Basic Chess Strategy Guide

Beginner Chess Player? Scratching your head as to how best to get started? Have a read through the following pages in the Index, (below).

I’ve started with my first attempt at basic Chess Strategy, which includes videos covering each of the three Phases of a typical game of chess:

» 1. Opening, 2. Middlegame, and 3. Endgame.

Then, I move onto some MUCH BETTER strategies … the first of which focuses on the Opening Phase (this one’s credited to GM Yasser Seirawan).

I’ve also published other bits ‘n’ pieces related to strategy that I learned about from my good correspondence friend & mentor, Ken Wilsdon. He was kind enough to share with me some excellent concepts and ideas during our discussions that centred mainly around Point Count Chess — a book by Israel Albert Horowitz and Geoffrey Mott-Smith that delves into concepts that will help anyone who’s looking to plan their Chess Strategies, and which ultimately formed the basis of the Advanced Beginner’s Chess Guide.

So, when you’re ready …

Basic Chess Strategy

My First Attempt at Chess Strategy (Introduction)
When I first setup Chess-Game-Strategies.com, I considered myself to be a relative beginner. I knew of the game; I knew how the pieces moved; I knew how to setup the board. But, beyond that, I’d nothing much to shout about. This section is the result of ‘what I knew’ back then.

1. Objectives
Basically, my first stab at cobbling together a ‘Plan’ … hmmm.

2. GAME: Opening Phase
My game was played against Fritz 12. I don’t actually recall setting any difficulty settings, as I’d only just got the software and was still getting used to its features. Anyway, to kick-of my basic chess strategy, I chose the Giuoco Piano for the Opening, and set a time control of 10 minutes per player. The Opening phase lasted 13 Moves (so I judged).

3. GAME: Middlegame Phase
From Black’s 13th Move, to Black’s 21st Move.

4. GAME: Endgame Phase
From White’s 22nd Move to Black’s Win by Checkmate, on Move 32. (No need to say which army Fritz controlled, then!)

5. Post-mortem
My first attempt at analysing the game, picking through the debris with the so-called Post-mortem.

6. Summary
Additional analysis, quickly summarising all of the above.

Okay, so that was my “beginner’s attempt at basic Chess Strategy”.

You could call it a ‘warm-up’ for the main event, which starts with an Opening Strategy from one of the World’s most highly regarded Grandmasters …

• Yasser Seirawan’s Chess Strategy for the Opening Phase
  It was a few months after that first attempt at basic Chess Strategy, that I’d exchanged some pieces of paper with the Queen’s head on, for the first five books of Yasser Seirawan’s Winning Chess series:

• • Play Winning Chess
  • Winning Chess Openings
  • Winning Chess Tactics
  • Winning Chess Strategies
  • Winning Chess Combinations

I like Yasser’s writing/teaching style and so, studied his books in detail. During my study, across his multiple books, I pieced-together what I assumed to be Yasser Seirawan’s principles for the Opening Phase of a game of Chess …

So, that’s what this article covers.