Chess is a game of strategy
and tactics.
Opening Chess Strategies To Boost Your Game
by Roger Marler
Many comments have been made about the objectives
of the opening play and perhaps the best advice we've
heard is the one about being able to get to the middle
game with a playable position. This ideally means
that you have your king safeguarded, your pieces have
decent mobility and scope, you also have sound pawn
structures, and you have opportunities to create real
threats to decisively win material or even cause a
checkmate.
Most chess instructional books will list the following
as important opening concepts to achieve the above:-
- Controlling the Centre
- Develop your pieces
- Safeguarding your king, ideal defence, maintaining
the integrity of the castled king
- Hinder your opponent's attempts to do any/all of
the above
The player who can get the job done quicker will
usually be rewarded with a superior middle game position.
Tempi is therefore a very critical factor in the opening.
Every move counts towards securing key positions,
getting another piece orchestrated into the attack
and/or keeping the king out of harm's way. Many less
skilled players tend to overlook the importance of
this. So avoid making futile moves in the opening
or attacking too early without sufficient attacking
pieces or insufficient backup.
TEMPI is basically how to get there faster.
Some openings are deceptively passive and "quiet"
favouring a slow strategical battle and gradually
building up tactical opportunities which explodes
later into the middle game. Some others are aggressive
and explosive very early in the game abounding in
tactical opportunities for both with lots of threats
and counter threats. And, yet others get very quickly
into the middle and the end game usually with a race
for pawn promotions determining the eventual winner.
Find an opening that suits your style of play and
let it well. Gambits and hypermodern openings are
usually favoured by strong tactical players as they
often present many exciting tactical opportunities.
Always remember, different openings to suit different
style of play.
About the Author:
Roger Marler, Retired Chess Coach and Author or
101 Killer Chess Strategies. Find More Info at http://www.secretsofchess.com
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