Learn Chess: Tactics and Strategy

Most people know that strategy is essential in any game of chess. Every good strategy however is achieved through the use of tactics. Any beginner chess player wishing to learn chess must learn both tactics and strategy as seperate entities. Tactics are essentially the core ingredients of any strategy. Although often confused, tactics and strategy are not interchangeable. Tactics are simply one or more moves initiated by a player to achieve a short term advantage. Strategy on the other hand is constructed from a series of tactics used to achieve the strategic goal. To put it another way, tactics are used as the stepping stones for an overall strategy.

There are many tactics that one could use in any game of chess. The art of learning chess is to know when to play which tactic. Benefits of initiating a tactic include gaining a material advantage, positioning a pawn into a defensive or offensive position, defending the king, or controlling key space on the chess board. There are literally thousands of tactics. A chess game can by thought of a series of ongoing puzzles, where a new puzzle is presented after each opponent's turn. The objective of the puzzle is to achieve one of the benefits listed above. The tools used to solve the puzzle are tactics.

Below is a brief description of the most common tactics. Those wishing to learn chess are advised to research and practice as many tactics as time allows. I've included a simplified drawing below to assist in the following explaination.

• The Pin: This attack forces an opponent to not move a certain piece on the board as doing so will expose a piece of greater relative value behind it to the attack. Relative value is a simple measure by which the value (or worth) of a piece is calculated. For example, a queen has a higher relative value than a rook. This is a very common tactic.
  
• The Skewer: This attack is almost the same as a pin, except that the higher value piece is first attacked. When the opponent moves the high value piece away, the lower value piece can be taken. This attack is often initiated with a Knight.
• Sacrificing: This requires a player to place a piece in a position where it must be taken by the opponent on the next move for fear of losing a more valuable piece. This move may be played to force an opponent off a key square or to allow an overall strategy to be advanced.
• The Fork: A fork attack attacks two pieces at the same time. The opponent will be left with the decision to move one of the pieces and lose the other.
  

The above is but a short list. To learn chess, practise the application of tactics as often as possible. Ward Farnsworth has kindly authored a free 700 page book detailing over 1,000 tactics. It is available at www.chesstactics.org.

So we now know that tactics can be used to obtain short term advantage, but what about strategy? Strategy is simply the deployment of tactics to achieve a goal. One cannot rehearse or preconceive which tactics will be deployed within a strategy as tactics must remain flexible to attempt to achieve the strategic goal independent of which moves are made by your opponent. Different strategies are often played at different points in the game. A single game of chess is typically divided into three games, where each game utilizes different strategies to realize the goal. Dividing chess into games simply makes it easier to play as per the old adage "divide and conquer". The games are:

• Begin Game (or Opening Game): The opening game starts with the very first move and ends when the king is defended and space is occupied in the middle board. There are many rehearsed opening moves used to achieve these goals. The opening game is not about taking pieces or playing for checkmate.
• Middle Game: The middle game starts where the opening game finishes. The objective of the middle game is to advance a game of chess to the end game with you having an advantage over your opponent. These generally include material and offensive advantages.
  
• The End Game: The objective of the end game is to achieve checkmate.

As may be realized, different tactics are played at different points within a game. During the begin game, a player will initiate tactics to gain spacial advantage. In the middle game, tactics used to achieve material advantage are also beneficial. And of course, in the end game, tactics used to achieve checkmate are obviously well rewarded.

To conclude, to learn chess requires one learn the appication of tactics to acheive a strategy.