The center of the board

When you are playing a chess game you should always try to control the center of the board because of two (2) things.

1) It makes it easier for you to move about your pieces and get them out where they can be useful.

2) Your enemy will find it hard to infiltrated you and wont have too many available squares.

So you can now see what a vital part of the game it is to control the center of the board. The center of the board can be considered as the e4, d4, e5 and d5 squares.

The following diagram shows that white has control of the center:

In this position whit clearly has the advantage because the center of the board it theirs and so black has a heard time to find a good place to play. When you are advancing your army you should also keep in mind the protection of your king and use your pieces in an combination. Don't use only one (1) piece and bring out you pieces as quick as possible and get you king in the corner where it is usually safer one (1) method of doing this is by castling.

Now in the next diagram I'm going to show you a quick and efficient way of how I took over some squares using your opponents mistake:

My opponents mistake was allowing to advance my pawns by putting his knight in danger giving me an advantage and slowing down his development, I was able to control some squares important squares and begun to invade his territory. The next diagram is a commonly used play which controls the board:

This play controls the board and the king is in a safe corner but this play has many weaknesses. So an important thing to do when playing a game of chess is to control as many squares as possible, bring out your pieces to where they can be useful and slowing down your opponents development.

I hope this article has helped you in some way so that you can become a better player and luck in your other games that you may have in the future.

Alfred Awe, Belize