Chess is a game of planning.
Strategies are long-range plans that can occur at the beginning, middle, or end of the game.
Yasser Seirawan, in Winning Chess Strategies, offers this definition of strategy: “the purposeful pursuit of a simple goal: to gain an advantage of some sort over your opponent."
Considered another way, tactics (addressed in the next lesson) and strategies are ways of seeing patterns of movement on the chessboard. The more patterns you know, the better you can plan.
What strategies should you study as a beginning player? Entire books have been written on this subject and our purpose is to share a few tips. The chess merit badge manual lists seven elements of strategy. The following are tips for strategies for three stages of the game:
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An important strategy for the beginning of the chess game is to make sure your pieces are mobile – that they are as active as possible. Placing your pieces on their best squares at the start of the game helps insure that they will be of service when you need them later.
Above, both players have made a common beginners’ mistake – placing the knights at the edge of the board. Instead of attacking 4 squares from the squares c3 or c6, the knights are now attacking 2 squares.
And the pawns on f3 and f6 not only rob the knights of their best squares, they expose the king to potential attack. Recognizing these mistakes can you help you to improve your play and take advantage of those mistakes when others make them. Knowing that your opponent has limited the mobility of his/her pieces helps you to plan ahead – seize more space by getting your pieces to good squares!
A crucial strategy for the entire game is try to achieve material superiority. This requires that you evaluate every exchange to see if it increases or decreases your material advantage. The merit badge manual describes the value of pieces – 1 point for a pawn, 3 points for a knight or bishop, 5 for a rook, 9 for the queen. The king is priceless since to lose the king (checkmate) is to lose the game.
It may help to think in dollars instead of points. Would you spend $5 for a pencil worth $1? Of course not! Then don’t spend unwisely on the chessboard. Look for opportunities to win material by winning the exchange. Several exchanges can take place on the square c5 below. But in what order should White make those exchanges?
Answer: start by capturing on c5 with the bishop. This forces Black to recapture with the pawn. Now White can capture on c5 with the rook winning a pawn. But if White captures first with the rook, when Black recaptures with the pawn and White captures the pawn with the bishop, White has lost material. A math equation would look like this: (3+1) - 5 = -1.
So a strategy of always evaluating exchanges helps you to plan on either maintaining a material balance or of getting ahead in material. A material superiority can help toward achieving checkmate later in the game. And knowing this strategy can help remind you to make sure your own pieces are not weak but well protected.
A strategy for the endgame involves using your material superiority to gain other advantages. Remember that if a pawn reaches the last rank, it can promote to another piece (often a queen). In the position below, what strategy would you use for Black to achieve a decisive advantage?
Answer: By exchanging the Black rook for the bishop on b5, the pawn on f2 can become a queen. If the pawn moves to f1 first, the bishop can capture it. The long-range plan for Black is: capture the bishop on b5, promote the pawn on f1, use the queen to capture any other pieces that might be dangerous, then use the king and queen to deliver checkmate.
Understanding these patterns or strategies help players to form plans. Of course plans can and often do change throughout the game. But knowing more than one strategy helps the player to adjust to these changes. Having long-term strategies for the chessboard is great. Having strategies for life is even better!
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Note from Jerry Nash: Scout leaders and parents should know that the questions listed in these articles are meant to be used as a starting point and a guide for the type of questions and critical thinking you should be encouraging in your scouts. These questions are mere samples of the kinds of questions that could be asked. By providing a few answers within the articles, we mean to help those new to chess not feel completely overwhelmed with the information, and to help provide context to the type of knowledge that should be gained through the experience. Happy scouting, and happy chess merit badging!