For the purpose of simplicity, I would like to separate the opening principles into two concepts. Space and Time.

Space

When playing chess, a player who controls most of the 64 squares on the board have a higher chance of winning the game. It is also an important stuff to take control of the center squares of the board to give us more flexibility and cover a lot of squares. For the purpose of our discussion, lets take a look at the knight. If the knight is at the corner of the board, it looks silly. Not only it does control less squares, but also have less options in going for the kingside or queenside for an attack! On the other hand, if our pawns and pieces are geared towards the center, we have a huge spatial advantage to work with.

Time

Tempo, as called in the chess world, is essential in quickly building an attack. If for example, you have 3 moves ahead of your enemy, then, you have a lot of pieces activated than your enemy. This is a good thing for us since it gives us a lot of advantage when it comes to space and number of attacking pieces. Generally, the best attacking players sacrifice a pawn or a piece just to gain time or tempo. If you take your time to learn how to utilize it, you can beat any strong opponent in chess!

Putting it Together

With this guiding knowledge, we learned that we should make moves that takes control of the most squares in the board without wasting a lot of time. To do this, develop your pieces without moving it twice in an opening, while taking control of the central squares. If you do these simple things, you will notice an improvement in your game.

Conclusion

This article cannot possible cover everything about chess. My only advice is to learn additional chess principles and avoid memorizing chess positions. Remember, chess openings have principles behind them so you don’t need to memorize openings blindly. I promise you, if learn the principles of chess, then, it will guide you along the path of the masters!

Simple in its layout and basic in its rules chess can be played by young children and older adults and after a quick few games the concept is easy to grasp. Essentially what chess teaches the players is how to use strategy in planning moves in advance to outwit your opponent. Chess strategy consists of setting and achieving long-term goals during the game and tactics to employ immediate maneuvers. Chess strategy relies heavily on evaluation and during the game takes into account factors such as the value of the pieces on the board, control of the center and centralization, the pawn structure, the safety of the king and the control of key squares on the board.

When boiled down to its essence chess is about strategy and strategy involves thinking and planning ahead. The really good chess players can make moves at lightning speed because they have trained their brains to rapid fire through scenarios with each one taking into account the possible moves of an opponent. Even super-computers have been created to try to master the game with the most famous being Deep Blue, a computer that toppled reigning chess champion Gary Kasparov in 1997. If you are good at playing chess then chances are your brain is sharp, creative and capable of unique problem solving. If you’re not very good at the game practice can only be a benefit.

As with anything mastering the game of chess takes hours of practice and in addition to playing games against opponents another way to improve your strategic thinking is to engage in simple brain training strategy games and exercises. Games that improve memory, cognitive thinking and spatial relationships all combine to improve a person’s strategic thinking. To use pop culture as a reference high quality strategic thinking is a lot like Neo seeing the Matrix for the first time and understanding how all the code comes together to form a version of reality. Chess masters can see a board and know in their mind exactly how a game will play out simply based on the first move. The better you train your mind to think strategically the better you will be at playing chess and consequently the more improved your decision making will be in every day life. Classic strategy games such as chess aren’t mindless fun but rather a brain training exercise that involves stretching the brain’s capabilities to process new information and make judgments based on the filtered data. Playing chess and other strategy games sharpens your brain and its ability to think clearly and concentrate.

The game of chess was taken by storm in the US when American Bobby Fisher overtook Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in the 2lst game to take the World Championship. Although I was only twelve years old at the time, I was glued to the television at my home that summer watching the matches being held in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Although none of us would go on to become professional chess players, many of the kids and parents in my neighborhood started to play chess much more frequently over the next several years. With all this extra play, I personally became pretty good in terms of not only defeating player’s my own age but also older kids and even some grown-ups.

Then a year or so later, the ultimate chess challenge came my way. A grandmaster from Denmark named Bent Larsen who once played both Bobby Fisher (lost) and Boris Spassky (won) was coming to our area to play in an exhibition. For a modest fee, he would take on anyone who wanted to play one game against him, no matter what level they were. My father encouraged me to sign up, happily paid the entry charge and escorted me to the match.

