When beginners start playing chess, we learn the basics: how pieces move, how to control the centre, develop pieces, ...

After knowing the basics, for players to improve, there are thousands of books, magazines, videos and other material intended to excel in the game.

Nevertheless, I found a small book with the intriguing title "How Not To Play Chess". This book has a particular approach.

Contrary to chess opening handbooks which gather a myriad of variations in a systematic classification which is hard to follow and understand, that book shows simple ideas highlighting habits a chess player needs to avoid. In that book, I found what chess experts called "patterns" in form or of useful concepts applicable to most situations in the game and the majority of openings.

With this contribution to the Forum, I would like to share with you some of those concepts.

Avoid playing mechanically and without reflection

Chess is a battle of ideas between two players. Every opponent's move has a meaning and the task of the chess player is to understand it. Playing mechanically according to 'general principles' is sometimes the easy way towards disaster.

Do not abandon the centre to your opponent

Why is the centre important? Imagine you place the king in one of central squares (e4-d4-d5-e5). If you count the number of moves the king needs to reach the most distant square in the board, you will discover that that number is 4. If you place the king outside the centre, that number is larger. It means that from the centre, the king reaches more easily any other square than from outside the centre.

The previous conclusion is transferable to any other piece. So, placing pieces on (or near) the centre is convenient because from there they can be transferred more easily to any part of the board when necessary.

Avoid weak squares in your position

The following game shows what happened to the German GM Robert Huebner in his game against Armenian GM Rafael Vaganian.

Vaganian took his chance and began creating weaknesses in his opponent's position, finishing with total dominance over light squares.

You will find more about how not to play chess and other traps in the following links:

Intermediate Level

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