How to Defend & Avoid Getting a Checkmate

Dear Chess Friends!

Every chess player likes to attack. Yes, it’s always exciting to attack rather than defend your position. When you are into the attack you can look for beautiful combinations and mating nets for the enemy king. If you make a mistake there, you are unlikely to lose the game. In such case your opponent gets out of the pressure and the game continues with equal chances.
It happens quite often in a chess game when you have to defend your king against the enemy attack. How do a defend properly? Well, of course, a lot depends on the concrete position, however, in this video I’m going to share 3 basic strategies which will definitely help you to succeed with your defense and overtake the initiative in the game!

Ok, this is FM Viktor Neustroev and I will explain “How to Defend in a Chess Game & Avoid Getting a Checkmate?”

There are 3 typical plans you can apply in a chess game to defend your king successfully. And each plan I’m going to demonstrate by the example of a GMs’ game.

1)    Counter-attack
Under the attack on the kingside you can use the other flank or the center in order to counter-attack. Your main task is to distract enemy attacking pieces and force your opponent to defend on the other part of the board. In such case, their attack will fail.
Please, look at the diagram

2)    Attack-stopping Exchanges
To be able to checkmate your king your opponent has to move a lot of his pieces to the side where your king is located. But if you exchange his attacking pieces, the attack will fail.
Let me show you how it works in real games.

3)    A Breakthrough in the Center
In my opinion this is maybe the best strategy. When the center is open, it’s easier to activate your pieces, enter the enemy camp, create a counter-attack or even to exchange enemy attacking pieces. However, sometimes your opponent can close the center. Let me show how to deal with it.

In this video you learned how to defend your position successfully and avoid getting a checkmate. Of course, you should understand that these strategies work quite often, but not every time. Sometimes you have to create something special to stop enemy attack.
Thank you for watching and make sure to like this video, subscribe to my Youtube channel and share it with your friends - chess players, so they can learn these strategies as well. If you know any other ways of how to defend against the enemy attack, please, share it into the comment section.

And if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me.

Best Regards,
FM Viktor Neustroev