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Learn to play well

You know how the men move. This page is about playing on purpose: what the first ten moves are for, what to stop doing, and how to read a game written down.

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A first game, move by move

Here is an ordinary, sound opening of a kind played for five hundred years. Nothing clever happens, and that is the point: every move does a plain job. The moves use the short notation explained further down this page, so read that section first if the symbols look strange.

The Italian Game, with the c3 and d4 plan
  1. 1. e4White pushes the king’s pawn two squares. It claims a share of the four middle squares and opens two lines at once: the bishop on f1 and the queen on d1 can now come out.
  2. 1... e5Black answers in kind, taking the same share of the middle, opening the same two lines, and stopping the white pawn from pushing on.
  3. 2. Nf3The knight comes towards the middle and attacks the pawn on e5 as it arrives. Doing two jobs with one move is the whole idea of a good opening.
  4. 2... Nc6Black defends the e5 pawn and develops towards the middle at the same time. A knight is the right defender: bringing the queen out to guard a pawn is a piece doing a foot soldier’s work.
  5. 3. Bc4The bishop takes the long diagonal towards g8 and points at f7, which at the start of a game is the weakest square in Black’s camp, because the king is its only guard.
  6. 3... Bc5Black mirrors the idea, aiming at f2 for the same reason. Both sides now have three men developed and no weaknesses.
  7. 4. c3A quiet move with a plan behind it. It prepares d2-d4, because the c3 pawn will be able to recapture in the middle. The price is that White’s knight can no longer use c3.
  8. 4... Nf6Black develops the last knight, attacks the e4 pawn and gets a move closer to castling, all at once.
  9. 5. d4Now the push. White strikes in the middle with the pawn supported by c3, which is what move four was for.
  10. 5... exd4Black takes. Leaving the tension would let White capture on e5 and win a pawn, so this is close to forced.
  11. 6. cxd4White recaptures with the c-pawn as planned and now has two pawns side by side on d4 and e4. That pair takes away squares and gives the pieces room, and it attacks the bishop on c5.
  12. 6... Bb4+Black saves the attacked bishop and gives check on the way, so White must answer the check instead of settling the position. Material is level and both kings will castle soon: a successful opening for both sides.

What the opening is for

These are habits, not laws. Strong players break every one of them, but always for a reason they could name. Until you can name the reason, follow them.

  1. Put a pawn in the middle early and try to keep it there. Pieces reach most of the board from the four central squares.
  2. Bring out the knights and bishops before the rooks and the queen. Getting a piece onto a useful square is called development, and it is the currency of the opening.
  3. Do not move the same piece twice in the opening unless forced. Every repeat move is a move some other piece did not get.
  4. Castle early, usually inside the first ten moves. It tucks the king behind a pawn wall and brings a rook towards the middle in one turn.
  5. Keep the queen at home a while. She is worth more than anything that attacks her, so an early sortie ends with her running away while the opponent develops.
  6. Once castled, clear the back rank so the rooks defend each other. Rooks are worth little until the files open, and a great deal afterwards.
  7. Point your pieces at the middle. A knight on the rim watches half as many squares as one in the centre.
  8. Before every move, look at your opponent’s checks, captures and threats first, then your own.

What beginners actually get wrong

  • Not checking the reply. Far more pieces are lost to an undefended square than to any clever trap.
  • Hunting a four-move checkmate. It is easily stopped, and then you have moved your queen three times and developed nothing.
  • Leaving the king in the middle while lines open. Every trade that clears the centre makes an uncastled king worse off.
  • Pushing the pawns in front of your own castled king without a reason. Each one you move is a hole you cannot fill again.
  • Trading pieces just because a trade is available. Trade when you are ahead in material; avoid trades when you are behind.
  • Playing an opening from memory past the point where you know why. Three sound moves you understand beat ten you do not.
  • Answering every check by moving the king. A capture or a block often improves your position as well as ending the check.

How games are written down

Games are recorded in a short form called algebraic notation. Each move names the man and the square it goes to. Moves are numbered in pairs, so “4. Bc4 Nf6” is the fourth move for each side. When only Black’s half is quoted it takes three dots: “4... Nf6”.

K, Q, R, B, N
The letters for king, queen, rook, bishop and knight. The knight takes N because K is already spoken for.
Nf3
A piece letter followed by the square it moves to. Here, a knight to f3.
e4
A square with no letter in front of it is a pawn move. A pawn has gone to e4, and only one pawn ever can.
x
A capture: Bxc6 is a bishop taking on c6. A pawn capture names the file the pawn left, so exd5 is the e-pawn taking on d5.
+
The move gives check.
#
The move is checkmate and the game is over. Some writers use ++ for the same thing.
O-O
Castling on the kingside, the short side, where only two squares lie between king and rook.
O-O-O
Castling on the queenside, the long side, with three squares between king and rook.
=Q
Promotion, and what the pawn became: e8=Q is a pawn reaching e8 and turning into a queen.
e.p.
An optional mark on a capture made en passant. Many writers leave it out, since the move is already fully described.
Nbd2 and R1e2
Extra letters or numbers to say which of two identical pieces moved: add the file it came from, or the rank if both share a file.
! and ?
Opinions, not facts. ! is a good move and ? a weak one; !! and ?? are stronger; !? and ?! are hedges.
1-0, 0-1, 1/2-1/2
The result at the end of the score: White won, Black won, or the game was drawn.

The words players use

File
A column of eight squares running from White’s side of the board to Black’s, lettered a to h.
Rank
A row of eight squares running across the board, numbered 1 to 8 counting away from White.
Diagonal
A slanting line of same-coloured squares joined corner to corner. Bishops travel along diagonals and nowhere else.
Development
Getting pieces off their starting squares onto squares where they do something. A player ahead in development has more pieces working.
Tempo
A single move treated as a unit of time. You gain one when the opponent has to answer you instead of improving their position.
Fork
One man attacking two or more enemy men at once. Knights are the classic forkers, because they can hit two pieces standing nowhere near each other.
Pin
A man that cannot move because moving it would expose something behind it. If the king is behind, it legally cannot move at all.
Skewer
A pin turned around: the valuable piece is in front, it has to move, and the man behind it is taken.
Discovered attack
Moving one man aside so a piece behind it suddenly attacks along the opened line. The man that moved can threaten something too, which is what makes it deadly.
Zugzwang
A position where you would be fine if you could pass, but every legal move makes things worse. It decides many endgames.
Material
The men you have, counted roughly: pawn one, knight or bishop three, rook five, queen nine. The king is never counted.
Castle
To play the move that shifts the king two squares towards a rook and hops that rook to the far side of it.
Promotion
Swapping a pawn that has reached the far rank for a queen, rook, bishop or knight. It is compulsory.
En passant
Capturing a pawn that has just used its two-square move to slip past yours, as though it had moved only one. Immediately, or not at all.
Back-rank mate
Mate along the row a castled king sits on, when its own pawns block its escape. A small hole made in good time prevents it.
Fianchetto
Developing a bishop to b2, g2, b7 or g7 behind a knight’s pawn, so it rakes the long diagonal from the corner.
Outpost
A square in the opponent’s half that your pawn defends and no enemy pawn can attack. A knight parked there is often worth a rook.
Passed pawn
A pawn with no enemy pawn ahead of it on its own file or either neighbouring file. Only pieces can stop it promoting.