Nothing surpasses the sense of overwhelming your opponent from the start. Winning a chess match in such a dominant manner makes you feel like a grandmaster. But here’s the problem: when players’ levels rise, easy wins become rare, giving place to lengthier and more intricate games. Still, incorporating a little more imagination into blitz games or against less experienced opponents is a terrific way to have fun.

Whether you want to win at the royal game online or at your local chess club, here are six tried-and-true chess strategies that will help you gain the initiative quickly and give you a competitive advantage.

How to Win at Chess

As evident as it is, white has the benefit of making the first move, increasing its chances of initiating the attack first. We will, of course, provide some suggestions on how to prevent being assaulted early in the game, but first, let us look at the winning techniques for the attacking team.

• Winning Tips for the Attacking Side

Tip 1. Attack on the King Side, in Particular, the f7 Pawn

If you want to win swiftly, you have to checkmate quickly, right? Attack on the kingside, namely the f7 Pawn. At the start of the game, it is the most vulnerable square for black because it is only protected by the king. Begin preparing an offensive on this tile to boost your chances of aggravating your opponent and causing them to make mistakes.

Your queen, bishop, and knight can all target the f7 pawn. The goal is to capture your opponent’s King in a mating net. In general, you’ll need your Bishop on c4, your Knight on f3 ready to jump to the g5 or e5 squares, and your Queen on b3 to support the Bishop. While playing with a novice, you may even take out your Queen early and place it on the h5 square, from where it will attack both e5 and f7 Pawns.

Tip 2. King’s Gambit

Gambits are often effective against weaker opponents or those unfamiliar with chess opening strategies. Gambits will not provide you an advantage if your opponent understands how to react, but they will help you construct an aggressive offensive. Without extensive opening knowledge, your opponent will have to spend a significant amount of time and energy fighting against your strikes.

What is the chess gambit? The word gambit means “a chess opening in which one side sacrifices a material, usually a pawn, to gain an advantage” . You can select your gambit according to your current preferences. One of the most common gambits is the King’s Gambit, which involves sacrificing a piece in exchange for an early advantage. This is a powerful strategy for throwing beginners off guard early on and launching brutal kingside attacks.

The opening begins with the kingside bishop piece rising up two spaces after the initial 1. e4 e5 movements. Although the most popular and solid answer from black is to accept the sacrifice, most inexperienced players will disintegrate quickly as you begin developing your kingside pieces while concurrently attacking the black King.

1. e4 e5

2. f4

The above sequence is the fundamental concept of the King’s Gambit. After f4, your opponent will frequently opt to seize the Pawn at f4 (exf4).

While aiming for the best result, try conducting a comprehensive self-analysis by analyzing your opening movements and potential faults using the References feature in Chessify.me. With a large collection of games recorded since 1475, the library includes the most popular beginning moves.

Tip 3. Develop Your Pieces Toward the Center

This is an essential tip for all chess beginners, but it is especially crucial if you want to win games quickly. You should focus your pieces on the center, where they can be more active and influential. Simply think about it. Once in the center, it is easy to launch an attack and form a mating net around your opponent’s King. Pieces that control the core area have more room to move around, making it easier to form winning combinations.

Read Also: The Importance of Communication in Team-based Games

Many new players overlook this simple but important concept of center control. They advance their Knights to a3 or h3 squares, which limits their ability to join the game later and makes them vulnerable to bishop attacks. So, with your knight, go for the central squares, but move them to f3, c3, and d2.

The same applies to bishops. Some players like to develop their bishops via fianchettos, which include moving and putting the bishop on the second rank of a Knight file. Fianchettos are used in many popular openings, however they frequently result in slower strategic play rather than dynamic game action.

Thus, if you want to checkmate your opponent quickly, consider occupying the central squares while developing your minor pieces.

Tip 4. Don’t Allow Close Pawn Structures in the Center

A closed structure is a position with a locked Pawn center in which few (if any) Pawns have been traded. This makes it harder to move your pieces and plan attacks. Try to maintain the center open by forcing your opponent to trade pawns. If you’re playing with white, sacrificing a pawn can help keep the game open and lively. The King’s gambit is an excellent example of sacrificing a pawn for an open center and swift attack.

Once you’ve succeeded in keeping the center open, consider opening files and diagonals. For example, the e and f files provide ideal opportunities to deploy your Rooks into action. Consider putting both your Bishop and Queen on alert along the a2-g8 diagonal (or a7-g1 if you’re playing with Black) to attack your opponent’s King.

These are typically winning tips for White, as they have the initiative and a better chance of attacking. However, if you play with Black, or appear on the defending side, you should consider several ways to keep the attacking side at bay. Let us briefly go through a few.

• Tips for the Defensive Side

Chess defense is all about anticipating your opponent’s moves. Pay attention to your opponent’s movements and try to take advantage of their blunders. If you wish to defend effectively, you should move your pieces strategically, seeking to counter-attack rather than merely defend.

