My Chess Notes

Introduction
Opening principles
Evaluate the chessboard
Observe following things every move
Every move must have a purpose
Jeremy Silman's list of imbalances
If you're in a losing position
You may trade pieces when
Important chess principles
Interesting quotes
Good books for beginners
Good videos for beginners
Good video playlists for beginners
Useful links for beginners

Introduction

I started playing chess again a few months ago and I've been consuming some chess content, mainly, online videos and some books. Below you can find some notes that I jotted down while I consumed said content. Please note that following corollary applies to everything I've said below. If a chess principle says to do X, then it also implies that you should prevent the opponent from doing X.

Opening principles

Develop all the pieces as soon as possible.
Occupy the center.
Control the center (You don't control the square your piece is sitting on).
Place your pieces on the most active squares. Active pieces lead to good tactics.
Make only those pawn moves which are necessary to bring out the pieces.
Develop towards the center.
Don't move the same piece twice in the opening, unless necessary.
Develop knights before bishops.
If there is a possibility in the opening to move either a piece or a pawn to defend or attack, move the piece (if it is or will be defended in that position.)
Take care not to block bishops' paths in the opening.
Develop with a threat if possible (gaining a tempo).
Don't bring out your queen out in the open too early (2nd or 3rd rank is ok).
Castle early and safely.
After castling, connect the rooks. Bring the rooks to d-file and e-file or to any open files but on the last rank.
Get all the pieces except king & the rooks off back rank as soon as possible.
Get all the pieces out before commencing the attack.

Evaluate the chessboard

To evaluate a chess position, consider following criteria for both sides :

King Safety
Material Advantage
Space Advantage
Piece Activity
Pawn Structure

Observe following things every move

What changed after the opponent's move? & What will change after your move? :

Don't get tunnel vision. Cover the entire board.
Who has the material advantage? Check the material count.
Who has more space? Check the space count.
Which of your pieces are under attack & how many times?
Which pieces are you attacking & how many times?
Which squares does the move control?
Which squares does the move no longer control ie weaken?
Can you take advantage of the weaknesses left behind by the opponent's move?
Will the opponent be able to take advantage of the weaknesses left behind by your move?
Which ranks, files, and diagonals are opened or should be opened?
Which ranks, files, and diagonals are closed or should be closed?
Which pieces can come out?
Which pieces are blocked?
Who controls the center?
Who controls vital squares around your king and around the opponent's king?
Which pieces are/could be lined up on a rank/file/diagonal or intersection of ranks/files/diagonals? (start with all combinations of 2 pieces)
What can you do now that wasn't possible before?
What can the opponent do now that wasn't possible before?
How does the move affect my piece coordination?
What's the follow up to the move?
What's the opponent planning?
What's your general plan (refer to Every move must have a purpose & Jeremy Silman's list of imbalances)? Do you need to modify it?
What are your candidate moves? How can the opponent thwart them?

Every move must have a purpose

Parry the threats first :
- If a piece is attacked, you may :
  1. Ignore the threat (if the piece is already protected or is a sacrifice)
  2. Move the piece
  3. Defend the piece with another piece
  4. Block the attack with another piece
  5. Capture the attacking piece
  6. Counterattack using tactic/combination/forcing moves (without getting into trouble; otherwise there will be 2 threats)
- How can the opponent parry your threats? Can you deal with that?
A forcing move with an advantage :
- Forcing moves are checkmate threats, checks, captures and attacks (including checkmate, checks and captures in near future).
- Can you deal with the opponent's focing moves?
A tactic or a combination :
- Tactics: en prise, advantageous exchange, double attack, fork, pin, skewer, discovery, deflection, guard removal, overload, decoy, trapping, zwischenzug, interference.
- Can you deal with the opponent's tactics or combinations?
Better position for the pieces :
- Put your pieces on active squares where they have most space or to an outpost or where they control the center or vital squares/rank/file/diagonal.
- Where can the opponent put his pieces for better position? Can you deal with that?
Overprotection of the pieces :
- A move that protects an already protected piece with another piece.
- How can the opponent overprotect their pieces? Can you deal with that?
A prophylactic move :
- A move that prevents the opponent from doing something.
- How can the opponent play prophylactic moves? Can you deal with that?
A Move that gains tempo :
- A move that accomplishes multiple things at once.
- How can the opponent move with tempo? Can you deal with that?

