Opening rules:

1. Control the center.

2. Develop your pieces.
3. Castle your king.
4. Don’t bring your queen out too early.
5. Connect your rooks.
6. Don’t make too many pawn moves.
7. Don’t move a piece twice unless
necessary.
8. Play towards the center.
9. Knights before bishops.
10. Always play with a plan.
Middlegame rules:
1. Prioritize activity of pieces.
2. Safeguard your king.
3. Control central squares.
4. Coordinate piece movement.
1|Page
5. Look for tactical opportunities.
6. Exploit opponent weaknesses.
7. Maintain a strong pawn structure.
8. Prepare for endgame transitions.
9. Exchange pieces wisely.
10. Disrupt opponent plans.
Endgame rules:
1. Activate your king.
2. Push passed pawns.
3. Place rooks behind passed pawns.
4. Keep pieces active.
5. Maintain a healthy pawn structure.
6. Avoid weak pawns.
7. Calculate ahead.
8. Take opposition.
9. Trade wisely.

2|Page
10. Coordinate pieces.
Balanced/unbalanced position—rules of
identification:
1. Material count.
2. Pawn structure.
3. Piece activity.
4. King safety.
5. Control over key squares, open files and
semi-open files.
Priorities when calculating variations:
1. Take into account firstly all active
possibilities such as checks, possible
captures and attacks/threats.
2. Mental flexibility.
3. The most active moves also have the
highest priority rating.

3|Page
4. If you do not find a good solution, you
should either look for new candidate moves
or lower your expectations.
Realizing a material advantage:
1. Play for an attack.
2. Simplify the position.
3. Put your pieces in active positions.
4. Restrict enemy counterplay.
Exploiting weaknesses:
 By a weakness, we mean a square or a
pawn which is not protected by a pawn.
Basic rules:
1. Provoke weak squares and try to occupy
them with your own pieces.
2. Exploit any weaknesses in the castled
position.
3. Look for a weak point/pawn.

4|Page
Attacking weaknesses can:
1. Force your opponent to place his pieces
in passive positions.
2. Provoke a second weakness.
Basic principles of chess:
1. Develop all your pieces as soon as
possible.
2. Control the center. (e4, d4, e5, d5)
3. Knights before bishops.
4. Don’t move the same piece twice in the
opening.
5. Castle as soon as possible.
6. Always look for pins, checks, forks,
skewers, double attacks, double checks
and sacrifices.
7. Don’t bring your queen out too early.
8. Connect your rooks.

5|Page
9. Rooks should go to open and semi-open
files.
10. Knights on the rim are grim.
11. Try to avoid isolated and
double/backward pawns.
12. Don’t trade bishop for knight without any
good reason.
13. Avoid moving pawns in front of your
castled king.
14. Don’t open the center if your king is still
there.
15. Two minor pieces are better than a
pawn and rook.
16. Three minor pieces are better than a
queen.
17. Rooks are best on the seventh/second
rank.

6|Page
18. Doubled rooks on an open file are
extremely strong.
19. Bishops are better in open positions and
knights are better in closed positions.
20. Deal with an attack on the flank with an
attack on the center.
21. Capture towards the center with pawns.
22. In the endgame, king is a valuable piece.
23. Rooks are better behind passed pawns.
24. 2 connected past pawns on the 6th rank
beats a rook.
25. Attack the base of a pawn chain.
26. Knights are best blockaders of pawns.
27. If your position is bad, trade pieces.
28. When ahead in material, trade pieces.
29. Opposite coloured bishops are a very
good attacking pieces.

