Jumpstart Your Chess Journey: Proven Tips for Beginners

The pawn wedge

A pawn wedge is the name we give to a pawn which has advanced as for as the 6th rank. 
We are particularly interested in achieving a pawn wedge in the neighbourhood of the opposing king, generally on f6, g6 or h6 (or, as Black, on f3, g3 or h3). Such a pawn restricts the mobility of the king, disrupts the defence and 'constitutes a favourable motif for mating attacks' (Kotov). It is often said that, when you are attacking, a pawn wedge is as strong as a minor piece, sometimes even stronger.

The pawn wedge is a powerful weapon. In your own games, try to strengthen an attack with the h- or f-pawn. In some circumstances you can also advance the g-pawn. But this operation is more dangerous if you have castled short, because it weakens your own king position.

Opening traps 

'A trap is the provocation of a mistake. A trap always involves a tempting or obvious reply by the opponent. He is more or less invited to make an apparently good move, but one which is rapidly and surprisingly refuted.' 
- Neistadt

There are players who try to tempt their opponents into a trap right in the opening, hoping to win the game without any real effort. They simply learn specific variations and do not bother with the main systems.

Benign traps 
If a trap is simply a by-product of natural development and in no way hinders future logical development, then we can call it a benign trap.

There is nothing wrong with opening traps. They too extend our knowledge of theory and form part of the whole concept of development.

Bad traps 
But sometimes players try to set opening traps which are dependent on one single reply by their opponent. If the opponent spots the trap and plays something different, then the consequences are disadvantageous for the 'poacher'. We shall call opening traps like that bad traps.

It is not worth playing for such traps, since there is a great danger that your opponent will either spot them or know them. In any case, an opening repertoire for the long term should be constructed on solid foundations and not on a reliance on bad traps.

How do you spot a trap? 
In general, you have to react very cautiously whenever your opponent suddenly offers material in the opening. Calmly check through all your opponent's active moves. By doing so you will probably soon discover the trap - if there actually is one. 
You should be on your guard particularly when playing gambits, since they contain a lot of traps and ways to go wrong.

The use of traps

It is not only in the opening that traps are dangerous. You can also tempt your opponent into a trap in the middlegame or endgame. 
The trap is also an important weapon in defense. Many players often make mistakes just before the end of the game, because their concentration flags and they do not take into account possible moves for their opponent. It is often worth fighting on in an apparently hopeless position. In any case, you should at that point try to set a trap for your opponent.

Of course you can also set traps in better or level positions. But the best option is to employ 'benign' traps, so as not to weaken your own position. In that way you do not take any unnecessary risks if your opponent discovers the trap in time and chooses a different route. Moreover such benign traps are harder to spot than a 'bad' trap, which often involves an unnatural-looking move, which therefore stands out. An experienced opponent will then quickly become suspicious!

The semi-open file 

Often, occupying a semi-open file promises even more advantages than was the case with an open file. Unlike in the case of an open file, an opposing pawn is present on a semi-open file. This pawn is then frequently reduced to being an object of attack for our major pieces. The pressure exerted against a backward pawn can either lead to the win of the pawn or it can force your opponent into passive defense. Then you can look for other objects to attack in order to overload your opponent's defensive resources.

The second advantage of the semi-open file is that your opponent cannot organize his rooks in order to initiate an exchange of rooks. We do not open this file until the moment comes when it is to our advantage; for example, when we have already doubled our major pieces on the semi-open file. One of the typical plans is to advance our pawns in order to force the exchange of the pawn which is under attack, thereby opening the file.

Outposts

Weak square in our opponent's position offers an ideal place to put our pieces. If we have secure control of such a square (preferably by means of a pawn), we can post a piece on it. Minor pieces (especially knights) are best suited to that task. From this outpost we can attack other points in our opponent's set-up. 
The most valuable squares for outposts lie deep in the opposing half of the board.