Jeremy Silman's list of imbalances

An imbalance is any significant difference in white's position and black's position.
Superior minor pieces : the interplay between bishops and knights (trying to make one superior to the other).
Pawn structure : take a look at doubled/tripled pawns, isolated pawns, backwards pawns, passed pawns, etc.
Space : the annexation of territory on a chess board.
Material : owning pieces of greater value than the opponent's.
Control of key ranks/files/diagonals : ranks, files and diagonals act as pathways for your pieces.
Control/occupation of holes/weak squares : weak squares act as homes for your pieces.
Lead in development : a lead in development gives you more force in a specific area of the board. This is a temporary imbalance.
Initiative : dictating the tempo of a game. This is also a temporary imbalance.
King Safety
Statics vs Dynamics : the battle between short-term (dynamic) and long-term (static) imbalances.

If you're in a losing position

Do maximum damage
Keep attacking
Look for a draw (by stalemate or by 3 fold repetition or by 50 move rule or by capturing all of the opponent's pieces)

You may trade pieces when

You're ahead in material
You have equal material but less space
You'll get rid of the opponent's better positioned piece
It will make one of your surviving pieces more powerful
You're ahead in development
You'll neutralize the opponent's attack

Important chess principles

Only put your pieces on squares where they'll be defended or defend them on the very next move.
Don't help improve the opponent's position.
Don't let the opponent grab the center.
Don't trade your active pieces for the opponent's passive ones.
When you're down in material, trade pawns.
Be open-minded when thinking about tactics. Explore all possibilities.
Don't play hope chess. Don't assume the opponent won't notice your plan. Play solid moves.
Find the opponent's best move before you finalize your move.
Go breadth-first on all possible moves. Eliminate bad moves quickly and go depth-first (calculate lines, at least 1.5 moves) on remaining candidate moves to find the best one.
Do a last minute blunder check.
Make sure that you are not allowing capture of any of your pieces (en prise or otherwise like moving a pinned piece) before finalizing the move.
Don't move pawns which are in front of the castled king unless absolutely necessary, for example, there is a possibility of back rank check which leads to loss of material or mate.
Don't let your pieces go to the side of the board (especially knights) as much as possible.
A move with tempo is a move that accomplishes multiple things at the same time. For example a move with tempo will accomplish more than one of the following things : develops a piece, defends another piece, attacks opponent's piece, gets a better positioned piece, prevents better position for opponent's piece, a forcing move, etc. These are especially useful in the opening.
Bishops are useful in the endgame especially when there are fewer pieces on the board.
If you see a piece hanging, pause for a second and check if it's not a sacrifice by the opponent for an upcoming tactic and only then capture it.
Take towards the center. Sometimes you may want to do the opposite, for example, to open a file for your rook or to open a diagonal for your bishop.
Don't move your pieces to the opponent's side of the board unless they're defended, for example, to an outpost.
You may want to keep one/both rooks on the last rank if there's a possibility of a backrank checkmate.
Putting both of the rooks on 7th rank (if you're white) or 2nd rank (if you're black) can wreak havoc.
Rooks and queen work best on open files.
Bishops work best on long diagonals.
Don't neglect pawns. they can get dangerous in the endgame.
Passed pawns must be pushed.
Put rooks behind passed pawns.
Kings become active in the endgame.
Capture the opponent's pawns in the endgame.
Attack relentlessly after the opening is complete (without putting yourself in danger) and don't let the opponent make plans for himself.
Play on the side where you've got more space.
In the opening and middlegame, 2 minor pieces are worth more than rook+pawn (because rooks become active mostly in the endgame). so early in the game you may trade your rook for opponent's 2 minor pieces.
In the endgame, sometimes, a pawn is worth more than a knight because a pawn can be promoted to a queen/rook and then checkmate the opponent.
To find checkmate, visualize which squares around the opponent's king are controlled by your pieces and which aren't. Then, try to control the remaining ones.
Don't trade your center pawns for opponent's flank pawns. Protect your center pawns with your flank pawns or push them forward then protect them in the next move.
Avoid doubled and tripled pawns. There are some exceptions to this though. Sometimes, it may help open up lines for your bishops/rooks.
Isolated pawns & backwards pawns are weak & have to be protected with pieces.
Square in front of a backward pawn can be an outpost so look out for that.
Develop, castle then use pawn push to open up the center. In other words, don't open up the center if you have not castled yet.
Don't put your pieces on squares where the opponent can just push their pawn to attack them and you would have to move again. These moves lose tempo.
See which of your piece(s) and opponent's piece(s) are/could be lined up on a rank/file/diagonal or intersection of ranks/files/diagonals. Look for them even if there are some other pieces in between, because those can be moved/eliminated later. Some tactics may emerge in these situations.
If your knight is near the opponent's pieces, look for a fork or a combination involving a fork.
Number of defenders should be >= Number of attackers (it depends) and your participating pieces should be lower-valued or equal-valued compared to the opponent's pieces.
Prophylactic moves like pushing a-/b-/g-/h-pawns up 1/2 square(s) to prevent opponent's knights or bishops from coming in can be good sometimes but they can also weaken your pawn structure.
Knights are better in closed positions and bishops are better in open positions. So, in closed positions, you may trade your bishops for opponent's knights and in open positions, you may trade your knights for opponent's bishops. It's a rule with a lot of exceptions though. A lot depends on the pawn structure, which colored bishops you and the opponent have and the actual position on the board.
A good bishop has his pawns on the opposite colored squares so he can move around the board and the opponent's pawns on the same colored squares so they can be targeted and it is an open game.
Pawn on c4 and knight on c3 work together nicely, especially in queen's pawn openings.
If you get attacked in the center, attack on the side and vice versa.
Block opponent's pawns/bishops/rooks/queen, if possible.
You can use your minor pieces to blockade the opponent's pawns.
A pinned piece doesn't protect.
A pinned piece shouldn't move.
Consider piling on a pinned piece.
Always consider ways the opponent can change the sequence of captures or make an in-between move.
Battery of pieces (queen+bishop, rook+rook, queen+rook) can be very powerful.
In closed and semi-closed positions, you should find a pawn break.
If the king has no legal move, any lasting check will be mate.
In some situations, doubled rooks or doubled rooks+queen on an open file can wreak havoc.
If your pieces are aimed at the king, look for checkmate threats and tactics.
A bad piece can be :
- Under attack
- Undeveloped
- Undefended/underdefended
- Unhelpful/Inactive
Advantage in force (by Yasser Seirawan) :
- More pieces overall (material advantage)
- More pieces in a particular area of the board (for example, aiming at the king)
When solving chess puzzles, look for :
- King safety
- Forcing moves
- Tactics
- Undefended/underdefended pieces
- Unfortunately placed pieces

