Four War Principles You Should Stick to in Chess

DISCLAIMER: RoaringPawn is NOT a chesscom's top blogger. Which gives more room for him to express unorthodox views chesscom may not like. Read at your own risk. And, I don't write on openings

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The rules of strategy remain unchanged. It’s just the ways of fighting and arming the troops that have gone transformation. The warfare principles, as fundamental truth of military art, have stood the test of time. The same principles apply to chess. Let’s take a look.

© Samuel Bak

Group Portrait after the battle (chess art by Samuel Bak, 1998). The strategic grouping during the battle made the victory possible

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Mass and Assault ratio

Commanders have always wanted to have the advantage in numbers. Mass, or the greatest possible concentration of forces at the decisive point is Clausewitz’s main principle of war. The fundamental key to conventional warfare, or any tactical engagement in chess, that increases destruction and chances of victory, is strong (chess)men grouping in the attack zone.

Massing is necessary because defense tends to be the more efficient form of warfare in terms of energy needed to preserve and survive. Traditionally, it is assumed that defending force can hold off three times its own number of attackers in a conventional war.
That is why the number of pieces involved in the attack must exceed defensive possibilities. It’s assault ratio, or offense-defense balance.

Objective and Offensive

To achieve objectives of a war campaign we need to be aggressive by seizing, retaining and exploiting the initiative. When attacking we may look for superiority in a sector of the battlefield, in the center or on the wings. Sometimes it’s just one square, say, checkmate delivery point, or any particular point on the defense line seen as either weak or offering other tactical or strategic advantages.

This is the key. It’s not about amassing the largest number of troops just anywhere on the board. This point, or area of the board must be correctly chosen and exploited. The concentration of forces should build up toward these points which are vulnerable to attack or disruption. This is so-called Center of gravity (or Schwerpunkt in Clausewitz’s words).

Deception and Surprise

All war is deception, advised Sun Tzu. The concentration of forces must be carried out in such a way that you manipulate the enemy’s perceptions so they think they fight on favorable terms. You entice them with lures of (in chess, usually material) profit, while you wait for them in strength at a decisive point where your assault ratio overpowers their defenses.

Mobility and Maneuver

Our offensive relies on speed and surprise as otherwise we cannot effectively concentrate strength against enemy weaknesses. We want to place the opponent in a position of disadvantage through the flexible application of combat power. For that purpose, highly mobile forces prevent the enemy from detecting the point of attack in time to reinforce the critical lines of defense. That’s why we need to open lines for attack, and that’s why we want to close the communications lines the attacking forces may use when we are on defense.

To clarify all these concepts, let’s take a look at an example from an actual game.

The balance of power shifted in White’s favor (four pawns for knight) which would guarantee excellent winning chances in the endgame. But Black is thinking offensive with the objective: an all-out assault on the enemy king. For that purpose he’s massing an overwhelming fighting force on the kingside. To increase assault ratio before the final stage of the attack, he’s bringing fresh reserves by outwardly imperceptible troop movements (deception!) far from the epicenter of the upcoming battle

22…Bh4 Concentration of forces at f2 – double attack; very importantly, the bishop is clearing out two important communication lines: d8-h4 diagonal for the queen and 7th rank for the c8-rook, both joining in to overpower the defense
23.Rc2 Rc7 The last black piece is transferring along the rank (“rook lift”) to the theater of operations – maximum concentration!
24.g3 Bxg3 Power superiority usually gives you luxury to sack a piece or two here and there; the f-file opens up after recapture for the attacking army
25.fxg3 Qg5 26.g4 Re7 The rook taking up its attacking post with tempo; just compare rooks pair of the two armies: while the black pair is spewing fire along open lines deep into White’s camp, the white pair is totally uncoordinated (especially, it’s the remote a6-rook that looks miserable)
27.Qd4 Qh4 28.Ra1 Re1+ 29.Rxe1 Qxe1+ 30.Kh2 Qg3+ 31.Kh1 Qxh3+ 32.Kg1 Ng3 0-1

The war principles guide war fighting at both the strategic and tactical levels. You need to adopt them all and always use a combination of in any particular application concerned - if you really want to be successful in chess.

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[Original article by RoaringPawn was published on Dec 10, 2011 on the American NM William Stewart's site, now iChess net]