Forks
A great way to win material is to attack more than one piece at a time with one of your own. This technique is known as...
Counting Captures
It's usually a good idea to capture something if you have more attacking pieces than the opponent has defending pieces....
Tactics and Hanging Pieces
Tactics are the types of moves you can use to gain an immediate advantage. One way to get an advantage is to capture hanging,...
The Value Of The Pieces
Each piece has a numerical value that can help you evaluate whether exchanging it makes sense. Pawns = 1. Knights = 3. Bishops...
Avoiding Bad Trades
Don't make the mistake of giving up your good pieces for less valuable ones. It's important that you evaluate all possible...
Pawn Structures That Win: The f3-e4 Chain
The Queen's Gambit Accepted often leads to an early endgame, but that doesn't mean that White doesn't have tricks to put...
Assisted Checkmates
Because the king can't move into check it is often possible to checkmate by placing a queen next to the opponent's king...
Checkmate With Two Rooks
One good way to checkmate is to use two rooks, or a rook and a queen to force a lone opposing king to the edge or the board....
Checkmate With A Rook
The easiest way to checkmate with king and rook against king is to follow this process: 1. Use your rook to put the opposing...
Checkmate With A Queen
Follow a four-step process to make an assisted checkmate with a queen. 1. Place your queen one knight move away from the...
The 4-Move Checkmate (Scholar's Mate)
At beginner levels, games are frequently won and lost with the four move checkmate, also known as Scholar's Mate. It's most...
Online Nations Cup Game Of The Day: Yu - So
How did Yu Yangyi lead China to a win in the ONC? Check out the game here and see if you can find Yu's moves!
The Language of Chess
Every square in chess has a name based on a coordinate system. All files have a letter, from a - h, going from the queen's...
Moving and Capturing
A great strategy to help win chess games is to capture opposing pieces. Most captures are made the same way that pieces...
Check
Check means that one side is threatening to capture the opposing king. You never capture the king in chess, so the other...
Getting Out Of Check
When you are in check you must escape check. The ways to get out of check are to move the king, block the check with another...
Checkmate
You win when your opponent is in check and cannot escape. That is called checkmate!
Fastest Checkmate
Have you ever wondered what the fastest possible checkmate is in chess? The fastest possible checkmate takes only two moves....
Stalemate
Stalemate occurs when there are no possible moves, but neither king is in check. Stalemate is a draw, even if one of the...
Other Draws
Not all chess games are won or lost. Sometimes they end in a draw. These are the ways that can happen: 1. Stalemate. 2....
Castling
Castling is a special move to protect your king and activate your rook. It's the only time in chess you can move two pieces...
En Passant
This is the most unusual rule in chess - make sure you learn it. En-passant occurs when a pawn has just moved two squares....
Finding The Right Move
There are dozens of possible chess moves at any time. How do you find the right one? Each turn you will want to consider...
Playing A Game
Watch a complete game of chess played with all moves explained, 1. e4 c6 Both sides move pawns towards the center. 2. d4...
How To Set Up A Chessboard
Now that you know how the pieces move, it's time to set up and start the game. Each player starts with a light square in...