Interesting quotes

"When you see a good move, look for a better one." - Emanuel Lasker
"Tactics flow from a superior position." - Bobby Fischer
"If you see an opponent's piece in your half of the board, neutralize it immediately." - Bobby Fischer
"Look for undefended/underdefended pieces, a weakened king and a double attack because they are the base of all tactics." - Jeremy Silman
"If your opponent can counter your plan, then your plan doesn't work." - Daniel Naroditsky
"Never leave or place a piece loose without first looking for a possible fork or pin, and never see an enemy piece loose without doing the same." - Cecil Purdy
"You will typically have a plan in your mind. But before finalizing your move, ask yourself, should I continue my plan or do I have a better move becasue something changed in the position." - Nelson Lopez
"A piece that defends a pawn or another piece, particularly when it controls few squares, is called a passive piece. A piece that attacks another pawn or piece, particularly when it controls many squares, is called an active piece." - Patrick Wolff
"If you're behind in development, don't trade pieces so much. It will pronounce the opponent's development even more." - John Bartholomew
"Pawns can not go backwards." - Victor Korchnoi
"Loose pieces drop off." - John Nunn
"Pawns are the soul of chess." - Philidor

Good books for beginners

Play Winning Chess by Yasser Seirawan
How to Beat Your Kids at Chess by David MacEnulty
How to Win at Chess by Levy Rozman
Chess: Skills, Tactics, Techniques by Jonathan Arnott
My First Book of Chess Tactics by David MacEnulty
Chess Tactics for Students by John Bain
Winning Chess Tactics by Yasser Seirawan
Predator at the Chessboard by Ward Farnsworth
Logical Chess - Move by Move by Irving Chernev

Good videos for beginners

Good video playlists for beginners

Useful links for beginners

Cover Picture Credit : Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

Tags : Chess

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