Chess Strategy for Beginners

Chess strategy for beginners starts with a short set of habits rather than deep plans: bring out your knights and bishops, fight for the centre, castle, count what every trade costs, and look for forks and pins before your opponent does.

The example positions below were all played through the same engine that runs our board. If you still need the moves themselves, start with how to play chess or the full chess rules.

Opening Principles

The opening is about getting pieces into play and the king to safety before the fighting starts. Five principles cover it.

• Take the centre. The classical way is pawns on e4 and d4 for White, e5 and d5 for Black. Pieces on central squares can reach either side of the board quickly, and they cramp the pieces opposite.
• Develop the minor pieces. Knights usually go to f3 and c3 (f6 and c6 for Black). Moving the d- and e-pawns opens the diagonals the bishops need.
• Castle. The king is exposed in the middle of the board. Castling moves it toward a corner, behind its pawns, and brings a rook toward the centre in the same move.
• Keep the queen and rooks back. They usually stay off the central squares until many minor pieces and pawns have been traded. A queen that comes out early is chased by pieces that develop as they attack her, and each retreat is a move your opponent gains.
• Avoid pawn weaknesses. Doubled, isolated, and backward pawns are hard to defend later. Accept one only when you get something concrete for it.

The Best Chess Openings for Beginners

The best first openings are the ones that follow the principles above without needing pages of memorised moves. Pick one answer to 1.e4 and one to 1.d4 as Black, one first move as White, and learn the ideas rather than long lines.

After 1.e4 e5, White's most popular second move is 2.Nf3, which attacks the e5 pawn and gets ready to castle kingside; Black's most common reply is 2...Nc6. That is why the Italian Game and the Ruy Lopez are the natural places to start with White.

Fast Checkmates to Avoid

Both of the classic quick mates hit the same weak point: f2 for White and f7 for Black, the squares guarded only by the king at the start of the game.

Scholar's mate. 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6?? 4.Qxf7#. Queen and bishop both aim at f7, and the queen takes there with the bishop behind it. The defence is simple: after 3.Bc4, play 3...g6, which closes the diagonal and attacks the queen. If White renews the threat with 4.Qf3, 4...Nf6 blocks it again, and White has moved the queen twice while Black has developed both knights.

Fool's mate. 1.f3 e5 2.g4 Qh4#, the fastest mate in chess. It needs two weakening pawn moves in front of White's king, and it is the reason to leave the f- and g-pawns alone in the opening.

What the Pieces Are Worth

Count material before every capture. The standard values are pawn 1, knight 3, bishop 3, rook 5, and queen 9; the king is never traded, so it has no value. By that scale, giving up a bishop or knight to win a rook, called winning the exchange, gains about two pawns.

• Trade when you are ahead. Swapping pieces with more material brings the endgame closer, where even one extra pawn can decide the game. When you are behind, keep pieces on the board.
• The numbers bend. In open positions two bishops are usually rated above bishop and knight or two knights, because between them they cover both colours.
• Check for defenders. Taking a defended pawn with your queen trades 9 points for 1. Before capturing, count how many of your pieces attack the square and how many of your opponent's defend it.

Forks, Pins, and Skewers

Tactics are short sequences that win material or force mate, and most of them use a handful of repeating patterns. Learn to see these three and you will win pieces, and stop losing them.

Fork. One piece attacks two or more at once. The knight is the classic forking piece: it attacks squares that are not on its own rank, file, or diagonal, so of the pieces it attacks, only another knight can attack it back.

Pin. A piece cannot move because the king stands behind it, or should not move because a more valuable piece does. Against the king the pin is absolute, and moving the piece is illegal.

Skewer. The reverse of a pin: a valuable piece in front is attacked, moves away, and exposes a lesser piece behind it. Only queens, rooks, and bishops can skewer, because it needs a long line.

Two more patterns grow out of these. A discovered attack moves one piece out of the way so that the piece behind it attacks; if that attack is on the king, it is a discovered check. A double check, from two pieces at once, can only be met by a king move, because no single move can block or capture both checking pieces.

Endgame Basics

• Use your king. With the queens gone, the king is a fighting piece, worth about four points in the endgame by one common reckoning. March it toward the centre and the pawns.
• Push passed pawns. A pawn with no enemy pawn ahead of it on its own file or the files beside it can only be stopped by pieces. Rooks, yours and your opponent's, usually belong behind a passed pawn.
• Know which pieces can mate. King and queen, or king and rook, can checkmate a lone king. King and one knight, or king and one bishop, can never do it, and king and two knights cannot force it.
• Take the opposition. When the two kings stand on the same line with one square between them, the side that has to move may have to give way. It matters most in endings with only kings and pawns left.
• Watch for stalemate. When you are far ahead, check that your opponent still has a legal move after yours. A lone king with no legal move and no check is a draw.

Practise Against the Computer

Reading about a fork is not the same as spotting one mid-game. Our board pits you, as White, against Stockfish at six levels. Start at Beginner, play the Italian Game, and move up a level once you win more often than you lose. The move list records every game in the notation used on this page, so you can see where a piece was lost.