When we showed up, there must have been about 150 players ready to play the grandmaster. Little did we know that he was to play us all at the same time! He would go down the rows of chess boards, with reporters flashing photos making a few moves back and forth with each opponent, one at a time, before doing the same routine with the next opponent.

With no clocks to regulate the speed of play, each of us had a perceived advantage in that we could take a lot more time to ready ourselves for the next moves. Despite this, Larsen was winning the vast majority of his matches. I played very conservatively, hoping to make no critical mistakes and perhaps earn a draw.

Then it happened! I made a mistake. The queens were exchanged, but in the series of moves, I also lost a knight. At the time I did not fully understand how fatal it really was. In the end after numerous exchanges the only pieces left on the board were our king’s, a few pawns and that damn one knight of his. I was forced to concede, which Mr. Larsen graciously accepted via shaking my hand and autographing the paper chessboard we just played on.

It was only then that I realized how even one relatively minor mistake can cost you. Not only in chess, but applied in everyday living too. Anytime you can get an advantage in the business world by making an unfair exchange, you need to jump on it, so long as you are playing by the rules.

Never underestimate anyone’s abilities even if they seem, to the naked eye, too preoccupied. You must seize opportunities as they present themselves without hesitation.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Narlis

Chess is a complicated matter and to make matters worse, there are chess players out there who want to make matters complicated. Get what I mean? I mean the sophisticated complexity of the labyrinthine mosaic of goal directed actions can be a really confusing matter…

Now, I’ll start speaking English again. So what I meant to say is that there are people out there who just want to get you good – trying to take advantage that you don’t know any better. They’re the cheapskates that run the streets, you see and hear (and even smell) of them all the time.

And it’s the same with chess – there are certain players who just can’t resist setting up an early trap, in the hope that you’ll fall for it and lose eventually. But these players, like all cheapskates, don’t go much further than that. If it weren’t for their traps and cheapness, then they would pretty much be free (in a bad way).

So how do you avoid these basic traps? Well, it’s simple. You know them before your opponent does. I say opponent because even your very best friend can decide to surprise you when you’re unaware (like with all the surprise birthday parties they’ve given you, yeah, you know what I mean).

And these basic traps include: the 4 move checkmate (aka Scholar’s mate, although I don’t see anything scholarly about losing in 4 moves), the 2 move checkmate (aka Fool’s mate – for obvious reasons) and Legal’s mate (which is definitely legal).

These are just 3 of the hundreds, and even thousands, that exist in the world of chess. And these are pretty easy to avoid, you just gotta play normally, according to basic chess principles and you’ll never fall for any of these (or for that matter any other) ever again.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joseph_Nguyen

If you are to improve your chess skills you will need to play a lot. This means winning losing games. Just keep in mind that the important thing is to learn something from every win and every loss. There are lots of places to play. You can play at your local club, online, through email, through regular mail, with friends and family – you can play chess anytime, anywhere, with anyone.

In addition to playing, you need to study if you really want to improve. Start by learning the rules and the basic principles of the game such as controlling the center, developing your pieces, attacking and defending pieces, and the piece values. You can continue your education with detailed tactics and strategies. Save the openings until after you’ve taken the time to fully understand all of the elementary tactics and strategies. Learn to play sound and solid chess, and ignore cheap tricks or easy traps. Once you understand tactics and strategies, start learning some opening systems and endgames as well. Make sure you study master and grandmaster games so that you can learn what the best players are thinking and doing when they play.

Playing online and reading books by yourself will quickly become mundane and lack the excitement and joy the chess is all about. Get involved! Teach a friend how to play chess. Go to your local club and play. Play in over-the-board tournaments. Teach chess at a school. Get involved somehow and you will see that chess is more than a game – it is a great community as well!

