Social Chess Club

Phases of chess are how the best chess players think and play chess. Chess is divided into three phases, known as the  Opening , the  Middlegame , and the  Endgame . The opening is moving your pieces from their starting positions to take up active posts ready to do battle in the middlegame. The Middlegame The general rule of when it is the middlegame is once the pieces have been deployed and the kings have castled to safety.  The Endgame Kinda like the  Avengers: Endgame, the endgame of chess is where m ost of the pieces have been captured and only a few remain. Some players will call any position without queens an endgame. Usually, the players don't have enough pieces left to easily checkmate the opponent's king, so strategy in the endgame generally revolves around getting a pawn to the other side of the board to make a queen.  Lesson 1.   How To Play Chess 101 https://socialchessclub.blogspot.com/2019/12/chess-101.h...

I do not have a video for the middlegame principles, so I want to share with you how I keep getting perfect grades in college. Centralize your pieces This idea should look similar to lesson 2 with the knights. Where you try to get all your pieces to be in the center because they all control more spaces. Trade your side pawns for the central pawns The central pawns are generally considered to be more valuable than the side pawns. This is because central pawns allow controlling important central squares (d4-d5-e4-e5) which can be used to support pieces and develop a strong attack not only in the center. At the same time, central pawns provide space and increase pieces of mobility. Therefore, it is recommended not to trade your central pawns for the opponent’s side pawns. In fact, you should do the opposite and exchange your side pawns for the opponent’s central pawns. White should play  fxe3  to create a strong pawn center with  e-d-c pawns . Avoid pawn ...

Why castle in chess? Castling is primarily all about getting your king safe because, usually, the move takes your most important piece out of the center of the board and tucks him away behind a wall of pawns. Castling also helps bring the rook into the game. But beware, the timing is crucial – sometimes castling may actually put your king in danger. So, as with everything in chess, be careful. How to castle in chess – the rules There are a number of rules that apply to make it legal. Castling can only happen if all of the following conditions are met in a game: The king has not previously moved; Your chosen rook has not previously moved; There must be no pieces between the king and the chosen rook; The king is not currently in check; Your king must not pass through a square that is under attack by enemy pieces; The king must not end up in check. Do not wait for those conditions to arise out of the opening, you must work to make them happen if you want to castle...

I find the knight to be one of the coolest pieces because it can move over pieces, making it sometimes challenging to see where it is going. We are going over how to move the knight in the opening and in general. This is not a rule but it really will help you play like a pro. The general rule is never to have your knight at the ends of the board because it limits the knight movement plus makes it easy for your opponent to take it. Another reason for never moving your knight at the ends of the board is in the e xample, a move (Knight to h3 - Nh3) was just played. The white’s idea is simple. He wants to develop a knight and bishop following by the king’s side castling. There is a problem though:  the knight on h3 . Not only it’s inactive, but also a target. If white castles short, black would happily exchange their light square bishop for the h3 knight, ruining the white’s pawn structure and exposing the king. Even if the knight is immediately captured, it i...

Objective For Winning Check: Threatening a king with capture is treated differently from an ordinary piece. The king is not only royal but the objective of the entire game. A player declares "check" when he moves in a manner that threatens an opponent's king with capture. However, the term is only used if the king has a means of escape. The opponent must get the king out of check immediately. This can be done in one of three ways: 1) Move the king. 2) Capture the attacking piece. 3) Move a piece so that it blocks the attack. A king cannot castle if it is in check. Checkmate: The game is won when an opponent's king is inescapably placed in a position where it would be captured on the next turn. Actually capturing the king and removing it from the board like a common piece would have been unthinkable when chess was invented, and so this is not done. Instead, the winner says the word checkmate and the game ends. Sometimes a king is placed in check se...