Something must be done immediately against minor pieces on the 6th/3rd rank, or else they will be supported by other pieces. It is only in rare cases that such pieces can be left alone and that we can work around them. A standard solution is the sacrifice of the exchange for a pawn.

Although a minor piece is well placed on an outpost, it sometimes blocks an open file and thus gets in the way of the major pieces. So you should not be afraid to move it away and then back or simply to move it off that square.

Thanks nice work!!!

No problem!

Knight 

The knight is a very valuable attacking piece, which can simultaneously control various squares within a defined radius. The knight is a close-quarter fighter. So it has to get close to opposing pieces, because only then can it show what it can achieve. In general the knight needs support from other pieces; it is also very good at cooperating with such forces.

The principles behind mobilization 

The art of the opening consists of rendering effective the pieces which were initially blocked in, of freeing the pieces by a small number of pawn moves and placing them in favorable positions, and doing so as quickly as possible. One must make the most of each and every tempo, advancing move by move. The best way to develop the pieces is according to their value: first the pawns or at least one pawn, then the minor pieces, and finally the major ones - Tarrasch 'The Game of Chess'

The side which brings its pieces into play faster and better usually obtains the initiative as a result, and can attack the opponent first. 
Here are some guidelines which a less experienced chess player must follow in order to successfully survive the complicated opening phase of the game. You must of course understand that these rules - as so often is the case in chess - are in no way absolute, and that you can sometimes break them. However, you should only do this if you acquire important advantages, such as, for example, a major gain in material, control of the center or the disruption of your opponent's development.

The principles behind mobilization 
1) If possible, in the opening never move the same piece twice! 
You should first try to bring other pieces into play! 
2) Don't waste time on unnecessary moves with rook pawns! 
(In praxis there are frequent exceptions to this rule. Sometimes the moves h2-h3 or h7-h6 are important to prevent the pinning of the knight on f3 [f6] by a bishop move to g4 [g5]. Nevertheless, you should weigh up such moves very carefully, because they cost time and can weaken your own castled position.) 
3) Do not move the queen prematurely! 
The queen is the strongest piece and it is very important to have it well posted. If you bring out the queen too early and too far, your opponent can gain time for development by attacking the queen with his pieces. 
4) Do not start any premature or unprepared attacks! 
5) In open positions, do not play to win a pawn if it results in you neglecting your development! 
The time wasted doing this can lead to a dangerous lead in development for your opponent, and that can result in your coming under attack. But in closed positions the loss of a tempo plays a less important role. 
6) Put your king in a safe position! 
A king in the center can come under attack very quickly. In an open position, castling must be prepared as soon as possible. This also brings the rooks into play.

Coordination of the pieces

There is one typical mistake which less experienced players often make: they develop only two pieces and then try to play on and attack their opponent with these pieces. If an experienced player doesn't actually falloff his chair laughing, then he will find it easy to deal with these attacking attempts, since he simply has more pieces available for the defense. Of course you should not behave like that; you should also bring your reserves into play.

It is very important to develop all the pieces quickly. But it is also necessary to be able to coordinate these same pieces well. The pieces have to mutually support and complement one another. In the ideal case they should form a single unit. They are only really strong when they work together. Coordinated units are much stronger than an army with regiments which are not cooperating with each other.

In the endgame the coordination of the pieces plays an even greater part. In his masterpiece My System, Nimzowitsch describes the importance of coordination in these terms:

'Coordination is 80 per cent of all endgame technique; all the individual topics we have treated here such as centralization, bridge building, hiding and gap plugging are subordinate to the main goal, coordination. They are like the cogs which fit together in the movement of a clock and set the whole mechanism in motion; so what we are talking about is a slow but steady advance of the serried ranks of your army. "General advance!" is the watchword!'

Thank you for this thread. I read everything

You are welcome!

Diagonals

Just as rooks need open files, so bishops require open diagonals in order to take an active part in affairs. However, it is not always easy to find jobs for both of our bishops. If, for example, we have a lot of pawns on the light squares, then our dark-squared bishop will cooperate very well with them but the light-squared bishop will tend to be a problem. Black often has this type of difficulty in the Queen's Gambit. The bishop being a valuable piece, some attempt must be made to bring it into the game. So in the Queen's Gambit various plans have been developed for Black which involve the opening of a diagonal for the light-squared bishop.

