Chess Strategy to Aid Any Player

Often a highly intricate game with lots of subtle moves, a traditional Chess game can result in many thousands of combinations that all influence which way the game will play out. The game is considered to be a balance between strategy and tactics, of which the two play out perfectly hand-in-hand. Strategy is used to plan long term goals and ultimately set up the pieces into the positions from which they will eventually form their attack. Tactics are the step-by-step moves through which strategy is enacted and previous strategies are built upon. These two things go perfectly together and one cannot be used without the other.

Chess games are usually divided into three separate parts, being the opening, the middlegame, and the endgame. The opening portion of the game is when players begin to set up their armies and prepare for the upcoming battle to be enacted over the board. It usually lasts around 10 to 25 turns, depending on the offensive natures of either of the players in the game. The middlegame is when those battles are enacted out and most of the Chess pieces leave the board. During this time, most of the pieces are captured and this is when a Pawn usually makes it to the other side of the board for promotion. The endgame is the final portion of the game, when the Kings begin to actually play a role in the final struggle taking place. A well-thought strategy is necessary well before the endgame begins, as a player needs to plan to have enough valuable pieces left at this stage to be effective in the final struggle. Otherwise, one player will have an obvious advantage while the other is left with nearly nothing.

Opening Chess moves are considered to be some of the most important moves of the entire game and most often have famous strategies named after them. Considering that most Chess games can only start in a certain number of ways, many of these tactics become rather popular. The Ruy Lopez and the Sicilian Defense are two examples of these famous openings which have been adopted by master Chess players for many years. The Ruy Lopez opening is one in which the first two pieces moved are the King's Pawns on each side, coming to a head in the center of the board. The Sicilian Defense is one maneuver in which the Black pieces plays for the advantage of the game early on, for it usually results in Black having multiple Pawns in the center of the game board, providing more opportunity for maneuvers.

The middle and endgame are also home to a fair number of special strategic maneuvers, in which a zwischenzug is one of the most popular. In this move, a player doesn't make the move that is expected, but rather makes another move that needs to immediately be answered by the other side before playing the originally expected move. This is a great form of diversion and often leads to accomplishing more than one would originally expect. Chess games offer many different opportunities for learning different strategies and knowing the intricacies of the game can only help players grow even better.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for board games, chess boards, and dungeons and dragons miniatures. You will find all these things and more if you visit used board games and chess strategies.

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