Some notes on chess

You may read the original blog post here.

Chess Strategy 101

Here are my personal notes on chess guidelines. They are not complete, but nonetheless can be a helpful reference for new or recently returning players. Some of the strategies laid out assume you have some familiarity with tactics. This is mostly advice that established chess players know. I am not a high-level chess player, so please ignore my advice if you know better.
If you're looking for more resources on chess, or actual chess lessons, look no further than lichess.org for all the free chess resources you could ever need.

Material & Piece movement

Every piece in Chess is assigned an arbitrary point value. These point values are relative to the position on the board but they will help you to make quick decisions in a game.
These point values are also called “material” to represent the firepower in your camp. The more material you have than your opponent, the easier it will be to crush him.
Keep in mind that material advantage isn’t everything in chess, but it is a major component of every game.
If you command an entire army of tanks and fighter jets, but a single enemy soldier broke through and put a gun to your head, who is winning?

Pawns

Pawns can move forward one square at a time (2 on their first move) and attack one square diagonally to their front.
Pawns are the weakest pieces on the board for their low mobility and poor range, but they are supremely important in the endgame.
Pawns are the first line of defense, and they push the battle lines forward. They have a point value of 1, but if they make it to the end of the board they promote to any of the other pieces.
Some trivia about chess jargon: Chess players will often refer to the pawns as pawns and the rest of the pieces collectively as “pieces.”

Minor pieces (The Knight & Bishop)

The Knight can move in an “L” shape in any direction. It’s the only piece with the ability to jump over the others.
The Bishop can move as far as you want along the diagonals.
Chess experts theorize that they’re both worth roughly 3 points, giving the edge to the Bishop.
Knights are high-utility pieces due to their maneuverability, but they are very slow to get from one end of the board to the other. They also can "see" fewer squares than Bishops do.
Inversely, the Bishop can move edge to edge across the board, provided there’s nothing in the way. Due to being restricted to the diagonals, it can only ever cover half of the squares. Both Bishops combined can see the whole board: Light & dark squares.
Knights & Bishops are more effective together than they are in isolation, so choose which pieces to sacrifice carefully.

Major pieces (The Rook & Queen)

The Rook can move as far in any direction parallel to the edges of the board. It can traverse forwards & backwards along any rank and file that intersects its occupying square.
Rooks are highly mobile pieces and hit hard. For this reason, it is assigned a point value of 5. Like the minors, the Rooks are better together.
The Queen combines the movement of the Rook and the Bishop. The Queen can move along rank, file, and diagonals that intersect its occupying square. This combined power makes the Queen a formidable piece worth 9 points of material.
Keep in mind that in an Endgame, your Rooks combined are worth more than a Queen.
Also remember that material is equivalent. If you capture my Queen but I’ve captured 9 of your pawns, depending on the position we could have roughly equal chances of winning.

A note on piece vision.

Piece vision is a useful concept for disambiguating a chessboard. Players will often refer to what a piece is "looking at" or what a piece can "see." A piece can "see" any square that it might move to on its next turn. It is also common to hear "X piece can see Z piece through Y piece." Lining up your pieces to see a target behind another piece is very common in chess.

The King (Yourself!)

The King has no point values, since losing the King ends the game. The King combines the range of the Pawn with the mobility of the Queen: It can move one square in any direction.
For all intents and purposes, you are the King. You don't want to move the King too much, because your other pieces could probably accomplish your goals better.

King Safety

King Safety plays a huge role in determining the outcome of the game. Castling early or otherwise securing your King away from enemy pieces should always be your top priority.

Opening Principles

1. Control the center. If the chess board is a battlefield, the center is the top of a hill from which your soldiers can rain down fire on the enemy. Always keep an eye on the center but it is paramount in the opening to seize control before your opponent does.
2. develop your minor pieces ASAP. Your army can’t do anything if it’s trapped on the back rank of the board. Do your best to activate a new piece with every move in the opening until you’ve got a decent position.
   Side note: Moving the same piece multiple times in a row can waste time and give your opponent an edge. Only do this if you really have to.
3. Castle within the first 5-10 moves. This gets your king out of danger in the center of the board and develops your Rook in one move. it’s generally a good idea to castle early, for reasons discussed above.
4. Always be making threats/forcing moves. Forcing your opponent to react to your moves puts them on their back foot and gives you more time.
5. Before you move, ask yourself why your opponent made their move. Think ahead to avoid traps because you assumed your opponent made a mistake.

Middlegame Principles

How to calculate?

1. Candidate moves: Find forcing moves such as checks, captures, and threats
2. Calculate to the end of the forced line
3. When there are too many candidate moves, use your positional understanding to cut through the noise
4. Don’t let the king escape. Restrict the king’s movement
5. If you notice a tactical motif, try to make it work. Reorder your moves.

Bobby Fischer’s Rule

Look at your opponent’s most active piece. Attack it or trade it off.

Middlegame Goals:

• Get your pieces across the middle of the board
• Win material and then simplify
• Put as many pieces close to your enemy king as possible
• Ranks on the board are like real military ranks: The further up the board, the higher rank, the more powerful the piece