7|Page
30. Opposite coloured bishops lead to a
drawish endgame.
31. Don’t play hope chess.
32. When you see a good move, stop and
look for a better move.
33. Know the right time to ignore the
principles.
The correct approach:
1. What is important in the position?
2. What am I trying to achieve?
3. Decide more or less how much time you
are willing to invest on this move.
4. Calculate forcing moves first.
5. Use your common sense when you
decide what to analyse first.
6. What is the drawback of opponents last
move?
7. Be practical.
8|Page
8. Don’t think about decisions that you need
to make in the future.
9. Calculate a bit slower.
10. Calculate only what you have to.
11. Don’t let your thoughts skip from one
line to another and back several times over.
12. Leave assumptions at the door.
13. Check the move order.
14. When you have made up your mind,
execute your move!
15. End each variation with a definite
conclusion.
16. Calculate only until you can make a
definite conclusion.
17. Calculate half a move longer.
18. What could I have missed?
19. Recheck your analysis.

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20. Seek clear and simple solutions in
winning positions.
 We all underestimate the amount of
chances we have all the time.
 If the next move you play is a good one,
you are a success.
Common rules:
1. To take, is a mistake!
2. Determine candidate moves first.
3. Calculate lines for three moves ahead.
4. Start calculating the moves that makes
sense.
5. While attacking, try not to let the king
escape.
6. If the combination fails, reorder the
moves.
7. Calculate for both sides.
8. Pay attention to forcing moves.
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9. Calculate forcing moves.
10. How do I go there and create a threat?
11. Principle of the least active piece.
***
PHILOSOPHY
The initiative is a physical manifestation of a
psychological battle.
IN A NUTSHELL
An imbalance is any significant di erence in
the two respective positions.
IN A NUTSHELL
The imbalances alone will lead you to the
right move(s) in most positions, or even
help you create a detailed plan.
PHILOSOPHY
Imbalances are the doorway to planning.
PLANNING:

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1. Imbalances Breakdown:
i. Superior minor piece.
ii. Pawn structure.
iii. Space.
iv. Material.
v. Control of a key file.
vi. Control of a hole/weak square.
vii. Lead in development.
viii. King safety.
ix. Statics vs. Dynamics.
2. An imbalance is any significant di erence
in the two respective positions.
3. If you want to be successful, you have to
base your moves and plans on the specific
imbalance-oriented criteria that exist in the
given position, not on your mood, tastes,
and/or fears!

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4. Imbalances act as a roadmap that shows
each side what to do.
5. Imbalance Consciousness is a state
where the use of imbalances becomes a
natural and often unconscious process.
6. Imbalances are the doorway to planning.
7. The imbalances alone will lead you to the
right move(s) in most positions, or even
help you create a detailed plan.
8. The initiative is a physical manifestation
of a psychological battle-both sides
champion their view of things in the hope
that the opponent will have to eventually
forgo his own plans and react to yours.
9. The Armageddon Discourse is a basic
thinking stage where you look for traps,
threats, and tactical themes. This is usually
done subconsciously by players 1800 and
up. However, if you are lower rated, are
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prone to blunders, or feel that you have
serious tactical issues, then it's a good idea
to take a few moments to get on top of this
stu .
***
RULE
There's a reason why many amateurs fear
Knights-they are very tricky and deserve
your full respect!
PHILOSOPHY
Chess is a team game. If possible, make
sure every piece joins in the battle!
PHILOSOPHY
If one of your minor pieces isn't earning its
keep, put the lazy thing to work! In the case
of a Knight, wishful thinking won't get it to
that dream post-it's up to you figure out a
way to get it there.

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REMEMBER
Chess mastery is a mixture of knowledge,
awareness and willpower.
RULE
A hole isn't a problem if the enemy pieces
can't reach it.
RULES
1. A Bishop is considered active if it's
outside the pawn chain and/or enjoying life
on a reasonably clutter-free diagonal.
2. A Bishop is considered useful if it's doing
an important (defensive or dynamic)
task(s). Such a defensive Bishop can be
ugly to look at, but its absence would cause
your position to undergo serious di iculties.
3. A Bishop is said to be a Tall-Pawn if it's
not serving a useful f unction and is trapped
behind its pawns (thus making it inactive).

