

Sometimes you want to give away a tempo in order to win ( see triangulation). I n many king and pawn endgames, the game can be decided based on tempo. Tempo becomes more crucial in the end game. The king must move or the piece must be captured, thus resulting in slowing down the player and taking away their tempo. The best example is when one player captures a valuable piece (such as a queen) while also putting their opponent’s king in check. Tempo has everything to do with distracting your opponent’s pieces and taking their timing away from them. White is said to have a slight edge because white always moves first to start a chess game, and thus starts ahead in tempo. Tempo – Tempo (plural: tempi) is all about the timing of your pieces to gain an initiative. In this image, the knight moved from d7 to f6 uncovering the queen’s check and creating another check with the knight. In order to achieve a double check, you will need to create a discovered check. When double check occurs, the king must move because both pieces cannot be taken at the same time. A player does not need to call out check in order for it to occur.ĭouble Check – Double check occurs when two pieces are attacking/checking the king at the same time.

The king must move immediately or the piece attacking the king must be taken immediately to get away from check. Receive a 50% off coupon when you submit the form below.Ĭheck – Check occurs when a piece is attacking either the white or black king. It was played between two masters, Richard Réti and Savielly Tartakower, in Vienna, 1910.If you’re looking to learn everything you need to know to start playing chess, you’ll want to buy my new ebook. The following game demonstrates the dangers of leaving your king in the centre for too long. Castling also has the bonus effect of bringing one of your rooks to the middle of the board, where it can menace the enemy king if he has neglected to follow this rule! Preferably, this should be before move 10. To avoid being a victim of a quick checkmate, you should try and make sure your king gets castled early in the game. Once the pieces start coming out, the king will start to feel a bit vulnerable in the centre of the board. Going pawn hunting early on in the game while your pieces are undeveloped can sometimes lead to trouble. It's usually always worth the time to capture an enemy piece other than a pawn, but sometimes its better to keep on developing your pieces and not waste time capturing pawns in the opening. However, a lot of players waste time by making other pawn moves that don't help to develop their pieces. Moving the king's pawn two squares opens lines for the queen and kingside bishop, so is usually the best choice for beginners. Usually, it's a good idea to start by moving one of your centre pawns two squares. You have to move at least a couple of pawns in the opening to let your pieces out. You should try and make sure that none of your knights or bishops are still on their starting squares after 10 moves.

Usually you want to develop the knight and bishop on the side you want to castle before the other pieces, so you can get castled quickly. Is there a particular order you should develop your pieces in? Well, knights and bishops should come out before queens and rooks. White has the first move in a game of chess, so usually white has a very slight lead in development to begin with. Being ahead in development is a good thing because whoever has their pieces ready first can attack first. If one player can develop their pieces faster than the other player, that player is said to have a lead in development. Time is of the essence in the opening - you can't afford to waste a single move. In chess, you need all your pieces in play to have the best chance of winning. Many players make the mistake of only bringing out one or two pieces and moving them around, and only bringing out reinforcements when the first few get stuck or captured.

In chess, Development means moving your pieces out from their starting squares ready for battle. This is the absolute number 1 most important rule of the opening. Until then, you should treat these rules like laws of nature - break them at your peril! 1. While there are exceptions to every rule in chess, you need to be quite a strong player before you're truly ready to decide which ones to break. In this section we will lay down a set of rules to follow in the opening stages of the game.
