Pandolfini's Ultimate Guide to Chess

by Bruce Pandolfini

Chess reflects the real world in miniature. Endeavor, struggle, success, and defeat—they are part of each game ever played.

Tactics are winning ideas. They refer mainly to a local opportunity rather than an overarching, long-term goal.

capturer. If a unit is en prise we say it’s hanging,

You give a fork when one of your units attacks two or more enemy units with the same move.

When the enemy unit in front can’t or shouldn’t move, then it’s a pin. But when it must or should move, then it’s a skewer.

A unit is undermined when its protection is captured, driven away, or immobilized. Then it can often be captured for free.

the tactic is also known as removing the defender or removing the guard.

the overload. A unit is overloaded if it can’t fulfill all its defensive commitments.

be better to delay promotion or to underpromote to a

promotes to a queen, giving checkmate.

I described tactics as local operations. For the most part, strategy refers to an overall plan,

There are five main elements that interact and overlap throughout a chess game. They are time, space, material, pawn structure, and king safety.

Using the initiative, White should strive to achieve two fundamental aims during the opening stages of the game: to develop friendly forces and to play for the center.

A rule of thumb is to develop a different piece on each turn so that you can try to assemble a mounting assault with numerous forces.

(1) develop a new piece or clear lines for future development; (2) fight for the center by occupying, attacking, or influencing it; (3) gain space and increase overall mobility; (4) strengthen your position while avoiding weaknesses; (5) pose at least one threat, if not multiple ones; and (6) meet all enemy threats.

trying to anticipate my opponent’s responses, I should

the winner is the one who makes the next to last mistake.

1. If it can be done safely, try to move both center pawns two squares each.

2. Don’t move too many pawns, especially in the first part of the opening.

A gambit is a voluntary offer, usually of a pawn in the opening, in an attempt to gain another kind of advantage, especially in time.

“If you see a good move, look for a better one.”

Much of chess thinking is exactly this: comparing possibilities to see which one works best in the given circumstances.

the fine art of analysis consists in eliminating the irrelevant so that one can spotlight only the most logical and likely possibilities.

Opening “Don’ts” 1. Don’t make unnecessary pawn moves. 2. Don’t bring out the queen too early. 3. Don’t move a piece twice in the opening. 4. Don’t trade a developed piece for an undeveloped one. 5. Don’t exchange without good reason. 6. Don’t develop just to bring a piece out and not with a specific purpose. 7. Don’t block your center pawns. 8. Don’t impede the development of other friendly pieces. 9. Don’t weaken your king’s position or move your uncastled king. 10. Don’t move knights to the edge of the board. 11. Don’t waste time or moves. 12. Don’t indulge in pawn-grabbing. 13. Don’t sacrifice without good reason. 14. Don’t refuse a sacrifice because your opponent made it quickly and confidently. Analyze it, then decide. 15. Don’t play without a plan. 16. Don’t develop in an uncoordinated way. 17. Don’t change plans from move to move. 18. Don’t remain uncastled too long. 19. Don’t advance pawns too far too soon. 20. Don’t ignore your opponent’s moves. 21. Don’t give pointless checks. 22. Don’t capriciously avoid making natural captures or recaptures. 23. Don’t take your opponent too lightly or too seriously. 24. Don’t play a set order of moves without regard to your opponent’s responses. 25. Don’t open the center with your king still uncastled.

all ideas in chess are a function of time and place.

Be forewarned, however. Perfunctory checks can be deleterious to the giver.

Don’t trade a developed piece for an undeveloped one without a good reason.

Avoid trades that develop enemy pieces in the transaction, unless you have a reason for doing otherwise.

Trade to gain time, not to lose it. Remember that a bad trade can lose time and a...

It’s a German term that means “in-between move.” A zwischenzug is usually played in between a series of other moves without necessarily affecting them.

pin it and win it.

Practically 99 percent of our decision-making has to do with comparative evaluations. We’re always trying to tilt the board’s balance in our favor.

For everything that one side can do, the other side has a counter-balancing action to keep the game in equilibrium. Theoretically, the game should be drawn. Of course, one sits down to win at chess, not to draw.

White’s zwischenzug, or in-between move, illustrates a broader class of tactic, that of removing the defender or removing the guard,