Whether you are brand new to playing chess or if you have been a chess player for awhile now, knowledge is power when it comes to improving your game. Therefore, having a true understanding of both the names and the proper usage of each chess game piece is very important. To win a game of chess, you need to carefully come up with a great strategy in order to beat your opponent. Therefore, playing chess is not only a great way to keep your mind sharp but it is also a lot of fun!

As you are probably already aware, the game of chess is played between two people. As with most any board game, you both alternate taking turns. One player will use all the white pieces, and the other player will then use all of the black pieces. The way the game of chess then works is that you each take turns moving one game piece at a time, and the person that manages to capture the enemy king is declared the winner of the game.

Next, let us take a look at each individual piece. First, there is the bishop. The bishop game piece can only be moved in a straight line diagonally. However, there is no limit to how many numbers of squares it can be moved. The rook game piece most often looks a lot like a small tower. You can move the rook either vertically or horizontally. As with the bishop, there is no limit to how many number of squares the rook can be moved.

The queen is considered by many to be the most powerful piece in chess because the options with the queen game piece are practically limitless. You can move in any direction you choose with the queen game piece whether that be diagonally, vertically or horizontally, and you may also move the queen any number of squares that you would like. As with the queen, the king game piece can also be moved in any direction. However, the king piece is somewhat limited as it can only be moved one square at a time.

The knight is usually easily recognized because it often looks like a horse. The knight piece moves in a rather strange pattern. This pattern is somewhat difficult to explain, but some say that it can best be described as making an L-shape. The knight is also the only game piece that is allowed to jump over other game pieces.

Last but certainly not least, there is the pawn. In the game of chess, pawns are commonly referred to as the weakest game pieces. One reason for this is they are somewhat limited in their movement, as one is only allowed to move a pawn piece forward and not backwards.

Best of luck, and I hope that you enjoy learning how to play chess!

When a child wants to learn the game of chess it is a rather important occasion because it’s not every child that wants to play this complex game and start learning chess. But once in a while you will run across a child who is absolutely mesmerized by the beauty and majesty of the 64 squares that have been the cornerstone of so many lives. It is a rare child who can appreciate this game of champions, and though at first they might just think it a game, later it might become a staple of their lives, so when your child wants to give this a try, you need to take it as seriously as possible while allowing them to have fun with it. Chess for kids is much different than chess for adults however.

Yes it can be a very competitive game, but that doesn’t mean that you should push your child to compete. At first they might just be wanting to have fun, so let them have their fun, but they’re going to need help at some point. For this reason you’ll need to know the basics of moving the pieces, even if you aren’t entirely familiar with the strategy. So let’s look at a few of the movements!

Pawn: This is the simplest piece in the whole game; it can only move one square per turn with the exception of the first move where it can move two squares. When seizing the pawn you can move diagonally to one square to do the seizures.

Knight: This is the piece that your kid may call a pony. It is allowed to move forward two squares and over one. Take note that is should always make that shape when moving, and it can seize while doing so.

Bishop: You have two of these pieces and they are each on different colors. They can move diagonally and can seize any piece in its line of movement, however just like all other pieces, it must stop once it has seized a piece.

Rook: This one moves along the vertical. Though it’s movement is somewhat restricted, it is common knowledge that loss of one rook if not in an even exchange can actually mean the end of the game.

Queen: This piece can be moved around in any direction you please. It can go diagonally, or even in the same way, a rook moves. Importantly, it cannot move in the same way that a knight moves though.

King: While it can only move one space at a time, it is the most important piece in the entire game. If the king is captured the game ends immediately.

Note that the king does not need to be captured in order to end the game, in fact the king should never be captured. Rather the goal is to force a king into a position where he would be captured no matter where he moved. This is the endgame objective, but remember that you do not want to force the king into a position where he cannot move simply because he would be captured if he moved, but the square he sits on is safe. This is known as a stalemate, and while some might consider it a victory, others turn their nose up at the thought of it.

