Table of Contents
Brief Introduction to Chess Game
It isn’t too difficult to understand why only a few games carry the global appeal of chess. Considered a thinking person’s game, chess is all about capturing opponent pieces and ultimately checkmating the king. While it sounds like a piece of cake on paper, it takes more than just good intuition to play chess and win frequently. The game is traditionally played on a chessboard, but mainly due to the pandemic, online chess has become a mainstay among players in the US. The Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit also added a great deal in creating a wave of enthusiasm for the nearly 1500-year-old game of chess.
If you’re also a part of the new wave of chess players but still reasonably new to it, you might be on the lookout for ways to get better. Upping your chess skills is essential to making your wins more consistent. Whether it’s for showcasing your skills at a local chess club or defeating opponents online, here are some tips to improve your chess tactics and start playing good chess games:
#1 Know every rule
Regardless of whether you’re a serious chess player or not, it always makes sense to review the basic movements of pieces in chess along with its unique rules. One cannot get better at chess games if one doesn’t know the exact rules or move pieces correctly. Learning how to play chess directly impacts your probability of winning.
Try joining any local chess clubs if you wish to get this done faster. Think of chess as a social game where you make long-lasting bonds with people. There’s absolutely no point feeling good by defeating weaker players. If you need to improve, start by memorizing every chess rule and countering opponent attacks in subsequent games.
#2 Don’t overthink about openings
There’s a preconceived notion that you’re likely to lose your game if your opening moves are not strong enough. This isn’t necessarily true all the time. Some chess players prefer to believe that they need to spend countless hours understanding and memorizing hundreds of different opening variations. However, most of your opponents may play moves that go against their core strategy based on opponent moves anyhow, rendering all that insane opening preparation entirely useless.
It is evident that many players don’t know about chess openings, and even if they do, the chances they play according to the way you’ve planned are slim. Learn and exhibit strong opening principles from the beginning and let the proceedings play out. Don’t always go by chess books and theories.
#3 Exercise board control & the king’s safety
A bulk of the games takes place in the middle of the chessboard, where the pieces battle it out for the advantage. If you’re the first player to dominate the mid-section, then chances are, the game can turn out in your favor. This is one of the basic opening principles of chess, as it allows greater mobility for the pieces and gives them access to all parts of the board.
Protecting the king is vital. It is generally advisable to castle early, especially if you’re a newbie in chess puzzles. A castled king is safer than one in the board’s center, and it helps avoid frustrating checks and checkmates early on.
#4 Learn the endgames
To nobody’s surprise, most chess games don’t conclude quickly; instead, only after dozens of moves and after several pieces have been captured by both players. This often leaves just the kings and a few other pieces or pawns. This is typically referred to as the “endgame,†where the objective is to promote any existing pawns to a queen by getting them across to the other end of the board. Understanding how to navigate the endgame will aid you in winning many games.
Look up chess websites and platforms to learn chess endings better and make more effective chess moves accordingly.
#5 Practice as much as possible
As the old saying goes, you can’t expect perfection in anything without going through the cycle of repetition of dealing with hurdles. The same applies to chess. Use every opportunity to play a chess game – be it on a smartphone or a handheld device, a computer, or on the actual board with friends and family members.
Since each person’s skills and tactics vary, you’ll be subjected to a variety of openings and endgames, making your game stronger by the day. Keep practicing until you feel you’re ready for games with skilled opponents.
#6 Review and learn from games played
There’s plenty to learn from every game you play – be it a new method of navigation, a new strategy, or a new thought process. Such valuable insights can always come in handy while playing chess.
Though it can be expensive, get a chess coach, if you must, to help get better at chess and develop the discipline to think creatively. You can also find chess engines online that help review your moves and understand where you went wrong and what you executed accurately. Knowing your strengths and flaws is the ultimate way to succeed in chess. If it helps, create a database of your own games – offline and online – to see what works and what doesn’t.
#7 Use all available chess resources
Resources are aplenty when it comes to chess. It helps to utilize everything from books, tv shows, YouTube videos, and other material to become a pro at chess. We can even recommend some books that you should start right away. The list includes –
- Irving Chernev’s “Logical Chess move by move“: Teaches you how to ambush the king and also how to play positional chess with queen pawn openings.
- Aaron Nimzovitch’s “My System“: A solid beginner-to-intermediate level book.
- Alexander Kotov’s “Think Like a Grandmaster“: A deep, established chess training manual for experts.
- Max Euwe’s “Judgement and Planning in Chess”: Explains how to judge a position depending on space advantage, pawn structure, end game advantages, king attack, and combinations.
#8 Avoid critical mistakes
It is crucial to avoid repetitive blunders while playing chess. The long list of mistakes includes playing too many moves with pawns, developing the queen way too early in the game, positioning the king in the center, leaving pieces unprotected, not using rooks efficiently, and playing without a strategy in mind.
Be sufficiently cautious every time you intend to make a risky move, as they can do more damage in the long haul even if they offer some timely captures. Castling ineffectively is a mistake that many chess players often make.
#9 Accelerate speed of play
If you think fast, you play fast. While this goes against the conventional mode of play, the online versions of chess call for quicker decisions and fast-paced gameplay. Each game has specific stakes, and each chess variant is played differently. When it comes to blitz or speed chess, what works is how you execute moves faster in an efficient manner.
Added Pro Tip: Play against stronger opponents and learn from them
The statement writes itself. You don’t gain much by playing against weaker opponents back to back. If you wish to up your skills, you should play against people whose chess game is immensely more potent.
Don’t worry about failing. The bigger picture is figuring out why you lost and how you can work against that. Every successful chess player has lost in their journey to becoming truly great. So, it’s clearly a matter of willingness to learn.
Endnote
Use the above tips and execute your moves to perfection as you keep playing more and more chess games. If you’re interested in Speed Chess, we have an interesting version on the MPL app. You can now download and start playing the game anywhere, anytime!
