Dangerous positions and paralyzing tactics

We've all made moves which leave our king exposed, so remember the principle of King Safety. Castling in the opening or early middlegame is usually advised, but once the King is castled, keep an eye on any and all pieces that are currently attacking the squares around the king, or near the king, any knights which could attack a pawn or square near the king or check the king, and any rooks, bishops, or queens which are aiming themselves at these squares. Also be careful about sudden piece sacrifices. A bishop, pawn, or knight, even the queen, could throw themselves at these pawns like a suicide bomber, ripping open the pawn shield, exposing the king, and if there are enough enemy pieces in range, this could result in an immediate and unfortunate king hunt.

You can be up in material by several pieces, but if the enemy army is gunning for your king, your forces can become paralyzed. Especially dangerous are any discovered checks. Discovered checks allow one piece to move and reveal an attacking piece behind it, which checks the king. The opposing army has to respond to the check immediately, and that allows the moved piece a free hand to cause massive damage in an attack which would otherwise be a kamikaze maneuver, another turn is allowed for a safe return or another, second attack. Double checks are particularly devastating, if the discovered check is coupled with a check from the moving piece, the king is checked twice by two different pieces from two different directions. It is impossible to stop both checks without moving the king, which means double checks literally paralyze every piece on the board for one turn.

The King is the biggest target of them all, even if checkmate is not threatened, any check must be responded to, and that can lead to other pieces being captured. Also beware of any check the opponent can give which forces the king to move, which could lead to another check which forces the king back. That could draw the game no matter how well you're doing. Draw by perpetual check.

All of this is stuff most chess players know, but we forget that it's the top priority. We could use tactics to win material, like a fork, or a check, but before we do, we must ensure that we aren't open to any kind of sudden checks or forks ourselves. Defense is more important than offense, because once your position is secure, you are free to make the brilliant sacrifices and aggressive moves, secure in the knowledge that your opponent doesn't have an even better counterattack. Everything depends on the position itself, so don't move unless you know for sure your opponent doesn't have a devastating reply tactically.

Strategy is a different matter, and that is less about tactics and more about long term positional struggles and goals.

We shouldn't be so cautious that we never seize the moment, by all means do so. But before you make a good move, check to see if your opponent has a great reply. And always sit on your hands and look for an even better move. Had I done that in the above game, I would not have lost my bishop unnecessarily, and potentially the game. I was only saved by my opponent, and you should never put yourself in such a desperate position.


Overall strategy:

I admit my own long term strategic thinking has big gaping holes in it at times. But sometimes the strategy is obvious... come up with an idea which could win you a better position, maybe not the game, but a better position.

Imagine for example that you can win a knight for a bishop, and in order for your opponent to take the bishop, he must move his kingside pawn shield, thus making his castled position or potential castled position more dangerous. If you can rapidly mobilize your queen or rooks near that area, or send a knight in, you could expose and drag down the king. Also important, your opponent will usually have to respond to your threat.

When your opponent is busy responding to your threats, assuming they are sound ideas, often times their options will be limited and will not be able to think so much on how to attack you. If your position is safe and secure, and you're attacking with real threats or real long term threats, they may be forced to simply react to you, cramping their position, binding their pieces down to the defense of their king, and they become more passive and easy to control.

Some things like grabbing open files with your rooks are important strategically, they allow you to control a lot of squares even in the enemy position, which gives you a foothold and limits the movements of certain pieces for fear of being captured.

In this game:

I faced Quintus.JC and my whole idea was to trade my bad bishop for his good bishop, and a bishop for his knight. With the position closed, and no way to attack a knight placed on d4, I knew I would have a positional advantage. I could not force this position, but Quintus made several pawn moves which caused the dark squares to become weak, so I formed a plan around that very small weakness.

My second plan was to make the Queenside become very cramped and closed to his bishop, queen and rooks, so I could safely castle there. Then I would focus everything on the kingside and try to bring about an endgame where I have perhaps some passed pawns and force a queen.

If he makes weakening pawn moves around his king, I intend to capitalize. For now, his options would be quite limited and I would have the positional advantage, the initiative, and the all important concept of King Safety, whereas his King would be castled on a cramped side of the board under attack by my forces, which is less safe in my estimation.

We will see how the game progresses.