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RULE
Every time you move a pawn, check to see
how it a ects the activity of your Bishops!
Obviously, turning an open position into a
closed one will have a serious e ect on
these pieces, so train yourself to always
take the health and care of your Bishops
into account.
RULE
While an active Bishop might look good, a
useful Bishop trades style for substance
and addresses the deeper needs (both
dynamic and defensive) of a position.
Removing a tall pawn:
1. Get your pawns o the color of your
Bishop (unblocking it).
2. Get your Bishop outside the pawn chain.
3. Exchange the horrible Bishop for an
enemy Bishop or Knight.
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RULE
If your opponent has two Bishops,
exchange one o and create a more
manageable Bishop vs. Bishop or Bishop
vs. Knight scenario.
RULE
If time isn't an issue, do your best to
improve the positions of your "less
fortunate" pieces.
RULE
A half-open file is often used to exert
tremendous pressure against weak enemy
pawns. In this case "weak'' alludes to
pawns that can't be protected by other
pawns.
PHILOSOPHY
In all cases of logic vs. fear, you must learn
to embrace logic by reading the board and
doing what it tells you to do.
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Pawn structures
1. Pawns are strong when they are in a
chain; try to avoid splitting them into
isolated groups.
2. Isolated or hanging pawns tend to be
a liability, try to avoid at least till the end
game.
3. Pawn chain shapes that look like /\
(an inverted V) from your side tend to be
stronger than those that look like a \/.
4. Doubled pawns are weak, try to
avoid getting them.
5. If you can maintain center pawns,
you get more options to organize
attacks.
6. Your own pawn chains may block
free movement of your pieces, mainly
the bishops if stuck behind the chain.
Avoid this disadvantage.
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 7. Pawns cannot move backwards.
Sometimes the opponent will
deliberately lure you to advance your
pawns to create weaknesses in your
pawn structure. So think carefully before
pushing them forward.
8. Pawns in front of your castled king
are there to guard the king. Try to avoid
breaking up their line unless you have
planned to launch a king-side attack
with those.
9. Check the possibility of getting a
passed pawn and then defending it. A
passed pawn becomes a thorn in the
opponent’s flesh and even when it fails
to become a queen, it can gain you
significant material advantage through
opponent’s e orts to neutralize it.

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 10. Passed pawns in rook’s file are
weaker than passed pawns in other files
in the end game as it is easier for the
opponent’s king to block the pawn in
rook file.
Knights
1. Knights play well in complex and
locked positions. Assess their value and
plan their movement accordingly.
2. A knight posted on d6 and e6
squares can be a nuisance to your
opponent. Try to get them there (with
adequate support of course).
3. Knights play well in the center part of
the boards. Try to avoid keeping them at
the sides (a- and h-files) unless your
tactical plan calls for such positioning.

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 4. Knight fork can be a very potent
weapon. Creating such possibility can
upset the plans of your opponent.
5. Knights have a relatively poor play in
the end game when the board is fairly
open but with a number of opponent’s
pawns ready to advance.
6. In the end game, a knight may be
helpless in preventing your opponent’s
pawns if those are on two sides of the
board.
Bishops
1. Bishops, if not developed early, may
get bogged by your own pawns blocking
the diagonals. Be aware of this.
2. Bishops play well if there are many
open diagonals and a bishop pair in
such situations can give you a great
advantage.
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 3. For above reasons, bishops are
more helpful in the end game.
4. If your bishop can control the long
diagonal towards your opponent’s
castled position, it can give you
considerable leverage in your attack on
the king.
5. If you have only a single bishop in the
end game, half the squares on the board
are inaccessible to it. But with a few
linked pawns of your own, a bishop can
be a great help to support your pawn
march and delay your opponent’s pawn
advance (if you can position it in time).
6. In the end game, a bishop can be
better than a knight if the pawns are at
two sides of the board.

