The Opening: Avoid Exploiting Your Queen

If you've taken a look at the information under The Opening then you've noticed that I've listed Avoid Exploiting Your Queen as the number 5 principle to consider during the opening phase of a chess game. You may have heard grandmasters list as a rule of thumb to not bring your queen out early in the chess game. That is excellent advice for the opening, but the principle is of absolutely no use to a player once the opening is over with. So as to have a principle that chiefly involves the queen throughout the entire game of chess, I've used the idea of "exploiting" the queen, rather than simply be generic and say "don't move the queen out early." But what exactly is exploiting your queen you may ask? Well the definition of exploiting that we're using in this case is:

"To use selfishly for one's own ends."



You see by moving your queen out to attack early, like the grandmasters warn against, you are really being selfish with your queen. Why is that? Well while your queen does make an excellent attacker in chess, she also makes an excellent target for your opponent early in the game. So while you may think you're accomplishing something worthwhile by an early queen attack, most likely all you are doing is wasting a turn. Moreover, not only will the queen selfishly slow down your development rate, but she could actually become an innocent casualty if you're not too careful!

In the following article in this series we will go into more detail on the idea of exploiting your queen.

The Opening: Attack & Defend With Purpose

If you've taken a look at the information under The Opening then you've noticed that I've listed Attack & Defend With Purpose as the number 4 principle to consider during the opening phase of a chess game. We've finally come to the heart of the game of chess. First off we talked about how we should move our pieces (Mobility, Development) then we've discussed where to move them (Control Center) and now we're going to focus on why we are moving them. Understanding why a certain piece should attack or defend is really what chess is all about. A person can memorize chess openings until there's no tomorrow, but if he doesn't understand why he's moving his pieces then the game of chess is lost to him.

Attack & Defend With Purpose is related to development in that it always involves moving your pieces to a more useful stage. But what sets it apart from development is that it involves either an attack or defensive move that benefits you. You may have heard grandmasters talk about developing with threats or plans. Others mention avoiding sacrificing pieces without a clear reason. All of those principles are actually lumped into Attack & Defend With Purpose. Moreover, like the other 3 opening principles mentioned earlier, this one can be employed from the very starting move of the game, and should be kept in mind all throughout the middlegame and endgame. Yes, in chess you should always be looking for Mobility and Development to move your pieces to better squares on the board. You should always be looking to gain Control of the Center as well. Last of all, you should always Attack & Defend With Purpose. 

In a future article on Attack & Defend With Purpose we'll go over some examples of employing it in an actual game.

The Opening: Control Center

If you've taken a look at the information under The Opening then you've noticed that I've listed Control Center as the number 3 principle to consider during the opening phase of a chess game. Controlling the center of the chessboard is comparable to a military force using higher ground to attack an army on lower ground. What does higher ground have that lower ground lacks? A decisive advantage! A military force's artillery can shoot further when they are on higher ground. Also it's much easier to attack while travelling downhill than uphill. Similarly if you control the center of the board in chess, your piece's range of attack improves dramatically. Moreover by controlling the center you can make gaining any ground against you seem like an uphill battle for your opponent.

 However, controlling the center is not always an easy thing to do. The reason being is that your opponent is fighting for control of the center just as badly as you are! So not only do you have to control the center for the home team, but must also be prepared to give up parts of the center for the enemy.

It can be challenging I know, but with a little practice you can improve this aspect of your game. In the next part of this series I will go over some basic examples of how to take control of the center.