Tip 5. Don’t Allow Your Pieces to Be Attacked by the Opponent’s Pawns

As a rule of thumb, you should avoid moving the same piece many times in the opening. When the game first starts, your goal is to develop your pieces as quickly as possible. If your existing pieces are repeatedly attacked, you will have to retreat them rather than create a new piece. Amateurs often use 1…Nf6 as a response to 1.e4, but comprehensive comprehension of the opening is necessary to avoid early losses. White can move its piece to e5 and continue to attack your knight on d5. The same applies to 1.d4 Nc6. As a result, we do not recommend that beginners start the game this manner. Instead, strive to defend the squares where your pieces could be assaulted by pawns.

Tip 6. Castle Your King

When you notice the centre is opening, it is time to castle. Castling happens in almost every serious chess game. It is a defensive measure in chess where the King and Rook move to opposite sides of the board. 

Castling is meant to get your king out of the center and keep it safe throughout the game. You can castle the following way:

– The King moves two squares toward the Rook

– The latter moves to the square on the King’s other side

Such a move serves two purposes: it protects the King and joins the rooks allowing your pieces to coordinate better.

Extra Pro Tip

Analyze your games. Contemplating the game you just played is essential for self-improvement and learning from mistakes. Take some time to examine your game and identify which techniques succeeded and which did not.

Professional chess players invest in cutting-edge technology and software solutions to analyze their performances. This enables them to review each move they made and assess the ramifications of those moves in retrospect.

Amateur players can likewise benefit from cutting-edge chess engines, albeit with little to no expenditure. Chess training platforms, such as Chessify.me, benefit both Grandmasters and amateurs equally. With all of the market-leading engines in one place, these tools enable players to analyze the game, identify errors, and make better judgments in future games.

Chessify.me, chosen by top chess players such as GM Levon Aronian and GM Anish Giri, allows players to experiment with different configurations. Players can swiftly find solutions to their games by using Stockfish and other engines at speeds of up to 1,000,000 kN/s.

After all, practicing and learning from mistakes is the only way to improve your chess game. Chess puzzles for beginners can be used to practice tactics, while more complex puzzles can help you improve your decision-making skills and strategy.

Renting analytical servers on Chessify.me Cloud Pro allows players to dive deeper into the strategic game nuances. The process is very simple but it boosts your performance substantially. Here’s a quick glimpse of Chessify.me in action:

– Chessify’s analysis board allows you to quickly scan moves and evaluate them with the help of chess engines. You can also look at variations and compare them with yours.

– Server records suggest alternative paths to victory, thus helping you improve your decision-making skills.

– You can also analyze the endgame and easily spot any missed opportunities, so you don’t repeat the same mistake.

How can I be More Strategic in Chess?

Beginning chess players rapidly realize that understanding how the pieces move is simply the top of the chess-playing iceberg. The question “What now?” generally occurs after a few moves in a regular chess game. In this section, we will go over general chess principles for the opening.

This page will give you some very simple chess strategy guidelines for playing the opening. Aimed at beginners who just know the rules and moves, there is no mention of specific openings or sequences of moves to memorize; instead, there are broad chess strategic ideas to consider when starting a game. Later on, you’ll find that it’s sometimes (sometimes) preferable to disregard a chess strategy theory in the opening; nothing here is carved in granite. However, for the time being, these chess ideas are ideal for the initial few movements of your game.

The underlying principle of chess strategy in the opening phase is control of the board’s center squares. These are the four squares right in the middle of the chessboard (shown here in green):

Every chess opening aims to occupy or control these central squares. Why? In chess geometry the center is important because each chess piece exercises maximum mobility in the center. Here’s an example using only the Kings and a Knight for each side:

Strategy: There is no need to take the game further – we see rapid development, a race to control the center squares and get the King to safety. Note that both players are also trying to prevent the opponent from achieving these strategic goals. It is also clear that no single pawn or piece can stand alone; the whole chess army needs to work as a unit to carry out our chess strategy. Remembering this will help you to understand the principles we’re about to discuss.

1) Good chess strategy is to make your first move with the e-pawn or d-pawn advancing two squares. In either case, you will open pathways for the pieces to get off of the back rank and into the fight for the central squares.

2) Good chess strategy is playing each piece one time to its best square, developing them all in turn, and getting your chess pieces off the starting squares. You want to get your pieces into the game rapidly, and posted where they can accomplish something – either aiding your attack or defense of the center. Seldom will you move the same piece twice in the chess opening.

3) Good chess strategy is keeping your King safe, so castle early and get him behind your wing pawns. Castling is a great way to safeguard your King from sudden chess tactics and even checkmate – it gets the King away from the center and develops one of your Rooks at the same time. Top level chess strategy!

4) Good chess strategy is advancing only one or two pawns in the chess opening, just enough to stake out the center and develop your pieces quickly. Moving pawns can weaken your defenses, and is responsible for many losses in the chess opening. A pawn move can never be retracted!

5) Good chess strategy is to make a threat when developing the pieces, which will limit the opponent’s freedom of choice. This is the “initiative”, a chess strategy meant to dictate the game’s course. Develop and threaten – good chess strategy!

If a chess beginner adheres to these fundamental rules of chess strategy, success on the board is not far away!