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 7. In general, bishop pair is more
advantageous than the knight pair
during the end game.
Rooks
1. Rooks, like bishops, play better if
there are some open files.
2. Try to take control of open files with
your rooks. Two rooks in same open file
provide a lot of opportunities for attack.
3. Rook positioned in the 7th or 8th row
becomes a headache for the opponent.
Two rooks on that row can often provide
mating attack or gain of material.
4. Two rooks with lots of maneuvering
space can often stand up to the
opponent’s queen, particularly when
minor powers and pawns are absent in
the end game. You will find many games
in chess archives where one player has
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 given up the queen in exchange for two
rooks.
5. In endings where you have King,
Rook and Pawn against King and Rook,
your rook should be behind the pawn
and your king should be next to the
pawn to get a win.
Queen
1. Even though it is the strongest piece,
it needs a rook or some minor pieces for
its most e ective use.
2. Avoid taking the queen too far out
during the openings as it is likely to get
‘harassed’ by opponent’s minor pieces
to cause you a loss of tempo.
King
1. Always a liability, is it? It becomes
more so, if it is at its original position.
Aim to castle at the earliest opportunity.
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 2. Both kings castled on the same side
normally do not get an immediate early
attack. You have to maneuver through
the Queen’s side. But castled on the
opposite sides allow both players to
launch direct attack through pawn
advances.
3. Kings come into their own in the end
game with major pieces removed from
the board. Try to keep king near your
pawn group for their advance. Be aware
of the ‘Square’ and ‘Opposition’.
4. In the endings with King and Pawn
vs. King, make the king lead the pawn,
not the other way.
5. Make yourself familiar with the
standard strategies for handling
di erent types of endings with pawns,
minor pieces, rooks etc. Learn to

25 | P a g e
 identify situations that may give win or
only a draw.
Positional
1. Initial pawn movements facilitate the
development of your minor pieces. Do
not get distracted from this objective.
2. In the opening phase, avoid moving
the same piece twice (unless forced to
do so and learn to avoid those kinds of
positions). It loses you tempo.
3. You gain tempo when you can
achieve two objects in one move. For
example, a pawn move may attack
some piece while opening a line for your
own pieces. Look for such
opportunities.
4. Try to seize control of the center (d4,
d5, e4, e5 squares) as this will give you
more play and better attacks. Of course,
26 | P a g e
 some opening strategy, particularly for
black), may deliberately surrender some
control in the center to gain more play in
the flanks to neutralize opponent’s
advantage.
5. Don’t be greedy! Sometimes you
may find an easy pawn to pick up but it
may be a trap (‘poisoned pawn’).
Accepting it will often allow the
opponent to launch a powerful attack
and often the best way to neutralize is to
return that material instead of trying to
hold on to it.
6. Do not launch a premature attack.
Develop your pieces such that they
coordinate well with one another and
then plan your attack. Unless you do
this, you may find your attack to lose
steam and that may put you at a
disadvantage.
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 7. A locked center (your and
opponent’s pawns facing each other
without being able to capture any)
restricts movement of pieces in the
center and thus facilitates flank attack
without fear of counter-play at the
center. Keep this possibility in mind.
8. Check which of the opponent’s
pieces is controlling the play. Try to
capture it at the earliest.
9. Exchanging your inactive piece with
a similar but active piece of the
opponent gives you an advantage. Try to
avoid such exchange if the reverse is
true.
10. When in trouble, remember that
attack is often the best form of defense.
Look for such possibility.

28 | P a g e
 11. Since coordination of pieces gives
advantage, try to cut o communication
between opponent’s pieces e.g. by
advancing a supported pawn in the
opponent’s line of communication.
12. Be aware of pins and how to create
one. Properly handled, they can yield
significant advantage.
13. When cornered in the end game,
look for opportunities to get into a
position allowing stalemate and draw.
Sometimes, a piece sacrifice may o er
you this opportunity in an otherwise
desperate situation. When you have an
upper hand, guard against the opponent
taking this route to draw the game.
14. Whatever openings you normally
adopt, learn the ideas behind the moves
and the targets to be achieved. Without

29 | P a g e
 this focus, you will only create
weaknesses for yourself.
15. In general, King’s pawn openings
lead to more open games and direct
attacks on the king. Queen’s pawn
openings create somewhat closed
positions that need more maneuvering
and positional play to launch indirect
attacks.

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