

Ask HN: Chess - shire

Anyone know of good tactics to win at chess? I want to beat a friend and want to learn moves to get better.
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pawn
Towards the beginning of the game, I like to try to control the center of the
board. I use pawns and knights to make sure I control the middle four squares.
Meanwhile, I'm looking for moves that will let me get a material gain on the
opponent. Be aggressive in making them react to you. If I'm not forcing
him/her react to my moves, I'm losing. And if he/she should be reacting, and
doesn't, then I look to see if I missed something, and if not, then I gain the
advantage.

Sometimes, I go with another tactic, or blend it with controlling the center -
attacking the king's bishop's square. Learn the Scholar's Mate, which involves
attacking that square with the queen and bishop, and work that into your game.
You can pile on pieces to making that work, and it'll frustrate some opponents
into making mistakes.

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brickcap
Tactics training helps a lot. I like echess[1], it has a good selection of
tactical puzzles. Try to solve one a day and you should see significant
improvement in your game within a month.

For a game against an advanced player you must master the openings which can
be hard (I always make mistakes in the opening stages).

[1][http://en.lichess.org/training/17424](http://en.lichess.org/training/17424)

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MichaelCrawford
I visualize what advertising people call a "heat map". That is I look at the
board as a whole then imagine where all the pieces can move to.

Write down at least some of your games then have them critiqued later, or
critique them yourself - but not immediately after a game; I once dropped in
on a chess club that has heavily into post-game critiques and found it so
unpleasant that I never attended again.

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SamReidHughes
Yes, I developed got a secret trap maneuver that works from any board
position, it's an insta-win or at least a stalemate every single time.
Unfortunately my memory of it was hypnotically suppressed in order to keep
myself safe from the Mechanics' Institute -- I'd need two of three friends of
mine to say certain codewords to unlock it.

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stouset
1\. Learn opening principles. 2\. Practice tactics. 3\. Play more. 4\. Go to
step 2.

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japhyr
Also learn the basic endings: KRRvK, KQvK, KRvK, KPvK.

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bramgg
[https://www.youtube.com/user/thechesswebsite](https://www.youtube.com/user/thechesswebsite)
and chess.com