When a pawn reaches the opposite side of the board, the player can replace that piece for any other piece they want. Some players believe that the piece can only be exchanged for one that has been captured previously, but that is untrue. The goal is not to recover a fallen comrade, it is to promote the man that made it to the other side of the battlefield.

In the end, when it comes to chess for beginners, you can get special chessboards that include large pieces as well as small pictures on how to move the pieces well that are printed on the pieces themselves. These are awesome for learning boards and any kid would be happy to use them. As they grow more confident, you can graduate them to a standard board.

Chess for kids is an exciting concept for both the child as well as the parent. If you are the parent of a child that wishes to become involved, make sure you encourage them but do not push. If they want to take the game further, then they will in time.

Increases Kids’ I.Q.

Kids are prime candidates for solving chess puzzles as it seems to increase their intelligence quotient, and also help kids in becoming more adept at solving problems as well as helps them to make difficult as well as abstract decisions without depending on their parents. They have shown to be instrumental in teaching children how to think in a more logical way as well as to think efficiently.

In the process of solving puzzles, they will learn the advanced techniques and they will also be encouraged to read, which is a most desirable attribute for children to develop and have.

With the help of chess puzzles, children will also be able to develop their game skills through practice as well as experience. There are online chess puzzles as well that kids can use, which provides them with the fastest method as well as the most enjoyable one to further their chess skills. Playing against a computer is also possible using different software packages.

It really does not matter what the level of skill of the player is, as chess puzzles can help beginners as well as advanced level players. Even parents are realizing the benefit of giving their children chess puzzles so that they help to advance their knowledge about the game as also develop latent skills. Each piece on the chess board has a value, and kids must learn which have more value and thus will help them win, and which are of lesser value and not so important to winning.

Chess puzzles are also wonderful for the betterment of brain functions and trying out things like checkmate in four moves puzzles will require that the player solve the problem in quick time. Solving such puzzles will also help in real life games as you will learn to become a problem solver, and in the process be able to come up with more solutions.

There are many chess puzzles and they address different levels of competence having something for beginners, intermediate as well as advanced players. All you need to do is to try one level, and having mastered it, progress on to the next level.

Where did chess come from? What materials make a good chess set? How do you become a better chess player? Can chess really improve my health and well being? What does it mean to have a chess set in my home or office? Find out the answers to these questions and more at http://www.unique-chess-sets.com where chess is more than just a game.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Gosselin

When most people think about chess, they envision two people sitting opposite one another while squaring off in an epic dual of thought. While that is the most common form of this game of strategy, there is no denying that it has come a long way since its inception. A great example of this is computerized chess boards. These boards certainly offer a different experience than the one that most players are accustomed to. There are many reasons to own one of these computerized chess boards, but to truly appreciate them it helps to understand some of the reasoning that they were brought to life in the first place.

Surprisingly enough, the idea behind computerized chess has been around long before an actual computer was ever built. While the idea was there, the concept never came to life until the advent of the digital computer. Since then, there have been many different forms of computerized chess and for numerous different reasons. Some want the ultimate challenge and feel that an artificially intelligent player would provide that. Others just want to play a game of chess by themselves to practice, or simply want to play when other opponents may not be available. Then there are those that want to take the game with them when they travel, but don’t want to be hassled by dragging the traditional sized board and pieces around.

Whatever your reasoning may be for wanting one of these computerized chess boards, you are sure to find a great deal of enjoyment out of them. They also offer a way to play the game in ways you may have not thought possible. For instance, you can choose to play with or without actual game pieces. Also, the computer can keep tabs of your record and even evaluate your performance. These types of options make this a great purchase for newer players and players who simply want to improve their overall game. Having the computer show you your weaknesses will only help you to become a much stronger player in the long run. You will learn many new tactics that will have you looking forward to the next time you play a real life opponent.

It’s apparent that the game of chess will continue to evolve, and if the result of that evolution brings such welcomed advancements to the game that computerized chess boards have, then every player should be excited about the future of this awesome game.