At the beginner level, a vast majority of games are finished with a all out attack on the opponents king. The purpose of this chapter is to give you the basics for attacking, including when and how to attack. I believe this will be the most important chapter of this book, as it will help you win many games Enough talk, lets get into it.

WHEN TO ATTACK? Deciding to launch a attack on the opponents king is a tough decision if its not clearly winning. Often you will have to make positional concessions or even sacrafice material. As this book is for beginners, I don't want to waste your time by going in depth into details that will be forgotten within minutes. Therefore, I will make a list of brief points which should be taken into account before launching a attack,

Is your opponents king open? Does he have many pieces defending him? If so, attacking will be significantly more difficult.

Will it take a long time to bring my pieces over to the battlefield? If so, your opponent may be able to launch a plan of his own in the time you spend trying to get pieces to help out in the fight.

Will I have to make many positional concessions without the attack having a clear win? If so, you may want to rethink your plan!

HOW TO ATTACK

Now we enter the business end of the chapter. You have decided to attack your opponents king, and have placed all your faith in this. I will start by stating the most important factor to a attack: the PAWN. The pawn is a disposable attacking asset, which is often extremely useful in crashing through the king's defensive wall, which is generally PAWNS! Pawn storming with pieces behind the pawns is a common attacking idea. It even has a whole opening designed around it, the King's Indian Defence. A typical KID position:

When attacking, TRY TO AVOID TRADES. In most cases, you will have made some concessions to launch the attack, Every trade is another attacking piece eliminated, and brings the game one step closer to the endgame, in which your weaknesses will stick out like a sore thumb. Therefore, try to keep the heat on, avoiding trades and giving your opponent lots to think about. In fact, many "great" attacks were defendable, but the defender cracked under so much pressure after having to defend for so long.

Another concept is to not be afraid of sacrificing pieces. Once you have started the attack, you are usually all in, and you shouldn't be afraid to raise the stakes if your attack is faltering. Often a bishop or knight sac can keep the fire burning when the attack seems to be failing, and is a great recourse if it works.

A ATTACK DOES NOT HAVE TO END IN CHECKMATE!! This is a simple rule that all chess players are guilty of breaking sometimes. Often, your attack has succeeded, and the defender has had to give up material to not lose completely. If this happens, and you do not see a clear way of getting that sought after knock out, TAKE THE MATERIAL. You can then trade down into a winning endgame.

I hope that these simple beginners concepts will help you to attack your opponents

Chess Basics for Beginners

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