Chess Strategy - Kill or Be Killed

Basic Chess Strategy, like many things in life, having a strategy when entering into a game of chess is very important. You can get started with your outlined plan of attack from the very first move, and it will help you all the more if you can deliberately maintain your strategy. Chess is still one of the most challenging board games to this day, and it is always evolving with new approaches on how to play the game even though the ultimate goal remains the same. 

Besides having a chess set to play with, the strategy is one of the most crucial parts of this game. Coming into a chess match with a sound blueprint for how you will play the game is absolutely necessary. You have to ask yourself how good you are with misdirection and whether or not you want to incorporate that into your game plan. You also have to ask yourself simple questions that relate to pieces, such as would you rather have bishops that move diagonally or rooks that move forward/backward? 

These simple questions will help you determine which values you place on different pieces of the chess set and can thus help you determine your strategy. For instance, if you are more of a fan of rooks than bishops because you can clearly see and anticipate movements of those pieces, the bishops may come into play earlier in the game than the rooks because they are more expendable. 

The bottom line is to develop your own personal value system for each piece so that you can determine who you can afford to lose and when they should be played. Generally speaking, the pieces that mean less are put into play first (thus why pawns are in front of the more valued pieces) so this may help you figure out your order of movements once the values are assigned. 

Lastly, it is vital that you not ignore your opponent. Make it a part of your strategy to watch your opponent and come up with back up strategies that will combat your opponents moves. While it is essential to have your own strategy in mind, allow that strategy to adapt and adjust to what your opponent does. Thinking of opponents moves ahead of time will help you understand the game as well as help develop your own strategy to prevent damaging losses. 

To fully and quickly develop your own strategy, practice is key. After picking up your own travel chess set, it will be quite beneficial to find a partner to sit down and play chess with. Devote as much time as you can to it, it is indeed a great exercise of the mind.