On the whole there tend to be fewer problems with a fianchettoed bishop. But sometimes its scope may be limited by pawns, either our own or the opponent's. In that case we have to try to open the long diagonal so as to activate the bishop.

Of course, sometimes the bishop has to be developed to a relatively passive position. This may be necessary because we need to develop the rooks, and the best way to do that is to connect them. However, occasionally the a1-rook (or more rarely the h1-rook) can be brought into play without moving the bishop from c1 (or f1).

Here are a few useful guidelines, which can be very helpful in some (but not all!) situations. 
1) If a bishop is developed outside its own pawn chain, then pawns placed on the same-colored squares as that bishop will not hamper the other bishop either. So we can have both bishops in active posts. White follows this sort of strategy in, for example, the Torre Attack. 
2) If a bishop is exchanged for a knight, you should try to place your pawns on the same-colored squares as the bishop that has been exchanged (Capablanca's rule). This will help avoid any weakness on these squares, and also free the other bishop. 
3) There are two contrasting strategies for combating an opposing bishop: 
a) Post your pawns on opposite-colored squares to the bishop. This is very effective in the endgame, but it is sometimes a disadvantage in the middlegame, as the opponent is allowed to control a lot of squares and can use them to penetrate with his pieces. 
b) Set up a barrier of pawns on squares of the same color as the bishop. This is often good in the middlegame, but care has to be taken in the endgame to ensure that the bishop cannot attack your pawn chain from the rear.

Damn

Queen sacrifices

Queen sacrifices are relatively rare, because it takes extremely well-coordinated pieces to be able to mount a mating attack without the queen. If we are contemplating a queen sacrifice, we have to check the variations very carefully. We must try to make the play as forcing as possible, in order to prevent the opposing queen from successfully leading a counter-attack. We should be aware that although the queen is very strong, it does not show itself at its best in defense; to a certain extent this is because it is so valuable.

Very interesting situations can arise when in return for the sacrificed queen a player obtains some material compensation (often a rook plus a minor piece), along with an attack on the opposing king. This attack can sometimes be combined with threats against the opposing queen.

Realizing a material advantage

The side with a material advantage has at its disposal two different methods of converting it.

We can play for an attack with the justified hope that we can make our extra forces count.

The second method is used more often. If we simplify the position (exchange pieces), then we can normally realize our material advantage more easily. However, less experienced players often make the typical mistake of simply chasing the opponent's pieces about, in the vague hope that the opponent will tire and allow the exchange of pieces. It is much better to put your pieces in active positions. Then the opponent will be the one trying to exchange off 
these active pieces.

In some cases both methods can be combined: the threat of an attack can force the desired simplification of the position. Or an exchange may be offered, and if the opponent declines this exchange and moves his piece away, then an attack becomes possible.

Always give check... it might be mate!

Naw... that's a dumb idea.

How about this one:

Knights are short-ranged. Bishops are long-ranged.

You can hear a Knight coming (clop - clop - clop - clop!), but not a Bishop.

Attacking with queen and knight

The queen and the knight have very different capabilities. From the same square they attack completely different sets of squares. For that reason they complement each other wonderfully well. It is very simple to coordinate their efforts; indeed it often happens automatically when we attack a particular square with both pieces. These pieces are particularly dangerous when they are attacking, although the nimble knight must first make its way to a good position close to the opposing king. The fine coordination of queen and knight often makes this duo stronger than a queen and bishop.

@ChessMasteryOfficial - Have you taken a look at the essay I wrote for more advanced players (suggested rating 1500+)?

GM Larry Evans' method of static analysis - Chess Forums - Chess.com

Posts 4, 7-to-10, and 12 ... plus the three sample games on that page and the next.

No. I'll check it out. Thanks!