been the greatest world chess champion of the modern era and liked to play 1.d4 with White. World champion Mikhail Botvinnik played 1.c4 with great success.
Good chess players understand the basic principles of chess very well and feel comfortable playing any opening or position, because they have a good understanding of all the factors involved in making good chess moves. Less strong players usually don’t have that basic understanding of chess and therefore often make more mistakes, especially in unfamiliar openings and positions.
Finally, in chess, you must always consider your opponent! It is a basic and easy mistake to focus only on your own plans and moves and not think enough about what the opponent can play. If you ignore your opponent’s moves, you can quickly get into trouble. Therefore, chess move calculation depends on finding your best move and the best move your opponent can make and deciding his move (strategically, positionally and tactically) from there.
